"This is worse than I thought," Natasha said as she sunk down into the couch inside Pepper Potts' office.
Pepper Potts was the CEO of Stark Industries and fiancee of Tony Stark. She was a tall and beautiful woman with strawberry blonde hair. She had dated Tony for three years before he popped the question while they were on a vacation in St. Tropez during Christmas last year. Natasha saw this one coming though even Tony was a notorious playboy who changed his lover every other week. But with Pepper, he was like a devoted little puppy dog and she was the only person in Tony's life who could keep Tony in check.
Pepper Potts first got her job as Tony Stark's secretary but her degrees in Business Management and her brilliant ideas for business opportunities proved that she was worth more than her position as a secretary. She was the one Tony sought advice from and he trusted her judgment more than anyone else's. As she rose in rank, she quickly earned Tony's heart.
Once Pepper had reached the position of Marketing Director, she introduced Natasha to Tony, who quickly offered her a job at Stark Industries as a member of the legal team. It helped that Natasha was also Pepper's best friend.
Natasha Romanoff, the beautiful redhead with stunning green eyes, was Pepper Potts roommate while she was in college. She had been working for four years now and witnessed the love of this power couple. She immediately said yes when Pepper asked her to be the maid of honor.
The 'Yes' that brought Natasha to this position, to this very moment, the very rollercoaster moment of her life.
"Believe me, Tony can be a real diva," Pepper said as she got up from her chair to sit with her friend.
"He turned down another bakery," the redhead shook her head. "I don't think I can find another good bakery that has enough patience for Tony Stark."
"Well, on the bright side, we have six more months to find the right bakery for him and this time, I will have a final word," Pepper promised.
"I can't believe that you're gonna marry this guy." Nat joked.
"Yeah, me neither,"
They laughed together at that but they both knew why. Pepper and Tony had been through alot together. From one crisis to another, they stood by each other's side. From Obadiah Stane's betrayal, the one that crippled the whole company, to Ivan Vanko's crisis, the personal vendetta from the rival family, to Aldrich Killian's vengeance. Pepper stood by his side and gave him support and guidance when someone else turned their back on him. Tony was hopelessly falling in love with her.
"You will be fine, Pepper. He loves you so much."
"I know." Pepper smiled fondly when she thought about her fiancé. "Anyway, how are you going to find a new bakery?"
"I will find something," Nat replied. "Maria will drop by later to help me with that. She just came back from Paris last night."
"When was the last time we had a full table like this?"
"About two months? Maria has been in Europe for her photoshoot the whole time."
Maria Hill was a supermodel. They met during college and she lived next door in the dormitory. She was a beautiful brunette with a tall, lean body and a stunning blue eyes. A model agency discovered her during sophomore year and landing her on Teen Vogue since her first audition. Even she had a career on the rise, Maria insisted on getting her degree in Fashion design.
Her work required her to travel a lot but when she heard about the wedding, she cleared the schedule for her best friend so that she could have two weeks off to stay in New York with her friends each month and help out with the wedding. Unfortunately, her last project had pulled her away from the wedding, (well, she couldn't say no when it came to joining Anna Wintour on the September issue). Between the outfitting and photoshoot, it had taken her two months to finish up in Paris.
"I'm glad that you finally have back up. I know it's been a rough month helping me and Tony and he doesn't make it easy for you either."
"But at least I haven't killed him yet."
The one question that Natasha needed to ask herself many times a day was how she had ended up in charge of almost everything? Pepper Potts was a very busy human being. As such, Pepper needed someone to help coordinate with the wedding organizer, (the best that money could buy). Someone who knew what her and Tony wanted and someone who she trusted to make the right decisions for them. Natasha Romanoff was the only suitable person in this world. If Pepper had been too busy running the Stark empire and making sure that nothing went wrong, (especially Tony)
The wedding planner provided the list of things to do. The couple would have a wedding the following June. The first thing they did was to scout for a venue. Since money was never a problem, Natasha narrowed down the list of three places and have the couple make the final decision. Of course, Pepper picked the Plaza but Tony insisted on having his Hampton mansion as a backup.
Pepper deliberately used her power and position to transfer Nat's work to someone else unless the matter was really urgent so Natasha could pay full attention on the wedding. Booking the officiant was the second thing on the list. Pepper flew them back to her hometown to meet with the priest from the church in the neighborhood where she grew up. Tony said he could have the mayor of New York City officiated their wedding and made it less traditional.
