HEY. So, I'm back. It's officially summer now, so I have time to devote to this story. Thank you all so much for being so patient with me. I appreciate it so much. Here's a huge chapter. Just for you.

Shout out to LG for reading this and encouraging me to continue. You are my biggest supporter. Also, to the two of you who threw out a certain idea in your review of last chapter, you'll see that vindicated. (; I couldn't resist incorporating it.

In which Rhodey is Pepper's friend too, and a mistake is made.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The next day Pepper woke up feeling more exhausted than when she went to sleep. It wasn't a kind of tired that she was used to. It was...emotional. All encompassing. She felt drained. She laid in bed and stared at the ceiling in the dark for an extra ten minutes, not quite being able to bring about the spirit she needed to get up. Eventually though, she did anyway, reminding herself that there were surely plenty of people out there who felt as she did, and the world didn't stop for them, either. She had a company to run. Deals to make. Meetings to attend.

It sounded so much less glamorous than it had two weeks ago. Than it had with Stark Industries. It had started out seeming so noble, so exciting. CEO. Big title. Big job. And to be in a field that had so much potential to help if gone about correctly. It seemed...heroic. But by then, all of that had faded away. Leaving in it's place apathy, exhaustion, and a burnt out Pepper Potts.

Pepper flipped on the light and blinked rapidly to get her eyes to adjust, feeling sick to her stomach. Lately, she'd carried a sense of dread with her, so powerful that it made her nauseous. She couldn't quite put her finger on the source of it. She wasn't one to say that being apart from Tony was doing it, and she was certain that while she had never hated a job before, that wasn't the reaction one received from that. No, it was something else entirely. She just couldn't say what.

She got ready quickly, only bothering with what was necessary to make herself look presentable. She figured there wasn't really a point anymore. Not only did she stay in her office all day when she didn't have a function, but - admittedly - there was no one to look exceptionally good for anymore. Not that she had ever gone above and beyond for Tony, but it was the difference between a skirt and pants, one hairstyle or the other, taking the time to put concealer on the dark circles under her eyes. Now she wore the pants, threw her hair into a bun, and wore her circles like war paint. It didn't matter anymore.

Pepper was emerging from the bathroom when her eyes landed on a picture of the two of them on her nightstand. She hadn't been able to take it down right after she resigned. She had held out hope. The most optimistic part of her had told her that he'd realize that if he just apologized they'd be a whole lot closer to fixing everything. But he never had. He'd offered her a new office, he'd offered her a raise, but he'd never done the first thing that most people would have done. Because he wasn't sorry. Not in the slightest. He'd proven that to her yesterday.

"So, just to be clear, we're acting like you're not mad because I wouldn't fuck you?"

The words rang through Pepper's head as she walked over to the picture and picked it up with shaking fingers. Carefully, she slid out the back of the frame and took out the picture, turning it over in her hands. It was a cute picture. One of her favorites. He had his arms locked around her and was pressing a kiss to her temple, and she was laughing, making a face, trying to push him away. They looked so...happy. Just to be next to each other. So much like a couple. They hadn't been, of course. She had been joking to someone that he didn't appreciate her, and he had stated that he would show her he appreciated her and then opened his arms. She had refused, blushed, told him that wouldn't been necessary. When she tried to walk away he'd followed her, arms still wide open, before capturing her finally like that. She was pretty sure Rhodey had been the one who took the picture. She couldn't even really remember how she got her hands on a copy. But once she found it in her drawer a few years later, she'd framed it immediately and kept it at home.

Pepper shook her head, thinking about how different the Tony she knew then and the Tony she saw yesterday were. She put her fingers on either corner of the picture, let out a long breath, and then ripped it in half. And then those in half. And then in half again. She thought it would make her feel better - symbolically shredding the memory of him. Erasing him from her life. Putting him in her rear-view mirror, so to speak. But instead she just felt like she was ripping up her heart, too.

She tossed the pieces into the trash and stood up, rubbing her forehead. She slipped on her shoes waiting at the foot of her bed, grabbed her phone, and moved downstairs into the kitchen, turning on her coffee maker with a yawn. She stared at Happy's flowers on the table and thought they looked a little wilt-y, and could use some water. She filled up the vase with a little more water and set them back down in their previous place. She didn't realize it, but she was on autopilot. Something she hadn't had the chance to be in over a decade.

Twelve years, to be exact.

