So thank you to those who are still reading this story! Hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying the writing part!

This chapter was a lot of fun to write, so far it's been my favourite, for those who said I needed more fluff, I hope I've touched on that enough for the time being in this chapter. So here we go, enjoy!

I walked into the kitchen, Pepper stood by the fridge peering into it, I leaned over her and took a bottle of water out.

She closed the fridge and turned to hug me, she traced her finger around the reactor.

'You're going to work on the suits again?' Pepper asked.

I nodded, 'I've a lot to catch up on.' I smiled at her.

'I'm happy everything's getting back to normal.' She smiled.

'You didn't doubt me did you?' I kissed her lips teasingly.

'Not at all.' She whispered pulling me in to a deep kiss.

As always, my mind raced, my heart skipped several beats, and I could swear that the reactor brightened each time she touched me. She trailed her fingers up and down my arm; she smiled up at me. 'Any more progress on the antigen, Mr Stark?'

I closed my eyes, a grin spread across my face. She really knew how to drive me crazy, I chewed my bottom lip, I finally opened my eyes and noticed the glint in her eyes, I pushed her back against the wall. I leaned in against her. I wrapped one arm around her waist and leaned one against the wall above her head. I grinned at the smile on her face. Her lips only an inch from mine, I leaned in and kissed her. A small gasp escaped her lips and it only made me crazier for her.

I felt her fingers run through my hair. I ran kisses along the nape of her neck, pushing my body against hers I breathed heavily against her skin. She pulled me closer against her.

'Tony.' She breathed.

Hearing her say my name made me appreciate this moment so much more. She was saying my name, she was with me. I couldn't believe how lucky I was.

I cupped her cheek and kissed her again, her hand crept under my shirt and she ran her nails across my back, I deepened the kiss. She reciprocated with an even more intense sigh.

'Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Colonel Rhodes is about to enter the house.' Jarvis announced.

Pepper pulled away quickly, she sighed loudly.

I heard myself sigh too, 'really?' I breathed.

I looked down at her smiling face, she bit her bottom lip. I caressed her cheek I leaned in and kissed her once more, 'we'll continue this later Miss Potts.' I whispered against her ear.

She nodded, 'ok.' She said breathlessly, she pushed me away from her and straightened out her skirt. She grinned at me, 'I'll be waiting Mr Stark.' She said quietly just as Rhodey walked in.

He looked at us both, he cleared his throat. 'Am I interrupting something?'

'Yes.' I muttered, Pepper grinned.

'Ok.' Rhodey said apologetically, 'this is a little bit awkward.'

Pepper left us, still smiling.

I looked at him disapprovingly, I took a sip of water from the bottle, 'well it would have been a lot more awkward if Jarvis didn't announce your arrival.'

He looked down at his feet, an awkward smile on his face. 'Well lucky for Jarvis then.' He said.

'Yeah.' I muttered, 'coming?' I headed downstairs and motioned for him to follow.

'Any new developments on the Extremis?' Rhodey asked taking a seat on the couch.

'Not yet, Jarvis is running a program to reverse engineer the serum.' I explained.

'Good, listen Tony.' He started.

I knew where this was going, again.

'Don't worry about it.' I offered a weak smile.

'Tony.' He started again.

I looked back at him, 'seriously, it's fine, pass me that file.' I nodded to the table.

Rhodey handed me the file over his shoulder, 'what are you looking for in there?'

'There's a loose connection somewhere I need to find it, otherwise I'm looking at last week's symptoms, only worse.' I sat down at my desk.

He came over to the screens, he looked over the hundreds of files which scattered the screens, 'I don't know how you can even read that.' He muttered.

I sighed, 'well it's been a gift and a curse.' I rolled my chair over to the other set of screens.

'Yeah, I can imagine, what's it like?' He asked. I sensed a hint of curiosity in his voice.

'I see and process the information through anything which is connected to the grid, as fast as a computer can.' I explained, 'but as I've found out recently, the human brain can't sustain such a high volume of information.'

'But yours obviously can, I mean better than most?' He asked.

I nodded, 'well based on the files I took from Futurepharm, it says there was a small percentile of people who could survive the Extremis process, something like two per cent.'

'So your brains saved your ass.' Rhodey said.

'More or less.' I agreed.

I looked through some more of the files. I welcomed silence, Rhodey obviously didn't, I could read his expressions a mile away. I tried ignoring his persistent sighs.

'When was the last time you ate?' Rhodey finally spoke; he stood with his arms crossed.

'No idea, pass me the tablet there.' I held my hand out, Rhodey placed the device in my hand.

He walked back to the main screens. I brought up some more information and scanned through the new files. Rhodey cleared his throat loudly.

I sighed; I put down the tablet and the files and looked across at him.

'You haven't spoken to me since we came back.' Rhodey said firmly.

