Unforgettable
Summary: "She forgot about me again, and damn, it hurts like hell." He felt a painful twinge in his chest and a horrible sinking feeling in the stomach. His heart got heavy, "I had her only to lose her again. After all this time, I've lost her. As usual. Because this is what always happens, she gets hurt and I'm about to lose my damn mind."
After so many years, Tony had Pepper Potts.
That is, until one tragic night changed everything.
The plan on how to make Pepper Potts remember him and fall in love with him, starts over.
Until you get too deep, you never know who really has your heart. You do not know how much your body craves a simple I love you.
Hello everyone. This is my first story in English. I love this couple, so I decide to write about it.
My language native is spanish, so i apologize for any mistakes in this chapter.
I thank my best friend Caroline - angel for helping me with this story.
Hope you like.
I have four written chapters. Here we go.
Kisses and hugs.
Disclaimer: I don´t own Iron man.
Chapter 1: Do I know you?
"Pepper" Natasha whispered softly.
She was breathless, pain burning everywhere was mixed into a cluster of sensations.
"Are you giving up" Nat's voice whispered again, "Do not give up".
"Pepper, I need you to stay awake." A different voice seemed worried and restless as fingers kept feeling for her pulse, "Can you hear me?".
Ignoring that strange feeling of half despair and half pain that was quickly growing deep within her stomach, Pepper manages to open her eyes before fainting.
Everything hurt, but at the same time she just felt... Numb. Everything happening around her felt unreal.
Eventually Pepper managed to pry her eyes open. They hurt too, stinging with blurring tears, but the white unfamiliarity beyond the end of her nose resolved at last into a hospital room.
Hospital? What happened?
She was lying on her back, she realized, and tried to make sense of the four figures standing at the end of the bed. There were three people she didn't know, one woman and two men. The other, Happy.
Happy Hogan.
Wait. A taller, older and muscular Happy Hogan.
That's odd.
"Hey. Welcome back", Greeted the woman with short hair and pretty eyes. "You were almost dead for a long time, you scared the hell of us."
"Natasha" Bruce scolded.
Pepper's eyes widened, "Oh my God!"
Almost dead? Had something really bad happened? Is someone hurt?
"Pepper?" Happy looked at her closely. "Are you okay?"
Deep breaths, she told herself. She took a deep breath and pursed her lips.
"Pepper", She could hear the voices screaming.
Voices that did not leave anyone's lips. She frowned, not able to distinguish between illusion and reality.
"Pepper, come with me, honey."
"Pepper, come with me, honey."
The voices would not shut up. It was too much. Just – too much. She could do nothing but close her eyes and breath.
"Something is different about her", Natasha complained.
Rhodey gave her a worried look. "Something is wrong." His eyes did not leave Pepper for a second. "Happy call the doctor and Tony. Hurry up! "
"Pepper, come with me, honey."
"Pepper, I call for you"
Tears began to fill her eyes and she swallowed a lump in her throat. Her eyes were still closed, and all she wanted was for the voices to shut up. She wanted to wake up, she was sure she was asleep.
She suddenly let out a sob.
"Breathe Potts, come on." The new voice was almost hypnotic. A new man.
One of his hands founded its way to her face, tenderly stroking her cheek. His eyes were locked on hers, solemn and earnest as he spoke. She blinked at him, dazed.
His eyes were full of commotion. "It's okay", he whispered. "I'm here, Pepper."
His brown eyes were fixed on her, and she couldn't think nor move. She stubbornly stayed quiet, looking away from him, and she struggled not to flinch when he moved to stroke her cheek again. With the first brush of his thumb against her cheekbone, a shiver ran through her body. His skin was hot against her, just a simple touch igniting something foreign, yet so familiar.
She didn't know how long he stayed like that, but at some point, his lips are moving again. "Potts?" he asked, and although it seems like it's coming from far away, it still brings her back to reality.
He looks worried now, but she didn't understand, can't process what's happening. There's suddenly just too much going on in her head at once. There's thoughts about what she was hearing, or thinks she was hearing, because it could be her imagination, or just a dream, but at the same time it didn't feel like one.
She gave him a questioning look. "Do I know you?" Tony had pulled his hand away when she finished speaking, and she felt an emptiness run through her.
