Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any of its characters and lines from the movie used in this story. What is written here is for entertainment purposes only. I do not make any profits from it.
The last time Pepper saw Tony, she had kissed him goodbye before he went off with Bruce who claimed to have fallen from the sky.
She thought nothing to it. Probably another Avengers related mission. Weren't they always?
Tony had looked back at her, his eyes seeking her permission to go with his friend. He didn't need her say-so but he wanted it, anyway. He wouldn't go if she didn't want him to.
"It sounds like he needs you and you miss him," she told him. "Go."
Tony smiled and he kissed her.
It wasn't a long, passionate kiss that spoke of promised acts to come. It was quick and chaste, an I'll-see-you-later kiss that was born out of a hundred habitual kisses.
Pepper knows from stock memory that Tony's kisses can be soft and vulnerable, slow and tender—it was a pleasant discovery of hers when he bared himself to her in that way. Other times his kisses are frantic and needy; she can taste the lust in his tongue and she would respond in kind.
But now… staring at the smoke-filled sky and at the destruction surrounding her, she can barely remember what Tony tasted like when they said goodbye or how his lips felt pressed against hers.
She can't remember.
Why can't she remember?
And she might never kiss him alive again.
...
Tony wakes breathless and shaking from a dream of fire and explosions, of falling and broken promises, of death and emptiness.
He shudders away the images and feeling of dread and guilt that settles in the pit of his stomach. He looks over at the sleeping form beside him.
It is the sight of her deep in sleep, calm and peaceful that brings his heart rate down, that tempers his blood pressure.
He doesn't know how he was ever this lucky.
He scoots closer, snakes an arm under Pepper's waist and brings her snug against him. She doesn't wake but hums contentedly in her spot.
Tony can faintly hear her screams in the back of his head and the feeling of grabbing at thin air as her hand misses his and she falls to fire.
"I'm sorry," he whispers and kisses her temple.
…
SHIELD finds her amidst the chaos and brings her and Happy to a safe house where she joins Laura Barton and her kids.
They pretend that everything's fine but both women are itching to go outside and do something.
In the middle of the night a quinjet lands on the driveway and tired, exhausted faces step out.
Pepper runs out of the house still wearing her clothes from the day before and flings herself at Iron Man before he manages to get out of his suit.
The mask pops open and she's up on her toes, grabs his face, and presses their lips together quite clumsily.
There is a coppery taste in his tongue which she quickly realizes is blood.
Tony groans and not in pleasure.
Pepper pulls back hastily, inspecting her fiancé. He's sporting a bruised eye and a split lip, dried blood is at the corner of his lower lip.
"Hi, gorgeous," he croaks.
Pepper restrains herself from smothering him in kisses. She walks with him back inside the house.
…
Tony has never stopped apologizing for what Killian did to Pepper.
It is in random moments of the day and never with any warning.
They are halfway through date night, a bottle of wine, and a debate on whether pineapple belongs on a pizza when his smile falters and his eyes are far away.
"I'm sorry," he says softly, taking her hand and kissing it reverently.
"What for?"
"Letting you fall." It is muffled, his lips still on her hand, the hand he missed by inches.
Pepper racks her brain, trying to figure out what he meant until she finds it: he failed to catch her when she fell a hundred feet.
It takes a split second and her eyes soften.
"I don't blame you, Tony. I blame Killian."
He apologizes all the same and it angers her. A fire long before extremis existed in her ignites in her chest and she turns her hand over and cups his cheek. Tony closes his eyes at the contact.
"Look at me," she demands.
Brown eyes meet blue.
"Never apologize for what he did, do you hear me? I won't have it."
He gazes into her eyes, finds the strength in her, and nods.
…
She didn't know that after Killian he had made her a suit, not for him to protect her, but for her to protect herself.
Not a combat suit. No, never something like that because Tony knows Pepper's not one for doling out violence.
God, no. Of course, it's not a combat suit.
"What is it then?" she asks him, one eyebrow raised.
"It's a noncombat suit, designed as an emergency search and rescue unit. Its thrusters don't even generate heat! To be honest, it's pretty useless. I wouldn't use that thing to go against a giant, vengeful, crazy purple grape," he says seriously and adds, "in space."
Pepper turns her critical eye on the suit in question. It's sleek and distinctly feminine with curves because of course Tony added breasts.
She turns to look at him. "How can it help?"
And he goes on to tell her all about what the RESCUE armor can do like sustained flight, enhanced strength, force fields, etc. and Pepper is nodding along because just because she's not one for violence doesn't mean she can't fight back in her own way.
…
RESCUE's thrusters are broken.
She's hanging on to the edge of a collapsing building, one hand on the ledge, and another on a civilian.
If she falls, the suit will take most of the damage and she'll walk away bruised and maybe with a bit of internal bleeding. But she's not so sure about the civilian.
The ledge snaps and she acts. She lets go of the civilian and cushions his descent with a force field which means she doesn't have time to do the same for herself.
She closes her eyes, waiting for impact.
She feels her shoulders tense as her arm is pulled back.
"I got you!"
She opens her eyes.
Iron Man's hand encases hers.
"I got you," he says again. She's not sure if it's the comms or his voice really does break at the end on its own. But she does hear his shuddering gasp of relief because he caught her this time.
Of course, he did. He always meant to catch her. Never mind that it's years later when he actually does.
Pepper smiles inside the suit.
"You got me," she agrees and he sets her down on the ground where the civilian has scrambled to his feet and is running the hell away from there.
Tony looks at her, their HUDs showing each other's actual faces. She sees that there are tears sliding down his cheeks.
"Are you crying?" she teases.
"Tears of pride," not relief of being spared the sight of your broken body, he tells her, chuckling. "I'm so proud of you."
An explosion goes off in the distance.
Tony looks at its direction.
"Go," Pepper says just like she did in the morning of Bruce's appearance.
He doesn't want to leave her side, but she's doing so great. He doesn't want to crowd her.
Her mask pops open and so does Tony's.
She grabs him and kisses him.
It's still an I'll-see-you-later-kiss. It's still quick and tender because the galaxy is in trouble and they don't have time for a full make-out.
But she commits everything to memory this time.
His lips are chapped and bloody, rough but soft. He tastes like blood and sweat and tears. But he feels strong and alive and Pepper draws whatever courage and strength that she can from it.
"Go," she whispers again.
"You too." And the mask springs down and he's off.
She brings her own face plate down and begins to run.
A/N: Tell me what you think!