The Necklace

Almost exactly two months down the road from the Extremis incident, everything was slowly falling back into place. Pepper was fixed up, and Tony was in the last few stages of his recovery from his surgery. It had been a rough few months; Christmas never really happened and New Years was out of the question. It was all a blur really. They'd moved whatever they could salvage from Malibu to the Stark tower in Manhattan and had finally started beginning to live again. Tony had finally gone and mentioned to his doctor about the anxiety attacks, and after a couple reluctant sessions with a psychiatrist, he was, in fact, diagnosed with PTSD. With few weeks of new medication, he could finally hear the words "New York" or "Worm Hole" and still breath properly, which helped immensely in actually living inNew York.

As the time passed, they'd slowly returned to their semi regular routines. Tony was able to tinker with a few things in his makeshift workshop, and Pepper had been able to go back to work without worrying. It was actually a late friday afternoon when Pepper received a text at work from Tony reading, "Date night? It's been a while."

She had to smile. It really had been a while since they'd even talked about having a date night. Honestly it had been a while since they could even have quality time with one another. Both of them were busy with, well, everything and spending a night together with no other obligations was becoming a rare occurrence. Without hesitation she picked up her phone to reply. "When and where?"

Only a few moments later her phone buzzed again, the message reading, "The balcony, 7 o'clock. No peeking."

The thought of Tony taking the time to set something up for the both of them and not just take her to a restaurant was rather charming, and she had to chuckle lightly in adoration at the 'no peeking' line. "Sounds perfect."

It was around quarter to seven, and Tony was outside busy setting up. He'd brought up a little table for them, and dragged out two kitchen chairs on the balcony over looking the city below. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how heights seemed to be their thing. Their almost kiss on the balcony all those years ago, and of course their first real kiss on the roof after the Vanko incident. But now everything was different. It was just the two of them, about to comfortably share a bottle of white wine and a nice dinner.

…Dinner.

It was then he realized that he had spent so much time on one other aspect of their date he had completely forgot about what they were going to eat.

He quickly glanced to his watch, hoping he'd have time to at least order something, but seeing as it was now a mere ten to seven, he was out of luck. He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration with himself, and patted the jewellery box in his pants pocket for the millionth time that night. He supposed some wine and the gift he'd gotten her didn't seem too bad. She'd just have to forgive him for leaving her hungry. Hopefully.

He sat down on one the the chairs and waited out the next couple of minutes, his hand routinely patting the box in pocket until he saw her through the glass at - of course - exactly seven.

As she walked out she gave him a wide smile as her sparkling eyes took in the little table he'd set up for them. Her line of sight immediately fell on the tall bottle of wine placed delicately in the middle and the two glasses beside it.

Tony stood up once she got closer, opening his arms for her to walk into his greeting embrace. When she did, she looped her arms loosely around his neck as his hands settled on her waist.

They stood there, silent, just looking at each other for a quiet moment. It was times like these where they realized just how important it was to take time out of your day, and just …appreciate one another's company.

Tony tilted his head down, gently resting his forehead against hers. "Long day?" he murmured quietly, his hand sliding up and down her back soothingly as he looked into her somewhat tired eyes.

Pepper gave a half amused smile. "You have no idea." she hummed, closing her eyes for a moment and letting her fingers gently comb through the hair at the back of his neck.

Tony gave a bit of a sad smile, though he noticed she couldn't see it as her eyes weren't open. He knew she was the one that had to deal with all his messes. At least the boring legal parts of it all. And as tedious and tiring as the work may be, she did a damn good job of it. He took advantage of her closed eyes, and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her lips. A silent thank you being conveyed through the touch.

Pepper was a little surprised from it, but kissed him back, enjoying the warmth of it all. She pulled away after a good moment with a smile, also glancing over his shoulder at the table he'd set up again appreciatively. "You know, this is all rather romantic, Tony." she pointed out with a little teasing grin, her hands slowly slipping away from his neck and sliding down his shoulders.

Tony winced slightly, "Yeah, we'll see if you'll still be saying that once you're hungry." he mumbled almost unintelligible .

"What was that?" Pepper asked with a little frown, not catching what he had said.

"Nothing." Tony shook his head dismissively. "But, um. Hey I got you something." he said, a bright smile now replacing his previous features.

Pepper chuckled softly, slipping out of his embrace and walking over to the little table, picking up the bottle of wine. "I can see that, my favourite. Good job." she commended, looking over the label again surprised that he'd remembered.

Tony raised a brow before he shook his head. Honestly the wine had been a long shot, the fact that it was her favourite was pure coincidence and it caught him off guard. "Huh? Oh, no no, not that. I got you something else. A gift, from me to you."

Pepper looked back at him, surprise now entering her eyes as she put down the bottle of wine. "Oh?"

Tony nodded as he walked back over to her. "Yeah, come with me." he said, gently taking her hand and walking her over to the edge of the balcony. The lights from the city below were shining bright, illuminating the night sky.