'I've been busy.' I said quietly.

'Is there a problem?' Rhodey asked sternly, 'something you want to say to me?'

I shook my head, 'nope, nothing.'

Rhodey shook his head and crossed his arms, 'this whole, saying two words at a time to me, what is that?' He asked firmly.

'I believe the last few sentences were more than two words?' I asked nonchalantly.

He rolled his eyes, 'don't be a smartass.'

I dismissed him, 'I wasn't, and it's a fact.'

'You're being a smartass, and that's a fact.' He turned to look at me, 'how long is this going to take?' He nodded to the program Jarvis was running.

I walked over to him and swiped over the last few hours' worth of data, 'based on this, probably three or four hours. Why?'

'Just wondering,' he picked up a loose bolt from the bench and threw it up and down in his hand, 'why'd you send Bruce home?'

I knew there was an agenda, 'because he had a hot date in Calcutta and I didn't feel it was right to keep him all to myself.' I said sarcastically.

'And you can't answer a question seriously because?' Rhodey looked at me sideways.

'Because, Rhodey, some things are none of your concern.' I said firmly.

He cocked his head, 'none of my concern?' he laughed sarcastically, 'really, Tony, since when did we have such a professional partnership?'

'Since you stopped trusting my judgement and tried to undermine me with my own technology.' I said simply. I looked at him sideways.

Rhodey laughed again, 'so you do have things you want to say to me. Why don't we just get it all out in the open right now?'

'Maybe later, I'm busy.' I said coolly.

Rhodey stepped in front of me.

Really? I couldn't believe he was trying this again, 'I don't have time for this.'

'What is your problem?' Rhodey said in a much louder tone than I had usually witnessed.

'The War Machine upgrade is complete sir.' Jarvis announced interrupting our argument. I nodded.

'I don't have a problem.' I stepped around him and made my way back to the bench, I sat down and picked up the tablet, I brought up the specifications for the War Machine.

Rhodey came to stand in front of the bench again, 'you're such a stubborn ass, you know that?' He said.

'Your upgrades are ready, let me know if there's anything else you need done.' I handed him the tablet.

I looked back down at the files on the bench.

'You're acting like a child.' Rhodey said quietly.

'I'll see you later.' I spoke over him.

'Ok.' He muttered, 'thanks for this.' He held up the tablet.

He walked over to the suit and ran over the details on the tablet, after a few moments he placed it back on the bench and suited up. He took off and left me to myself.

I returned to my work. I rubbed my face. I leaned against the table on my elbows, 'Jarvis, monitor the War Machine stats, make sure everything's at full capacity.'

'War Machine is operating at one hundred per cent capacity sir.' Jarvis announced.

'Thank you Jarvis, keep me posted if anything changes.' I instructed.

'Are you concerned about the upgrades?' Jarvis asked.

'Just cautious.' I said quietly.

'Very well sir.' He replied.

I looked at my watch, seven fifteen, perfect. I glanced over the scans one more time. Once I was satisfied that everything was working fine I made my way out of the workshop.

'Pepper?' I called as I ran up the stairs.

I walked around the house, 'Pepper?' I repeated.

No answer. My chest tightened. Where was she? Panic started niggling at the back of my mind.

'Pepper?' I yelled out louder.

I quickened my pace, I walked from room to room, eventually I was running, I ran outside and around the whole house.

'Jarvis, where is she?' I heard my voice falter.

'I am unable to locate Miss Potts.' Jarvis replied.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, I stood on the grass, I looked out over the ocean. The beach; her favourite place. I ran down the path toward the beach. 'When did she leave the house?'

'Approximately thirty seven minutes ago sir.' He replied.

'Trace the cell signal.' I instructed.

'I'm not getting a reading.' Jarvis explained.

No, Pepper, where are you. I felt the onslaught of tears. I finally reached the stairs to the beach. I ran down three steps at a time.

I reached the sand, I looked around, the sun had just set, the beach was deserted, silence broken only by the gentle crash of waves on the shore.

'Pepper?' I called out again.

I looked around, a small glimmer of something shiny laid on a rock caught my eye about ten or so yards away. I ran toward it.

I dropped to my knees, my heart sunk. I picked up the small heart necklace. A single strand of hair was caught in the broken clasp.

'No.' was all I could manage. I didn't even know where to begin. They had Pepper and it was my fault. My selfish need to have her by my side just cost me the most important thing in my life.

I clenched my fist, I felt the menacing point of the heart pierce my skin, droplets of blood flowed through my fingers and fell heavily upon the sand. I stood up calmly and made my way back to the house, I will find them and when I do, I'll kill them all.

WOW...aren't I evil...Pepper and Tony just can't catch a break...I promise there'll be happiness eventually! Hope you're all with me :)

Hope to hear from you all!