A/N: Lots of the reviews I'm getting are making me feel a bit guilty. However, I do remind you that this is my story; I've known where it was headed for quite a while and I did warn you about the angst. I ask you to read to the end, some loose ends will be tied up. Any questions, feel free to ask me.

Blankness.
The shock had wiped her mind as clean as a slate. She was nothing, she was nowhere, she didn't know what was happening... All she could do was stare blankly at the too-small arc reactor in Tony's silent chest... The arc reactor that had gone out. For it was dull now, about as bright as the sky at night. Its reassuring warm blue glow had died. Just like...
No.
Can't be happening. Can't be happening. No, this was Tony Stark. He couldn't be...
Pepper dropped to her knees, well-aware that this wouldn't help Tony, but what else could she do?
"No, no, you did not just leave me," she muttered, her voice unrecognisable as it broke. "You bastard. You selfish bastard. You didn't leave. How could you leave... No, you didn't, you can't have..."
Loki was gone, she didn't know where he'd run off to, but what did it matter? He couldn't help. That- that- she couldn't think of a word to describe him. All this time, and he hadn't been responsible for the thing at all. Why hadn't he thought to tell her?
She wasn't quite sure what she was feeling. There was no logic left in her normally sensible brain. There were no emotions left in her normally full heart. There was nothing but the shock, the disbelief, the feeling that she'd been disconnected from her body.
She knew she should cry, but the tears wouldn't come. It was like her body was refusing to accept the impossible: that Tony was gone.
She lifted his limp, tiny frame and cradled him softly in her arms, sinking to the ground. He looked so innocent, so peaceful, that for a moment, she swore he was only sleeping...
The door burst open and she registered vaguely that Fury was storming in. A small shape toddled behind him- Loki? Her hazy vision wasn't helping her blank mind to process anything.
She became aware of Maria tugging on her arm, murmuring for her to get up. She shook her head, although she didn't quite remember telling herself to do it. She kept shaking her head, muttering, "no, no." Fury tried to wrestle Tony from her grip and she cried out, shrieking and screeching like an animal.
I've gone mad, haven't I? she wondered groggily.
She crumpled to the floor, sobbing helplessly. Fury scooped up Tony and ran out the door, perhaps to the hospital? Who knew, or cared, Pepper was past caring, there was just no point, all it did was tear you apart.
She allowed Maria to pull her up, patting her hair. Step by step, Maria pushed her to walk shakily and dazedly out the door.
There was still nothing in her mind. It scared her a little, but she couldn't think about it. She couldn't think about anything. Pepper fretted idly that the numbness would never pass.
She felt herself being pushed down onto a bed, a soft one, and there was a sharp pain in her arm as someone injected something into her. Her vision went fuzzy and started to go dark.
"Wait," she rasped. "The other children..."
"We'll take care of them," came a soft voice. "Rest."
Her almost-dying mind projected an image above her head. An image of Tony, alive and well, laughing, happy...
"Tony..." she croaked, reaching her hand up to touch his face.
Her arm thudded back down next to her as her body lost its battle with the sedative. Everything swirled and swayed around her, and she fell into unconsciousness.

Pepper came to with a throb in her head. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned, squinting against the light. There were six figures standing over her...
"How you doin', Pep?" asked Clint, grinning.
Tony said nothing, but extended his hand to stroke her cheek, an unusually tender look in his eyes.
"You guys... You're alright," Pepper gasped. "You're alive... You aren't sick... You're... You're grown up!"
Natasha smiled. "You did a great job with us."
"I'm so glad you're okay," Pepper breathed, and tried to sit up.
Gentle hands pushed her back down. "Calm down, Pepper," said a voice that came out of Steve's mouth, but it didn't sound like Steve.
"Try to relax," said Thor's mouth, but the voice was female.
Pepper's eyes widened.
The Avengers faded away, replaced by a couple of doctors smiling reassuringly at her.
"What..." Pepper's voice faltered. "Where are they?"
"Where are who?" asked the woman.
"Tony... And Natasha? Steve, Clint, Bruce, Thor, where are they? They were here, they..." She trailed off.
"Honey, I'm afraid they weren't here," said the man apologetically. "You must have imagined it."
"How are they? How's Tony? Is he... Is he..."
"Shh, shh," soothed the woman. "The others are fine, they're in stable conditions. Tony... Well." She looked uncertainly at her companion.
"We're sorry, Miss. Potts," the man said gently. "We aren't sure how he is."
"Check," Pepper pleaded. "Please."
"No, it's not that... They aren't sure," the woman amended. "He's not dead, don't worry. Loki got to us quickly enough, they've sort of saved him."
Pepper frowned. "Sort of? What..." Another thought occurred to her. "Loki? What's he said? Can he help? What do you mean, he told you? He helped us? Quickly? But it was ages before Fury came! What-"
The man held up his hand. "Calm down," he said for the second time. "Yes, Loki helped us. It wasn't ages, in fact, he came as soon as he realised what had happened. I suppose the shock made it seem like ages."
"He's been talking to Fury," the woman said. "Beyond that...We don't know."
Pepper struggled to sit up, and they pushed her down again.
"Please, let me see him. Let me see them all," she begged.
The man laughed. "I would have thought you'd have had enough of them." He stopped laughing when he saw her stony face.
"We can't let you out, Miss. Potts," the woman told her apologetically. "But we will inform you of any news that we hear."
Pepper tried to settle down. "Thank you," she said quietly, and lay back in silence.
The man and the woman exchanged glances. "Press this button if you need us," said the woman, and the two of them left her alone.

