[Hey everyone, finally updated. Thanks for waiting, in return i give you super long chapter. I would like to thnk all the people who added this story to their faves and are following it. Also for all the coments, but i would like to ask than reviews really help me to improve so keep reviewing please :D.]

[ENJOY!]

Chapter 04: Iron Man

It was already evening when Pepper got home. She didn't want to stay at the mansion, but she didn't want to be at home, either. She didn't know where to be, or what to do.

After thinking for a while, she went to the kitchen, prepared some hot cocoa, and went to her bedroom. She forgot to bring home her laptop. Therefore, she took off her shoes and left them on the floor.

"Idiot! Potts, you are an idiot!" she chided herself. "You should have given him a chance, or at least some credit! The man has been making some effort. He is not perfect. He is still human not matter what his huge ego says. Tony is not The Tony of three months ago. Something changed when he came back."

Pepper took a sip of her hot cocoa. Grabbing the remote control and turning on the TV, all she wanted to do was to stop thinking about Iron Man, or Tony, or anything related to that topic. She just zapped through the channels on the TV, maybe just to find some random report like "Iron Man Saves the Day," just to feel better, but she was unlucky. She gave up.

After a few hours of watching repeat episodes of random series, she fell asleep.

On the other side of the world, Tony saved the day. He was exhausted and hurt. All he wanted to do was get back home to see her. Unfortunately, he was so hurt. Every inch of his body was in pain, and he found difficult to stay on his feet.

"God this stupid helmet is suffocating me! Time to get rid of this stupid suit. It feels too heavy," he muttered to himself.

Tony ripped off his helmet, throwing it away so he could feel the air on his face. It felt refreshing after the hard battle. The next thing he knew, Agent Coulson was beside him.

"Mr. Stark, you appear to be in need of some medical attention," Coulson said. He gave Tony a hand and picked up his helmet.

"Agent Coulson you're omnipresent!" Tony replied.

Coulson smiled at him. "No, Mr. Stark. I just do my job, and my job is to keep an eye on you so you stay on one piece."

Tony gave Coulson a look of disbelief and laughed. "So, you're like my super special babysitter? God! Fury really loves me!"

"Well, not exactly," Coulson answered. "I'm more like your guardian angel when you're doing missions. I'll be watching you're six. You are new to this. You need me more than you think … so … Mr. Stark, lets patch you up."

The agent led Tony to a vehicle. The driver drove them to an S.H.I.E.L.D. base full of agents walking frantically in and out of the base.

"Well, Mr. Stark, here we are," Coulson stated. "Just get patched up and you will be ready to get back home."

Tony got out of the vehicle and walked through a crowd of men and women in black. Many of them whispered as he passed by. Being patched up was always the worst part of any mission. The doctors took off the armor covering his arms, but when they wanted to take of his chest armor, he felt so much pain that he pushed the doctors away.

"Don't… I'm perfectly fine," he said, breathing heavily from the pain. "Just give me back my stuff. I need to go."

"But Mr. Stark," one of the doctors said, giving him a concerned look. "You might have internal bleeding or something. We need to check. It's for your safety."

"Don't worry," Tony said. "I'll call my doctor when I get home. I just need to go."

He took his repulsor gloves, put them back on, and headed home. During the flight, he ignored the pain. All what he wanted was to see her. He made the suit fly at its maximum speed just to fly faster to the other side of the globe. When he reached the coast of Malibu, it was 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. His stomach was growling. He decided to look for doughnuts and coffee.

"Well I can't fight evil with empty stomach," he told himself.

After slowing down a bit, he found the gigantic doughnut he was looking for. Landing in front of the store took off his helmet and walked in.

"Hey, good morning," he greeted. "I need the biggest box of doughnuts … and the biggest coffee available. Charge them to my account."

The kid behind the counter was speechless. He couldn't believe Iron Man was there, asking for doughnuts and coffee. While the clerk was processing all this information, Tony was trying to remember if he brought his wallet or not and how to pay. Unfortunately for him, he had no wallet and had no idea how to pay the kid. Or at least make the kid move. The kid was still frozen in place like a statue. Finally, Tony approached and waved his hand.

"Hello? Hey … you … kid… erm … Sam! Give me lots of doughnuts and lots of coffee. And you can keep my helmet, since… I forgot my wallet at home."

Tony put the helmet on the counter despite the fact it had scratches and maybe some blood inside. Sam held it with shaking hands. He felt like he was holding the Holy Grail or something sacred.

"Y-yes, f-for you anything Iron Man," Sam said. He ran to get the coffee and as many doughnuts as the box could hold.

"So… well that would not get you in trouble right?" Tony said as Sam finished up, munching a muffin he stole from the counter.

"No… no, Iron Man…" Sam stuttered. "I…I invite, I mean … heroes need some reward! Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Tony said.

"How was it?" asked Sam.

"How was what?" Tony inquired.

"The battle, you know?" Sam said. "I mean … look at yourself, man! You really need some rest."

"Well," Tony said, "if you really want to know … it wasn´t as cool as in the movies. I got disappointed. I was expecting big booms. But was tough and … full of bullets, that's it, nothing fancy."

Sam looked a little puzzled because his hero was disappointed for some reason. Or maybe he was just beat up.

"Here," Sam said, giving Tony the doughnut box and the extra large coffee.