"I'm not nostalgic, you know," he said and Nat smacked his head.
"It's her wedding. She gets what she wants," the redhead hissed.
"The last time I checked, it was our wedding."
"It would make it more meaningful and memorable if you had someone that actually knows you officiate. Not just your golf buddy."
Tony whined because he didn't get what he wanted. As a compromise, he said that he would be the only one who could have a say when it came to food and beverage. Pepper just agreed to make him stop whining.
Pepper was very strict about the number of guests so she took this matter into her hands because, one, she didn't want a crowded wedding, (so only family and their closest friends allowed). Second, Tony had a tendency to invite everyone that he knew to the wedding just to stroke his ego. She worked out the list with Nat and it was finalized only two weeks after the planning had started. A hundred guests wouldn't be too hard for Natasha to handle as far as the hotel booking and transportation.
Nat booked four floors of the Four Seasons for the out-of-town guests, each with a full service package. She made sure to charter private jets. But some of them made it hard for her because they had their own specific requests. Luckily, Pepper approved of everything anyway.
Then she threw the engagement party for them. This time Tony insisted that he be in charge of the guest list. Natasha instantly regretted her decision of letting him do just that. As it turned out, she lost all power and Tony threw the wildest party, (and when she said 'wildest', she meant the 'craziest, out of control' kind of party). Pepper didn't blame her but she needed to shut down the party and send everyone home before her fiancé made a fool of himself.
He was grounded for a week. Tony stayed cooped up in his workshop the entire time in order to make it up to Pepper.
The next morning, Pepper granted her full power in deciding anything for their wedding, never letting Tony make a decision without her again.
"He is kinda out of control lately," Pepper said. "It was like his body was fighting for the last bit of freedom, as if he was trying to live the last bit of his bachelorhood to the fullest."
"He better come to his senses soon," Nat warned. "Or I will shoot him for real."
"He's like a puppy dog but sometime he is absolute chaos."
"He's a good man and he treats you right. He loves you. That's make me okay with all of this."
After that, Natasha spent a week doing detailed research on photographers, bands, florists and caterers. She came up with a list everything, each item containing both the first suitable choice as well as various backups just in case. She told the couple to go with her in order to interview and check each caterers/florist/baker/photographers themselves.
The hard part was that Natasha had to find the perfect date for when both of them were free. Another hard part was getting Tony out of his work shop. He was so wired in, blaring AC/DC that he didn't hear the intercom.
"Tony, one day you will be deaf," Pepper said as she walked into the workshop and found her soon-to-be husband covered in grease and working on his vintage Ferrari.
"Hello, Dear," Tony greeted as he slid himself off from under the car. "I thought you had a meeting with the board today."
"That was yesterday. Today we have a meeting with the caterers, florists and photographers."
"Shit! I forgot. What day is today again?"
"It's Wednesday," Natasha replied. "How long have you been here anyway?"
Tony thought and did the math in his mind before answering. "Hmm...when was the last time Pep came home?"
"Monday"
"So it's been a day and a half."
"And I want to remind both of you right now of the schedule I've made for you guys. We are going on interviews every day from now until Sunday, when we are meeting the baker."
"Yes, mom."
It was surprisingly easier than Nat thought, (probably because Pepper was there to help make decisions.) Tony behaved and didn't challenge Natasha at every turn. They found the florists, who had enough resources to handle both the wedding of the year and Tony Stark's demands. On Thursday, they signed the contract and booked the famous photographer and his team that would handle everything related to photo and video.
The hardest one was the catering company. Tony said that, to honor his wife-to-be, he needed Michelin-starred chef to do the catering for them. Gordon Ramsey was Nat's first choice because he was a friend of the bride and groom but his schedule was conflicted with the wedding day. Nat took them to meet with another three New York based, Michelin-starred chefs and they settled on the last one interviewed, after he agreed to design new and unique dishes just for the wedding that would not be made anywhere else ever again.
Pepper and Tony were a bit picky about the baker. Tony had a very specific tastes for every desert and he wanted a giant freaking wedding cake. That narrowed down most bakeries in New York because most of them couldn't meet Tony Stark's demands. Pepper had one issue with the desserts because she was allergic to strawberries. Tony wanted gluten-free food while Pepper wanted full-on dairy. So Natasha had to meet them halfway by finding bakers who could make both. They found another Michelin star patisserie in no time with the promise that the wedding cake would look fantastic.
