AN: A very long and action-filled chap. Enjoy, dears. And remember to log in please!

O-O-O-

Who Am I Living For? – Katy Perry (a tad cheesy, but a total Tony-becoming-Iron-Man song)

-O-O-O-

"Hey get your tongue out of there," Tony laughed and pushed Daisy away from his face where she'd just been licking at his lips. "Never thought I'd have to say that to a woman, but these lips are Potts Property only. Sorry, powder puff."

Pepper smiled from the bathroom, looking into the mirror at their reflection from behind her. Tony was propped up on the headboard, Daisy jumping at his face, trying to play.

She finished her makeup and stepped out of the bathroom. Her backless blue dress left Tony speechless.

"You…you look…Wow," he said.

"Not really an adjective, but almost. Tomorrow we'll work on nouns," she deadpanned, slipping into her shoes.

While she buckled the straps, Tony resumed his conversation with Daisy.

"Dosen't Mama look pretty? I think so. And she better not bring home any man tonight. You'll bite their leg off, won't you, you big bad watch dog?"

Pepper blushed, thankfully looking away from them. She scooped up her clutch and turned back to him. "Never thought of a terrier as a watch dog."

"'Course she's a watch dog. Just look at her. All menacing with that pink little tongue and those little tiny teeth. She'd snatch someone's leg right off, wouldn't you girl?"

Daisy just flipped on her back, wanting to be petted.

Pepper patted her round little belly. "You take care of Daddy tonight, and make sure he doesn't fall asleep in the lab again. We don't want his eyebrows getting singed off again."

"That was one time," Tony mumbled under his breath. "I'm taking the suit out for a test flight, so she'll be locked up in here tonight."

Daisy whined and pawed at Pepper. Her little brown eyes begged to be taken along. That same brown-eyed pout Tony gave her, except this one she actually—almost—gave in to.

"No, you little rascal. You've got to stay with Daddy."

"Take her with you, Pep. It'll be cute. Like Paris Hilton."

"Again, you fail at expressing adjectives. There are many words to describe Paris Hilton, and cute is not one of them."

Tony sniffed. "Well, have fun at your shin-dig. I'll just be here, all by my lonesome. Me, JARVIS, and the pooch."

"You'll live." She pressed a kiss to his forehead and crossed the room for the door. "And don't tear up the house with that suit."

"Cross my heart," he promised and flopped back against the pillows. Daisy pounced on his face.

"Just you and me here now, fur ball," he told her. She just clamped her tiny teeth around his nose.

He listened to Pepper's Prada heels click down the stairs until she reached the front door. He was immensely pleased she'd decided to move in with him. After all he'd put her through, he'd been scared that she wouldn't. But thankfully she saw the change.

Ever since the cave, his mind had been flashing back to that Chanel dress he bought in Paris, and just how excited she'd been. Of course, he'd seen her smile a million times. But never like that, and very few times since. Full and complete elation and…love. It was the best thing he'd ever laid eyes on. He'd never promised to himself that he would keep sober and faithful, because promises were too easily broken, especially when made to oneself. But things were different now. There was the suit, and Pepper. Nothing else. She mattered too much. He couldn't risk the one thing in life that made him happy, not after facing death.

He'd tried and tried to tag along with her to this Firefighter's Benefit, but the injunction kept him locked up in the mansion; the board had locked him out of the company and insisted he keep a low profile. Obadiah had notified him about the board's decision the day before. At first he'd been ticked. But it had just given him more time to do tests and upgrades on the armor. Besides, house arrest had never held him before.

As soon as he heard the front door close, he leapt up from the bed and pushed Daisy off to the side. "Sorry, Tinkerbell. But I've got work to do. Be a good girl."

Daisy pouted and whined, pawing at the blankets on the mattress as Tony turned out of the room. Once in the lab, he suited up and booted up, letting JARVIS run the usual tests and configure the suit.

"Test complete. Preparing to power down and run diagnostics," JARVIS answered, his voice crisp and clear inside the helmet.

"Yeah, tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control."

"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is…"

"JARVIS," he interrupted. "Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk. Ready? In three, two, one…"

-O-O-O-

"Ok, maybe a flight without those few terabytes was a mistake," Tony groaned as the machines pulled off the armor.