He laughed at the odd question and kissed the top of her head.
She couldn't subside a gasp of wonder. His beautiful eyes had her undeniably trapped in their magnetic hold. Her heart beat almost desperately, trying to understand this.
He was looking at her so lovingly when he responded, "Tony."
Her eyes were full to the brim with sincerity as she uttered four simple words, effectively shaking his defences. " Do I know you?"
He raised his head to look at her, confusion on his face.
Pepper stayed silent, looking at him mutinously.
There was an old sneaking numbness, a feeling of loss, understanding that washes over him. "No". He denied, taken aback by her words.
She studied his face, watching as he struggled with something inside but did not know how to express it. "You don't remember me." There is too much pain reflected in his eyes.
"You don't know who I am?" He repeated his statement, and she shook her head.
The pain is quite evident in the way his eyes did not stray from her when she said she did not remember. Pepper was particularly disturbed.
He was staring at her, eyes glassy with tears. "You don't remember me."
Pepper shook her head, not knowing what she was denying, but wanting him far away from her, where he couldn't be disgusted by her display.
What she said was true, yet why did she feel like a thousand-pound weight had just settled onto her shoulders?
He pressed his lips together in understanding, nodding as he took a step back. Her throat went dry all of a sudden. She could easily drown in his eyes and he wouldn't care, but the look he gave her threw away any part of her heart that was left.
And then she just wanted cry.
A sort of awkwardness filled the air. Five pairs of eyes watching expectantly.
She listened to their names. Natasha, Rhodey, Bruce. Tony and of course Happy.
"What hap-" She started to say, but her throat would not let her.
Her mouth tasted horrible, her body ached, and her ears were ringing. The IV made her arm feel funny, not in a good way.
"Here." Bruce offered, giving her a cup of water.
She drank cautiously, but the water was soothing. Her throat did not feel quite so sandblasted anymore.
"What happened?" The words came out slow and low.
Rhodey was kind and gave her a warm smile when he asked, "Do you know where you are?"
"The hospital", She stated, "In Malibu."
Rhodey shook his head. "Can you remember anything about last night?"
She struggled. It was confusing. But she tried to do it. "I went to a party with some friends."
"That's good", Rhodey's voice was soft and calm. His brown eyes scanned her and the occupants of the room, lingering a little longer on Tony.
She couldn't keep her eyes off of him. There's something about Tony that she couldn't quite figure out. He approached her again with more concern in his eyes, and she knew that everything had a deeper meaning to him than to the others. However, she had no idea why, and she was not sure that she wanted to know.
She frowned as she tried to remember something more, "Killian was there."
Tony stopped immediately, "What do you mean?" His posture stiffened as his eyes shifted to her. He was holding a breath that he did not even need, eyes widening in surprise.
"He was at Bambi's party", She sucked in a deep breath before exhaling, "He wanted a date"
Tony clenched his fists as he watched.
"What did you just say?" Tony whispered, his mind going completely blank.
"He was at Bambi's party. He wanted us to date"
"Bambi's party? Rhodey questioned as his eyebrows become furrowed.
He was sure that Bambi's birthday was not until december, and the actual month was february.
Her confused eyes flicked between the occupants of the room, "Yeah, her birthday."
Rhodey raised his eyebrows with an expression that said more than any words.
Pepper continued her story, "Someone screamed too loud. " She said several times as her voice grew quieter and quieter. "And... Darkness."
Silence. Too much silence.
The doctor chose that moment to appear.
"What happened to me? I can't remember", She asked slowly, glancing at Tony again during the conversation.
"You were in a car accident, a heavy collision. You are a very lucky woman to have survived", The man, Dr. Hazel she managed to read on his scrubs, shook his head. "You lost consciousness and your heart flat lined for a bit but we managed to bring you back."
The reality came crashing down on her, except it couldn't be true. It just couldn't.
A car accident? No… That means that… Oh god! Where is Megan? Is she okay? Is she hurt? Pepper exhaled a shaky breath, clenching her trembling hands. She felt as if there was a massive hole in her heart.
"Virginia-" The doctor began.
"Where is she? Is she hurt? Please tell me", Pepper looked frantically at the black-haired man as he cleared his throat.
"Who, sweetheart?" His voice sounded lower than before.
