Well, it's been a few years since I've written anything but I watched the Avengers last night and felt inspired for some reason. This is another one of those "what if Pepper answered the phone" oneshots. May add more if the inspiration sticks :) Let me know what you think.


Tony felt his muscles strain as held on tightly to the missile and guided it around buildings towards the big, alien-infested gap in the sky. Damn, this isn't going to be any fun, he thought to himself.

He'd rather not think about the current predicament he was in and what the likely outcome was going to be. He always thought himself too selfish to make the move he was currently making, but he was full of surprises. And what a hell of a surprise this all turned out to be, he mused.

Pepper was going to be so pissed at him. He wouldn't be surprised if she personally dragged him out of the pits of hell to give him an earful about his actions. She would be proud though, that much he was sure about. Once she got past all the hurt of losing him, she would understand why this had to be done. At least he hoped so…

Tony Stark was never one to be called sentimental. But he was heading towards his certain death, wasn't he allowed a little slack? He already missed her and this was not the way he expected to make his exit. Although, he could still admit that this still ranks pretty high on the coolness factor when it comes to making dramatic exits. This one will be for the record books.

She wouldn't see it that way, but he doesn't expect her to be very understanding about any of this for a good while. He wanted to explain it to her but he was on a time constraint, and even if he had all the time in the world, he still wouldn't know where to start. So many things will be left unsaid between them, things he wished he would have said before heading out on this mission. Yeah, he was definitely in total sap mode now. If only she could see him now.

"Sir, shall I call Miss Potts?"

Tony snapped back to reality as Jarvis broke in with his question. He tightened his grip on the missile and let out a resigned sigh as he could see the gap -and his certain death- getting closer.

"You might as well," he responded, squeezing his eyes shut for just a second and wondering how he was going to tell her everything he needed her to hear.


Pepper leaned forward slightly, almost to the edge of her seat as she watched the current battle raging in New York from the safety of the Stark jet. Her breath caught as she watched all the damage and explosions tearing apart the city. To say she was worried was an understatement. If her employees weren't surrounding her, she would surely be seconds away from tearing her hair out in frustration at not knowing how Tony was doing.

Being Iron Man's girlfriend didn't have many downsides, but it did have the biggest one of all. She's lost count on how many times she's been sick with worry over him. The overwhelming fear that one day he may not come home from one of his missions is always in the back of her mind. The current chaos was certainly not helping her keep the fear at bay.

She almost jumped out of her seat as her phone disrupted her train of thought and caught the attention of everyone in the vicinity. She looked at the screen and quickly snatched at the phone when she saw Tony's smiling face on the display. Her hands almost fumbled the phone right out of her grasp as she worked on answering him.

"Tony! Where are you?! Are you okay?!" She shouted into the phone, ignoring the worried looks she was getting from everyone around her. The looks on her employee's faces looked pretty grim and she can only imagine how she looked like in her desperation.

She heard ragged breathing on the other end and waited impatiently for a response.

"Hey Pep," his tired response finally came through, filling her with a renewed sense of worry. Despite the weary condition he seemed to be in, she could still hear a small smile in his voice.

"Tony, are you okay?" she repeated. "Please tell me you're okay."

"Listen, Pep, I don't have much time but I want you to kn-"

"Tony, what's going on? What do you mean there's not much time?" She couldn't help but interrupt him. She needed to know he was okay and was coming home as soon as the whole mess was cleared up. She glanced at the TV and saw the continued battle worsening as more 'aliens' landed in the city. The situation seemed to be escalating very quickly.

"Pepper, please just listen ok?"

She felt a stray tear make its way down her face as she heard the resignation in his voice. He had a tone she's never heard from him before and it let her know that things were not going to be okay any time soon.

"Ok," she whispered quietly, gripping the phone firmly like her life depended on it.


Tony sucked in a breath as he headed towards his upward trajectory and ultimate destination. A lump formed in his threat as he furiously worked on trying to find a way to tell her everything in less than the 20 seconds he had left. The flickering lights in the display in front and Jarvis's crackling voice let him know that his suit was in the beginning stages of failing him. He could see himself quickly approaching the gap.

"Pepper, I don't think I'm coming home." There was no time to sugar coat it. I need more time, Tony thought desperately. I need to tell her…

"Tony…" Her broken voice came through the speaker and it struck him to the core. He could already hear her mourning him and he hated it. Dying was nothing to him, but hurting her was a whole different thing. It was something he had tried very hard not to do ever since they became something more.

"Pepper, I'm so sorry. I lov-" His suit shut down and went dark as he shot past the gap and into the other side with the missile. Everything seemed to slow down as he finally let go of the missile and it headed straight to the cluster of ships that were trying to make its way to Earth.

"No," Tony huffed out as his oxygen became scarce. He could feel his suit freeze up and himself slowly float backwards towards the portal that connected the two worlds. His eyes began to water and he couldn't tell if it was from the pressure around him or the fact that he had failed Pepper.

A big flash went off in front of him and he shut his eyes in relief that he had at least succeeded in one thing.

Pepper stared at the phone in front of her and held her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hold back the cries that desperately wanted to be let out.

Tony was gone, just like that. Tears were free flowing at this point now and she made no effort to stop them. Murmurs of concern swept the people around her and she felt her assistant pat her consolingly in a meager attempt to comfort her. Nothing would be able to help her now. There were so many things she needed to tell him.

She needed Tony.


I think we can all agree that it was crime that Pepper had her phone on vibrate that day. But I'm slightly ok with it because so many awesome stories resulted from it. Reviews are like candy and I really like candy :). I think it may be another crime to leave this as a one-shot… I can't decide. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm barely shaking off the cobwebs.