"At the risk of saying I told you so…" JARVIS interjected drolly.

Tony looked back toward the hole in the ceiling and his bruised and battered Shelby. He winced. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Poor car. Nothing I can't fix though."

"Sir, you've smashed the entire engine."

"Semantics." He stepped away from the robotic arms and rubbed his shoulder. "Need ice," he grumbled, limping for the stairs.

A loud barking and howling filtered in from the bedroom.

"Oops, I've upset the monster."

He iced his shoulder with a quick-fix bag of ice taped over his t-shirt, and hurried—as fast as he could with an aching back—for the bedroom.

Daisy was scratching at the door, and jumped at his pants legs when he finally let her out. He caught her just in time before she scampered away down the stairs. "Nope, sorry twerp. I think you should stay up here for the night. Dangerous stuff down there. Mama's going to have a heart attack when she sees it. I'll blame it on you though…"

He plopped her back on the bed and stretched his legs out next to her. He switched on the TV and leaned back. Daisy curled up between his knees.

Some blonde twit was giving the latest gossip on celebrities, but before Tony could change the channel, his own name caught his interest on the screen. "Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society."

Tony twisted his neck, snapping the vertebrates back into place from his crash landing. "Mama's probably having absolutely no fun without us," he mumbled to the terrier who just huffed in indifference.

This injunction thing sucked. Not only was he locked out of his own company, he couldn't even attend his own parties.

He'd been ready and willing to make an appearance at the Benefit, but Obie had insisted he lay low. Now he was stuck here with a bruised shoulder, a hole punched through two stories of his house, and a sleeping terrier on his knees.

He huffed and laid his head back against the headboard. What was stopping him? The suit was being painted, Daisy could survive the night locked up in the bathroom, and Obie would be pissed, but he'd get over it.

Tony stood, displacing Daisy and upsetting her, but she just snuggled back into the sheets.

He changed into his best Brioni, waved goodbye to the dog, and trotted back downstairs to the garage. He winced at the sight of the smashed piano and dust still hanging in the air. Hopefully Pepper wouldn't completely implode.

-O-O-O-

The party was just as boring as he'd imagined. But the woman in the blue dress was all he had eyes for. He brushed off several reporters and business men that tried to make conversation and headed straight for her.

She turned in surprise, ginger curls falling over one shoulder. "Tony, what are you doing here…"

"Let's dance," he cut her off. He swept her onto the floor and into his arms. She glanced around, obviously flushed and anxious.

"What are you doing? You're not supposed to be here. Obadiah told you to…"

He shook his head. "Yeah, well Obadiah says a lot of things."

"Tony…" she said, still protesting.

"Its just cabin fever. I just wanted to dance with you. Is that alright?"

"Of course! Of course, its ok, but…" she began rambling. "This is your first public appearance since your disappearance. People are staring. They're going to want an explanation."

"And they'll get one, eventually," he answered. He swayed with her, pressing his hand against her bare back.

"This dress is gorgeous on you," he whispered into her ear. "Let's go on the roof…so I can make out with you."

Pepper let out a soft laugh. "Always so romantic."

He just grinned and tugged her toward the stairs, only stopping briefly at the bar to order martinis.

"That dog of yours bit my nose," he told her as they leaned together near the wall on the roof.

"You'll get over it."

"No, I don't think I will. She did permanent damage. Look." He leaned in closer.

She scoffed. "Tony, I don't see…"

He interrupted her with a kiss. She let his hand wander her back, enjoying the feeling of skin on skin. She knew this would end up in the tabloids tomorrow, but she didn't yet pull away. She tugged him closer by the lapel and felt his fingers dip just beneath the material on her back. She was almost ready to tell him to fetch his keys from the valet when…

"Ah…Excuse me." A leggy blonde, all dolled up and clutching a tape recorder interrupted them. "Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair. Can I get a reaction from you?"

Pepper certainly didn't have to hide her reaction. A blush crept over her cheeks at being caught like that, especially by a reporter. She turned to stare over the low wall at the red carpet below where Obadiah still stood chatting up the press.

"Uh…about…?" he pressed.

"About your company's involvement in this latest atrocity."

