Author's note: Okay, so the story starts after Tony brings Pepper strawberries in Iron Man 2. She then leaves for Montana (instead of going to New York like in the film) and Tony tags along with her (instead of talking Howard's Stark Expo diorama home and rediscovering the hidden element) in an attempt to fix their relationship. Also, because he's Tony.

Timeline-wise, he's still dying and she's still pissed at him for his birthday stunts.

(I am having so much fun with this one it's crazy :))

Without you I would fall apart,
I'm safe when I am in your arms.
And only you can set me free,
And only you can save me...

"Only You Can Save Me" - Darin

The day couldn't have gone any worse.

Well, actually Pepper could imagine about a thousand different ways for it to fall apart even more, but most of them would qualify as the end of the world at this point.

It all started innocently enough, sort of, with one of the members of the Stark Industries Board of Directors having a family emergency and cancelling his visit to the ski and spa resort in the middle of nowhere, Montana. The very one who came up with the idea to meet in the middle of nowhere, Montana, in the first place – to discuss the investments and probably break his leg in at least 4 places while braving the steep slopes. Nothing out of the ordinary, truth be told, although Pepper should've seen a much bigger disaster coming.

Actually, she should've probably guessed this day would be a nightmare when her alarm didn't go off in the morning. Or maybe when she spilled scalding-hot coffee on her favourite blouse because she was too busy trying to fix her hair and find her pumps at the same time. Or when she broke her favourite coffee mug about 10 seconds after the blouse catastrophe.

Or when Tony showed up at her office with the strawberries and decided to join her on the trip - on a whim, obviously – despite the fact that he hated this kind of meetings claiming they were putting him to sleep faster than whiskey and Nyquil (she honesty didn't want to even imagine). It is still my company, you know. … Why would I need a luggage? Please!

Or when she sent her resume to Stark Industries 11 years ago.

Just her luck!

Strangely enough, their plane didn't crash somewhere in Yellowstone, even though she wouldn't be surprised if it did. She even wasn't late. Not by Tony's standards anyway. It was not, however, a break she so desperately needed, but merely a calm before the storm.

The problems started piling up soon after they landed. As it turned out, without the unavailable Board member whose presence apparently was critical, seeing as how he initiated the event, it had to be postponed altogether. As if the Stark Expo wasn't enough of a headache to deal with, she thought. And having Tony around did not help the matters, not the slightest bit, what with the tension between them being too palpable for comfort.

She hoped – desperately so – that this was it for the day. Several hours of wasted time and an extremely grumpy company were not the end of everything.

And boy, was she wrong!

First, their pilot announced a technical problem with the jet that made the immediate departure for New York impossible. And when this was out the way, it started to snow. Naturally. Montana in December was painfully predictable, no surprise here. Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem in the long run, but then the snow turned into a blizzard, which made it impossible and extremely unsafe to take off until the it ended or at the very least died down. Needless to say, the weather forecast wasn't particularly promising.

By the time this news came around, Pepper's headache had a headache.

And this was how she and Tony ended up stuck in an overbooked hotel in the mountains, miles away from any other kind of civilization for God only knew how long.

"It usually ends within 12 hours or so," a very enthusiastic receptionist, whose nametag read Melody, told her as the wind howled outside, sounding like something from a horror movie. "Sometimes less. Although last week it lasted for a few days. But maybe not this time." And then she smiled.

It would've been very unprofessional to groan and drop her head on the marble counter and maybe cry for a week, so Pepper just nodded and promptly ignored Tony who was all but dancing impatiently next to her, practically beaming at the said receptionist who, by the way, also didn't miss a chance to demonstrate her perfectly white teeth to him. Ironically, it also turned out being the first time in his life when his platinum card couldn't solve their problems at a snap of his fingers – friendly as the staff was (some more than the others even), they were not going to kick anyone out of their rooms to accommodate the two of them for the night.

Well, with the exception of this one option…

"Are you sure they have only one room left?" Tony asked, following her and her neat little suitcase down the corridor and turning his head left and right, checking the plates on the doors in search of the room 1575.

"I could ask again, in case they got it wrong the first seven times."

"And this is the only hotel in the entire state of Montana, obviously."

"If you decide to walk 20 miles to the nearest town and see what they have to offer, I promise not to stop you." Or if you choose to bunk over with someone, she added in her mind, wincing inwardly at the idea that wasn't entirely improbable.

They stopped before their designated room, and Pepper turned to him. This day already felt like a 15-year long nightmare that started sometime last night at Tony's birthday party and she honestly had no energy left for him and his issues and petulant behaviour. Not tonight.

"We could take a cab," he shrugged.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, counting to five before responding to him. "Not until the roads are cleared." And as an afterthought, "Please don't destroy this place just because they don't play by your rules."

Tony ignored her comment entirely and narrowed his eyes. "Didn't think you'd be okay with… this arrangement. Who are you and what have you done with Pepper?"

She leveled him with a look, trying not to noticethe flutter of her heart when the reality of what was going on finally settled in. "I'm not okay with anything, Tony, trust me. But I am more okay with that than with sleeping in a lobby." Although she wasn't quite sure she chose the lesser of two evils.

She inserted the key card into the slot and pushed the door open. Blindly, she reached for the light switch and flipped it up.

Behind her, Tony whistled quietly, peeking inside over her shoulder.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Pepper whispered.

To be continued...