Hey all you lovelies!

Here is a quick chapter 3, so sorry, it's not my best work, so all mistakes, yet again, are mine. YAY!

Big thanks and hugs to Jimenush (did I spell that right?) and Cruelest Seas for reviewing, you guys are awesome! Another shout out to you lovely people who had reviewed and/or favorited this story. Bless you all!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING!

Except my bunny named Watson. But I don't own Sherlock either. *shakes fist* Moffat.

Sorry, wrong fandom. :P As you were. :)


Pepper waited anxiously in the waiting room of the hospital. She couldn't bring herself to look around or pretend to notice anyone. She was sure Rhodey had dropped by at some point, but she still wasn't sure. Her hands played with her phone wondering if there was anyone she should be calling. She knew his parents were dead but there was Fury. He probably knew though. The Avengers? Did she even have their number?

Curious, and for the moment forgetting the problem she had, she looked through her contacts. Oh, she still had Natalie's. Was she close enough to Tony to have to call her about it? She wasn't sure about his private life anymore. They'd gotten married after they worked out the Mandarin incident, some few months afterwards, and the avengers had been there. Surely, they would need to know?

She played with it a minute longer before her logic got the better of her. Fury would have told them by now, she scolded herself.

Stuffing the phone back into her pocket she went back to flipping through old, worn, and out-of-date magazines. Her hand stopped as she came across an over-exaggerated article on her and Tony's wedding. Bright high-lights and over-thought words exclaimed that the star-crossed couple wouldn't last a year. Even more concerning was the brought incident of the Mandarin.

It brightly declared Tony as, "Reckless," and again, "Volatile." Disgusted, she placed the magazine back down on the table next to her chair and instead busied herself with pacing and absentmindedly watching the late night shows.

She was sure the nurses had begun to get annoyed when a soft hand was placed on her shoulder and the all too welcoming smell of food came up behind her. "Hungry?" Rhodey questioned, coming into full view holding up a bag of Chick-Fil-A.

She smiled and reached her arms out, bringing him into a tight embrace. She wasn't sure why, but she needed the human contact. The small child-like reassurance that everything was going to be fine and that she had nothing to worry about, it was all a bad dream and she was going to wake up any second and everything was going to be fine. Sure, these hospital visits had been routine, especially after Iron Man, but that didn't make each trip any less painful or exhausting. If anything, it often made it worse. It was always going to be that one time. That one time he doesn't come home.

Standing back and trying to pretend that she hadn't gone misty-eyed; she let on her best smile and led Rhodey to where she had been sitting. "Thanks so much," she said, "It means a lot for you to come up here."

Rhodey passed her the food after he grabbed his own shook his head, "It was no problem, Pepper. You guys are basically family; it would be sacrilege to leave you up here and your own."

"Yea well", she replied, delicately folding the napkin on her lap, "I know it isn't easy to get time off from the army."

He laughed, "Really Pepper, its nothing. But," quieting down and leaning forward he smirked, "If you really want to pay me back, I've been needing a new car…"

She pushed him away as he laughed again and went back to her sandwich. However, before she could take a bite, a nurse walked over, clipboard clutched tightly in her left hand, "Mrs. Stark?" she asked.

Pepper stood up and put on her best business smile while straightening out her skirt, "that's me." She said, walking over and shaking the nurses outstretched hand.

"He's out of surgery now." She said.

Pepper let out a sigh of relief but her stomach dropped when the nurse's smile turned more to one of pity. "Is he alright?" she asked. Trying to keep her composure together she took in every word the nurse said. Every injury, every bruise, cut and infection. She didn't interrupt once and had very little questions. She had been through this routine many times and had learned not to let anything faze you, no matter how gruesome.

Unfortunately three of the nurse's words penetrated though her thick façade, "probability of poison…"

She found it funny how she had been there not days before. Pacing around and trying not to play with her phone every few seconds. Sympathetic stares led her to play with the ring on her finger. The monumental ring which had tied down everything, she remembered the proposal so vividly too. All Tony, no dress-ups, literally.


She rushed into the hospital room, heart leaping when she saw him awake and complaining. "You call this comfort!" He yelled at the poor flabbergasted nurse, "you sorry excuse…"

Pepper came in just in time to save the poor nurse's reputation and probably work later. "Anthony Edward Stark!" she yelled. The nurse took this as the time to exit and fled the room. Leaving the now panicked looking Stark with the furious red-head. "You heartless, why would you do that to me!"

"Pepper I…"

"Oh no! Don't Pepper me! When you have an injury, what do you do?"

Looking up with a face of pure innocence he responded in his best mimic of her voice, "Call the ambulance or a doctor before it gets worse."

Even more infuriated she walked up and hit his arm, "Why?"

"So, that…you…don't…become worried?"

Suddenly feeling dizzy she sat on the side of his bed and resisted the urge to cry. "Pepper," his panicked voice reached her ears, "Pepper, I' sorry."

Laughing she put her head in her hands, "Tony, it was such a nice dinner. Why didn't you tell me beforehand that your ankle was swollen and possibly fractured?"

"It's broken now." He reminded her, which earned him another playful hit in the arm.

"Seriously though Tony, we could've gone on another date sometime else. You wouldn't have tripped on the curb and then hide that you had actually broken your ankle until the waiter accidently hit the table, and then surgery immediately because 'I'm Tony Stark and I don't do anything by halves."

He held up his hand, stopping her mid-rant, and smiled his heart-warming smile into sea blue eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't wait any longer though. It had to be then. Well, it's ruined now…"

Curious, her eye-brows scrunched together as she fought to make out what he was saying. "What could have been so important…"

She stopped as simple, thin banned, single diamond ring was slipped onto her finger. "You." Was all he said.

Eyes full of tears she furiously tried to wipe them away. "Tony I…"

She laughed as she caught his face. He looked affronted and confused. "You don't like it."

"What? No…"

"You're crying." He elaborated; face contorting into one of confusion.

Wiping away tears she pulled his face into hers and kissed him. "Only because of you."


"Soo…" he began, "that's a yes then?"

Twirling the ring one last time around her finger she looked up as the doctor walked in. "Mrs. Stark, I presume."

Smiling she shook his hand, "Yes, well that would be me."

He nodded and extended his arm to the hallway, "If you would come this way."

"Of course," she replied.

They made their way to the back and into his office where he offered her a seat. She took it gratefully, feet throbbing from constantly standing up.

"Now Mrs. Stark," he said with a business smile, "I'm sure you're very concerned for your husband."

"Of course."

"We've run some scans and right now we think it is a simple case of amnesia, probably caused by some sort of trauma, which we think, might be the poison that is in his system."

She nodded.

"So, we have a couple of treatment plans that I would like you to consider…"

"Where do we start?"


Blackness.

It was like a void for high people on pain medication. Or was it? Could he be dreaming?

"Mr. Stark ," his mind hushed, ears pricked to listen to the new comer, "We've been expecting you."


There you have it! Again, Read and review and thanks for reading.

God Bless,
Hawk