Pepper smiled gently. "Then go on," she told him. "I'm all ears."
Tony gave her a polite smile as the nervous butterflies kicked up in his stomach. He swallowed hard before he began. "Uh, okay, so...there I am, after launching myself out and away from the cave, crash landing in the middle of the desert, and righteously jacking up my shoulder..."
Pepper winced, and let out a pained, sympathetic "Ooh!" at the thought of him in that situation. Tony smiled and went on.
"I finally manage to dig myself out with my one good arm. But I've got almost no idea where I am other than I know I'm facing east by the direction of the sun. And the mountains, and the cave, are far off to the west. Other than that? It's sand as far as the eye can see," he recalled.
"So what did you do?" Pepper asked, with wide eyes.
"The only thing I could do. Start walking," he replied. "And yadda, yadda, by some strange miracle, Rhodey eventually finds me wandering in the desert, and we catch a ride on the next plane back to the states. Safe and sound. Courtesy of the U.S. military."
Pepper exhaled sharply, as if she'd been holding her breath while he'd been talking. "If by sound, you mean you still had an injured shoulder and a mini arc reactor sticking out of your chest," she remarked, matter-of-fact.
"Of course," Tony agreed with a smirk.
"So did they remove it before or after you were state-side again?" she asked.
Tony frowned in confusion. "Remove what?"
"The arc reactor?" she asked again.
Tony just stared at her for a moment, trying to come up with an acceptable answer. "Uh...af-ter?" he stammered, his eyes wide. Technically, that's correct. So I'm not EXACTLY lying, he reasoned.
Pepper narrowed her eyes, and looked at him skeptically. "Hmmmm," she said, pursing her lips. "I know that 'deer in the headlights' look, Tony Stark. There's more to this, isn't there?" she asked.
Tony chuckled awkwardly, and clapped a hand to the back of his neck, averting his eyes from her interrogative gaze. "Uh, well it was after. Like...quite a while after," he confessed.
"What's quite a while?" she pushed. "Weeks? Months?"
Tony gave her an impish grimace, and teetered his head from side to side. Her eyes widened.
"Years?!" she cried. "Why on Earth would you wait that long to..." Then she stopped talking, and Tony watched the gears of thought grind in her head. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. You wouldn't hold off on getting that thing out of your chest unless...unless..." Her chest began to heave, and confusion had settled into her expression as she tried to connect the dots. "It...couldn't be removed for some reason?" she guessed.
Tony smiled politely at her trying to work it out for herself. "Yeah, let me help to fill in the blanks, here, Pep," he offered. He took a deep breath, and stood up off the bed to stand in front of her. He nervously smoothed a hand over his goatee, and then shoved his hands in his pants pockets. "My time in the rocket-propelled, flying tin can didn't exactly...end with my stint in the desert all those miles away."
He paused to get Pepper's reaction. She was silent, but her eyebrows were knitted together in a confused frown. So he continued.
"Truth is," he began again. He squared his jaw, and looked intently into her eyes. "It still hasn't."
Pepper pulled back, studying his face. Then she spluttered and smiled in disbelief. "Oh, come on. What are you saying? That you're some kind of...of...armored...flying...caped crusader?" she joked nervously.
Tony shrugged. "Well, you've got it mostly right. All except the caped part," he replied.
Pepper's mouth fell open. "You're joking," she said.
Tony shook his head, and pursed his lips reluctantly. "Sorry. Not joking..."
"Then you're lying," Pepper countered.
"Not lying, either," Tony retorted.
"This isn't funny, Tony!" Pepper exclaimed, clearly starting to descend into an emotional tailspin over what he'd just revealed to her.
He quickly sat down next to her, and smoothed his hands down her upper arms in an attempt to help her regain her composure and calm her down. "Pepper, listen to me," he begged. "I know it sounds crazy."
"You're damn right it does!" she interjected.
"But, honey? It's what I was meant to do," he explained. "All of it. Get kidnapped. Get free. Get rescued so I could rebuild the suit, and..."
