Author's Note: Okay, so this has been in my head all week and wouldn't let me study for exams until I got it out. So...here it is.

Pepper Potts had always had a suspicion that Tony Stark was going to make her cry one day, no matter how hard she tried to stop it.

When Rhodey had first called her and asked if she was at her apartment, she knew that something had to be wrong. For one, Rhodey made sure that he didn't call her after midnight. And if it wasn't important, he would have sent someone to see her at the office or at Tony's place. This time, he wanted her to be comfortable, and he figured that she would be most comfortable in the privacy of her own home. She shouldn't have to drive home after he gave her news that he was sure was going to send her into tears.

Normally, Pepper Potts wasn't really a crying woman. Sure, when she was having her "time of month," she had a tendency to be more irritable than usual (Rhodey knew this because Tony had spilled his guts about Pepper after several drinks one night.), but she was definitely not what he would consider a weepy woman. That's why he was so worried about how she would take everything. She absorbed and deflected, but now she wouldn't have anywhere to deflect this. She was the type to keep everything shut away inside herself, and he was afraid that this would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

A young serviceman knocked on her door fifteen minutes after Rhodey first called, and her phone rang three minutes later. Pepper took the call sitting bolt upright on the edge of her sofa, clad in yoga pants and a t-shirt. Even in her pajamas, she looked every inch the professional woman that everyone saw on a day-to-day basis.

"Hello," she said, despite the fact that she knew who was calling.

"Pepper, it's Rhodey. Are you sitting down?"

"Yes…Is it Tony?"

He was silent for a long moment before answering. "Yes…Our convoy was attacked this afternoon. Several marines were killed, and Tony is…Right now, he is listed as missing. We haven't found a body… "

Rhodey heard her take a deep breath and hold it for a long moment, before sighing. He kept waiting to hear her sniffle or sob or scream hysterically at him like many others had done before her. He hated being the bearer of bad news, and he hated even more that he wasn't there to give it to her in person. Instead of crying, however, she just continued to take deep, even breaths.

"Are you expecting to find a body?" she asked softly.

"With all the terrorist activity in this area, he could have been kidnapped."

"Does Obadiah know?"

"Yes, we informed him first. Pepper, I'm so sorry—"

She cut him off. "Should I be expecting a ransom demand?"

"It's possible. There is also a strong possibility that he could be d—"

"I know…has someone told Happy?"

"Not yet. I was going to call him next," Rhodey said.

"No…I—I'll do it. Is there anything else I can do?" she asked, her voice steady and even. Too even.

"We're going to have to have a press conference. I can have someone organize it, if you would like," he answered, trying to take as much pressure off Pepper as he possibly could.

"No, I can coordinate it. We'll need a satellite link. The press are going to want to talk to you. Unless you're coming—No, you won't be coming home. You'll stay to look for Tony…Right? You'll keep looking?"

She was trying to keep it together, and she was doing one hell of a job. While his offer to have someone else organize a press conference was very generous, it was something that she needed to do. In the back of her mind, she knew that if she stopped moving, stopped working, she was going to lose it. Tony was…everything. He was her boss, her friend, her…what they had was impossible to label. He was too important to entrust his press conference to anyone else. She was his shadow, and if—when—the world was going to hear about his disappearance, they would hear it from her.

"Of course, Pepper, we'll keep looking. Are you alright?"

"Um…I don't know if alright is really the right word. I'm not going to fall apart, if that's what you're asking. There's no time to fall apart right now. Tony needs me."

"Okay then. Let me give you the names of some of the people you're going to need to get in touch with…"

Even when she had to tell Happy that his friend and boss was missing and possibly dead, she didn't lose it. Not a single tear was shed as she calmly sat the former boxer down and relayed everything that Rhodey had told her. As she called the PR department of Stark Industries, the Board of Directors, Obadiah, and every news station within a fifty mile radius, she remained stoic.

Tears were not going to help Tony, and there simply wasn't time for that right now. There wasn't time for tears because when she started crying, she wasn't going to stop for a very long time. There were too many tears to be shed for Tony Stark, and she wasn't going to shed them unnecessarily. According to Rhodey, there was a chance that he could be found, though he seemed discouraged that they had not received a ransom demand yet.

Even when she saw Christine Everhart sitting perched on the front row of folding chairs that had been set up in the large pressroom at Stark Industries, she held it together. She refused to think that blonde floozie might be the last woman Tony had slept with. At this point, she would be grateful to be shooing more women out his bedroom if it meant having him back. Before she stepped up to the podium, she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, determined to keep up the brave face.

"Thank you for coming this afternoon. I'm sure that you all have questions, but I'm going to have to ask that you please hold them until the end of the press conference. As you may know, Tony Stark has been in Afghanistan for a weapons demonstration for the past two days. Unfortunately, as he was en route to return to the Air Force base, his convoy was attacked."

The crowd exploded with questions, and she raised a hand to silence them. After several minutes, they did so.

"Several young marines lost their lives, and our condolences go out to their families. It is to my great sadness to inform you that Tony Stark is missing."

Again, the crowd exploded, and it took much longer for them to quiet down this time. The whole time, Pepper stood their silently, biting her lip, wondering how the hell Tony managed to charm a crowd like he did. Oh, right. He was Tony Stark.

