His appointment with Helen Cho comes a few days later. Stephen portals her and her Regenerative Cradle in from South Korea, and she comes to his sickbed to see his arm for herself. She is dressed in her doctor's uniform and gloves, and seems mostly unfazed by her unusual mode of transport. Although, Tony imagines a lot of things seem mundane after the last few months.

As Cho comes in, he is reminded of the last time he had seen her. It had been several years ago now, when she had first been developing the Cradle. She had agreed to help them with Bucky's arm surgery, and the Cradle had done wonders in insuring minimal scarring and trauma to the area. It feels…odd to see her now, after so much has happened.

He is happy to see her though. By now, he is going a little stir-crazy being stuck in bed so long. He gets plenty of visits. Pepper comes to help him with his exercises, and Peter and Happy had come to see him a few times too. He had seen all the other Avengers at least once, and the ones who aren't off trying to see their own family pop in regularly enough. He has plenty of company, but there is only so long one can sit in one room, and he had passed that point days ago.

"You've gotta get me out of here," he tells Cho in a mockingly-serious tone as she examines his arm. He keeps his eyes on the ceiling like usual, but that doesn't stop him from feeling the distinct wrongness to his skin as she unwraps his arm. The strangeness and the flashes of pain are better than the parts he can't feel though, so he isn't complaining.

Living through the Dusting hadn't changed Cho's quiet nature much, but he sees her give him an amused smile, before looking back at his arm. She steps away, leaving the bandages and splinting off, and Tony is careful to keep his eyes on her, without looking down.

"The Cradle should be able to heal the tissue damage," she tells him. "You will need to find a physiotherapist afterwards if you want to regain your strength in that arm." She clasps her hands in front of her and continues softly. "The Cradle will do what it can, but after the procedure, you will still have a limited range of motion and feeling in that arm." She catches his eyes with a sympathetic gaze. "Some of that may be reversible with time, but some of it may be permanent."

He nods firmly, his left hand curling into a fist. "I know," he says around the lump in his throat. "But anything is better than what I have right now."

Cho nods. "We can begin the procedure right away then."

Pepper comes in to sit with him as Cho sets up the machine, and Tony sees the moment her eyes catch on his exposed arm. Her eyes dart away almost immediately, and a muscle in her jaw twitches as she swallows. She has a comforting smile on her face as she comes to sit by his side though, and he tries to relax.

"Hey," he tells her softly, holding out his hand. She grasps it easily, and he flicks his eyes over her. "Well, at least I have something pretty to look at."

Pepper's mouth pulls up into a real smile, and she relaxes into her chair. "I'd say the same to you," she tells him, her nose wrinkling. "But you need a shower."

He barks out a laugh as, on his other side, he is aware of Cho wheeling the Cradle up to his bedside. "Well," he squeezes Pepper's hand, "sponge baths only go so far. But hopefully once Dr Cho is finished Stephen will see fit to let me up and at 'em."

Pepper huffs. "Only if your concussion is stable," she tells him as Cho rotates the top section of the Cradle over his right side.

Before he can respond with claims of healthiness, Cho leans in to catch his attention. "I will begin now," she tells him. "We will have to move you a few times to get everything."

He nods, and instinctively holds Pepper's hand tighter, but the Cradle doesn't hurt. He knows from when Cho had come to help Bucky that the Cradle works by grafting a simulacrum of organic tissue to the patient and bonding it to the patient's cells. It is honestly revolutionary in the medical field, because of how fast and painless it is—and he couldn't be more grateful for it now.

He spends most of the procedure chatting with Pepper about post-Dusting efforts, and Happy's work to move the Avengers into the Tower. Not everyone is staying with them right now. He is pretty sure Thor, and the newly returned Asgardians are working with Frigga in New Asgard, and Pepper tells him that Sam is currently visiting his sister's family. Peter is in the Tower though, along with Aunt May, because their apartment is rented to someone new now.

"Quill, Rocket, and the rest of them are in the Tower too," she says. "And I think JARVIS and Clint are conspiring together to introduce Quill to modern music."

"Clint and his family aren't at the farm?" he asks over the humming of the Cradle.

Pepper shakes her head. "Clint only went back there a few times," she says, a look of sadness in her eyes. "So it's been pretty neglected for the last few months. I think they want to let things settle a little before they head back."

That makes sense. "Didn't he have chickens there?" he asks, and Pepper's eyes brighten.