"Yeah, they just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you. Now if you'll excuse me…" He put a hand to Pepper's waist, attempting to lead her away.

"Ever heard of a town called Gulmira?" Carrie—Christine, whoever—made one last attempt.

Tony froze. Yinsen. That had been where Yinsen was from. Memories flooded back and Tony felt his stomach churn. "Excuse me?" he asked.

Christine shifted and retrieved a stack of photos from her clutch. "These were taken yesterday."

Tony took the stack, flipping through them. The pictures held images of guns and missiles of every kind stacked on the ground, being carried, a close-up of serial numbers. "I didn't approve any shipments," he said, glancing to Pepper in confusion, who looked equally as muddled.

"Well, your company did," Christine shot back.

"Well, I'm not my company," he sneered, less angry with her snappy remarks than with the images in hand.

He marched away, still clutching the photos. The journalist followed behind him, but Pepper stood stunned in silence watching them descend back down the stairs.

-O-O-O-

Rage. That was the word. Pure and simple. Betrayed was even better. It had been Obie all along. Obie approving shipments, Obie locking him out of the company.

He twisted the screw driver into the gauntlet like the knife twisted in the wound, flexing and bending his fingers.

Partners. Friends. So much for all that melodramatic bull. Obie had been handing out weapons this whole time. He'd completely crossed the line. He'd been reaping the benefits at innocent peoples' expense.

All these years, Tony had been comfortable with dealing out weapons, as long as they remained in the right hands. True, he'd never taken responsibility that these very same weapons killed countless people every day; he'd been the Merchant of Death, self-proclaimed and all. But he'd been blind then. Blind to the fact that these very same weapons were being used to kill the people they were meant to protect. And now that he knew the source, knew who was double-dealing, he knew exactly what needed to be done.

His spine snapped taut when he stood. He pointed the repulsor towards the glass doors, letting one quick beam shatter all three. The sound of glass crumbling and clinking satisfied him long enough to contain his anger and step forward toward so the bots could begin encasing him within the suit.

He had to put a stop to this.

-O-O-O-

Pepper stopped short, staring wide-mouthed at the trashed Steinway, and the rubble surrounding it from the collapsed ceiling. "Tony!" she roared. "What the hell did you do?"

She turned on heel, stomping furiously down the stairs to the workshop. The floor there was littered with broken glass, every pane shattered.

She peeked inside, but there was no sign of him in the dimmed workshop. JARVIS had been set to turn off the lights at fifteen minutes of inactivity. Fifteen minutes was more than enough for him to get himself into plenty of trouble, especially when he drove ninety miles an hours or more along the PCH. But every car was in place, even the Audi he'd driven to the party. But the Shelby was smashed and crunched beyond repair below the hole in the ceiling.

"Dammit, Tony," she cured to herself and headed back upstairs. Over the years, he'd left the house in various states of disarray, but never the workshop.

"Tony, what the hell is going on?" she tried again, but her voice just echoed against the empty glass walls.

Daisy barked upstairs, and she followed the sound. The tiny terrier jumped up at her and she scooped her into her arms. "Hey, girl. Where's Daddy, huh?"

The puppy seemed unphased and licked at Pepper's chin.

She plucked the phone from its cradle next to the bed and dialed Tony's cell.

"Hello?" he answered. The background was distorted with a loud thrumming and whooshing.

"Tony, where the hell are you? And what the hell happened to the house?"

"Uh, yeah. About that. Call the workmen tomorrow. I'm on a mission," he said passively.

"A mission? What does that even mean, Tony?"

"I'm in the suit, everything's fine," he answered dispassionately.

"What?" She overlapped him. "No, everything is most definitely not fine! You're flying around in the…that…death trap! And there's a giant hole in our ceiling!"

"I'll explain later. See you in twenty-four hours. You complete me."

"Twenty-four hours? Wha…? Tony…" But the line already clicked silent. She hung up the phone and eased back onto the bed.

Daisy turned on her back in Pepper's lap, little tongue poking out between her lips.

"Daddy has some serious explaining to do, right Daze?"

She just whinned in response, wanting to be petted.

