Sorry it took so long! I decided to rewrite the next few chapters! I didn't like the weird turn I had took. Sorry... Anyways, I hope this chapter is satisfying enough! Since after all there was a longer wait than expected, but you'll live.

Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine, I sure hope it wasn't...

She was stuck. Again. It burned, it hurt. The pain was unbearable.

"PEPPER!"

Not again. Not this again. No.

Where was he!? "TONY!"

"PEPPER!"

Her head snapped upwards. He never responded before.

"AHHHHHH!"

"TONY!?"

She tried moving to get out from under the burning wood. "TONY!" She screamed in pain as another burning wood fell on her arm.

"PEPPER! I-I'M COMING!"

He was coming. Tony. He was finally going to save her. From the burning ashes. From all the pain and loss. He was coming. He was safe. She tried to smile as she felt the burning wood be lifted from her.

"Tony?"

"Pepper, you need to get to a hospital."

Some coughing. The place was so smoky she couldn't see him. Whether or not she could see him, he was there. He wasn't dead. She tried telling them. He was alive.

"Tony!"

"Pepper, stop calling me that."

Her eyes widened as she realized she'd been calling Rhodey Tony. "Rhodey?"

"Happy needs to see a doctor as well."

She was lifted off the ground and into his arms. Her arm and leg burned. Hurt. It hurt. She bit her tongue. The pain was unbearable. Her vision clouded.

Tony. He was dead. He wasn't alive. He wasn't coming. He was dead. Tony.

"Tony…" She mumbled to herself.

He said he'd come back. He promised. He said he would. He wouldn't lie. Would he?

He did. He lied. He died. He's dead, despite his promise. He was dead.

Flames bursted up and rubble fell.

Pepper screamed as Rhodey dropped her. He's not waking. His head was bleeding. His head was…bleeding. She couldn't carry him. They were dead. They would join Tony.

They were dead.

"Miss," A voice whispered. "Miss, wake up!"

Pepper shot up in her bed, her form shaking. Another dream. It was just a dream. Or was it? It had to be. "Tony?"

"No…" Annie's voice said. "It's me, Annie…"

"Oh," Pepper said looking to her hands, which were still clenched tightly in her blankets. She could feel her hair sticking to her face and the sweat that was still on her forehead. She wiped at the sweat and closed her eyes, trying to rid her head of the memories. Of the bad dream.

"Do you wish for me to draw you a bath?" Annie questioned.

Pepper got up and nodded. "Is anyone going to be in there with me?"

Annie shook her head. "Not unless you want someone."

Annie left with not another word to the bathroom that was connected to the room Pepper stayed in. Pepper had to admit she probably stunk. It's been almost a week since her last shower, and not to mention all the incident at dinner the previous night when Sim lost his anger and spilled his tea all over her dress.

It's been about 5 days since they first arrived at the Mansion at which Sim lived in. Pepper already gained a routine for what she did every day. She'd wake up and eat breakfast with everyone else, then she'd go to the library and read and sometimes even play with the little kids who played there every morning, then she would eat lunch or if there was extra time she went to the recreation room with Rhodey to play cards or board games until it was lunch, then nap until dinner, than talk with Rhodey then do whatever to pass time until she passed out.

She almost always managed to get bored of one task and end up switching to something new. Lucille, Sim's daughter, managed to get out of her studies Sim made her do and came to hang out with the 'newbies'.

Though soon enough, she got bored of playing with the 'newbies'.

"Miss, it's ready!" Annie's voice said quickly.

Pepper looked up at Annie who was fidgeting with the bandages that were still wrapped around her neck. Pepper caught a glimpse of what looked like an ugly, meaning large, scar. Pepper stood up with narrowed eyes.

"What happened?" Pepper asked, eying the bandages.

Annie quickly pulled her hands away and looked to her feet. "I-I don't know…"

"You don't know?" Pepper questioned. "How could you not know? It happened recently, had it not?"

Oh great, now she was talking like them.

"I don't remember…" Annie said stepping away from Pepper "I wear the bandages…to cover the scar."

Pepper bit her lip as she raised her left arm. "See? I don't hide my scar. I got it in a large fire, it burned down my whole school….A-and killed…my best friend…"

"Tony?" Annie asked.

"Yeah…" Pepper murmured.

Pepper never spoke of the fire so openly. Especially to someone she hardly knew. Which must have meant something saying Annie was just a servant, but Pepper knew better than to think like that. Annie was more than just a servant, she was a human being who just happened to work as a servant.

Annie then reminded Pepper that her bath was getting cold, so she left to finally allow herself to get clean.

