I don't own any of the amazing Marvel characters.

Rated M for possible adult situations and some bad words. We try to keep classy, but realistic ;)

A/N: Hi, this is my first fic, well... my first one here. I really love this couple. I hope you enjoy this and please review! we start in the present, and then go back to the night when they battled Killian and everything that led Tony and Pepper to our first scene. The narrative will be a little dynamic, so I hope you like it. Again, I would love to read your reviews :)

A/N2: My English is a little rusty!

Chapter 1: The extremis effect.

"Would you try and stop it for a second, I'm trying to…"

"Oh, please Tony, you can't take this seriously I…

"…Figure this thing out, but you only yell and keep…

"IT'S ONLY FOR YOUR SAFETY, you idiot"

"Oh my God, just stop!, PLEASE STOP" she stopped talking "Pep, please, we're fighting again" He said with a lower voice.

She calmed down for a little; they both were in silence for a few seconds. They were in Tony's lab at Stark Tower, trying to find a cure for her everyday. It had been a week since the whole incident, and Tony was afraid he wasn't getting results with his experiments, but he was close.

"We were just arguing our different points of…"

"Honey"

"Ok, I'm sorry, but most of all because I heard myself and sounded as stubborn as you... you're contagious you know" She smiled and looked at Tony, who was getting close to grab her hand and kiss it.

"I'm going to fix you Pep" He caressed her cheek "I swear to God that I'm going to do it, but you can't be like this, it's not fair; always afraid to touch me, to be in the same room. Those assholes could control it, I bet you can do that too, at least while I find the cure"

"I've tried Tony, so hard" He hugged her close, she leaned in but then tried to push him "No, please"

"Baby, it's ok" He held her tighter "You don't have to be afraid of it, maybe that's the problem, and maybe you can't control it because you fear it"

"Oh my God, when did you start to be the stable one in this relationship?" She half giggled half sobbed against his chest.

"Well, you became the hot one, so…oucchh" She punched him softly, but still with extremis powers.

"That is not funny"

"Sir, Director Fury is in the lobby and wants to see you" interrupted Jarvis

"I'll be there in a sec J" He sighed, and pepper touched his arm

"What does he want?"

"I"

"You what?"

"I need to talk to him about Iron Man, let's say he got a message and is probably freaking out" He kissed her in the forehead and left the lab smiling at her while she leaned back in the chair.

She was desperate. After a whole week she was feeling like the time had stopped. She felt trap, in addition to the fact that she didn't have much work to do, as New Year celebration was closer. In other conditions she would have not be mad with that week with the love of his life, but she was too afraid to be close to him. The first night they couldn't get any sleep. Rhodey got back with the coast guard when Tony figured that maybe destroying the suits before getting out of there wasn't his most brilliant moment.

They were sitting in the platform, as far as they could from the destruction, with their legs in the air, just looking at the dark ocean reflecting orange tones from the fire. He was holding her hand as she rested her head in his shoulder.

"You don't fly with those super powers, do you?"

"I don't think so, but I don't want to find out either." She lifted her head and looked at him "That surely is the most romantic question a guy can ask to his girlfriend" He smiled

"I'm sorry, I just want to get out of here as soon as possible, this is not the best place to have a date you know, with all the… dead… people… and what if somebody is still ali…"

She shushed him with a quick kiss, then looked at him

"Then you have your girl to protect your Iron ass" He opened his eyes in surprise and his jaw dropped. "Who is the damsel in distress now?" she added

"You play rough now? Because I like it" He leaned closer "How is that your clothes didn't burn?"

"Stop it right there, Stark" She put her hands on his chest, but he insisted with his trademark smirk. He suddenly had a dark look in his eyes and wasn't thinking straight, just wanted to kiss her, hard, and so he did. He grabbed her by her wrists and pushed his lips against her mouth, immediately trying to push it open. Everything else disappeared, he was just feeling her close to him, and listening what he thought it was a far voice, but he didn't care, not until he felt a very strong shove that violently separated them. He was shocked when his mind got back to reality and the sounds around him were clear again, she was upset, and yelling at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I…I'm sorry, wha..what?"

"I was telling you to stop, what is wrong with you? You were acting all weird and… don't you see where we are? Do you think this is romantic?

"whoa…." He shook his head, feeling confused "I don't now what have just happened… I…couldn't… this is weird"

"Indeed. Calm yourself down, ok? Not the right place and not the right time" He looked down and then felt her hand on the back of his neck, He turned to her again "You know I love you, right? It's just… We don't know if I can hurt you" She grabbed his hand, feeling guilty, she had never rejected him, not only because he could break her hearth with that sad look he could pull, but because she had never wanted to. And this hadn't been an exception. "And it's worst if you want to make me loose control like that, you know you can" She smiled.

"Won't happen again" He smiled too" At least not for the next few hours, but you could use another outfit, you know, like… something with a turtleneck" They both laughed and looked at each other until they heard the sound of the guard's ship close to them. In no time they were with Rhodey, still in the Iron Patriot suit, heading to wherever they were going to spend the night.

"You did what?! Are you nuts man?"

"I wanted to do it, I just felt like that was the right time… our last dance, then boom my boys"

Pepper looked at him. He looked convinced; it obviously felt right for now. But then what? She had to accept that being Iron Man wasn't another of his eccentricities, she was also so proud of him; He had saved millions of people with his own hands, fighting, like a true hero, but he also was risking his life every time, and as selfish as it sounded she couldn't take it of something happened to him. She wondered what did Tony felt when she was falling to her death.

"I will figure it out later, I mean, I still need to talk to Fury, He is going to loose his shit when…"

"Bad words, honey"

"Sorry baby" Rhodey laughed out loud

"You two are really something. I'm so happy you are fine Pepper, this guy would have died if something happened to you"

"It felt like I did, a million times" He hugged her close, they were dressed in sweat pants and t-shirts courtesy of the coast guard which looked very big on her; Tony though that was the cutest thing he had seen in his life; he had seen her before with clothes to big for her, HIS clothes, but now he was overwhelmed by the memory of seeing her die, and then feeling her in his arms, alive. He took a deep breath on her hair and closed his eyes, then he felt it again, the same crazy sensation he felt before, when he kissed her on the platform. He opened his eyes and recovered control of himself.

"I guess there was something good about the whole extremis thing then" She said, caressing Tony's cheek as a response to his embrace. "But I still want to get rid of it as soon as possible, and please, I don't want anyone to know about it"

"You don't even have to mention it, but you will have to go through some stuff, for starters, the president wants a word with us"