Headlights

It was 4:00 in the morning. It was dark, but it was warm. Their shared body heat remained trapped beneath the sheets they slept under together. It wasn't often that the two of them were able to enjoy each other's warmth together, but when they did, Pepper felt safe. Nights without Tony's securing embrace were cold and often quite lonely. Most of the time, she found herself falling asleep alone and waking up alone as well, mainly due to Tony's insomnia-encouraging schedule. There was little either could do about it, but it still irked Pepper some nights.

This time was different, though. As she opened her eyes in the dark of early morning, she was quite pleased to feel his thick arms still around her waist as he slept. Pepper smiled. For once, Tony could sleep in instead of her. She carefully slipped out from underneath his arm, and before it was light, Pepper was out the door, and Tony was still fast asleep.

"Good morning, Pepper," Happy greeted as he stood with the backseat door of one of their more formal cars open.

"Hey, Happy. What's the schedule for the day today, again?" Pepper replied as she approached him, her heels clicking against the concrete floor.

"Well, you have a meeting at 7:30 this morning, then an appearance at the Manhattan Children's orphanage at 11:00, and then... you're free the rest of the day."

"That's it?" Pepper replied as she climbed into the backseat before Happy leaned in and handed her the clipboard.

"Take a look for yourself," he said before he closed the door and walked around to the driver door. He was right; Pepper looked at her schedule and only found those two events.

"Awesome..."

"Mr. Stark, it is 10:30, Sir... Mr. Stark..."

Tony turned over in his sleep in attempt to ignore the sound of Jarvis's voice. Sleep was a rare and precious thing for Tony.

"Mr. Stark, it is time for you to wake up, Sir."

"Shut up, Jarvis... I just want to sleep. Pepper, tell Jarvis to shut up," Tony replied in his deep, half-asleep, scratchy voice. He swung his arm around over the width of the mattress as he searched for the body that was supposed to be there with him. To his surprise, Pepper's side of the bed had long since gone cold. "Pepper...?"

"Ms. Potts left for work over six hours ago, Sir, so I suggest you get up and get dressed before she returns home at approximately 2:45 this afternoon."

"Pepper had to work today?" Tony replied as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Not cool... I was gonna make her those breakfast bacon and egg bowl-cup thingamabobs this morning."

"Well, now you can enjoy them yourself, Sir, because that was exactly what Ms. Potts did for you before she left," Jarvis added as Tony got up and looked in the mirror and admired his muscular build while he was still half asleep.

"Okay... Jarvis, turn on something that will wake me up, please... I don't want to fall asleep in the shower again."

"Of course, Sir, because none of us want to relive last week's incident."

"Oh, shuddup, Jarvis..." Tony snapped as he drowsily dragged himself into the bathroom and into the shower.

Tony rubbed his eyes as he looked at the faucet handles in the shower. Around him, the sound of a piano played - it was slow and sad, but he was too tired to really notice it was nowhere close to what he asked for. He turned the hot water handle all the way over and waited until he could feel it burn his skin to carefully turn the cold water on. As the water adjusted and spilled from the shower-head, Tony stood still and let the water cover his whole body. He leaned against the front wall of the shower, his head tilted towards the white-tile floor and eyes closed. He was still so tired, he couldn't help but fall asleep again in the shower. The warmth was just too comforting to ignore.

At first, the dreams started out peaceful enough. He was with Pepper, they had a child - a daughter - and they were all happy together. It was pleasing. Then things began to shift as he watched his life unfold. He and Pepper began to argue a lot, more than they did in reality. Their daughter grew up and began to drift away from them. She and Pepper left. He was alone. His heart became flooded with regret and loneliness. He holed himself up and became an outcast in society. As time went on, the name 'Stark' slowly was forgotten, as was he, by the world. His money began to run thin, and he slowly fell ill. Everything he had ever built for himself was gone. Then, one day, there was a knock on his door- it was his daughter. She came to tell him of her new husband-to-be. She had come to give him his invitation, and she didn't plan to stay any longer than necessary.

