Tony opened the door to the room and guided Pepper inside. She had fallen asleep in the taxi on the way there and was barely awake now. She heavily leaned into Tony's side. He closed the door behind them with one arm as he kept the other around her. As he flipped the lights on, she groaned.

"It's ok baby, we'll go to sleep soon." Tony murmured to her. This made her perk up.

"Wait, but I want to take a shower first there's no way I'm going to bed like this." she said as if all exhaustion was gone. Tony smirked and nodded.

"Ok, ok." he said. "Am I not invited this time?" he asked. Pepper turned to him and gently ran her fingers under his eye where there was a deep cut with bruising around it.

"Too much blood I don't want you to get worried over." Pepper said. "And… I- I don't want to… to…" Pepper faded off as her gaze shifted from Tony to somewhere far off. She frowned as her eyebrows came together.

"Pepper… Pepper, honey." Tony said taking each of her wrists in his hands. Her attention returned to his face with big eyes. She looked frightened, but he couldn't blame her. The extremis was running through her veins. It was the very same serum that was responsible for countless deaths, whether it be for the destruction caused by the person using extremis for killing or the extremis becoming unstable to the point of explosion. He had to get her the cure before that could happen.

"Pepper, you won't hurt me. I trust you. You can control it better than I ever could." Tony told her. She relaxed in his grip for a moment before falling against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back to comfort her.

"Hurry up though; I want a shower after you." Tony told her. She pulled away and tiredly smiled at him.

"Alright I'll be quick."

~X~

Pepper heard the mumbled on the TV and the running shower from in the bathroom, but it was all distant noise to her. She suddenly let go of all thoughts as she drifted further under into sleep. The big comforter and soft pillows felt soooo good after spending who-know-how-long in a cold cement basement. She was safe, Tony was safe, Rhodey was safe, the president was safe… now the only thing she wanted to do was sleep. The shapes in the room blurred as the sounds became quieter in her mind. Soon after that, she fell into the darkness of sleep blocked out all sound and thought.

~X~

Tony opened the bathroom door wearing only boxers and the new pajama pants that they picked up at some all-night shop at the edge of Miami. All of their clothes were destroyed with the house except for the ones they kept at the tower in New York. Now that Tony thought about it, going back to stay at the tower was the reasonable thing to do. They had their only remaining stuff there and it was his only other house in the U.S that he could think of. Unless they suddenly wanted to move to the house in Dubai, New York was their best option.

Pepper was asleep already on the bed. The comforter slowly rose and fell with her steady breaths. Her hair spilled over her back and shoulder as she lied on her side, facing away from Tony. He took a moment just to watch her sleep. She was safe, and he couldn't be more grateful for anything but that. He may have lost his house, and cars, and suits, but watching Pepper made him realize he really didn't care as long as he had her. Tony had made a promise to himself to protect her, and then she got hurt. He was just lucky that she was still here with her.

Tony ran his hand through his wet hair before looking at the clock on the nightstand. It was already two seventeen in the morning on December 26th. It had been an interesting Christmas. They had been fighting extremis soldiers instead of sitting at home together while cuddling by the fire, but it would definitely be memorable, even if Tony didn't want to remember it. He had to admit however, he couldn't imagine a life without being Iron Man. He couldn't imagine not heading into battles with crazed people with dreams of making people with fire powers or electric whips or using his suit technology against him. The only word he could think of without all those things was boring. He was Iron Man now, everyone counted on him to protect them from the strange outlandish superhero stuff that others couldn't. Although he wished it didn't jeopardize his life as well as Pepper's so often, there was no way of going back now. He had to rebuild the suits soon, only a few though so they weren't a distraction. He'd make everything better.

With that in mind, Tony climbed into the bed next to Pepper. He pulled the comforter over himself and scooted closer to Pepper. He realized the TV was still on, so he reached over to the nightstand for the remote to turn it off. The room was a nice silence then, and suddenly the exhaustion wore in on him. He hadn't gotten more than five hours of sleep in 5 days or so. The fatigue finally hit him like a brick wall, no adrenaline to keep him going anymore. Tony turned off the light as he was already leaning over the nightstand. The hotel room was perfectly dark as he turned back to Pepper to press his bare chest against her back to wrap and arm around her waist. Pepper softly mumbled something in her sleep making Tony smile and hold her closer.

Tony laid his head on the pillow pulled up right next to her. He gently nuzzled the back of her neck. As he did so, he realized that Pepper was getting slightly warmer, her waist and neck. He opened his eyes to see a light glow spreading throughout her body. He quietly chuckled as her body temperature rose to a warm heat that wasn't very hot. He wondered what made her get warmer. Tony wanted to know so much about the extremis, and there was so much to learn. He knew that he shouldn't, however. He needed to get the serum out of Pepper as quickly as possible. Right now, she looked awfully cute as she barely glowed a warm heat that thankfully wasn't catching anything on fire. Tony nestled close to her once again before letting sleep consume him.

~X~

A breeze brushed over Tony's face and blew throughout the room. He scrunched up his nose at the contact before groggily opening his eyes. For a moment his heart skipped when Tony completely forgot where he was. There were only dark lumps and objects surrounding him with a sliver of light by a wall that look like a slightly opened glass door. As his eyes adjusted in the darkness, Tony could make out the features of the hotel room as he remembered the events of the night before. The sudden realization of all the action that had happened hit him, including the close call of Pepper's death.

Tony turned to the other side of the bed where he reached out for Pepper, but he only found empty sheets and pillows. Fear gripped his chest by the instinct of constantly being in danger in the last couple days, but he remembered that everything was now over and let his anxiety go. Tony recalled the slightly opened the door and finally put it together as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed sleepily. Looking at the clock, it was only four in the morning. He wondered why Pepper was up so early.

