"I'm going to go sleep downstairs. Tinker with that." Pepper said as she walked out of the room. Tony sat back on his heels as he took deep breaths. He wasn't expecting to suddenly wake up to his ironman suit attacking his girlfriend. How could he have miscalculated? He had to fix it…

No. Tony thought. Stop thinking about that. Think about Pepper, she's more important. The way her eyes looked… so scared. He didn't mean for any of this to happen. Maybe his tinkering was out of hand. He looked at the pieces scattered around the bedroom floor. He did this to Pepper, it was his fault.

Shifting off of the bed, Tony walked over to the parts of the ironman suit. Looking around the room, he spotted a plastic bag big enough to hold all of the pieces and parts. Scooping them up, Tony carefully deposited them into the bag. One by one they clanked together in the bag until there were no more parts on the floor. Sighing, Tony hoisted the bag up and carried it out the room, careful not to make noise with the various pieces.

As quietly as possible, Tony started down the stairs. He eased into each step, making sure he didn't make too much sound. Stark saw the faint outline of Pepper breathing on the couch. Her body rose and fell steadily and Tony found himself subconsciously timing his steps with each breath. He made his way behind the couch and then down to the workshop.

It looked dark and empty at the late hour. His work that he left undone a few hours ago, dummy and butterfingers were dormant. The entire room looked just… lonely. Suddenly Tony didn't want to be down there anymore. He just wanted to hold Pepper, but she was angry at him. He'd let her cool down first.

Back upstairs he began to quietly walk behind the couch again, but glanced over at the sleeping Pepper. Her hair spilled over the arm of the chair, slightly glimmering in the moonlight streaming in from the window. He could hear her faint breathing. It made his chest ache; he wanted her to come back to their room so he could just be alone with her, to tell her he was sorry.

Without being able to help himself, Tony crept around the couch so he was kneeling by her side. Her face didn't look angry; it looked peaceful as she slept. Tony leaned towards her and lightly kissed her forehead. He pressed his lips against her temple and whispered "I'm sorry" softly into her skin. He looked at her one last time before making his way up to bed.

~X~

Tony jolted awake. What was that? It sounded like a buzzing noise in his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to rid of the sound. The lights came up, courtesy of JARVIS, and Tony immediately rolled his eyes at himself. It was his phone, not some strange buzzing sound trapped in his head. It moved on his nightstand as it vibrated, but before picking it up, he glanced to check on Pepper. For a moment, his heart leapt: she wasn't there. The memory of his nightmare and the suit attacking Pepper began to come back to him, however. Instead of worry, guilt filled him, and longing for her to just come back.

Stark couldn't think too much on it though, his phone kept buzzing annoyingly on the dark nightstand next to his bed. Tony reached over and grabbed his phone, picking up without even checking who it was.

"Tony-" Stark heard Rhodey's voice project out of the phone. Rhodey? Tony looked at the clock across the room. It was three in the morning… why was he calling him now?

Tony yawned into the phone before tiredly saying. "Yeah… What is it."

"There was a bomb attack, tons of people are dead, Tony." Rhodey said hurriedly into the phone. Stark pulled the phone slightly away. This was the last thing he wanted to hear right when he woke up from barely any sleep, but Rhodey definitely had his attention now. But still… why was he calling Tony?

"It's… It's Happy. He was there and he's in intensive care at the Hospital. I don't know if his conditions are stable, but… he's in a coma and may not wake up, Tony." Rhodey trailed off. A million thoughts and questions raced through Tony's head. What was Happy doing to get caught up in the bombing? He had just been talking to Happy earlier that evening. It was hard to process that he was now hanging on for his life.

"Should we head over there now?" Tony asked, meaning the hospital.

"No, they won't let anyone see him yet. I'd go tomorrow morning if anything." Rhodey said. "I just wanted to make sure you knew."

