Not That Lucky

#10: It's an 'I' in Happiness, Not a 'Y'

"Rest your head here, pull me closer

I'll hold you tight while you let go, girl

And I could love you if you just let me

Be the one you, be the one you need, oh."

—Brett Eldredge (The One You Need)

__________

The rest of the week and the next were kind of a blur and it was probably because for the first time in this job I was actually swamped. Pepper had emailed me details about the first gala I was supposed to organize. It'd be on the Monday of Thanksgiving week which meant I had a total of three weeks to plan it since November had already arrived. According to Pepper this would be an easier gala since there was no one to woo or impress. This was simply a gala where they could thank investors and partners of Stark Industries for their work and money. Essentially, I was just planning a giant party.

"Thank you so much again." I hung up with the caterers and marked them off the list I made of people I needed to touch base with to make sure they knew the plans. The gala was in six days and I was stressing a little. Or a lot. I just wanted this to be perfect. The greatest gala to ever be held. I was basically setting myself up for failure with standards like that, but I was determined not to screw this up.

"Hey, Aj." Bruce called from across the room. Tony had been done with meetings for the day, only having a half day since I worked in lab time for him in the afternoon, so I was in my lounge clothes sitting at the large dining table in the shared workspace. All my gala plans were set out in front of me. I wasn't ashamed to admit I gave Tony dedicated lab time because it meant I could work on this uninterrupted. Bruce came over and set his hand on my shoulder as he glanced at the pages in front of me, "I was going to ask if you were busy, but I guess this answers my questions."

I laughed and used my other hand to pat his own, "Nah, sit down, what's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know who I had coming for Thanksgiving dinner. Tony told me you were making a list of guests to keep up with so you knew how much food to order and things like that." Bruce sat down with a shrug. I sat in my seat like a deer in headlights. Bruce called my name again before waving his hand in front of my face, then he sighed, "Tony told us that, but didn't tell you. That makes a lot of sense actually."

"I'm going to murder him." I shook my head. "I am going to throttle that man with my bare hands."

Bruce chuckled, "I won't stop you."

I groaned and rubbed at my face, "Will you please tell me what's happening?"

"Tony wants to have a big Thanksgiving dinner. We had one last year and now he wants to make it an annual thing." Bruce explained. "It's Avengers plus family. He has catering come in with the food and we just spend time together. One, big, really weird family."

I chuckled and pulled out my Stark Pad, opening a new document, "Alright, who're you bringing, big man?"

"I just have one guest. Her name is Betty Ross." Bruce said and I wrote his name and her name down. "She's actually coming in for the gala too. I'm excited for you to meet her."

I gave him a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, "So she's the girl, huh?"

"Yes. She's the girl Tony doesn't stop making fun of me about." Bruce chuckled.

"Well, I got it down." I grinned. "If you head up to the lab can you tell Tony to come down here? I'm gonna make him walk to his own death because I don't feel like getting up."