Pepper shined the flashlight beam on the suit that had an unconscious Tony encased inside. He was beat up pretty gruesomely. His helmet was completely missing altogether, one of the metal hand encasings was missing as well, deep gashes covered the red material as well as Tony's skin where it was showing out from absence of the suit. The arc reactor in his chest flickered like it was trying desperately to stay lit but was losing. His eyes were closed and his hair was ruffled in everyway possible.

The agents behind Pepper were shouting and talking but she couldn't focus. The only thing she could focus on was Tony just barely hanging off of the edge of the giant hole in the roof of the building. He was much to close to the arc reactor energy below him, but luckily Coulson moved around Pepper, spotting where the light caught the clutter of Tonyin a nearly destroyed suit.

Pepper followed after Coulson, being careful to see where she was walking but also trying to keep the light on Tony. Phil reached Tony easily and grabbed him by the armor around his right arm. Coulson dragged Tony up to safety away from the gaping hole. He groaned but didn't open his eyes. The reactor seemed to be shining a bit more consistently now, but not enough for Pepper not to worry.

"We need medics!" Coulson yelled to a few of the agents. Pepper kept some distance even if she really just wanted to throw her arms around Tony and not let go. He looked like he need his space. Phil had begun trying to pry some of the armor off of Tony, which seemed fairly easy since it was ready to fall of any second, anyway.

"A little help?" Phil asked Pepper, not looking up from Tony's limp body.

"Oh, right." Pepper said quietly, setting down the light so that it still shined on Tony. Her hands were shaking from all the things she went through in the past hour. The metal... or titanium alloy Tony had called it, was so battered out of shape that everything easily slid off. Tony's body so that he was finally just Tony again, a very beat up Tony at that.

"Stark." Coulson tried calling Tony back into consciousness. Tony stirred a bit, but didn't wake up. At this point, a lady that looked to be in her mid fifties appeared beside Pepper in mostly white clothing. What Pepper assumed was the medic, felt under Tony's jaw for a pulse. She then went on to examine his head and chest where his arc reactor protruded.

"Tony..." Pepper said softly, trying to rouse him awake as well. He actually responded to her. Tony groaned in pain and shifted on the ground, just barely brushing his hand against Pepper's leg where she was kneeling next to him.

"Pepper?" he muttered, keeping his eyes closed. Pepper leaned forward and hesitantly touched Tony's arm gently.

"What did I tell you about being careful?" she said, trying to keep her voice from wavering. Tony blinked a couple of times before moving to look up at Pepper. Even that made him wince in pain.

"Sorry, Potts." he said, and for once he actually looked sincere. Tony broke his gaze off from Pepper and started to sit up. He hissed in a shaky breath as he pushed himself up off the concrete ground.

"Take it easy, Mr. Stark." The medic said.

"Yeah, yeah." Tony waved her away. He really did hate anything having to do with hospitals or medical assistance.

Tony moved his shoulders in a circle while trying to shake off the pain. It was everywhere, his head, his arms, his back, his legs, and especially his chest where the first arc reactor he made was still centered.

Speaking of that,

"You saved my life, you know." Tony said, glancing over at his PA. It was then when he fully realized it too. If Pepper hadn't saved his first arc reactor, he'd definitely be dead by now. He wasn't at all surprised because this is what she does. She's always saving him whether it be in the company, publicly, reporters, or in this case, from death itself.

Pepper however, looked utterly confused.

"The reactor you saved." Tony said, tapping the circle in his chest so that Pepper noticed the difference. "Obidiah stunned me then took mine."

Pepper raised her eyebrows at him in horror.

"Oh, Tony..." she began, but Pepper was interrupted by Coulson who was impatiently standing and tapping his foot waiting for the little reunion to end.

"Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts. Sorry to interrupt, this is truly charming, but we should be thinking of getting Mr. Stark out of here." With that, Coulson nodded towards the skies which is when they noticed the helicopters that had begun to circle, most likely various news stations.

"Why can't people know that I totally kicked ass?" Tony asked as he started to slowly stand.

"Safer that way. Come on, we can get you to the hospital, then..."

"NO! Absolutely not, I'm going home." Tony countered. Pepper had expected nothing less, and as much as she was worried about Tony, she didn't want to leave him alone at a hospital. She had nearly lost him twice now. Never again. Pepper thought, not realizing then how there'd be so many times where she'd nearly lose Tony.

Coulson seemed to think about this and surveyed Tony to size up his injuries.

"I'll take care of it, thank you Agent Coulson." Pepper said. Tony looked up at her, surprised that she was actually agreeing with him. Coulson sighed and shrugged.

"Alright, I'll drive you both back to the mansion if you'd like."

"Ow ow ow." Tony said through gritted teeth.

"For god's sake, stay still." Pepper said. Tony was sitting on the counter facing Pepper who was standing on the floor of the kitchen, facing him. Blood soaked cloths were splayed out all over the counter next to where Tony sat. White gauzes that Pepper had to dig for were on the other side of him. She had to blow another strand of hair out of her eyes so she could carry on carefully holding the cloth to a gash right by Tony's collarbone.

Pepper was aware of Tony staring deeply into her eyes while letting her gently brush the water soaked cloth against his chest. She just pretended to be engrossed in her work, making sure she didn't look up from the wound which wasn't much better wince it was cut across his very muscular chest. The gash would definitely take at least a few weeks to heal. It ran from the left side of his collarbone, down and a bit to the right of his reactor.

"Pepper." Tony finally said, making Pepper look up into his warm brown eyes that sent a pang through her chest.

"Mr. Stark." she said, almost as low as a whisper. Their faces were within a few inches of each other, but neither of them moved.

"I'm sorry I put you in harm's way." he said. Pepper had never seen him look as guilty as he did now.

"I- I didn't know Obi would target you and it was stupid and careless of me." he finished, now looking down at the floor reciting like a kid who got in trouble at school. Pepper was the one to look into his eyes now, putting the bloodied material on the counter with the rest.

"Hey, not your fault Tony. I've never been so proud of you." Pepper told him while lightly touching his arm. Tony looked up at her, his eyes seeming to gleam now. They were close, incredibly close and Pepper felt herself wanting to get even closer, but...

"Let's finish you up." she said. Pepper detected the deep disappointment in Tony's face, but he didn't prod like he usually would. Maybe he was changing, and maybe someday Pepper wouldn't be able to resist that she did love him. She secretly hoped that day was soon.