“Oh my god…”

In the split second that Tony heard Pepper scream from across the suite, he flew out of the bathroom, still in his swimsuit, to see if she was alright. Truth be told, he would run into a burning building bare ass naked if he thought Pepper was in trouble.

“How could this have happened? I was under a tree the whole time. Why didn’t you tell me, Tony?” Pepper screamed out through the door.

“Pepper, what’s wrong?” Tony called through with concern.

“I did everything right. This shouldn’t have happened.” Pepper cried out. “This doesn’t happen at home.”

“Pepper, please open the door. I can’t do anything unless you let me.” Tony pleaded with her.

There was a pause for a few moments before Pepper slowly opened the door.

Tony took one look at her and bit his tongue to keep his comments at bay but only one thing came into his mind when he saw her…she was a lovely shade of hot rod red. “This doesn’t happen at home because I built you a veritable cabana out of a huge canvas umbrella and curtains that doesn’t let any amount of sunlight in. Leaves aren’t that solid.” Tony said carefully.

“That’s not funny, Tony. Why didn’t you tell me?” Pepper demanded.

“I was asleep. At lunch you hadn’t gotten burned yet.” Tony protested.

Pepper did not like that response and slammed the door in Tony’s face. “I think dinner is out of the question now.”

“I hate to split hairs here but we do have a bet and an agreement,” Tony stated. “It is my day to pick and staying around the hotel room without any extracurricular activities can be pretty damn boring.” He called through the door.

“I can’t go out looking like this!” Pepper called back through the door.

Tony threw up his hands in frustration as he backed away from her bathroom door, almost throwing in the towel until he thought of one thing. “Pepper, if I promise to be on my best behavior and not to make any red hot pepper comments, will you come down to dinner with me?”

As soon as Tony heard the click of the door knob turning, he ran for his room.

"Anthony Edward Stark...you get your ass back here and say that to my face." Pepper shouted angrily

"No way,” Tony replies as he ducked into his bedroom. “Because I like living and sometimes you are more dangerous than the missiles that fly at my head." He closed the door just as a flip flop flew across the room in his direction.

Nearly an hour later, Tony was sitting on the living room couch, his suit jacket slung over the arm of the couch and his tie still undone around his neck, flipping through the channels to keep himself occupied while he waited. Soon enough he heard the click of Pepper’s door and he turned and smiled when he saw her. She was standing in her doorframe in a purple and black silk halter dress with her hair done up in a loose bun. “You look beautiful,” Tony stated with a smile as he stood up and walked over to her.

“You’re just saying that.” Pepper chided him.

“No, I’m not.” Tony insisted. “You look so good that no one will even notice the burn. I know I’m just a little bit distracted.”

Pepper sighed and took what Tony said as a compliment in a roundabout way. “Okay, that was sweet in a sort of twisted way but if I see someone staring or pointing…”

“I will deal with them personally at your request,” Tony interrupted as he offered Pepper his arm. “They will not want to mess with Iron Man, whether they can recognize me or not. I promise no one will disturb us.”

Pepper nodded and took Tony’s arm. It did help that he promised that nothing would disturb them.

Tony had reserved a table with the view of the ocean in the L'intempo restaurant in the hotel for them, making sure that he requested a table away from the rest so they would not be disturbed. The restaurant was only happy to comply when they received a nice tip from Tony.

Off from the main crowd they could enjoy their meal in peace. Tony ordered a bottle of wine for the two of them to share, one of his favorite Bordeaux reds which were very hard to get in California.

“I probably shouldn’t drink any more,” Pepper stated as Tony opened the bottle and poured each of them a glass.

“Just one glass won’t hurt and this is worth it. How often do you see me go for wine rather than hard liquor?” Tony replied as he set the bottle down and took a sip. “If I could get this at home all the time, I would seriously need to give up scotch.”

That convinced Pepper to at least try it. She sipped from the glass and was amazed and thoroughly understood why Tony liked it so much. It was a good mixture of sweet and dry and went down very easily, so easily that she didn’t realize that she finished the first glass and refilled it. She was nervous and not paying much attention to what she was doing…not a good sign.

“So do you think you’ll keep your new look when we go home?” Pepper asked out of the blue after they placed their orders.

“Probably not…too much of a pain in the ass to shave every day. I plan on growing it back as soon as we get home.” Tony admitted. “But then again, I haven’t had to do this on a regular basis since I was twenty-two.”

“You look younger without the beard.” Pepper stated as she sipped from her glass.

“That was why I grew it in the first place.” Tony said with a laugh. “I kept getting ID'd and it was getting annoying. Everyone still swore I was seventeen.”

“Speaking of when you were a kid, did you take vacations like this with your parents?” Pepper inquired.

Tony shrugged. “Not quite like this. We did go to Hawaii and Aspen a few times and Disney World once but most of the times vacations, when I could go when I wasn’t in school, were where my Dad went on business trips.”

“Did you have a favorite vacation when you were little?” Pepper asked as the waiter was bringing their meals.

“I did have one,” Tony mused as he started in on his dinner. “But it wouldn’t be one that you would expect.”

“Well, what was it?” Pepper pushed.

“I think I was about nine…I know I was definitely in high school when we went…and my father decided to do a typical east coast vacation…going to the shore. So, we went to Ocean City, Maryland. We did the whole Boardwalk and mini-golf thing, pigged out on French fries and make your own sundaes and probably hit every one of those seafood buffets. We spent time on the overly crowded beaches, went deep sea fishing and saw that island with the ponies…everything any normal family would have done.”

“Why is it your favorite? I would have pegged EPCOT as your dream come true.” Pepper commented.

“EPCOT was awesome but I liked this one because there were no cameras, no one bugging us and no one knew I was a nine year old high school sophomore. I got to play with the other kids and no one knew anything except that I was from Long Island.” Tony explained.

Pepper finished off another glass and smiled as she refilled it. “I know Ocean City very well. I spent nearly every summer there growing up.”

Over the course of dinner, Tony and Pepper managed to keep the conversation light by swapping vacation stories from their childhood. Neither one really kept track of the time. The only sign that they had been there for a while was the two empty wine bottles and a very inebriated sun burnt Pepper. Tony had eased off the wine a little earlier than Pepper did and he had a much higher tolerance for alcohol than his assistant. He just sat back and watched as she got more and more drunk and very giggly. It was a little amusing for him to watch his ever professional assistant let loose like this.

“I want to go to the casino,” Pepper slurred a little bit after she had finished her meal. “I haven’t had a chance to gamble at all here yet.”

Tony looked over at Pepper and assessed how drunk she was. “I think it might be a better idea to do that another night when you’re not sloshed.” For once, he was the voice of reason.

“Excuse me, I think I would know what I am capable of doing,” Pepper said as she tried to stand up, wobbling a bit by her chair. “I am perfectly capable of playing a few hands of cards or the slots. Weren’t you shooting Craps drunk in Vegas before Afghanistan?” she blurted out.

“Yes and I lost about a million on one roll thanks to Rhodey.” Tony stated.

“Anything you can do…so can I.” Pepper insisted.

Tony sighed and closed his eyes, shaking his head as he signed for the bill. “Okay, we’ll go on a few conditions,” Tony started as Pepper crossed her arms in front of her like a stubborn child. “Number one, stay right by me…if they see that you are…how you are…they won’t let you gamble. Number two, I pick the games and set the limits since you’re playing with my money here and three…you have to do everything I say. Do we have a deal?”

“Deal,” Pepper said as she shook his hand in a little bit of an over exaggerated motion.

Tony just sighed as took Pepper’s arm and interlocked it with his so he could steady her enough to get to the casino.