"I think he gave them to a neighbour," she says. "With how Lila is going on about them, they will either have to get more, or get those specific ones back if possible."

He grunts as Cho has him roll onto his left side so she can get the back of his arm. "How's Wakanda?" he asks around his pillow. "Last I heard the world governments are kind of in an uproar, so I imagine things are pretty crazy."

Crazy is a bit of an understatement. As short as their Dusting had been, there are still millions of newly returned—newly displaced—people that need to be taken care of. Governments everywhere are scrambling to catch up, and he knows that refugee camps litter the planet right now. It is going to take a lot of work to mitigate the damage the Dusting had done, and is still doing, to the most vulnerable of their population.

"It helped that Bruce returned the plants and animals too," Pepper tells him as Cho has him roll completely onto his stomach. His arm smarts as he moves, the pain almost like a bad sunburn, with a few spikes of fire. Considering how the burns had used to be much worse, he isn't complaining.

"It's almost winter, so there's a rush to get the newfound crops in now," Pepper continues. "Of course, production lines are confused again, but I've heard T'Challa is doing a lot right now to help organise relief." She smiles. "The arc reactors we've been putting in are really helping too."

Oh right. His heart warms as he remembers that project. His arc reactors had been somewhat buried this last month or so while he had built his time-machine, but he had spent the last half-year trying to shore up the planet with his arc reactors. After all these years planning and developing green energy initiatives, he finally gets a go at widescale implementation.

That is good. He imagines they will be doing a lot in the coming months. Their Dusting may have only lasted a few months, but the recovery will still take time. There is going to need to be a lot of emergency laws and other measures put in place if they want to insure people are taken care of. Given what he had seen during the Dusting, he knows that trying to get those laws passed will be an uphill battle, but Natasha and Steve have a lot of experience with that.

He says as much to Pepper, and she nods. "Rhodey has been helping them too," she says. "He is a good liaison with the military." She levels him with a look and smiles knowingly. "I told him I was coming here, and he said he'd meet us afterward."

Tony rolls his eyes. Rhodey had already come and made it clear his opinion on Tony risking his life again. "You know I don't actually need you guys to mother-hen me," he says, a tingling sensation working its way up his hand as the Cradle works away. "You can ask Judith, I've been improving a lot." His head lifts off the pillow as a thought strikes him. "Oh, hey. I bet she's alive again." He gives Pepper a rueful look. "I imagine she has a lot to deal with before going back into practice though."

Pepper leans back in her chair. "I think she gave us a pretty solid base to work with before she got Dusted," she says. "We can try to find someone if you need to though."

He shakes his head. "Not right now," he decides. "With how general this crisis is, a lot of people are posting tips and coping strategies everywhere, should we need them. And we've made it this far using what we already learned." He lays back onto his pillow. "That isn't to say things might not hit later, but we know where to look if we need help."

Pepper smiles at him proudly, and he has to burry his face in his pillow in response. Six years ago, when Pepper had first started insisting that he needed to talk to someone, he had been adamant she was wrong. He would have never talked about getting help this openly back then.

But it is a good thing I did, he thinks as Cho finishes up. I'm not sure what I would have done if I didn't start this whole thing already on relatively stable ground, and with coping mechanisms in place.

There is a click as the Cradle shuts off, and Cho wheels it away. "You can roll over now," she tells him, and both she and Pepper help him lever himself back around. He keeps his eyes shut as he does so, not quite willing to look. He is out of breath by the time he leans back on the pillows, and his eyes meet Pepper's as he takes a second to breathe.

"So, am I a Frankenstein?" he jokes, watching as her gaze flicks over his right arm.

She catches his eye. "Not quite," she says, her eyes searching his. "It looks a lot better though."

He clenches his left hand in anticipation, and Pepper places her hand over it. Her engagement ring catches the light, and he sucks in a breath.

"Here goes," he mutters, and he looks over.

He hadn't known what to expect, because he hadn't known what condition his arm had been in before Cho had used the Cradle. A part of him wishes he had looked at least once, just so that he would have something to compare it too. The skin is healed, that he can tell. No longer is it an open wound. The scarring is still visible though. Most of his skin is a pale red, with patches of healthier skin creeping in the further up his arm he goes. He can see the faint burn lines that had crawled towards his shoulder, the skin wrinkled and shiny in some places.

The damage is worst at his hand. He realises now that he is missing all of his fingernails, and the skin over the back of his knuckles is darker, almost a purple-red. If he tries, he could probably make out where each Infinity Stone had fit.