Pepper followed him along until he dropped her hand by the railing. She took a moment and stared out at the glowing lights below, momentarily distracted. After a moment, she'd looked back to Tony just in time to see him pull a long velvet box out of his pocket.

She instantly frowned, recognizing it as a jewellery box. "Oh, Tony. Why."

"Ah- just wait." he chastised, giving her a pointed look before he brought the rectangle up between them. "Just open it."

Pepper glanced up to his eyes, noticing they were fixed upon the box held in his hands and wouldn't meet hers. She let out a little sigh, hoping this wasn't just some expensive compensation for her Christmas present. Hesitantly, she took the box from him and slowly opened it up, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she looked over what was inside.

It was definitely a necklace, although the chain looked like it was made of abstract chips of silver? The uneven jagged pieces were linked together by another silver chain, with a little red heart charm as the pendant. It was strange, and eccentric, and the more she thought about it very Tony. She lifted up the chain, watching the light reflect off of the odd shaped metal.

As she did just that, Tony took the box out of her hands and placed it back in his pocket, stepping just a little bit closer to her.

Pepper felt his presence upon her and looked back down to him. He was awaiting a reaction. "...Tony, you didn't have-"

He shook his head, "No, hey listen." he said, cutting her off. That clearly not being the right reaction. He paused, his eyes falling to the chain. "It's.. It's not just some weird excuse for a gift." he noted before he continued on.

Pepper was confused, she tried to search his eyes for an answer but found they were fixated only on the chain. "What is it then?"

He hesitated a second, figuring out just how to say this properly. "Pepper, these um," he stopped, his eyes finally coming back up to meet hers. "This is the shrapnel. The stuff that was in my chest. ...The reason for the reactor."

Whatever Pepper was thinking before had completely left her mind. She blinked once, then twice, glancing down from the necklace and then to him.

"Don't worry, it's been ah.. cleaned. Sterilized, multiple times…" he clarified.

Pepper shook her head, completely breathless. She wanted to be touched by such a sweet gesture, the pieces in his chest, made into something that she could keep forever, knowing they could never hurt him any longer. But all she could focus on was how large some of the pieces were, and just how many of them there were. "These… all of these were inside of you?" she asked, a touch of worry entering her voice.

Tony gave her a nod. "Yep."

She didn't know what to do, what to say. She clenched the necklace in her hand, "I don't know whether to hate it or love it." she admitted with a breathy laugh, feeling herself becoming emotional over it.

Tony chuckled slightly, reaching out with one of his hands to take hers. "I'd hope for the latter. It can't hurt me anymore." he shrugged, "They were something close to my heart, and now I'm giving them to… someone… close to my heart." he said with a bit of a sheepish grin.

Pepper laughed at just how sweet that was, and just how very him. She felt her stomach flip, although it was the good kind, knowing he was out of danger and just here with her. She opened her mouth to say something but found she had no words. They stared at each other again, neither of them moving until Pepper reached forward, gently placing her free hand on his cheek and leaning in to kiss him. It was the best thank you she could give. A thank you for the necklace and a thank you for being alive.

As Tony tried to pull back, he felt Pepper follow him, pressing her lips more firmly against his. He chuckled against her mouth and kissed her back, before finally pulling himself away from her. "Let me at least get it on you before we get too carried away, alright?" he said with a little smirk, holding out his hand to take the necklace from her. "Then we can kiss all you want. I spent a long time on this, I want to see how it looks."

She admittedly laughed a little bit too, her cheeks blushing a delightful shade of red as she handed over the necklace and turned around, bundling up her hair to help him.

Tony brought it over her head and clasped it together. He leaned over her shoulder from behind still and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "There we go." he said quietly, allowing her to turn back around to face him. "Stunning." he commented, his eyes sweeping over her as he admired his work.

She placed both her hands lightly on his chest, her one hand going directly over his heart, and not the reactor, where she used to place it. She took a moment and looked from his chest to her own, seeing the shiny pieces of shrapnel in the corner of her eye. It took her till now to realize they needed this. They needed this form of closure to this chapter of their lives. The one that began with Afghanistan and ended with Extremis. They had new beginnings now, new starts. Together. And moving on over the past was the first step in getting there.

"I love you." she said quietly, looking up to him with the purest smile there could be.

"I love you too." he said back, his eyes conveying everything they finally needed to.

They stayed like that for a little while, enjoying each others proximity. That was, until Tony remembered something. "So, Miss Potts, would you like some wine?" he asked, taking a glance back over to the table.

Pepper glanced over too, "I'd love some." she nodded, turning back to him. "I can't wait for dinner either, I'm starving."

Tony's eyes widened at the realization, "Oh, right." he mumbled, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach. He winced slightly at seeing her eyebrows raise. She was onto him already.

He hummed in thought, trying to figure a way out of this one. "Why don't you… sit here, have a nice glass of wine… and think about just how much you love me… while I go order Chinese and pretend that I didn't forget food for us."

Pepper stared at him for a moment before chuckling lightly and rolling her eyes. Despite the pain in her stomach, she stared up at him lovingly, supposing that there were just some things that no one could ever remove from Tony Stark. "Of course."

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