Within minutes, Tony burst through Pepper's hospital room door, chest heaving. They stared silently at each other for a moment, as he gripped the door frame to steady himself. Smiles slowly broke out over both of their faces as Pepper opened her arms to welcome him. He ran to her, muttering, "Yes, please," before he instantly melted into her embrace, and wrapped his arms around her upper body to hold her tightly to him. She wept quietly against his shoulder, the both of them overjoyed at this breakthrough.
Tony then pulled back, and earnestly kissed his wife, each of them moaning softly in approval. And Pepper smiled to herself, feeling glad that the sense of deep yearning she'd been left with after having essentially relived the night at the gala was suddenly satisfied in this moment. And what a welcome relief it was, too.
He moved to cup her face in his hands, and eased the kiss to an end before he pulled back to open his eyes, only to find tears streaking down both of Pepper's cheeks. He used each of his thumbs to wipe them away. "You're crying," he murmured softly to her. "Don't cry, baby. Please," he begged her, shaking his head.
Pepper smiled sheepishly. "They're happy tears, I promise," she assured him. "I'm just so glad I can finally remember something!"
Tony grinned and nodded, moving in to softly peck her lips once more, and then he rested his forehead on hers. "Me, too," he replied. "So... did this dream you had help to spark anything else in the memory department ?" he asked hopefully.
Pepper let out a regretful sigh, and shook her head. "Not yet. But I thought you'd at least like to hear the news," she said.
"Damn right, I did," he assured.
Pepper giggled. But then her expression became pensive. "Wait," she said. "I guess there is one more thing."
Tony cocked an eyebrow in curiosity, and then an anticipatory grin spread over his lips.
Pepper smiled. "There's something I wanted to say to you," she began. His eyes studied her face for any clue as to what it was, but he remained silent, anxiously waiting for her to continue.
She went on. "About that night. And what happened between us on the roof? I..."
Tony frowned, and gave her a look of trepidation, as if bracing for a dressing down for leaving her up there alone. But still, he didn't speak.
"...remembered that I deeply regretted, for months after, not..." she began again. She paused, her cheeks reddening from the anticipation of her confession. "Following through with..."
"The kiss?" Tony finished simply, his voice reverent and respectful.
Pepper smiled softly at him, and nodded. "Yes," she replied emphatically. "I know it was for the better, but..."
"You bet your sweet little bippy it was," Tony interjected, with a smirk.
This made Pepper's eyebrows pop up, as she giggled at his comment. "What?" she then asked curiously.
He nodded. "You making me work for your affections? Are you kidding? I've never been so motivated in my life," he joked.
This made Pepper giggle again. "I just remember feeling so conflicted! I so wanted to kiss you! But after so many years of...," she replied, but Tony stopped her.
He held up a hand, and shook his head. "You don't have to remind me, honey," he replied. "Believe me. On the subject of deep regret, I'm sorry for ever subjecting you to my past...indiscretions," he confessed.
Pepper smiled, and then continued. "I remember I wasn't expecting you to even appear at all, let alone show up looking so handsome, and wanting to dance with me! But then we did, and I felt like...like," she prattled to her husband, as he smiled and nodded the whole while in understanding of what she was trying to tell him. But suddenly she struggled to find her next words.
Tony just cocked a questioning eyebrow, waiting. But he couldn't help his lips from curling up in delight. "Like what, baby?" he urged softly.
Pepper searched his eyes for a moment, and softly smiled. "Like I was...in a fairy tale," she finished, her voice now in a dreamy murmur.
Tony smiled lovingly at his wife, and slowly leaned in to kiss her lips again. She cupped his cheek with her hand, and deepened the kiss. And a few moments later, when it broke, he rested his forehead against hers once more, and they opened their eyes to smile at each other.
He then reached for her hands and brought them to his chest in his as he sat back to look at her. "You don't know how much I thought about that night afterwards, too," he told her. "For months after, in fact, I couldn't get it out of my head. That's when I knew, Potts," he said.
Pepper gave him a curious smile. "Knew what?" she asked.
"That I was in love with you," he said simply, sweetly. "Hook, line and sinker. You had me. There was no denying it."
Pepper coyly bit her bottom lip, and her cheeks reddening even more than they already had. Tony chuckled at her reaction.
She shook her head in disbelief. "I may not be able to connect all of the dots of our past quite yet," she replied. "But if this is any indication of how it's going to be going forward, I can hardly wait to see what I remember next."
Tony grinned. "Definitely," he agreed.
Pepper grinned back, but then her chin began to quiver, and tears welled in her eyes, which made Tony frown.
"Uh-oh. What did I do now? What happened?" he murmured, half jokingly, as he raised a thumb to wipe away a tear.
Pepper gave him a soft smile, and shook her head. "No, it's nothing you've done. It's me. I was awful to you before. And you were only trying to help me to remember," she confessed.
"You weren't awful, Pep. You were frustrated. And scared. I get it. It's going to happen. That's why I agreed to give you your space," he assured.
