Mary didn't remember what happened the next morning, she just remembered arriving at Stark industries and talking with Tony. He was surprised to see her but greated her nonetheless, it was late and he was obviously drunk. That much was evident by the slurring of his words, and the more drunk he got the more flirty he got. Mary had been a bit drunk herself so she was all for it but everything after that was a blur.

She had a hunch about what happened but tried her best not to think about it, because not only did it mean she had cheated but that she had slept with Tony Stark. So after she realized she was laying in a bed, she quickly got dressed and ran out of the room. Tony wasn't in the bed when she left which she was partly greatfull for because she didn't feel like talking about her suspiciousns. As she ran down the stairs she noticed a woman with strawberry blonde hair wearing a tight white skirt with a matching blouse and high heels.

"Excuse me mam, do you work here?" Mary asked and the woman took one look at her and looked disgusted with her mere presence.
"Yes I am Mr. Stark's assistant, " she responsed. "Can I help you?" Mary didn't say anything for a bit because she could already tell that this lady didn't like her.
"Just looking for the quickest way out, " Mary responded. She didn't feel like asking why this woman disliked her but for all she knew, the woman could be having a bad morning.
"Sure its this way follow me,"

The woman responded and escorted her towards the door. Call Mary crazy but she could feel the woman staring daggers at her from behind. Mary tried to make small talk but it wasn't really going anywhere.
"Um thank you, by the way I never caught your name. I'm Mary, " she said holding her hand out to the other woman but she didn't take it.
"Virginia but most call me Pepper, " she responded and walked away without saying anything else.
"Yikes guess I caught her at a bad time or something, " Mary said to herself as she walked out the door swinging her purse over her shoulder.

Tony was disappointed when he found out that Mary had left, after hearing everything about the miserable marriage she was going through he wanted nothing more to punch the lights out of her husband. However he knew that wouldn't change anything, but he could at least be there for her like she had been there for him.
"Pep where is Mary at?" Tony asked as he came down one of the many stair cases already dressed for work.
"Oh she left Tony, had to rush home, How do you know her anyway? " Pepper asked.

She was dreadfully curious about this woman, she knew that Tony was a womanizer and had one night stands with woman all the time. But something about this one was different, he generally seemed to care about her and had a strange familiarity with her that Pepper couldn't explain.
"Old friend of mine, we met at MIT, " Tony responded and he was a bit surprised with her tone. Was she jealous? Tony didn't do romantic relationships, it just wasn't his thing and he thought she knew that.

This was her second year working for him, so she should know his routine by now.
"Interesting, if you don't mind me asking what did you talk about last night?" Pepper asked as after hearing that she instantly wanted to know more about Mary.
"Her marriage is falling apart that's all I can really say, " he admitted it was personal information so he couldn't give away too much. The fact that he was more attracted to a taken woman rather than her, Pepper felt her jealousy rise in her throat. However she put her normal facade off being sweet and understanding about it.