Later that afternoon

Lunch time was pretty uneventful. Pepper sat in silence as she thought of their situation and Rhodey sat picking at his food, apparently he lost his appetite from when one of the servants threw up, and Howard continued his quest of getting Sim to say something about Tony. To reveal something about Tony.

Pepper hadn't realized that it was going to take so long. She had hoped that when they first came that they could have just confronted the man and gotten the information they needed. Pepper wished that they at least known where Tony was and what happened to him. That would at least be satisfying. Whether or not he was dead, it was better to at least know what happened. It would clear her unclear mind.

The uneventful lunch, turned pretty eventful when Annie broke down into another coughing fit, which turned into hacking up blood, which eventually turned to Annie passing out cold on the floor. Howard stood up to rush to her aid, but Sim held out a hand and with a tired expression as if this was a normal occurrence, demanded that the other servants carry her to her room.

Pepper asked if she could go visit, but Sim directly told her that she would violating rules to visit Annie. Not that Pepper cared about the rules, Pepper listened. She didn't want to over abuse their visit.

Since the incident at lunch with Annie, they hadn't seen much of Annie. Sim originally assigned Annie to be of service to them as much as possible, but whenever they requested Annie to help them with something, namely getting around or finding a book, a girl by the name of Laura, came to their aid.

The one time they did see Annie was when she had gone to apologize to Sim at dinner time for not being able to help.

Pepper found herself staring at Annie. She didn't know why, but Annie was staring back for a minute, before she rushed off coughing in her elbow, clutching her chest. Pepper shrugged it off and went on with eating hoping Annie would feel better the next day.

About two days passed since that day, and Sim hadn't said anything really revealing about the whereabouts of Tony. He's mentioned Tony a few times, though. He said that he'd really have enjoyed it if he had a chance to meet the great genius, Tony Stark. He said he was ashamed to hear of the terrible event that took his life. He said that he'd been to one of his presentations, which Howard had set up for him many years ago.

Within those two days, Pepper and Rhodey tried asking around with the few servants they met up with if they'd seen Tony. Most of them the said they didn't even know who he was, and the others just questioned them about what Tony did. So they'd heard about him, but apparently only through Sim.

Annie still hadn't shown up from her last appearance to apologize. Pepper was starting to get uneasy about the mansion. She had really hoped that it would have gone by faster than this. She really didn't want to stay any longer. She was itching to get out of the mansion and get some open air, but when she tried, one of the servants said that she had to alert their 'master' of her leave.

So, Pepper decided it was best just to stay there. She hung out with Rhodey talking about how they were going to get Tony back. Rhodey didn't have any ideas to share, so she just hung out with him, reading.

Howard continued his attempts at getting a lead at where Tony was. Pepper knew he had to be somewhere. He had to be. He wasn't dead, he was alive. He was here. She just didn't know where. She had to find him.

"Pepper where are you going?" Rhodey asked.

Pepper waved behind her as if she was waving off a question she didn't want to answer. "I'm going to find Tony!"

She heard him shout something, but she had already left the room. She was too far gone. Even if he told her it was impossible, that she would never find him, she wouldn't stop. As she was running she passed a room with an open door. Inside was Annie, throwing up in a bucket.

Pepper paused, and backed up a bit. "Annie?"

Annie jumped, and wiped her mouth. She looked up at Pepper who was standing at the doorway. Pepper could see that she looked like she went through hell and back. She had bags under her eyes, a bloody nose, that looked like it was from a punch to the face, and her lips looked raw as if she chewed them until they bled.

Pepper saw Annie's terrified face stare at her. "Annie? Are you alright?"

BAM!

Pepper gasped as a blinding pain spread through the back of her head. She didn't even have time to catch herself before she hit the ground.

"Pep!" Was the last thing she heard.

So...uh...how was it? Good? Bad? Want to shoot me? Hug me...? What?

So I have a few things to say. I have no more school for the summer! So, I should be updating more often, but i guess that also means I might not...who knows. It's summer. I'm not so sure about this weekend cause on Friday I'm babysitting all day then we're going out of town for a graduation party, and that's pretty much it.

I have a poll on my profile for Baby Phase on names, for the girl. So please, I kinda want to choose the name, but I need help deciding.

Fun Fact: I have a weird habit of falling asleep on school buses when we have long rides...then I'll wake up and I'll be under the seat or something...My friend took tons of pictures... :P

I have a surprise coming up, I don't know when or how soon, but it's something I hope all of you will like! Since after all it's been a while...XD Anyways, I'd like to get more done for Snow Storms or even Baby Genius. So, REVIEW? Tell me what you think!

Actually one more thing, Do you guys prefer long chapters or short chapters? Just asking cause opinions vary on that.