"Pepper?!" He glanced the entire living room and hastily walked into the kitchen calling her name again. He couldn't find her and his patience was wearing thin. His head was swimming with questions.

He let out a frustrated breath and went upstairs. He got to her room and the door was closed. She had to be inside. She couldn't be anywhere else. He didn't bother to knock. Walking in, he saw Pepper sleeping comfortably on her bed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her phone on the bedside table. "Didn't Pepper tell you? We talk all the time." Robert's voice ran through his mind. Was he telling the truth or was it all just a ruse?

He knew how to read people well enough to know when they were picking a fight, and that was what Robert had been doing, but when it came to Pepper, his brain became jelly, his judgement clouded.

He went over and picked the phone off the smooth hardwood nightstand and hesitated for a couple seconds before unlocking it. What's wrong with you? Just ask her. Don't do this. He noticed a picture of them on her background and it occurred to him at that moment this wasn't the best idea.

Too bad the devil on his shoulder won. He tapped the phone icon, his heart racing to the speed of light. He scrolled down, several times, but nothing caught his attention. He pulled out his own cell and connected to JARVIS. "Run the name. Anything from November up, I wanna know about it."

Sir, I don't think that's wise.

He rolled his eyes at the message that appeared. "Do it, JARVIS."

Unbeknownst to him, his hushed whisper had stirred her awake.

He hit the message icon and his jaw clenched when he saw that either him or her had messaged the other three days ago. His finger just about tapped it, but a clearing of the throat stopped him.

"You wanna explain?"

"Um, I..." Pure panic. He watched as she got out of bed with a flat, but raging expression. "I need to text someone something and my phone's dead so I thought I'd use yours. Your brother told me I-"

"Give me my phone."

"Okay, hold up. I just need to finish this text." Which actually meant 'let me erase any evidence before I do.' Sadly, for him, the phone was snatched out of his grasp before he could.

It had taken her a couple seconds to figure out the person in her room and it took her twice as long to notice what Tony was doing. "You're such a liar. I saw you using your phone fifteen seconds ago."

She always closed her programs once she was done using them, so it wouldn't be difficult to confirm her suspicions. "You went through my phone," Pepper snapped. "What the hell?"

"Oh, don't even start, Pepper." He wasn't going to let her get a word in, not before he said all he had to. "You're unbelievable. I don't even know where to fucking begin. You know who I saw just then? Your ex-boyfriend. Where the fuck is my invitation? Did it get lost in the mail or something because, and correct me if I'm wrong, if anyone should be invited to your parents' anniversary party, it's your current boyfriend. If anyone shouldn't be invited, it's him. Not the fucking other way around. And my problem's not because you didn't even ask, it's the fact that you didn't even bother to mention it."

"Okay, first of all, I didn't invite him. My parents invited his parents because they're friends. I have no control over that. And, second, I was going to mention it to you after practice, but you had to be a dick and ignore me like you hadn't seen me sitting there, waiting for you, for over an hour and a half."

"I told you to fuck off. It's your fault you stayed."

Pepper couldn't believe he said that. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah," Tony responded a matter of factly.

She scoffed. "You know what? I felt horrible this entire week and I was going to apologize, but you can forget it. You invaded my privacy, and for what? My texts? Calls? What were you hoping to find?"

He got straight to the point, not beating around the bush. "I saw the messages. You texted that guy."

"And what if I did?"

"And what if I did," Tony angrily repeated. "Are you serious? Because I can come up with five thousand reasons why that's messed up just off the top of my head."

"I haven't spoken to him until a couple days ago, and I only did it because my mom needed to ask his if they were still coming tonight. That's all. Don't overreact."

"So you knew he was coming?" He chuckled in a derogative manner. "Great. So what? It never occurred to you to tell me? Or maybe this was your plan all along."

"I didn't know he was coming!"

"Right," he responded in a mocking manner. "The guy is still hung up on you! I mean, you know that, don't you? What's that saying? Don't be friends with exes?"

"We're not!"

"You told him we slept together. Why? To see if he gets jealous?"

"What are you talking about?" Slight confusion crossed her face.

"You know what he said? The only reason you slept with me was because you felt bad for me. That true? Because I thought about it and he has a point. You flat out denied me the night of the benefit. Fast forward three weeks to when you find out my parents died and all that 'I'm not ready to take that step with you' shit never comes up again. I even pushed to see how far I could go and when you didn't say anything, I just went along with it because I needed it and maybe that's the only reason why you let it happen. Because you felt sorry for me. You thought 'let him have this. What else does he have other than me?'"

She was at a loss of words. Did he really believe that? Her irises darkened in color as shock and hurt crossed her face. "Why would..." She couldn't finish, the words lodged in her throat. She turned and walked over to the door wanting to get out of here, to get away from him. How could he say that knowing how much courage it took for her to share that experience with him, to let down her wall and give into him completely?

"Don't even." He blocked her path to the door.

She tried to go past him, but he was one step ahead of her, almost as if he knew which direction she'd take before she even took it.

"Move, Tony." Her voice was quiet, a mumble.

"No," he sternly replied.

"You are such an asshole," Pepper noted, her eyes at the beginning stage of tearing up.

He didn't show any indication of being fazed by her demeanor. "Don't even start the waterworks. It's not gonna get you out of this."

