Song-Orphans by Jack's Mannequin ***

***Disclaimer: I no own.

P-POV.

I am looking for a sign
My spirit's faded
She holds on like a vine
Patterns in traffic
They sound just like my heart
Race in the dark
In time to catch you.
No one should let you
Go wandering off into the night
You're not an orphan.

Boy, if I thought I was depressed then I was wrong. Tony looked like an absolute disaster right now.

I know why, too, and I feel really bad for him. It's almost like he's losing himself. I tried to ask what was wrong, but he just muttered something I couldn't understand and went back to his slumping. It's not good for him to be cutting himself off from his friends again, because we'd been through that before and it wasn't quite so much fun. I knew it was best to get him to talk to me and Rhodey now so he wouldn't start some new phase of being depressed and ignoring someone. I already missed his voice…

Was it that he felt alone? Because he's not. That's the last thing I want him to feel. He knows he has friends that support him and want to help him. So why is he not talking to us? He knows how, and he should know that talking could help him just get it all off his chest. Maybe its just the fact that he doesn't want his friends to see him cry. Maybe he wants to look brave and strong in front of us and then when he's alone he can let all his tears flow. And let them fall for what reason? He's not telling us. But I'm not giving up. I'm going to stay by his side until he feels better and feels that he can talk about it because I want him to talk about it. Talking is good.

Don't get me wrong, I'm upset too. And not just because when Tony is upset it makes me upset (and I hope vice versa, but there's no being sure unless he tells me, which I doubt he would). I feel let down because I was betrayed too. I knew that that day had something to do with Tony's current depression, because he took the hardest hit. I tried to let him know that, that he's not alone in all this and I'm by his side and so is Rhodey and that he's not the only one who feels terrible about everything that has happened, but he has to learn to let it go and cheer up because we didn't like seeing him like this; but he again did not listen. He just grunted and set his head back down. I sighed. I promised myself not to get impatient with this, because that would make me irritated because whenever I get impatient I get irritated. And when I'm irritated, that's not very fun for other people.

I decided to be silent for a little bit and let him slump more, because maybe after a little more thought he would come to his senses and let his friends talk him into cheering up. I stared at his messy brown hair and I missed his smile. When he smiled it gave him a sort of a boyish cuteness. Why can't he smile for me? He told me once that he would do anything for me because I'm his friend and he didn't know what he'd do without me. If I asked him to smile, and said do it for me, would he? More importantly, would he feel any better for it? Smiles were contagious. If you ever saw someone smile, you felt like smiling too. That is, unless you're some sort of emotionless shrew who didn't care for anyone else's happiness, not even your own—but she didn't know anyone like that.

I told him that no one in the right mind should leave you in the dust like that and to just try and smile for his friends because we wanted to see that he was happy, but the same response came. I long for him to just be happy, and I'm sure Rhodey feels the same. Tony muttered that he just wanted to be alone for a while, so Rhodey and I respected his wishes and left Tony in the lab. I told Rhodey that I had to get home anyways, and that I'd see them tomorrow or something. Throwing my backpack over my shoulder, I started a slow walk home; still thinking about Tony.

If only he knew the things I knew about him. If only he would listen when I told him that he is a beautiful person and no matter what other people say he should always believe in himself because he can do great things. It was like someone took his self-esteem and whacked it a million times with a hammer. It was bruised or something. If he would just listen to me when I tell him constantly that he is the most generous, caring creature that I ever knew and that he knows that everything he does, he does because he loves to help people and shape the world into a better place. Why did everyone have to just step all over him so carelessly like that? I like him the way he was before, the way he was when I met him. I'm not being shallow; I just don't like seeing the negative side of the guy I love.

I keep waiting for my breath
To come back never
So take what I have left
Patterns in traffic
That pulls just like my heart
Race in the dark
In time to catch you
No one should let you
Go wandering off into the night
You're not an orphan.
Right there to catch you
I won't forget you.
Now you're wandering to the night
but you're no orphan
you're not an orphan

After a long, slow walk to the inner-city apartment my father and I called home, I unlocked the front door to see my father sitting on a kitchen counter stool, slouched over a bowl of cereal. I rolled my eyes and chuckled. Sometimes my dad knew just what to do to make me smile. I threw my backpack next to the couch and went to the kitchen to prepare my own bowl of cereal. My dad was probably trying to ask me what's up, but I wasn't sure because he was talking with his mouth full and that made me laugh again. So subtle, dad, so subtle.

