Pepper dialed her mother not long after Tony had left. She had gone back to Pepper and Tony's home with Bruce to rest. When her mother had answered, Pepper blurted out, "I can't do this, Mama! I just can't! I'm never going to remember anything!"
"Now, darlin'! Just hold on a minute! What's got you so worked up?" the woman asked.
Pepper sniffed, and swiped at some arrant tears on her cheeks. "Tony thought showing me pictures of the wedding would help to jog my memory! But I might as well be staring at photos of strangers! Nothing is familiar! I see the woman in that dress, and it's...like it's not even me!" she exclaimed.
"Ginny, honey, you're letting your emotions get the best of you. You've got to give yourself time," her mother advised.
A sob caught in Pepper's throat, and she rushed a hand to her chest to try to calm herself. "But what if I never remember? What if I'm not ever going to be who I once was? Do you know how terrifying it is to wake up one day and find that your life is nothing like how you remember it? Yesterday, I was putting Tony on a plane to...to...Afghanistan, he tells me. But it wasn't yesterday. It was years ago. And now?! We're married! And that's not even the crazy part! He was kidnapped in Afghanistan, where a doctor put what amounted to a super-charged flashlight/nuclear reactor in his chest, and he used it to power a flying suit!" she exclaimed. "How can anyone expect me to be able to make any sense of this?!"
"What you've been through, darlin', is not for the faint of heart. Rest assured of that. So my advice would be to lean on that husband of yours. He's the only one that can truly guide you through all of this," her mother told her. "Speaking of Mr. Tony, where is he right now? Is he there with you?"
Pepper pursed her lips. "I...kind of...sent him away," she sheepishly explained.
She heard her mother gasp. "Oh, honey. No," she heard her reply, her voice thick with pity. "No, no, no. That man loves you! Don't push him away. Please, Ginny. I know it's hard. But you'll make it even harder on yourself if you try to do this alone."
New tears welled in Pepper's eyes in response to the guilt she felt from her mother's words. "I didn't know what else to do!" she murmured, the lump in her throat prevented her voice from making any sound. "I'm scared, Mama. I feel like I'm losing what little mind I have left!"
"Ginny, listen to me," Marilynn told her daughter. "I know you don't remember much, honey. But I know you can remember some of those times you called me just fit to be tied over Tony. Do you remember?"
Pepper chuckled through her tears, and nodded. "Yes," she answered. "Yes, I do remember that."
" 'Oh, he's so aggravating!' you'd say! 'I just don't know why I put myself through this!'," Marilynn continued. "And do you remember what I always told you?"
Pepper closed her eyes, as a wistful smile crept over her lips from the sweet memory her mother was conjuring up. She nodded. "You'd say, 'We're willing to endure so much more for those we care for than for those we don't'," she replied.
"That's right, honey. You know, even now, that amidst all of his previous shenanigans, you truly loved him," Marilynn reminded her daughter.
"I do. I mean I did," Pepper fondly mused. "I...still do."
"You bet you do, Darlin'. A lot may be taken from us in our lifetimes, but true love lives on forever. And what you and Mr. Tony have is just that. That's why not even coming out of a coma with amnesia will change that," Marilynn assured her daughter.
Pepper smiled, and stayed silent for a moment, letting her mother's words sink into her skin before she spoke. "I knew you'd know what I needed to hear," she told her softly.
"Well, I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know, Darlin'," Marilynn replied. "He's one of a kind, that husband of yours. So, let him help you through this."
Tears flooded Pepper's eyes once more, and a sob escaped her throat. "I'm...just so scared, Mama!" she whispered.
"I know you are, Ginny. I know," her mother assured. "But trust me when I say- it's better to have someone who loves you by your side during these times then to try to fight your way through on your own."
Pepper smiled through her tears, and nodded in understanding. "I understand. I love you. And thank you," she replied.
"Of course, Darlin'. And I love you, too," Marilynn told her daughter. "Do you want me to come back over? Get you settled back in?" she offered.
"No, I'll be fine," Pepper replied. She flicked her eyes to the hologram imager sitting on the bedside table, and chewed her lip in thought.
"You're sure?" her mother asked.
Pepper took a deep breath, and smiled. "I'm sure," she replied.
"Then good night, honey. Get some rest. And give that sweet husband of yours a call. I'm sure he's just sick with worry over you," Marilynn advised.
Pepper chuckled. "I know I've put him through his paces, that's for sure," she agreed.
"So call him," Marilynn reiterated. "At least to let him know you're thinking of him."
Pepper nodded in agreement. "I will," she told her mother. "I promise."
XxXxXxXxXx
Not long after the two had hung up, Pepper managed to eventually regain her composure and dry her tears- at least enough to be able to put down the tissues she'd grabbed to dry her eyes. Every now and again, a sob would catch in her chest, and she'd have to bite her lips together to keep her chin from quivering, as she still felt somewhat shaky despite her mother's encouragement. But on the whole, she was level. Not quite level enough to call Tony yet, but level enough. I just need another minute, she thought.
Earlier, she'd laid the imager on the nightstand beside the tissue box. And after taking a couple of deep breaths, she resolved to give it another chance to jog her memory. "Slow and steady," she mumbled to herself, as she carefully leaned over to retrieve it.
She brought it back to her lap, and turned it around in her hands before, with some hesitation, she jabbed the power button with her pointer finger. An image blipped to life, and she frowned. "Walking down the aisle," she murmured, as if trying to convince herself she could recall it from memory. "That's me, walking down the aisle."
