The next morning, they teleport to the hospital, both of them brimming with nervous energy. Stephen brings them directly into Tony's hospital room, where one of the doctors is already waiting for them.
"Morning, Christine," Stephen greets.
The doctor turns to him, a nervous smile on her face. "Listen, Stephen... I thought about this the whole night, and I'm really not sure this is a good idea!"
"Why?"
"What if something goes wrong? This is against all hospital regulations. I could lose my job! You know I like my job!"
"Christine." He tries to calm her down.
"...Hell, if his family decides to sue me, I will never find another job ever again!"
"Christine! His family won't sue you," he assures her and nods towards Pepper.
"How can you be so sure about..." Christine finally recognizes Pepper. "... Mrs. Stark?"
"Christine, that is Pepper Potts-Stark, as you noticed," Stephen introduces, "and this is Dr. Christine Palmer, an old friend of mine. She will help us in case of a medical emergency."
"That's not very reassuring," Pepper notes.
"Just a safety precaution, nothing else."
Pepper takes a deep breath and turns to Tony. Even if she by now is pretty used to the sight, it still hurts her to see him this way: With all the tubes and wires attached to his half-burned body.
"Ready?" Stephen asks.
She nods.
Pepper sits down beside Tony's bed, Stephen behind her with one hand on her shoulder, while Dr. Palmer stands aside to watch them.
"Remember, what we decided: First we repair the fatal damage, then we move on to the damage, that would cause him the most pain, everything else, including the arm, is on the bottom of our priority list."
She nods. Carefully, she puts her hand on the spot of Tony's chest where the arc reactor had been. She concentrates and can feel Tony's life force flowing through the burnt, scarred body.
"He's so very weak."
"Yes, but you need to concentrate! Go deeper, find the damage and repair it, as we rehearsed," he directs her softly.
They had practiced on a magical simulation Stephen used to conjure up, but this was something completely different.
"This is different," she says.
"I know. It is something else entirely doing this on a real, living person."
"Is there the sorcerer speaking, or the doctor?"
He snickers. "Both."
With all the energy she can muster, she advances to the core of the damage.
"Very good," Stephen praises her. "Now heal it, as I showed you."
It is so much harder than in their training sessions. Even healing the tiniest bit of tissue requires incredible amounts of energy from her.
"I don't think I can..." she starts, but then she feels Stephen pouring his own life force into her.
"You will, I believe in you."
Together they repair the damage to Tony's organs and muscles before they move on to the charred skin that covers the entity of the right side of his body. Even his leg is burned.
"You are doing this great," Stephen whispers, the exhaustion in his voice apparent. "We're nearly done. Take his skin, make it smooth again, as it was before. Picture the texture in your mind, the tiny, little hairs, the freckles, the moles. Remember, how it felt under your fingers when it was whole. Concentrate on the feeling, and the magic will make it real."
Little by little the burned black and red mass on Tony's leg turns back into the smooth, lightly tanned skin it was before. Pepper puts her hand on his leg to feel it was no hallucination and then she runs it slowly towards his torso. Everywhere her hand touches new unmarred skin blossoms. She has to keep her tears at bay because she knows her work isn't done yet. When her hand reaches his face, she stops, turns her attention to the charred remains of his ear. From her memory, she rebuilds it and fixes the surrounding skin. Just his hair she can't grow back. Stephen had explained to her, that all she can do is to fix the roots of the hair, but it has to grow back by itself.
After everything is done and Tony looks like himself again, she turns to the arm, but she doesn't get any further because Stephen behind her collapses on his stool. He drops on the floor like a sack of potatoes.
Christine is on him in a second and checks his vitals.
"Is he...?" Pepper asks fearfully.
"He's fine, just exhausted," the doctor answers. She shoves a pillow under Stephen's head and arranges his limbs into a more comfortable position. After that, she steps to Tony's bed. With practiced ease, she starts examining the Avenger.
Pepper is so tired, she has to fight to keep her eyes open, but when something brushes the back of her hand lightly, she looks up. Warm brown eyes gaze into hers.
"Pep? Did we... am I...?"
"You are alive! We won." She takes Tony's hand into hers and guides it to her face, unable to hold back the tears.
When Dr. Palmer has finished her examination, she says, "We have to run some final tests, but this," she nods at Tony, "is a miracle!"
"That's what you should expect from Tony Stark. He settles for anything less than a miracle." Stephen, who had regained his consciousness, sits with his back propped up on the wall and watches them.
"Doc, that you?" Tony groans. "Next time, you tell me your damn plan, you hear me?"
Pepper sits there; she is laughing and crying and thanking the universe for the second chance she has just gotten.
Christine helps Strange to his feet. He leans on her, and when they pass by Pepper, he puts his hand onto her shoulder. "Sorry, for the arm."
"Don't worry, we'll find a workaround," she reassures him.
He nods sadly. "Listen, if you're ever looking for a new job, I would take you as my apprentice every time."
"I'll think about it."
With a yawn, he moves to the door, Christine by his side. "We'll go down to the cafeteria and send your family up."
Pepper doesn't bother asking how he knows they are there; she just nods.
-–-
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. It takes her and the doctors in the hospital a while to convince Tony that he has to stay another couple of days to run tests and make sure he is okay, but in the end, he accepts it.
By the time Rhodey brings her and Morgan home, all Pepper wants, is to fall into her bed and sleep for days.
They head to the front door of the cabin and there, abandoned on the porch, sits the suitcase Pepper had brought to the Sanctum. Without comment, without a message, just the suitcase.
With a pang of sadness, she takes it and carries it inside the house.