A/N: I changed the genre to General because there's only Hurt/Comfort in the first couple chapter, in case any of you were wondering.

Brief reminder: I do not own anything except Cara.

Review please! Thanks!

I awoke at eight forty-six.

Tell Pepper to get to the airport at noon, I mentally reminded myself.

I got out of bed immediately and prepared myself for the day.

After I believed I looked presentable with my hair tied up in a messy bun, I walked downstairs to look for Pepper. I heard her approaching; her black high heels clacked on the marble floor, and I glanced in that direction. Pepper stopped when she saw me.

"Good morning," Pepper said, her smile radiant.

"Good morning!" I replied, returning the smile. "Did you get a call from Tony last night?"

"No. Rhodey left a message that said they found him." She looked at me with curiosity. "Why? Did he call you?"

"Yeah," I answered, nodding. "He wanted me to tell you to meet his plane at the airport at noon."

"Oh," she said, showing by her expression that her question was confirmed. "Is that all?"

"Yep," I responded. When I saw a slightly perplexed look on Pepper's face, I added, "He also needed to tell me some things. I'm guessing he didn't want to disturb you while you were sleeping, maybe he didn't have time to call both of us."

She only nodded and inquired, "Was he…rude at all?"

"No," I replied, grinning, "Not at all. He actually called to apologize."

Pepper was taken aback at this. "Really? He never apologizes. He's too stubborn to admit he's wrong most of the time." Then she sighed happily. "I suppose this is a good change. It's good to know he's speaking with you."

"Yeah," I replied, wondering why he changed his mind.

"I brought you a bagel and some hot chocolate," she informed, pointing to the coffee table in the living room. "It's on the table."

"Oh," I turned to look at a paper bag on the low table. "Thank you!" I twisted back towards her to give her a smile.

I walked over to the table, grabbed the bag of food and hot chocolate, and headed upstairs But before I was out of Pepper's sight, I looked back and said, "Do you mind telling me when you're leaving?"

"No, not at all," she replied.

"Thank you," I said and continued to walk up the steps.

I ate my breakfast while watching a movie: The Phantom of the Opera. It was two and a half hours so it should keep me occupied until Pepper reported her departure.

I had a fondness for musicals; the songs and score always got stuck in my head, but in a good sense. I would usually sing along with the tunes I know well; I liked to think my voice isn't unbearable. Since I've listened to music practically all my life, I gained a good perspective on what a good voice and music sound like.

I tend to cry at the end of this movie; Christine, in my opinion, should be with the Phantom, not Raoul. But if you think of the relationship in a metaphorical sense, it's better if Christine ended up with Raoul anyway. The whole ending is still sad for me though, and I tend to get emotional about movies and such, even though it's not real. I was always teased by my mother about that.

I ran to the bathroom to wipe my eyes before Pepper came in; I wouldn't want to explain to her why I was crying.

I heard the bathroom door slide open.

Too late, I thought bluntly.

Before she could say a word, I explained in a well-composed tone, "Don't worry about me crying. I was watching a sad movie. I do this all the time! Really." I laughed to show Pepper that I wasn't lying.

"Okay," she responded, her worried look relaxing. "You scared me for a minute." She made a quick sigh of relief. "Well I came up here to tell you that I'm leaving to pick Tony up. If you need anything, just call my cell. You know my number, right?"

"Yes," I replied. I had memorized her number in my time of boredom, which didn't take too long since I was so focused on doing so.

Pepper nodded. "Okay, I'll be back soon." She then smiled and left the room.

I waited a few minutes before going downstairs; I wanted to watch the news on the good TV.

I sat down in the TV room and looked at the console for the "television". I tapped the screen of the picture frame-sized console, and an image appeared on the window. I tapped what looked like channel buttons—which after I experimented, were in fact the channel buttons—and channel-surfed for the news channels.

To my utter amazement, this "TV" had over one thousand channels.

Leave it to Tony Stark to have a need for a thousand channels, I thought jokingly to myself.

I was channel-surfing for ten minutes until I lost my patience, and stared at the console for a guide button.

There wasn't a guide button, but there was a search button. I pressed it curiously.

The screen altered: a keypad and a rectangular box for typing in popped up.

I typed in "news", my frustration diminishing all together.

