Ahhh! Thank you all for having faith in me! I promised I wouldn't let you down, and this is just the beginning for bringing our hero home!

I froze; I looked up at the lights and then back at Tony. His face was still, nothing had changed.

I pulled away from Rhodey and made my way back to Tony's side.

'I didn't imagine that, I didn't, do it again.' I leaned in and whispered to Tony.

'Pepper.' Rhodey touched my shoulder, 'what are you doing?'

I turned to face him, 'didn't you see that?'

'See what?'

'The lights flickered, you can't have missed it.' I teetered on the edge of insanity.

'I saw it, we're on a ship, it's probably weather interference.' He said quietly.

I saw the look on his face, he didn't believe that, I shook my head, 'no, it's Tony, I know it is.'

Rhodey sighed, he looked down at his feet, 'Pepper.'

I held up my hand, 'don't, I'm not crazy.' I whispered.

'I don't think you're crazy, I think you're trying to hold on, and there's nothing wrong with that, but Pep, it's not good, you're not allowing yourself to grieve.'

I could see it was difficult for him to say, so I didn't argue, there was nothing I could say that would make him believe me. I know what I saw, and I know there's no way I'm giving up on him.

I felt depleted, 'take me home.' I said quietly.

He nodded, 'we'll come back later, they're keeping him here for tests.'

'What kind of tests?' I looked up at him.

'They want to make sure the Extremis is no longer present, I don't know, they flew Bruce out, he's requested to do the tests himself.' He explained.

Bruce, oh god, I forgot about him, 'how is he?'

We walked through the hallways.

Rhodey shook his head sadly, 'not good, Tony was his closest friend.'

I nodded, 'I know, he was staying with us, Tony thought it wasn't safe for him to be here.'

'Tony always thought of himself as the Invincible Iron Man.' Rhodey said quietly.

'Not invincible, just expendable.' I corrected.

Rhodey looked at me sideways, 'what do you mean?'

'He always felt he was sent on missions and extractions because he was an expendable part of the team, someone no one would miss.' I said sadly.

'What an idiot.' Rhodey said simply, 'he didn't think we'd miss him?'

'I think he thought we stuck around because we were obliged to.' I offered.

Rhodey shook his head, 'he had everything but common sense.'

I smiled weakly, 'yeah.'

We met Happy outside on the deck, he was alone. He sat against the wall smoking a cigarette, he nodded to acknowledge us.

'How are you doing?' Happy asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders, he nodded in acknowledgement.

'Let's go home.' He said quietly.

He arranged for a pilot to take us back to shore, we drove home silently. I had no words. I couldn't bring myself to speak anymore. I needed to change and needed to shower.

Once we pulled up to the drive way, Jarvis allowed us in, I took a deep breath before I stepped over the threshold into the house.

Just like a punch to the gut I couldn't breathe. I blinked away the tears which formed instantly. I never realised how much the whole house smelt like him, his cologne, the cars, everything was a sickly reminder of him.

Rhodey's arm found its way around my waist; he guided me through the house.

'Guest bedroom.' I muttered, I couldn't face the room upstairs, our room.

'You get changed, we'll be here.' Rhodey said with a weak smile.

I nodded. I closed the door, I made my way into the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were red and puffy; I don't remember ever crying this much in my life collectively.

For the first time in twenty-four hours I took Tony's jacket off. I felt like I was leaving a piece of him behind, I hung it on the handle by the shower, it was still close. I let the tattered dress fall from my body. I examined the bruises. I touched my thigh delicately, I ran my finger over the cuts around my wrists. They were all physical wounds and they would all heal and my mind would eventually forget what happened. I pulled my hair forward, the blonde was covered in red, I felt sick looking at myself, I noticed that I was silently crying again.

I stepped into the shower; the hot water ran over my skin, I felt nothing. The hot tears blended in with the water, I was so completely numb. The water ran red, blood and dirt washed away from me. I scrubbed my skin and my hair over and over. The water finally ran clear and I felt I could face the world again. Perhaps the world inside this house, I wasn't ready for anybody else.

