Hey guys, before you read on, I've got some bad news. It looks like this story of mine is coming to an end in another chapter or two. I haven't decided which, but the decision alone was hard, and ultimately the longer I thought about doing this, the more I feel it is time I did. In the meantime, as I sit on my dilemma, please enjoy the new excerpt in the lives of our favorite MCU couple!

"No, Howard. I agreed to five months."

"I can't afford to hold it off any longer."

"So fire Fredrick and get your head accountant to New York."

"Maria, you think I would have asked if I could do it myself?"

"He deserves a normal life. After everything we put him through, we owe him that."

"Maria, they're dealing under the table. My reputation will be ruined if this gets out."

"Howard..."

"I will not have that dead son of a bitch ruin me."

"You know sometimes I tell myself you couldn't possibly love that company more than our family, but then you drop this on my lap, and suddenly I understand why our son hates you so much."

"I need you there," he pressed. "You're the only one I trust."

"He has a life here. Friends. School. A girlfriend. He can stay here until June comes."

"What? You're afraid he won't be able to adapt? Cause that is just ridiculous, Maria."

"That's not what I'm worried about!"

"This is how it has to be! Letting him stay here is no different than what we've been doing to him his entire life. You want to be more traditional? This is the price. I don't know what to tell you."

She knew her husband was right, but she just wanted Tony to have a sense of normalcy until school ended.

"So five days. Is that fine with you?"

Maria nodded. "I'll go tell Tony then."

"Hey, no." He stopped her by grabbing her hand. "I'll do it. It's my fault. I'll take the backlash of this, Maria."

"You're on your last leg, Howard. We both know you don't have any more chances with him. I'm doing this."

Tony let out a deep breath, his heart hammering. It was now or never. "I'm leaving."

"Sure." She closed her browser and shut off her laptop thinking he was going home.

He swallowed the lump in his throat before clarifying to her what that statement really meant. "No, Pepper, I'm leaving. To New York." She had his full attention once those words spilled out of his mouth. "On Friday. I don't know if I'll come back."

"What do you mean you're leaving to New York?"

He wasn't sure which part of that was confusing.

"How long?"

"How long?"

"Yes," she replied, a lot louder than needed.

He shouted back. "I just said I don't know!"

"It's just..." She let out a frustrated breath and got off the chair she was on to sit by him on the bed, concern on her face. There was no reason to let this lead into a fight. "Friday? Did you just find out?"

"I, I, um..." Alarms went off when he started stammering.

Eyes laced with newfound indignation, Pepper finished his sentence for him. "You knew about it beforehand."

"It's not like that."

"Okay, so explain."

"It's..." He sighed.

"It's what? Because here's how I see it. I can think of several times where I've asked you if something was up and all those times you've said it was nothing. You always do this. Why," Pepper questioned.

"Always do what?"

"You never tell me what's on your mind."

"I did."

"That's not what I mean. These past two weeks I've been thinking something was wrong with you and I could understand why you were acting the way you were, but I was frustrated because I see how much progress you've made and it just felt like you were just closing off again. You kept telling me it's nothing. This is not nothing. This is serious. This changes everything about how's it going to be from now on. Look, I'm not mad, but I am upset about the fact that you kept quiet about this for weeks and never bothered to tell me until the very last minute. It's what you always do and it's what I hate."

"I didn't know until Sunday that we had to move. My parents originally told me it'd be once school was over."

"And when were you planning on telling me then? Because my guess would be somewhere near June 10th."

"Really," Tony fumed. "You think I would have told you the day before school was out? Give me some credit."

"I would if you didn't have such a bad track record."

"I thought you weren't mad."

"I'm not. I'm telling you the truth; it's what I see."

"I said I'd work on it. It doesn't happen overnight."

"And progress would be nice."

"Why do you always bust my ass about this? I'm doing the best I can. It might not be the way you want it, but I'm trying. You're not perfect in this relationship either."

"I never once said I was! We both have our faults."

"Then maybe you should start acting like it, okay?"

She didn't know what to say. Why was everything that happened to her a year ago now happening all over again? Was she cursed? Why can't I have a normal relationship for once? This wasn't fair. At all.

They sat in tense silence, both glued to their spot, neither daring to be the first speak out of fear of what it might lead to. He's thought about it. Breaking up. As much as he'd like to be together, he was a realist and he couldn't leave it up to chance.

"What are we gonna do," Pepper finally asked. She looked up and met his eyes, no longer able to ignore the question on her mind.

"That's what I want to talk about." She kept quiet so he continued. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to make promises I won't be able to keep and I can't honestly tell you that I haven't thought of breaking up. For all I know, we could break up down the road. It's not something either of us can control. We could grow in different directions or you could just get tired of me screwing up and say you've had enough."

"Or it could be the exact opposite."

"Yeah, I've thought about that, but will we? I hope we do, but I keep wondering if our relationship is even strong enough to. I keep thinking about your last relationship and I realized if a relationship like yours that had been going on for two years had such an ability to fall apart just because of distance, how long is ours gonna survive? We've been together almost five months. That's apples and oranges."

Why did she suddenly feel like she was fighting to keep their relationship together? He had just said he wanted to stay together, but she was getting a feeling that it was the complete opposite. She didn't want to prolong their conversation any longer than it had to be.

"It sounds like you've already decided what's about to happen."

"No, I haven't," he stated, his stare matching her intense one.

"No, you have," Pepper clarified. She got off the bed and stood in front of Tony with anger burning inside of her. How dare he use her past relationship to pass judgement on theirs. "You're just dragging it on to see what'll happen. I'm not interested in playing games."

