All of that panicking... All of the chaotic, panicky shifting he'd done through the night. The distractions he made up to avoid sleeping in the first place. The way he tried to argue getting undressed for the surgery until the very last second, insisting they take the damn gown away and let him just lay in his pajama pants. Of course...Tony Stark gets what he wants, so that's how it ended.

At least they made it there, but not easily. And not just for him.

Pepper did a decent enough job masking it, at least at first. The worry, the hurt, the anxiety.

And it was then that Tony realized he had to shut down and go back to pretending like he didn't feel things...for her.

"I'm not getting in the bed," he argued, staring with his arms crossed in just pajama bottoms.

"You have to get in the bed," she answered slowly from her seat at the side of the room, to which he immediately interrupted again.

"I'm not getting in the bed."

"Tony-"

"Pepper, why do I need to lay down just to be carted into surgery?" he demanded to know.

"Because they're going to start putting you out here, and you won't be able to walk there. Plus, it's a...sanitary thing, to make sure that-"

"To make sure what?" he snapped, making her shoulders drop as she exhaled and glanced down at the hands that were wringing in her lap. "I had to dig a hole in my chest to put this thing in, remember that? In a cave. Fueled by a car battery."

"I...remember..." the red head mumbled. "Stand, I don't care."

She just...gave up. Gave up arguing with him, at the mention of the years back when he first got kidnapped and Iron Man took over.

And then she stood, flattening out her skirt and rubbing her temples at her forehead with one hand, still avoiding his gaze. "I'll go find Rhodey, we'll be here when you wake up."

"Pep," he sighed. "Pep, come on."

As she passed, he grabbed her hand and stopped her from leaving, making her tense but take a deep breath. She didn't want to leave, but he was making her head hurt twice as bad as just the idea of him going under for a few hours.

"If this is how...if after all the bullshit you've gone through, it's because you refuse to get into the damn bed," she whispered, then finally looked at him with glossy eyes. "For just one day, can you please play by the rules so I don't have a heart attack wondering what's going to happen to you?"

"We can have surgery together," he suggested, trying to be playful, but that didn't mean anything to her. "You know, if you...have a heart attack...never mind."

Pepper shook her head, mostly to herself. Of course he'd try to play games. Make jokes. Not take anything seriously.

"Hey," he urged, squeezing her hand where he still held. "Hon, it'll be fine. Rhodey will keep you company, and then you can...keep on babysitting me by dinner time tonight."

She stood there for a minute, thinking, and could almost hear the way he swallowed.

"I would feel better if you'd just lay down and let them take you in the bed," she managed at last. "Please."

At that point, there was no more time to argue. A knock on the door signaled the entry of the surgeon and her team just before they let themselves in. They, of course, asked, but only after he answered his girlfriend with 'done', left a kiss on her head, and let her go.

"I'm going, I'm going..." he muttered when they argued with him to lay down, and soon after, he was being carted to the operating room.

Yet, as they made it through the doors, he asked them to stop, catching Pepper one more time. He signaled to have her lean down to give him a small kiss, on the lips this time, almost in case he wouldn't be able to again. But he didn't stop there.

"How many times do I need to tell you I'm invincible?" he whispered back against her lips, but that's the last thing she heard or saw, besides the smirk on his lips as she stood straight again and the doctors proceeded with his surgery.

That...and the same, dark eyes and crooked smile from under the mask as they officially put him under anesthetics and knocked him out cold.

Rhodey's hand was on her shoulder, providing a bit of warmth, and she welcomed it as she huddled into herself and the leather jacket she stole from Tony's closet that morning. His comfort and the fact that Tony was still stubborn enough to give her a thumbs up as they started their work were the only things keeping her from sobbing, though her eyes watered far too much for her to even make that out from the window they were watching from.

He faded out quickly, and then the long hours of coffee, story telling, and distractions from work began.

At first, Rhodey just bought her coffee and they sat in silence in the waiting room. On the board, the only name that was in surgery was Stark, T., as if he didn't clear out the entire wing for just him today...unless an emergency came through, of course.

His friend promised her he'd be fine about a hundred times before she stopped responding with her usual smiles and an 'I know' or two. She didn't know. Truthfully, she hardly believed it, because after everything, something simple like this would be the way it would end, right? Even the surgeon said there was a risk of one of the pieces dislodging and running through his system, or...

It was a slight risk, that was all. She had to keep reminding herself that.