I picked a pair of track pants from the shelf, I remember when I started working for Tony, I insisted the guest room be stocked with something for his 'guests' to wear when I had their clothes dry-cleaned and pressed. The last thing I wanted was to see a scantily clad one nighter walking around in his shirts whilst I felt sorry for myself and hoped that one day I would be as attractive to him as any one of those girls. I always cursed myself after those thoughts. 'You're too good for him Pepper.' How wrong I was, he was the best person I'd ever known, and now he was gone. I don't think I ever told him that. I told him I loved him, sure, but I never told him how proud I was.

The heat in the bathroom was suddenly overwhelming, I clutched at the shirt which I wore. It felt so constrictive. I pulled the collar away from me as much as I could without ripping it. I was crying again. I rolled my eyes. I was sick of crying already and it had only been a day.

'Stop it Pepper.' I said aloud to my reflection. I straightened out my clothes. The water dripped from my hair and saturated the shirt, I tried to dry it off as best I could with a towel, my mediocre attempt was enough. I nodded to myself.

Once I had finally gained the ability to breathe again, I made my way downstairs. Happy and Rhodey sat in silence.

Happy stood up and walked over to me, he pulled me into an embrace, 'we'll be ok.' He whispered.

I nodded against him, 'in time.' I choked out.

I pulled away from him, 'I think we should go downstairs, I think we should bring him something from the workshop, something he loved.'

Rhodey stood up too, 'good idea.' He said quietly.

Rhodey and Happy followed me as we descended down the dark stairwell and into his workshop. I braced myself before keying in my passcode.

I prepared myself for the blare of his music, none came.

I looked back at Rhodey, he shrugged.

Instead we were met by Jarvis.

'Welcome Miss Potts, Colonel Rhodes, Mr Hogan.'

'Thank you Jarvis.' We said in unison.

'Now that you're all here, there is something which I have been instructed to show you.' He announced.

'Show us what?' I asked curiously as I walked around the shop looking for something which would be suitable to bring to Tony.

'If you would all be seated I will begin.' He said.

We looked at each other, I motioned to the couch.

I gasped as Tony's face appeared on the projection screen.

Rhodey and Happy both looked down and sighed.

Tony's smile remained frozen on the screen, my heart was screaming.

Jarvis finally let the video play.

'Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, the most important people in my life, I felt I needed to make this, I needed to leave something…something to explain what I had to do…a few weeks ago I noticed that the symptoms from the Extremis were getting pretty bad. When I say bad I mean terrible, as in, I'm losing my mind slowly, but literally-'

He smiled, the cheeky grin which made me laugh no matter how serious the situation was, he always managed to make me smile.

'-I needed to do this before I have no idea what I'm doing, and the rate at which it's happening, I wouldn't be surprised if it happens in a matter of weeks, I needed to tell you that there are people who are still after this technology, and there are people who are able to take it from me, of course they would need me not breathing to do that, so I've implemented a self-destruct sequence of sorts, if I ever got into a situation where I could be taken. I've written a code into my brain which will erase everything, including me, effectively. So I'm assuming that if you're watching this, I've either completely lost it, if I have, make sure Dummy is feeding me properly, or I've had to activate the self-destruct code. Either way, I'm sorry, it's not fair, I know it isn't, but I needed to do this, for you Pepper, to make sure the wrong people don't get a hold of Extremis.-'

The Tony in the video looked down at his hands, the sadness in his eyes, his own prediction haunted him.

'-I love you so much Pep, so much that I can't even think straight, and you know that's a huge deal for me, I just hope I'm doing the right thing, I hope that you'll forgive me one day. Rhodey, Happy, make sure she's safe, I know she'll argue and tell you she's fine, she's not, she has this little crinkle above her nose when she's stressed-'

I laughed through the tears.

'-make sure you all look after each other, thank you, as well, for being my friends, I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, but you made my life worthwhile, every day, so thank you-'

He smiled once more, and stood up. He walked away from the camera, I looked down at my hands, my whole body was shaking, I cried openly.

'-One more thing, sorry, I know, so anti-climactic right? But this part is kind of important, well probably the most important part. The self-destruct code is reversible, so don't ditch my body just yet, you'll need it. Jarvis will show you how to bring me back. See you soon.'

Hope this was a little lighter :) And for those 'Extremis and Invincible Iron Man" Enthusiasts, I apologise if it's not completely accurate, I have been reading and re reading the comics for the upcoming chapters. So there will be better references to it, I hope!

Thanks for reading :) Drop me a line if you've any hits/tips/ideas, other than that, hope you're still enjoying!