A/N: Yes, I'm still here, writing this story... barely.

Man, I really hit the wall on these next chapters. I tell you, the muse had left the country and wasn't coming back. I haven't struggled so hard with a chapter since I don't know when. My heart just wasn't in it. As it stands, I'm pretty unhappy with this and the next chapter (ended up splitting them) but I just have to let it go and move on.

No NaCl in this chapter, it got split into the next, sorry. The upside is that you will be getting an update tomorrow though, so that's something, for what it's worth. I think my phoot-phoot valve broke after writing all those chapters at once and getting through the showdown, I was just spent. Here's hoping the muse comes back for these last few chapters, because it'd be a real bum if I hated writing them as much as I did these two chapter. .

Ah well, as with everything, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

And on a side note, are there any Grimm fans out there? I'm thinking of doing a Grimm story around Nick and Munroe (non-slash, just think they have great chemistry) and Captain Renard and Juliette (I'm a sucker for dark, twisty men and forbidden love stories ;) ). I was just pondering another creative challenge. :D

Anyways, let's get this chapter over and done with and we can never speak of it again, okay? :)

Chapter Seventy-One

Tony walked down the halls of the darkened hospital, looking for a bathroom. A nurse had come in to check on Pepper's vitals as she slept and side eyed him while making a passing comment about how he smelt. It wasn't a good one. She'd suggested he find a way to smell less like, in her words, a butt, before Pepper woke up. Tony hadn't wanted to leave Pepper, but the nurse had assured him she wasn't waking up for at least another six or eight hours, minimum. So, he'd reluctantly left Pepper, looking to use a bathroom to clean up a little. There was still no word about Natasha and Tony knew that Happy would be telling him right away if there was. All this worrying was giving him a headache. Tony passed by a partially open door to another room on the floor above Pepper's, still hunting for a bathroom. He stopped and back tracked when he recognised one of the people inside.

Lewis was sitting on a bed, doing up his shirt one-handed while another man fussed around him. The other man, who Tony assumed was Greg, his partner, was a good looking man with neatly cut dark brown hair and fashionable glasses. Tony hung back and watched them unobserved for a moment.

"Thank heavens I can take you home at last," said Greg as he brushed at Lewis' completely ruined shirt. "How long does it take to do tests and set a broken arm anyway?"

Lewis half-smiled. "About eight hours, it seems."

"I'm just glad it was only your arm that was broken," sighed Greg, looking relieved. "And that I can take you home now. I'll go and get you a wheelchair."

Lewis shook his head. "I've only broken my arm. I can walk out of here."

"No, you can't," said Greg hastily and then looked a little shifty.

Lewis eyed him suspiciously. "What's going on?"

Greg opened his eyes wide. "Nothing."

"And by nothing you mean-?" Lewis let his question hang between them.

Greg pouted. "It's just that Derek and Sunny are waiting for us. They insisted on picking us up. I got a taxi over, I was in no state to drive when I got the news."

"That was nice of them considering it's the middle of the night now, but what's that got to do with me needing a wheelchair all of a sudden?"

Greg looked away. "I may or may not have told them you got shot today." He looked back at Lewis and smiled sweetly.

Lewis arched an eyebrow. "Which is it, may or may not?"

"May," admitted Greg guiltily.

Lewis looked confused. "Why on earth would you tell them I got shot, when I didn't?" he asked in exasperation.

"If you've been shot then we don't have to go to their god awful pre-Thanksgiving talent show party," said Greg quickly. "God, that thing, every year. It's where dignity and good taste goes to die. I can't watch one more interpretive dance about the colonisation of the Americas at the expense of the Native Americans." Greg held up a hand hastily. "Which was awful, don't get me wrong, but watching Sunny dance around in unforgiving spandex as the ghost of regret isn't going to right any wrongs." He wrinkled his face in displeasure. "Just start up a whole new batch that starts but unfortunately doesn't end with his Tofurkey canapés."

Lewis' lips twitched. "Are you done?"

"I'm not a fan of the maple-flavoured tequila shots either," he volunteered.

"So, because of your aversion to spandex, amateur theatrics and experimental cooking, I'm shot now, is that it?" asked Lewis wryly. "You want me to lie?"

"It's not lying," said Greg firmly. "It's reimagining. There's a difference."

"Reimagining?"

"Yes, it's like when you gave me that watch for my birthday."

"You said loved that watch," Lewis protested.

