"Miss Potts should be back in five minutes given her coordinates. " Jarvis told Tony as he walked back into the workshop. He'd driven Banner to the airport, but had no idea where he had went from there and didn't bother asking either. Bruce had assured Tony that he could take it from there. He hadn't bothered mentioning anything to Tony either. They both knew that it was probably for the best. With a mind like Banner's, he was probably always running around helping people like SHIELD out with different projects. Not that Tony was any less intelligent, Bruce was just too nice to say no and Tony had no problem with turning anyone down.

Anyway, Tony had thanked Bruce one last time before heading back to the Tower. Before Tony and Bruce had left, Pepper had went out to run errands. banner had said to thank her for everything too since he didn't have enough time to stick around to say it himself which Tony assured him was alright. Pepper still wasn't back, so Tony had gotten an idea. She didn't know that they'd found the anti-serum yet and he didn't want her to be nervous about getting injected. Anticipating the serum made the effects seem so much worse; Tony would catch her off guard to get it over with. He knew she'd be pissed at him for it at first, but she'd be grateful later... he hoped anyway.

The serum would drop her body temperature down to normal so she'd have a stinging chill running through her body as it altered the extremis effects back to normal. Tony wasn't looking forward to seeing her in pain, but he needed the extremis out of her ASAP.

"Sir, Miss Potts is coming up the elevator to the penthouse." Jarvis told Tony. Stark gripped the glass injector in his hand. It was just slightly bigger than one you'd see while getting something like a flu shot. He hoped the puncture itself wouldn't hurt too bad.

"Tony, you here?" Pepper called out, looking around the penthouse. It seemed like the answer was no, so she guessed he was still in the workshop.

Pepper set her bag down by the couch. Right after she dropped it, she heard something else. There was a small thump noise that came from behind the couch. Pepper froze, not sure if she wanted to look. Maybe she was just still paranoid after everything that has happened. Just to make sure...

"Jarvis, where's Tony?"

No answer.

Pepper was especially freaked out now.

"Jarvis!"

Still Nothing.

Pepper began to hesitantly walk around to the back of the couch. She didn't know why she was feeling so edgy... The security was extremely strong on the Tower and no one but her and Tony could get in unless with permission from one of them... which soon made sense.

Pepper was relieved to see nothing there. She was just about to relax when she heard someone rush quickly behind her.

Pepper shrieked as an arm wrapped around her waist and held her in place. A piercing feeling jabbed at her side and then was gone.

"Shh... I'm sorry Peps." Tony said gently from behind her. Pepper was utterly confused about what he was trying to do.

"Tony, what the..." Pepper couldn't finish her sentence before a huge wave of pain hit her, traveling through every inch of her body. It overtook her, and Pepper's vision went black and she felt herself collapse into Tony's arms.

The pain continued to course through her body, and all that Pepper could think of was the way she felt like she was going to explode from the inside. Pepper could just barely feel Tony gathering her in his arms as he lied on the couch with her curled up on his chest.

"I'm sorry..." whispered Tony, bringing her back to reality as a deep chill settled into Pepper's body.

"Wh- why am i s- so cold?" Pepper stuttered through her excessive shivering in Tony's arms. She nuzzled her face into his neck, making him squeeze her tighter.

"We, uh, found the anti-serum." Tony told her, kissing the top of Pepper's head.

"So you couldn't just tell me like a normal person instead of attacking me!?" she exploded as angrily as she could while feeling like she was freezing to death.

"I thought it'd be easy to get it over with." Tony said calmly. Of course he ws calm, he wasn't the living ice box.

Pepper groaned and burried herself deeper into Tony's chest, trying to get warm which wsn't working. TOny rubbed her back and kissed her forehead.

"It'll only last a few more minutes." Tony assured her calmly. "Then you'll be all better, baby." Pepper was relieved despite the freezing pain. She hated the extremis powers insde of her, even if they did save her life and Tony's.

"I love you, Pep." Tony whispered into her hair. She shivered against him and gently gripped his shirt.

"I love you too, Tony."

They stayed like that for a while, Tony lying on his back and Pepper huddled on top of him. His arms engulfed her entire upper body, but nothing stopped her from shaking. Occasionally Tony would whisper in her ear or kiss her lightly.

After a half an hour or so, Pepper's eyes began slowly closing as she grew more tired.

"I don't get it... The effects should've worn of twenty minutes ago." Tony said worriedly.

"Oh yeah, they did." Pepper admitted casually, looking up at Tony. He frowned.

"Well thanks for the heads-up!" he snorted.

"You're one to talk."

"Touche."

"I just didn't want to end this." Pepper told Tony, kissing his neck. Tony grinned and squeezed her gently.

