A/N: I am SO sorry this took so long. My muse just wasn't cooperating. But, I took my dad to see Indy and Iron Man at the drive-in for Father's Day and inspiration struck.. I don't really think it's worth the wait, but I'm just so happy it's finally finished!

"Um, Tony…what are you doing?"

It was a little after 6 p.m. on a Tuesday. Pepper knew Tony didn't have any functions or events that evening, so when she walked into his living room, she expected to find him sprawled on the couch watching T.V. Instead, he was messing around with a multi-colored box.

"I am preparing to give you the education you should have gotten ages ago."

Tony held up the lid of the box.

"Operation?"

Pepper walked over to him and looked at the funny looking guy painted on the game.

"First of all, you had no idea what I was talking about all those months ago when I mentioned this game, and that is just wrong. Also, I'm working on a new design for the reactor that'll work with Rhodey's suit as well, and let's be honest, you need to improve your skills."

"Now that is not fair! You just sprung it on me last time…and there was puss…and it smelled..."

Tony set the game lid on the table and raised his eyebrow. Pepper held up her hand before he could say anything.

"Oh shut up! You know what I mean!"

"Come on Potts! We're done with work for the day." Tony sat down and pulled a pouty face while bouncing a little in his seat. "Play with me!"

Pepper shook her head at his antics, but smiled all the same.

"Fine, don't get your iron panties in a twist. I'll play with you."

Pepper slipped off her shoes and settled in next to Tony on the couch. She rested her chin on his shoulder as she looked over at the game.

"So what's this all about?"

"Well, it's called Operation…so you operate." Tony turned his head, found her face inches from his own, and turned quickly back to the game.

"Your goal is to take all of these little white things out of their holes without touching the metal sides."

Tony leaned forward to pick up the forceps, effectively getting Pepper's chin off his shoulder. She couldn't help but wonder if he did this on purpose. Then she wondered why she even cared.

"These are what you use to pick up the pieces."

Pepper scooted forward on the couch and reached for the pinchers. Tony moved them farther from her reach.

"Don't get in such a hurry. It's not as easy as it sounds. Look at your record already. You managed to shock me with a wire that was a hell of a lot smaller in a hole that was a hell of a lot larger."

"Just let me have them."

Pepper reached forward and snatched them out of Tony's grasp, pointedly ignoring the laughing look on his face as he waited for her to fail.

Pepper settled in over the board, trying to determine which piece she should try for first. She figured the butterfly was as good a piece as any and slowly lowered her hand to pick them up.

Tony scooted closer to her. Pepper could feel his breath on her ear, but she tried to ignore it. She grabbed the piece with no problem, but as she went to pull it out…

BUZZZZZ!!

Pepper jumped and dropped the forceps. She also collided heads with Tony.

"God, Pepper!" Tony exclaimed as he held the side of his head.

"I'm sorry! But you shouldn't have been so close to me in the first place."

"Well, how was I to know a little buzz was going to give you a seizure?"

"I didn't know it was going to do that!" Pepper slapped his arm. "You didn't tell me!"

"What did you expect? It did the same thing when you touched the side of mine with the wire. Course, that hurt a lot more. But still...same principle!"

Pepper had brought herself up to full height in preparation for another comeback, but as his words registered, she shrank back down.

Tony saw the pain and guilt flash quickly across her eyes and quickly tried to assuage the situation before she got to feeling too down on herself.

"Hey! No big! There was a little pain, but then there's such a rush afterward. It's my new anti-drug!" Tony smiled his most charming smile. "Now come on. You need to get that butterfly out of there, or your patient is going to die."

Pepper looked at him for another second before turning back to the game. It took her four tries, but she eventually got the butterfly out of the guy's stomach without touching the sides.

"Well, I'm pretty sure your patient is dead by now, but at least he doesn't have that nervous feeling in his stomach anymore."

Pepper shot Tony another glare, but he deflected it easily.

"Hey! I'm sure having a dead patient will make the rest of them easier for you."

"Oh no. You don't get to just sit there and laugh at me all night." Pepper shoved the tweezers into his hand with a smirk. "We're taking turns. That's how 'games' work, isn't it?"

"Oooh…we have feisty Pepper tonight. I'm liking it! And I'll take your challenge, but I have to warn you: I used to play this game all the time when I was a kid."

Tony picked up the tweezers and quickly removed the Charlie horse from the patient's body. He looked up at a dismayed Pepper and threw the horse on the table with a smile and cocky laugh.

"You should have flashed me some cleavage or something, Potts, because that's the only way you're gonna be beating me tonight."

Pepper said nothing and instead focused on getting the pail of water out of the patient's knee. She took her time and got it out on the first try.

"Whoo-hoo!"

Pepper let go of all of her inhibitions and stood up and danced, waving her arms above her head and shaking her hips. She sat back down with a smug look on her face as she took in Tony's laughing face.

"This game's not over yet! Your turn Iron Man!"

They spent the next hour taking turns removing the pieces from the game. It turned out Tony wasn't as perfect as he thought he was. When you added that with how quickly Pepper caught on, you got a lot of mumbled curses from Tony and more dancing from Pepper.

