Stories From The Island
Momma Told Me Not To Come

Warning(s): Spanking; mentions of drugging and other potential triggers, spoilers for various MARVEL movies and television programs

***

Pepper got an almost embarrassed look on her face, but she answered anyway. "I was a freshman in university. I'd not ever been away from home for a long length of time, so the first few months in the dorm, I didn't really do anything except study and go to class or work. I'd gotten a bit of a reputation as a shy bookworm and my roommate was determined she was going to change that. So when she got the invitation to a party from one of her older boyfriend's housemates, she accepted and then somehow convinced me to go."

***

Pepper couldn't believe she'd let Bitsy talk her into going to this party. She knew for a fact her roommate was no older than she was, just turned 18, but it was obvious that a large portion of party attendees were over 21...and most of them were drunk. Bitsy was well on her way to being drunk, having grabbed a red cup of something the moment they'd arrived. Pepper wasn't entirely certain she wasn't drunk. She'd attempted to stick to plain soda, but one of the sodas she'd had, had tasted a bit odd and now she was feeling dizzy and was having a hard time focusing. Maybe it was because she had low blood sugar; she'd skipped both lunch and dinner to finish a report that was due the next morning, after all. She probably just needed something with sugar in it to tide her over till she could find some actual food. She grabbed another red cup of punch from the student playing bartender and took two big swallows. It didn't help...and in fact made things worse.

"Oooh, stop spinning the room..." she complained, not expecting anyone to hear her or respond, since most of them were either dancing like lunatics or passed out on any nearby furniture they could find.

Remy gathered up the last of his winnings and grinned around at the rest of the students. "Nice doing business with you." He planned to clear out and head back to the place he was staying... at least he now had the rent... but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one student who looked drunk. Or drugged.

It wasn't technically his business... but no one else around her seemed to be paying any attention. And she looked like she was too young to be at the party.

Noticing one of the older guys making his way towards the student, Remy quickly swooped in, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her safely away. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you." As he spoke, he was steering her through the crowd of people... towards the door and fresh air.

Pepper blinked owlishly at the boy- no, he was definitely not a boy- who had her securely in hand and tried not to throw up on him, even as she also tried to get her mouth to form the words to the question running through her head. "Wh...wh...whoa..." she finally settled on, letting herself lean on him more fully as her legs suddenly felt like jelly and her vision swam again. "I don't feel so good..." she whispered, suddenly a bit scared as she realized she was in a stranger's house, surrounded by strangers and she couldn't keep her eyes open. Her parents had made certain to sit her down and explain in detail the dangers of something like that happening (well, they'd explained the dangers of drinking to excess and going to parties that weren't chaperoned...but all she could remember were the horror stories they'd detailed). "Wh...where are we going?" she asked in a tiny voice, making a tentative move to get away from him, since she didn't know who he was or what his intentions were. Then she saw the look on the face of the guy who'd originally been making a move toward her and decided the one currently holding her up was much less scary, burrowing closer to him like a baby rabbit hiding from a hound dog.

"Outside." Remy kept his body as a protective shield between the girl and any other guys who might have tried to prey on a clearly vulnerable youngster. He waited until they were outside, in the cold night air, and shrugged off his coat, placing it around her shoulders. "How much have you had to drink?"

"I didn't! I had...I had a coke... and then I had...I thought it was coke, but it tasted funny, so I don't know... and then I had that red punch stuff, but..." She huffed out a whimper and snuggled as close to Remy as she could. "Promised momma I wouldna drink 'fore I was 'egal...." She whimpered again. "Why is the air howling?" In the distance, sirens could be heard, but they were rapidly getting closer to the house where the party was at.

"Someone called the cops on the party... come on." Remy began walking quickly, his arm wrapped around Pepper... partly to look like a casual couple; partly to hold her up. "Where are you staying?"

"Cops?!" Pepper squeaked and plastered herself to Remy. "I didn't do anything..." She gulped. "Why do I feel so sick? I'm never drinking Coke or fruit punch again!" she moaned. She didn't pull away from Remy, though some instinct telling her she could trust him.

"Apart from drinking something that you didn't know could have been spiked," Remy muttered. "How close is your campus? Is it within walking distance?" he asked, keeping his steps casual and avoiding looking in the direction of the sirens.

"I don't know..." Pepper said mournfully. "I came with my roommate and her boyfriend and he drove. I don't even know which direction I live....I feel so sleepy...."