"We have a satellite link to Col. James Rhodes, who can provide you with more information on the situation. Afterwards, any questions you have may be directed to Mr. Obadiah Stane. Thank you for your cooperation."

Having said her part, Pepper would have liked to exit the stage and make her way to the office where she could go to work. Instead, she had to stand aside and listen as Rhodey went through the gory details of what could have happened to Tony. Then, furthermore, she had to listen as almost every reporter in the room asked Obadiah a bunch of pointless questions that were probably never going to make it into any newspaper or television broadcast. The whole time, she managed to stand back and look properly somber. Not too, somber, though, because then they would all write that she was sleeping with him.

When it was finally over, Obadiah patted her gently on the shoulder. "Are you alright? Would you like Happy to take you home?"

"No," she said with a slight nod. "I have work I need to do. I'll be in my office."

And she stayed in her office almost every waking moment for the next three months. Any paper that was meant for Tony, she looked over and responded to appropriately, just as she would have done if he were on an extended business trip. When there wasn't enough for her to do, she started to look over everything that everyone else was doing. The accounting department hated this the most, because Pepper was a shrewd business woman and kept sending them suggestions on where to cut spending and that sort of thing. Then she would send memos about cutting spending to the Board of Directors.

When she finally left work at night, usually around ten o'clock—which was earlier than she was used to—she went straight home, where she made herself a cup of tea and went to bed. She would rise at five o'clock and was always in the office by seven in the morning. Despite her increasing worry for her boss, she never let if affect her work. She was always the last one to leave at night—other than security—and she was the first to arrive in the morning.

When Rhodey called her at noon, just as she was returning from an errand, she answered the phone immediately. Happy, who had been holding the door open for her, looked highly confused as she turned around and sat herself back down in the car.

"Pepper!" He sounded excited.

"Yeah?"

"We got him! We found him!"

"Tony? You found Tony?"

"Yes! He was in the middle of the desert. He's saying that he'd been kidnapped by a terrorist group. They asked him to build one of the new Jericho missiles—"

She could hear Rhodey talking to someone else in the background, but the voice was muffled. There were a series of strange fumbling noises, and for a moment she thought that she had lost the call.

"Rhodey? Rhodey, are you there? Is he okay? Can I talk to him? When are you going to home?" Questions just spilled out of her mouth. Relief was evident in everything about her. She got no answer for several long minutes, and she was about to hang up when she heard a familiar voice.

"Pepper?"

He didn't sound like his normal, cocky self. Instead, he sounded…hesitant and almost…child-like.

"Tony? Are you alright?" she asked, trying not to overwhelm him with her many questions.

"I'll be fine. How are you?"

"How am—How am I? I—I'm fine. When are you going to be back in the States?" She was shaking so hard it was difficult to hold on to the phone.

"Missed me, did you? We'll be leaving soon. Rhodey said it would be twenty-three hours or so." Despite his attempt at humor—which was what convinced her that he really must be okay—he sounded so tired. She could hardly blame him…God only knows what he had been through. "Rhodey is saying I have to go."

"Okay. We'll meet you at the A—Air Force base."

"Pepper?"

"Yeah, Tony?"

"It's good to hear your voice."

"Yours too."

"I'll see you soon."

"Okay…" She was reluctant to hang up the phone, to let go of her link to Tony. Her hands were trembling so badly that the phone dropped into the floor boards. She didn't bother to retrieve it. She didn't dared to speak the words out loud, as if she were afraid that saying it aloud would suddenly ruin it all. If it were a dream, saying it aloud would end the dream and she would wake up. Instead, she sat there in silence. Well, relative silence—the radio was on. John Denver was singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

Kiss me and smile for me, tell me that you'll wait for me, hold me like you'll never let me go. 'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane. I don't know when I'll be back again…

It was the song that did it. Because that was exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to kiss him and tell him that she loved him and hold him so tight…but now she did know when he would be back. He would be back in twenty three hours. The relief of it all poured over her, and suddenly, she lost it. Everything that she had been holding in for the past three months came pouring out as she sobbed. They were massive sobs that shook her entire body. She was crying so hard that it was difficult for her to breathe.

Outside the car, Happy could hear her sobbing. Terrified that she had gotten bad news, he tore open the door and slid inside. Pepper was curled up in a ball on the leather seat, not worried at all about what her heels could do to the upholstery, crying her eyes out. Her face was red and blotchy, her hair a mess. Somehow, she had managed to pull a handkerchief out of her pocket and tried to wipe her eyes, but it was no use. She kept right on crying.

"Pepper? What did Rhodey say? Is he okay?" Happy asked, taking her by the shoulders. She nodded her head, but continued to cry. "Tony's okay? Pepper, is Tony okay?"

"Yes…He's fine. He'll be…home in twenty-three hours…He's coming home, Happy. He'll be home…"

The relief of it was overwhelming. Suddenly, there was time to cry for Tony Stark, but for a different reason. There would be no visitation to attend, no burial arrangements to be made. Instead, she would quietly welcome him home, where they would resume life as usual. Now, she realized, she had a chance to do all those silly things that were in that song. Kissing and holding and loving…they were all possibilities. She wasn't crying in sorrow for what she had lost. She was crying for what she had regained.

When Pepper Potts finally cried her tears for Tony Stark, they were tears of happiness.

Author's Note: So, there it is. I hope you enjoyed it. Please, please, please review, because that might save me from the endless pit of despair that is exam week.