"I need a doctor here now!" Steve yelled as he carried Tony into the emergency ward, the man's body hanging limp and lifeless in his arms. "NOW" he yelled again at the startled hospital staff, who sprang into action, leading him down the hall to a room where he could put Tony down on a bed. The doctors swarmed around him, trying and failing to get the suit off him as his condition steadily worsened.

The super-soldier shoved them aside, grabbing the edge of his helmet and prying it off, putting an oxygen mask on his face and watching as his condition started to stabilize. He pulled the suit apart piece by piece, until Tony was laying in his black skintight suit which he wore underneath the metal one, on the table, his chest shakily moving in deep, painful breaths.

The doctors escorted Steve out of the room then, telling him to wait in the reception area like everyone else as they worked on Tony. They set his cracked ribs and pulled the tiny amount of shrapnel out of his side, none of the minimal damage having reached anywhere near his heart and the arc reactor thankfully. The suit seemed to have taken most of the damage, as it was designed to do, and if Tony had been conscious, he would have pointed out his own brilliance in designing the suit like that.

His side was bandaged up, then the unconscious billionaire was moved to his own comfortable room, where he was hooked up to an IV, though no oxygen as he was able to breathe easily on his own. The worst thing seemed to have been the head injury, but that was rapidly healing, for what it was.

Tony didn't wake until around noon on Thursday, and when he did, the first thing he saw was Steve Rogers, looking at him with concern, then a huge grin as he saw he was awake. "Tony! You're alright! I was so worried… How does your side feel?"

"Mm… Where…Where's my suit…?" Tony frowned, looking around groggily, then trying to move a bit. "Oh.. Damn that hurts…but I'm okay" he muttered, then looked back to Steve. "The gang… You guys got them all, yeah? I trapped the head honcho back there… Did you guys get him?"

"Yeah… Yeah Tony… We got them all… Thanks to you… Are you sure you're okay?" Tony nodded, and Steve smiled. "Good… Good…"

"My suit Steve… Where is it?" Tony frowned, watching as Steve's expression went from grinning to slightly apologetic. "Well. Um… I kind of had to break it the rest of the way Tony… Sent it back to your place though… so it could be repaired…" he nodded, seeing that Tony didn't seem in the least bit annoyed.

"Good.. Good…. I can get home and fix that as soon as this mends a bit more…" Suddenly he remembered what he was supposed to do with Pepper and groaned, hitting his own forehead. "Shit shit shit shit shit…." he looked to Steve, then held out his hand. "Cell phone. Now."

Steve nodded, handing him the phone and stepping back as the billionaire called his girlfriend. Tony took a deep breath as he listened to the phone ring… and ring… and ring… then finally. "What do you want Tony?" Pepper's voice stung with annoyance and impatience as she nearly spat into the phone. "I'm busy, make it brief."

"I'm…. sorry." Tony sighed into the phone, then rubbed his face. "I forgot about the date… I was-"

"Too busy running around in your suit again… Look Tony, there are police for a reason! It's not your job to deal with all the criminals in this city and it's constantly getting in the way of us!"

"I'm sorry Pepper, I would have gotten back in time-" Tony began, but was cut off again.

"Sorry? Tony you keep doing this! Don't say you would have been back in time when you know full well that's a lie!"

"Pepper I am in the hospital! I was shot with a rocket launcher, that's why I missed the date, okay?!" Tony yelled into the phone, then listened to the dead silence on the other end for thirty seconds before she spoke again.

"Tony… That's exactly why you shouldn't be doing this. I tried to tell you before-"

"Pepper please…. Don't start that again." Tony groaned into the phone, his voice nearly pleading.

"I can't do this." she whispered after a few minutes of painful silence, then cleared her throat, speaking clearly into the phone. "Tony… I can't do this. I can't be with you if you insist on risking your life every single day… If you keep missing out on being with me, in order to run around and play police, taking the risk of losing your life…. You're already so weak with your heart issues… And if something else happens to you… I can't live with that fear."

"W..What are you saying Pepper?" Tony's voice was shaking and he swallowed against the hard lump that had just appeared in his throat as she had spoken, hoping against hope that he was somehow misinterpreting what the woman was saying and that it wasn't what he thought it was...

"You need to make a decision Tony. Me or Iron Man… I won't decide for you and I won't try and talk you out of what you choose, but you do have to choose. Either you and I continue having a relationship, or you continue to be Iron Man, and I am merely the head of your company. Let me know tomorrow morning… I'll drop by the hospital on my way to a meeting I have in that end of the city… Swing by and talk to you then. Goodbye Tony." She hung up on him then, leaving him shaking and conflicted.

"Tony… Are you alright?" Steve asked quietly, stepping a little closer.

"Go away Steve… Just… GO away…" he growled, glaring at the man, then turning away as he left the room, holding himself and thinking. He couldn't give up being Iron Man.. It was part of him… And there would be people who needed his help… There were things he needed to be Iron Man to do… Even just some work on the clean energy he was able to use the suit to do… There was no way he could just… Stop.

But then there was Pepper. He needed Pepper. He loved her- Didn't he? It wasn't like he had been planning on marrying her anytime soon, but it had been assumed… That eventually… But she'd changed… Ever since he'd flown into the portal with the nuke, and fallen to the earth, nearly losing his life, she'd been telling him he needed to stop… Needed to be more careful… That being Iron Man would destroy him one way or the other…. And now she was finally putting an end to it, it seemed… Telling him that if he wanted to do that… She wouldn't stay at his side any longer.

Tony curled up tighter on his side, focusing on trying to get to sleep… To heal some before he had to talk to Pepper the following day… Before he had to tell her his decision. His head was aching and his side ached a little, but not too badly… His heart felt strangely painful, and he had to check a few times to see that his arc reactor wasn't malfunctioning as he lay there.

There had to be some way… Anything he could do to persuade Pepper to allow him to continue with being Iron Man… His mind reeled with ideas, from the ridiculous idea of making another suit, to fit Pepper, and having her fly around with him, to the even more impossible and dangerous idea of attempting to get her to change her mind. Tony allowed himself to fall asleep eventually, the thought of preventing the death of his and Pepper's relationship still warring ferociously with the thought of staying Iron Man…