"Aw, Pep. It doesn't have to." he said.

"Where's Banner, by the way?" she asked, craning her neck to look up into Tony's eyes.

"Oh, he had to go. He said thanks for everything." Tony informed her, tracing his fingers over Pepper's spine. Pepper nodded.

"I like him."

"Me too."

"What time is it?"

Tony checked his watch.

"6ish."

Pepper nodded agian and bit her lip before looking back up at Tony.

"Wanna get a blanket and watch a movie?"

Tony grinned and kissed the bridge of her nose.

"Sure"

Tony pushed himself up with a grunt. His wounds were definitely healing, but he still was sore as hell pretty much everywhere. Pepper was sound asleep next to him in their bed. Her hair was spread all over the pillow and half of her face was covered with her arm. He always loved watching the way she slept. He was rarely able to not cuddle up to her when watching though.

He wasn't sure why he was up at 2 am, but he felt like he needed to walk or something.

Trying to not make too much sudden movement, Tony slowly slid out of bed and snuck across the floor and out of the room.

The giant living room was dark and lonely. The city lights illuminated the room enough for Tony to see where he was moving to across the cold glossy stone floor.

Yawning, Stark sat on a stool at the big marble counter across the room. He ran his hand through his hair and thought about the past few days. Everything seemed to be falling into place for the most part. His anxiety went down, Happy woke up, Pepper was cured... What now?

Tony's mind flew to the suits. They'd been pretty bussing lately, distracting him from the topic. It worried him though. Ever since he stupidly announced that he was Iron Man, there was no back out. No matter if he wanted to continue being Iron Man or not (which he did), but there'd always be enemies out there. He couldn't stay without a suit forever. He'd rebuild eventually, just not obsessively. A few suits would do, like old times.

Tony yawned again and stretched his arms back. He'd wait another week before he started easing into it again. Maybe a mini vacation with Pepper would be nice. Yeah, Tony, could use one of those.

Stark was about to go back to bed when a pile of papers caught his eye. There were a few envelopes that he guessed were from the mail the other day. The one that caught his eyes said it was sent from Tokyo. Tony eyed the envelope and then reached over for it... he wasn't that tired yet...

The paper inside was directly adressed to him, Anthony Howard Stark. It was lengthy which made Tony immediatly lose interest. Something in the letter made him stop from putting it down again though. His arc reactor was mentioned multiple times. Tony skimmed the letter and his heart nearly froze. Was what he was reading actually true? Things were just settling down and now he was faced with a whole other life changing choice...

"Tony?" peper sleepily said fromt he doorway leading itno the living space. "You okay?"

Tony definitely wasn't okay after that.

"Uh... Yeah." Tony lied, sounding like he was choking on his words. Pepper obviously didn't believe him.

"Tony, really. What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Tony..."

"Pepper, for god's sake, it's nothing." Tony wasn't sure where his anger had come from. He was just loaded with tons of new stress. He knew he shouldn't be taking it out on Pepper, but Tony has never been too great against impulsive decisions.

Pepper's face looked hurt for a moment, and then turned to anger.

"I though we agreed no more secrets." she said bitterly.

"You really have to know everything?" Pepper, I need to make this decision on my own." Tony said, just as bitter.

"Everything that's important, yes! And everytime you keep something from me and make a decision on your own you end up nearly killing yourself."

Tony stood up and crumpled up the paper and threw it away.

"You have no trust in me!"

"Tony, it's what we're supposed to do. Be there for eachother. How can I do that when you don't tell me anything!"

"Just let me think about it!"

Pepper threw her arms up in the air.

"Sure, I'll wait until your dead somewhere in your workshop before I step in."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Geez, Pepper. I'm not going to kill myself!" Tony realized that the decision he he had to make now could actually be life threatening, but he didn't say anything about that.

"Fine. make your 'decision' by yourself then. Sleep by yourself while you're at it." she said, stroming back into their room, most likely to collect her stuff to sleep somewhere else. Tony sighed and let his head fall into his hands. He rubbed his face and groaned. He hated fighting with pepper, but he was under so much pressure. Why did she have to prod?

Tony heard Pep step out into the living room again, but this time with a blanket and her pillow. Tony acted pissed when she glanced over at him, but his face softened as he watched her move towars the elevator. He though she'd just move to the couch, but apparently she was going to a whole different floor. Not that I care. Tony told himself. He knew that wasn't true though.

Tony waited until she was gone before he straightened and trudged to his room, their room, alone.

The bed was unbearingly lonely. It was too big without Pepper. Tony felt like he was drowing in a sea of sheets and blankets. It took him nearly an hour, but Stark finally feel asleep, pretending Pepper was there by his side.