And just as easily as that, they were slipping back into their normal routine.
A routine that had him set apart from her. Set her into her position as secretary...and him into his position as boss.
A routine that was absolutely nothing like the comfort and familiarity they'd found in one another yesterday as they curled up on the couch in a nice, afternoon nap...but rather, a routine that might be the only hopes of salvaging whatever remained of their relationship. Despite the almost snide manner in which the words had been said, Pepper knew a flag of truce when she saw Tony waving it and she had two choices at this moment. She could tell him once and for all to leave her house and to never come back here again...or she could step into that role of assistant and pray that somehow they may yet find a piece of their relationship worth saving from their own destructive behavior.
He really was all she had. Even still, she knew what her choice would be.
"Mr. Stark, I would like to request the rest of today off. You can take a days wages off...or count it as one of my fifty vacation days I have saved up. I will be in tomorrow all the earlier for it...but I think I need to spend today here. Working." She gave a vagued motion towards the books she had scattered on the table, along with the notes she'd made from her meeting with those two interesting characters at Sbarros.
She looked back up at him with a kind of sharp determination that he knew as her particular brand of stubborness. "We are going to get back home. We have to. We don't belong here. I've already begun working on figuring out this whole thing and I think with continued determination and with Jarvis' help, I will find a way. I just...need more time."