Maybe some part of him had been hoping that Bruce would get halfway to the parking lot and turn right back around, march back up to the third floor and demand Tony come back with him to the lab. Maybe he'd thought that after spending so much time together, Bruce would want to spend more together, even if Tony could never be whole or solid or able to operate heavy machinery ever again.

But maybe that had been pretty stupid.

Bruce was gone, and now Tony was alone with himself. Like, literally. He was staring at his body laid out on the hospital bed. It was just he and himself. Lazy, worthless good-for-nothing; Tony grumbled.

After awhile he decided to take a stroll around the hospital, if for no other reason than to give his limbs something to do. He phased through the door to his hospital room and turned to wander aimlessly down the hall past rooms with other patients in them. Rhodes was still around, he noticed. The colonel was talking with one of his junior officers. Tony couldn't help but overhear.

"This just ain't fair…" Rhodey shook his head. "He finally finds someone to work with, and then…" he trailed off.

"That guy looked really smart too."

The colonel nodded. "Not many folks could keep up with Tony intellectually. I guess at least he got a chance to collaborate with someone for a little while; woulda been a damn shame if he'd gone his whole life always working alone."

Tony felt his eyes begin to water. He stared at the sterile linoleum beneath his feet and turned a 180°, hastening away in the opposite direction.

He'd gotten to a lobby by the time he finally looked up again, and when he did he caught the telltale drone of another familiar voice, one he would have been just as happy to have forgotten- Justin Hammer. The television was flipped to a news station, and the weapons contractor was being interviewed by some talk show host or another. "Well without Stark Industries, someone's gonna have to step up to the plate for the security of the nation," the horn-rimmed glasses-wearing man explained, though not particularly well. "That's simple 'supply and demand'- Hammer Industries intends to fill that demand with its supply."

Tony felt himself scowl. "Guess you got my job…" he muttered.

"Oh yeah," Hammer continued in response to whatever the host had said, "About time. Hammer Industries has always had to operate in the shadow of Stark Industries- but now some of our best stuff is gonna be seeing the light of day. It's gonna be revolutionary."

Tony gave a snort. "Doubtful. Even with competition you couldn't come up with a worthwhile functioning piece of hardware."

"And this isn't the only front Hammer Industries is expanding on," Justin went on. "We're working on some solid sustainable energy solutions; I had a meeting with Dr. Walsh of ABI Energy Inc. just this morning…"

"Jesus Christ!" Tony exclaimed, gesturing angrily, "Would someone please turn this drivel off?" The staff and patients, however, only continued about their business, passing clipboards around and flipping through magazines, his complaint unheard.

Tony gave a dramatic sigh, shoulders slumping. The front doors to the hospital wooshed open and the clicking of high heels drew his attention. Tony's eyes widened as they travelled up the long pair of freckled legs to where they disappeared into the pencil skirt of a business suit. "Pepper?" Tony gawked. Holy wow was she a sight for sore eyes. Without thinking, he rushed up to her. "Pep!" he began to embrace her when she simply stepped right through him. His heart sank temporarily. "Oh… I guess you can't see me either…" he realized.

Close behind the woman was her personal bodyguard, Happy Hogan, and the two robots Tony had built when he was a student at MIT, DUM-E and U. They moved through the lobby towards the check-in counter; Tony followed along. "So what are you guys doing here, anyway? Are you… are you coming to visit me?" he questioned.

"Here to visit Mr. Stark," Pepper said to the woman behind the desk.

"Of course, come right in."

"You are!" the innovator almost leapt for joy, "You guys are the best. I mean it. I mean, even though you can't see me, it's still sweet. I mean, you can see the me up in the hospital bed, but not the me right here," he continued to correct himself, but not with any loss of enthusiasm.

DUM-E gave a happy twitter in response, bobbing his arm up and down. The unit wheeled forward and set its pinchers on his shoulder affectionately. Tony cocked his head to the side and blinked. "Wait, can you…?" he started, but Pepper interrupted.

"DUM-E, come on," she insisted, motioning towards the elevator. "If you get lost, I'm going to let the hospital keep you and use you as an portable defibrillator. Don't think I won't." The robot whined out a high note and fell in. Tony felt himself chuckle at the exchange (even with a new owner, DUM-E was still catching the same old crap as always) and he followed the three of them along to the elevator and up to the third floor. Rhodey gave her a wave as she went by and she returned it.