"That's because I was reimagining it as the Rolex that you're going to get me for Christmas."

"But that watch actually cost more than the Rolex you were interested in and had a lot more features," Lewis pointed out in disbelief. "It's a way better watch."

Greg rubbed his shoulder lovingly. "Oh, honey, honey, honey," he said sympathetically. "I love that you put that much thought into my gift, I really do, but you know me, I'm all about the label."

Lewis looked at him askew. "So, you'd rather have an inferior watch with a label, then a more expensive, superior watch without the well known brand label?"

Greg didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"That's insane and makes no kind of sense," Lewis argued.

"I'm a label puppy, you know this about me." Greg smiled sweetly at him. "So, are we good about the getting shot story?"

Lewis sighed heavily and shook his head as Greg gave him a wide-eyed, pleading look. "Where was I shot?" he asked with resigned indulgence.

Greg beamed and clapped his hands together. "Your right hip. The doctors were able to take out the bullet but there are a few bits of bone which make moving around really hard for you."

"So hard I can't make it to Sunny's pre-Thanksgiving show," observed Lewis dryly, "but then I'm guessing I'm going to come good just before Christmas when we head to Aspen for that ski weekend."

Greg patted his arm and nodded, smiling. "It'll be our very own Christmas miracle."

Tony couldn't help but smile as he watched their exchange. They were kind of cute together. He gave a light tap on the door.

Lewis slid off the bed and stood up when he saw Tony standing there. "Tony," he said quickly, "is everything alright? Is Pepper-?"

"She's sleeping," said Tony as he walked into the room.

"Happy told me the surgery went well." Lewis' face clouded over. "I'm sorry. That should never have happened to Pepper. I should have been able to protect her."

Tony shook his head, knowing how the other man felt. "You did everything humanly possible." He paused and looked him in the eye. "I appreciate everything you tried to do for Pepper, Lewis," Tony said quietly. "I'm just glad you, Happy and Pepper are all going to be alright." He gave a vaguely amused look at Greg. "Sans the unfortunate shooting incident, of course."

"It isn't a lie," said Greg hastily.

"I know, it's a reimagining," said Tony wryly. "I heard. Don't worry, I'm a big fan of making your own reality and inserting it into other's." He held out his hand. "Tony Stark. You must be Greg."

Greg shook his hand enthusiastically. "I'm thrilled to meet you, Mr. Stark."

"Tony."

Greg hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"He punched me in the face this morning," observed Lewis dryly. "So yeah, Tony is fine."

Greg looked confused. "Why did you punch him in the face?"

Tony pulled a face. "I kind of thought he'd gotten Pepper pregnant," he admitted. "An argument can be made that I get a little over-emotional when it comes to Pepper."

"That's one word for it," agreed Lewis readily.

Greg looked miff. "Why do I have to sit through you talking endlessly about the Yankees and their little flags-"

"Pennants," Lewis corrected him.

Greg waved a hand at him. "Whatever. Meanwhile you're holding out on the really juicy things that happen at work." He gave Lewis a disapproving look. "What's that about?"

"Aren't you outraged on my behalf?" Lewis said in vague amusement. "I was assaulted."

Greg was unapologetic. "Honey, if I didn't think you could take a punch to the face, I'd never have introduced you to my grandmother."

"Mee Moo does pack a punch," agreed Lewis thoughtfully.

"It was my mistake," volunteered Tony. "And congratulations on the impending parenthood, by the way."

Greg smiled at Lewis lovingly. "Thanks, we're so excited."

Tony felt a pang thinking about his conversation with Pepper. "I know, you should be, it's an exciting thing." He looked away abruptly.

Greg seemed to know what he was thinking. "And Happy told us Pepper is going to be fine. You'll be able to have your own little bundle of joy on that front one day."

Lewis sent him a warning look. "Greg."

Greg spread his fingers and looked innocent. "What? Just imagine how cute a baby between them would be."

"Babies aren't really Tony's thing."

"They could be," interjected Tony. "I want them to be."

Lewis was looking at him in disbelief. "You do?"

"Yes," said Tony a little defensively. "Why do you have to say it like that?"

"Because, this morning you weren't handling the thought of impending fatherhood too well."

Tony shrugged. "Maybe I just needed to grow into the idea."

Lewis still looked sceptical. "And you found time to emotionally grow as a person in amongst all the chaos of today?"

Tony held up a hand. "Trust me, no one is more surprised by that then me."