After swallowing a spoonful of now chewed cereal, my dad asked more clearly: "What's up, buttercup?"

"Oh, it's just Tony. He's all depressed over something and he won't let us talk to him." I complained.

"Well maybe leaving him alone for a little while is the best thing to do right now. Just let him be alone to think, then maybe after he organizes his thoughts he'll want to talk." My dad shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth and tried to talk with his mouth full, but funnily failed. When my dad tries to cheer me up, he just acts goofy because he knows that just getting a smile on my face lightened my mood for at least a little while. I knew to cut my dad some slack because raising a girl on your own when you're a man isn't the easiest thing to do. But he tried, and it was good enough for me; at least it's a loose break from my rules-rules-rules mother.

I wish Tony would cheer up faster. I want to have one of those moments where we're alone and I'm talking to him and making him feel better and he goes all 'hey Pepper thanks for cheering me up, you're a real pal' and I would be like I'm more than a pal, Tony, and he'd be like you're right I love you and then he kisses me and I think of how magical it is and then we all live happily ever after….

Snapping out of my common fantasy—and by that I mean at least once a day I fantasize something like that—I realized that I had a text message from Rhodey. He was asking me if I think this thing with Tony will blow over soon and I said I didn't know, it depends on Tony. I hope it blows over soon, but with Tony there's really never any telling. Sometimes reading his emotions became a sort of a superpower-if you could, you were Superman or something. Tony did a really good job of hiding his feelings from other people. That's the only downside to liking him, you never know if he likes you back or not.

I tried to text Tony to see if he's feeling a little better now but he replied with a no and that made me groan. He was being such a loner right now, and that bothered me. I didn't like it when people are alone, I grew up surrounded by people; when I was younger I had a bit of a destructive personality and my curiosity tended to get the better of me sometimes. Therefore someone, family member or friend, was always keeping a close eye on me and stayed nearby in case I was doing something they knew would not end up well. I'd adapted to that by learning the trait of never being alone. So I didn't like that Tony was alone, and I wanted to just sit next to him, just so he would have a friend to talk to when he was ready.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I decided to go back to the lab and just sit next to Tony for a while until he was ready to talk. So what if it was going to take a while to get him to talk, he needed a friend and I wanted to be the friend that's there for him at just the perfect moment. Then maybe I'd be kissed…

I closed the front door behind me and quickly walked to the factory behind Rhodey's house. My hustle-bustle steps blended in with the rest of the city, so I was just any normal person to anyone passing by me. Not that I cared if I was being paid attention to, I didn't really care whether people noticed me or not. Just if Tony noticed me or not. I found my way through the factory and pushed the four digit code to open the lab door and walked inside. Tony glanced up at me and asked why I was here. I told him I was here to comfort him, of course.

"Pepper, I just want to be alone, okay?" I shook my head.

"Come on, Tony, just let me sit here with you! No one likes to be alone," Tony sighed and gave up. I cheered to myself and sat beside him quietly and calmly. It was like watching some sort of victim in a horror movie, he was twitching and he looked stir crazy. I asked if he wanted to get out of the lab or something, but he muttered a no and I sighed and shrugged. I watched him cross his arms and sit back in his chair , then become uncomfortable and change positions. What's up with him?

"I-I can't take it anymore, I have to get out of here…" Tony stood and left. I panicked and followed him out, but when I got out I didn't see him anywhere.

I never thought the day would come
(you're not an orphan)
They tell me that you've finally run
(you're not an orphan)
I guess you always said you would someday
(you're not an orphan)
I never thought the day would come
(you're not an orphan)
They tell me that you've finally run
(you're not an orphan)
I guess you always said you would someday
(you're not an orphan)

You're not alone, Tony…

Okay, so here's the thing. The story I just posted, it turns out It's not a remake of this story and they're completely separate. So yes, I'll be continuing with a chapter two soon, and I will continue the other story as my 8th story still running (oh boy!). So, let's see where this story goes! Review!