"Okay, ow, just do it again, c'mon." Rebecca gave herself a pep-talk as she sat back down on the edge of her bed.

She had woken up early for some reason and was trying to walk properly on her knee. The idea of going to physical therapy was not at all appealing, she hated hospitals and doctors and people telling her how to do things, she'd much rather do it all herself. Slowly, she extended her knee outwards to stretch the joint before she sat it back on the ground and pulled herself up with one of her crutches. It was okay for now, but probably because all her weight was on the other leg instead, so she moved to balance the weight. As more pressure was applied, she could feel the pain creeping into her knee and bit down on her lip. Ignoring the pain, she moved her other leg forward and took a small step, and then another, and another. It hurt more than she thought, but she managed to walk to her door and back, gasping as she sat back down.

"Well," she breathed. "Wasn't too bad."

"Bec?" Tony's voice came from the door, knocking on it lightly.

"Yeah?"

Tony pushed the door open, peaking around the corner. "Were you talking to yourself?"

"Uh, yeah, I was." she nodded. "Self-encouragement. I've been trying to get the hang of walking properly again."

"Don't push yourself." he warned. "You didn't go through all of that to rush things at the end."

"I'm not, I just want to walk without these stupid things." she kicked at the crutches on the floor. "I hate them."

Tony sighed and sat down next to her. "It's been a long six months, I know, and it hasn't been easy. You didn't deserve this, I wish you didn't have to suffer because of...him, what he done to you." Tony didn't say Obadiah's name.

"I'm just glad you're okay. I can handle this, no problem, if it means that you're not dead because of him. I could do this hundreds of times if it meant you didn't have to get hurt." she confessed. "Because all I want to remember about that night is that you survived, not this." she looked down at her leg. "What I'm saying is...this might be making me suffer, but it's nothing compared to how I'd be if anything happened to you."

Tony should have been smiling at that, he should have been proud that he survived for her, he should have given her the biggest hug and told her everything was going to be okay from now on, but his chest felt heavy with guilt at the secret he was keeping from her. Guilty that, while she was sitting there telling him she wouldn't know what to do if he hadn't survived that, he was slowly dying, and she had no idea.

"Tony?" Pepper's voice made it into the living room as she only just opened the front door.

Tony popped his head out from behind the kitchen wall, smiling at her. "Hello there Ms. Potts, CEO of Stark Industries." he formally greeted her.

Pepper couldn't help grinning at her new title. "Well, it's not completely official yet...but it almost is."

"Sure is. You feel the pressure yet? You gonna crack?" he asked eagerly, trying to scare her with all of the responsibility.

Pepper shook her head confidently. "If I can handle taking care of you for this long, I can handle anything." she took a seat on the barstool at the kitchen counter. "Speaking of taking care of you, here."

Tony raised an eyebrow at the file Pepper pushed toward him. It was three inches thick and bulging with little post it notes for extra important pages. He wondered what it was, so he flicked open the front page and seen a table of contents titled "Job Description. Warning: Be Prepared."

"Oh..." he nodded. "I'm gonna need some explaining."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "It's for the lucky soul who becomes your personal assistant soon." she handed him a few resumés. "There's a few people lined up, I have them on call for interviews and meetings whenever you're available."

Tony didn't like this. Getting a new personal assistant was not something he ever considered doing, he never pictured being without Pepper before, and he only just realised that she would no longer be there for him. She would be too busy running the company. He didn't want a stranger replacing Pepper, he didn't want anyone else but Pepper at all.

"On second thoughts, you're fired from CEO." he stated, pushing the file back to her. "Everything goes back to normal, no changes."

"Tony, you need a new assistant. You've got way too many things to keep up with on your own." Pepper explained, ignoring her dismissal.

"Do not." he argued childishly. "Why can't you do it?"

Pepper's eyes widened. "I'm running a company now Tony, a company. I can't do both, you need to find someone else, and soon, because all of this Expo business just makes you very busy man."

Tony frowned. "Why bother? I won't like any of them, they'll do everything wrong, they'll make me do things I don't want to, and did I mention that I won't like any of them?"