Natasha secured OneRepublic to perform at the reception. They were Nat's favorite artists and Pepper agreed that they were the most suitable choices. (Pepper secretly wanted Adele to perform at her wedding but it was impossible due as the artist was on a very, very, very tight schedule.)
On the first week of second month, (and still 8 months until the wedding), Tony Stark surprised Natasha by coming to her office to say that he wanted to meet with the baker again to discuss the details of wedding cake and all the desserts. He wanted to taste them first but he also wanted to make sure that they used the right ingredients that he specified for them.
Nat rolled her eyes at him. "We can wait until three months before the wedding, Tony."
"Dear, This is the biggest wedding of the year so yeah, we should pick the freaking cake right now." Tony said, shrugging as if it was not a big deal. "You need to come with me right now."
"Stark, you are aware that I have a job to do too. A job at your company."
"Eh, technically and legally, it's Pepper's now. She told me that I have you at my disposal for anything related to the wedding."
"No, she did not say that."
"But she insinuated that."
"Can I at least finalize this legal document?"
"You have thirty minutes because we have an appointment with Chef Rousseau."
"Unbelievable," Nat grunted before getting back to work.
She called a paralegal to help her with the document and got it done in twenty minutes. Tony actually squealed when she told they could head out. She didn't understand this man sometime. He could be all cool but at the same time, he could be a child.
Once they were at the bakery, Tony told the chef to present him with dessert, warning that they better not use anything other than Tahitian vanilla and that all dairy from Switzerland or Denmark only.
"Why do you have to be like this?" Nat asked. "Just let the chef do his job."
"It's my wedding and I get what I want," He replied. "You told me to select and order the cake and Pep made a deal with me to handle food and beverage with you."
"She also told you not to act like a total diva."
"Whatever...if he can't do as I say, we will find a new baker to make wedding cake."
"God damn it!"
This is where everything went from normal to hell faster than she thought possible. Tony acted like a total diva and the head of patisserie chef kicked them both out of his shop right away. Even that he was Tony Stark, it didn't stop the chef. He said that if they didn't do it his way, Tony could find the new dessert caterers for his wedding and that Tahitian vanilla was overrated.
"Everyone in this world knows that Madagascan vanilla is the best vanilla, Mr. Stark," Chef Rousseau said. "I will not change my main ingredients because I do not want them to effect the taste of my desserts."
Even though the chef gave him decent reasons, Tony did not back down his demands. Now it was up to Nat to find a new dessert caterer for them. Pepper wasn't pleased with this news but she didn't have time to talk to her fiance just yet.
Tony didn't stop his dramatic action even when she found four more patisseries for him. They declined him after he acted like a total diva. and Natasha ran out of suitable options.
She knew she had six months but this was Tony Stark and Pepper Potts' wedding. Her best friends in the whole world's wedding.
She didn't want to let them down.
Other than handling with the biggest wedding of the year, Natasha's life was still pretty hectic even after Pepper had directed most of her work to other people. Since she was a senior legal counsel at Stark Industries, her presence was required for many important decisions. She was one of the very few people that could actually intimidate someone just by a deadly stare and she made the right decisions most of the time. Tony and Pepper loved having her by their side when they had a meeting with people who wanted to do business with them.
Even so,her daily life felt pretty mundane. She was still just an ordinary office worker, just with very high-powered friends. People in her circle consisted of high ranking CEOs, politicians, celebrities, and highly influential people. (Of course, working with Tony and Pepper opened the doors to many things that she could only have fantasized when she was in college.)
Even with her career was on the rise, her love life wasn't that great. She spent most of her time on her work and when she had personal time, she used it for herself. She tried to go on dates but hadn't found anyone who she thought she had chemistry with. The last actual boyfriend (before she met that one Tony's friend who broke her heart.) she had was when she was in college. His name was Alexei and they studied Law together. Everything went well until Natasha realized that they were too much alike. She sensed that he had been about to do something big (AKA a shiny rock on a ring and bending down on one knee thing). She broke it off before it was too late- she hadn't been ready for that level of commitment.
