The morning arrived and Rhodes was at the mansion in the War Machine suit. Tony was needed for a mission from S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Rhodey what's going on?" Pepper asked as he walked by her in the kitchen on his way to find Tony.
"Fury called us for a mission"
"You can't be serious" she said.
"I'm dead serious" he said as he walked down the stairs and Pepper followed him.
"I think I finally got it" Tony said walking over to get suited up as Pepper.
The mechanical arms came out and started fitting the pieces all around her body. And after a minute the armor was complete.
"Jarvis are you there?" he asked.
"Yes sir. I must say you look quite lovely"
Tony got out of the suit and rubbed at his eyes. He had been up all night and the triple espressos we're finally wearing off.
"Miss Potts I'm glad you're here. Can you get me an espres-
Tony yawned loudly and slumped down on the couch.
"Have you been up all night?" she yelled.
"I was making the suit so I could wear it in your body. So that you'd stay safe" he said as his eyes got heavy.
"Tony we have a mission now. You should have gotten some sleep" Rhodey scolded.
"He's not going anywhere like that. He hasn't slept. It's too dangerous" Pepper said standing in front of him protectively.
"Then it has to be you. You'll have Jarvis to help and I won't let anything happen to you" Rhodey reassured her.
"No" Tony mumbled trying to fight off sleep.
Pepper stood on the platform and let Jarvis suit her up. She was terrified but she wasn't going to let anyone down. She followed Rhodes out to the launch pad and mimicked what he did with his hands until she took off. She sucked in a breath as she started flying. She just followed Rhodes the whole way.
"Where are we headed?" she asked.
"Wyoming. There's an unidentified flying object from a hostel planet and there have been several attacks in civilian neighborhoods. They are looking for a Dr. Fitzpatrick they think he discovered a vaccine for a terrible disease that plagues their planet. But they are a threat to us and giving it to them could help them regenerate their population and come and annihilate us" Rhodes said.
"So what is our job?" she asked.
"We need to find the leader and take him out and save the innocents" he said.
"Sounds easy enough" she said.
Tony awoke from his nap with a pounding headache. He looked at the clock and seen that he had slept four hours. And suddenly he remembered the last conversation that they had.
Pepper.
"Jarvis where is Pepper?" he asked.
"Miss Potts is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with Colonel Rhodes" he said.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Dammit Pepper.
"Jarvis put me through to Miss Potts" he said.
Pepper was flying through the air blasting aliens when Tony's voice came through the suit.
"Hi Tony" she said as she got blasted back into some trees.
"Tell me you're not flying the suit" he yelled.
"I am and I'm getting clobbered. But I'm ok. Rhodey has me covered" she said.
"I'm coming to you. I should be there" he said running his fingers through his hair.
Pepper got up and blasted a few more aliens. Her body was aching everywhere.
"No Tony you have important meetings and things to take care of today. I left you notes. I gotta go"
The line went dead and Tony cursed. He looked at the papers Pepper left for him and he looked at her appearance. He needed to fix Pepper's hair and put some kind of makeup on. He hurried upstairs to get ready.
"Rhodey I need you" Pepper said as she was darting out of the way of crossfire from the alien weapons.
"I'll be right there" he said as he headed as quickly as he could to Pepper.
"Rhodey there's a kid at ten o'clock. I don't think I can make it to them" she said.
"Pepper I can't get to you and the kid" he said.
"Get the kid. I'll be ok" she said even though she feared she wouldn't make it.
She thought for a moment about the fear she had when Tony would go on missions but she wondered if Tony ever feared for his own life. She was so scared it really put into perspective what Tony was trying to do. She looked over at the little girl and saw that Rhodey had made it to her. She was relieved. And then she felt a hard blast and it sent her sailing. She hit her head and the darkness set it.
Tony was in a meeting trying to figure out how to answer these questions that everyone was shouting to him. Pepper does this without him everyday. She was organized and he didn't know where to begin. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how she was able to endure these meetings and not get bored enough to not take notes. And she knew the answers as if they were from his own mouth. He never really realized how much Pepper does and how she handles everything so effortlessly. Just then he got an alert from Jarvis in his ear telling him Pepper has been hit.
Rhodey finished off the last of the aliens and hurried over to Pepper.
"Jarvis run vitals"
"Miss Potts seems to have suffered a concussion and some broken bones"
Pepper opened the faceplate of her helmet and she was squinting in pain.
"Rhodey my entire body is on fire with pain and I don't think I can walk" she said.
Her suit started to ring. It was Tony.
"Pepper Jarvis informed me you got hit. Are you ok?" he asked.
"I'm fine. I have a concussion and several broken bones but I'm ok" she groaned in pain.
Tony balled up his fists.
"Jarvis connect Rhodes" Tony said angrily.
"Rhodes is on the line"
"You were supposed to protect her" he barked at him.
"Tony I was on my way to her and there was a little girl. Pepper told me to go to the kid" he explained.
Tony couldn't say he wouldn't have done the same thing. That's what iron man does after all.
"When can I expect you back?" he said.
"We're on our way already" Rhodes said who had Jarvis set to autopilot to get Pepper home.
Tony was frantic. He was pacing back and forth and ordered the bots to get into medical mode. They were going to patch Pepper up as per instruction by Jarvis. He cleared off one of his workshop tables so they could put Pepper on top. He also hurried upstairs and brought down all the painkillers he had left from the various bangs and bruises he had come home with.
Rhodey and Pepper arrived on the launchpad and Tony ran out to meet them.
"Get the suit off of her now" Tony yelled straining her delicate vocal chords.
He ran his hands through his own hair and he smiled at Pepper and his own face smirked back.
"It's going to be ok. Dum-e and You are gonna put you under and reset the bones and I'll be here when you wake up" Tony said.
"You better be" she said reaching for Tony's hand.
After what felt like an eternity Pepper finally opened her eyes and Tony was there like he promised.
"Hey" she said.
"Hey" he said back.
Tony took a big risk and leaned down and kissed Pepper on the lips. He was surprised with the way she kissed him back forcefully. She opened her mouth and let his tongue inside. And then he broke away from her and smiled.
"You scared me Pep" Tony said.
"You scared me too. You went to all those important meetings without me" she teased.
"We should get you into bed " Tony said.
"Yes I'd like that" she said.
Tony tried to lift Pepper up and he didn't realize how much he weighed and how Pepper's body could never lift him.
"It's ok" she said trying to sit up and she felt an intense pain through her legs.
"Don't move. I'll figure something out" he said as he scanned the room for his wheelchair.
He acquired tons of medical equipment from his home doctors. He found it and decided that he needed to upgrade his work table by making it able to go up and down mechanically. He very carefully sat Pepper up and slid her forward gently until her one good leg could touch the ground and then he slid her down into the wheelchair while he held her bad leg up until she was sitting.
He pushed the chair into the elevator and took it up to the top level. He pushed Pepper down the hall into his own bedroom and helped get her into the bed comfortably.
"I'm going to stay in here tonight too in case you need me" he said.
Pepper looked up at him and nodded. He changed into pajamas and slid under the covers next to her. He knew Pepper was safe now and could finally go to sleep.