A loud noise shocked Pepper out of her reverie, and she sat bolt upright as Loki came tearing into the room.
"Pepper, Pepper!" he was shouting excitedly as several agents crashed after him.
"Loki?" she whispered as he launched himself happily into her arms.
Shocked, she wrapped her arms around him absently, trying to process the strange turn of the events as the agents huffed and puffed and tried half-heartedly to protest against the wild show of affection because Pepper still wasn't well.
She waved them off. She was fine.
"Loki, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, Pepper, nothing, that's the great thing, they have a fix! And I helped! When you were looking after the Avengers, I was trying to think! And then what I thought of mixed with what Mr. Fury and the others researched turned out to be right and now they're going to be okay and I'll be okay and then you won't be sad anymore!" Loki's spirited explanation blurred together in his utter delight.
Pepper gasped. "They- they're going to be okay?"
"Yes!"
"And Tony?"
"Yes! He's going to be okay! Well, he's still not very well, but you can fix him, right?" Loki gazed up at her with big, trusting eyes.
"I- I- yes, I hope so," she murmured.
"I know you will," he said confidently. "You can do anything."
Tears ran down her cheeks as her joy overflowed and streamed from her eyes. She hugged him close and kissed the top of his head.
Loki squeaked as she squeezed him tightly. "Pepper, you're squishing me," he complained.
"You wonderful little gremlin," she mumbled. "This whole time, I thought it was your fault, I thought you were doing nothing, and you've saved them all... I'm so sorry for yelling at you. Thank you. Thank you, Loki, thank you..."
He patted her on the back. "Come on, Pepper, they need to administer the antidote and you need to be there."
She lifted him up and together they made their way back to the room where the whole thing had begun.
Upon opening the door, she laughed. The five children were lined up on the couch, still sound asleep, but so much calmer.
"There was a pre-antidote that they were given to make them feel better, a painkiller," said Fury from behind her.
Pepper turned and gasped as she saw Tony in his arms. Still pale, still ill, but peaceful and alive.
"And that's all I could hope for," she whispered.
She scooped him up too and walked to the couch, placing Loki and Tony gently onto it. "Where's the antidote?"
Fury pointed at a huge lamp.
Pepper frowned. "What?"
"That's how it's administered. It's a radiation. You can stay, it's harmless to anyone who hasn't been affected, but it will help them."
"What about the arc? When Tony grows up again it'll be too small."
"The radiation recreates the blast that caused the de-aging. All their changed objects- the arc, Mjolnir, the shield... They'll be back to normal." Fury smiled.
Pepper grinned back, and then she laughed, laughed with relief.
"Alright, Pepper," Fury said. "We're going to set it off now."
She nodded, suddenly nervous. "This is guaranteed to work, right?"
Fury hesitated.
Dread crept through her like tentacles.
"Well, it should," he said carefully. "Seventy percent chance of success."
She gulped. "Well, it's this or nothing. Okay. Let her rip."
She sat onto the couch and held Tony close as Fury left the room and the lamp began to glow.
"Wait," she said. "I don't know if you can hear me. All of you. But I want you to know... It was a pleasure taking care of you. Godspeed, Avengers, I... I love you all." She sat back as the overwhelming exhaustion from her spinning emotions took over, and as the room glowed white, the world faded to black.

A/N: I won't be updating for a while, sorry to leave you on another sort-of cliffhanger! Please, please, please review!