"I'll still be here for you Tony, always, and for Rebecca too. Nothing else is changing apart from me not being your P.A any more." Pepper assured him. "Just..take a look at the resumes, let me know what you think and I'll organize it for you, okay?"

Tony pulled a face like a five year old and took the resumes, pushing them aside, postponing actually looking over them. "Fine, but I'm telling you now, I won't like them."

"And I'm sure they'll love you." she smiled at her jab.

Tony was down in the workshop once again early the next morning, running the same test again II I habit and running a diagnostics on al of his suits, making sure everything was still in order. It would take a while to adjust to not hearing Pepper's voice coming down the staircase and booming into the room each morning after Tony had avoided doing something or had done something stupid. Instead it was just silence for most of the morning while Tony checked his blood toxicity once again and fitted his arc reactor with a new palladium core, until Happy's voice came over intercom.

"I'm here boss." he spoke happily. "We doing this or what?"

"Meet you in the training room." Tony replied.

He had been boxing a lot lately, training, keeping fit and trying to gain and maintain his health. Happy was always glad to help out, and he was an excellent opponent since he was so easily challenged, he couldn't stand being proven wrong about the sport or being beaten without 'best of three'.

Tony checked the diagnostics report and cancelled the test that had once again come back with no change or development. He filled his drink bottle with the dark liquid he was forcing himself to drink each day, upping the ounces each time to counteract the symptoms and hopefully help those nasty veiny-looking side effects fade away, and then he for changed into suitable clothing before finally making his way to his personal gym.

"You see, the trick is to know the opponents weaknesses, then pinpoint the main attacks that will focus on those weaknesses."

Tony walked into the room to discover Happy leaning on the boxing ring corners, giving Rebecca a lecture. He found himself thinking that if anything happened to Tony, if this condition really was the end of him and he couldn't find a way to survive, that Happy would be there to look out for Rebecca, just as Rhodey would be, and Pepper. He hated the fact that ever since he found out about the palladium slowly killing him, his mind turned all of these relatively cheerful moments into something depressing.

"Another trick that's crucial is to-"

"Hey, quit teaching my daughter how to turn herself into a weapon." Tony cut in, sliding his boxing gloves onto his hands.

"It's simple self-defense, these tricks are important when being faced by an attacker." Happy defended, making his serious face. He really did take the sport seriously, although when taking his figure and fitness into account, he obviously wasn't a regular in it. "It could save your life."

Rebecca nodded, showing him that she was taking his tips on board. "You'll have to show me one day."

"I couldn't hurt a girl." he shook his head. "It's far too dangerous for you to get in the ring with me." Happy sounded like a heavyweight champion.

Tony took his chance and kicked his leg out under Happy's, sending him straight to the floor on his back. "Hey, wasn't that your #1 most crucial lesson? 'Never take your eyes off your opponent.'" Tony reminded him arrogantly.

Happy gasped for air, recovering from the initial shock of being knocked flat on his back. "Good work boss," Happy pretended to be okay and instead praised Tony for taking advantage of his momentum. "Nice to see you taking my lessons on board."

Rebecca stood back next to the ring, a muffled laugh coming from her mouth as she tried, and failed, to cover up her amusement at the two.

"This might seem funny, but your dad has a point. Like I have said many times, never take your eye-"

Happy gasped as Tony took advantage of the moment once again, repeating the same movement and watching as Happy went back to the ground. All he heard was Rebecca laughing wildly and Tony chuckling at the situation.

Happy pulled himself up into a sitting position on the mat and caught his breath. "Okay, moving on...to a different...lesson." he managed to croak out.

Rebecca was sitting around the gym on the comfy chairs by the side, listening to Happy and Tony argue about the rules of boxing and what was considered cheating. It was a fairly humorous conversation to listen to, especially when Happy became overly defensive about the whole thing.

It had been almost an hour and Happy's grey shirt was now covered in dark blotches where he was sweating, clearing coming out second best to Tony. He had decided to out on a head brace, protecting himself from the numerous hits he was getting from Tony's gloved fists.