-O-O-O-

Pepper arrived home a nine at night the next evening. The workmen had been at the house all day repairing the roof and floor. The piano had been hauled away and a new one had been ordered. The area was still taped off like a crime scene, and a giant hole still gaped in the center of the floor. The glass panels of the workshop were not set to arrive until the following morning. She'd swept up the glass that morning, and had even used the shop-vac to vacuum up the stairs and entire workshop floor.

She could hear JARVIS's voice from upstairs, and wandered to the workshop to investigate.

"Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt," JARVIS prompted, and she heard Tony's voice mumble something in response.

She stepped through one of the empty windows and looked up at him, hands shaking with anxiety at what she might find.

He was balanced sloppily on one leg while the bots peeled off his battered armor.

"A-are those bullet holes?" she gasped, her hands clenching into fists.

He glanced over his shoulder and she gasped again at the laceration on his forehead.

"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." He smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

She could just watch helplessly while the bots finished their duties and Tony stumbled weakly from their grasp.

Pepper rushed forward to catch him, not doing much. He grasped her hands tightly, trying to hold himself upright.

"Tony, let's get you something to eat. You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm fine, Pep. I'm fine." He said brightly, brushed her off and stood upright. "Just sore as hell…"

"Mr. Stark last ingested solid sustenance before the mission, twenty-five hours and seventeen minutes ago," JARVIS chirped.

"Loud mouth," Tony mumbled at the ceiling. "Really, Pep. I'm fine. Everything's fine. I just want to go to bed." He groaned and held his head.

"At least let me get you some ibuprophen," she said, following close behind him for the stairs.

He tried the door, but instead stepped through one of the empty windows. "K, sounds good," he agreed.

She ushered him to the bedroom, and ordered him to lay down. Daisy promptly jumped on his stomach, and he groaned. "Ow, that hurts," he groaned. Daisy pouted and cuddled up to his side, somehow understanding the pain in his eyes.

He sighed and buried his nose in her soft fur, though it wasn't as good as certain ginger strands. Instantly, his body relaxed into the familiar comfort of the mattress and he was beat. He fought to hold his eyes open while he waited for Pepper.

He heard her in the bathroom, running the tap and unscrewing the lid on a pill bottle. She hurried back to him, and handed him four tablets and set the glass on the bedside table.

She slid onto the side of the bed, and tore open the wrappings from a piece of gauze for his forehead.

"Don't want a band-aid," he whined, sounding exhausted now.

"Then you shouldn't have gotten cut up," she answered curtly, leaning forward to tape the strip over the cut.

He huffed and let her finish without further protest.

"You scared the hell out of me, Tony," she breathed, sitting up and taking his hand. There were several lacerations there too. They reminded her of the ones he'd had after his parents' car crash, though not nearly as many nor as deep.

"Scared the hell out of the Air Force too," he chuckled triumphantly, but the sound was gravely in his weary voice.

"Next time, you tell me before you just fly off into an active war zone, deal?"

"Deal." He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, cuddling Daisy against his chest.

Pepper watched him briefly. She heard his breathing even out, and watched Daisy's fur displaced at his gentle snuffles. She smirked at the thought that the dog was more of a present to himself than to her. He coddled her more than Pepper did. She knew, when the time came, he'd make an excellent father. The traits weren't all there yet, but there was attentiveness, focus, and care all mixed in there somewhere.

She stood from the bed and discarded his water glass before slipping into bed beside him. She slipped an arm around him, Daisy pressed between them.

This suit would be the death of her. But she could never ask him to stop. In all truth, Tony was self-destructive, and always would be. He threw himself into his work at full force, without caution for the consequences that might come to him. In her mind, that was insane. But she was slowly coming to see that despite the outrageous outcomes, there was always nobility there. Proof that Tony Stark had a heart.

-O-O-O-

AN: Very happy with this chapter. Hope you liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

And hopefully you could fill in the blanks where I skipped time. I just didn't feel like rewriting the movie script over again when I wanted those things to remain the same (Tony's first flight, Obadiah telling Tony about the injunction, meeting with Obadiah at the party, the Air Force sighting the suit, etc.). And someone also asked if Tony had already changed out the old reactor for the new one, like in the film. And yes, I assumed that he did. I'm sorry I didn't make that clearer, but again I don't want to rewrite the film word for word.

And as for Tony proposing…well…I have a plan. :)