As always, you all amaze me. Your love for this story only feeds it and makes me write faster. I'm so so happy everyone is enjoying it.

In which Rhodey symbolizes commonsense, and gives Tony an idea.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Who was the idiot who gave up the opportunity to call a group of kangaroos a kangacrew?" Tony asked, leaning back in his rolling chair and tossing his nano ball up the air and catching it.

Rhodey stared at him, dumbstruck. "You have got to be kidding me," he deadpanned, leaning forward on his knees to look at his friend.

Tony glanced at him and caught his nano ball with one hand. "No, I'm not. I'm actually quite serious. I think kangaroos would get a whole hell of a lot more popular. Aren't they an endangered species or...something?"

"Man, we are not talking about kangaroos!" Rhodey said exasperatedly.

"I'm talking about kangaroos," Tony replied evenly.

"You're not an animal person," Rhodey pointed out.

Tony considered this. "I could be."

"You could not be, they don't have any mechanical parts," Rhodey rubbed a hand over his face. "Now can we please get back to what you told me?"

"Kangacrew."

"Will you shut the hell up about kangaroos?" Rhodey sat up again and looked solidly at Tony. "Pepper left?"

Whatever semblance of happiness was painted on Tony's face fell. "Yeah," he said in a significantly different tone than before. "She did do that."

"What the hell did you do this time?" Rhodey asked.

"Why does it always have to be something I did?" Tony narrowed his eyes. "Maybe she wanted to...I don't know...expand her professional horizons."

Rhodey blinked at him. "What does that even mean?"

Tony threw up a hand and set his high-tech toy down on his desk. "Hell if I know. That's just what she said in her letter."

"Well..." Rhodey began slowly. "Something had to have happened before that, right?"

Tony craned his neck to one side and then the other, stretching it. "Ah...yepp. Yeah, something...did happen. You could say that."

Rhodey raised an eyebrow. "Meaning what?"

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, swallowed, and then looked away.

"Tony," Rhodey softened his tone and called his friend's attention back to him, leaning onto one knee. "Look, the last time I saw either of you, you were making out on a rooftop. Now you're telling me she just up and quit? What happened?"

Tony took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "I...well the next day...I kind of...look, all I did was go into her office and tell her that the kiss was...a fluke, and that I didn't...you know...feel that way. About her."

Rhodey stared, not amused and in disbelief, at Tony.

Tony nodded a bit and began alternating between snapping his fingers and clapping his hands.

Rhodey shook his head and sat back in his chair again. "Do I even want to know why?

Tony shrugged. "It's the truth."

"Don't lie to me," Rhodey deadpanned.

Tony looked up sharply. "What?"

"You heard me," Rhodey said calmly. "Listen, I've watched you two circle around each other for over ten years. Ten damn years, Stark. With the same pattern: she cleans up your messes, takes care of your ass, and keeps you under control. All while she's the only constant woman in your sorry life. The only person who I've ever heard you babble about like a nut. So you can understand why I say that I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth right now," he shook his head like he was disappointed "Don't feel that way. You think I was born yesterday?"

Tony said nothing, but looked away again, either unable or unwilling to meet his buddy's eyes.

Rhodey sighed and waited in silence for Tony to respond. When he showed no intention of jumping back in on the conversation he asked, "Can you at least tell me why?"

Tony glanced at him, and then went back to staring at the window. "Why what?"

"Why you did it," Rhodey clarified.

Tony shrugged like he didn't really know - but he did. He knew exactly why. Pepper was different. Pepper had always been different. And crossing over from familiar to what they both wanted felt like...too much. Way too much. Something he couldn't handle. He had never been good with people. As a general rule, he played better with things with gears instead of ears. If they got together, he would just wind up doing something to screw it up. And then she would be hurt. And hurting Pepper just wasn't an option to him. So he pushed her away, and hurt her worse.

Made sense.

"So, you're ass got scared, and you ran," Rhodey said, as if he could read his mind.

Tony got up from his chair, walked over to his bar, and poured himself a scotch. "I plead the fifth."

"This isn't court."

"Really? Because it kinda feels like it. What with you trying to find me guilty, and all," Tony took a sip and sat back down.

"I'm not trying to interrogate you," Rhodey said tiredly. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."

Tony took another deep breath, the alcohol burning in his throat. "I wanted to go with what I said on the roof," he admitted quietly. "I meant everything I said. Everything I did. I don't tend to...whatever. But I didn't want to break her heart later, so I broke it now instead. I don't mix well with people. We both know that."

Rhodey murmured his agreement.

"And as it turns out, she had had enough. She told me as much earlier."

Rhodey shot him a look. "Wait, you talked to her?"

"Yeah," Tony told him. "I called her earlier today. She told me that she loved me, and that I was going to wind up alone."

Now Rhodey's eyes were wide. "And you said?"

"Nothing. How the hell am I supposed to respond to that?"

Rhodey looked at Tony like he was crazy. "I don't know, maybe tell her that you love her too? And don't you dare even try and say you don't, because we both know that's bullshit."

Tony - who had opened his mouth to protest - quickly closed it again.

Rhodey paused, and then leveled with him. "Look, she said it. Meanwhile you're still running around acting like an asshole. I always knew Pepper was the more mature of you two, but I had no idea it was by this much." He got up and crossed the lab to grab his jacket that was sitting by the door. "You gotta figure this out, Tony."

Tony narrowed his eyes at his friend. "And just how do you suggest I do that?"

"Go. See. Her," Rhodey deadpanned. "Send her flowers until she can't leave her house without stepping on them. Buy her a car. I don't know. You know Pepper better than anyone else. You figure it out. I'll see your sorry ass later."

Tony made a crude hand gesture in place of waving.

Rhodey laughed and exited.

Tony took another sip of his scotch and swirled it around in his glass. He knew Pepper better than anyone else?

Did he?

Tony supposed he did know certain things. Like her Chinese takeout order (vegetable lo mein , where she was from (Connecticut), her favorite color (green), and her favorite book (To Kill A Mockingbird). But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he really did know a lot of things about her that he had taken for granted. He had a patchwork version of her life in his head that he had crafted from the little snippets that she accidentally let slip over the years. But there were things he didn't know as well, and that bothered him.

Tony felt an urge build up inside him that he was used to associating with machines and not people - he wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to learn every detail, and fill in all the gaps that he either didn't know or had forgotten, and he wanted to commit it to memory. He was never a mushy romantic - nor would he ever be - but Pepper...

Pepper was different.

And she always would be.

Sitting back in his chair, Tony Stark made a decision he had never before made in his life. For the first time, he was going to be the one chasing the girl.

He felt a smirk crawl across his face, and then he drained what was left in his glass.

He was up to the challenge.

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