She chewed her lip in thought as she studied the photo, trying her hardest to search her mind for any inkling of a connection between what her eyes were seeing and her mind was computing as she slowly flipped through the pictures.
She and Tony together at the altar.
Each of them reciting their vows. Her hands clasped around the handle of Thor's hammer. Tony's hands clasped in one of Thor's, with his other hand raised to the sky.
The exchange of rings.
Pepper stopped to glance down at her engagement ring and wedding band, desperately trying to connect the tangible and the intangible. "Come on," she begged her mind. "Give me something. Anything."
But there wasn't so much as a spark of recollection. So, with her pleas unanswered, she robotically clicked through the next few photos.
Tony lifting her veil. Their first kiss as husband and wife, captured with the blaze of light from the ball dropping directly behind them at the stroke of midnight that New Year's Eve.
It seemed the longer she stared, the deeper her frown became, until finally she huffed in disappointment and jabbed the power button, ending this memory recall session in defeat.
She closed her eyes. "Rest," she said softly. "Maybe I need some rest."
She set the imager back on the bedside table and laid back to close her eyes, settling in, and pulling her blankets up around her chest. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh, biting her lip to help tamp down the urge to cry again, until she drifted off into a slumber...
XxXxXxXxXx
There was darkness all around her, but she could sense she was standing on something solid.
Is it a floor?, she thought. Is this a room? Where AM I?
She slowly began to walk forward, with cautious steps, squinting to try to make out anything in the space around her.
"Hello?" she called out. "Anyone? Tony? Are you there?"
But there was no answer. However, in an instant, there was a rumbling beneath her feet. And whatever the surface was that she was standing on began to shake. She yelped, stumbling to keep her footing. "What IS this?! What's happening?!" she cried.
Suddenly, the floor broke open, and a spiraling structure jutted skyward climbing higher and higher, beyond the farthest point she could see above her. And then, all at once, the structure halted, with dust and debris falling back to the ground around her.
She shielded herself from the barrage, coughing as the dust filled her lungs, and waving a hand at the clouded air to clear it. Once all was settled again, she squinted at what had appeared before her. It was a massive, spiral staircase, made of rusted metal. And each twist held a corridor of closed doors.
Pepper stopped at the base of it, feeling an overwhelming sense of familiarity. "I know this place," she murmured to herself.
She stepped up onto the first step, and walked to the first door she saw. She moved to turn the handle, but found it wouldn't budge. She frowned.
"Locked," she whispered. She looked around. "Are they ALL locked?" she wondered aloud.
She moved to the next, and the next, each one's knob not turning even one degree.
Finally, when she'd tried what had to have been at least 20 doors, Pepper sat down hard on the steps, and put her head in her hands. "WHY am I here?" she asked. "I don't understand! What am I supposed to..."
But just then, her words were interrupted by the faint sound of music. It seemed to be coming from above her. She shifted her gaze upward, and then quickly got to her feet, turning to run up the steps as fast as she could in the direction of the music, praying it woudn't end before she could reach its source.
As she progressed farther and farther upwards, the music grew louder. It was a jazz band, like the kind hired for the hundreds of social events she'd attended over the years while working as Tony's assistant.
Then she saw it.
One of the doors just ahead of her was cracked slightly, and she could see warm, orange colored light coming from it. She smiled in relief as she eased the door open, and stepped inside to find she was entering the scene of what appeared to be a big, formal event of some sort.
She shifted her eyes around the room, her ears filling with the sounds of the quiet music of the hired band playing over the low hum of the attendees' chatter. She observed the mingling patrons in their black tie tuxedos and formal dresses, realizing they were all standing in the lavishly decorated lobby of the concert hall where the Firefighter's Benefit Gala had been held in years past.
"Everyone looks so lovely," she commented to herself, smiling fondly at some familiar faces, however oblivious they were to her presence.
But suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, seeing the MOST familiar face there could have been in attendance just feet away. It was one Tony Stark, to be exact.
He was standing at the bar, glass tumbler in his hand, dressed to the nine's in his customary Armani tux, Bulgari watch on his wrist, and his MIT class ring on his right hand just for show.
Looking sharp and already full of Scotch, no doubt, she mused to herself knowingly. It's like mother's milk to him at these things.
But as she watched him, she realized his eyes were fixed on someone across the room. He was staring at whomever this was as if in a kind of trance-like state, his glass suspended in mid air in his hand, and his eyes narrowed.
"Wow," she commented. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're smitten, Mr. Stark! Whomever she is, she MUST be..." Pepper started to say, following his line of sight, but abruptly her eyes widened and her mouth went agape as her gaze fell upon the person he was so intently gazing at.
"ME?!" Pepper exclaimed. Then she frowned, turning her eyes from what was happening.
"Wait a minute," she muttered, closing them briefly. "This all seems so..."
Just then, Tony brushed past her on his way to greet the mirror image of her on the dance floor. "Hey, I almost didn't see you there! I didn't recognize you! You look great! Where'd you get that dress?" he prattled off.
"It...was a gift...," Pepper murmured slowly, watching the same words fall from her clone's lips. "A birthday present...from...you..actually."
Then she gasped, her eyes going wide as she realized the breakthrough that had just happened. "Oh my God! The roof!" she said, a broad grin spreading over her lips. "We go to the roof!"