Tony nodded even though he knew that Rhodey couldn't see him. His mouth felt dry and his stomach felt sick at the thought of Happy in intensive care. "Okay." Tony managed to get out.

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Rhodey reassured him.

"Thanks Rhodey." Tony said, keeping his sentences short. With one last goodbye, Rhodey hung up and left Tony to his thoughts that were frantically spinning in his head. No, not Happy. He had always been more than just his body guard. Happy had always been at Tony's side, no matter what. He was one of his best friends.

A new trouble came into Tony's mind: telling Pepper. He knew she didn't handle these things all that well. I took her a couple of days to cope once he had told her about Coulson. Not only that, but she may still be mad at him. He should probably tell her though. He didn't like keeping things from her and neither did she, especially since he was dying a while back but didn't tell her. Tony had sworn to never keep things from her that big again.

Stark sighed and set the phone down on the nightstand once more. At least he could move her back to the bedroom. If she still wanted to be away from him, she could have the bed. He wanted to go work in the shop to get his mind off of Happy.

Tony pushed himself up out of bed. He climbed down the stairs not bothering to try and be quiet. He walked around the couch to where Pepper slept in the same position as before. He knelt down next to her and lightly shook Pep's shoulder.

"Hey, hey Pep…" he whispered. She stirred and shifted in her sleep, but still didn't wake up. "Pep…" Tony said a little louder. Pepper took a deep breath before stretching and rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"What do you want?" she asked in an irritated tone… Tony's heard sunk a little in his chest: she was still angry at him.

"Come on, you go ahead and sleep upstairs and I'll sleep down here." Tony lied. She fully opened her eyes and stared at him for a while. He was tempted to look away, but then she'd definitely know that he was lying. Her blue eyes pierced his until she finally frowned at him.

"No… you are just going to go down to the shop." she said. "I know you, Tony."

Stark sighed and sat next to her on the couch. She sat up so her legs were hanging over the side like Tony's.

"Pep, I need to tell you something." Pepper looked up at him. She could tell something was wrong, he knew it. The way her eyes got wide and her eyebrows came together: he knew her well too. "Rhodey just called. There was another bombing. Happy's in intensive care. He's in a coma, Pepper."

He watched Pepper's eyes go wide as she nervously swallowed. She stared down at the floor making him worry. Suddenly, Tony didn't care if she was still mad at him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She willingly leaned into his shoulder and let her body rest against his as he rubbed her arm. She didn't say anything, or do anything but sit and stare at the floor for a while before finally saying…

"Ok."

"Ok?" Tony asked. It was worse than her breaking down and worse than her getting angry. He didn't know what she was thinking, but he could tell she wasn't alright. How could she be? He wasn't either. Happy… he's been around for years as a good friend to both of them. Tony wasn't sure how life would be without him.

"Come on, if you sleep in the bed I promise I'll try to get some sleep on the couch." Tony told her. Pepper looked up at him with her big eyes.

"But…" she managed to say in a small voice.

"Hmm?" Tony said frowning at her.

"I don't want to be alone." she said while yawning. Tony smiled and kissed her forehead. Then without any hesitation he swept his arms under her knees and behind her shoulders and lifted her up.

"Ah, Tony!" she said as he began to carry her upstairs. She wrapped her hands tightly around the back of his neck as he climbed the steps like she weighed nothing.

"I won't let you fall, Pep." he said getting to the top of the stairs. Tony walked through the threshold, careful with Pepper in his arms. He stopped a foot or so from the bed. "Ready?" he asked Pepper, looking down at her.

"What? No, no Tony! Don't-"

But Tony had already begun to throw Pepper onto the bed. She shrieked as she landed on the mess of tangled sheets. Tony crawled into bed next to her and nestled up besides Pepper. He pulled her close and nuzzled her neck.

"I love you Pep." He mumbled. He felt Pepper's hand begin to mess with his hair.

"Love you too, Tony." she said quietly. It wasn't long before Tony drifted off into sleep holding Pepper, right as things should be.