The next morning came fairly slowly. Pepper did her usual routine: woke up, took a shower, got dressed, fixed herself something to eat, and got in her car to start her day's tasks. She didn't think twice when she got up, mostly because she thought her relationship with Tony was fairly stable, despite their recent argument.

He was always in her mind after that incident. Seeing Jones Hardman dislocate Tony's right arm right in front of her gave her nightmares. Last night, she could barely sleep. Every single time she closed her eyes, she could hear Tony screaming in pain. Her eyes would snap open in fear. To be honest, she wanted to drive over to his house to see how he was doing, but when that thought raced through her mind, it was already 4AM.

She didn't think it affected her that much until she tried going to sleep. She even remembered when she told her that she loved him. Pepper could make out every single phrase of their conversation, that is, before Rhodey interrupted Tony. She was certain he was going to say it back to her, but their ride back to his house was so unpleasant that it didn't happen.

Honestly, Pepper, how can you expect him to say the 'L' word so freely? He has never been in a long time relationship nor has he had a record of committing to them. Thoughts raced through Pepper's mind like bullets as she drove down the freeway. Don't expect him to say it so easily… you'll just end up disappointing yourself.

Her train of thought ended when she drove up the driveway of Tony's house. She opened the door, swung her legs out of the car, gathered her belongings and stood up. She closed the door with her bottom and locked it with a press of a button. She walked towards the front door and eventually opened it. As a reflex, she got working on her Blackberry and mindlessly said, "Morning, JARVIS."

There was no response, only the sound of the wind.

"JARVIS?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She plopped her belongings on the couch in the living room and made her way down the stairs to Tony's workshop.

She glanced through the glass walls and saw Tony hunched over his suit. His arm was still in its sling. It was hanging on the side; the hand was resting against his stomach.

Tony heard her punch in her code right before her heels started to click against the concrete surface of the workshop.

"Hey…" She called after him.

He glanced over at her form and immediately went back to work. "Hi."

"Um… JARVIS—"

"I turned him off for some upgrades."

"I thought—" She got cut off again.

"I thought he could use a scrub today." He quickly responded, trying to twist the screwdriver into one of the nails in the suit with only his left hand.

"Oh…" She breathed and crossed her arms across her chest. She carefully watched his form and noticed how his left hand was lightly shaking. "Tony, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He quickly answered again with his back still turned.

"Your hand—"

"I'm just trying to get used to this." He put the screw driver down on the metal cart next to him and reached for the flashlight. He clicked it on and flashed it into the interior of the metal chest casing of the suit. Pepper heard him heavily sigh, followed by a few curse words, before grabbing the screwdriver again.

"I actually came down here to talk to you…" She pressed her lips together lightly, still unaware of their stance in their relationship.

"…About?" He hesitated, carefully glancing back at her.

"About yesterday, last night, in the limo." Her hands rubbed the other arm's elbows; feeling a bit nervous about their future conversation, or if they even have a future conversation.

"What is there to talk about?" He grumbled. "You're clearly pissed at me because of what I did, and frankly, I don't blame you."

"Are you trying to pin this on me, now?" She snapped back. "… because—"

"Pepper!" He shouted, turning around in his chair. Pepper jumped at his sudden shouting and almost angrily snapped back at him, but when she saw how red and puffy his eyes were, she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing earlier.

He had been crying? Why would Tony be crying? "Tony—"

"I didn't sleep last night…" He muttered, cutting her off. Tony tossed the screwdriver into the metal cart behind him and sat there, hunched over with his left hand propping up his head. "…I couldn't. After you left, I tried to fix the suit. I tried to upgrade JARVIS."

"Why—"

"Because it's the only thing that can keep me busy." He snapped back, looking up at her. All of the pain and anguish he had been through for the past few hours was now visible. Pepper always knew how he felt through his movements, but mostly through his eyes. Those chocolate brown saucers always made her vulnerable. But why was he crying?

