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It took him a good hour or two to realize that Pepper wasn't in the office. When he finally asked around and found out that Pepper had called in sick, he went to work. Not that he was working on anything to do with the business — he was making phone calls.
The first delivery to Pepper's apartment was tea and an urn full of hot water. An hour or two after that, a six-pack of ginger-ale and some fine, albeit bland crackers. Then, around lunchtime, matzoh ball soup from the best Jewish Deli arrived. It was then that Tony realized that maybe she wasn't really sick and she might have called in sick to spend the day with…Jack, was it? So the afternoon's delivery consisted of champagne and then chocolate truffles.
About an hour after the chocolate truffle delivery there is yet another knock on the door.
*
Eventually, Jack did have to go to work, though he was doing well to take care of her in the morning, assisted by the ridiculous rush of things from Tony. Still, with Jack gone and not insisting she stay in bed, Pepper's actually been slowly making her way into being dressed. She planned to go into the office at least HALF the day. It was nonsense. Just a cold. Or the flu. It was fine. She took a hot shower and tried to put up her hair. She's still halfway through the process when the knock comes.
Tossing on her gray satin robe, she ties it at her waist and gets up, which illicts another deathly round of coughing that can be heard through the door. "…Dammit…" She rasps when she finishes. She takes a moment to clear her throat, blow her nose, wash her hands, and then she bare foot pads to the door. When she eventually opens it, Tony is exposed to the most splotchy, scattered, red nosed looking Pepper to ever exist.
*
"Whoa!" Tony takes a step back once he catches sight of Pepper. "Oh, my god, do you have the plague? You are -not- allowed back to work for like…a week!" he declares, holding a paper bag that smells suspiciously like chinese food in front of his face. As if that could somehow stop the germs from spreading.
"You really are sick, aren't you?" as if he had any question about it before, he doesn't now. "Uhm. Right. Wonton soup. And Egg-drop soup. Because…soup." The bag is held out at extreme arm's length towards her.
*
"What? No… not…it's not that bad. I…was just getting dressed… gonna come down and check on things… I'm sorry. I… I didn't want to call in… Jack did it… called in for me, that is. I…it's not bad." Other than the nasal tone of her voice and her bloodshot eyes. It's FINE. It's also probably not the plague, but might actually be the flu and not just a head cold.
Still, the offering of the bag makes her smile. She reaches up and takes it, bringing the bag closer and trying to take a sniff of it but, well… she can't smell a damn thing, "Oh, Tony… you didn't have to. I just finished the Matzo ball soup… I can't eat another thing… But I promise, I'll get dressed right away and be down…"
*
"Nope…nope, I'm totally serious…" Tony holds two fingers up in the sign of the cross as if that will now somehow stop the germs from crossing the threshold of her condo. "You're not coming into work. Not until this…" he waves with his other hand to indicate the splotchy pajama-ness of her current state, "is all better. The last thing we need is everyone felled by the plague. Garlic. I'll send you some garlic later…" just in case it's the Vampire-flu.
*
"It's not the plague, Tony…it's just a headcold…" Pepper protests, but then another series of coughing catches her. She is polite enough to step back and quickly put the soup down on a side table so she doesn't spill it as she tries not to double over. The cough is the worst, by far, chesty and miserable. It leaves her half breathless. "…dammit… that's awful. Sorry. I…I'm going to make some tea.. do you want tea? I… I can't just leave the office alone… I… I'll put a mask on, or something.."
*
Tony is practically around the corner of the hallway by the time her coughing spell ends. He peers back around the corner, "No…I think I'll stay out here, thanks." He's not going into her Plague-Den! Gah! "And what part of 'I forbid you to come into the office until you're better' didn't you hear? I'm actually serious about that." He's not serious about most things, but apparently he is about this. "I'm there…I can take care of things. I mean, it's -my- business…"
*
"…yes… And tomorrow is the week's end. We'll have to close out the markets. Do you know how to prepare those reports?" Pepper asks from across the room, her brows lofted. At least she's caught her breath and is looking mostly steady where she leans in the archway between kitchen and living area. She folds her arms across her chest, half hugging her robe against her in the drowsy misery of sickness. But she's trying to look upright and astute.
*
Tony doesn't answer immediately, "Uhm. You're not coming in like that. You need to rest." He didn't answer her question, but, "I'll look for last week's report and figure it out from there." He's a smart guy, he can do that, right? "Are we even a Public company?"
And he's the owner and CEO, asking these questions. Not that it matters as he holds the majority of the stock…
*
An arch of her brow follows and she loosens her hands so one of them can rest on her hip. She's giving him THAT look. The look that says he's said something not all that smart, and the business side of his brillance would fall apart without her. "…we are a public company, yes. The board decided to go public two years ago and you said they could do whatever because it didn't matter, you still hold most of the stock." Pepper rasps in annoyance. She didn't even WORK for the company then, how does she knows these things?!
*
Tony peers around the doorway in time to catch Pepper's look. "Your nose…it's kind of dripping…" he lifts a hand to his own nose as if to rub it where she should. Brown eyes look to her lighter ones, "I'm not sure that was the best idea," seeing all that happened within the last couple of years. It would have been easier to control if it was private. At least the Board can't kick him out. Yet.
"You still can't come to work. I'll get the report done. Don't you have an assistant who…uhm…assists you?" He can go to her?