Tony walked out onto the balcony and immediately felt the warm breeze get stronger on his face, chest, and arms. Pepper was sitting up against the wall facing outwards towards the city of Miami past the balcony railings. She sat with her legs crisscrossed on the ground with her head bowed down. The familiar light red hair that Tony loved spilled over most of her face as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. He didn't notice it at first, but he could see the slightest shake of her shoulders.

"Pep?" Tony said worried. He instantly rushed to sit next to her, sitting the same as she was. He put his right arm around her shoulders and held her hand in his left to stop her from fidgeted. She raised her head and let her hair fall from her face and across her shoulders. From the light of the moon and the lights of the buildings around them, Tony could tell that she had definitely been crying. He squeezed her shoulders and leaned his head into hers.

"What's wrong Pep?" he asked calmly. He raised his eyebrows at her as he angled his head to see her sadly smile.

"Nothing really… Everything that happened just started settling in." she said looking back down at her hand entwined in Tony's. Tony kissed the side of her head and held her closer. Pepper straightened and looked Tony in the eyes. Hers were red even in the dim lighting of the night, making her irises look even bluer.

"Tony, you nearly died. I thought you were dead." Pepper solemnly said. Tony gave her a sad smile before gently moving a piece of hair out of her face and leaving his hand at the back of her neck.

"I know… You did as well, and it was the scariest moment of my life." Tony said so low it was nearly a whisper. He gently pushed his forehead against hers and studied her face. God, I love her. Was all he could think. "We're okay now, babe." he reassured her.

When Pepper didn't say anything back, Tony leaned forward while gently pulling her closer by the back of her neck. His lips met hers as they kissed for the first time in a long while. It was a lot more than that though. It was their first kiss after nearly losing each other, after believing they lost each other. They had been through so many unimaginable things in only a couple of days, but they were finally together and safe again.

Tony pressed further into Pepper and farther into the kiss as they enjoyed their moment of peace on the balcony together. Tony felt Pepper wrap her arms tightly around his neck as she slowly laid down on her back, Tony following by moving right above her. Before they could get too far however, Pepper pulled away and looked up at Tony. She gazed into his eyes for a moment, making him shoot her a confused glance.

"You're exhausted, let's go to bed." Pepper said to him as she ran a hand through his hair.

"But…" Tony began to protest, but Pepper already wriggled her way out from under him.

"Come on, we can continue in the morning." Pepper said starting back inside.

"But it is the morning." Tony called after her. She looked back at him before entering the room as she rolled her eyes.

"Smart-ass." she mumbled, but she was smiling ever so slightly. Tony smiled and followed her in. He moved to the bed, lay down, and closed his eyes as he wait for Pepper to join him on the other side of the bed. He waited half a minute without feeling her get into bed next to him. He opened one eye to see Pepper grabbing a blanket and pillow to go lie on the couch by the door. Tony's heart dropped. Now what?

"Pep, whatcha doin?" he asked her. She didn't look at him but instead spread out the blanket on the couch.

"There's no way I'm going to trust myself to be that near you when I'm sleeping." she said seriously. Tony sighed.

"Haven't we been over this? You won't hurt me, Pepper." Tony said, trying to reassure her once again that she wouldn't burn him with her extremis. He wasn't just saying it to get her to sleep next to him either, he meant it.

"So you didn't notice?" Pepper asked. Tony frowned and watched her throw her pillow down at the head of the couch while still not looking up.

"What?" he asked. Tony rubbed his hand over his face. He just wished Pepper would come lie down with him for the first time in days.

"The pillowcase and middle blanket…" she said ever-so quietly. Tony shot a confused glance towards her that she didn't look over to see anyway. He twisted towards Pepper's side of the bed to turn the light on that sat on her nightstand. As soon as the room was illuminated again, he immediately saw what she meant.

The entire corner of the pillow that Pepper hadn't grabbed was charred and filled with burned holes. The top of the blanket Pep was talking about looked the same with blackened areas and missing areas. Tony's eyes went wide for a moment before his mood changed. He tried to suppress a laugh which turned into more of a choked chuckle as he bit his lip while trying not to smile. Pepper shot an angry glance towards him.

"It's not funny…" she said. "I could have hurt you!" Tony let himself smile as he examined the burned pillow and blanket.

"Pepper, I'm pretty sure I'd wake up before you burnt me to a crisp." Tony argued. Pepper just shook her head and dropped onto the couch. She fluffed her pillow and pulled the blanket over herself as she closed her eyes. Tony watched her before turning out the lights. He mimicked her actions with the pillow and blanket before pushing his head into his pillow while still watching her silhouette. There was no way he was going to stand for this.

"Brrr…" he said as he pretended to shiver. "It sureeeee is cold over here."

Pepper stirred but didn't look over at Tony. He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around himself as though he was cold.

"Sure wish I had someone to keep me warm…" he said not-so-subtly. "Sooooo coldddd!"

Tony heard Pepper sigh and waited for her to give in, but no such luck.

"Man, if only I had an extremis girlfriend that could keep me warm so I didn't have to suffer miserably over here. Someone who got all warm and glowy when I cuddled them-"

"Oh stop, I do not do that." Pepper finally spoke up. Tony smiled. He knew that he had her.

"Oh yes you do. When I got into bed and cuddled you, you began to glow and get all warm." Tony said smiling, remembering how she had done that in her sleep. "It's adorable."

"Is not, it's annoying." Pepper countered.

"Soooo colddd!" Tonys said once again. Pepper let out a loud annoyed side before throwing the blanket off her and standing up. She picked up her pillow and carried it to the bed where she threw it down next to Tony's head.

"Are you happy now?" she asked as she climbed in next to him. Tony gave her a smug smile before scooting closer to her to protectively wrap an arm around her waist once again.

"Very happy." he said.