Results came up in a list. I tapped the first one and a news channel finally showed on the window.

I kept tapping at the different news channels, looking for Tony. While I was repeatedly pressing the list of different news broadcasts, I pondered on why he told me to look for him on TV.

Did he just want me to see him on TV? I shook my head at the thought. Well that would be pointless since I'll see him soon after. Was it to see him coming out of the plane? I sighed in defeat and hung my head. All these suggestions are unreasonable! What is he planning?!

I flipped through channels for fifteen more minutes, barely paying attention to the chatter of each broadcast.

Abruptly, I heard an anchorwoman say, "—Tony Stark has called—" But I had already changed the channel.

I bounced back quickly to the anchorwoman, my curiosity at its peak.

"—press conference here at Stark Industries Conference Hall after his return from his mysterious disappearance in Afghanistan." They showed Tony getting out of the black luxury car I saw chase after Tony's R8 a long time ago. A bald man held the door open for Stark. He hugged Tony like he was a long-lost son finally returned home.

By then, I had a guess that he was Obadiah Stane, Tony's co-owner.

Tony, his right arm in a sling, walked up to the building's doors while reporters with microphones ambushed him and cameras flashed while others clapped for his return home, but he kept looking ahead. Pepper and Obadiah followed him into the building.

"The conference is starting here, live on KNKV News." the anchorwoman concluded.

They switched to a camera in the building where Tony and Obadiah were walking up to a podium, reporters still shoving microphones at him and cameras still flashing, while the rest still clapped. When he was at the podium with Obadiah the reporters calmed down and stood waiting for Tony to speak while the last of the camera flashes died.

Tony went out from my sight in front of the podium. The bald man stood at the podium and looked down at Tony with a slightly confused expression upon his face. I couldn't see Tony at all.

"Would it be okay if everyone sat down?" I heard Tony say. "That way you can see me and I can…so it's a little less formal..."

All the reporters glanced at one another with confused looks, but obeyed the billionaire. Mr. Stane sat down next to Tony, smiling a little uncomfortably. I could see Tony now, and, to my confusion which matched the reporters, was sitting down with his back against the podium eating a fast food hamburger.

Tony chewed for a moment until he muttered something to the Obadiah, who then sets his hand on Tony's shoulder in comfort. He takes his hand off Tony shoulder as Stark says clearly, "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would ask him; I would ask him how he felt about what this company did…if he was conflicted if--he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was ever inch the man we remember from the news rails."

He paused while his speech sunk in. I never knew he could be this serious, nor expected how dreary of a turn his conference could take.

All were silent as he continued in a more serious and gloomy tone, "I saw young Americans killed, by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them…and I saw that I had become a part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

A few reporters in the front row raised their pens and called, "Mr. Stark." Tony mutters something to a male reporter, who asks, "What happened over there?"

Tony then stands up and walk around to the back of the podium while saying, "I-I had my eyes open. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things to blow up and that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturer business of—"

Suddenly, everyone stood up and shot questions at him, creating uproar. But Tony kept talking in the microphone while Obadiah tried to overlap him. I had to strain to hear Tony. "—Stark Internationals, until such a time as I can decide what the future of this company would be, what direction it should take; one that I'm comfortable with, and is consistent with the highest good for this country and world."

Finally succeeding in taking over the podium, Obadiah spoke clearly over the reporters, "What you should take from this is that Tony's back"--He raised his hands as if in praise--"and, uh, he's healthier than ever, and we'll have an international discussion and we'll get back to you with the following."

With that said, Tony left while Obadiah chased after him, parting the sea of reporters.

I couldn't believe what I had just heard.

He's shutting down the weapons department?! Oh my goodness… I leaned my forehead into my hand. What is he doing? Isn't that the department that makes all the money? He'll lose business and millions of dollars! Is he aware of this? Well, probably. He had this all planned out before he even got on the plane back here! Thinking of his new direction right down to his consummation of the burger during the conference, I thought amusedly, He broke all the rules. Does he seriously expect the company to go through with this? Either he really does think he's the center of the universe or he obtained an injury to the head back in Terrorist Land… He must have really been affected by that experience there…

I turned off the television and merely sat there, still in disbelief at the enormity of events that had just occurred.