Chapter 11

Almost two hours later Dr Ruttenberg spoke into the intercom connected to the viewing room Pepper was occupying. She had watched wearily as the team worked on Tony, unable to hear the sounds, just watching them stand over him, not knowing what was happening was frustrating and tense. The plan had been to remove the bullet, then work on his leg, but it was clear to Pepper they were winding down before Dr Ruttenberg's voice filtered into the room.

"We're calling it a day for now, Pepper," he said. "Let me clean up and I'll be right over to let you know what's going on. But it's nothing to worry about."

"Thanks," Pepper said, arms hugging herself tightly as she sat back down. She didn't like it in the viewing room. Despite the name, and the large window, you still couldn't see much, and what you could see, you couldn't understand. But Tony had wanted her close by, last time, so she had agreed to wait and watch throughout his heart surgery. He had been worried about waking up during the surgery, panicked over it, which was understandable given his history. He'd barely slept in the weeks leading to the surgery, and when he had, she knew he was plagued with nightmares, even though he never mentioned it. But she agreed she would stay put in the room, visible, so if the worst did happen, he would see her watching over him. Last time Rhodey had been with her and his presence had made it so much easier; now she just felt alone. Maybe she should have let the team join her –whilst Tony wouldn't want them to see him like this; it would have made it a lot easier on her.

One of the medics moved away and Pepper caught a glimpse of Tony's head, his face; bruised and swollen as it was, it was still clearly him and she felt better for seeing him; after the nightmare she had endured, wondering if she would ever see him again. She smiled slightly, he's still here, she thought to herself, he's not leaving me just yet.

Dr Ruttenberg ambled into the room later, wearing fresh scrubs and balancing two coffees and a clipboard in his hands.

"Pepper," he greeted as he sat down beside her, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting." He handed her a coffee and took a sip of his own. "How are you doing?"

Pepper smiled slightly. "You know," she paused. "The best I can. How is he doing?"

Ruttenberg nodded and got down to business. "He's stable, his vitals are strong. I wanted to move straight on to the damage sustained to his leg, but it's difficult... The shoulder wound took a lot longer than I expected." He held a hand out to calm her. "The bullet was embedded deep within the muscle. The tissue around it had started to heal over it, so getting it out was delicate work. Given it took so long, I'd rather rest him tonight and take him down again tomorrow."

"Okay," Pepper nodded. "How is his shoulder? Will there be permanent damage?" He might get away with a limp in his leg, but Pepper knew it would be impossible to wear the armour with a non-functioning shoulder, and she didn't want to think about the damage that would do to him, psychologically.

"The limb will need to be fully rested as it heals, and of course physiotherapy will be required; it may take a while but I don't envision anything preventing him from recovering fully from the wound to his shoulder."

Pepper let out a sigh of relief, but Ruttenberg quickly continued. "His leg, however, has suffered extensive damage. I've asked an old friend with experience of dealing with bone damage this severe to join us tomorrow, his input will be useful. I don't anticipate having to amputate-" Pepper gasped, the idea having never entered into her head. "I really don't think we will have to amputate," he repeated, "But it is a possibility. Right now, I'm not sure how fully the damage can be repaired. Until we get in there, it's difficult to say. Which is why I want to let his body rest tonight, so tomorrow we can go in and work on it for as long as it takes; and repair the damage as best as possible."

Pepper felt her eyes well up but she pushed the tears back. "And tonight-" She stammered, "will he be c-c-conscious?"

Ruttenberg gave her shoulder a gentle pat. "No. I want to keep him under. I'll have a nurse in with him at all times to keep watch, and he'll be on a drip keeping him on a safe mixture of morphine and sedatives. I don't envision him waking up. I certainly don't see any benefit in bringing him out to put him back down again in the morning."

Pepper nodded, "I agree," she said. "I would rather he not be aware of what's happening, until he's started the recovery stage."

"In that case," Ruttenberg said, standing up and preparing to leave, "may I suggest you go home and get some rest tonight? Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Pepper smiled. "Pete," she said, they had spent so much time together with Tony planning the heart surgery before that they were both comfortable enough to use first names. "You can suggest whatever you want, and I hope you don't mind, but I'm not leaving him, not now. I'll be staying with him tonight. I assume you can have a cot brought into his room for me?"

Ruttenberg smiled with defeat, knowing he wouldn't get her to change her mind. "Of course."

Natasha's phone beeped, making her startle as she freed it from her pocket.

"Shouldn't that be turned off in the hospital?" Clint asked.

"It's not 1990 anymore Clint, if you can use them on planes, you can use them in here. You're beginning to make Cap look up to date."

"Hey," Steve laughed, "I'm getting better."

"Sure," Clint teased, "of course you are."

Natasha glanced down at her screen. "It's Pepper. Stark's out of surgery-"

"So soon?" Steve cut in, sounding surprised.

Natasha glared at him. "I wasn't finished, don't interrupt me. They've taken him down to a recovery unit for the night, they're going to work on his leg tomorrow. Tonight they want him to rest. She's staying with him tonight, so we should go home. But everything with the shoulder went fine."

Steve shrugged. "Well I'm staying."

Clint shrugged back. "Why? Stark's asleep, resting. Pepper's with him. I say we go back to the tower, find Bruce, rest up and tomorrow we can take Pepper off duty."

"I don't think she will let us do that."

"Tasha," Clint asked, ignoring Steve's comment. "Tell her we're going home to find Bruce and fill out a mission report, and to give her some time with Tony. But we'll be over first thing tomorrow. And of course, she's to let us know if anything changes."

Natasha nodded and began to type.

"I thought I was in charge," Steve said, trying to lighten to mood. Clint and Natasha just stared at him. "I think one of us needs to be here, at least, in case something happens?" Steve tried.

