"Tony? Hey, Tony, I'm running late!" Pepper called, her heels clicking down the curved stairs and and into his workshop.
She carried a stack of papers that needed signed and taken back to the office...a couple for legal matters on the situation two weeks ago, the display Obie had put on at the arc reactor...and a couple others that were just new contracts with some clean energy companies that Tony was looking into working with in the future. Now that the weapons were done, he had a few new idea for what to do with Stark Industries...clean energy being his priority, though it was still a far ways away.
"Tony?"
She tugged on the door when she made it to the bottom with no use; he locked it? Why? So she punched in her code, only to have access denied.
"Jarvis?" she questioned, starting to worry. "What is he up to?"
"Mr Stark has requested no visitors, I'm afraid," the AI responded with just a hint of sadness, making Pepper's heart race.
"What?" she replied, confused. "Why? What is he doing?"
"I'm afraid he's...unresponsive."
"Unresponsive?" she repeated, her face scrunching up in complete confusion now. "What do you mean unresponsive?! For how long?!"
"Nearing four minutes. Mr Stark was recording an experiment," Jarvis answered.
"J, let me in," Pepper demanded next; she wasn't playing games.
"I'm sorry, miss Potts, I was instructed to-"
But she didn't let him finish; no, she punched in Tony's key code, knowing it by heart as well, even if he wasn't aware that she knew. And thank God she was allowed in, because when she rounded the desk, her heart nearly stopped, the papers and tablets falling from her hands and hitting the floor, shattering and resting in a million pieces.
"Tony!" she yelped, pushing the desk chair which was in the middle of the floor, away.
Pepper scrambled to the other side of the desk, Tony's still body sprawled out on the floor. But that wasn't what alerted her, what alerted her was the round arc reactor, missing from his chest, sitting in his motionless hand. His hair was plastered down with a cool sweat and his face as pale as when she found him after fighting Obie.
And then panic set in when she realized what Jarvis had told her; he'd been out for over four minutes, by now. Six minutes without oxygen and the brain quits. And she was not about to lose him.
"Jarvis, how do I attach this thing?!" she panicked, picking up the arc from his cold hand and fidgeting with the connector at the bottom.
She touched the ends together once and caused his body to jerk, but he didn't wake up...not yet.
"Come on, Tony..." she whispered, cradling his torso in her lap as she focused on reattaching the piece with her shaking hands. "You're not leaving me like this. Not gonna happen..."
Then she forced herself to blink back tears in her eyes, eventually listening for a heartbeat. He was still, nothing being detected.
"What are you doing Stark?!" she yelled at his quiet form.
But then her attention turned toward is desk as she continued fighting to connect the arc back to his chest. Jarvis had said he'd been recording an experiment, right?
"Jarvis, play back Tony's feed."
"Mr Stark-" he began to protest, but she shut him down instantly.
"Jarvis, now!"
"Right away, Miss Potts..." the AI caved.
Pepper watched the video from the floor, never detaching herself from Tony's body.
"Uh, take three at this, I guess," he spoke toward his camera from the floor; Dum-E, to be exact, who was now sweeping up something in the corner. "There's been two already. I'm not really...well, I guess I won't really know if I succeeded or not, but what else is new?"
Pepper's heart sunk at this, and it broke into a thousand pieces when she watched him remove the arc from his chest on his own. Delicately, slowly, sucking in a breath before disconnecting from the hole in his chest. And then he closed his eyes. Waiting, waiting for what? To die? Was he kidding? No, there's no way Tony Stark would kill himself. Not like this, not...
A sudden jerk of his body a second time made her bring her puffy, tear laden eyes back to him. Somehow, not focused, she'd managed to get the arc back in place. It glowed bright as ever, and suddenly he was gasping for air in a loud scream, shooting up himself as if all life had been restored to him.
"Tony!" Pepper sighed in relief, letting the tears run down her cheeks as he backed himself up against the filing cabinet behind him on the floor, just out of her reach.
"What the hell?!" he asked, breathless, as he blinked, dazed and still coming to. And then his eyes landed on her. "Shit. Shit, Pepper..."
"Tony are you okay?!"
"Okay, definitely hallucinating..." he mumbled, running a hand through his messy hair. "You're not real."
"What?" she whispered, crawling over to his side and resting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm very real, what are you talking about?"
And then he started laughing when he glanced at her touching him, realizing he was fully awake. But it only set her off, and Pepper rolled back to sit, furrowing her brow and shaking her head in annoyance.
"This isn't funny, Tony!" she scolded, tearing still stinging her eyes. "Okay, you've already almost been murdered like three times, and now I come down here and you...you're trying to kill yourself, are you serious?!"
"That's not what this was!" he insisted, but she opened her mouth to argue. "This was...different."
Except all that came out after a few moments was, "Different?! I watched you take that thing out of your chest!"
"Jarvis, I thought I told you-" he groaned, and the AI interrupted him.
"I'm sorry, sir, but miss Potts insisted, and-"
"That's not the point!" Pepper seethed, exasperated. "What kind of experiment requires you to lock me out while you try to commit suicide?!"
"Well, I wasn't really...I was just.."
"Just what?" she asked, amused and tired. "Just trying to give me a heart attack, too? Do you have any idea what I'd do without you?!"
"Well, you'd have to find a new job, and-"
"Tony!"
"I heard you, Pep!" he finally interjected in defeat. "I heard...you."
Pepper blinked, staring at him as he pushed himself up, tapping at the arc as it flickered to make sure it stayed on, and then he rested on his knees in front of her.
"What?" she finally managed to whisper, her blue eyes on his face as he frowned.
"And I can't explain it, but in Afghanistan, after that missile went off, and right after you turned no the arc two weeks ago...it's you. You, yelling my name, and I don't know what it fucking means, but then it happened again, now, and..." He paused. "Wait a minute, are you crying because of me?"
"I thought you were dead," she breathed, hands shaking in her lap after wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I can't handle you dying a fourth time, Stark."
His eyes danced across her face and she welcomed their chocolate stare, until suddenly, he leaned forward, cupping her face with his rough palms. His lips pressed against hers in a tame, simple kiss, the feeling unfamiliar but...not in a bad way.
And then he released her, all too soon, and after a moment he tilted his head, trying to read her.
"Is that...that was weird, wasn't it? I mean, I didn't think...but you..."
"You promise me you weren't trying to kill yourself?" Pepper whispered, ignoring his rant...and the kiss, until he nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, no death for me."
She sighed, feeling a little better, but then blushed, realizing he still hadn't moved his hands from her face.
"I think I love you, Pep," Ton exhaled next, his voice unsteady. "It was just you. No one else, just you calling me back while I kicked myself for not realizing this earlier..."
"You're a mess, Mr Stark..." she muttered, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
"I know."
But then she cupped his cheek, feeling more relieved than she had since this whole Iron Man thing started. "But you're my mess."