So we needed to see Pepper come back strong and fierce to be by Tony's side when he needs her most, afterall 'behind every great man, is an even greater woman'

Tony was in a coma, I found that out early yesterday morning, I spent hours in the shower crying, I couldn't face him, I couldn't even be in the same room as him. How could I? I turned my back on him when he needed me most, the stress couldn't have been good for him. I probably did this to him. When Bruce told me, I told him to get out. I couldn't face the look of disappointment on his face. I'm sure he expected more from me, I expected more from me. So I finally called him up to discuss what happened. I couldn't bear it anymore.

'He went into shock, I injected him with adrenalin to bring his heart rate back up, but he's deteriorating much faster than either of us had anticipated.'

Bruce's words burned in me. I sat on the sofa staring at him. I don't think I said a single word for more than ten minutes. He simply sat with me.

'He wants to try the antigen we've formulated, I don't think it's ready, but as it stands I don't think we have a choice.' Bruce explained. 'It's been more than twenty eight hours since he lost consciousness, it's not looking good.'

I looked down at my hands. I couldn't open my mouth. This was it, Tony's prediction of his impending death.

'You should see him.' He said finally.

I knew I should. He needed me. That's why he told me what he did. I was mad at him years ago when he didn't tell me he was dying, and now that he told me everything I backed away into a corner and left him. Of course I was going to see him.

'How long?' I finally managed.

Bruce looked at me nervously, 'I don't know.'

'You have to know, days, weeks, months?' I heard my voice become harsh.

'Based on what I've seen, I would say that within two weeks he'll be almost completely enveloped by the Extremis and within the month, most likely brain dead.' Bruce told me.

I nodded, the sickening feeling in my stomach intensified. It's just as Tony had said. Even in the terror of losing his mind he was still brilliant.

I stood up, 'thank you.'

'I don't think he'll wake for a few hours.' He said as I walked out of the room.

Good, I didn't want him to, not just yet. I needed time to collect my thoughts.

Night had fallen over Malibu. The stars were out; it was always Tony's favourite thing to do. Sit out here and watch the stars, he would tell me all about the constellation and about the ancient gods and how they were thought to be immortalised in the stars. Then he would laugh: fairy tales to tell kids.

I laughed now, our life was an ironic fairy tale, and this one didn't have a happy ending. The walls I held up around me came crashing down. I found myself sitting on the deck of the pool, crying, sobbing and I think at some point I had even started praying. Then I cursed myself for doing such childish things.

I finally gathered enough courage to face him, even if he was asleep. I made my way to our bedroom. Bruce and Happy had carried him up. I stopped at the door and forced myself to open it. I swallowed hard, his face was so pale, he barely looked alive, if it wasn't for the slow rise and fall of his chest I would have thought he had passed away in his sleep. The look on his face was that of pain. His brow was furrowed and eyes shut tightly.

I took a seat on the edge of the bed; I ran my hand through his hair. It was cold and wet, small beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

'I'm sorry I got mad before, I'm sorry it took so long to come and see you,' I finally said to his sleeping body. I wiped away the sweat with a tissue I retrieved from the bedside table. He flinched under my touch.

I looked away from him, 'I'm scared, you can't leave me Tony.' I started babbling.

I turned to look at him, he was still asleep, I felt like such a coward, forcing an apology on a sleeping man, I couldn't even wait to apologise to him when he was lucid.

'I will hate myself forever if that was the last moment we had together and I ruined it.' I continued, 'you say how much you need me and how much I've helped you become a better person over the years.'

I stopped when I realised that my eyes were clouding, tears had welled up in my eyes and finally escaped. I wiped them away with another tissue.

'I need you too, if you weren't around I don't know how I'd cope, I can't do this, I can't run the company and live my life without you.' I rubbed the tears away with the back of my hand, 'I can't do any of this without you Tony.' I took his hand in mine and squeezed it. 'I need you here.' I whispered.

I sat in silence, just listening to his weak breathing.

The silence was broken when my blackberry started to ring, I quickly answered it, I turned to make sure it hadn't woken him up.

'Yes, yes I'm fine thank you, no I'm not in New York, I'm in Malibu.'

So many questions, 'Yes, Mr Stark is fine, why wouldn't he be?' those questions again, I frowned, 'I know there are rumours circulating regarding his health, what I would like to know is, who's responsible for these rumours.'

Of course that was a long shot, why I ever thought it would be that easy was beyond me. 'No, I assure you all is well with Mr Stark and Stark International.'

I ran my fingers through my hair. Before I could continue, I felt the phone get taken from my hand. I turned to see Tony smiling weakly.

'I would really appreciate it if you would stop harassing the CEO of my company,' he said with a grin, 'as you can hear, I'm fine, so if you've any further questions, please address them to her PA.' he pressed the end call button and handed me the phone. He lay back down.

I laughed disbelievingly, 'thank you.'

He took hold of my hand and pulled me down to lay beside him.

I instinctively laced my fingers between his and lay my head on his chest; I traced the arc with my other hand.

'I'm sorry I woke you.' I said quietly.

'Don't be, I feel like I've slept for days.' He replied.

He had slept for days.

'How are you feeling?' I asked nervously.

'Alive.' He said simply.