"What? Save the world?!" Pepper cried. "Like some kind of superhero?!"
Tony fell speechless. They stared intensely at each other for several seconds before Pepper finally broke, and looked away, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Unbelievable," she murmured.
Tony swallowed hard. "I know," he agreed. "It is."
"And you're a superhero who owns a weapons-manufacturing company! How's that for irony?" she remarked under her breath.
"Uh. Yeah. About that," Tony interjected, with a wince. Pepper turned her eyes back to his, and looked at him expectantly. "As soon as I got home, I...kinda...well, not kind of. I did..."
"Oh, God. There's more?" she muttered breathlessly.
"...Yeah, I...shut down the manufacturing. Of munitions? So there's no more...I mean, really, I had to at that point. What with all of the..." He paused to clear his throat. "Misuse. We really had no way to keep them..." He gestured in the air, rotating a hand in the air, trying to continue his explanation. "Out of the hands of the..."
"But I thought you said I'm currently your CEO?" Pepper asked, interrupting him.
Tony halted his stream-of-consciousness babbling to answer her. "Huh? Oh. Uh, yeah," he replied awkwardly.
"But the company is...out of operation?" she asked, squinting in confusion.
"No," Tony answered, shaking his head definitively. "Not the company. Just the weapons development and manufacturing part."
Pepper shook her head, not understanding what he meant. "But what is Stark Industries without...weapons?" she asked.
The question on everyone's lips at the time, Tony recalled. "Well, in the time since, you could say we've changed our tack, Pep. We're not making things that blow up anymore. Instead we're developing ways to further technology and...help civilization as a whole. Globally."
Pepper rolled her eyes. "Sounds like a cell phone commercial. But okay, I'll bite," she quipped, crossing her arms. " 'We're developing technology to further civilization'. Such as?"
Tony shrugged. "For starters, we've got buildings in four major cities that run on nothing but clean energy, off the grid. Your idea, by the way," he said, jabbing a pointer finger in her direction.
Pepper softened, but remained silent. Tony went on.
"We've furthered our exploration of creating drought-resistant crops, and are currently testing in various locations in different climates around the world. A project I know you'd always wished we'd looked into more in the past, as you'd mentioned to me on more than one occasion," he reminded her.
She smiled, and nodded. "This is true," she murmured. "Though, I didn't think you were listening."
Tony gave her a proud smile. "Well, I was," he replied softly, before he continued to list the rest of their current endeavours.
"And, more recently, at the conference in San Francisco? Our own Bill Riva presented our plans to develop more green technology in the automotive and aviation sectors," he informed her. "We're signing new contracts as we speak."
Pepper gave him a surprised smile. "Impressive," she admitted.
"It is, Pep," he agreed. "Quite. And who's the face of Stark these days? Heading up all of this forward thinking?" he asked with a playful smirk.
Pepper blushed, and averted her eyes bashfully.
"That's right, Potts. It's you," he teased, his eyes glittering with adoration.
"Then, I stand corrected," Pepper said humbly, relenting. "It sounds like Stark Industries is..."
"Actually contributing to the good of the planet, now? Not subtracting from it? That it's a company you and I can both be proud of? And you are doing a damn good job of running it, too, if you don't mind my saying," he gushed.
Pepper chuckled, and then looked around, her eyes regretful. "I don't know how good of a job I could be doing right now if I've been here for so long," she stated.
"Don't worry about that," Tony assured. "I and a certain Mr. Ed Owens have been holding the fort down."
Pepper spluttered. "You and Ed Owens!" Then, she recanted her statement. "Wait. First of all, you're currently running the company?! And second, you and Ed Owens can suddenly stand to be in the same room together?! Clearly, I am more out of the loop than I thought!"
Tony laughed. "I'll have you know, we've managed to put aside our personal differences and resist setting each other's offices on fire during the last few months," he informed her, with mock indignation, which made Pepper giggle. "And, as it turns out, Ed's actually a decent guy," he admitted.