Even as he takes in the damage though, it is not quite as bad as he had feared. His arm doesn't look dead. It is damaged, but it still looks usable. His fingers twitch as he tries to form a fist with his right hand. It is uncomfortable. It doesn't hurt much, but he is only able to loosely curl his fingers together. His arm is slow and heavy as he tries to lift it, but he pulls it towards himself, trying to take it all in.

"Feels like I went and slept on my arm too long and now it's gone and fallen asleep," he murmurs as he drapes his arm over his stomach. He frees his left hand from Pepper, and she remains silent as he runs his fingers lightly over his injured hand.

He can feel it, at least a little. He feels his shoulders drop, and he lets out a breath. The touch isn't the same. It feels far away, and the patches where the stones had rested remain completely numb. He knows from Christine that he will need to massage his scars regularly to help with numbness and hypersensitivity, but right now he is at least able to feel something, which is more than he probably should have hoped for.

He tries to straighten his fingers, and they tremble as he looks them over. He glances up to where Cho is waiting by the Cradle, giving him some space to breathe. "What do you think my odds are for getting nails again?" he asks. He tries to wiggle his fingers, but the movement is laboured and shaky.

Cho comes a little closer, giving him a onceover. "The nailbeds should be repaired," she says, peeling off her gloves and throwing them away. "They should grow back, although we won't know if they will grow back normally yet."

He nods and closes his eyes for a moment, before looking at her again. "Is this what it will look like from now on?"

Cho looks at his arm again. "The damage was fairly extensive, and the wound was already several days old, so some scarring may remain," she looks up. "But some of the redness should go down in a few days. And, sensitivity may change over time. With physiotherapy, you should be able to regain some range of motion and fine motor skills as well."

He sits back and blows out a breath, relaxing. "Okay," he says, not looking over as Pepper grabs his left hand again. He offers Cho a grateful smile, blinking his eyes to keep them free of tears. His mind is a swirling mix of emotions, but gratitude floats to the top. "Thank you," he manages, barely able to express how much she had done for him. "You helped a lot, I can't imagine recovering from this without you."

That earns a small smile from Cho. "I'm glad," she says, before quietly making her goodbyes and turning to wheel the Cradle out of the room. "I will look over Dr Banner as well," she says as she leaves. "And then I believe Dr Strange will take me back."

Tony leans back against the pillows as she exits, his eyes dropping to his right hand again. With some concentration, he manages to touch his thumb and forefinger together. The movement is uncontrolled and slow, and he lets up after a moment, exhausted.

Pepper shifts next to him, and he looks over. "How are you doing?" she asks softly.

He gives her a tired smile. "Oh, I'll be okay," he tries to say lightheartedly. "I've dealt with worse."

Pepper's face softens and she reaches slowly for his right hand. He lets her take it, and he watches as she runs her fingers over the reddened skin. He can feel her hand on his, and he has to blink mist out of his eyes as she carefully slots their fingers together.

"We'll get through this," she tells him, running her thumb over his. "One step at a time."

He lets out a wet breath and nods. "Yeah," he manages. "Exactly."

Bruce and Stephen come to visit him after Cho leaves. Bruce has his arm in a sling, but he shows him his hand. The scarred skin is a darker green compared to the rest of his arm, and his fingers curl sluggishly, but he doesn't seem too concerned.

"They move a lot more now," he says, his fingers wiggling slowly. "And the burns used to be black before, so…"

Tony remembers the glimpse he had gotten of Bruce's injury before Thanos had attacked, and he glances down at his own arm. He imagines his burns had been a lot worse. With that in mind, the faint scarring he has now hardly compares.

Stephen has another sling for him to use, and he shows him how to put it on one-handed. "I'm not a physiotherapist," he tells both him and Bruce. "But, I imagine finding one now might take a while, with how backed up everything is, so…" he waves his hands in the air and opens a small portal circle, which he then reaches into, like some kind of wizard space-pocket.

He steps back and pulls out a stack of paper, he separates them into two piles and hands one to Bruce, before handing the other to Pepper. "They're hand exercises that I got, after my accident," he explains, his eyes not quite meeting theirs. Tony notices again the faint scar lines on Stephen's hands. "You can at least follow those and continue with the exercises Christine gave you until you can get some professional help."

"Thank you," Bruce says, and Tony nods along. Stephen's eyes come up to meet his, and he gives him a nod of respect.

Thank you, his eyes say, and Tony doesn't have to guess why.

