The Night Pepper Cried
It was three in the morning. Nobody should have been calling. Not even Mr. Stark. He was on the other side of the planet, giving a weapons demonstration. Yet, the sound of her phone jangled in Pepper's ear, jerking her into wakefulness and sending her heartbeat racing. Gasping and breathing hard, she sat up in bed and scrabbled for the phone on her bedside table. It was pitch dark in her room, but her hand banged into the machine and she managed to grab the receiver. Quickly, she leaned down and pushed the cold plastic to her ear.
"Hello?" she said hoarsely.
"Pepper? Hey, I'm sorry to wake you up."
"Rhodie?" She frowned, pushing her hair out of her face. "What's going on? Is everything all right?"
He didn't answer. Pepper stilled.
"Rhodie?"
She heard him sigh, a faint brush of static in her ear.
"No, everything's not all right."
Her hand tightened on the phone.
"What happened?"
"I wanted to let you know before you heard it on the news--I thought it would be better coming from someone who actually knew the situation."
"What happened?"
Rhodes hesitated again. Pepper filled with growing alarm. Finally, he spoke.
"After Tony gave the demonstration, we were on our way back to base when our convoy was attacked."
Pepper's eyes unfocused. Her heartbeat began to accelerate again.
"By whom?" she asked tightly.
"We don't know yet--we're looking into it. Three Hummers got away, but the other
two..."
Pepper's throat closed and her forehead tightened.
"Rhodie," she forced out. "Where's Mr. Stark? Where's...Where's Tony--I want to talk to him." "Pepper..." Rhodie sighed again. "He was in one of the Hummers that was hit."
Pepper stopped breathing.
"Is he--" her voice hitched and she couldn't keep going.
"We don't think so. We didn't find his body at the site. But there had been several explosions, and there was debris everywhere..."
Pepper squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hang in there, Pepper," Rhodes urged. "We don't think he's dead. I've got several teams working on it and we're looking for him. I'll let you know when we've got something. Okay?"
It took almost half a minute for Pepper to say anything. Finally, she made herself answer.
"Okay."
"Okay. I'll call you as soon as I can."
He hung up. Pepper sat there in the dark, frozen. Suddenly, with shaking hands, she put the receiver down and flicked on the light. She abruptly felt cold, and pulled the blankets up to her chin, but she did not lay down all the way. She just stared at the shadowy wall in front of her, listening to the soft ticking of the clock behind and above her head. She tried to steady her breathing, keep it from trembling.
"He's okay," she whispered firmly. "He's okay. He's fine."
Nearly an hour passed, and her hand slowly clenched around the covers. Her limbs felt frozen, but she didn't move to warm up. She concentrated all her control on breathing.
The phone rang. She jerked, then threw the covers off herself, swung her legs around and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" She stood up.
"Pepper, it's me again."
"Rhodie," Pepper's hand fluttered up to her throat. "Is he okay? Do you know where he is? Is he okay?"
"No, Pepper," Rhodie said heavily. "No, we don't know where he is and...he's probably not okay."
Her breathing shook again, her fist closing.
"What...What do you mean?"
"He was captured by a militant group called the Ten Rings," Rhodie told her. "They're terrorists, Pepper. And I...I have to tell you the truth. Once they get the info they need, they usually execute their prisoners."
Pepper's eyes screwed shut. She felt as if she'd been hit in the chest. She covered her face with her hand.
"We're looking for him, though," Rhodes said hurriedly. "I promise, we're doing everything we can. I just wanted you to know, okay?"
Pepper couldn't speak.
"Pepper? You okay?"
"Thanks, Rhodie," she whispered.
"I'll call you later."
She didn't answer. She absently managed to set the phone back down, then stood there, unbalanced, pain racing up and down inside her. Slowly, she moved to her window, her feet shuffling on the carpet, and she pushed the curtain aside. She gazed up at the dark sky. There were no stars. Clouds shrouded everything.
Her chest constricted, her throat clamping shut. She clapped a hand over her mouth, then pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, burning tears spilling out onto her cheeks and searing down her face. She fought her cries back, the terror inside her strengthening. She staggered back to her bed, sank down onto it--and then she couldn't stop it any more. Leaning down, she buried her face in her pillow and sobbed.
FIN