She thought it was a good decision. Otherwise, she would have two kids by now and she would have closed the door to every great thing that she had. She had loved Alexei but she wasn't ready and it wouldn't have been right if she had strung him along. It wasn't fair and Natasha Romanoff wasn't a selfish bitch.
One of many good things that came along in her life was when she finally found someone she had wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Tony Stark introduced her to one of his friends. There was a bit mistrust and misunderstanding at first, (he thought she was manipulating him the way all the lawyer do.) But as they started to get to know each other, they learned more and it slowly cemented their trust and, eventually, love. They spent times with each other after work or sometimes, if he was free, he would sit in her office and keep her company. They had been dating for two years and everything was perfect. Nat thought that she was mature enough to finally settle down with the man she loved.
Karma was a bitch though. She sometimes sensed that her past would come back to haunt her in some way, that the thing she had done to Alexei would bite her in the ass. They got engaged at Christmas when they spent time together in Aspen but a week later, after they had returned to New York, he received an invitation to join a group of scientists and doctors in a 'Borderless doctors' campaign. He would be part of the team working to invent a medicine to help stop the disease and epidemic in Africa. The opportunity had been one of his lifelong goals and he wasn't reluctant to say no.
Natasha was heartbroken when he broke off the engagement with her, even though she knew he meant well. He was a kind soul who had always wanted to help people, to do things for greater good. But what about her? What about the woman that he claimed to love with all his heart and soul? Even with all of those reasons to blame him, she couldn't really blame him because what he did was the good thing to do.
Pepper took her on a trip after she learned about the news. The girls spent two weeks on Stark's private island with no cellphones allowed. (Tony was about to go crazy because his girlfriend went AWOL, leaving him no messages or contact information. He wanted to join them but Pepper said that it was a girl time.) Nat spent the first three days cooped up in bed, crying her eyes out.
She felt a bit better after that but occasionally, she will feel bitter about the whole thing, questioning her worth and feeling bad afterwards. This usually ended with a bottle of vodka in her hand. It took her three months to get over it and stop feeling humiliated that the engagement had fallen apart.
The most important person beside Pepper and Tony that helped her cope with the heartbreak was her best friend, Clint Barton. She and Clint had known each other their entire lives. They grew up together, living next door to each other in the suburbs of Staten Island. Clint was a big part of her life in every way. People always saw them together and often mistook them for being in a romantic relationship with one another. No, they were like siblings. She witnessed Clint and his countless girlfriends and it scared her sometimes.
Clint owned a pizza house he ran with his wife, Bobbi Morse. They lived a very normal life, one that Natasha couldn't find with the type of work she had and the people she met everyday day. She envied her friend but she still had hope that one day she would find someone who wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
So there she was, living alone in her loft on the Upper East Side with her black cat, Liho. Every night, she came home alone after a long day at work. Liho will be at the front door to greet her with it small purr and she will pick it up and nuzzle affectionately. She found Liho outside her balcony one night. She was sitting there, sipping wine and soaking in Marvin Gaye songs. The cat came to her and rubbed its body against her legs. Nat poured a bowl of milk for it and ever since then, it had never left. After the bad break up, Nat knew she needed someone or something to keep her company. She guessed in her case, Liho was just the thing she needed.
Clint and Tony dubbed her as the old, lonely lady with a cat. Nat didn't care at all.
When Pepper asked her to help with the wedding, Nat thought it would be the perfect distraction for her to take her mind of her lost love and how lonely she was.
She had to put everything on hold for two weeks because of a legal crisis with Roxxon Industries. Pepper needed all hands on deck. Once the crisis was averted, she resumed her task of finding the new baker while also handling other wedding issues. Nat found another bakery next two weeks with the help of Maria Hill.
Natasha was googling for the bakery when Maria suddenly showed up at her office. She was desperate because Tony was really giving her a hard time.
"Hey, girl! Whatcha doing?" Maria greeted and sunk down on the couch.
"Researching another bakery for Tony and Pepper's wedding," Nat replied.
"Yeah, I heard that. Tony's a total diva."
"And it's up to me to save their wedding."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Besides, you still have six months left."
Nat snickered. She wasn't sure that six months was enough for her if Tony kept stepping up his game like this.
"I can help you with that," Maria offered. "I met this guy in Brooklyn. He worked at this bakery that makes the most delicious cupcakes I've ever eaten in my entire life."