"To do what?" Clint challenged. "Tony is safe, he's resting. Pepper doesn't want us around right now. We're all exhausted after searching for him and worrying about what the hell was going off. I think we can take the night to regroup and recharge."

Natasha nodded. "I agree. And we need to check on Bruce, if he's… back."

Steve looked torn.

"This place is secure, if that's what you're worrying about? It's hooked up to Jarvis. Not directly, of course. I don't know how, but - well, this place is as secure as the Tower. You think Tony would have surgery some place not as wired up at the Tower?"

"That was months ago," Steve retorted.

"Yes," Natasha argued. "But he let them keep the security tech. They have a lot of high profile visitors here. I think Stark did it as a thank you."

"Anyway," Clint added, "don't you need to fill Fury in? He doesn't know we have Stark back, and he sure as hell doesn't know that the chip he gave you for safe keeping has been compromised."

Steve looked guilty again. "You're right, I need to speak to him. You guys head back, I'll go directly to SHIELD. I'll get an update from Jarvis on the way, see if he's managed to trace any data remotely like that which he copied from the chip."

"You think Jarvis can do that?" Clint asked as they walked down the corridors.

"He's copied the data, so if somebody uploads anything similar, he might be able to spot it."

"Sounds like a long shot to me."

Steve shrugged. "If anybody can do it, it's Jarvis. If not, well… I don't know what happens then."

A cot was brought into Tony's room immediately, and Pepper pushed it as close to Tony's as she could get it. She felt a little awkward at first with the nurse, but she made it clear she wasn't there to spy. "I'll sit myself here in the corner," she explained, holding up a paperback novel. "I'll check his stats every 30 minute, make sure he's fully sedated, but I'll be quiet. I promise not to wake you," she smiled.

"Thanks," Pepper appreciated the woman's understanding of her discomfort. "Before I get settled, could I have a few minutes, alone?"

"Of course."

Finally alone with him, Pepper stood at his side, held his hand in both of his (the other was securely strapped to his chest to help the earlier surgery heal). She stroked the skin with her thumb before suddenly bursting into tears. She cried and she cried, with relief and with worry and hurt and with fear. After the sobs resided and she gained control of herself, she stroked his arm and then his hair. His face was partly covered with an oxygen mask, she wanted to take it away to look at him, but didn't want to risk hurting his bruised, swollen face any further.

"Tony," she whispered in his ear, "you're going to be okay." She felt her eyes well up again but fought the tears. "I love you, we'll get through this, I promise."

She gently kissed his forehead before climbing into her own cot. She wanted to hold his hand but the barriers around his bed made it impossible. She lay still on the bed for a moment, telling herself she would never be able to sleep as she stared at the ceiling tiles. But exhaustion caught up with her quickly and she was asleep before the nurse returned to the room.

Pepper woke bright and early and was pleasantly surprised when the nurse watching Tony handed her a bottle of orange juice.

"Morning," she said warmly, "I thought you could use this. I'm sure you're not ready to eat yet."

Pepper rubbed a hand through her hair. "You've done this before," she smiled, taking the juice, "this is perfect, thanks."

"Dr Ruttenberg called. They're going to prep Mr Stark in the next half an hour."

"Okay," Pepper said, worry filtering in again. She grabbed her handbag hurriedly. "I'm going to freshen up then I'll hurry over to the viewing room." She gave Tony's arm a gentle pat before leaving the room, the nurse smiled sadly as she watched her.

Pepper jumped when she entered the viewing room and found Natasha already waiting, sprawled out on the couch.

"Natasha," Pepper said, trying to recover herself. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I thought you might want somebody else to take watch so you can go home and rest. Failing that, I thought it might be nice to have some company."

"I…" Pepper stalled. "I'm not leaving him. I need to be here. They're bringing him down shortly."

"The second option, then." Natasha smiled.

"No, I don't need company – I mean… I appreciate it, I really do, but I'm okay."

"I know why you don't want any of us in here, because Tony will be embarrassed and his pride will make him act all defensive and obnoxious when he finds out." Pepper couldn't help but smile. "But let me stay, for you. Hell I won't even look through the window. But I think I'm the best person to be here, after you I mean. I've seen him in trouble… before."

Pepper nodded, remembering the time when Natasha had been Natalie, and Tony had been in self-destruct mode.

Pepper nodded and sat down next to her. "Thanks."

Natasha nodded back.

"Did you find Bruce, was he okay?"

"He made it back to the Tower late last night. He's still sleeping it off, he'll be exhausted."

"And the others?" Pepper asked tentatively. "Did anyone get hurt yesterday, I didn't even think to ask, before, I was so worried-"

"It's okay. Everyone's fine. Clint's in the Tower, he's going to stop by this evening. I expect Bruce to be out for most of the day. Steve's updating Fury, he's going to be busy explaining what we did."

"Is he going to be in trouble-" Pepper stopped talking as Tony was wheeled into the viewing room on a gurney, a team of doctors following him. She felt herself start to shake. Natasha put a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay."

Pepper shook her head. "They might… they might have to amputate."

Natasha paled, but she forced her face to remain blank. "After today, we'll know if that's the case or not. There is no point in worrying until we know the situation we are faced with."

"I know, I know, but it will kill him, he wouldn't be able to cope, if they take his leg he'd-"

"Pepper," Natasha said, smiling slightly, "If they take off his leg, he will build himself a new one, a better one, I can guarantee you that. And he'll probably paint it red and gold."

The comment seemed to break the tension and Pepper found herself laughing, Natasha with her. Then they settled in to do the only thing they could – wait.

Thanks for reading people! The next chapter is half written, so it shouldn't be too long before I update again! More Tony in the next chapter, I promise!

As always, please review! :)