Her BlackBerry rang on the counter, pulling her out of her thoughts, and Pepper quickly grabbed it. She furrowed her eyebrows at the caller ID, completely perplexed by the name she saw. She hit the green "accept call" button, and raised the phone to her head, hesitating before answering with a cautious, "Hello?"

"Ah, hey, Pepper," Rhodey's voice floated through the phone. He sounded just as unsure as he did.

"Rhodey," Pepper said, even though she already knew exactly who it was. She was trying to wrap her head around it, but it wasn't working out for her. They had spoken on the phone plenty of time, but for some reason it seemed that now that Tony was out of the picture he was out of context. "Um...hey. Hi. What can I do for you?"

The question seemed to stump Rhodey. There was a pause, and than an awkward, "Ah..." and then a throat clearing.

Pepper waited, eyebrows raised.

"Well," he began again. "I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a drink or something tonight? Catch up? I haven't really seen you since..."

Since the kiss.Pepper was silently grateful to him for not saying it out loud. She had to smile at the offer. Since she'd resigned, she'd felt cut off from everyone except for Happy. And while Rhodey was technically Tony's best friend, they had developed a friendship of their own. An alliance, even. United on the front of bettering Tony for the greater good - or at least keeping him from choking on his own vomit when he got too wasted. The fact that he had reached out to her touched her. "Yeah, I...I'd like that."

"Okay," Rhodey breathed out. He sounded relieved. In truth, he had been expecting her to lash out at him too, for being so close to Tony. "Great. What time do you get off? I can meet you somewhere, if that's easiest."

"Yeah...it probably would be...um..." Pepper thought about his question, realizing she didn't really know the answer. "Six, I think."

Rhodey chuckled, the awkwardness of their conversation fading away, leaving their usual friendly conversation in its place. "You don't know?"

Pepper laughed lightly along with him, shaking her head. "To be honest with you, I really don't. I haven't exactly been leaving there on time for the couple weeks I've been there." She saw her coffee had finished brewing, so she cradled her phone between her ear and her shoulder, poured the steaming liquid into her thermos and screwed on the lid tightly. She picked up her work bag and hoisted it onto her shoulder. "I'm sure six is fine, though. Especially with all the over time I've been doing." She grabbed her keys and headed for the door.

"And hey, you're the CEO. With the owner doing time I don't think there's really much anyone can say," Rhodey pointed out.

Pepper smiled again as she walked into her garage, shutting and locking the door behind her. "That's an excellent point," she said, unlocking her car door and getting in. She shut the door and set her keys down in her lap.

"Sounds good to me," Rhodey said easily. "Meet you at seven, then? The usual place?"

Pepper nodded, even though she was well aware that he couldn't see it. "Sounds great," she picked up her keys and stuck them in the ignition. "I'll see you then."

"Alright, I'll see you then," Something that sounded like keys jangled, and Pepper assumed he was leaving for work too. "See you, Pep."

"See you then," Pepper said, and then hung up, sticking her phone in the pocket of her purse that sat next to her in the passenger seat. She started the car and hit the garage door button, backing down her driveway before pressing it again. A cautious kind of hope had crept it's way back into her body. All it took was an unexpected call from a friend to wake her up. Suddenly, everything felt very real. She felt more alive than she had in a couple of weeks. The leather of the steering wheel of her silver 2006 Honda Accord, the slight breeze of the vent, the look of the road as she drove down it. She felt grounded. Centralized. Everything served as a reminder of where she was in space and time. Her mood had taken an upturn. She turned onto the highway and took a deep breath.

It was the end of an era, but not of her life. She was moving on. She had retained her friends, she still had a job. She still liked the city she lived in, and she still had a roof over her head. She was okay.

She would be okay.

After work Pepper had gone home and got changed into jeans and a more comfortable button-down, and took her hair down before dashing out the door again to meet Rhodey on time. On the occasions that they had met up without Tony, they always went to the same place. It was a little Irish Pub that had opened right around the time she had started on with Tony. She'd lingered a little too long in the room and wound up overhearing Rhodey trying to sell the place to Tony, who was adamantly against it. She couldn't help but chip in, and soon enough it'd turned into them listing good qualities about the place at each other. Finally Tony had gotten fed up and stood up saying, "If you two like it so damn much, then why don't you go with each other?"

So they did. Tony had griped about it for a few days after, but he got over it eventually. And so it became their designated meeting spot for years to come.

