A/N: Hello all! Here's that chapter for you! Happy belated 4th of July for those in the US. ;)

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Marvel. Even the bowl of ice cream in front of me.

Read and enjoy!

"Wow, super speed?" Bruce asked with wide eyes; his voice lost in his throat. He didn't think the nanobots would give her super speed since such a thing, even with them attached to her muscular tissue, couldn't give her such a power.

Tony and Bruce were in the laboratory. Around Bruce was a bunch of lab equipment connected to projectors that showcased the very blood sample that he was trying to analyze.

"There's got to be some kind of explanation." Tony gasped.

"I'm thinking." Bruce replied quickly. He cupped his chin with his hand, trying to think of the various possibilities. After a few seconds, he pointed at Tony with his index finger. "There is one possibility."

"It's not the bots doing something to her muscular tissue?" Tony asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Kind of." Bruce walked over to one of the projectors that showed an enhanced image of one of the nanobots. "I found two kinds of nanobots in the blood sample. There are these," he pointed to the dark grey colored nanobot. "And these." He went over to the next nanobot that was a lighter shade of grey.

"The difference being?" Tony's gaze shifted between the two projectors.

"The dark grey one is feeding titanium alloy through her skin. And I'm guessing the light grey ones are feeding her muscular tissue some sort of chemicals." The doctor furrowed his eyebrows up at the projectors.

Tony's ears perked up when he said chemicals. "Wait, chemicals? So they're not toxic?"

"Whatever these nanobots are feeding her, I think they're also protecting her from it." Bruce paused to bask in the presence of such marvelous technology. "Whoever designed this nanotechnology did a really, really great job."

"What's this?" A voice behind them suddenly boomed throughout the laboratory.

Tony and Bruce turned around to see Pepper standing there. It was clear to the both of them that she had used her super speed. She looked more confused than ever. All the lab equipment had her eyes scanning the entire room.

"Uh," Bruce paused. "It's the blood sample I took."

"Are…" Pepper paused; she gave a disgusting look. "Are these things inside of me?"

"Yep." Tony responded with a small nod. "Bruce thinks the light grey ones are stimulating your muscular tissue with chemicals which is giving you super speed."

"Chemicals!" Pepper squeaked with wide eyes. "So, I'm going to die?"

"I think the nanobots are protecting your body from the toxicity. They're like multitasking super nannies." Bruce responded with a small smile, one that made Pepper give back a lopsided smile.

"Bruce is trying to make an antidote from the original blood sample." Tony informed her with a small smile.

Pepper's heart faintly leaped in her chest; a tiny part of her told her to smash the blood sample, but the other larger part told her not to be selfish. She looked down at the vile that contained her blood and almost reached out to it, but Tony's voice snapped her out of it.

"Pepper?" He asked, he moved next to her. Pepper blinked several times before responding to him.

"Huh?" She asked before gazing at him.

"I asked how training is going." He repeated with a worried look. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She paused, her voice almost gave a hint of panic. "Um, training is fine."

"Any progress?" He asked as he began to rub her back with his hand. She relaxed under his touch with a low sigh.

"None that's worth noting." She gave him a lopsided smile.

"Tomorrow is another day." He squeezed her hip in reassurance.

Bruce's gaze fell on the two whom were both lost in each other's presence. The doctor knowingly cleared his throat before continuing. Pepper was the one to break the trance; her head turned to face Bruce.

"Um, I sent Natasha to pick up a few things for this antidote. This cure isn't going to be an easy one." Bruce informed them.

"You realize I could run to my apartment and back in five minutes flat?" Pepper spoke up with a wide grin. "I could feed my cat, fetch some of the paper work I have waiting—Oh shoot!" She suddenly cursed. "I had to call Research and Development back today. What time is it?" She gently grabbed Tony's wrist and held it up. "Oh god, five o'clock." Without another word, she zipped out of the laboratory, causing all the papers in the laboratory to scatter upwards. Tony stood there with a flat expression.

Both of them watched as all of the papers fell to the floor. Bruce grimaced. "Should I tell Natasha to pick up a few paper weights as well?"

"That would be a good idea." Tony nodded.

…

"Final phase in progress: Twenty-one hours in counting."

…

Pepper sat on the bed with her calves underneath the sheets. She was on her phone, tying away, and trying not to give way too much pressure or else she'd crush the small device in a heartbeat. Tony entered the room with a large sigh. He ran his hand through his hair and glanced at the beautiful sight on his bed.

It was as if nothing had changed. Pepper was busying herself with his company's work, and he was returning from a long day of working on the suit, or playing with the various toys he had lying around. It was the perfect picture that begged to be framed, but that wasn't even a choice. He frowned at the thought of having to take away her powers, but he kept reminding himself that it had to be done. For her own safety, he mentally told himself.

"Hey." She greeted him without looking up from her device.

"Hi." He smiled back. "What'cha doing?" He asked playfully before flopping on the spot beside her.

She grinned at the feel of the bed bouncing, and turned to look at him. "Answering your e-mails."

"Anything exciting?" He asked. He rested his cheek against her shoulder and looked down at her phone. "Oh," He skimmed the contents. "The Annual Midnight Gala. We're going."

She began to laugh. "I don't think so."

"What, why not?" He pouted with a deep frown.

"Because I don't want to end up going alone again this year." She responded, her fingers pressed against the keyboard to move on to the next e-mail.

"But you won't be. I'll be there."

"You said that last time." She reminded him. "Right before Director Fury called you."

"He's like a cat." He felt her breath a laugh. "He won't leave me alone."

"You're a super hero, Tony. It's your duty to do what Director Fury says." She reminded him, with a lopsided smile.

