"I'll catch you! I promise!" Tony yelled.
Pepper reached as far as she could. Just then, the metal underneath her shifted, causing her body to jerk forward. She briefly made contact with Tony's hand, but couldn't hold his grasp.
Tony watched in horror as the love of his life fell out of his reach, and far down into the flames below...
"No!" Tony exclaimed in a loud whisper. Tony sat up suddenly in the dark, his chest heaving. He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again, trying to reboot his brain. He looked around Pepper's darkened bedroom in an attempt to regain his bearings.
Tony and Pepper had been living in Pepper's condo that she'd had before she moved in with Tony. They had hung onto it at the time because it was a corporate lease and still under contract, but it proved handy to have since the mansion had been destroyed.. She'd kept her furniture there, instead of moving it out and incurring unnecessary storage costs. Tony balked at the time, but was grateful for it now since they needed a place to stay locally, and when they weren't staying at the tower in New York, until they could rebuild in Malibu.
The condo was modern, comfortable and spacious, and just up the road from their office. The only things Tony missed were being able to talk to JARVIS around the house, and his shop, which he'd substituted since then with a section of R and D at Stark HQ. Pepper was secretly happy that he couldn't retreat to the shop as easily as before in the evenings these days. He needed to be able to not have the temptation of it in order to help break him of the obsession with his suits, and to get him on a regular sleep schedule, as much as could be expected anyway. And, for the most part, it was working. He had grown accustomed to going to work with her, working on his projects at the office, and coming home with her in the evening. They'd had many a pleasant evening together, just being a normal couple and enjoying each others company.
But, one thing still bothered her. Tony was still having nightmares. Not as often as before, luckily. But now they were about her, on the oil rig, held captive by Aldrich Killian.
"Tony?" he heard Pepper murmur sleepily next to him. He felt her sit up as she turned on the bedside lamp. "Tony?!" she said now, with more concern. She put her hand on his arm. "What's wrong?!"
Tony turned to look at her, trying to catch his breath. "You fell, again!" he said, scrubbing a hand over his face. "And I didn't catch you! I had to watch you..." he gulped. "You fall!"
Pepper shook her head. "I'm fine, Tony. I'm right here," she reassured.
Tony nodded. He smiled weakly, bringing his forehead to her's. "I know, baby. I know. Just a dream," Tony said.
Pepper frowned. She sat up on her knees beside him, and pulled his head to her chest, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He pulled himself into her embrace, wrapping his arms around her middle. He sighed heavily, and rubbed her back.
"I know you're here, and you're safe, so I don't know why I keep having this dream," he said, against her chest.
Pepper stroked his hair. "I don't know, either," she said regretfully.
"I still feel guilty, I guess," Tony said.
Pepper sat back to look at him. "Guilty?" she asked.
Tony nodded. "For not saving you," he said quietly, looking into her eyes.
Pepper smirked, trying to lighten up the mood. "Well, technically, Aldrich Killian saved me by injected me with Extremis. Otherwise, I would never have survived the fall," she said, matter-of-fact. "And then, you saved me by reversing Extremis later on, so..."
Tony's expression softened, and he chuckled. He pulled her across him so that she straddled his lap. "Yeah,yeah," he said. "Always busting my balls, huh, Potts?"
Pepper smiled and nodded. "Only until you learn to let go. What's done is done. Okay? The important thing is I'm alive, and we're together, right?"
Tony smiled admiringly. "Right. Yeah," he said in agreement. He cupped her cheek with his hand and raise up to kiss her lips. Pepper stroked his lips with her thumb lovingly when the kiss broke.
Tony gazed at her thoughtfully for a few moments before he spoke. "Hey, what would you think about spending Christmas in New York?" he said finally.
Pepper looked at him curiously. "New York?" she asked.
Tony nodded, "Yeah, just us, and a nice long holiday weekend? No work stuff. Just you and me? It'll give us a change of pace."
Pepper looked at him, and shook her head. "What made you think of this?" she asked.
Tony rubbed her back lovingly. "I don't know, I just..." he sighed, looking away and then looking back at her. "We need a break," he said. "Just some alone time. Huh? How does that sound?"
Pepper thought for a moment. "I could cook Christmas dinner for us. I've actually never had a chance to do that for you, have I?" she asked.
Tony shook his head. "Actually, no. You haven't, have you," he said. "And I'm definitely not turning down your cooking."
"Yeah,"she said. "We could cook a small ham, maybe some mashed potatoes and gravy," she said, thinking aloud. "I haven't had green bean casserole at Christmas time in ages," she mused. Pepper looked into his eyes, thoughtfully. Finally, she nodded. "Okay. Yes," she agreed. "It sounds perfect. Let's do Christmas in New York," she said happily.
"Yeah? You want to?" Tony said, delighted.
"I want to. It'll be fun," she said.
"Okay then," Tony said, smiling with satisfaction. "It'll be great. I promise you, Pep," he said. "You won't be disappointed."
"Well, I'm gonna hold you to the 'no work' thing," she said. "No sneaking off to R and D while we're there," she said, poking him in the chest.
Tony winced playfully. "Okay, yes. Fine," he said. "I promise, no tinkering."
"No tinkering," Pepper repeated, tapping a finger on the tip of his nose.
"Deal," Tony said. He reached up to kiss her lips. As they kissed, he leaned back so that Pepper was on top of him. He slid his hands over her rear end and squeezed. Pepper squeaked.
"Tony!" she warned playfully.
"What?" he asked slyly. He pouted and gave her his best sad puppy dog look. "I had a nightmare," he moaned.
"Aww, you poor baby," Pepper teased back, with a syrupy-tone. She kissed him again, and in the process, pulled off her t-shirt over her head.
Tony grinned giddily, looking at her body in all of its naked glory. "Oh yeah!" he breathed excitedly. He nuzzled Pepper's neck, kissing it while he raised up a hand to squeeze one of her breasts.
Pepper bit her lip and moaned softly.
Slowly, he moved to roll them over so that she was on the bottom, and he was over the top of her. He looked down at her and smiled. "You must have heard that middle-of-the-night sex is a great way to get over a bad dream," he teased.
"Let's just say I have a hunch," Pepper teased back.
"Well," Tony said, exhaling sharply. "If we must, we must," he quipped, faking exasperation.
Pepper giggled and he smiled, bending down to kiss her deeply as he moved to position himself between her legs.
Alone time with Tony? Uh, yes, please, right? (*wink*) Get ready for the trip of a lifetime for the both of them. (Tony has a few tricks up his sleeve, as always!)
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Thanks!