I just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews :) I hope this chapter is as welcomed, as usual its cliffy, it's my style, what can I say lol, also, the end bit, "one more day" it's inspired by a brilliant fic I read on this site, called One More Day. I hope it sits well in this chapter, and I hope it's not too frustrating for you all :)

We stood in Tony's workshop, Happy sat by himself; he looked like he was deep in prayer. I knew he wasn't religious, so he must have been simply hoping, hoping like I was, hoping like Rhodey was, that whatever we were about to do would work.

Tony lay on a makeshift gurney in the middle, Bruce stood beside him. He was finalising the equations he keyed in to the multiple screens which surrounded them.

I turned to Rhodey, his eyes remained fixed on Tony's still body, 'come on.' I saw him muttering to himself over and over. I looked back at Bruce.

'Ok Tony,' Bruce stepped back and looked over the calculations and dosages again, 'here we go.'

I took a deep breath, I felt my nails digging into my skin through clenched fists, I closed my eyes. Rhodey wrapped his arms around me, 'it's ok.' He whispered in my ear.

'Wait.' Happy said firmly.

I pulled away from Rhodey and looked to Happy.

Bruce stepped back again, 'what's wrong?'

'I just,' he stepped toward Tony, 'I just wanted to say something, to him, before you do this.' He lowered his head.

'Of course,' Bruce stepped back.

I looked at Happy, he stood silently beside Tony. He hung his head and laid one hand on the bed.

'I don't know if you can hear me, but if this doesn't work, and you die, I'll never get to tell you, so I just needed to say what's on my mind.' He began, 'you have always been a friend to me, my best friend, and I watched you become Iron Man, I watched you risk your life every day for the world.' He rubbed his face, 'I watched you make Pepper the happiest she's ever been, so I'm not going to watch you die and leave us behind, fight through this boss, you have to.' He squeezed Tony's arm, 'when you come back, we're having a serious conversation about all this self-sacrificial business.' He nodded to us and walked back to where he was sitting.

I looked down at my feet; Happy never spoke about what happened, he never told anyone how he felt. My heart broke seeing this. I could tell Rhodey thought the same, he nodded wordlessly to him. They exchanged a weak smile.

'Do it.' I whispered to Bruce.

He nodded, he took the syringe he prepared and stood beside Tony again. He swabbed his arm, 'ok buddy, don't let this be the one mistake you made.' Bruce said nervously.

I stood silently watching Tony, Rhodey took my hand in his, I squeezed it anxiously.

Bruce inserted the needle in Tony's arm and squeezed the plunger, I watched the liquid enter his body; I looked straight to the EEG monitors. The flat lines which indicated his brain activity remained frozen, nothing changed. I held my breath.

Before I could speak, the heart rate monitor came to life and began to show the drastic decrease in his heart rate, it began to beep. I gasped, time seemed to slow down. Panic took over, I felt my eyes begin to water, I blinked through the haze.

Rhodey hung his head; I felt his hand squeeze mine.

'No.' I tried to run to him, Rhodey wrapped his arm around me and stopped me.

'No, don't do this.' Bruce muttered, 'you said this would work, now work.' He yelled at Tony's still form.

I fought against Rhodey's hold, 'no!' I screamed through the tears.

Bruce was monitoring the screens; he quickly injected Tony with another two syringes. One was shot straight to the heart, I figured that was adrenaline and the other was a liquid I didn't recognise. He looked at the monitors, he dropped the syringes and began to perform CPR, his already low heart rate began to decrease even more. The heart rate monitor beeped louder and faster.

Happy slammed his hand against the wall and he rushed out of the room.

'Come on!' Bruce continued the compressions on Tony's chest, my own heart felt constricted; I felt like I was losing him all over again, although I never really got him back to begin with.

'Don't do this.' He yelled, he slammed his fist against Tony's chest, 'wake up.' He yelled over and over. The heart rate monitor beeped its warnings, louder and louder. It rang through my ears and reverberated through my body.

I felt my knees weaken and my legs gave way, I collapsed against Rhodey.