"Pepper, I'm so useless right now that it hurts. I can't do anything with just my left arm. I tried using my other arm and it hurt like shit. It felt like knives were stabbing me in the shoulder… that's when I took JARVIS offline. It was well past your bedtime, and he suggested that I call you. But I didn't want to bother you… not after what happened yesterday." He explained. He was still hunched over but his arm could no longer hold up his head due to the weight of pain and guilt that tied it down. "It took me five hours to write code for JARVIS' upgrade. It usually takes me ten minutes. It took me more than seven hours to fix and upgrade one arm of the suit, and it usually takes me less than an hour."

Pepper stood there with a small frown on her face. She hated seeing him like this. Tony was giving up so easily. He had lost faith in himself because of his arm. He even blamed himself for what happed yesterday; he blamed himself for not being able to save her from Hardman. He was slowly slipping away from her grasp, and it was her responsibility to help him get back on his feet.

"You're not useless, Tony."

"How can you say that?" He wiped his eyes with his hand and turned away. "I couldn't save you. I can't upgrade JARVIS or fix the suit without losing sleep—"

"Hey…" She bent over and placed her finger underneath his chin to raise his head up so that he faced her. His eyes were still red and puffy, and the corners of his eyes were watery. He looked at her with a painful expression. "You're not useless. You can't blame yourself for what happened yesterday, and you can't blame yourself for being out of your element."

"Pepper…" He tried to look away but she gently led his head back to face her again.

"I meant what I said yesterday." She carefully told him. "I do love you. You care about innocent people, you save them—"

"I thought I saved them…" He tried to ignore her last comment. He vividly remembered her asking him if he loved her.

She let go of his chin. "Hardman's brother isn't an exception, I know that much, but you can't regret any of your actions, Tony. You save billions of lives everyday."

"But I almost cost you your life. And that's the one thing I wanted to protect, with all of my being." He sniffed, trying to look away.

"You're not going to lose me." She placed her hand gently against his cheek. She felt his head endearingly rest against it while warm tears of anguish came in contact with her palm.

"I'm so sorry, Pepper." He mumbled, tears still rolling down his cheeks.

"Don't be." Pepper cupped his face with both of her hands and gently pressed her lips against his. He lightly kissed her back with the thought of losing her still lingering in his head. He hated the idea, no, he despised it. He couldn't even think of a life without her, without his Pepper. As they kissed like it was their first time, she felt the corners of his lips curl upwards. His smile was like the flu. With in seconds, she found herself smiling against his kiss, and as she pulled back, she felt his warm forehead rest against her own.

"I'm sorry I lied to you… again." He whispered to her; his eyes were still shut.

Pepper opened her eyes and felt his good hand against her waist. He put pressure on her hip, wanting to pull her into a hug. She felt his actions and lightly laughed. She stood up, pushed herself towards him and wrapped her arms around his head, pressing him against her stomach.

"It's okay."

After a couple hours of talking to each other, both of them admitted that they made mistakes they weren't proud of. Tony apologized for lying to her, and Pepper apologized for getting mad at him for what now seemed like nothing. They sat on the couch in the workshop. Pepper was sitting down and Tony was lying down with his head in her lap. Both of his arms were resting against his stomach. Pepper held on to his right hand with her own while her other hand played with the hairs on his head. She ran his hand through his hair many times over while Tony laid there, feeling content and sleepy.

His eyes fluttered lightly, feeling sleep overcome his body. He looked straight up and saw Pepper smiling down at him, focusing on the hairs that were in the way of his handsome face.

"That feels nice." He smiled, feeling her hand move some hair out of his face.

"You should rest." Pepper muttered. "You haven't slept in a while."

"Will you?" He asked her while his eyes still fluttered.

"Huh?" She asked in confusion, smiling lightly.

"Will you be there when I wake up?"

Pepper widened her smile and played with the hairs on the nape of his neck. She didn't know why he had to ask her that question. Was it because he still blamed himself for what happened yesterday? Or, was it because she left him last night without saying good-bye, or an I'll see you tomorrow. He didn't actually think she would just leave him like that, did he?

"Of course I'll be here when you wake up." She responded, watching his eye lids slowly close.

"I… lo—" Before he could finish his sentence, he fell into a deep sleep. Pepper knew what he was going to say, and part of her wish he didn't. Part of her wanted him to just sleep soundly without having to make it up to her.

In the back of her head, she thought he was just saying it because he had to. She had almost hoped that he wouldn't remember what he had almost said.