Tony jerked awake to the sound of a door shutting. He looked around, quickly realising he was still in Pepper's apartment and stood up, turning towards the hallway to find Pepper standing there and staring at him. she was wearing a flannel pyjama shirt with matching pants, her hair was a mess, she wasn't wearing makeup and her eyes were rubbed raw, completely red, as if she hadn't stopped crying since he'd last seen her. He swallowed and shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly, standing as still as possible in case he startled her again.

"I'm sorry if I scared you before." He said quietly. "I just…I thought you were in trouble when you didn't answer the phone or the door, so-"

"So you thought you'd break into my home." Pepper said, staring at him with emotionless eyes.

Tony shuffled on his feet. "Well…yeah. I was worried about you, I still am." He stepped towards her and her eyes widened. "Pepper, what the hell happened to you?"

She shook her head and closer her eyes. "Nothing. Nothing happened, ok? Please, just leave."

She turned and walked into the kitchen, leaving a bewildered Tony standing in the middle of her lounge. He followed her after a moment and stood in the doorway.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong." He said. "You've been weird since Monday, and don't even get me started on what happened at the office."

Pepper sniffed and clicked the coffee maker on, her back to him. "I'm fine-"

"No, you're not." Tony sighed, starting to get annoyed. "Was there an accident or something? Was it your Mom?"

She was still ignoring him, so he stepped closer, reaching his hand out to gently grasp her shoulder. Just as it had been at the office, the reaction was instantaneous. Her whole body went rigid and she jerked away from him, trying to dodge around him. Tony managed to react in time to pin her against the counter top, hands at her sides on the surface. Pepper gasped and frantically started struggling, trying to get away from him.

"Hey, Pepper-"

"No!" she shoved at him, tears flowing freely from her arms. Tony tried to grab her arms but she smacked his hands away, slapping him in the face repeatedly. He finally managed to get a hold of her wrists but she still struggled.

"Pepper, stop, it's me, it's Tony. Hey!" she finally stopped, staring up at him with eyes like saucers, breathing heavily and clearly scared out of her mind. "Pepper, I'm not going to hurt you." He stressed. Her eyes flitted between his and she seemed to realise who he was. She sagged against the counter taking shaky, shallow breaths, tears slipping down her cheeks. Tony let go of her wrists and pulled her to him in a hug, wrapping his arms around her. She was shaking like a leaf. "Hey, shh, it's ok, you're safe with me, calm down."

"N-no…" Pepper mumbled, sobbing against his chest.

Tony ran his hands up and down her back, closing his eyes, and he honestly didn't know which of the two of them was the most terrified.

"Open the door." Michael hissed against Pepper's ear.

She whimpered and slowly unlocked the door. Michael immediately shoved her through the door, slamming it shut behind him. Pepper stumbled forwards, catching herself on the couch and turning to face him. He was breathing heavily, staring at her with wild eyes.

"Now." He said softly. "That was a little rude, wasn't it? Slapping me?" he rubbed his cheek and smirked. "But I think I can forgive you."

Pepper jumped to her feet and ran for the bedroom, but Michael was one step ahead of her and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her back to the couch and throwing her down onto it. She cried out, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Please, let me go." She begged. Michael laughed, shrugging his jacket off and undoing his belt.

"You're not going anywhere."

Tony set a mug of coffee down in front of Pepper and sat next to her at the small island in the centre of the kitchen. Pepper wrapped both her hands around it but didn't drink, simply staring into the murky brown depths. Tony took a sip from his own mug, preferring to wait for her to speak rather than run the risk of upsetting her again.

"It happened on Friday." She said finally. Tony froze and stared at her, mug half way to his mouth. "I, um…Michael Woods from Marketing, he'd been hitting on me for a while and I'd kept shooting him down, but I finally caved, just to get him to quit bugging me." She flashed him a quick smile. "So we went to this French restaurant, and we were having a really good time, and I thought I'd misjudged him, and then…then he drove me home…"

"Pep." Tony interrupted, seeing her getting upset again. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

Pepper shook her head, wiping her eyes. "I need to." She whispered.

Tony nodded and gingerly reached out to take her hand. Taking a deep breath, Pepper continued.

"He drove me home and walked me up to the door, and then he kissed me but he was a little rough, so I pushed him away, but he thought I was just playing hard to get." She closed her eyes and her voice faltered. Tony squeezed her fingers gently, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "Uh…he kissed me again, so I slapped him, and then I tried to get inside, but…he slammed me up against the door and made me open it. I tried to get away but he grabbed me and threw me down on the couch and then…he…"

She closed her eyes again and covered her mouth with her other hand as a sob broke free. Tony's heart shot into his throat as she said the words he'd suspected.

"He raped me."

Michael stood up and pulled his pants back up, fastening his belt with a satisfied sight, gazing over Pepper's frozen form on the couch. She was staring straight at the wall, fists drawn up to her chest as Michael shook his head, grinning to himself.

"You know, for someone who was acting like they didn't want this, it sure felt like you enjoyed yourself." He laughed. Pepper closed her eyes tightly and curled into a ball, shivering slightly as she tried to quell the feeling of nausea that had started to rise in her stomach. Michael finished dressing and bent to pick up his jacket, checking his watch. "I gotta go. We should do this again, say next weekend?"

Pepper said nothing and had to stifle a sob as Michael pressed a kiss to her cheek before leaving. As the front door closed, she bolted to the bathroom, throwing up into the toilet before collapsing against the bathtub, sobbing heavily.