Pepper pushed through the familiar heavy, green, wooden door and into the bar, smiling to herself. It was a cozy temperature - not too hot, but not cold either - and all of the regulars had claimed their seats. Small lamps that resembled geometric suns hung from the ceiling, along with a couple of fans, a couple drapes of fabric, and bright passport covers that were affixed to the boards. The booths were dark green leather, as were the seats on the stools. The wood in the place was light and gleaming, save for the door and the ceiling itself. The floor was black and some sort of hard surface somewhere between tile and concrete that Pepper could never figure out. The barkeeper was always the same, friendly, very Irish looking man, and the walls and ceiling were darkly colored. They had freshly brewed beer, and inexpensive prices, and it suited Rhodey and Pepper just fine.

Pepper quickly spotted her friend, leaning over the top of the bar a bit, shoulders slightly hunched, an unopened beer in front of him, waiting for her. She made her way across the room and put her hand on his shoulder lightly as she came up behind him. "Hey," she greeted with an easy smile, taking the seat next to him.

Rhodey shot her a beaming smile of his own. "Hey, stranger," he said with a chuckle. "You made it. Right on time, too. Traffic give you any trouble?"

"Nightmare," Pepper said with a sigh. The bartender made his way over and she ordered a glass of wine before continuing. "There was a wreck on the PCH. Everything was stopped."

The bartender stopped to pop open Rhodey's beer and he gave him a nod of thanks. "And yet, you still manage to make it here at seven on the dot. It's no wonder Tony makes it to meetings on time."

Pepper started to laugh but it faltered, her instinctive smile sliding off of her face. She cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Ah...sorry. I didn't mean to...bring him up," Rhodey said in a softer voice, giving her a small, apologetic smile, clearly a bit embarrassed with himself. He had come to catch up, not make the poor woman feel worse.

"No, no, it's fine, really," Pepper said quickly, waving a hand dismissively. "I'm fine. I'm okay, I just wasn't expecting it. I'm good though."

Rhodey assessed her carefully for a moment. "You're sure?"

Pepper nodded, giving him a confident smile. Or what she hoped looked like one. "Yes. I'm sure. I am...100%. I don't wither away at the mention of him. If that was the case, I'd have shriveled up and blown away a long time ago." Her glass got set in front of her and she thanked the bartender before he wandered away again.

Rhodey hesitated a moment and then asked, "So...how are you?" He took a swig of his beer.

Pepper looked up at the soft tone of his voice to find his eyes locked on hers. It was clear that he wasn't just asking to ask. There was a deeper implication. Pepper looked down, focusing her attentions on her glass, moving it in small circles over the wooden bar, sending the red liquid swirling. "I'm okay," she said softer than before. She brought her eyes up to the back of the bar, onto the brass "C'ead mile failte" sign. A hundred thousand welcomes. It sounded good to her. Like exactly what she needed. "Can't complain. I mean I could but," she shrugged. "Doesn't really make anything better." She finally looked at him to find him sympathetically staring back at her.

"I don't know. Sometimes it does," Rhodey pointed out with a small shrug of his own. "I won't make you talk about it...but..." he looked uncertain and then shook his head. "But I'm pretty sure no one else has really given you the chance to. So, here it is. To someone who knows you both pretty damn well."

Pepper took a sip of her wine, thinking things over. She took a moment to process and get her thoughts together before saying, "I just miss him," very quietly.

Rhodey's expression was half-grimace, half-frown. "That's understandable. I'm really sorry. If that means anything at all."

Pepper nodded, flashing him a small but thankful smile. "Don't be. It's not like there's anything you can do, or even could have done. I knew that friendship wouldn't last forever. We're too different. It was...tenuous. He changed. You know, I don't even miss him now. I miss the old him. This whole thing...I don't know. It changed him, I guess."

Rhodey considered that for a moment, nodding a bit hesitantly. "That's...true," he said, sounding semi strained. "But it wasn't...I mean, almost dying could change anyone, right? Temporarily, at least. Look, I'm sorry, but I've got to play Devil's Advocate here, to a certain extent. I'm too close to him not to."