"Of course it wouldn't," she snapped, staring at him with newfound indignation. "Why would you ever care about how I feel, right? All that matters is you and that's it and it's incredibly selfish. I should had been more supportive before, but I never intended to hurt your feelings. I just didn't want you to be hopeful over something that could just be inside your head. I said it because I care. And if your intention was to make me feel small, then congratulations. I understand you've been having a rough couple months, but why don't you stop for a minute and think about how all this has affected me? You ignore me for weeks without so much as an explanation and I have to deal with it while you're off doing whatever the hell it is. So I worry. I don't want to because you don't deserve it, but I do. All you have to do is tell me you want to be left alone. It's not hard. Because I am sick of being kept in the dark and being the last person to know anything. Like this week. I had to hear from your friends that you were at practice and then I thought 'why the hell is he at practice,' to which I'm told you were given a clean bill of health a few weeks ago. Do you do it on purpose or do you just think it's not my right to know? Whatever it is, just know it makes me feel like I don't matter and this argument pretty much confirms that. For you to buy into someone's words more than ours is beyond hurtful."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't have to fucking tell you everything, Pepper."

She groaned in frustration and clenched her hands into fists. He was driving her insane. "That's not what I'm asking for! I just want to be included when something happens. Like the important stuff."

"The important stuff," Tony repeated incredulously with a hint of bitterness. "So just what exactly falls under important? I just want to be sure," he said once she shot him a look. "I mean, it's not like there's a definitive line on what constitutes importance or not. Take telling your boyfriend that your ex is coming. Does it fall under importance? Because I think it does, but it turns out that's just me."

"You don't need to be sarcastic."

"You going anywhere with this?"

"I had no idea Robert would be here. And, yeah, I texted him and asked if he was coming. If he had said yes, I would have told you, but he said no instead; I didn't see a point in mentioning it to you."

"He's been here just how long?"

"I don't know! One, two hours?"

"So you could have told me he was here and didn't."

"I guess not," Pepper spat out. "Maybe that's what we do. Not tell each other anything."

"And what about all this crap," Tony started, walking over to the memorabilia she had mentioned to him the night they played truth or dare.

Her hands settled on her hips in a defensive fashion.

"You still have feelings for him?"

"They're just out for memories."

He whipped his head towards Pepper. "Yeah, of him."

"Of the stuff I've done," she firmly corrected. "The places I've been. It's not the person who got them that matters."

"That's just an excuse."

"It isn't. It's the truth."

"You dodged every question I asked and that's the same thing as giving me an answer, and you wanna know what that makes me think of? If we'd even be together if I hadn't been in that explosion."

She looked at Tony unbelievably. "Seriously? You're gonna go there?"

"Do you remember what you said to me when I told you how I felt?" He walked over to her, and stopped inches from her, his eyes piercing into hers. She swallowed hard and looked away for a second. "Cause I do. Something about not being good enough, compatibility; living in the real world. I understood and I respected your choice. The next thing I know is that I'm in the hospital and you're next to me with this change of heart, and somehow I'm worth the effort."

"That's a completely separate thing from what we are talking about."

"No, it isn't! It's the fucking exact thing!"

She huffed and closed her eyes for a brief second to gather her thoughts. "I don't understand why you're picking a fight. What's going on with you? You can't be this upset just because Robert is here."

"What? So you're saying I can't be mad?"

"No," Pepper exasperated. "Can you just answer my question, Tony?"

"What's the point when you won't even give me the same courtesy?"

"I can't do this anymore. When you finally decide you want to have a civil conversation, find me then; otherwise I'll be outside."

Again, he stopped her from leaving. "Why'd you cancel on Saturday?"

"I already told you. I had to-"

"Doctor's appointment," Tony finished. "Right. I came back at eight. At night," he emphasized, his tone similiar to earlier and not the least bit wavering. "Who the hell keeps their office open that late?"

"Oh, so I'm a liar now?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"You practically implied I did."

"It was just a question."

"Like I'm gonna believe you."

"That's your problem. Maybe you cancelled because he was in town."

"Or maybe I cancelled because I wasn't up for it. After having been asked all these questions and being examined, sex wasn't particularly first on the list."

"Or maybe I was right earlier about you doing it only cause you felt-"

"I didn't!"

"Fine, then this shouldn't be a problem."

Her eyes narrowed and she watched as he approached.

"Right here. Right now." His facial expression was cold, indifferent, and he could sense her attempting to understand, to find a useful crack in his armor, but beside anger, it was all she was going to get.

The distance between them was only getting shorter and she was already against the wall. She hardly saw this side of him; this only being the second, the first being that day in the locker room where she shattered his heart.

"Or are you gonna blurt out an excuse?"

"I'm not doing this," Pepper firmly said. She made a move to back him off, but his hand stopped her and grabbed tight to her wrist.

His eyes were locked with hers at an unnerving intensity and in them she could see the mixture of jealously, anger, and something she couldn't quite yet read. This wasn't just because of Robert. They had quarreled before so it didn't make sense he'd be this upset over it. Something must have happened. Unsettling news perhaps?

She did her best to squirm out of Tony's hold in the meantime.

"Relax," he said, his grip loosening as he stepped back so he could face her squarely. "I was kidding. Just wanted to make a point."

She yanked herself free and refused to be intimidated. "And?"

"Looks like I was right."

"Only because it's for the wrong reason."

"Sure," he brushed off. Taking one last hard stare at her, he headed for the door.

She wasn't sure why she bothered with her next words. "Where are you going?"

Tony turned around to face her at the door. "Home. So am I supposed to tell you what I'm gonna do once I'm back, too? Is that 'important?'" He waited for a response, but Pepper remained silent. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Oh, and I need some time alone, just so it's clear."