"Tony, can you take a minute?" Pepper walked into the room with a file in her hand. "Natalie's here."

Following into the room behind her was a red-haired woman, very beautiful and dressed very proper. She didn't say a word as she walked in, instead letting Pepper choose the right moment to introduce her.

"I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." Pepper told Tony as his attention fixed on the other woman, wondering who she was.

"Name?" he asked, pointing toward her.

"Rushman." The woman answered. "Natalie Rushman."

"Come on up." he lifted the ropes around the boxing ring, inviting her him.

Natalie looked back at Pepper who had an unimpressed look on her face. "No, Tony." she told him. "Listen, you don't have to-"

"It's fine." Natalie smiled, handling the file she was holding to Pepper.

Rebecca watched as the woman walked toward the ring, capturing both Happy and her dad's attention, and she wondered if she was his new assistant. Rebecca didn't like the change either, she wouldn't ever be comfortable with someone else in their house like that, only Pepper.

When Natalie stepped inside the ring, Tony just looked back at her for a moment silently before stepping out, leaving her with Happy. "Give her a lesson." he suggested, walking away. "Who is she?" he took a seat next to Pepper.

"She is from legal and she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that." she warned.

Tony ignored her banter. "How do you spell your name, Natalie?" he called out.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N." Natalie replied.

Pepper looked over to the interface he was typing her name into. "What, are you Googling her now?"

"I thought I was ogling her?" Tony joked, knowing he was somehow annoying Pepper.

They flicked through her resumé quickly and Tony immediately noticed she had modelled after finding her photos online after a simple search. She spoke fluently in many other languages, had the right qualifications and was insane enough to accept the job description. Pepper had other applicants lined up ready ro meet, but she already knew Tony had made his decision.

"You ever done this?" Happy asked Natalie as she watched Tony and Pepper talk about her.

Rebecca switched topics to listen to, ignoring Pepper and Tony's pointless conversation about other potentials and began listening in on Happy and Natalie's as she was closer to them.

Natalie smiled. "Uh, yeah I've had some practice."

Happy was enjoying talking to her, and was even more thrilled that she knew a little about the sport he prided himself in knowing the history of.

"See? That's always lesson number one." Happy began as Natalie's attention went back to Tony and Pepper. "Always keep an eye on your oppone-"

Happy was cut off as he threw his hand at her, trying to suprise her since she wasn't paying attention, but her hand whipped around and soon he was on the ground after being tackled by her legs. Clearly, she had had a lot more practice than she had lead on.

"Oh my god, Happy!" Pepper squealed, getting up and walked over.

"Whoa!" Both Rebecca and Tony's eyes widened with suprise before laughing.

"I slipped." Happy lied, piling himself up as Rebecca even walked over to observe his defenseless position.

"Yeah, that's what happened." Rebecca spoke sarcastically.

Natalie walked away from the ring unbothered by everyone's shock at her ability. She kicked on her shoes, walking over to pick up the file she needed and them headed over to Tony.

"I need your impression." she told him, opening the file.

Tony seemed confused. "You have a quiet reserve. I don't know...you have an old soul..."

"I meant your fingerprint." she corrected, smiling at his misinterpretation.

"Right." he looked down, smearing his finger in ink and then pressing it to the allocated box. "You're the boss." he looked to Pepper with a confident smile.

"Thank you." Pepper smiled back.

Natalie folded the file up, placing it back under her arm. "Wil that be all Mr. Stark?"

"No-"

"Yes." Pepper spoke for him. "That will be all, thank you Ms. Rushman."

Rebecca smiled at Pepper's interuption, knowing there was a hint of jealousy in there even though she covered it up with her professionalism during the situation. As Natalie nodded and turned around, both Tony and Pepper watched her leave.

"I want one." Tony turned to Pepper like a child.

"No." she answered before giving him a smile, enjoying the power she had over him.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter guys! I really wanted to bring 'Natalie' into this now so that next chapter wouldn't be so over the place. It will get better from here on in I presume, now that I have most of what I need set up. Hope you continue to read and enjoy! Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!