'It's ok,' He whispered, he rubbed my back; I felt his body shake against mine too.

'I'm so sorry.' Bruce looked to us.

The heart rate monitor conveyed my worst fears, whatever we tried had killed him, he was really gone, his mind was gone and now his body too. Bruce switched off the monitor, the beeping ceased and the silence was deafening.

I pushed Rhodey away, I found my legs and walked over to Tony, each slow step was agonising.

'Leave us.' I said as firmly as I could.

Rhodey and Bruce left quietly. I dragged a stool over beside the gurney.

I sat beside him and took hold of his hand, 'remember how you said Tony Stark never makes mistakes?' I said quietly, 'well Tony, this was your second mistake.'

I dropped my head in my hand. 'Remember how I ran into your office almost twelve years ago and I said there was a mistake in your numbers?' I looked at his face, 'you hired me because I was the only one who ever stood up to you.'

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, 'I was the only one who stood up to you and I'm doing it again; every day I stood behind you and made sure you didn't destroy the company or destroy the city, I always made sure the work was done, I made sure Stark Industries was running the way you wanted it to,' I hung my head, 'I did all this because you needed me to, now I need something from you Tony, I need you to come back, I need you to come home and make me happy, and do the things I need done, I'm not letting you give up, you're not allowed, you're needed here, I need you to wake up now.' I cried freely into my hand. 'I need you.' I said simply.

I closed my eyes and kissed his hand, I lay my face against it, 'Tony, I don't know if I can do this without you.' I sighed.

My eyes burned, I felt like I was drowning in my own tears. My whole body shook, I couldn't contain the pain. I wrapped my arm tightly around my stomach, I sobbed against his body, 'just don't be dead.' I cried.

I lay there for at least an hour, no one came in, no one interrupted, I cried silently, holding on to the last warmth I would ever feel from him, I looked at the clock on the wall, it had been more than thirty hours since this all began. My whole world was turned upside down in such a short amount of time. It was just after six; I couldn't tell whether it was morning or night, I pulled my face away from his hand. I refused to let him go, I couldn't.

I laced my fingers with his; I closed my eyes and leaned my elbow on the bed and my head in my hand. I sat with the calming whir or machinery around me, his creations, his world, the familiar scents of his cologne mixed with the oils from the cars he loved so much. My own heart beat echoed though my head, I couldn't believe I would never be down here with him again, watching him pout when I told him that he needed to go to a meeting, or seeing him smile when I walked down the stairs, or hear him call me Miss Potts in that teasing tone I secretly loved. I felt my hand weaken, the energy which my body ran off for the last twenty hours was depleted, I lay my head on his chest and wrapped my arm around his waist.

'I love you so much Tony, I think I always have, you know, I think I was just scared to tell you, remember when we were on the balcony and we almost kissed?' I smiled through the tears which continuously flowed, 'I was so nervous, I think I was sweating like crazy, and I forgot to wear deodorant, remember that?'

I cleared my throat, 'oh Tony, all the small things I wish I had told you, I wish we had one more day, I would turn off my phone and I would put off my meetings.' I put my lips to his hand again, 'Just one more day Tony and I would stay in bed all morning with you when you asked me to, I would drive with the roof down, I would fly to Italy with you and have dinner and swim in the sea.' I sighed, 'just one more day.' I whispered.

I lay in silence, I felt his warmth, and surprisingly his temperature was the same. I didn't know how fast the body temperature was meant to drop when someone passed away, but I was pretty sure it was meant to be significantly different by now. I raised my head and looked at his face, he looked so serene and his cheeks were still pink, I sat up completely, I squeezed his hand, the machine beside me sprang to life, I looked over at the EEG monitor, the flat lines spiked, just as they did I felt his hand gently squeeze mine back.

OOOOOHHHH...cliffy, yay :)

This one was a lot more inner monologue, but I felt it was necessary to convey the feelings. Also, since Tony wasn't awake here, there wouldn't have been much conversation happening.

As always, let me know what you think :)