With Stephen's stamp of approval, he is finally released and allowed to move into the Tower. As promised, Rhodey comes to collect him and Pepper, and he pulls him into a hug almost the moment he arrives.

Tony's right arm stays in his sling, but he hugs back with his left arm as hard as he can. He can tell Rhodey is being careful of his injuries, but his hug is just as fierce as it has always been, and he gets pinned with an analytical gaze as he pulls back.

"You good, man?" Rhodey asks, and Tony pulls up a grin.

"Hey, I'm walking, talking, and breathing," he replies, shrugging his left shoulder. "What more could I ask for?"

Rhodey snorts and steps back so that they can walk out. Tony sucks in a breath as they hit sunlight. By now, the ash haze has cleared, and he takes a moment to relish being outside for the first time since the battle.

Rhodey steps over to a black car by the side of the road, and as he opens the door to help him in, Tony recognises a familiar face. "Happy!" he calls, as he maneuvers himself inside. It takes some doing, but eventually he has himself situated. Pepper sits next to him, and waits for him to grab the seatbelt before helping him click it in. He looks up towards the front of the car while Rhodey gets into the passenger seat. "How have you been?"

Happy glances back, and Tony smiles at the still relatively new sight of his beard. Happy had spent most of the Dusting working in the Avengers Tower and coordinating everything for him there, so they hadn't spent as much time near each other as they used to. He has a feeling that will change though, considering how the compound is a pile of smoking concrete now.

"Well enough," Happy says, his eyes on the road as he starts the car. "Things have been all over the place at the Tower, and I've had a devil of a time keeping security, but it should be all set up for you." Tony grins at the mention of security. He can imagine that it had been a bit of a hassle these last few months with all the traffic through the Tower. Happy is a stickler for that sort of thing, and it looks like that hasn't changed.

It doesn't take long to get to the Tower, and Happy drops them off in the underground garage. "The top floors are cleared for Avengers," he says, as he lets them go. It feels a little surreal walking through the garage and seeing the long-neglected space. It is well-kept, but he hadn't been back here much since he had built the Avengers' compound.

The compound is rather thoroughly destroyed though. He feels a sense of loss at that, because the place had become their home over the years, but returning to the Tower feels like blowing the dust off an old book from childhood. Familiar and nostalgic.

"Hello, Sir," JARVIS says as he, Pepper, and Rhodey step into the elevator. He grins, happy in the knowledge that Thanos' attack hadn't been able to destroy everything of JARVIS.

"Hey, J," he says as the elevator begins to speed upwards. He instinctively moves to rub his hands together, but the sling gets in the way, and he lets his left hand fall back again as he questions JARVIS. "How is everything? The labs still intact?"

"Indeed, Sir," JARVIS replies, before Pepper leans in and cuts off anything else he could say.

"But," she gives him a look. "You will be resting today. Nothing else. You can go poke at your labs tomorrow."

Tony pouts theatrically at her, and Pepper rolls her eyes. He doesn't fight it though. He knows that—now that he is out of bed—he will need to start thinking of rebuilding a Quantum Tunnel to return the stones. But, he will admit that even today's little trip had tired him out, and he has heard enough from Judith over the years about setting a healthy work pace to know that pushing himself right now will do nothing good in the long run.

He reaches for Pepper with his good hand. "Yes, Miss Potts," he murmurs.

oOo

The Avengers welcome him back into the Tower with vigour. It is clear that everyone is happy to see him back on his feet again. His return and relative health also opens him up to more playful ribbing and thinly veiled threats should he ever try to, as Clint puts it, 'try another knuckle-brained, self-sacrificing, drama queen stunt like that again'. All of that just reinforces how worried everyone had been for him, and in the quieter hours after his return, he almost feels overwhelmed by the depth of everyone's concern for him.

He doesn't regret his actions during the battle, but, he does think that, if he were to live through something like that again, he would probably be a little less quick to mentally jump on board the 'sacrifice oneself for the good of all' train. Not because he wouldn't be willing, but because he…well, he wouldn't think he had to, to redeem himself.

He doesn't have Judith to tell this revelation to, but he thinks she would be proud of it.

Of course, now that he is up and moving again—one arm or not—it is now time to start focusing on another part of the aftermath of undoing the Dusting. Namely, returning the stones.

The stones had been diligently gathered after he had passed out on the battlefield, and Steve and Bucky come down to his lab with him to show him where they are stored. DUM-E and U beep happily at their arrival, and Tony follows as Steve and Bucky head towards one of the metal tables.