Remy shook his head, not very surprised. "I'll take you back to my place... but if whatever you're on doesn't wear off, I'll take you to the hospital." It would wipe out his rent money... but he couldn't in good conscience leave her to fend for herself.

"I'm sorry...I don't know your name...I'm not sposed to go home with strangers...even really nice ones who saved me..." Peppers voice was clear, if a bit confused and tired sounding. It was obvious whatever she had been slipped, it wasn't alcohol. "Sorry I'm a problem..." She winced, blinking back tears and tried to stay awake.

"My name's Remy." His voice was more patient than a situation like this would usually warrant from him. He could understand her reluctance to go to his place, so he changed his plans. "I know there's a twenty-four hour cafe close by... we can go there and wait it out."

"I'm Virginia. Everyone calls me Ginny..." Yawning, she snuggled closer to Remy. "Maybe the cafe isn't a good idea," she admitted, worried that someone would say something if she fell asleep there. "Don't wanna hospital, though...." A hospital would contact her parents. She didn't want them worried.

"We can't stay on the streets," Remy replied. "So I think cafe, my apartment or hospital are the only options."

Pepper bit her lip, but then nodded emphatically...or at least as emphatically as she was able in her drugged state. "Your apartment..." she finally said, reasoning to herself that if Remy had wanted to hurt her or use her in any way, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to help her the way he was doing, or would have immediately taken her to his apartment instead of giving her the choice. And she just felt like she could trust him.

Remy nodded and began guiding her in the direction of his apartment. "But if you get worse, I'm taking you to the hospital," he warned.

"Ok..." Pepper didn't argue further. She was still feeling very dizzy and tired and wasn't sure what might cause it. Yes- she'd apparently had two drinks without meaning to- but alcohol normally didn't affect people that way, did it? "What did I drink?" she asked in a near whisper, a bit frightened that she'd been given some drug she didn't know about.

"Whatever it was... it'll probably work its way out of your system. And if it doesn't, I'll take you to the hospital." Reaching his apartment, Remy kept an arm around Pepper as he unlocked the door and guided her inside.

"Thank you...you don't even know me and you're helping..." Pepper sniffed and couldn't help but hug Remy as he led her inside.

Remy shrugged, hugging her and then locking the door. "I couldn't leave you to fend for yourself." He led her through to the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge that he handed to her.

"But why? It was my own fault I was even there. I should never have agreed to go..." Pepper opened the bottle and began to drink. Her shoulders were slumped and she seemed dejected and sad.

"You made a mistake. You learn from it. Doesn't mean you should be arrested, or have to look after yourself when you've potentially been drugged," Remy said.

Pepper gave him a tiny smile. "You're nice...I'm lucky you found me..." she admitted, with a tiny hitch in her voice, as she came to realize exactly how much danger she could have been in if Remy hadn't stepped in.

"You could have been in a worse fix," Remy agreed. "I know you're reluctant to go to the hospital... do you need me to call anyone?"

Pepper finished the water he'd given her and yawned, before giving him an almost guilty but worried look. "No...." she hedged. She figured she probably should call her parents, or at least the dormitory dean, but she didn't want anyone to know that she'd been foolish enough to drink something without knowing who had given it to her, or what was in it. Even if she had no way of knowing someone would drug it.

Remy raised his eyebrows. "You sure about that?" he asked, noticing she was hedging.

"No...I...I don't want anyone to know what happened..." she said in an almost whisper, her face turning pink with embarrassment.

"Okay. You need some more water?" Remy asked, looking her over carefully in case she was about to collapse or had the munchies.

"Yes please...and...and maybe your couch?" she asked hesitantly, not sure if he'd insist she go to the hospital if she fell asleep, but feeling like she would at any moment.

"Of course." Retrieving a second bottle of water from the fridge, Remy guided Pepper through to the living room, helping her sit on the couch and passing her the bottle of water.

"You're a lifesaver..." Pepper smiled then winced slightly as she realized how literally that might be true. "Thank you...." She finished the second bottle of water then leaned sideways onto the couch's arm. It didn't take long at all for her to fall asleep.

Remy placed a blanket over her and then settled onto one of the armchairs, putting on the television quietly to kill some time while he waited to make sure nothing worse was going to happen to Pepper.

****

"You were drugged..." Jemma's worried voice broke the stunned silence.

Pepper swallowed then admitted, "Yeah. Not sure what with, but I was...."

"That's... hard to believe," Peter commented. "I mean, you're one of the most responsible people here."

"I take it the drug didn't have any lasting effects," Steve said, his eyes narrowed with worry.