That was more than I could hope for, it gave me hope, he was here and he was alive.

'Bruce told me about the antigen.' I said.

He nodded, 'is it finished?' He asked.

'Yes, but he-'

'-he wants to run trials, I don't think I have time for that.' He said abruptly.

'I think you should.' I squeezed his hand.

I knew it was unfair, pleading him to do it for me, but it was the only way I knew he would do it; I knew he would listen to me.

'Ok.' He agreed.

'Thank you.' I whispered.

'And as for leaving you, I could never do that, Potts.' He kissed the top of my head.

I froze, he heard everything I said. I felt the heat in my cheeks rise. I buried my face in his chest.

'I could really use some food, and we could also use some positive PR.' He said.

'Dinner?' I suggested.

He nodded, 'I'll call and make reservations.'

'Are you sure you'll be ok?' I asked cautiously.

'If things get a bit hairy, we could always play the "billionaire party's too hard" card.' He laughed.

'I guess we can.' I smiled.

'Can we make it a late dinner; I need a little time to get it together.' He gently eased me off of his shoulder; he sat up and swung his legs out of bed.

'Are you feeling ok?' I asked moving to sit beside him.

'Surprisingly, yes.' He looked at me smiling.

'Ok, well I'll get ready, leave around eight?' I stood up.

'An hour and a half is enough time to get ready?' he asked me teasingly.

I laughed, he pulled me back to the bed and put his hands on my hips, he looked up at me smiling, he pulled me closer to him and laid his face against my stomach.

My heart skipped several beats, his touch always made me lose my breath, his fingertips always made my heart race. I bent down and kissed his head. I could never lose this; I could never imagine not feeling like this.

'Thank you, for not leaving me.' Tony whispered.

'That's something you'll never have to worry about either.' I said firmly, I kissed his lips, 'let's get ready.'

He stood up and hugged me one more time, 'I'll see you downstairs.'

I made sure he was ok to stand on his own; once I was satisfied I made my way downstairs. Happy had left my luggage in the living room, I knew there were at least three dresses which would be suitable for tonight, but there was one special one I thought of instantly. The dress I wore the first time we danced. In true Stark fashion I knew he would be booking something overly suave, and private. I smiled at the thought of his gaze, his touch, his breath when we danced. I only regretted that we didn't realise our feelings sooner. I opened the suitcase and found the dress I was looking for. After about and hour I was dressed and ready.

'Jarvis?' I called out.

'Yes Miss Potts.' Jarvis replied.

'Can you call Happy for me?' I asked as I fiddled with my hair, I knew he liked it down, and I knew he liked it curly.

'Hey Pepper, what's going on?' Happy's voice flooded the room.

'Tony and I are going out for dinner, are you free to drive us?' I asked while I still perfected my hair.

'Of course, it's my job, Pep.' Happy laughed, 'the boss would fire me if I didn't drive him.'

'Well, then you better be here at eight.' I laughed.

Jarvis disconnected the call and I added the finishing touches to my outfit, diamond earrings and the necklace he bought me.

I made my way downstairs and found Bruce still in the workshop.

'We're going out for dinner, will you be ok?' I asked Bruce.

He smiled at me, 'yeah, sure, have fun.'

'Do you want us to bring you anything?'

He shook his head, 'I'm going to try to meet with a friend I have at the hospital, I need a few things for this.' He held up the vial of blue liquid.

The antigen.

In the last few hours I had pushed the current situation out of my mind, the bright blue liquid just brought everything flooding back. My heart dropped. I nodded silently, 'we'll see you later.'

I stood by the front door waiting for Tony. As each minute passed I felt more and more sick. Why wasn't he here yet? Was he ok? I paced impatiently.

'Nervous?' Tony's voice beamed across the room.

A smile broke across my face before I even saw him, his voice was enough. When I did look up my heart skipped a beat. He was Tony again, my Tony. His brown eyes and endearing smile warmed my heart. His self-confident walk reminded me of the days before all this trouble. He walked toward me; the dark tux was like a second skin to him. Aside from the Iron Man armour, nothing suited him more. He looked perfect.

He took me in his arms, gently kissing me on the cheek, he let his lips linger by my ear, I closed my eyes at the gentle breath against my ear. I felt weak at the knees.

'You look so beautiful.' He whispered.

I clutched his arm, I had to hold on to him for support, it would never cease to amaze me how he still made me feel like the most amazing person on this earth, simply by being around me.

He finally pulled back, the same confident, infectious smile made me grin like an idiot.

'Shall we go?' he gestured to the door.

I nodded wordlessly.

We walked out to the waiting car, Happy opened the doors for us, and he shook Tony's hand and smiled at me.

As Tony took his seat, Happy silently mouthed, 'everything ok?'

I nodded with a smile. It was for now, and that's what mattered.

And so we went, we couldn't stop looking at each other, it was always like the first time. Happiness was something we cherished but so often took for granted. When we got through this, that would never happen again. I would never take him for granted and I would never let him forget how much he meant to me.

This one was a little bit longer than the previous chapters, I was inspired by the amazingly awesome teaser trailer which was released today for IM3! I nearly died when I watched it, so amazing. I CANNOT wait for the full length trailer in a few days :) So excited hahaha, so leave me some love for this piece and I will be back with plenty more for you!