Tony opened his eyes and blinked a few times to adjust to the lights overhead. He felt pain through his entire body when he suddenly remembered the last thing that happened.
"Pepper" he said suddenly.
"Hey it's ok. I'm here. We're safe" she said from directly next to him. She insisted on sleeping in the hospital bed with him to be there when he first woke up.
"Oh thank God" he said as he pulled Pepper into him tightly while wincing in pain and noticing some bandages on her head.
"What happened to your head?" he asked concerned.
"Just a bump. Remember when you saved my life and body checked me? Well you knocked me out" she said.
"What about everyone else? Happy? Christian?" Tony asked.
He was riddled with guilt that he put Pepper in front of everyone but he didn't see any other option.
"Happy is fine. He had a mild concussion and a broken arm. And Christian is going to be ok. Dum-E got the bullet out but he lost a lot of blood. He's going to be ok. Thanks for doing what you did for him" Pepper said.
"I didn't know what else to do. I did what I thought was best but I had to go after you"
"I know Tony. I know. You did great" she said pulling his face to hers for a kiss.
Tony turned it from a loving kiss to quite a passionate one and he ran his hand along her hospital robe and Pepper pushed him away.
"TONY STARK we are in the hospital" she teased.
"Little Tony can't help himself. He wants attention from you" he teased back.
"Not until you're better" she said, placing her hand on his chest.
"I feel fine. I'm ready to go home" he said as he tried to move.
"I'm already working on getting you released but you need to follow everything the doctor says and take your medicines or little Tony will not be getting any attention any time soon," she threatened even though she knew it was a lie because she couldn't resist him.
"Before I got there. Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?" Tony said as he felt his jaw tighten.
"He touched me a little but I'm ok Tony. He's in jail" she said reassuring him.
"I should have killed him," Tony said.
"I love you" she said kissing him again when Rhodey appeared around the curtain.
"I can see you're feeling better" Rhodey said.
"Hey Platypus thanks for backing me up but can't you see I'm a little busy" Tony said.
"I'm going to let you boys catch up. I'll be back" Pepper said as she got to her feet.
" You promise?" Tony asked suddenly feeling very sad Pepper wouldn't be in his arms.
"I promise" she said kissing him on the cheek and walking out the door.
"How bad is it? The media frenzy all this caused?" Tony asked.
"Well they're still talking about your tape and you and Pepper being an item and whether or not this is one of your phases and this whole Daniel thing. Jarvis sorted out his own bug. He just needs you to do some authorizations" Rhodey said handing him his tablet.
"What happened after I blacked out?" Tony asked.
"Pepper regained consciousness pretty quickly and she was hysterical when she saw you bleeding. The ambulance that we called for Happy arrived and they took you instead since your injuries were more severe and they called for two more. Thanks to your mini medical lab Christian was able to survive long enough to get to the hospital where he got a blood transfusion. And then Happy got looked at. You were all really lucky. They found Daniel's computer and my friend at the department gave me access and I was able to locate all those spider camera things that were in your house and Pepper's place and I gathered them all for you. Daniel is in a maximum security prison with no bail this time" Rhodey said.
"Thanks for watching out for me. I mean it. I don't have a lot of friends sour patch"
"Yeah yeah yeah and way to go with you and Pepper by the way" he said as he left Tony alone to rest.
The next day Tony was being discharged and Pepper was waiting for him with his bag all packed.
"There's something I gotta do before I go" Tony said as he headed down the hallway to Christian's room.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Christian said.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did for Pepper. And say that I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you. I did what I thought was best but I had to go after Pepper" he said.
"I understand. I love her. I guess you're the better man. After this I'm moving the company back to San Francisco. L.A. is not all it's cracked up to be" he said.
"Good luck to you" he said as he shook his hand and Pepper appeared in the doorway.
She went over to Christians bed and kissed his forehead.
"Thanks so much for all you did for me. I'm sorry it didn't work out for us. I hope you have a good life" Pepper said as she squeezed his hand.
He smiled weakly and didn't say anything as he watched them walk away.
"Come on Pep. I scheduled a press conference to address the elephant in the room" he said as he took her hand.
"Tony I can't do it. I'm humiliated" she said suddenly going white.
"You don't have to say anything. All you need to do is hold my hand and stand next to me. The sooner we rip off the bandaid the better" he said rubbing her arm gently.
"I'm not dressed for a press conference" she said looking down at her jeans and a light sweater.
"Who cares? We just came from the hospital" he said.
The ride to the press conference was painstakingly slow and Pepper's blood pressure was rising. They got there and Tony held her hand tightly.
"I promise. I will take the heat for this" he said as he brought her hand to his lips.
She squeezed his hand and they walked through the doors and the decipals in the room began to rise and the flashes from the cameras were blinding.
"I'm sure you all know that I'm here to address the elephant in the room. So let me start by saying that Pepper my new co-CEO and I are dating. We've been dating a few weeks and we wanted to keep it private and we were not aware that video of us was being taken let alone leaked to the public. The man responsible is in custody and that will be all" Tony said grabbing her hand and squeezing it as they walked away.
The questions being thrown their way were non stop.
"What do you mean co-CEO?" Pepper asked once she got through the doors and they were in the quiet.
"Don't you think it's time that you stopped being my assistant and started to run the company like you were always meant to?" he asked.
"Tony I don't know what to say"
"Don't say anything. Thank me privately later" he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
She hit him playfully.
"We should get cheeseburgers" he suggested.
She laughed and they walked back to the car hand in hand.
The End