Tony awoke with his heart hammering. He put his hand on his heaving chest, and looked around the room, then at Pepper. Tony immediately felt himself calm down when he saw her freckled face, in the soft glow of his arc reactor. His little outburst must have woken her up, because she started to stir. Pepper lifted her head from the pillow and looked at Tony, squinting at the beam of light coming from his chest. "Hey," he said.
"Tony what's wrong?" Pepper asked, worriedly. "Why are you awake?" Tony stroked Pepper's hair.
"Just a bad dream," Tony said. "Go back to sleep, I'm fine." Pepper sighed.
"Aren't you going to tell me what it was about?" she asked. "You know you'll feel better if you do." Tony looked away. He was hoping she wouldn't ask about the dream, but of course she would want to know.
"Well," he started. "It was about you." Pepper raised her eyebrows.
"Go on," she said.
"Someone… took you," Tony finished, cringing when he said it, remembering the horrific dream. They way he felt when he watched Pepper being dragged away. "These men busted the door down and said something… I can't quite remember what it was. They tied me up and when you came downstairs to see what was happening, they took you. They took you right from me Pepper, and I couldn't do a thing about it." Pepper could see that Tony was getting upset talking about it.
"Shhh," she said, stroking the side of his face. "It's okay, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." Tony laid his head down on his pillow, and stared into Pepper's blue eyes. She smiled at him, still holding his face.
"I know," said Tony. "But just the thought of losing you scares me to death. You're all I have. You're my everything and I just want you to know that." He pulled Pepper closer to him. She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
"You're my everything too, you know that right?" Pepper said, looking up at him. "I will never leave you Tony, I can promise you that right now."
"I know," said Tony. He kissed the top of Pepper's head on sighed. They just laid there for awhile, holding each other until Pepper began to drift off to sleep again. "Pepper?" Tony asked, checking to see if she was asleep yet.
"Yeah?" Pepper replied, tiredly.
"I love you," said Tony, holding her tightly. Pepper smiled, eyes still closed. Tony didn't say it very often, but when he did, it always meant a lot to Pepper.
"I love you too, Tony," she said, giving him a tight squeeze, before falling fast asleep in his arms.