Oh my god, you guys are so great! Thanks so much for reviewing and you have no idea how happy I am that I haven't screwed Tony's part up. Writing him is such a challenge, but I'll try. TBQH, this wasn't supposed to be a multichapter fic, but then again, I could use some excercise. And having 916 views really just made me so fucking happy.

I wrote this chapter in 2 hours and I don't know, I don't like it as much as I like the first one, but it had to be done for the next chapters to make sense. I do like the part about Pepper possibly hurting Tony and freaking out about it, FuyuSarah, that would be very in character. I'll keep that in mind in the next chapter ;-)

Someone has sent me an email asking if we'll see Tony's struggle as well. Yes, and I hope you won't be dissapointed. But I also feel like Iron Man 3 did a good storyline with Tony, it feels like he's almost at the end of his recovery whilst Pepper's has just begun. The MCU really only features the story of men's struggle, because they think that women out of control with their emotions are unrelatable. That's pathetic writing at best and just simple misogyny at worst.

I also want to establish that Pepper does have friends outside of Tony, like Rhodey and Happy. Yes, I know, they're Tony's friends as well and that's problematic, but I have seen so many fics talking about how much Rhodey/Happy care for Pepper because Tony does. THAT is the biggest bullcrap I've ever seen in fanfics, like Pepper doesn't have a personality outside of being Tony's girlfriend (which isn't even a character trait, it's a mere detail). It's bugging me a lot, what with all the new Iron Man 3 fanfics coming out.

This was kinda on short notice, therefore the next chapters won't come as quickly (sadly), since I'll be going to Italy in a week and have lots of learning for school to do, but I'll try.


The morning after, Pepper was the first to wake up. Tony didn't even wake up when she slowly crawled out of bed and got rid of her wet t-shirt. It was a present of Tony's, after he had found out about her nightmares and her burning tendencies, he made sure to buy her the same sleeping t-shirt every time she burned it to shreds, knowing it was her favorite. It had two atoms on it saying "I lost an electron!" - "Are you positive?" and when she first wore it around Tony, he'd mocked her for wearing such a lazy joke. Pepper had to sleep in his ones instead (contrary to popular belief, wearing your boyfriend's shirts in bed isn't as comfortable as the internet tells you, especially if he's shorter than you) and somehow, he managed to buy her another copy. And another. And another. It went on and on until he got the idea to just buy a bunch of those t-shirts. It was one of the sweetest things he'd ever done for her but of course, he'd just shrug it off and tell her she could make it up to him in bed.

After telling JARVIS to turn down the lights (she had a major headache and aspirin made it worse), she'd go about her usual routine. Make herself and Tony some coffee, check her e-mails, maybe make a few calls. She was so worn out though, every cell in her body was screaming to go back to bed, but that meant sleeping and that meant nightmares. So, coffee was it then.

The coffee was way too hot, but that didn't stop her from pouring it down within minutes. Somehow, hot felt good. Really good. She had recently discovered that she just couldn't stand coldness any longer, it felt like her insides were freezing (maybe they were).

"Ms Potts, Master Stark has just woken up and is on his way," JARVIS told her. A part of her wondered if he would leave her alone again, go into the workshop and shut her out. He hadn't done it as of late, hadn't even dared touch it. Probably to be there for her, but Pepper knew that not working for too long made him anxious. He may never voluntarily show it to her, his twitching hands and nervous stature made it pretty clear though.

Before she had time to think any further, Tony appeared in boxers. His sleep had been just as bad as hers, if not even worse. "Mornin'," he murmured and grabbed the mug Pepper held out for him. She panicked when he neared her, she made it look like she was in deep thought, but in reality she was staring holes into her coffee, scared that he would kiss her. Maybe she wasn't stable enough, maybe she would taste blood, his blood, on her mouth. She didn't want to test the odds.

"Good morning," she just replied and waited for his reaction. 'Is he noticing?' she thought, her eyes fixed on his. 'He is. Keep talking.' "Hope you slept well. I wasn't sure I should wake you-" His lips captured hers in a desperate attempt to make her shut up (a part of her was thankful for that). The sudden coldness made her gasp and Tony, bastard that he was, used this to deepen the kiss. She could feel his tongue sliding inside her mouth and could feel herself slipping into pleasure, moaning and forgetting to breathe. But even through he obvious pleasure, she could tell this wasn't going to end well. Her not thinking straight wasn't good, this was dangerous and oh god, what if I hurt him, what if ...

"Tony-" He swallowed her protest like it was nothing, cupped her face with his hands instead and smirked against her lips. That part of her brain was roaring, screaming to be let out, to be given control yet again and handle this. It thought she was being assaulted and reacted accordingly. "TONY STOP!"

This time when she protested, he released her shaking and breathless body. Her surroundings were spinning and after a few minutes of just trying to breathe, the pain coming from her hand informed her of her shattered mug, some parts even melted. Tony noticed this too, the blood had been drained out of his face. Weird, his expression made her blood boil. Not only anger, but fury filled her. "Oh my god, I'm so sor-"

"DON'T!" She swore she had no idea how that managed to come out of her throat, so furious and fierce. Extremis, her body, was responding to her bleeding hand by finding out the apparent reason, which was standing right in front of her.

Slowly and carefully, her other hand pulled out a piece of her mug out of her flesh and threw it on the floor like it was nothing, it was nothing. It barely hurt but that apparently didn't matter. She was so angry, everything around her turned red and hot. 'I feel like a volcano. Like I'm about to explode ...' Tony never meant to harm her, she knew that, he'd just kissed her, they just kissed ...

"Pepper, tell me what I can do," his helpless voice came up from behind her, he watched her with worrying eyes. "Do you want me to call you a-?"

"I think you've done enough." Was that her? Did she actually just say that?She had no memory of saying that to him, it hadn't even sounded like her, yet here she was, her blood boiling. His silence made it worse. Extremis was doing things to her, it made her hate him. The urgent need to punch him, repay him, popped up in her head. 'Oh god, no.'

"Tony, I'm sorry!" She blurted out, tears streaming down her face. Pepper turned and ... was alone. Tony was gone. She'd just broke his heart and she never wanted to do that, no, not to him, none of this was his fault. He had already blamed himself for not being there when Killian took her, it had taken her a whole week to tell him that he did safe her. He saved every day, just by being here, with her, giving her comfort. But now he was gone and she didn't know if he'd come back. When she looked down on her hand, it was completely healed, the only thing remaining her spilled blood and dull feeling like she'd just done something really stupid, Tony-stupid.

Her other hand took her phone, somebody had to help, get this damn thing out of her, make her normal again. She dialed the only person who could help both her and Tony, someone they both trusted. Someone who might help her control it, given that he had experience with this sort of thing.

What followed were the most painful 2 minutes of her life but then, finally, he picked up.

"Mister Banner, are you available for a little trip?"


Bruce is probably the best person to help Pepper cope, in a way they're just alike. The next chapter won't be as painful, I promise!

Oh, and I DO want to insert Natasha into this. Natasha/Pepper aca Team "Ginger bitches get stuff done" was the saving grace of Iron man 2 for me. They've probably been bonding over Clint/Tony being five year olds after The Avengers. (And this one fic also kinda sorta made me ship them a little) They need to meet for a coffee or something.

This may seem a little weird to you, but from what I've read about Extremis, it changes everything about yourself. That's probably one of the reasons why Pepper doesn't want to keep it, because it's scary to see how much just a little injection can affect you (like your increased aggressive behaviour).