"Megan Phillips", She pleaded quietly.
Tony's face was as stoic as before, but his eyes told a completely different story.
Megan Phillips, she was a Pepper´s friend. The old secretary of Obadiah, one of the people who helped him in all his plans and who died tragically in a fire.
"Was Megan there, Virginia?"
"Why are you answering my question with another question?" She asked the doctor, her voice becoming much stronger as anger laced her tone.
She felt the need to emphasise her point, "She was with me at the party"
There was a short moment of silence, but the doctor broke it before they could do so themselves.
"Don't stress about it. You will probably get the memory back in a few days, or there is a chance it will never return. This kind of minor head trauma can cause a memory hiccup. It's fairly common and not something to worry about. Pushing can actually make a memory harder to recover, so if you leave it alone, it may come back sooner."
"I don't like not remembering."
"Listen to your body. You'll need to take it easy at least a few days. We'll get you some analgesic."
Everything was a blur after that. It was hard to concentrate over the dull pain in her skull, but she made out words like 'concussion' before she closed her eyes.
Tony was becoming impatient, his mind a bundle of ideas as his heart felt heavy in his chest.
He breathed deeply.
His hands moved a couple of times before his gaze fell on Melissa. Pepper had awakened again, giving the doctor an opportunity to examine her thoroughly. Now Rhodey's sister was in charge of delivering the news.
"How bad is it?" The words were forced out.
"The impact caused two broken bones."
Melissa looked at him and his heart felt even heavier in the face of silence.
"What haven't you told me?" Tony crossed his arms in exasperation.
The nurse rubbed the back of her neck, trying to ease out a simple explanation. "With this kind of accident we always expect some consequences. They're common in these cases."
"Just tell me already", Tony practically shouted.
Melissa stroked his shoulder gently, a motherly gesture of comfort.
"She can't remember; she has partial memory loss. All her memories are before 2001. She knows her family, and she remembers her name now along with a few other random facts about her life, but she can't remember anything else."
"Is it permanent?" Tony asked her quietly.
"It's most likely only short-term amnesia but there is a chance that it might extend to long term memory loss, meaning that she won't remember a major part of her life, depending on which area of the brain has been affected. We are keeping her in for a few days. In some cases, the memories simply return when least expected, but you can't force her to remember everything without risking any serious consequences."
Tony touched his lips and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Holy crap, what is he supposed to do? Her words were hard to listen to, leaving him shaking his head and beginning to walking.
"She will never remember me" He stated, voice shaking as much as his hands.
His own words sink in exactly seven seconds later and Tony hastily leaves the hospital.
It was the silence that welcomed him, his body moving with heaviness as he deposited his stuff on the floor. His head was a mess, so many thoughts developing that he was sure it was going to explode any moment.
All because of one name, Pepper.
The only thing clouding his mind was her.
He couldn't help but think that he didn't deserve her.
Still, saying that it didn't hurt would be a lie, her words still stinging in his chest.
They echo in his head, his muscles tense and his jaw tightens. For several seconds, he is scared.
"Do I Know you?" She murmured.
Until you get too deep, you never know who really has your heart. You do not know how much your body craves a simple I love you.
His biggest regret is that he didn't say it out loud last night, and now everything is falling apart. Like it always does in his shit life. Something inside Tony is fractured, broken into pieces, and the look on Rhodey's face told him that he could see that.
"You're an idiot, Tony!" Rhodey shouted and Tony could not agree more with his thoughts.
It was not a question. He didn't try to answer.
Rhodey didn't give up, "You could not ignore this."
Tony gave him his best evasive look. Folded his arms like a petulant child, "Of course, watch me."
The Colonel rejected his diatribe with a nod, "That doesn't sound like fun to me."
He just rolled his eyes, beginning to talk about everything for a stretched five minutes.
Rhodey let out a sound between boredom exasperation, "You could at least try and look like you're paying attention."
"But I'm not, so why bother?" He said seriously, "Lying is bad, platypus"
"Mate" He began. "She is-"
"I know", Tony yelled in exasperation, "Damn it, I know"
"Then stop only thinking of you."
