Pepper woke up early that morning. She groaned and turn over to check the time. 4:32 a.m. Pepper groaned once more and slapped her forehead. She felt terrible and cuddled more closely to her blanket.

Tony woke up that morning, after sleeping in more than usual. He hopped out of bed and realized it was already 10:53 a.m. Crap, he thought, pepper is gonna kill me and dance on my grave! He ran faster than before, and jumped into the shower.

Pepper lay in bed with a trashcan nearby. She learned the hard way that when you're sick, it's always handy to keep a trashcan near by. She felt her blackberry vibrate underneath her pillow, and pulled it out only to see that Tony was calling her. She slowly opened the phone, and held it to her hear,

"hurrllo…." She slurred.

"Pepper? Is that you?" Tony chuckles.

"Shut up. I told JARVIS I wont be coming in today." She retorted.

"Oh, he hasn't told me yet. What's going on? You never miss a day!" Tony said.

"I'm sick. All the paper work will be done tomorrow. Bye" Pepper groaned.

"WAIT! How sick are you? Like, a little cold, or sick as in the flu?" Tony asked.

"Both." Pepper said, and hung up.

"Jeez, someone doesn't take sickness very well" Tony sighed.

The next day, Pepper still hadn't come to work. And that's when Tony couldn't handle it anymore. He jumped in his Audi, and took off towards her apartment. He was sick with worry. Pepper had NEVER been sick. He slid smoothly in a parking space and got out of his car. He dashed up the pavement towards her door. He knocked several times, only to be greeted with no answer.

Tony checked under the placemat and found a spare. He slowly opened the door, and had to squint because all the lights were turned off. He tip-toed towards the light switch, and turned the kitchen lights on. He was Pepper half-way on the couch and on the floor.

"Pepper!" Tony yelped.

He ran over and slowly picked up Pepper in his arms. She moaned softly and turned her head towards his chest. His Arc reactor softly glowed on her freckles. She's so beautiful…Tony thought. But Pepper needed him. He needed to focus! He brought her over to her bed, and slowly placed her down.

He placed his hand on her forehead, and drew his hand back fast. She's burning up!He thought frantically. He dashed into the kitchen and retrieved a wet cloth and massaged her forehead with it. Pepper was fast asleep, and even though she was peacefully asleep, she looked horrible.

She started to shiver violently from the fever, and tony placed the blanket over her. Seeing she was still cold, Tony went to get several more blankets. "What! Who only keeps one blanket in their apartment!" Tony whisper-yelled. Tony walked back into Pepper's room, and realized she was still cold. He slowly crawled on the bed next to her, to share body warmth.

Tony tightly wrapped his arms around Pepper, and in return, Pepper subconsciously draped her left leg across his waist. Tony smirked, and Pepper sniggled into his chest. Tony kissed the top of her head, "Pepper, I should have been here earlier. I'm so sorry, for not taking care of you before."

Tony began to shaft Pepper's arms to warm her up, which just ended up waking up Pepper.

"Ughh…." Pepper moaned.

"Good morning, sunshine." Tony grinned.

"Wha…what's going on?" Pepper screeched. She tried to leave Tony's arms, but Tony wouldn't have any of that. He just held her tighter.

"Chill! I came here to see why you weren't at work for two days, only to come into you're apartment to see you half-way on the floor looking like you got mauled by a bear." Tony explained.

"Oh..." Pepper sighed. "Thank you Tony, but you don't have to be here, I don't want to hold you back. You have a lot of work to do."

Tony laughed. "Me? Work? Pepper, you know me better than that!"

Pepper smiled. "Thank you again, Tony. It really means a lot."

Tony kissed the tip of her nose. He slowly caressed her cheeks with his thumb.

Pepper just smiled even wider, and snuggled back into his chest to fall into a dreamless slumber.