"Pepper, I'm not up to anything," he replied.

"Just do it. If you're going to break up with me, just do it. I'm not fragile, I can handle it."

"I said I've thought about it. Doesn't mean I want to," he frustratedly said.

"But it's what you're leaning towards, isn't it? It's okay, Tony, I get it. You see things in percentages and numbers and you calculate the odds and all that stuff and you've come to the conclusion that our relationship has less of a chance surviving if we're apart than it would if we're together. Or maybe it had nothing to do with that and more to do with the uncertainty that comes along with it. We've been through a lot, we've experienced things most couples will never in their lives ever experience, and we're still here. We have something special and if you want to let distance get in the way of that - fine."

He was willing to talk this out before, but now he was just furious that she was attacking him for no reason at all. So she had a point, he was leaning toward one over the other, but his mind wasn't made up and all he wanted to do at this moment was agree with her out of spite.

But instead he showed restrain. Something that surprised him. "I hate when you do this. Our relationship isn't a game to me, Pepper. And, yeah, I'm immature when it comes to things as serious as this, and maybe it's careless and frustrating, but at least I own up to them. I don't go and give you bullshit excuses. You think I want us to end our relationship? Because I don't. I care a lot about you and us. Sometimes I even think of what it'll be like if we make it in the future, but it's not something I care about at this second. I want simple. I am tired of complications and that's what defines a long distance relationship, but it's not like I'm pointing to your past and saying 'that's my reason for it.'"

She had calmed down and was listening to every word. It still felt like he wanted to break up, but she let him continue talking.

"I'm not scared of distance, Pep. It's more about what comes along with it."

"I don't understand," she thought curiously.

Tony sighed. Did he really have to say the words? "I'm scared of losing you."

"Are you serious?" Her response to his admission was not at all judgmental.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted them. He couldn't even look her in the eyes.

"Tony, it's not going to happen."

"And I'm sure you mean that, but can't promise me that."

She could see the insecurities in his eyes once he glanced at her. "It won't."

"And I'm sure you said the same exact thing to your ex before you moved."

"It always goes back to Robert."

"What? So you're telling me you guys didn't have the same exact conversation that we're having now?"

"So now it's about trust, right?"

"It's more like I know you can do better than me. It's more like I'm afraid someone will come along who's better suited for you and you'll notice and think 'look, he's got his entire life together. He doesn't act like a ten year old on a sugar high and he has the same values as I do.'"

"You're saying that like I want you to change. Tony, I don't. You're enough."

He scoffed, the doubt in his voice as evident as the look on his face. "Right."

Pepper didn't know how to proceed. It would hurt to say goodbye to someone you cared so deeply about knowing life wouldn't be the same without them, but it was better to give up rather fight knowing it'd only be you truly giving it your all in the process.

"But, still, I know you're in my life for a reason, and I don't want to give up on us, so whatever you want I'll do it," Tony said. "Just tell me."

You know what? It was alright. It'd be selfish on her part to make him stay.

"It doesn't matter," she replied, doing her best to keep her emotions out of her voice. Her lips graced him a sad smile. "Things aren't right for us at this moment and I get you're afraid and I could say all I want to cast aside your doubts, but evidently, it's up to you and what you need. It's nice of you to want to do what I want, but it's selfish of me to keep you anchored to something you don't want to be a part of. We'll just fight so much if we did and I'd rather us leave things as it is now than having things get so terrible that we can't even be in the same room with each other. It's going to be hard, but it's what's right. You're right. You've been through a lot. You deserve simple and I hope you get it." That was when she couldn't hold it anymore. Her tears and voice got the best of her, but somehow she still managed to pull the words out. "Go to New York. Have fun. I'll be just fine."

"No you won't," he softly said as he stepped forward so his finger could help wipe away her sadness. Each time Pepper sniffed, it ripped a part of his heart. He closed his eyes as he felt her arms go around his waist, her face buried in his chest, his shirt soaking her tears. He was struggling not to break himself.

Those three words were enough to coax Pepper out of his embrace, albeit slowly and unwillingly. His reached out and wiped yet another tear before settling his hand on her cheek. She leaned towards the touch and closed her eyes. She could feel Tony closing the distance, and before she knew it, he had leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers. It was soft, an apology for everything that had happened just now, but if he was going to leave, there was no way she would let him go with something like that. She pulled him closer and deepened with pressure, the kiss filled with undeniable passion and love.

"I have to go," he whispered breathlessly. He pulled back not because he wanted to but because he had to. There was things to pack, and as much as a genius he was, he still had to study for the final he had for AP History tomorrow. Well, it wasn't technically studying. He just glanced at the pictures and scanned the text, if you could even call it scanning. He usually got to about the third paragraph before falling asleep.

He couldn't get his mind to overpower his internal conflict, which was why he didn't think twice about kissing her again. Her back hit the wall with a thud and her head came to rest on his left shoulder as he kissed down her neck. She couldn't prevent another tear from slipping as Tony let go. Neither of them wanted this and it wasn't anyone's fault. It was what was best and sometimes it was what things came down to when they both had issues with each other and couldn't fix before the hard part began. They started with the best intentions months ago and here they stood now in a semi-amicable split.

"You're the best. I hope you to know that." He was never going to find another girl like her, and he knew that, but somehow, that eased his mind because that meant no girl could ever replace her either.

You guys better leave some reviews! Tony and Pepper's happiness depends on it! I'm kidding...wait, no I'm not. Or am I? You'll just have to find out! But, seriously, all jokes aside, I'd appreciate it. I truly miss getting them. It makes this worth it. I'll update in another two-three weeks, so be prepared!