Pepper narrowed her eyes, and clucked her tongue. "Uh-huh," she replied with heavy skepticism. "Why do I suspect that's code for 'I've-got-him-bound-and-gagged-in-some-storage-room-somewhere-while-I've-somehow-accidentally-managed-to-sell-us-off-to-a-Japanese-toy-manufacturer' ?"
Tony laughed at her teasing him. "Let's just say that, though I'm better at the job than I used to be, and Ed and I are actually getting along, your coming out of a coma is certainly welcome news for all parties involved," he replied. "And it's a Swedish toy company, for your information."
Pepper laughed at his joke, and Tony grinned widely. She then shook her head, and sighed a heavy sigh. "I still can't believe how much I don't remember," she said, her voice wistful. "Or how much I've missed!"
"We'll get there, baby," Tony assured. "It'll all come back. You'll see."
"God, I hope so," Pepper replied. He watched her go quiet in thought for a moment, her eyes shifting down to the rings on her left hand. She toyed with them, arranging them so the diamonds sat upright, and took a pause to admire them before she spoke again.
"Obi," she said softly. "Whatever became of him?"
Tony worked his jaw for a moment before he went to answer. "Well, of course, he wasn't happy about his plan to off me failing. So he tried to force me out of the company via injunction. When he realized I wasn't going to go quietly, he..." He paused for a moment, the vivid memory of the night Obi had ripped the arc reactor from his chest, and left him for dead, still leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Tony?" Pepper asked, looking at him curiously.
He shifted his eyes back to hers, and brought himself out of the past to finish his answer. "Incapacitated me, stole the arc from my chest, and put it in a suit he built he thought would rival mine. It didn't," he recalled. "But, thanks to you, I still had the first version of the arc I'd come back from Afghanistan with. So I managed to stagger down to the shop, pop it in, and take off after him."
"What do you mean, thanks to me?" Pepper asked.
Tony shrugged. "I upgraded again after I got back home. If I was going to build another suit- this one being far more advanced than that clunker I'd escaped with- I needed the power source to match," he explained. "So, once I'd constructed that arc, I then, with your help, switched out the old for the new."
"I helped?" she asked. "How?"
"Totally grossed out, and squirming uncomfortably the whole time," he dead-panned. A teasing smile spread over his lips, and Pepper giggled at him poking fun at her. "But seriously, you helped with the install. I took out the first arc, but you pretty much installed the second."
Her eyes widened, and glanced down at his chest. "You mean I had my h-hands in your..." she asked nervously. She swallowed hard and brought her eyes back up to his, and grimaced. "Why did you...I mean, h-how did you know I'd be able to..." she stammered. "Weren't you...afraid...that something could happen and you'd..."
Tony smiled kindly. "I knew you could do it because I trust you, Pep," he replied.
A sheepish smile spread across Pepper's lips and she averted her eyes. "Well," she muttered, embarrassed by his flattery. Tony just watched her in admiration for a moment, before he spoke again.
"Once the install was complete, I was all for trashing old and busted, there, but you didn't. And that's what saved me. If you hadn't have kept that arc, Obi would've succeeded," he informed her.
Pepper gave him a sympathetic look, understanding his real meaning. "You mean you would have died," she replied softly.
Tony nodded. "Yep. But, instead, I put the first arc into Mark III, and took off after him. It was tough, given the decreased amount of power it had compared to the upgrade, but I eventually caught up to him. We duked it out on the roof of the plant until, finally, I had you throw the switch on the override to the factory's arc reactor and fry him and his circuits."
Pepper winced. Tony gave her a reluctant shrug, quirking a corner of his mouth up in apology for her having to hear about the harsh reality of that night.
"So violent," she gasped.
"I know. It was. But he just wouldn't stop, you know? He wanted both you and I dead, no matter what he had to do," Tony explained.
Pepper frowned. "What did he want with me? What could I have done to him in all of this?" she asked.