Finally, they came to the final piece and the final turn. Pepper was up and she had to remove the broken heart. Tony had left the piece for her since it was one of the easier ones to remove, but she had steadily avoided it because of the symbolism the piece held in her mind.

Pepper hesitated briefly before leaning in. She removed the piece perfectly and let out a sigh of relief as she laid it down on the table.

"Well, Pepper, I'm impressed. I guess you really are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. The piece in my chest should be no problem for you."

With the game over, Pepper settled back into the couch. She tried to smile at what Tony had said, but playing the game had brought out concerns she had long tried to keep under wraps. She looked at Tony soberly.

"Did it hurt . . . does it hurt?"

Tony turned his body on the couch so he was facing her completely, his smile fading. He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he took time coming up with an answer he thought she could handle.

"Does it hurt? Not at all. I'm used to it now." He absently tapped on the chest plate. "Did it hurt? It was surgery in a cave, Pepper. I'm pretty sure all I had was some chloroform to knock me out. I remember bits and pieces of sounds and lights, but the pain knocked me out again almost immediately."

Pepper nodded but said nothing. This was the first time he had really talked about what had happened over there. She wanted to ask more but was afraid he would close off again. It seemed Tony understood what she was going through. He sat there watching her, waiting for her to say the words he could see forming behind her eyes.

"You've changed so much."

Tony's eyes widened slightly. This wasn't what he expected her to say, and he thought for a long time before answering.

"I was imprisoned with a man named Yinsen. He's the one who performed the surgery and saved my life. Apparently, I had met him before, but I didn't remember him at all. I barely even remembered the convention he spoke of; I was so drunk that night."

Tony stopped there and closed his eyes. Pepper reached out took his hands in hers, silently urging him to continue. As curious as she was, she also had a feeling that talking about it would help him.

"He had a family when I had nothing. Sure, I had everything, the cars, the money, the…girls, but none of it was really real. Yinsen died helping me escape. The last thing he said to me was 'don't waste it.' This amazing man who I had basically helped to kill was rooting for me to make something out of my life. And since I've been back, that's what I've been trying to do."

Pepper's eyes were filled with tears, and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat before she could speak.

"You've been doing a good job."

They both held on to the other's hands a bit tighter as they sat in the quiet living room, alternately looking into each others' eyes and then looking anywhere but. The elephant that had appeared that morning after his mission was back. Now it was simply a case of who would acknowledge its presence first.

"Is that really the only way you remember that night?"

Pepper had been staring at the discarded Operation game and started at the quiet sound of his voice. She looked up to find him looking at her intently. She was shocked to see that Tony's walls were completely down, and that the emotion she was so scared of identifying so long ago was even more prominent than she could ever imagine.

She sat there, staring at Tony for what felt like hours but was really barely a minute. Then finally, she knew what she had to do.

Pepper took a deep breath and shook her head, deciding that if he could put himself out there, she could as well.

Tony let out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. He noticed a stray tear running down her left cheek and reached up to wipe it off. But, instead of removing his hand, he simply shifted it so it cupped her cheek, his thumb rubbing lightly under her eye.

Pepper's pupils widened at his movement, but she didn't move away from his touch. Tony leaned in slowly toward her shaking lips. He kept his eyes locked on hers, looking for any sign that this wasn't okay.

"Sir." Jarvis' voice rang loudly through the living room.

Tony closed his eyes and spoke quickly in hopes that this wouldn't completely ruin whatever was about to happen.

"Whatever it is, it can wait, Jarvis."

"Unfortunately it cannot, sir. Intelligence has just come through that a Jericho missile has been used against U.S. troops in Iraq. The camps are still under heavy fire."

Tony let out a sharp breath and turned his head to the side. This was all it took for Pepper to give into her fears and walk unsteadily across the room. She stood resting her hands on the side of the bar, her head falling down a bit.

She took a deep, shaky breath, but her words came out smooth and calm.

"You need to go." It wasn't a question.

"I need to go."

She turned around then. Her face was resolute, but Tony noticed the shine of tears on her cheeks. The sight of her sadness nearly broke his heart. He wished he knew the exact reason for it, but he couldn't afford to take the time to find out.

Instead, he stood up and slowly crossed the room toward her. Pepper looked as if she wanted to say something, but the words never came.

"I'll be careful."

Tony whispered those words as he stopped in front of her, and before he could even think about what he was about to do, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

Then he gave her hand a quick squeeze, smiled at her and rushed downstairs to change into the suit.

Pepper stayed standing right where he left her, leaning against the bar and staring at where he had disappeared.

A/N: This chapter got a little deep, which I've never really written before, so I hope it turned out okay. And before you say it, this is 4 times THEY don't kiss. Him kissing her doesn't count since it wasn't reciprocated. Also, I was just desperate for a little something sweet from Tony.

I was almost done with the last chapter, but since I changed this one, I have more to change in that one. I still hope to get it done by the end of the week though. Thanks again for reading, and if you feel the urge, click that button down there and let me know what you think. :D