But she shook her head again. "No, there's no excuse for my behavior," she countered. "I called my mother directly after you'd left, and she helped me to realize how much I needed you. How much I need you. I can't do this by myself, Tony," she explained, her voice warbly and tearful.
"I wouldn't want you to," he agreed, with a loving smile.
Pepper smiled and nodded. "I know you wouldn't. So, no matter how stubborn I can be..."
"And you can be pretty stubborn!" Tony quipped with wide eyes, and a smirk, trying to make her smile.
It worked, as Pepper spluttered and grinned, giggling again before continuing on. "Don't, and I repeat, don't let me try to tell you that I don't need your help. Because I do."
Tony grinned at his wife, and nodded once in the affirmative. "It's a deal, Potts. Because...you love me. Right?" he tested, feigning the need for her clarification. "And you want me in your life? Forever and ever?" he lovingly teased.
Pepper chuckled, and nodded. "Yes," she replied emphatically. "Because I love you, and I want you in my life. Forever and ever," she purred, with an amused smirk.
Tony beamed at her words. "And..." he continued, shrugging. "You think of me as your knight in shining armor. Or something along the lines of a Prince Charming, correct? Just...reiterating your words. So we're clear," he prodded.
Pepper rolled her eyes and giggled. "You know? I don't recall saying those exact words?" she corrected. "But I do believe I used the term fairy-tale when I described how I felt at the..."
" 'Ball' ?" Tony interjected. "I swept you off your feet, and you felt like a princess. Like...Cinderella at the Ball. Right. Exactly. I thought that's what you said," he teased.
Pepper rolled her eyes again, and shook her head. Then they laughed together.
"Only, you can literally claim that you have a knight in shining armor," he finished. "Cuz' you do. My armor is..." he paused to inhale sharply through his teeth and cocked his head. "Very very shiny," he finished, his voice breathy, almost seductive.
Pepper pressed her lips together, and gave him a thoughtful look. "Okay. Tell me you're talking about the Iron Man suit? And this isn't some weirdo attempt at nicknaming your..."
Tony spluttered, and starting laughing out loud. "Oh, come on, Potts! Give me a little credit here!" he hooted once he could catch his breath. He rolled his eyes dramatically, and shook his head, smirking. "Yeah! Of course I'm talking about the suit. Pssh," he clarified, playfully scoffing, and shaking his head, still giggling.
"Good!" Pepper cried teasingly, poking him teasingly in the shoulder with the tip of her finger. "I honestly never know with you!"
Tony scoffed again. "Please. I could do a lot better on nicknames for Little Tony than..."
"Okay! I think we'll end on that one, if you don't mind?" Pepper quickly interjected, her cheeks flushing again in embarrassment.
Tony held up a hand to signify he understood, but was chortling and giggling to himself all the while.
Pepper watched him, and chewed her lip in thought for a moment. "Maybe those memories will come next, hmmm?" she asked hopefully.
Tony's eyes suddenly widened, and he leaned into her. "Which memories? The 'suit' ones, or the ones we made with..." he stopped to clear his throat awkwardly. "Little Tony?" he continued hoarsely. "Because I gotta say! I thought we might be a ways off from discussing that subject. But if you wanna go all in like that, then I am game, honey! You just tell me where to..."
"The suit, Tony. I was talking about the suit?" Pepper replied drolly.
Tony frowned. "Oh. Right. I...figured that would be moving a little fast," he informed her sheepishly. Then he smiled, and gave her a simple nod. "But, to answer your intended question- yeah. Maybe they will," he replied, though the idea of her remembering everything he'd been through and done as Iron Man put a familiar knot in his stomach. However, he also knew he'd feel a sense of pride for being able to show her, when the time came, that he did, in fact, have a heart, and a conscience. Even if it was going to be for the second time.
XxXxXxXxX
"I am going to miss this place," Bruce reverently murmured one morning, looking around as he entered Dr. Cho's research lab she'd set up since she'd taken over Pepper's case (with the financial help of one such Mr. Tony Stark to provide any and all necessary equipment to fill it.) Early on, she'd invited Bruce to come observe her work in cell regeneration. And since they'd gotten to know each other, he'd visited her there on a handful of occasions to see her latest discoveries. Which had, truth be told, thrilled him to no end.
Bruce's entrance had made Helen startle, and she jolted as she sat on the black swiveling stool in front of a glass chamber full of test tubes. She quickly rotated around to see who had caused this, and then instantly grinned at him, chucking at her own reaction.
Bruce chuckled back, and blushed, embarrassed that he'd scared her the way he had.
"Dr. Banner! Always a pleasure!" she said, standing up off her chair to walk over and greet him, pulling off a nitrile glove in the process to shake his hand. He extended his own.
"Dr. Cho! I apologize for..." he began, politely shaking her hand.
"Oh, don't be silly! It doesn't take much to startle me when I am working. I'm usually so focused on what I am doing, I pay no attention to my surroundings until someone makes their presence well known," she assured him.