"Honey, you were the one who discovered he was behind my being kidnapped," Tony explained. "And he knew that."
Pepper looked at him, studying his face for a moment as she processed what he'd told her. "So, this isn't the first time you've saved my life?" she asked meekly, after a moment.
Tony smiled bashfully back at her. "No, and I'd do it a hundred times more," he replied. "Plus, what else could I do? I couldn't let him win. I had to fight for my life. Not only because he would stop at nothing, but also so I could protect you."
Slowly, an adoring, proud smile spread across Pepper's lips. Tony smiled back, his eyes sparkling.
"Besides," he said. "If somehow, I would've made it through, but he would've hurt you? I knew I wouldn't have been able to live with that."
Pepper brought a hand to her mouth, her eyes going glassy with emotion. "Oh, Tony!" she murmured.
"What. It's true," he assured her. "I don't have anyone but you."
Pepper chuckled in surprise at his candor, and leaned forward, her eyes flicking from his gaze to his lips, and she bit her bottom lip. "My hero," she cooed, with a smirk before kissing him soundly.
Tony inhaled deeply in response, simultaneously wrapping his arms around her, and deepening the kiss.
Pepper wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled herself farther into his embrace again, their kiss becoming more and more impassioned as the seconds ticked by. At any point in the past, since they'd become a couple, a kiss like this would've quickly ignited their desires and led to other things. But knowing that wouldn't really work in these circumstances, Tony actively tried to slow the momentum. "P-Pepper, we..." he mumbled, trying to break the kiss. But she didn't seem to want to relent.
However, finally, reluctantly, he succeeded, and pulled away, noticing the both of them were breathless. He rested his forehead against hers and looked at her. "We should probably slow down, huh?" he offered, swallowing hard to get his composure.
Pepper's chest heaved. She swallowed hard, too, and closed her eyes for a moment to steady herself before she attempted an answer. She nodded. "Yes. You're right. I'm sorry. I just..." She paused to take a deep breath, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment. "I just got caught up in...everything."
Tony smiled in understanding. "I know. Me, too. It's been...so long," he reluctantly remarked. He leaned in again to peck her lips, but couldn't resist a subsequent second peck, coupled with a flirty flick of his tongue into her mouth, which made her let out a breathy whimper. She cupped his cheek in her hand, and playfully nibbled his lip in reply. Which, in turn, made him moan.
And then he whined, and abruptly broke the kiss. "Okay, we really have to stop, now. For real," he warned. "Because we haven't had sex in, like, eons. And Little Tony's a little too eager at the moment to come out and play, so..."
Pepper chuckled and nodded in agreement. She took another deep breath. "Okay. Absolutely. We're stopping. As of..." she quickly leaned in to playfully peck his lips. "Right..." (another peck) "Now," she said, giving him a lingering, but relatively innocent, final kiss.
Tony closed his eyes, and bit his lips together, savoring the moment. "Mmmmmm," he moaned, before slowly opening his eyes to look at his wife, who was smiling very wantonly at him. He smirked slyly back.
"But tell me something?" she asked.
"Anything," he replied.
"I'm curious," she said, biting her lip to resist the overwhelming urge to kiss him again. "What are our lives like? As a couple? With you being..." She stopped, frowning. "I'm sorry. What do you call the...suit?...that you?..." she asked.
"Iron Man," Tony said, matter-of-fact. "Though I didn't name it that. That was the press's thing. Because it's not iron, per se. It's actually a gold-titanium alloy that..."
"Iron man?" Pepper repeated for clarification.
Tony stopped talking, and studied her face for a moment before nodding in affirmation. "Mmm hmm," he replied, his tone cautious.
She bit her lip, and nodded in understanding. "Iron Man," she said again. "And, since the ordeal with Obi, you've...done what? Gone on other...missions?" she offered.
Tony teeter-tottered his head from side to side. "A...few, yeah," he agreed. Better to ease into this than dump what's really gone on in her lap all at once, he resolved in his mind.