"Thanks a lot, kid," Tony stated, taking his meal. "I'll pay you back when I get my wallet."

"Iron man?" Sam asked, looking at Tony expectantly.

"Yes kid?" Tony replied.

"Can I take a picture, you know?" Sam asked.

"Sure, why not," Tony said, smiling. "After all … you just saved Iron Man."

Sam smiled. He took out his mobile phone and set up the camera, then ran and posed beside Tony. Tony put back his helmet and posed for the picture.

When Tony finally got home, it was noon already. He crashed on his garage/workshop floor instead of landing.

"Damn it!" he muttered, standing up and taking apart the damaged parts of his suit before stepping up to the machines to take off the rest. Tony realized that his neoprene suit had dried blood stains, which for him was unusual since the suit was designed to protect him.

"Ok," he told himself, "worst things have happened before. Besides … it's not as bad as it looks" he told himself and headed to the bathroom. A shower would be easier and less painful than trying something else. He took off the neoprene suit to find his right shoulder was also covered with blood. "Ok. This wasn't expected," he muttered, stepping into the shower and turning it on. Hot water trickled down his body and red liquid was getting everywhere. He felt some pain, but just grit his teeth.

Now I understand her concern about all this superhero stuff, he thought to himself. Being in places I never imagined. Dangerous places with dangerous people. Waiting hours for a good or bad news about how it went? If I'm dead or alive? Poor Pepper … that would be too much for her.

Now I got my epiphany. Bravo, Stark! You just needed a complete week to discover it. It would have been less time if I had called a NASA genius before to solve this. Maybe that's why she has been acting that weird since I announced I'm Iron Man. I need to do something for her about it. It's either that, or she'll be gone. I mean, she's been with me all this years, no matter the circumstances. But this? This is beyond all that. No matter what stupid shit I have done to her, all my childish tries to get her in my bed … all that its nothing compared to this.

I focused on Iron Man and Pepper separately. I didn't see they were in the same equation all this time. No matter how much I joked about with her about it. What a genius, Tony! Really brilliant! Just brilliant!

Tony stepped out of the shower and inspected his right shoulder. He could see it turning into a big bruise and inside a big rash. He put a towel around his waist and inspected himself in the mirror. He found more bruises on his body. He nodded and went to dress up to his bedroom.

"Jarvis," he asked. "Where is Pepper?"

"Miss Potts is still at home, Sir," JARVIS replied.

"Well, let's make it up to her, JARVIS," he said. "Open my email inbox and let's get to work." He went downstairs to his workshop in order to work on the tedious things he hated so much.

Pepper opened her eyes just in time to be blinded by bright sun light coming from the window. "What time is it?" she grunted. Her right hand felt around for her black berry in the night table. She found it and picked it up to see the hour.

"No it can't be! It's already 12:53pm? God!" She put back the blackberry on the night table and got up. She headed into the shower and rushed to get her clothes. Grabbing her black berry when she was done, she headed into the living room where she had left her things. She took everything, went for her car keys and headed to the mansion. When she parked at the workshop/garage found everything in order, she automatically thought Tony hadn't come back.

"Oh god Tony…" She rushed upstairs and was relieved to find Tony in the living room yelling at the cell phone. She decided to wait for him on the coach. She opened her laptop to check out her boss email inbox and started to work. To her surprise, the inbox had only 5 messages. All were responses thanking Tony for solving the issues. Her eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't believe Tony had actually put his ass to work doing all the stuff he hated most! What struck her the most was that he was being responsible about his business, instead of asking her to figure out what he was supposed to do with them.

Tony hung up the phone and sat beside her. "Hey Pep, I thought you might not be coming."

She closed the laptop and made eye contact with him. "No, don't say that. I just overslept." She nodded.

He smiled. "I understand, don't worry. What about if get some snacks and we… you know, watch a movie or something."

"Sure. I'm glad you are fine, Tony."

"I am Iron Man remember?"

She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Yeah sure, you really know how to ruin the moment Tony."

"Look, Pepper," he said. "I really understand how you feel about this. I know it's dangerous. But it's not stupid or worthless like other really stupid things I have done. I'm glad I can count on you, and that you are still with me. You are the only one I have."

Meanwhile, to himself he thought, come on Tony. Say it. Say you love her. Come on. It's very simple.

Pepper smiled. "You're the only one I have, too, Tony."

He blinked a few times, puzzled, and changed the subject. "So what movie you want to see?"

Pepper thought to herself and smirked, Tony was nervous? That's new! Wait a minute … that's not Tony. That's not my Tony. What does Fury do to him? Brainwash him? Make a clone and replace the original? Ok, Pots, admit it. You like the new Tony more than the old one. Enjoy it.

"Anything you want," was all she said.

"Ok," he smiled. He knew Pepper wasn't the girl next door who liked those boring chick love movies and crap. He always liked that about her, the fact she was different from other girls. He chose an action movie. Taking some chips he had on the coffee table, he sat besides Pepper.

In the middle of the movie, Tony felt sleepy. Not because the movie was boring. In fact, the movie was very good. He was just so tired. Laying down, he rest his head on Pepper's lap and felt asleep.

"Oh, Tony," she sighed, "what am I going to do with you?" She smiled and passed her hand through his hair.

[What will happen next episode? Will Tony get the chick? The writter doesnt even know... Discover it in next chapter...]