*
"…I *am* the assistant, Tony. I assist you. None of the other secretaries understand even half of those reports. I mean… it's… I'll come in after hours, alright? So I don't infect anyone else. I promise." Pepper offers with a weak half smile expression exhausted but trying to be helpful and understanding. She's trying so hard. At least the coughing seems to have stopped now, but she is noticing that itch at her nose. "Ah…pardon…" She ducks into the little powder room down the hall, and the echo of her nose blowing can be heard a moment later. At least, from the sound of running water, she washes her hand after. She sighs, coming back out of the hall. "…Sorry."
*
"Nope…germs can live for 72 hours on surfaces. Longer if it's Strep. Sorry, Pepper…you are hereby banished until at least Monday." When she disappears he glances through the doorway to look about the condo…maybe for signs of Jack? Maybe for plague rats? It's hard to tell. "I appreciate your zeal and that you want to do your job, but you're sick. You need to get better so you don't get more sick. Uhm. Sicker." Henot sure which was right but both seem to work.
There's a pause before he offers, "It doesn't mean you're bad or that you're slacking. I mean, if you callled in sick so you could just spend the day with your Ja…ack, then that's one thing. But you're legitimately ill."
*
A deeper sigh escapes her throat, though she's still doing her best to be super polite and stay quite back from him, not wishing to make him sick in the least. She rubs one hand down her face, trying to shake it all free and knowing she's going to fail. "…I hate this. Bed is… so boring. I… I like working, Tony. I'm going crazy up here already…"
*
"You have a television, don't you? And books? At least you're not dying? I was going to send a doctor but then I realized maybe you were actually maybe spending the day with your guy and thought that would be kind of awkward," Tony tries to explain. "So you got soup." Lots of soup.
He's quiet a moment before launching into some sort of medical explanation as to why it's a bad idea for her to be out and about and working because it means her body can't quite heal up fast enough and she could give herself pneumonia and die…and it ends with, "But I mean, I never really studied Medicine…"
*
"Yes…there is a TV, but… dammit, fine. I'll stay home. If you need help, you call me… I can talk you through the report tomorrow. Germs won't travel through the phone, alright?" Pepper states with a pointed look. But she reaches her hand up to start pulling the pins out of her half finished hair, since she's clearly not going into the office now. The medical explanation gets a slight blink, brows arching higher, and she just smirks, "I'm not going to die. And I'd say you've studied more medicine than most doctors."
*
Tony shrugs, "I was bored the other night myself," so he read some medical journals. As one does. "I mean, I think my hands might be steadier but I don't think I have the best bedside manner. But then again, neither do some doctors." He actually looks like he might think about it for a moment but then he shakes his head. Naah.
"All right, deal. If I need help, I'll call you so don't go traipsing about town, ok? I think there are some 'I Love Lucy' reruns on…you'd probably like those." He's actually proud of himself for talking her into staying home!
*
The comment about I Love Lucy gains him another look. How Pepper manages to give That Look even sick, ruffled and splotchy, one can only imagine. But she pulls it off. "I won't traipse about town. I promise. I'll be here all day tomorrow just in case you need me. And this is only because you ordered me to stay home, otherwise, I'd be at work." Pepper states, teasingly cross, even if the teasing her voice comes across more as a squeak with the rasping tone that is left after that cough.
*
"And you're not allowed back until Monday. No sneaking into the office over the weekend. I'll -know-." They've already established that he's set up some sort of notification when someone enters the office after usual hours. Maybe it's a security thing, maybe just his own experimentation. "Although, if this…" he gestures to her, "Is still like that on Monday, take that day too." Ever tactful, of course.
*
"It won't be. I'll be fine by Monday. I swear." Pepper says it with the determination of the young, and of a woman who is going to do all she can to BULLY her body back into being healthy again. Because this is just embarrassing, and not sexy in anyway, and miserable. So, she swears to be better, hell or high water, even if she probably has no real control over it what so ever.
*
Tony doesn't look entirely convinced, but he's also staying in the hallway as if that could prevent him from catching anything. "Sure. Just take care of yourself, ok?" There's another look for signs of Jack before he gives a snap and points, "Toddy. If you're making tea, put in a ton of honey and a shot of whiskey. Bet it'll make you feel better. Or fall asleep. But either way it'll help, right?"
*
"..I…I'll try that. And Jack's not here, he had to work second shift… If that's who you're looking for. But he made me breakfast and wouldn't let me out of bed, so… you'd approve." Pepper offers with a tired half smile. She might not even need the toddy from the quickly hastening exhaustion across her features. Taking a shower and trying to do her hair was *hard work*, or so it felt.
*
Would he now? Tony doesn't look too convinced, but better Jack get ill than him! "And yet you're out of bed and trying to go to work." He gives her that look that says he knows what's going on there and she's not going to be able to convince him otherwise. Nope, he's too smart for that and he'll tell her so if he must. "Go. Go rest. Eat soup. Drink Tea. Sleep. Maybe even in that order. I'll call you if I need you tomorrow." He even reaches for the door to close it in front of him — after all, she didn't touch that part of the door, so no germs, right?
Although now he's feeling a little tickle in his through. Could just be circumstantial.
*
"I… I will, Tony. Don't work too hard. Remember to go to bed before midnight, for me, please?" Pepper calls over to him softly, and then she lets him head out the door. She turns back into the kitchen to put the kettle on, since she's finally given up on the idea of going to work.
*