Once the wedding day came, Tony watched as his little girl promised a man he had never met to love him unconditionally, and he the same. There was nothing he could do to stop them, and he felt powerless. He had officially lost his daughter. It was too much for him to take, and as she 'I do' to the man before her, he felt his heart give in, and his body fell to the floor. His vision became fuzzy around the edges, and he knew he was dying. He noticed someone running towards him as others panicked.

"Someone call 911!" the person approaching him said before kneeling down in front of him. "Daddy, just hold on, you're gonna be okay."

"Harper, my sweetheart... I'm sorry I ruined...ruined your wedding..." he said with a weak voice that grew weaker with each passing minute.

"Oh, Daddy, no. You didn't ruin it..." she said as tears began to sneak into the corner of her eyes. Her husband of only a few minutes knelt beside her.

"You," Tony heard himself say as he turned towards the young man. "Don't you dare hurt my... my daughter. I taught her how to beat up... chumps who try to hurt her, and after she kicks your ass, I'll kick it twice as hard... That's a promise." He could feel the fire in his heart start to really die as time passed without an ambulance. He knew it was showing through the fading of his ark reactor when its blue light dimmed on his daughter's dress.

"Harper told me you would say that. She told me that the first time we went out, Mr. Stark," the man replied with a sympathetic, yet sad, smile. "Sir, I promise you that I would never hurt Harper in any way. She is the most special person I've ever met, and I don't plan on giving her a reason to leave me... Your daughter is too important to me to hurt her."

His vision was fading fast, and it was becoming harder and harder to speak, but Tony felt himself smile.

"Good man..." he said as a tear fell down his face to the floor."Take care of my little girl for me..."

"Daddy, no... You're gonna live. It's too soon..." his daughter argued while trying not to cry. She took his hand and squeezed it tight as she tried to hold back the tears she wanted to cry.

"I will, Mr. Stark... I promise," her husband added as he took their hands in his. Tony smiled.

"Harper... I l-love... I love you..."

His eyes closed. His reactor went dark. He had died...

The hot water ran out in the shower, and it quickly turned ice cold. Tony jumped at the freezing temperature, slipped on the wet floor, and fell, whapping his head on the back wall. He sat in the shower, knocked out cold, as the water continued to run and the music continued to play.

Pepper climbed out of the car as she and Happy arrived at the orphanage. From the outside, she could hear the laughter and shrieks of the children inside.

"Ready, Pepper?" Happy asked as he put on his sunglasses in attempt to look at least somewhat like a super bad bodyguard. Pepper looked over at him and tried not to laugh.

"Happy, they're kids, not super soldiers. Relax on the uniform; we're here to read the kids a story and play with them, not scare them," Pepper said with a shake of her head as she marched up the stairs and opened the thick wooden doors of the orphanage. Happy, well... Stuck with the shades and briefcase.

"Ah, Ms. Potts! We're so glad you came!"

"Hello- you must be Miss Lenni. I'm glad to be here," Pepper replied to the woman standing inside. She was a tall woman with blonde hair that reached her shoulders and bright blue eyes.

"Yes, I am Miss Lenni; welcome to the Manhattan Children's orphanage. Are you all ready to read to the children?"

"How many are there going to be? How old are they? What are their names?" Happy asked, reminding Pepper he was there, making her jump.

"Happy, chill out. Oh my God, they're kids, how many times have we gone through this?"

"Oh, it's fine, Ms. Potts; we actually have you with the middle-aged children, ages ten to twelve. There are about 15 children in that age group," Miss Lenni said as she led Pepper and Happy down the hallway. The floor was hardwood - it had a nice shine to it, Pepper knew it was a very kept-up place - and the walls were all painted light blue, yet were consumed by many photos of children who had come in and had ones that left by adoption or from growing out of the system.

"How many kids have you had grow out of the system, Lenni?" Pepper asked as she stopped at a particular photo that caught her eye. The people in the photo were siblings, they had the same eyes. The older of the two was about ten at the time the picture was taken, and her younger sister appeared to be about seven or eight. Something in the younger girl's expression tugged at Pepper's heart; the little girl had lost something or someone close to them. It was obvious in her eyes as much as she tried to hide it in the photo.