"You came home for three days and already hooked up with someone?"
"Okay, mom. It's the new age now. Besides, I'm a big girl."
"Who's the guy?" Nat pressed on. "Tell me all about it."
"I won't tell you but I have the name of the shop. You can give it a try if you want, I can guarantee that it's totally worth it."
"And why are you even going to Brooklyn in the first place?"
"Nat, drop it. It's just sex."
"Are you sure that this bakery can handle Tony?"
"God, Natasha Romanoff. When I say that it's good, it's good. My stamp of approval is something you can trust." But Natasha wasn't quite convinced with this so Maria yelled at her. "THE CUPCAKES,. OH MY GOD, NATASHA THEY ARE BETTER THAN THE BEST SEX I'VE EVER HAD AND I'VE HAD A LOT OF SEX!!!"
"FINE!!" Nat yelled back. "I will check it out."
"We should visit that bakery on Friday. What do you think?" Maria asked.
"Yeah, but probably in the afternoon. I have a meeting with Tony in the morning." Nat said. "It's really hard to close this deal with the Chinese and finalized the legal documents."
"I get you, girl." Maria said. "Let's do it this way. Let's order some of their desserts to be delivered here for a taste so you didn't have to waste your time. If you like them, you can go there to meet the baker."
"That's a brilliant idea."
Maria gave her the name and Natasha did research that night while Liho was curled up in her laps, purring to get her attention. The next morning, she called when the bakery open and ordered one sample of everything they had on the menu for the day.
The delivery guy was a tall handsome man with long black hair and dark brown eyes. He was attractive and she wondered if he was the guy that Maria had hooked up with the other night.
"Hello, are you Natasha Romanoff?"
"Yes."
"This is your delivery."
"Thank you, put it over there."
Nat got up from her seat and opened the box to start tasting immediately. The first bite took her by surprise. The rich flavour and creaminess were the right proportion and everything was perfect. If this wasn't the best cake she had ever tasted, she didn't know how something would ever compare.
"How was it?" The delivery guy asked.
"It's great. This is what I'm looking for," Nat replied. "Do you guys do catering for weddings?"
"Yeah, we do but you should taste everything first before making a decision. We're not going anywhere."
"Okay, I will contact you guys again."
The delivery guy left with a generous tip from Nat. She immediately called Pepper to get Tony and blindfolded him before he got inside her office because she had a surprise for him. Tony whined at her and told her that if it was something bad, he would fire her.
"That's not your decision." She retorted. "Now, let's get to the point. I have something for both of you to taste and I think that this bakery is the one that we are looking for."
"Hmmm?" Tony was curious. "But what if it's not?"
"Then we find ourselves another bakery. Maybe you should consider getting married in LA because you haven't turned down any bakeries there yet."
"Sarcasm is your forte, isn't it, Red?" Tony quipped. "Are you sure that this one can satisfy my palate, Red?"
"Hopefully yes because if you're not, I will have to quit from this."
"I know you won't quit."
"Yeah, because Pepper is my the best friend in the whole world and I would hate to let her down," Nat was now furious at him. "You're lucky I don't have a gun with me."
"You will not let me down, Nat. You've done a lot for us already. We are the ones who should be thankful for your help."
Pepper hit Tony's forearm to make him stop. Then they began with the tasting. Pepper tasted everything and she loved every single bite while Nat fed Tony, who was blindfolded. He said yes because the flavour was right. He really liked the texture of the chocolate mousse and the whipped cream that they used.
"It's good that both of you like this one." Nat said. "We will meet them on Friday."
"Don't make an appointment," Tony told her. "We should surprise them to see how well they can handle us."
Friday came and Nat met up with Tony and Pepper at their penthouse. Tony was late because he forgot the time and Nat tried not to lash out at him because she was afraid that he might change his mind about the bakery.
Pepper had to drag Tony out of the shower so that they could finally head out to Brooklyn. Happy Hogan, the Starks' driver, drove them to this bakery shop in Brooklyn. The shop was small and cozy and there was no one inside at the moment. Natasha opened the door and the bell sounded, signaling that there were visitors.
An extremely attractive blond looked up from the cake he was frosting and gave her a sparkling smile. His blue eyes shone bright in the warm light. Nat froze on the spot.
"Welcome to Rogers Patisserie, ma'am."