I'm back again! Thanks again for the support, let's get right to it!

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Guilt.

It was like an over-bearing open wound that was begging to be itched but would bleed if one did so. A trifle, some would say. The problem being, to him, he wasn't sure what he had done to cause the guilt.

Closely looking back he had made the connection that the kind red-head had met him at some time or another. Because to him she looked like another married fan- girl who broke into a hospital…and that's where his idea stopped making sense; a regular fan-girl wouldn't have broken into a hospital just to see him. Usually he wasn't in the hospital unless it was something to do with alcohol poisoning. Which meant whatever he did was all over the news.

Bored, he flipped on the television as he waited for the doctor to come back with the brain scans. Obviously he was missing something.

Shaking his head, and inevitably making his headache worse, he flipped through the many news channels. All of them were covering weather so he assumed whatever he had done hadn't at least been on a national level. He turned back to his arm which had turned an angry red and was beginning to itch again. He scratched it absentmindedly and looked up as Rhodey walked into the room.

He looked worse for wear, bags under his eyes and a slight slump in his usual perfect posture. He brought himself over and took a seat next to him. "How you doing?" he asked.

He nodded, not sure what to say in response. He had amnesia, and several other injuries from some strange night escapade. He wasn't quite sure what a normal person was supposed to feel in this instance. Then there was the old friend guilt. Little sucker could stick with you for years.

Rhodey took to the silence and went to watching the news with him. Tony was a bit shocked that he didn't say anything but if he was anything that he said he was to Tony he supposed a friendship did need any words.

"Tony," he tried again.

He looked over to see Rhodey still outwardly engrossed to the screen. He wouldn't have thought he'd said anything if it hadn't been for the slight tilt in his head towards his general direction. He himself waited a moment longer before going back to the screen. However, the silence did not last long. The newscasters had been in the middle of a long explanation on snow when Rhodey's hand touched his bicep. He flinched involuntarily, regretting it when he saw how pained Rhodey looked.

"Tony," he said, "You sure you ok? You're awfully quiet."

Tony nodded again, going back to what the news was saying. He tried not to appear agitated when Rhodey's voice penetrated his hearing again, "I'm saying that if you need anyone to kind of help you through this, I will be here. I know it's only temporary but amnesia can be hard…"

Tony's expression darkened and odd feeling bubbled up in his chest, "You don't know anything." He mumbled.

Rhodey looked taken aback as he switched his view from the television to stare at Tony. "Listen man…"

"No, you listen." He growled. "You know nothing. You think you know pain?"

Rhodey lifted his hands up but Tony couldn't see him anymore. His mind came crashing down in a world of pain and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Blackness danced in his vision and the lights swirled, all coming together into a whirlwind of pain and confusion.

Then it was white.

Sitting up he found himself in pure white clothing standing in the middle of his tower. Turning he saw the woman walk in.

She didn't seem to have the ring yet. Her hair was in a tight bun but she was wearing sweats, making her look completely in contrast to when she had visited him the day before. Nervously her fingers played with buttons on her phone as she pushed her bangs to the side of her fore-head. He couldn't help but smile. Walking right past him, she delicately sat down on the couch. Her fingers moved from her phone to a lap-top. A voice called her from down the hall so Tony hid behind a dividing wall to avoid being noticed. Watching, he discovered he was the one that had been calling her, as another him walked over to her, obviously upset.

"Pepper, I told you I was sorry." He moaned, taking a seat across from her. "Come on. Say something. Please?"

She went on ignoring him, instead focusing on vigorously typing into her computer with tense fingers. His other self, in open distress, switched tactics. "Dinner? Would dinner make you forgive me?"

The read-head (Pepper was it?) looked up from her laptop to glare at him, the furious typing having paused for a moment.

Slowly the other Tony slunk more deeply into his chair, "Pepper?" he all but whimpered.

She smiled, one that he couldn't help feel meant badly for his other -self. "Honey," she began in a sing-song voice, "Are you sure, absolutely sure, that you don't need to go to the doctors?"

His other- self nodded vigorously at this, as he slowly pieced together that their argument had probably been about his safety. Soon it was lost to him, as he lost himself in his own thoughts. He recalled distinct memories of her in the morning, that morning, a couple days after the Mandarin incident. She had playfully hit him and he had flinched from a bruise. Her expression was one hard to forget as she ran from the room in fear that she had hurt him.

He yelled out as a memory of her lying motionless on the kitchen floor took him from the house to another day.

He wasn't hiding behind a wall anymore. He was running downstairs in frenzy as JARVIS worked to get back online. Screaming her name after he had heard her yell out he had burnt his hand rushing to get out of his lab. All the thoughts of pain were cast away. Pepper was hurt and she needed him. That was all he needed to breathe.

He recalled reaching Pepper, her soft hair soaked in her own blood. Calling Rhodey, not waiting; he had simply ran out of the building and to the hospital. He had carried her the entire way, getting strange looks from people as he ran down the street with her blood dripping down his own arms. His Pepper, but hadn't they been only been married a month? Something like that. She was officially his though. No one was allowed to touch her.

"Nurse!" he yelled, frantically looking around with her blood dripping onto the floor and trickling down his shirt, "Please, help!"

She was rushed to emergency care immediately. He remembered turning then…

He jerked upwards, but couldn't move his hands, or feet. "The hell…" he muttered.

He tried again but nothing would budge. Looking down he discovered that, yes, he was still in the hospital. Consequently though he seemed to have a new edition to the room, padded and everything, "How do the restraints have more padding than the actual bed they put you in?" he growled, trying again to break them by force.

One last attempt sent a flare of pain blossoming in his right hand. Looking down he fought to keep down bile as he noticed the odd angle his wrist was at. Turning he found his ankle in the same state. Trying not to panic he did his best to account for all the wounds. Broken wrist, broken ankle, heavy bandages around the abdomen, head hurts like hell, and thigh also seems to be at least severely bruised judging by its abnormal size.

Wincing again he tried his best not to move his head in case he did have a concussion. "No use making it any worse…" he mumbled to himself. More to keep company than to offer reassurances, especially since he remembered some of her now, "here's the guilt again," he growled, "told her to go away after everything…"

"Then why are you both in the hospital? Do you remember that Mr. Stark?"

His breathing came out in ragged gasps as fingers traced the veins on his neck before settling on a spot. "You know, I never did like you." The fingers pinched the skin and a smooth needle was pressed in. "Always causing so much trouble…"

He yelled out as pain shot through his body and drummed in his skull. "Hush now," the voice hummed, "I'll be with you in the morning."

As Always, thanks, readxreview, and have a lovely afternoon!

(What's wrong with Tony? *gasp* Soon my friends, soon.)

Bless you all,

Hawk