"We didn't really want to touch them," Steve tells him as he reaches for a clear plastic box and pulls off the lid. "Rhodey set his suit to sentry mode, and he had it hold the stones until Wong portalled it to the Sanctum, and then to here." He holds out the box. "They don't seem to activate by themselves at least."

Tony has to bite back a snort at the sight of the six most powerful relics in existence clattering around in an old plastic container. Considering how heavily guarded some of them had been before, it is funny to think of them getting stored in some dusty corner of his lab.

Of course, anyone trying to steal them would have to get past JARVIS, but he thinks it would probably be wise to send them back home sooner rather than later.

"Steve said you needed Pym Particles," Bucky speaks up, the sleeve of his left arm still pinned up as he takes a seat at the table next to Steve. DUM-E beeps for attention behind him, and Bucky offers him a small wave before turning back to them. "Scott found Hank after the battle, and they're working on getting us more particles. We just need a time-machine now."

He raises an eyebrow at the fact that they had indeed time-traveled while he was gone, and rolls his shoulders, glancing at Steve. "You'll be the one taking them back, yeah?"

Steve nods, setting the box on the table. "That's what the other timeline did at least," he says, shrugging. "I don't see a reason not to do the same. I've been to the 2012-timeline before, and Tony and Bruce can't go, and I wouldn't pry Scott away from Cassie to do it for the world."

Bucky nods, his hair swinging around his face as he chews on his bottom lip. "It'll be safe?" he says, and something about the look in his eye has Steve moving to sit down next to him.

"As safe as time-traveling can be, probably," he says, twitching his mouth up at him. He cocks his head and turns back to Tony, his eyes thoughtful. "We'll need to figure out the logistics though. I'll need to be able to get to Asgard, Vormir, and Morag, which will take some planning."

Tony blows out a breath of wry amusement. "This second trip is going to take just as much planning as the first one," he mutters. He moves to sit down too, and calls for JARVIS to pull up some screens for him to write on. "We can figure it out after I get a new Quantum Tunnel up and running." His eyes jump up to Bucky, and he grins. "You wanted to see what I built while you were gone, now's your chance."

Bucky's eyes light up as he eases up on some of his worry for Steve. He leans forward, a grin pulling at his lips. "Flying cars don't got nothing on this."

oOo

Because of his arm and recent concussion, he doesn't play a huge role in actually building the new time machine. He makes the plans for it, and that isn't hard. He has the original blueprints to work with, and this time he can build on a smaller scale.

"We only really need to send Steve back," he tells Bruce while the man looks over his scaled down version of the Quantum Tunnel. "And a smaller one will be easier to dismantle afterwards."

Bruce glances away from the holoscreens and quirks his mouth up. "Not planning on keeping a time-machine around long-term?"

Tony huffs out an amused breath and shakes his head. "No thanks," he says ruefully. "We already had Thanos come through our last one. I have a feeling setting up a permanent time-machine would just be asking for something terrible to happen."

Plus, he has a feeling Stephen and the other more mystic people on their planet would probably prefer if they didn't make a habit of playing with time. Not having a time-machine to do so kind of helps limit that temptation.

Bruce nods and steps back from the screens. "Looks good to me," he says, shrugging his good shoulder and looking around the lab. "Were you planning to build it in here?"

Tony stretches the best he can in his sling and looks over to the corner of his lab. "Yeah, I think it'll fit," he says, before glancing wryly between the slings on both his and Bruce's arms. "Although I think we're going to need someone else to come and do the heavy lifting."

As it turns out, that part of the plan isn't too hard to figure out. Peter is still living in the Tower, and he positively lights up at the idea of helping them rebuild their time-machine. It takes some time to source the materials they need, but they are able to scavenge some scrap metal from the destroyed compound, and soon all three of them are sequestered down in the lab. Tony has JARVIS manufacture the pieces they need just like last time, and Peter's super strength makes it easy for him to manipulate everything as he and Bruce direct him.

"A lot of my class got Dusted too, actually," Peter chats easily as he drills a rivet into the base of the platform under the watchful eye of Bruce. "It's really weird now though, cuz we missed six months of school, and people are still tryna figure out what to do with us." He shrugs. "Course, with how chaotic things were, a lot of kids who weren't Dusted also missed school, so we're not really that behind."

