Oh my gosh! I am so sorry I have not had ANY time to write lately, but here is a new chapter. Hope you likey.

Special thanks to ShellyStark, she wrote half this chapter to jumpstart it for me since I was so brain dead.

I couldn't have done any of this without her.

Hope you enjoy. Remember to COMMENT! comments will be rewarded with fluff and angst and quicker updates. The more you comment the more encouraged I am and the more encouraged I am the more I write! So comment liberally.

X xxxxx X

Shelly pushed the door open to Pepper's bleak and weary hospital room. Pepper was awake, her eyes red and swollen, you could still see the streaks that her tears left on her ashen cheeks.

"Come on now Pep," Shelly said softly, grabbing a damp towel to wipe the trail of tears off her face. "Everything is going to be all right, your going to pull through this, then you and Tony are going to have the most beautiful wedding."

Pepper's eyes squeezed shut as a fresh batch of tears started to stream from her lids.

"I told him I couldn't do it, I made him leave Shelly! He won't come back, not with me like this."

Shelly reached down and gently grabbed Pepper's hand.

"He loves you Pepper, of course he'll come back."

"No he wont, I told him to leave, why would…"

"Pepper listen to me," Shelly cut her off. "Tony Stark was the most arrogant man-whore and asshole that I had ever known, hot, but still an asshole. You changed that Pep, you changed who he is, helped make him who he is today. He loves you so much, I'd die to have that." Shelly smiled softly, looking down at the plain white sheets that lined the bed.

"You have Robert." Pepper's fingers twitched around Shelly's.

"Not as much as I used to," Shelly said sadly looking toward the door.

"But I thought…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Shelly tried to grin. "This is Pepper time, and look at that," Shelly glanced down at the fingers Pepper managed to curl around hers. "See there, getting better already. Now I have to get going, I have 3 wedding cakes due out tomorrow." Shelly bent down and kissed Peppers cheek, "I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you Shelly, for always being there when I need you." Pepper smiled for the first time since she had been awake.

"That's just me being awesome!" Shelly winked before walking out of the room.

X xxxx X

"Hey Seashell," Tony grinned as he stepped out of his car in the hospital parking lot. He put on a fake smile but Shelly could see the pain behind his deep brown eyes. "How's things with Bobby boy?"

"Tony," Shelly sighed, changing the subject. "You should give her some time."

Tony's fake smile quickly turned to a genuine frown.

"She told you didn't she? That she couldn't marry me." Tony's tone was sad and quiet.

"You didn't think she would?" Shelly asked with a raised eyebrow. "Look Tony, she loves you, unfathomably, she'll come around, she just needs time to think."

"So what? I sit at home and wait? I'm tired of waiting damnit!" Tony pounded on the hood of his car.

"Tony…" Shelly placed her hand over the arm that was still on top of his now dented Audi. "I'm not saying that," Tony's hard eyes met her gray ones. "Go in there sit with her, be there for her, just don't push the marriage thing right now. Okay?"

Tony nodded once.

"Shit!" Shelly said glancing at the watch on Tony's wrist that sat next to her hand. "I really have to go, got lots of work to do. Don't push her Tony, you remember that." Shelly patted his shoulder before leaving him there alone to ponder what he was going to do about the only thing that mattered in his life.

Pepper.

X xxxxx X

Several hours later, Tony was in the one place he didn't want to be with the one person he didn't want to be with. In the hospital with Shelly. Hoping the doctor had good news.

Shelly was abnormally quiet, Tony wasn't sure if it was weird or maybe an improvement on her outspokenness. He decided he didn't like it.

"Is everything okay?" he finally ventured.

"No, in case you didn't notice, we ARE in a hospital," she snarled, then seemed to realize how harsh she was, "Sorry. Bad day."

Almost unconsciously Tony reached forward and brushed Shelly's hair out of her large eyes.

"What happened?"

She hesitated.

"Robert and I had a big fight. As if my best friend being paralyzed wasn't enough. He said he was done with me and left. He won't return my calls."

Tony could tell she was holding back tears, nibbling her lip, almost Pepper-esque. Tony was not experienced at comforting women, but Shelly was different. Shelly was...Shelly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, laying a hand on her arm. She began to cry softly and finally threw her arms around her, sobbing on his shoulder. Tony held her for a while until she sniffled back her tears and pulled back a bit. Suddenly they were both aware of how intimate the gesture was, but Tony felt a rebellious spark in his heart. Pepper didn't want to marry him, he could do whatever he wanted with whomever. In retrospect it was a very selfish feeling, Pepper was obviously not acting rationally due to her emotional scarring.

But at the time, Tony felt completely justified in doing whatever he wanted. Shelly blinked, her eyes intensified in beauty by her tears, and some still sparkled against her deep pupils. Tony's breath smelled like coffee, and cologne and peppermint.

All those years of admiring his gorgeous eyes and finally she was getting the perfect cameo. His eyes were dark and perfectly round.

Wow.

"We...uh..." Tony cleared his throat.

"Yeah," Shelly swallowed.

Neither of them moved.

Tony had never really been attracted to Shelly. She was just "Pepper's best friend". Nothing more. He didn't deny she was pretty, he had always liked her pretty eyes and fiery red hair she kept in a swishy ponytail.

But he had never been this close to the redhead beauty.

Boy, did he like redheads. There was sometime exotic and mysterious about them.

In his emotionally raw state he let his guard down, he didn't care what he did or what Pepper thought. She didn't love him anyway, right?

Right?

There was some intoxicating about Shelly's bright eyes full of vulnerability that seemed to accelerate Tony's sudden rush of admiration for her.

"Don't," she whispered, but her eyes betrayed her.

Tony's lips lowered a fraction and she met him halfway.

It was the taste of the forbidden fruit, and the fact that it WAS forbidden that made it taste sweeter to Tony.

Her arms tightened around his neck and she melted against him. She was kissing mega-hot Tony Stark. Holy cow, and was it nice.

He stepped closer almost circling her, and she stepped back, mirroring his steps, still kissing him. His arms rested on her waist, holding her there.

Being there for her, like Robert never had.

Kissing him like Pepper never had.

Holding her, in a way Robert never had.

Fulfilling him, like Pepper never had.

But it was somehow wrong. And perfectly right.

But Tony didn't stop kissing her, and she didn't stop kissing him.

"Tony Stark?" it was the doctor.

He turned around abruptly, breaking their kiss, breathing heavily, still holding Shelly.

"Yes?"

"I am here to discuss Pepper Potts' condition."

"Okay. Can...uh, I have a minute?" he asked.

"Sure. I'll be at the desk up front." the doctor turned and walked away.

Tony turned back to Shelly, who looked absolutely astonished.

"Tony," she began.

"Don't," he said, laying a finger on her lips. "We can discuss this later."

Shelly detached herself from him, panting a bit, her shoulders going limp.

"Okay," she agreed. Tony gave her a strange, intense look and tuned and left.

She had kissed Tony Stark, quite passionately, with Pepper Potts paralyzed in the next room.

And she wanted to do it again.

What had she gotten herself into?

X xxxx X

Oooh! The plot thickens! Please comment!

RomanceDoneWrite