"No, I know. I get that, I wouldn't expect you to walk in here and bash him," Pepper said good-naturedly. "And usually I would agree. I forgave everything that happened within that window. I forgave the party, and the strawberries, and the race car, and all of the fighting that happened. It's the fact that he did this after he already knew that he was going to live. He had no more reason to panic, and he still just...took it all back." Her voice had turned into a whisper by the end and she took another sip of wine. They sat in silence for a moment before she quietly said, "You know, this is usually the part where I just forgive whatever it was anyway. Because I hate fighting with him. I really do. It's exhausting, and I usually don't win anyway. But it's like this time he doesn't want me to forgive him. At least, going by what he said yesterday."

"Wait," Rhodey put out his hand, eyebrows furrowing, looking confused, and a little dismayed. "Hold on, time out. You two talked yesterday?"

"Oh, you didn't hear about that?" Pepper grimaced, wearing a bit of a nasty smile. "Yeah. I arranged a little board meeting with SI to propose a merger."

Now Rhodey's eyebrows rose, but he looked mildly impressed. "A merger, huh? That's pretty big talk. Not a half bad idea, though. If you're on SI's side."

"Which I was," Pepper clarified. "I figured it was the best way to get the patents on arc reactor tech back to Stark Industries. It would eliminate any and all possibilities of the Drone Incident reoccurring. Not to mention it would corner both the arms industry and clean energy..."

"And he turned that down?"

"Didn't even get that far," Pepper explained with a humorless chuckle. "He was throwing comments at me the second I walked into the room."

Rhodey made a face. "Like what?" he asked apprehensively.

"Well, let's see, he referred to me as an, 'it', called me a traitor, called me dumb...oh, yeah, and then he asked me if we were pretending that I wasn't angry because he wouldn't have sex with me, and then told me to take myself to Hammer, because he was sure that I was better than what he was getting in prison," Pepper's jaw was set, and she took a larger drink of her wine, shaking her head. Her foot jiggled against the bar of the stool, annoyed all over again.

Rhodey gaped at her for a moment before rubbing his forehead tiredly, elbow on the bar. "Please be kidding."

"Wish I was."

He sighed heavily. "He really does miss you. I know what. We talked about you and he seemed...sad. He's a mess. I'm not saying that excuses what he said, but it explains a little bit of it. He's upset. He wants you back, but he doesn't know how to do it."

Pepper scoffed. "He's sure got a funny way of showing it."

"He's a little damaged. You know what better than anyone," Rhodey stated. He paused and then said, "He was out of line. I'm sorry he said that. I really...I don't know, I have a hard time believing he meant that."

Pepper nodded slowly, thinking things over. Then she asked, "Do you mind if we change the subject?"

Rhodey lifted a hand. "Not at all."

They were so deep in their conversation that they didn't notice the man in the booth catty-corner to them. He was polishing his camera lens and polishing off his second pint of the night already. His name was Brett Winters, a photographer for the Malibu Times. He was, in all technicality, a serious camera man. He turned down fluff pieces, and instead went for the grittier stuff. Crime, car accidents. The usual. But that night, Brett was a little off his game - and not just because of the alcohol building steadily in his bloodstream. He was a man facing one of the oldest stories in the book. His passion, his great interest, his thing that had started out so exciting and so promising had flopped. His pictures weren't being chosen any more, and his wife was nagging him about not making enough money to warrant his never being home, and his children were so loud. Brett Winters - like so many men before him - had pictured his life going differently.

Which was why when he saw Pepper sitting with Rhodey, he perked up a bit. Oh, sure, he recognized them. The now famous Pepper Potts, fearless CEO of Hammer Industries. The woman who changed her allegiances, turned her back on Iron Man to (successfully) save his rival company. And of course, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes. Already a decorated Air Force man. Very high up. A poster boy for the military. Recently, he had helped Iron Man save the city from Hammer Industries in a suit of his own. War Machine, they were calling him now. The gossip magazines had speculated for many years that he was Tony Stark's best friend. And anyone who was anyone knew that Pepper had been his PA for years...

No, it wasn't Brett's kind of story. But he was desperate. So he reattached his lens to his camera and took a few discreet shots. He sent them off that night to the Page Six editor marked "urgent" with the header, "STARK'S EX-PA, BEST FRIEND OUT ON DATE". It was fluff, sure. But it was work. That was why he took the shot. In truth, he wasn't a malicious man by any stretch of the imagination. He didn't mean to cause the war that would spawn from that picture. If he was ever told what publishing that photograph had done, he would most likely apologize profusely, perhaps even get sick (he never had delt with guilt well). But he was left blissfully unaware. And for the first time in weeks, Brett slept peacefully in his bed, next to his wife.

But the war had just begun.

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