"Who the hell is that?"

Rhodey could not believe what he was hearing. Did he not recognize her?

"Tony, are you joking?"

Joke? No. Why would he joke?

"Please tell me this is a joke," his best friend plead with a nervous laugh.

He didn't respond. The long pause and distant stare spoke for itself.

"Oh God, this is a nightmare," Rhodey muttered.

He let out a small frown, taking in the complete stranger as she walked out of the bathroom. Although he was lost, it didn't stop him from noticing the way her iris' sparkled the moment their eyes met.

Quickly thinking of the best scenario for this predicament, Rhodey spoke. "Hey, you think we could talk out in the hall for a second?"

Pepper was surprised by the request. All she wanted to do was stay, but nonetheless, she agreed.

They left the room, but not without Tony objecting. Something happened between the timespan of when he woke up to right this second, but just what she wasn't sure.

"There's never a good way to tell someone bad news is there?"

"Bad news? What? I don't understand. He's awake," she responded. "Isn't that what we wanted?"

"Yes, and that's not the problem." Like ripping a bandaid off a wound, he quickly told Pepper. "Tony doesn't remember who you are."

The color drained from her face and she nearly choked as she tried to talk. "He..." She cleared her throat and raised her hand to wipe a stray tear. "He doesn't remember me," she said in disbelief. "Is this real?" Anger, sadness, and confusion clouded her heart as she tried to understand what is happening. "I can't believe this." She looked into the observation window and stared at him. He had his head down and was staring at nothing in particular. He seemed deep in thought, like he was trying to recall something.

"I need to clear my mind. If he asks about me, don't tell him anything." With that, she stormed down the hall as hastily as possible.

He wasn't going to run after her. He understood she needed time to let this sink in. "Excuse me." One of the nurses turned around. "Could you get Dr. Ashford for me? It regards the patient in Room 3."

"Of course. I'll locate him for you."

Tony looks up when the door to his room opened, immediately noticing the obvious. Pepper was gone and it upset him because even if he didn't know who she was, he couldn't shake this feeling in his heart that she was special to him.

Pepper found herself sitting outside the park near the hospital, lost in her thoughts. What am I going to do? He doesn't remember me. What if he never remembers me? What if he never feels the same about me again? No, I, I shouldn't do this. I need to stay positive. I'm sure somewhere deep inside him, part of him remembers me. Like earlier. Anyone could see that worried expression on his face. It's not his fault. Now is not the time to desert him. He counted on you to be there before the operation and you're not the kind of person who gives up when the going gets tough. I can't leave. I can't. I have to talk to him even if it hurts. Even if I'm a stranger. Because as hard as it will be for me, it'll be twice as hard on him. He needs my support. Quite more than she could imagine.

"Could you just tell me who that girl was?" Tony asked, irritated by the fact that his best friend was dodging all his question; especially when it pertained to the red head. "Just give me a fucking name."

"Pepper, alright?" Rhodey exasperated. If telling him will keep him quiet, great. His memory might be a bit hazy, but one thing that hasn't changed was his temperament.

"Pepper," he repeated, letting the name sink in. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. "Pepper what?"

"It doesn't matter what her last name is. It's been three hours. You still don't recognize her."

"Okay, and your point is..."

"Stop asking. Go to sleep."

"I'm not tired," he huffed.

"But I am, so goodnight."

"Is Pepper my girlfriend?"

Rhodey leaned all the way back in his chair and groaned.

With a shaky breath, she knocked on the door just moments before he could annoy Rhodey with more pestering questions. You need to deal with this. Don't run. Don't run, she told herself one last time. "Hey." She smiled even if she felt it was the last thing she wants.

"Are you my girlfriend?" he asked, getting straight to his intentions.

"Hey, I didn't tell him anything," Rhodey retorted defensively as Pepper turns to look at him.

"Could the both of you stop talking like I'm not in the room? I'm right here! Like is it too much to ask for the guy who just had major brain surgery to be acknowledged?"

"Alright, just relax," Rhodey said as the sound from one of the monitors sped up.

"Listen to him. The last thing we need is your blood pressure rising," Dr. Ashford warned as he walked in, Maria and Howard following behind. "I understand there's a problem." He grabbed Tony's chart from the foot of the bed. "But let's not jump to conclusions until we evaluate the situation." He has treated thousands of patients over the course of his career and he had a feeling this was about one of two things, memory or motor skill loss. At times: both.

"You've been drifting in and out of sleep. I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

Tony gave his mom a warming smile. "I feel a lot better." And that was the truth.

Howard asked, "So the swelling is down?"

"Yes, and it'll continue to do so," Dr. Ashford replied. "But what we need to focus on now is helping him recover. Our first step is to help him up, get him moving. It's not uncommon for patients to have muscle weakness on one side of their body. Because his tumor was on the left, his right side is affected. I'm sure you noticed yourself, Tony, that you might have some limited range of mobility, be it with your arm or your leg. Or both. A physiotherapist will access your situation and he or she will figure out the best form of treatment as I'm not an expertise in that field myself. Your balance will be a bit poor, it'll take time, but from what I hear, you did well on your walk back to your room, so it is my belief in a couple weeks, everything will be back to normal, provided we get 100% effort. We can only help so much; the rest is up to you. Remember, limitations and frustrations do not go hand in hand."