He finishes with the last of the rivets and heads over to the 3D printer to pick up one of the four pillars that will go around the edge. "I think they want to keep us with our class," he continues, his brows knitted in concentration as Bruce helps him steady the pillar and he leans down to start bolting it into place. "I think they might just scrap the few months of school we missed and start over in January. Which means we don't gotta start school for at least another month and a half."

He looks up with a grin that says it all and Tony lets out a snort. "Glad the Dusting is doing something good," he teases, before looking back down at the switchboard in front of him. The controls for the Quantum Tunnel had been destroyed just like everything else, but it isn't too hard to pull something together. It is a bit of a process, trying to wire everything with one hand, but Peter's voice as he works on the tunnel itself helps keep any rising frustration at bay.

"Right," Peter says, looking calm and relaxed as he tests the stability of the pillar. "Waiting to start up again for a few months is a good thing anyways. Gives time for teachers to figure themselves out and for people to get settled."

Tony smiles as Peter continues to chat about the intricacies of his life Post-Dusting. It is nice to hear about the smaller details like this—instead of all the worldwide problems—and it is simply nice to hear Peter again. He had been missing this for six months now, and he doubts he could ever get tired of it.

Despite how long he knows Post-Dusting recovery is going to be, and despite having only partial use of his arm right now, he finds himself feeling perfectly at ease in his lab. He knows what he is doing, and he knows how to do it, and all of his friends are back and alive, and Peter's voice continues to float over everything, and all of it is just…right.

Later that night, after he has negotiated his way into some pajamas with minimal difficulty, he lays next to Pepper and stares up at the ceiling. The lamp is on, and he can see the shadow that Pepper casts as she sits next to him, a book in her lap. He traces the shadows on the roof with his eyes and thinks over the strange semi-calmness he has found himself in Post-Dusting.

Now that the overarching threat of Thanos is gone, and now that the Dusting is reversed, he finds himself almost back to where he had been months ago, before all this.

Of course, things are different now, but now that the Dusting is over, he can once again focus on trying to live life, rather than just survive it. Six months ago, he had been keeping an eye on Ross and the Accords, trying to show off his suit, and…and thinking about starting a family with Pepper.

Now, he doesn't have a lot to do with the Accords. He knows they are still in place, but Natasha and Steve are the ones that deal with them the most, since they are taking care of a lot of the political side of things. Likewise, his suit is finished, and his second time-machine is almost finished too. And Pepper…

He pulls his right arm towards himself so that he can roll over and look at Pepper. The light of the lamp castes a soft glow over her face, and he darts his eyes over her features. He thinks back to the months of the Dusting, and the way Cassie had slotted into their life in the compound, and he thinks about the complete rightness he had felt with Peter in his lab.

He licks his lips. "Pep," he calls, and her hair falls around her face as she looks over, a light curiosity in her eyes. He swallows at the wave of pure love he feels towards her in this quiet moment, and he reaches for her with his left hand.

Pepper accepts his hand easily, and he sees her scan him momentarily, obviously picking up some of the more serious tones of the conversation. He smiles softly and squeezes her hand. "I was thinking," he starts gently, not wanting to disturb the peace that settles over them. "Do you remember, before all of this, I had a dream?"

Pepper's mouth pulls up as she eases back into the pillows, closing her book. "A dream?" she says, her eyes searching his.

He nods. "Yeah," he clears his throat, his eyes dropping down to his engagement ring slotted between her fingers. "About the two of us. And…and we had a baby."

He looks up, and he sees recognition enter Pepper's eyes as a small smile climbs onto her face. "Named Morgan," she says, her eyes bright. "Named after my uncle."

He relaxes, and carefully uses his right arm to push himself up a little on his pillow. His arm trembles, but manages to hold his weight for a few seconds, and he lets out a breath as he meets Pepper's eyes again. "Well…I was thinking…" he squeezes her hand. "You remember we were gonna get married a year from the Dusting? Well, that's coming around soon enough. And then, I was thinking…after…" Pepper's gaze is steady and calm as he looks into her eyes and breathes in. "What would you think, of making that dream a reality?"

Pepper's face softens in the warm light, and she presses a gentle kiss to the back of his hand. "I think," her voice is soft, and her hair falls around his face as she leans in for another kiss, "that sounds like a good dream."

AN: So we get some more aftermath of Tony's recovery. Thankfully his arm is savable, but it will take some work before it is fully functional, and it is still scarred. The aftermath of the Dusting continues too, and Tony gets to focus on returning the stones…as well as thinking of what his life will be like afterwards.

One chapter left!