Pepper busted through the front doors to the hospital, stopped for a moment to look around, then ran again. The wind passing her as she ran through the hospital began to dry her tears, but she knew they kept falling. She ran past hospital rooms filled with people with different ailments. She ignored their cries of pain and family members' weeping. They had nothing on them compared to what she was facing now. She peered into each hospital room, hoping to find Tony; her Tony. The person she had been forced to tear herself from just hours earlier only to find out over a single devastating phone call was perhaps minutes away from slipping under. And she would not let him go under; at least not without her being by his side.

At the end of the hall, Pepper saw a sign that pointed out where to find the cafeteria, emergency room, and other areas of the hospital. She quickly followed the given directions, ran quickly down a staircase, down another hallway, and that's when she saw the room. The outside doors were guarded so no one would get inside. The shade on the window was down. Pepper tried to push her way past the guards, but they overpowered her.

"You're not allowed in there, miss." One of the guards warned. Pepper took a step back and felt angry. Suddenly, she screamed "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Trying not to cry at the same time, but failing to, and pushed the guards out of the way. She burst through the door and pushed her way past the doctors surrounding Tony's bed.

When Pepper saw him laying there, covered in blood, cuts and bruises, bandages and respirators, everything churning and beeping, she stopped in her tracks. She had tried to stay strong before, but seeing him like that just crushed her. She bent down to his side, placed her hand on top of hers and ignoring the blood that stained her hand, and stared into his closed eyes with tears streaming down hers.

"No, no no no no, Tony please don't die! I need you here, I need you…please don't go…I…I love you, Tony…please, don't…" She couldn't speak anymore. She was too overwhelmed with tears. She dropped her head beside his hand and her tears fell onto him.

"Pepper…" When she heard that weak, whispering voice, Pepper immediately perked up and looked to see Tony's eyes the tiniest sliver opened.

"T-Tony? I-is that you?" Pepper asked quietly.

"Pepper…I," Pepper smiled widely, but stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"I love you, too, Pepper…" He whispered. Pepper kept her smile and felt the tears stream down her cheeks again.

"Do me a favor, Tony," She said, "don't die." Tony quietly slipped back into a deep sleep as Pepper leaned over his bedside and kissed him.

~…~

Pepper latched onto Tony's arm tighter as the memory flashed in her mind. She smiled up to him and felt thankful that his eyes were a bright, sparkly blue.

"Hey, Tony?" She said happily.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"I love you," Tony chuckled.

"I love you back, then," Tony said, leaning in to kiss her. "But why do you keep saying that?"

"Because, I never want to let you go, silly!" Pepper laughed.

"Ahem? Guys? If you want to come back to reality, I'd like to inquire what happened last week? I believe you have quite the story to tell." Cori interrupted, trying not to gag at their gushiness as she placed her feet atop the desk next to her.

"Oh, right. Well, anyways, it all started a few weeks ago…"

~…~

On a normal, sunny spring day, one wouldn't suspect trouble is brewing. That's why Tony, Pepper and Rhodey hadn't a worry in the world today. Why would they? Last few weeks of school ahead, it's bright and warm outside, the sun is smiling down on them, and for Pepper, Tony was being as dreamy as ever.

"Come on, can't you just skip being Iron Man for one day? You promised we'd do something fun today!" Pepper whined. Tony chuckled.

"That's not really something I have a choice over, Pepper," Tony responded. "And I know I promised we'd hang out today, but I have a responsibility to attend to. I need to work on the armor before an emergency comes up and I'm not prepared."

"Aww, can't you just use some other armor? You have like five of them!"

"Sorry Pepper, I really am. But I promise, as soon as I'm done we can do whatever it is that you wanted to do." Tony said. Pepper folded her arms and moped.

"You're no fun." Tony smiled and attended to his armor.

Little did he know how vulnerable he was at that moment.

Well, short epilogue, but friggin' awesome start to what is going to be an awesome story! HAHA! So many questions here. Like, for instance, who is Cori? What role does she play in this story? Why was Tony in the hospital? What will happen next? Find out in the next chapter of *drumroll please!* Endangerment! Review :3

Oh, P.S.-sorry if I didn't title it 'Endangerment', it was just a rough draft title that idk if I'm going to use or not.

P.P.S-the commercial for IM:AA season 2 is SUPPOSED to air before or after Voltron Force on Thursday! Yeah, that's right! I said this Thursday, June 16th, 2011! I'M SO EXCITED YOU PEOPLE HAVE NOOOOOO IDEA :3 XD