Dr. Ashford went on to explain to his parents why he wanted him to stay for a little while longer and he couldn't care less. Pepper had taken a seat in the chair on the other side of the room. He noticed her necklace and frowns. It looked beautiful, expensive...not from him. A heart was crafted in pink gold and surrounding it were brown diamonds and a ruby stone. The realization hit him that maybe she wasn't his girlfriend after all. There was no reason for a girl like her to be interested in a person like him. She was the serious relationship type. He was the opposite of that.

"I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I need you to answer them to the best of your ability. There are a lot of people in this room who only want you to get better and I know it is instinct to go to them for help, but I'd urge you not to. It's crucial no one speaks. The answers need to come from him alone." When everyone in the room agreed, he proceeded. "Tell me your name. Your date of birth."

"Anthony Edward Stark. May 29th."

"Where are you enrolled in college?"

"MIT. And the year is 2016, those are my parents, and he is Platypus. Are we finished?"

"Do you know who this young woman is?" Dr. Ashford asked, looking at Pepper. It was the only person int he room his patient didn't mention.

"Pepper."

"Where did you both meet then?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out expect hesitation. He didn't have an answer to that. Where did they meet? How did he know her? He wanted everyone to leave so he could talk to her alone.

"In high school. Junior year," Pepper spoke, wishing it would jog his memory.

"High school," Dr. Ashford repeats. "What happened in high school that was traumatic?"

"I broke my arm."

"Hey, don't be a smart ass," Howard scolded. "This is serious."

"Then I don't know, alright? I don't even care," he told everyone in the room. He was frustrated with the line of questioning and he was frustrated at himself because he couldn't procure the right answers.

"You were involved in a warehouse explosion," Maria said to her son.

"What?!" It was the first time he's heard of it.

"Everyone just stop talking," Dr. Ashford said in a raised voice. "This is not the proper way to go about fixing the situation. I wouldn't say he has amnesia, but he does have memory loss for specific portions of his life, my guess is around 2011-2014. Situations like these can be temporary, permanent, or unpredictable in nature. He could wake up tomorrow with his memory intact. Our best hope is to monitor him for the next twenty four hours. If there is an explainable reason, it would be the swelling. He's scheduled for cognitive testing, so until then, and I understand it's difficult, but don't worry too much. Start by being understanding and do not under any circumstance do anything to rise his blood pressure or stress him out. We cannot risk increased intracranial pressure. His brain is working hard to heal itself; unless you want to provide a hinderance in his recovery, I suggest you all keep calm."

"Maybe we can continue this line of questioning later," Maria suggested. She didn't want people asking Tony a million questions in every different direction if it could be prevented.

Dr. Ashford nodded. "I was going to advise the same thing. Why don't we all leave the room and let him sleep?"

His parents agree, but not before assuring their son they would be a call away if he needs anything. Dr. Ashford leaves with Howard and Maria, leaving the three young adults in the room again.

"We should get going," Rhodey spoke. "Aside from being a pain in the ass, I'm glad you're awake. I'll bring you some burgers next time."

"And milkshakes, too. Strawberry."

Tony watches as Pepper makes her way to leave as well. For some reason he stops her, grabbing her hand. He is not sure how to ask her to stay, but maybe this small act said what he couldn't.

A puzzled look crosses her face and she turned to look at him. He was looking at her like he was trying to figure out who she was and it was painful to see Tony in such a position.

"I just want some answers. Rhodey won't tell me who you are, and we've known each other since high school?"

"Yeah, we did. We had homeroom together and you came up to me because I was the new kid, but I knew there was also an ulterior motive. You, being yourself, tried to make a move on me, but failed. Somewhere along, both of us became friends." She wasn't going to give too much of their history away. Doing so would overwhelm him like Dr. Ashford said.

"So you aren't my girlfriend."

"No, I'm not," Pepper replied. Her throat felt tight at the words and she hated herself for leaving out crucial details, but she didn't lie to him. In the technical sense, what she just said was true. Up until now, they've only talked about the possibility of trying again. Being a couple or being boyfriend and girlfriend wasn't a proper label for them.

"Oh," he muttered, not knowing what to think of that. He genuinely thought there was something there.

"But I am someone who cares deeply about you, so maybe you should get some rest," Pepper suggested.

"You keep grabbing that necklace around your neck," he observed as she did it again. "Who's that from?"

Pepper didn't even know she was doing it until he had mentioned it. She looked down at the necklace he had given her for Valentine's Day. "Someone I used to know."

Obviously she still cared for him if she wore it.

"We'll talk later." She squeezed his hand that he hadn't let go of the entire time and smiled. In the back of her mind, a voice was telling her if she were in this situation, she would want the truth. She hoped he wouldn't end up hating her.

"Can you stay until I fall asleep?" Should he had asked that of her?

"Sure," she replied on autopilot. She pushed aside everything she was thinking about and sat in the chair beside his bed. He had looked at her with this pain and vulnerability in his eyes and she couldn't say no to that.