Pepper blushed at Peter's comment. "Usually, I was. I made a really bad decision to go to a party where I didn't know anyone, where they were doing things I didn't really feel comfortable doing...and wasn't careful enough with my own safety. But I didn't take the drug deliberately; that was all on the creep who thought...."

She swallowed uncomfortably, before facing Steve. "No sir. Remy made certain I didn't leave until I felt normal and not in danger of passing out. And he made me promise to go to the hospital if I suddenly started having unusual problems. But I didn't."

"Did you ever tell your parents about what happened?" Leo asked, also finding it hard to imagine Pepper doing something that irresponsible... even though it was a little while ago.

Pepper bit her lip and glanced at Harry, then at Peter. "I in no way condone keeping such a secret..." She turned her gaze to Leo. "...Now. At the time, though, I couldn't imagine anything more horrible than admitting to them I had gone to a party like that and almost got...was nearly..." She shook her head and swallowed again. "I should have told them. As worried and upset as they would have been, they needed to know so that they could help me. If anything had happened because of the drugs, they wouldn't have known they needed to inform doctors, or anything, really. And they knew something had happened. They didn't know what, but they knew. They worried about me, but because they didn't know what was wrong, they felt helpless to do anything; and that hurt them almost as much, if not more than me."

"It's easy to know when a close family member is hiding something that hurts them." Steve tightened his arm around Pepper's shoulders. "But it sounds like you did learn from that. Since I can't imagine you would keep that kind of thing secret now." His voice was calm, but also very serious.

"No...I wouldn't," Pepper quickly agreed. She left unsaid that she was fairly certain Steve wouldn't let things go like her parents had originally...unlike her mom and dad, who hadn't had to deal with anything more dire than crushed feelings when Pepper's first boyfriend broke up with her to date a cheerleader, Steve had dealt with enough bad in the world that he knew exactly what questions to ask to get her to confess. Hiding things from him would be difficult to impossible. "I still feel guilty I never told them....but telling them now would...I don't know how it would do anything good and would hurt them again." She sighed.

"I learned more than not to hide things," she continued. "When I woke the next day, on top of getting my promise to go to the doctor if I had problems, Remy gave me a lecture on taking care of myself in social situations where I was surrounded by strangers. Namely, not to accept anything to eat or drink that I didn't watch be poured directly, never let my drink out of my sight; and if I did, not to drink it...make sure I was with a group of people I trusted and get a promise that we stick together and not leave each other alone...not go home with complete strangers, no matter how nice they seemed...." She blushed darkly.

Pepper bit her lip. "He also made sure I knew that being drugged wasn't my fault, despite the risks I'd taken...that was all on the guy who'd drugged me. That was easier to believe once I found out the reason the cops had shown up at that party was because an informant had told them he was there. He was a suspect in several other cases of drugging and....assault. When they got there, he was with another freshman girl. She hadn't been as lucky as me...." Pepper looked down. "Bastard only got five years...."

Steve frowned, seriously tempted to track the guy down and make sure he couldn't hurt anyone ever again. "It sounds like he made sure you'd think twice before doing something potentially irresponsible again," he commented, not giving voice to his feelings about hunting the guy down... though he suspected certain other members of the family had similar thoughts.

Thor wasn't nearly as willing to stew on it. "Perhaps we should track down this Midgardian who hurts those who are vulnerable."

Pepper blinked. "I pushed him to the back of my mind...just wanted to forget about it. I don't know what he did after he got out after his five years were up...if he reformed and never hurt anyone again, or if he went on to worse acts...."

She looked at Steve. "And yes. Remy made certain I learned how to be responsible for myself...not to trust in people's goodness to not take advantage if I didn't know them. I never did figure out why he chose to help me in that way. He certainly didn't have to. I never saw him after that, so it wasn't because he wanted anything from me...."

"Well, I'm grateful to him for doing that," Steve said seriously. "I'm glad he was there to help you and make sure you were safe."

"Did Remy give you a last name?" Tony asked. "I'd like to thank him myself."

Pepper smiled. "I'm afraid not. He liked to play cards. That's the only other bit of info I got from him."

"Maybe we'll run into him at some time in the future," Steve commented.

"Maybe..." Pepper agreed, though she sounded skeptical.

Matt cleared his throat quietly. "I'm glad you were alright, Pepper. Some of the people I've represented, or seen that needed representation...aren't alright and it just makes me do angry that they'd be hurt and used that way!" His voice was vehement.

Sam placed his hand on Matt's arm. "It sounds like something's resonated with you personally," he said quietly.