Title: Protect My Heart

Author: Erik-in-CT

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer or Marvel Comics, and not myself.

Bella raced up the stairs from the workshop, and made her way to the front of the house. What in the heck was Alice doing here now? Bella felt as if her mind was being torn in so many directions this night, and she didn't know how much more she would be able to handle. Reaching the front door, she undid the locks and pulled it open, staring at the pixieish vampire as if she still didn't quite believe that she was there.

"Hello to you too Bella," the girl said with a tinkling laugh, reaching out tentatively to hug her best friends.

"Alice!" Bella finally exclaimed, returning the hug before pulling Alice inside the house after her. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," Alice said with a smile. "Is Edward here, or Tony?"

Bella was leading Alice back down to the workshop as they talked, but turned to look back at her friend, her face falling slightly as her thoughts turned back to Tony, praying they got back soon. "Not just yet...they're on their way..." Tapping the control pad on the glass, Bella pulled open the door to the workshop and made her way back to the monitors. Tony's vitals were dropping quickly. "Jarvis, where are they?"

"They are almost here, estimated arrival 2 minutes."

Bella looked around Tony's desk, searching for the wooden box she had seen on her first visit to the house. Finding it, she opened the latch and pulled it open. Nestled inside were more of the silver palladium squares that powered Tony's reactor.

"Everything will be just fine Bella," Alice said, her demeanor very confidant.

"I suppose you'd be the one to know," Bella said with the ghost of a smile on her lips. They she heard the outerdoor of the workshop ramp opening, and watched as a blur of movement flew down the ramp. Edward was carrying Tony easily, despite the weight of the suit. He stopped in surprise as he saw Alice standing with Bella, but then remembered his burdern.

"Where should I put him?"

"We need to get him out of the suit," Bella replied, feeling her heart wrench at the sight of Tony injured and helpless. "Jarvis, is there anyway you can get the suit off of him while he's unconcious?"

"Affirmative. Activating remote motor control functions."

Edward released his hold on the suit as Jarvis took over the motor controls of the armor, controlling it's movements like a puppet, despite the fact that its occupant was unconcious. Bella moved towards Edward, hesitantly reaching to wrap her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you Edward, for everything."

The vampire returned her embrace, but quickly let go, stepping away. "You're welcome Bella."

"Mr. Stark will require support after the armor is removed," Jarvis said, drawing their attention back to the situation at hand. Edward moved towards the platform were the robotic arms were stripping Tony of the Iron Man armor. As soon as they had finished, he reached out to support Tony's weight, picking him up once more and taking him to the small sitting area in the corner of the workshop and laying him on one of the loveseats there. Bella raced over, the wooden box tucked under her arm.

Finding and pulling down the zipper of the the armor's undersuit, Bella pulled the neoprene suit down to expose Tony's chest. "Jarvis...how do I take the reactor out?"

"Apply gentle pressure to the reactor, and twist counterclockwise. The implant with click out of place. The reactor core will emerge automatically from the back of the unit."

Following the AI's directions, Bella removed the reactor from it's socket on Tony's chest. She heard Edward behind her gasp in astonishment. She could understand. She had a very similar reaction the first time she had seen Tony remove the reactor, exposing the fist-sized hole in his chest. The back of the reactor opened just as Jarvis had said, and once again, she saw a piece of charred and smoking metal protruding from it. Carefully, she pulled the piece out, throwing it onto the floor and gently replacing it with a fresh piece from the box beside her. She watched as the metal was drawn inside, then she pressed the metal piece back into the socket on Tony's chest, gently clicking it back into place.

Bella held her breath as she heard it click back into place. For a moment she felt her world ending as nothing happened. Then the bluish light flickered for a moment, then burned bright. Turning her eyes back to Tony's face, she raised her hand to rest against his cheek. "Tony? Tony, wake up please," she begged. She felt tears running down her cheeks as she continued her whispered pleas to him. It seemed ages before she saw the flutter of his eyes beneath their lids, then they opened slowly, their blue depths hazy.

"Bella?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're alright now Tony," Bella said, her fingers stroking along the line of his jaw. "It's over."

"Over..." his voice was quiet, the whisper barely audible in the quiet of the room. Bella looked down at him, and started slightly at the sight of a tear track tracing its way down his cheek.

"Tony?"

She was surprised when he shifted, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her down against him. She felt his breath stirring her hair, and could have sworn he was sobbing.

"Pepper...she killed Pepper."

"I know Tony...I'm so sorry," Bella said. "I'm so very sorry."

Bella heard a soft noise from behind her, and gently pulled way from Tony's grasp, turning her head to see Alice settling into a chair nearby. "Oh," Bella said, glancing back at Tony, then towards Alice. "Tony, this is Edward's sister Alice. She showed up just before...just a few minutes ago."

Edward kneeled down on the floor next to them, his eyes on Alice. "Why are you here Alice?"