"In my time here, I've seen a lot of kids - good kids - pass through here. In total, I think I've seen maybe 50 or so kids pass through. Most of them were adopted by good families, some by bad ones that ended up back here or on the streets again, and then there've been a few who left the world too early. That's what happened to Laura and Harper's older brother," the woman stated solemnly as she noticed the picture Pepper was looking at and walked over beside her. "We took this picture about a week after they arrived, the same day Dominic died."

"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?" Pepper took the framed photo off the wall to examine closer. She could see trail the tears had left on the younger girl's face, and the older one's eyes were faintly red.

"Dominic was 11 when it happened. The three of them had been kicked out of their house by their mother on Harper's eighth birthday, so they lived in alleys and dumpsters for the rest of the summer until the beginning of November. The day he died, someone had stolen what little possessions they had – blankets, some scraps of food, extra coats, matches – and when Dominic accused the man of stealing their stuff, a fight broke out. Dominic ended up on top, but after he took their stuff back to his sisters, the man came up behind him, grabbed him by the shoulder, and stabbed him with a pocket knife. Laura made Harper run and hide while their brother bled out. She instead ran here where we called the police. When we got there, the thief was knocked out against the side of a building, and Dominic was sitting in a pool of his own blood with his sister right beside him. We were too late… After that, Laura and Harper moved in with us here. Four years this November."

Pepper took one last look at the picture before hanging it back on the wall where it belonged. "No child should have to ever go through something like that…"

"The two of them longed for each other's company, but they knew that if they didn't leave the other, their whole mission was lost. 'Gio… If anything happens to me, I just want you to know that you were the best friend anyone could have asked for,' Anna said as she began to walk away from him. 'Anna, wait…!' he shouted. 'We're gonna make it out of here. Trust me, you'll see me again. We're survivors…' he added with a smile. With one last look at each other, the two of them took a deep breath…. And they jumped…" Pepper concluded, gently closing the book while being countered with voices of protest.

"Keep reading! I want to know what happens next!"

"Do they make it out of the Simulator?"

"That's not where the book ends, is it? Please say it isn't!"

"Okay, everyone, let's all say thank you to Ms. Potts for coming today and reading to us!" Lenni spoke strongly over the children's protesting cries. All together, they fell silent for a half second before speaking politely in unison.

"Thank you, Ms. Potts!"

"Thank you for inviting me to come today! As a thank-you from me, I have something for all of you: Iron Man posters." Pepper turned to Happy for the stack of posters in the briefcase. When she turned again, everyone had lined up in front of her excitedly. Pepper smiled.

The line began to dwindle. Five kids were left at the most, and Pepper hadn't seen Harper or Laura yet.

"Pepper, we gotta get going soon," Happy whined as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Calm down, Happy; We'll leave once everyone gets a poster."

"Ugh. Fine…"

"Excuse me," the last kid in line piped up. Pepper turned, and to her great surprise, she recognized the girl instantly – Harper. "Can you give this to Mr. Stark for me? If you could, I'd really appreciate it."

"Absolutely. Who's name do I give him?" Pepper asked, handing her a poster in exchange for a piece of neatly folded résumé paper.

"Harper… My name's Harper."

"I saw your picture on the wall when I got here, Harper. Is your sister here, too?"

"Laura? She's sick, so she couldn't be here today, but she's a big Avengers fan. I just like Iron Man."

"Totally understandable, Harper… Hey, how about you take another poster for Laura, too? She'd like one, too, I bet," she replied sweetly as she handed Harper another poster. "And, I'll make sure Tony gets your letter."

"Thank you, Ms. Potts. I really do appreciate it," Harper said, smiling.

"You're quite welcome, Miss Harper."

"Cute kid…"

"What?"

"That last kid, Harper. She seemed pretty sweet."

"Yeah, she was, Happy. You can tell she's a strong kid, too."

"You can see it in her eyes. What's the letter say?"

"Does it pertain to you, Nosy?"

"Um…"

"No, it doesn't." Pepper opened the letter; she herself was curious about its content...