A/N: Hmm...For a while now I've been thinking about this story and trying to decipher it's actual plot line and I've come to realize that I don't actually have one. Which is quite bad because it's like a routine now where I sit down and just write snippets of Tony/Pepper's life as they go along without any actual direction. However, the general consensus I've derived from all the reviews I've received so far is that this story is still very much enjoyed. Am I right to say that or...? Your comments/suggestions are welcome!

For a long time all he could do was stare. He wanted to memorize the atmosphere and feel that feeling so many others had felt when the towers collapsed. It was that thought that he could have lost her that day that truly haunted him. She had been scheduled for a meeting in that tower, the first one that collapsed that painful morning. But by some spurt of luck and strange coincidence his jet engine slumped and refused to power up that early morning before when her flight had been scheduled. He remembered having sent her off with a casual smirk and that very drunkard look he managed to master at such unearthly hours of the morning.

He still remembered he was supposed to have been ready by some early hour of the morning but he had drunk the night before. He had celebrated for some occasion he could hardly remember now, but he remembered he had been participating in another one of his drunkard affairs and that very morning she had swiftly murmured to him that she'd be gone for the better half of the day and to make sure he was at least awake by noon. He remembered watching her leave, eyes tracing her every step as she strolled in a very businesslike manner toward the door. At that time he hadn't realized the implications of how lost he would be without her there beside him carefully managing his life. She had been like the others, another asset of the company and another sexy, blonde beautiful woman he could ogle at whenever he pleased.

With the thought of her his mood shifted to a melancholy state even as he stood beside the president fully armoured, looking as scary as ever to any threatening forces out amongst the crowd. He barely listened to the president's speech as he thought about how loving her and how cherishing her completed him. She made him whole and she filled that gap in his life. She sealed that space he had painfully buried deep inside his subconscious when his parents had been tragically taken away from him. But she sealed it in the gentlest way possible and he knew she wasn't even trying.

Loving her had never been his intentions when he hired her. There was no doubt that he wanted to sleep with her. But that's what he always wanted to do a long time ago with any woman possibly willing to slip into his bed and share the night with him. He never remembered their faces or what their names were or what they did for a living. He honestly never cared that much to ask. But after she managed to resist his charms, his flirting and his advances, it almost became like a game to him. It was as if the more she resisted the more he tried. He knew he was never getting anywhere with his advances because she would never give in no matter how hard he tried. And somewhere between the years she became special to him because she wasn't like the others. She wasn't just another face or another post on his bed.

She was Pepper. The woman that somehow she wove her way into his heart and made him realize that life was more than parties, alcohol and women. Life was about moments like these when simply thinking about loved ones meant more than anything the world could ever offer.

"Yo man, are you even listening to the com?"

His thoughts dissolved as the colonel's familiar voice rang through his internal speakers. He glanced to the colonel standing beside him in his suit much like his own but silver and somewhat duller.

"What?" he grunted into the internal communication link before he glanced toward the president who seemed to be wrapping up his address to the nation.

"We're closing up shop in ten, presidents almost done and the secret service has instructed that they're taking it from here," the colonel explained and true enough the secret service moved in.

He watched as they enclosed their way around the high threat markers.

"Oh…" he murmured distantly, his thoughts still lingered around the thought of her.

"You're thinking about her aren't you?"

He smiled and silently thanked the suit for hiding such an inappropriate expression on a moment like this. The secret service gave their marker and he gathered himself and took off alongside the colonel.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered as they flew through the city.

"You don't fool me, Stark. The tone of your voice gives it away all the time," the colonel responded instantly.

He huffed and muttered, "You think too much, Rhodey. Give it a rest and do something useful like shove your head up Fury's ass."

"Well, I would if I could but you know how tight Fury's schedule is…"

He smirked at the indirect notation and replied, "That's alright, I'll get Jared to hack into his schedule and pencil that important date in."

"How does Friday 1600 hours sound?"

"Perfect."

The colonel chuckled and muttered, "I'll catch you later, Stark. Need to have a quick word with Langley since I'm in the city."

"Have fun," he muttered dryly before the colonel flew off in the opposite direction.

"Jarvis."

"Yes sir, how may I be of assistance?"

"Set destination to home. Auto-pilot."

"Affirmative. Coordinates for current location to destination has been instantiated, upon your instruction auto pilot will be initiated…"

"Let's do it."

"Instruction received. Auto pilot initiated."

"Great…"