"God, please no. Okay?" He argued, beginning to move away from him, "Don't say anything, she doesn't remember me, Rhodes. She doesn't remember anyone", Tony whispered softly, his eyes reflecting despair. The Colonel could see a million regrets and terrible guilt etched on Tony' face. It made his heart ache. "She forgot about me, and damn, it hurts like hell", He felt a painful twinge in his chest and a horrible sinking feeling in the stomach. His heart felt heavy, "I had her only to lose her again. After all this time, I've lost her, as usual. Because this is what always happens, she gets hurt and I'm about to lose my damn mind."
Rhodey was smart enough to keep quiet.
"Somebody seriously needs to nail your ass to the wall."
"Go away!" He let out when he saw the brunette approaching. She no longer listened to him or laughed at something ridiculous that Rhodes had said. Life sucks, Tony noted.
"I'm not going anywhere", Natasha assured him earnestly, "And you can't force me." She added, folding her arms stubbornly.
"Well, if we're going to play this game, I was here first."
"Calm down." Rhodey suggested, gripping his arm.
"I'm trying to talk to you. I am on a mission that your friends have called intervention", Natasha confessed, "Sometimes it's necessary to see a woman's point of view. Are you afraid?" She asked quietly.
"Afraid of what?"
"That you care too much to see her suffer because of you. God knows how many bad things you've been through, how many bad things we've all been through. You're afraid of hurting her somehow."
"How deep of you. Did you get it on some medical website? Psychology for beginners, maybe?" Tony snapped.
"I'm serious!"
"So am I!" He replied, irritation evident in his tone, "I'm just a different person when I'm with her", He finishes, ignoring her appreciative look and shrugging. That's all. He had let it out.
Natasha looked at him, her facial expression softening and a slight smile appears on her lips "Do you love her?" She asked so quietly that it was almost a whisper.
Yes. Of course he did, and he has known it for some time. Since the third grade, long before something happened between them. He did not respond, he merely nodded once at her.
"If you want her," The redhead began, her voice caught her attention. "Then you have to fix this."
"Don't tell me", Tony sneered, faking a smile and applauding sarcastically. "Do you think I don't know that?"
"You're an idiot."
His heart rate increased, "What's that supposed to mean?"
The colonel could see where his friend's mind was drifting and placed a hand on his Tony' shoulder.
"She loves you Tony, even if she can't remember you. Dammit!", Natasha was angry,
"She was always be there for you. Pepper never allowed any of us to give up on you. She believed in you."
Every nerve in his body felt like it would explode with that statement.
"And now she needs us. She needs you. She's a frightened woman."
He clenched his jaw, able to feel the rapid beating of his own heart.
Natasha continued, "We will not leave her alone. I don't care if you're scared or you feel sad, because dammit, she needs you. And I'll kick your ass if you don't help her."
"Natasha" Rhodey scolded her.
Tears run down Tony' face, "She's right"
"You just need a plan to make Pepper fall in love with you again". He appeared hurt but does not argue with his best friend.
"You will not give up Stark", She paused licking her lips, "We will not leave you. Got it?"
"Uh huh" Tony answered.
His two friends smiled. Two real smiles.
"Good. The plan on how to make Pepper fall in love with you, starts over. "
His steps were slow and cautious, but he was true to what he believed in, and Tony believed in her. She would come back to him. He would sure about that. He couldn't stop himself, he looked at her lovingly. Her untidy curls were in her face, but he didn't move them away. Everything about her was intoxicating.
He took her face in his hands gently. "Since I met you, I stopped believing in coincidences. I knew because I had to, had to find someone to change my life, my way of thinking. You've taught me so much and there is so much to learn." He said aloud, but only silence hears his confession, "I don't know what, or who, I have to thank that you have crossed my path, but you're the best I could have found. I've looked at you in millions of ways and I've loved every single one."
"I wish I was brave enough to say this while you're awake", He whispered in her hair, "I'm in love with you Pepper Potts."
TBC…
Poor Tony…He has regrets, regrets of all the times he hurt her, made her doubt herself, did things for him without him showing her any gratitude. Maybe now he can be the person he wished he had been all along? Not everyone gets a do-over in this life Tony this may be the one way to right your many wrongs when it comes to this woman.
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. =)
If you take the time to read, please take time to comment.
Feel free to let me know what you think. Questions, suggestions, opinions, anything goes.
I invite you to read my others stories.