Happy stepped forward to get the door for her, holding it open. She thanked him for the courtesy and stepped inside. "Yeah, thanks," Tony added as he too entered the room. Once DUM-E and U rolled themselves in, Happy followed suit and shut the door behind him for their privacy.

And just like that, Pepper's business-like attitude dropped. She bit her lip and rushed to Tony's bedside, plucking one of his hands up from where it had been lying at his side. Gingerly she pressed the back of his hand to her cheek, shutting her eyes.

Tony blinked, feeling wetness pool in the corner of one of his eyes. Hastilly he wiped it away with a thumb. "C'mon now, Pep… don't be sad…" he said, crouching down beside her and wishing she could hear him. He gave a melancholic chuckle, "Really, you should be mad at me. Stock prices have probably plummetted…"

A knock on the door kept him from trying to console her further. Happy opened it to reveal the physician in charge of him. Well other him. Persistent coma him. "Ms. Potts. Sorry to interrupt; could I have a word?" he inquired.

The businesswoman stood, straightening herself and her composure. "Of course." She stepped out into the threshold. Tony followed, interested in and not a little suspicious of what the guy had to say.

The doctor cleared his throat. "First of all, I hope to impress upon you how much we've dedicated ourselves to Mr. Stark. Because of his previous generosity and heroism, we've taken some pretty extraordinary measures to give him the best care possible and make him feel comfortable these last three months…"

"Well, I'd hope," Tony scoffed.

"Yes, I've noticed," Pepper began, "It's very apprieci— DUM-E! Turn it back!" Tony blinked, swivelling around only to see the robot had pressed the switch to sit his coma-self up in bed. "U, watch your brother," she instructed exasperatedly to the other bot, which proceeded to lightly whomp the first and return the bed back to its former reclined state. "Sorry," Pepper directed her attention back to the physician, "Please, go on."

The doctor exhaled roughly. "This is hard to say. Did you know your boyf… your boss's opinion about artificially prolonging life?"

Tony felt his stomach drop and his adrenaline rush.

Pepper wet her thin lips. "No," she responded.

"He was against it."

"You're… you're kidding me," Pepper's brow drew down with incredulty.

"I know it might seem odd considering his… previous condition," the doctor went on, "but it is documented on his release form. Keeping shrapnel away from his heart with the arc reactor and being fed through a tube in a vegetative state are two very different things. Mr. Stark knew that."

"Listen," Tony put up his hands, stepping between the two of them. He gestured with his hands, "That was before. This is now. And I've definitely,most definitely, changed my mind now. So if I could just see that form…"

Pepper glanced desperately back at the inventor lying in the hospital bed. "But there's still brain activity, isn't there?" she said to the doctor.

"Tons of it!" Tony piped in, as if to somehow prove it to the physician. "I mean, look at me! I'm Tony Stark! Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. That's like… four times the brain activity of the average individual, coma or no!"

The phsyician's tone was apologetic, "Unfortunately there is nothing to indicate Mr. Stark will ever come out of his coma."

"I am indicating it! Right now!" Tony was practically hopping up and down in the doctor's face.

Pepper was staring down at her feet. "Due to the special situation without any next of kin, we won't take any terminal action without your explicit approval," the doctor went on. "Now, I've prepared the necessary paperwork…" he held out the document.

"Whoa, buddy, relax, okay?" Tony spluttered. He turned back to the redhead. "Pep, don't sign that! I'm here, okay? I'm here, honey." He reached out to put his hands on her shoulders.

"If you decide to sign—" the doctor began.

"I'll think about it," Pepper spoke tersely, snatching the documents from the practitioner.

"Pep!" Tony pled, "I swear, I'll spend more time with you! I'll take you out more often. I'll… I'll even show up to my business meetings on time!"

"I know it must be hard, but sometimes it's best to acknowledge what the patient— what Mr. Stark would have wanted…"

"I said I'd think about it," Pepper snapped. She spun on her heel. DUM-E and U followed, with Happy trailing the rear, who was sure to give the doctor a glare on his way past.

Tony let out a relieved sigh. Dodged the bullet on that one. At least for now. "Thanks, Pep. You always looked out for me," he whispered, admiration and gratitude swelling within him as he watched the closest to what he had as a family leave the hospital.