"But you're my first duty. Heh," He laughed. "I said doo-dee." He rubbed his palm against her thigh as a wide grin spread across his lips.

"A super hero that acts like a six year-old." She paused to skim an e-mail. "How did I get so lucky?"

He grimaced at her comment. "I'm not always immature."

"Would you like me to answer that with real life examples?" She grinned at him before returning to her phone. He groaned at her question and snaked his arm across her stomach. He couldn't help but grin when he felt her squirm.

He paused for a moment and noticed how relaxed her posture was. It was as if the last couple days hadn't even happened. She seemed calm, and ready to take on whatever tasks awaited for. "Pepper."

"Hmm?" She hummed whilst on her Blackberry.

"Do you remember how freaked out you were about…" His hand went in circles. "…all this?"

She stopped what she was doing and slowly nodded before turning her head to face him. "Yes." She said in a whisper; her gaze firmly holding his.

"Well, ha." He faked a laugh. "That was two days ago, of course you do." His serious expression returned. The silence between them lingered for a good few seconds before he continued. He didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with her, especially before bed time. Tony loved bed time, but only when Pepper is involved. "I'm proud of you."

She stared at him with narrow eyes, unsure of his motives, or to where the conversation was going. "Thanks, dad?" She jokingly said with a small smile.

He grinned at her response. "You're a tough woman to crack, Miss Potts. I thought that board meeting with eighty attendees you forgot about was going to make you explode, but here you are, dealing with superhuman powers. I'm proud how you're handling things."

She slightly nodded. Her hands were resting on her lap with her Blackberry on standby. When she felt his hand gently splay itself on her palm, her heart nearly leaped. She wasn't sure if it was because Tony was being especially affectionate, or because something had been bugging her since the very beginning.

"Tony?" She murmured.

"Hm?" He hummed back, tangling their hands together. His gaze intently admired her petite hands.

"One hypothetical question, I'd like to ask." She held his gaze firmly, as if looking for approval.

"Shoot." He responded with a small grin.

"If you knew these bots were safe—" She stopped to watch his reaction. His eyes closed as a sigh left his mouth. He already knew where this was going. "What?"

"I already know where this is going." He sounded annoyed.

Her voice was tinted with anger. "Honestly, would you let me keep them?"

"Why do you want to keep these things so much?" He furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Are these powers that important to you?"

"They're aren't important to me—"

He almost sounded angry. "Then why do you want to keep them?"

She stared at him for a good minute, trying to conjure up the words to express her feelings. She didn't feel like the powers were important to her; it was just the matter of how her prospective on life had changed after the incident. "Try seeing it from my prospective, Tony."

He furrowed her eyebrows at her. "Okay."

"What if you suddenly lost the knowledge to work the suit, to upgrade the suit – what if you lost the capability to think of such advanced technology? What if you suddenly became a regular average IQ American?"

"You mean…" He paused, the thought of such a thing happening to him made his mouth dry. "…What if everything was taken away from me?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Even you?" His brown puppy dog eyes made her heart flutter. He didn't give her the chance to answer his question. "I… I don't know."

"The suit means everything to you." She squeezed his hand.

"It gives me a sense of—"

"Purpose." She finished with a determined expression.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that what this is all about… purpose?"

"It's not just about that, Tony." She exasperated.

"Then what else? Does it feel like I'm crowding you with all this Iron Man stuff, because I can turn it down a few notches." He tried to comprise with her. He began to mumble to himself. "And here I thought the suit was turning you on."

Pepper tried not to smile at the last bit. Instead, she bit her bottom lip. "You're not overwhelming me with Iron Man. It's the fact that you treat me like I'm not capable of taking care of myself."

He raised an eyebrow. "And yet you nag me to go to bed, eat something, and shower on a daily basis."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You know what I mean."

"I don't treat you like a damsel in distress every single second." He pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes.

"What about that incident on July 4th?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

"There was fire, Pep. Lots of it."

"I was a girl scout before, Tony. I know how to put a fire out." She huffed. "What about that time Bruce gave me that weird blue vile to hold?"

"Dangerous chemicals." He simply responded.

"And the lady bug that flew into the house?"

"It looked poisonous and I'm pretty sure I saw fangs." He pressed his lips together and looked at her with caution. "Okay, so I'm a little protective." He shrugged.

"Tony, I'm surprised you even let me hold scissors around the house." She angrily added.

He heavily sighed. "Pepper, I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm trying to protect you as much as I can, for as long as I can." She stared at him intently. His voice was becoming frantic. "Because along the road, there will be some crazy people that will do anything to kill me, which also falls along the lines of hurting you in the process. And I don't want that to happen." He began to babble; he couldn't even bare to look at her in the eyes. His gaze was fixed on their joined hands. "I know it sounds like I'm trying to isolate you from every potentially dangerous thing, but—"

"Tony." She compassionately interjected. It was expected of him to act like this – she expected this to happen when he had become Iron Man. The thought of how over protective he could be was pushed so far in the back of her mind that she thought of it merely as a habit.

He gazed up at her intensely.

"I understand." She merely replied in a low whisper.

He leaned in slowly, and gave her a small and longing kiss. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and kissed him back with a growing smile. When they broke apart, he couldn't help but grin at her.

"Yes." He nodded. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Yes, what?"

"If I knew these bots were safe, I would let you keep them. That way, we can upgrade from the plastic Hello Kitty scissors." He wildly smiled at her as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

She began to laugh. "But those are my favorite pair of scissors."

…

"Final phase in progress: Twenty hours in counting."

…

A/N: Can you believe it? This fic is actually almost done. I'd say at least three more chapters ought to do it.