Greg slapped Lewis' arm. "Leave him alone, he's had a rough day. His beautiful girl almost-"

"Can you please not complete that sentence," interrupted Tony unevenly, his stomach clenching up at just talking about it.

Greg made a sympathetic noise of contrition. "Oh, poor you, of course." He threw his arms around Tony. "Someone needs a cuddle."

Tony was a bit surprised by the action, but just rolled with it as Greg hugged him tightly.

"Greg, stop fondling my boss," Lewis instructed him in exasperation. "You just met the guy."

Greg didn't let go of Tony but drew back another to shoot an answer over his shoulder at Lewis. "It's an angst cuddle," he said defensively. "You wouldn't understand because you're never the one left standing there making yourself sick over whether the person you love the most in the world is going to live or die." He looked back at Tony. "I understand your pain, honey. We have to stick together." Greg's warm smile became a little shaky. "But before we stick together again, do you think you could maybe have a bath? You smell like you just shot out of Satan's ass."

Tony stepped back and grimaced. "Sorry, it's the sulphur." He ran his hand threw his hair. "I was looking for somewhere to try and maybe wash down a bit."

"You'll need more than water to wash that stink off," declared Greg decisively. "You need my crisis kit."

"You brought that thing?" asked Lewis in disbelief.

"Baby, I didn't know if you were going to be released tonight and you know I like to be prepared for any kind of emergency." Greg reached behind the bed and picked up a large Gucci bag.

"Gucci?" Tony commented as Greg delved into it, arm disappearing almost up to the elbow.

Behind Greg, Lewis mouthed his response along with his partners. "Just because there is a crisis, doesn't mean you can't be stylish," he declared.

Tony shrugged. "I guess not."

Greg was pulling out multiple brightly coloured bottles. "Okay, so I have three kinds of shampoo and conditioner, depending on your hair type, a facial exfoliate, an all body exfoliate, two kinds of facial masks, hair gel, hair mousse, hair wax, razor, deodorant, manicure set, nose hair trimmer, beard trimmer-"

"Tony just needs to stop smelling like a butt," Lewis interrupted him. "He's not getting ready for prom."

Greg rolled his eyes at Tony. "He's so low maintenance. It drives me crazy."

"I think Pepper has the opposite problem with me," admitted Tony ruefully.

"So Pepper is your Lewis and that makes me the Tony Stark in our relationship," said Greg in delight.

"Oh dear God," said Lewis in distress. "Did you really need to put that image in my head? Our relationships are nothing alike."

Tony smiled. "I think Pepper and I could end up worse than being like you two."

Greg made a delighted gasp and threw his arms around Tony again. "Ohh, can I keep him?"

"No," said Lewis without hesitation.

"But he's soo adorable," cooed Greg, snuggling in closer. He wrinkled his nose and pulled back. "But still stinky, very, very stinky."

"There is a bathroom in this room." Lewis pointed at the nondescript door. "Knock yourself out. The least I can do for Pepper is make sure you don't smell like sewage when she sees you again."

Tony smiled at them both. "Thanks."

"And we'll come by in the morning to check in on Pepper," said Greg. "I love that girl, so much."

Tony gave a crooked smile. "So do I."

"She's going to be alright, Tony," said Lewis quietly. "Pepper is the strongest person I know. She's going to get through all of this, you both are."

Tony's expression clouded over. "I just never wanted anything like this to ever happen to her. It kills me to know that Pepper had to go through all this pain and suffering and still is. That should be me lying in that hospital."

"And then she'd just be going through a different kind of pain and suffering," said Greg philosophically. "Honey, you can't wrap the people you love up in cotton wool and hide them away from life. Life is dangerous and unexpected, that's what makes it so wonderfully precious."

Tony grimaced. "I suppose you're right, I just wish it didn't have to be that way."

Greg patted his back sympathetically. "You'll be fine, honey, you both will be."

Tony managed a smile and just hoped the other man was right. Finding out how close Pepper had come to death had shaken Tony to the core. This loving someone was a roller coaster ride he hadn't been prepared for. Pepper was everything to him. If he lost her, Tony couldn't even complete that thought. It scared him to think of what he might become without her. It wasn't the arc reactor stopping his heart from being invaded by cold metal, it was her. Without Pepper, he knew his heart would have become hard and useless years ago. If he wasn't fighting to keep her safe, then Tony wasn't sure what he was fighting for anymore.

It was a frightening thought.