Bruce nodded in understanding, and gestured toward where she'd been working. "What're you focused on right now? If you don't mind my asking?" he inquired.
She smiled and motioned for him to walk with her back to this place. "Just taking some daily notes on my cell samples," she told him. "I'm conducting some experiments using yours and Mr. Stark's nano-bot technology, and getting some very interesting findings."
Bruce's eyebrows raised. "Such as?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I believe the nanobots are, perhaps, starting to learn," she revealed.
Bruce's eyes quickly darted to hers. "Learn?" he asked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I think that soon the time will come where we won't necessarily need to program them in order to repair injury. They'll be able to detect what needs to be done and, without further direction, go to work to do whatever is necessary," she informed him.
Bruce gasped. "Remarkable," he marveled, gazing at all of her test tubes standing in their rows in the case. "What have you found that would lead you to this conclusion?" he asked.
"This group of samples originally contained one programmed nano bot, and one cell which they were directed to duplicate. But then, after a few days, I switched the nanobots around, moving them from their original cells to different cells, thinking they would probably just continue to duplicate the same cells they had been programmed for first. But here's the interesting part," she told him. "When they were moved, they behaved as if there was some kind of glitch. I had all but written them off as malfunctioning, thinking that switching the cells on them, in mid process, had caused them to stall and cease their work. But to my surprise, within a few hours, they'd all begun to duplicate the new cells that I'd paired them with."
"Almost like they had to learn the how to make the new cells, first? And then they could resume work?" Bruce offered.
"Exactly," Helen replied.
Bruce gasped again. "Whoa," he said, shaking his head, and smiling in disbelief. "That's...amazing. This could mean you've made quite an advancement in medical-related artificial intelligence."
"We have, you mean," she replied. "I couldn't have discovered this without you and Mr. Stark first paving the way for robotic cell regeneration."
Bruce smiled coyly. "It's been an incredible ride, hasn't it? I still can't believe we did it," he commented. "I'll never forget it. That's for sure," he mused wistfully.
Helen smiled, but her expression was a bit forlorn. "If I may ask- Why do I get a sense that...you've come to say goodbye?" she asked softly, moving to rest a hand on his shoulder.
Bruce eyes quickly darted from her hand to her eyes, and he gave her and awkward smile. "Because...I have," he replied regretfully. He went from being bent at the waist to peer into the glass case to standing upright to look into her eyes. "It's time for me to go, Dr. Cho. Helen. I..."
She waved a hand to dismiss his explanation. "You don't have to do that. I knew this day would come, eventually. Mr. Stark asked you to come for a specific purpose, and now that that has been fulfilled, there's no reason for you to..."
"Well, all the same, I won't forget you," Bruce interjected. "How could I? You're brilliant. A true scientist. A wonderful physician. And..." he stammered.
Cho gave him an encouraging smile. He smiled bashfully back. "A good friend," he finished. "I...I hope we cross each other's paths again some day."
She nodded, smiling. "I would like that," she replied, a lilt of regret in her voice. Her eyes studied his face for a moment in thought. Then she stepped closer to him, and rested her hand on his shoulder once more. Bruce cautiously watched her do this, unsure of her intentions as she leaned in, lips puckered. His chest heaved, fearing what was coming next until her lips met his cheek, and she planted a sweet, lingering kiss to it.
She slowly pulled back, and smiled at the flustered doctor, who could only give her a red-faced, embarrassed, half-smile in return. "And you're a good friend, too, Bruce," she replied kindly.
He sharply exhaled, and swallowed hard. "Th-thank you," he said, nodding once in acknowledgement. "Uh...d-does Tony know? About the uh..." he paused to gesture awkwardly toward her test tubes. "The...bots?"
Cho shook her head. "Not yet. I've only just now discovered what's happened," she replied.
"Well, he'll be thrilled, no doubt," he assured her.
They shared an admiring gaze for a moment before Bruce became overly self-conscious again, and he averted his eyes. He began to slowly move toward the entrance. "I've um...I've gotta get going," he muttered awkward.
"Sure. I understand," Cho replied.
"Good luck to you, though, Dr. Cho. Helen," he said.
"And good luck to you, Dr. Banner. Bruce," she replied, choosing not to ask where he was off to exactly, though she assumed it was back to his beloved Columbia he'd mentioned a few times. But she also wondered- would she ever see him again? This thought suddenly struck in her a saddened pang of disappointment, if the answer was destined to be no.
XxXxXxXxXx
Hey! Look at this! A post-text author's note! Don't do many of these, but I had to tell you (and I don't believe I'm alone in this) that, obviously I think, Bruce and Cho would have made a GREAT couple. So that's the world I choose to write in- or at least lend the possibility to, as I also believe Brutasha is a disaster. But that's just my opinion, of course. No offense to those that may disagree.
Anyway, thank you for your patience with me, as always! And I SOOOOO appreciate your ongoing support and willingness to review! You're the best! :D More to come soon!