Alice swept her golden gaze across the three of them, before settling her gaze on Edward. "Carlisle is here as well," she said finally. "He's at a little cabin in the hills on the other side of the city. I made him come down with me after I had a vision a few days ago."

Bella's brow furrowed as she listened to Alice speak. What could she have possibly seen that made her come to the city from wherever they were living down, dragging Carlisle along with her. Beside her Edward gasped, and Bella turned towards him. He was staring at Alice intently, obviously having picked up on her thoughts. "Care to share?" Bella asked, glancing between the two.

"Please do," Tony added. "I'm confused as hell."

Alice turned her eyes towards Bella and Tony. "A neighbor heard the disturbance and called the police. When the emergency teams got there, she wasn't dead yet. They did and emergency transfusion. That saved her life, for the most part. They had her in the hospital, and couldn't figure out what was wrong. That's why Carlisle came with me. He pulled a couple of the strings and got her transferred to his care, and took her out of the city to our cabin."

Bella couldn't believe what she was hearing. Could Alice really mean what it sounded like she was saying? Bella turned back to look at Tony, who had shifted to a sitting position on the couch. She found him staring back at her, confusion evident in his eyes. "Bella?"

"It's Pepper," she said. Turning to Alice, she looked for confirmation. "Isn't it?" When Alice slowly nodded, Bella felt the last bit of tightness in her heart start to slowly unwind. She turned her gaze back to Tony, feeling tears start to trickle from the corners of her eyes. "She's not dead. Not really."

Tony pulled away from her slightly, watching her with an expression that made Bella feel a little uncomfortable. "What do you mean?"

"She's..." Bella found she didn't really know what to say exactly.

"She's one of us now," Edward said for her. "It was too late to save her life entirely, but by putting blood back into her body, they essentially gave her the means to turn. She's a vampire now."

Bella was worried. It had been at least an hour since Tony and Edward had returned, and Alice had given them her astounding news. And Tony hadn't said a word to any of them in that time. After Edward had made it exceedingly plain what Alice was telling them, Tony had excused himself, and left the workshop, going upstairs and locking himself in his office. She had tried going up and talking to him, but he had ignored her knocking. Finally she had given up, and resigned herself to waiting until he was ready to talk. And so she sat in the living room of the large mansion with Edward and Alice. Edward had said that Tony's thoughts were racing so quickly and jumping so randomly all over the place that he couldn't really get an idea of what was going through his mind.

Edward and Alice were making plans to meet up with Carlisle and take Pepper back to their family in Alaska. They were discussing what should be said to explain her sudden departure from the city, and from her job, when they were interrupted by Jarvis. "Bella," he said. "Mr. Stark has asked for you."

Glancing at Alice and Edward, Bella stood and made her way to Tony's office, knocking quietly on the door. "Tony?"

"Come in," she heard him say, and she slowly opened the door, peeking in and seeing him sitting behind the large desk sitting opposite the door. He glanced up at her, and beckoned with his hand. "Come on, it's alright."

As she made her way across the room, Bella was struck by the change in him. He had lost the aura of self-assuredness and cockiness. He seemed smaller somehow. And Bella wondered if he would ever fully recover from the shocks of the last day or two. Once again she felt a deep well of sadness that she had brought all this trouble to his doorstep. "Are you alright?" Bella asked, coming to a stop on the other side of the large desk from where he sat.

"I will be," he said with a sigh. Lifting his arm, he gestured for her to come around the desk, and when she did so, he reached out and pulled her down to sit on his lap. His arms wound around her middle, and he lay his head against her shoulder. "So much is happening so quickly. Ideas and concepts that I am struggling to grasp and make sense of. I find myself in the unusual position of not knowing what to think."

Bella shifted to face Tony, her arms coming to rest around his shoulders. "I know Tony. I felt the same way when I first found out about Edward and his family, what they were. But it'll be ok."

"Yeah, I think it will," he replied, then pulled her down, pressing his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.

THE END

Author's Note:

Well, there ya go. Pepper's not really dead! Yay!

To use a modified quote from Harry Lockhart (RDJ's character in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"): "Yeah, boo, hiss, I know. Look, I hate it too. In movies where the studio gets all paranoid about a downer ending so the girl shows up, she's magically alive on crutches, I hate that. I mean shit, why not bring them all back. But the point is in this case, this time, it really happened. Pepper, like, lived. Yeah, it's a dumb movie thing, but what do you want me to do, lie about it?"

That's all there is (for now). Obviously you can expect a sequel, though I'll probably take a couple of weeks off. So set me up for an Author Alert if you're interested in seeing what will become of Tony, Bella, and the rest of the gang.

Thank you all so much for reading, and for your great responses to "Protect My Heart". I hope you enjoyed the ending. It's been quite a ride, and I can't wait to get a chance to write for y'all again!

Until then, my love to you all!

~Erik-in-CT