When the sun started to come down from it's high and afternoon set in, Rhodey came back with a refill on the morning's coffee and Pepper accepted it, her eyes finally drying out a bit. Her cheeks and nose...still red, and not from blush.

"Did you know he was planning on asking me to marry him?" she blurted out as he sat down at her side, and he looked...genuinely shocked.

So, no. He didn't know.

"Tony wants to propose?"

"Apparently."

"Did he...did he give you a ring, or-"

"He has one," she swallowed down, still in disbelief."

"And you said..."

"No," she nearly laughed at herself, but tears threatened again. "I said no. I said no and now he might die, and-"

Rhodey immediately shut her up. "He isn't going to die."

"Well, they haven't moved his status on the board, and no one's come in, and he's been out of the OR for...nearly an hour now. Something is wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," he promised. "He's probably still out of it. You know how Stark is. Major pain in the ass, yeah. That guy. No way he's waking up early for them."

And he wasn't lying. It took a good two hours and thirty seven minutes for someone to come speak with them, and every passing second panicked Pepper further.

"Miss Potts, you're being requested..." a nurse came to announce, peeking her head through the door to the waiting room.

"He's awake?" was the first thing she asked, ignoring the rest. "Why did no one say anything, we-"

"He just came to, and immediately asked for you."

Of...course he did. That was one of those new things that she wasn't used to yet. Tony...caring. Needing her so wildly since tossing the suits.

Pepper wasn't ready for what came next, though. Rhodey took her empty coffee cup that she was clutching and stayed behind for a few minutes to give them some privacy. But on the way...she needed stats.

"How is he?" she nagged the nurse as she lead her down a few halls. "Is he going to be okay? Did they get it all?"

"Dr Cho will be in to speak with you soon," she tried to assure. "The surgery went well, and Mr Stark...is...well, you'll see."

"What?" she asked, breathless, and only stood and watched as the nurse walked away after leaving her outside of a room.

What that meant, she had no idea. Her heart was thudding, wondering if she needed to be prepared for something particular, but there was something about the way the nurse said it that didn't leave her too concerned.

But she was right. Once she layed eyes on him, he was grinning ear to ear like a child, reaching out a hand for her, despite the bandaging covering the majority of his torso.

"Virginia Potts!" he sang happily, and she quickly noted the IV in his hand.

Morphine. Wonderful. So that was the warning from the nurse.

"Tony," she sighed, letting go of the breath she'd been holding since the beginning of the whole ordeal. "You're okay...thank God, I..."

"Good Lord, are you gorgeous," he beamed, finally grasping her hand as she sat at his bed side. "Look at that hair. Could be fire. But you're not on fire anymore, right? I put you out?"

"You...yes..."

"Good. Good..." he hummed, closing his eyes for a second before rubbing his thumb over her hand in his. "Did you see the fucking hole in my chest?!"

"I...did not..." she answered, cracking a smile of her own at last; he was definitely high on something or other, and she hoped it was just the drugs that would wear off eventually.

"You could put a fist in there," he added dramatically, then snarky. "You know what else we could put a fist in-"

"Tony!" she gasped, blushing madly.

And God, the high pitched laugh that he gave in return...she loved it. She loved every second of it.

"They said...something about bed rest, but that doesn't mean we can't-"

"You are doing exactly what they say, end of story," she demanded, knowing full well the healing process, as it was discussed prior to the surgery being performed. "You're down and out until the stitches heal, that graft solidifies, and then you have at least two months of physical therapy. No arguments."

"Yes, ma'am..."

But she felt bad, so she leaned down, leaving a soft kiss on his lips to say she was more than relieved that he would be okay. She hoped he'd stay loopy...but when she pulled back, she watched his smile fade as his eyes danced across her face. Tony Stark...vulnerable...because of meds. First time for everything...

"I thought, uh...I thought I wouldn't..." was all he got out before he started squeezing her hand so hard it hurt the back of his where the IV needle was still stuck in.

"You're okay..." Pepper told him, her opposite hand running through his hair. "We're okay."

But that's not what he meant, apparently. "Do you still...you know..."

"What?"

"You still love me, even though I'm...just me. No...no, uh...that thing, it didn't make me love you, but I never...before, I..."

"Tony," she sighed, his rambling killing her. "The arc didn't make you someone else, and I'm not going anywhere because it's gone... Of course I still love you. I don't know why, sometimes, but I do."

And he smiled, content, thanks to being on the morphine drip. Otherwise...who would've known how he would've panicked or not.

"Enough to see if we can fit my fist in-"

"Absolutely not!"