Pepper frowned. "To where? And done...what, exactly?" she asked. He could see the worry starting to build up in her eyes.
He swallowed hard before speaking. "Uh...places where people...have needed...me to..." he stammered, trying to explain in the simplest, and least jarring terms as possible. But he stopped talking, noticing her eyes intently studying his face.
He took his eyes from her gaze, and exhaled slowly. "Pepper, look," he finally said. "I'm not sure when I took this whole thing on that I fully understood what I was getting into. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with something like this, and...to be honest, baby, I've had to learn some things the hard way." He exhaled sharply. "The very hard way."
Pepper stayed silent, but nervously chewed her lip. "Like...what? Specifically?" she asked anxiously.
Tony hesitated. Flashes of all of the nights when he'd come home to her after a mission, broken and battered, the nightmare images of the death and destruction he'd been sent to put an end to crashing around in his brain, threatening to fray the last threads of his sanity. And the only thing that could bring the blaring noise in his head, and the horrific slide show behind his eyes, to a halt was her soothing voice telling him she loved him, he'd done his job, he was safe now, and it was over. She'd help to get him cleaned up, and dress his wounds, her touch delicate and careful, working diligently until it was all done. Then she'd pile him into bed, and hold him protectively in her arms, stroking his back and running her fingers through his damp hair, his breathing matching her own as he laid with his ear to her chest, and his arms wrapped tightly around her middle, clinging to her until the uncontrollable trembling in his body would stop, and he'd succumb to sleep.
Tony worked his jaw, as he came out of his recollection, and flicked his eyes back to see that Pepper was waiting patiently for his answer. He could also see on her face that fatigue had once again begun to set in.
"It's...a long story," he said simply, his tone thoughtful. "And I've already told you so much that's happened. So, in the name of not overwhelming you, let's put a pin in this subject, huh? At least for now?"
Pepper took a deep breath, and frowned. "I...suppose," she said reluctantly.
He knew she wouldn't really be satisfied with this idea, but he had to stop where they were in the saga that had been his life, their lives, for the last few years. After all, they'd only just begun this discussion, and there was still so much territory to cover. Gotta take this slow, he reminded himself.
Pepper sat back against the hospital bed once more. "So does this mean you're leaving me for the day?" she teased.
Tony shrugged. "Go. Stay. Whatever you want me to do, Pep. I'm just thrilled you want me around at all," he replied. "Especially after everything we've just talked about."
She gave him a loving smile, but he could still detect a hint of worry in her eyes.
"So go, then? Got it," Tony said, jumping up to play like he was leaving, in an effort to lighten the mood.
"No! No, no. I don't want you to leave," Pepper argued, reaching for his arm. "I want you to stay, actually. But I think I'd better get some rest."
Tony nodded. "Then, I'll stay," he agreed. He moved to slide a chair over to her bedside, but Pepper objected.
"Wait. Can we...try something different?" she asked him cautiously, with a wince.
He stopped what he was doing and looked at her curiously. "Like what?" he asked. Then he looked over his shoulder at the door, and back at his wife. "I'm not sure they'll be into us getting naked, if that's what you're thinking, but hey. Whatever you want, Pep. I'm down with..."
Pepper giggled and rolled her eyes. "Still never a missed opportunity, I see," she joked. "Another thing that hasn't changed."
Tony chuckled. "Well, in any case, I'm all yours, Mrs. Stark," he said, moving to lean over the top of her, and plant a tender kiss to her forehead. Pepper smiled, and closed her eyes, relishing his affection. Then she opened them and raised her gaze to his own, smiling, when he pulled back to look at her. "Your wish is my command," he murmured. "What did you have in mind?"
Pepper bit her lips together, then chewed the bottom one briefly, before she spoke. "Come here," she said, motioning to have him join her in her bed. "I want you near me. I just...it feels like...you should."
