This story takes place after Ironman 3, and we're going to veer off into AU a little bit and say that Tony couldn't get the Extremis out of Pepper... and that maybe once he figured that out, this is what happened... Enjoy!:)

"Pepper, I can't," Tony said, his tone a mixture of frustration and defeat as he threw his head back. "There's just no getting rid of this Extremis! It's a part of you now… like… Bruce."

"Please don't say that," Pepper all but whispered, fighting tears as her gaze begged him to fix what was wrong with her… and maybe even whatever had started going wrong in their relationship.

"You don't get it, do you?" Tony asked, slamming his palms down onto the lab table. "I have been trying everything in this past month since Killian to get Extremis out of you! It. Won't. Go. I've already come up with and given you something to make it controllable, and so far that's working, but I cannot make it go away. It's here to stay, Pep… and you may just have to accept that."

"What about you?" Pepper asked, sudden fear constricting her chest as she saw something else flash through his eyes. "What are you thinking that you're not telling me?"

Tony looked at her for a beat longer before he sighed and dropped his eyes to his hands, saying, "Jarvis has already filtered dozens upon dozens of concerned comments from people at Stark International about you remaining CEO."

"You're going to fire me, aren't you?" she whispered in shock. "That's why you asked me to come here this afternoon; you didn't have more news on Extremis, you wanted to give up on it and take my job!"

"It's not like that," Tony answered. "It's not just me; it's the board too!"

"'Too'? As in 'also'?" Pepper asked, anger bubbling as her skin heated bringing to the fore the more violent inclinations that came with Extremis. "After everything I've done for you, all these years I've been your brain, your - the only person you've got, and now you just want to toss that all to the curb because of Killian?!"

"Not because of Killian," Tony said warily, taking a step away from her as her skin began to glow with visible flame-like heat. "Because of what you're doing right now. People are an extremely infuriating thing, and Stark International can't have you turning into a glow-stick in the middle of a board meeting; that might bring on unwanted attention."

"Since when do you care?!"

"Since the board is making me care. They thought you might take it better from me."

"Because they're afraid of me."

Tony just nodded reluctantly.

"And you're supposedly not? That's obviously not true; look at you now, Tony! You're practically cowering behind your desk!"

"You're kind of on fire, sweetheart-"

"Do not 'sweetheart' me! And you know what? How dare you even try and tell me about 'infuriating' people? I have worked for you for how many years? If there's anyone in the world I should be staying away from, it's you, Tony Stark!"

Tony just stood there for a minute, not meeting her eyes before he nodded, and when his gaze found hers, she was horrified by what she saw therein. He agreed with her. More than that… he didn't want her around since she was like this.

She had known, really she had, at least in the unacknowledged part of the back of her mind, that he was going to break up with her if they couldn't get rid of the Extremis, but here it was. The moment had come; they were ending, despite all that she had done for him over the years… and she wasn't even surprised. Tony would always be in love with himself beyond all others, and if he wanted her to get out of his life, then… fine.

Pepper nodded, taking a deep breath before she said stiffly, "Alright; goodbye, Mr. Stark."

She was at the lab door before Tony called out, "Pepper, wait." She stopped and turned her head, halfway looking at him over her shoulder and he dug something out of his pocket, holding it out to her with a simple, "here" as he went to her at the door.

Her last check, Pepper realized with a role of her eyes once she had taken the slip of paper. Whipped straight out of his pocket – which meant that she was right; he had been planning this when he'd asked to see her.

As she walked up the stairs outside of the lab, Pepper called back to him, "You have a press meeting at two tomorrow; Rhodey's coming by tonight at six for supper and to discuss the new automatic weapons designs you ran by him on Monday, and, Tony?"

"Yeah?" he asked, watching her through the glass doors.

Here she looked back at him, straight in the eye and meaning every word as she ordered, "Don't ever talk to me again."

Within two hours, Pepper had gathered all of her things from the tower, put them into the back of the car that Tony had bought for her, and was driving through New York City on her way back to her old apartment. Earlier in the year, before Tony had asked her to move in with him, she'd contracted the apartment out for another year, so even though it had been lying dormant these past few months, it was still hers, which made leaving the tower so much less complicated.

Surprisingly, after getting so "fired up" during her argument and breakup with Tony, she was miraculously calm. It was rather… freeing… to think that she didn't have to get up the next morning and deal with board meetings, trustees, and the latest lie floating through the news. And Tony's antics. Not having to deal with Tony… yeah, she could think of it that way. As his assistant, she really had just been an overpaid babysitter, and that hadn't really changed when she'd become CEO of his company, considering that they'd started a relationship with one another not soon after.

Then there was the problem of what to do about a job now that she didn't have SI consuming her life. She had more than enough money in her accounts connected with Tony to stay afloat – probably for years, if she was careful. Maybe now was the time for her to start writing the next great American novel? Or, as was more practical, call up an old friend of hers and see if he was still looking for a new accountant.

Yeah, Pepper mused, dragging her first load of stuff up to her old apartment. An accountant. Pepper Potts was going to be an accountant. It was time for her life to start looking like a normal life again.

What do you think so far? This chapter is almost more of a prologue, really. Reviews would make my day, if you felt like dropping me one! Thanks!:)