"No- no Pep- I can't go now!" he was saying in his sleep. This had been going on every night for the past three months.
Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I rolled over, "Tony?" I said shaking him trying to wake him up.
"Huh what?" He said as he abruptly woke and sat up.
"Shhh, Tony" I said hugging him as his breathing slowed, "it's okay. You're here, you're alive"
"Pepper..." He said looking down at me with tears in his eyes.
"Talk to me Tony, I can't stand seeing you like this anymore" I said.
"I- Pepper, I thought I was going to die," he started putting his head in his hands, "I thought that I was going to die up there in space, I thought I wouldn't get to see you again." By this point he was sobbing.
"Shh, Tony, I'm here now, we're together now" I said rocking us back and forth, "it's going to be okay now"
"But what if it isn't? What if someone tried to kill you again? What if they succeed? I can't live without you Pepper, I love you" he whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere Tony. I love you more than you know. Now come on, come back to bed. I'll fight the monsters away for you" I whispered back pulling him back to bed with me.
As he got settled and wrapped his arms around me, we both started to drift off. Right as I was about to fall asleep I heard him say "I'm not letting you die, I'm not letting you go away ever again."
He paused for a minute before I heard him whisper something like "you're going to marry me soon".
I'll have to ask him about it in the morning. Right now, he needs his sleep. And so do I if I'm going to be fighting off his demons. It'll be hard, but we'll make it through. No matter what.
When I woke up in the morning, he wasn't there.
"Tony?" I called as I walked downstairs looking for him.
"He is in the basement Ms. Potts" Jarvis said as I searched.
"Thank you Jarvis" I said as I walked to the basement.
"Tony? Can I come in?" I asked once I got down there and saw him working on something on his computer.
"Yeah, I actually need you to try something out for me if you don't mind" he asked smiling, motioning me over.
"Well, I don't know. The last time you asked me to help you with something, I was pulling that thing" I said pointing to his chest, "out of you. And that wasn't particularly fun"
"You'll like it this time, I promise" he said smiling again.
"Fine" I said sighing, "what do you need me to do?"
"I need you to look at the prototype for a new Iron Man suit I've been working on" he said pulling the blueprints up on the computer.
"Okay, what about it?" I asked looking at it.
"Click that green button" he said as I heard him moving behind me.
"Okay" I said pushing the button as "I choose you" by Sara Bareilles started playing and "Will you marry me Pepper?" appeared in the screen. Gasping, I turned around to find Tony down on one knee.
"Virginia Pepper Potts" he started as he grabbed my hands and intertwined them with his, "since the moment you walked through my door for our interview I have wanted you. You provoked feelings in me that I didn't even know existed. I thought I was going to end up alone with a different 20-something in my bed every night. But since the day I met you, I've wanted it to be you in my bed every night and now that I have you, I'm never letting you go again. I'm not that stupid."
He laughed and let go of my hands to pull out a velvet box. When he opened it, there was a gorgeous gold ring band with three nice sized diamonds in the middle of it. I had been crying since the minute I read those four words on the screen, but now I was full-out bawling with my hand covering my mouth in awe.
"And I know that I haven't been the best boyfriend, and I doubt I'll be the best husband, but if you'll have me I promise you won't ever regret it. And these diamonds, there's three of them for the three amazing years we've had together. And every year I will add another one until there's no room left and I have to go buy another band and start all over. Because you deserve it, you deserve everything in the world Pepper." He said pausing once again to take my hand and take the ring out with the other, "Will you, Virginia Pepper Potts- soon to hopefully be Stark, marry me?" He asked looking up at me with tears in his eyes.
It took me a minute to respond, but finally I did crying out, "yes! Of course I'll marry you Tony!"
He slid the ring on my finger and then stood up and kissed me, and kissed me hard.
I was going to be Mrs. Stark... I had waited for this day, for a long, long time.
AN: Again, this is not my best writing but I was asked to post it anyways so here it is! Enjoy!