Tony gave her a surprised smile as he climbed up into the bed with her. Pepper motioned for him to lie down beside her. But as he did, she moved to wrap him in her arms, with his head at her chest. Tony, in turn, wrapped her in his, and put his ear to her chest, just like he had so many times in the past. A broad smile instantly spread across his lips, and when it seemed they'd both settled in, Tony let out a very relieved, and contented sigh. Pepper smiled widely to herself in response.
"I take it you're okay with this?" she teased.
Tony gave her a loving squeeze. "Oh, I am more than satisfied with this arrangement," he joked back. She chuckled.
He raised his face to look up at her, and Pepper lowered her eyes to meet his. They gazed at each other for a moment. "I've gotta know," he murmured softly. "Why this? Why now?"
She smiled sheepishly. "If I'm being honest, I don't really know," she said. "I can't explain it. It just feels like...this is what we're supposed to do. Like it's what we would have done, if the circumstances were normal," she explained. Then she gave him a wary look. "Is that...weird?"
Tony shook his head, and smiled. "No. It's exactly what we would've done, Pep," he replied. He turned his body to be able to prop himself up on an elbow and look at her more squarely, his eyes intent. "So are you telling me that you're following...some kind of instinctual inclination you've had about us?" he asked eagerly.
Pepper shook her head. "I don't know! I'm not sure!" she replied. Then, her eyes widened, realizing what he was getting at. "Why? Do you think...this might mean I'm starting to..." she swallowed hard before continuing. "Remember...us?" she asked, her tone hopeful.
They both smiled in excitement. "I don't know! I mean I hope..." Tony responded.
"Oh, Tony! What if it is?!" Pepper said excitedly.
He grinned in reply. "Then that would be amazing, baby," he cooed. He reached to peck her lips. Pepper kissed him earnestly back. When the kiss broke, they gazed lovingly into each others eyes for a moment, and he could see her eyes were glassy with emotion. A tear escaped, and rolled down her cheek, and she giggled bashfully when he raised a thumb to gently wipe it away.
Pepper smiled widely through her tears, and leaned down to kiss him once more. When the kiss ended, Tony moved back down into his original position, and she once again wrapped her arms around him. After a moment, she began to stroke his hair, and he instantly melted even further into her embrace, a soft, contented moan escaping his lips. She smiled at his reaction to what she was doing, and couldn't help but marvel at how familiar it actually felt. Even though she couldn't recollect any recent instance in which she'd done this very thing, she could remember the few times in the distant past when she'd found him alone and drinking in his office after everyone had long since left. And he'd been too drunk to pile into the back of the town car to send home, so she'd been forced to let him sleep it off, staying with him until after he'd fallen asleep, usually with his head in her lap on the couch. Or he'd been home, hitting the bottle hard, and called her in the middle of the night, begging her to come over to do some random task that easily could have waited until the next day. But, without fail, she'd appear on his doorstep, willing and able for whatever he required of her. Because she knew he'd only called her so he wouldn't have to continue to face his loneliness that night. He'd start babbling to her, about one thing or another, incoherent and random as ever, as he'd lead them into the living room to the couch, where he'd sit them both down. But eventually, it was clear he'd forgotten about the excuse he'd made for her needing to so urgently drive over there, as he'd grab a pillow, lay it on her lap, and lie down, only to fall asleep mid-sentence just moments later. It was part of the game they played with each other, time and time again. Though, if she was honest, she hadn't minded those quiet times between them. In his slumber, she always noticed he had a rare sense of peace about him. The current strain on him would dissipate, and she'd be there, watching over him, her heartbreaking yet again for the hurt he secretly endured that no one else cared to acknowledge.
It wasn't long before Pepper noticed, in that present moment, that Tony's breathing had started to regulate, and she deduced he'd fallen asleep. She smiled to herself, and stopped the stroking of his hair to rest her cheek on the top of his head, and pull him tighter to her. But her moment of solace with her husband was interrupted by anxious thoughts, and her brow furrowed with worry. What does he have left to tell me about becoming Iron Man?, she pondered. And do I really want to know what it is?