By some miracle, she managed to keep her composure long enough to get through the entire ceremony and make an appearance at the reception. She smiled when appropriate, laughed when prompted, and gave a speech that lived up to the reputation of Virginia 'Pepper' Potts.

She managed to sneak away from the other guests, and the press to escape away from their stares and questioning looks. Her composure couldn't last long, and knowing this day was on the way she prepared far in advance. She scrambled out of the cab, made her way inside her condo, kicked off her shoes, and headed into the kitchen. There was enough alcohol in there to make Tony, and any other alcoholic proud. She grabbed whatever first came into contact with her hands, and loaded her arms full of the assorted beverages.

She turned the TV on; it was a mistake on her part, one that could have been easily avoided if she would've thought about it. All the press could talk about was the Stark wedding. How perfect Amanda Prescott was to tame the wild playboy. How much of a saint she was living in Africa the last three years teaching underprivileged children to read and write while lobbying from donations trying to build more schools and get supplies.

It was bullshit, if only the cameras could catch her when she had one of her fits or when she was going off on a rant. So what if they only happened to be about how horrible conditions in Africa were. Pepper glared at the blonde on the screen, smiling and laughing holding hands with Tony as they exited the church. She couldn't believe how quickly Tony found his true love, only six months after declaring his everlasting love for her.

Pepper wanted to hate him, and she wanted to hate Amanda. But somewhere deep down in her heart she knew she was partly to blame. She could've done something, could've stopped it. She could've left, quit and went back to live on the farm. She scoffed at her self; she didn't see that happening any time soon.

"Can you believe it's only been about a year since these two love birds met?" The TV mocked her, the two commentators talking over a clip montage of the highlights of the Tony-Amanda relationship. Pepper hated the media.

"Fuck you." She said, pushing herself off the couch to pick out movie tittles. She turned her Blu-Ray on and randomly placed one in. Settling back on the couch, Pepper pulled one of her blankets around her, opening a bottle of scotch. She barely even looked at what movie was playing. It doesn't matter, she thought, I won't remember it in the morning, anyways.

Rhodey shows up the next day at about what Pepper guesses to been noon, she's not really sure. But at the sight of him memories start to flood into her brain. She grimaces at the remembrance, and takes a large gulp out of the drink in her hand. He moves into her line of view, her head nods at him, and her hand raises her drink to him without her command or permission.

"What are you doing, Pepper?"

"I'm pullin' a Tony." She says, a small slur to her words. Rhodey shakes his head, and mumbles something Pepper doesn't catch. She's pretty positive she doesn't care about what he says, and takes another huge gulp of her drink.

"Pepper, I know…" He starts. Pepper watches him carefully; he looks at her, shakes his head and begins again. "Pepper, I think you should…"

"We've had this conversation before, Rhodey. It always ends the same."

He sighs, and looks down at his hand. He looks back up at her, and sighs again. Pepper's brain starts churning through the alcohol-induced fog. She begins to think about what could be wrong with Rhodey, and her minds goes to dark, dangerous, cave-like places, that she knows isn't logical. Still the fear inspired by these thoughts starts to sober her up, and that was something she doesn't want.

"You didn't pick up when I called you."

Pepper startles slightly, but manages to raise an eyebrow at him, a talent she's honed from working with Tony for years. A shrug is the answer she gives him; though her mind begins to think about why Rhodey would call. Her heart squeezes inside her chest, and fear flares up when she realizes she doesn't even know where her phone is. It's most likely hiding somewhere in between the blankets and the couch. She takes a sip of her drink, as she tries to beat down the anxiety in her chest and fights the urge to scourer her condo until she finds it.

"What if Tony had called?"

She scoffs, "Why would he call me on his honeymoon?"

"Fine, what if work had called?"

"Work is Tony. I'm just his PA again remember."

"I remember a time when you could've been more."

Pepper stops, her hand freezing in between her mouth and the table. She fixes him with her hardest glare. This has worked all the previous times he tried to start this conversation, but something about seeing Pepper in a hazy drunk has spurned him on. Pepper feels a pang of guilt, how many times has Rhodey sat by Tony while he got smashed and did something stupid?

"Pepper, I know you are hurting…"

"But I brought this on myself?" She spits at him hoping hostility will make him back down. He just sighs. Pepper remembers how hurtful Tony can be when he's drunk, and pissed off. A tiny voice in the back of her head whispers: don't do this. This isn't you. Still the major part of her mind is filled with pain, and sorrow, which is turned into rage by the alcohol. She barks out her next sentences hoping he wouldn't want to get into it. "Are you sure you want this to go on? We all know the story and what happened. Leave it."

"I know the story Tony told me, but I'm sure there is something more."

She goes to take another drink, but Rhodey fixes her with a glare. She can recognize the glare, it's the one she gave Tony when she caught him with scotch in had at ten in the morning, or when he walked past her at the end of some benefit smelling of vodka. It's a weird feeling; it churns something inside of her stomach, something unpleasant, being on this side of the glare.

"Am I going to find you on the streets, homeless and without a penny wiling to do anything for your next bottle?"

Pepper snaps back to reality. Her eyes focusing on his face, the glare still firmly in place, as he stares at the drink in her hand. Something rebellious flares up in her; all she wanted was to be left alone for the weekend, so she could drown herself in her sorrows, for once. She didn't want to think, or take care of any one; she didn't even want to take care of herself. This was her time to be irresponsible; after being responsible enough for Tony and herself for years, she deserved this. Rhodey had no right to take this from her. She chugged the rest of her drink.

"Maybe." She says, as she brings her arm up to wipe at her mouth while getting up from the couch making her way into the kitchen.

"Pepper." He calls after her; she's bent over looking through her bottles. She is deciding between peach schnapps or screwdrivers, when Rhodey arrives in the kitchen. She can hear his sigh, as her hand latches onto the schnapps. She straightens up and turns to look at him, bottle still resting in her hands.

"I wish you would tell me the whole story."

"You know the entire story." She says with what Tony called her 'Mom-voice'. It let everyone in the room know that the topic was no longer up for discussion, and that this would be where it ended. Any further mention of the topic would result in pain of the greatest kind. She took his silence as acceptance; she popped the bottle open, and managed to swallow a large amount. Her head swarmed with warmth again, her memories and thoughts turning foggy as she regained her buzz.

"Tony asked you out, you turned him down the end?" He asked, clearly frustrated and annoyed, "Pepper there has to be something else. What did he do to you that drove you to this?"

"Nothing." She spat bitterly.

"There has to be something you're not telling me Pep. We all know he goes over the top, what did he do that was over the line?"

"Nothing." She says again, barely able to keep tears from her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"He just accepted it! He didn't do anything. There was no over the top attempt to get me back, or begging, or slowly trying to push himself in my life or anything!" She screamed. Rhodey looked taken aback, as he tried to process the information he was given. This was what Pepper was trying to avoid, thinking about it, talking about it.

"Now you know the whole story, alright?"

"Pepper…"

"Don't. Don't you dare defend him, okay? Yes. I turned him down, but…" You never thought he'd just abandon you. Her mind finished. It was true. She thought he would pursue her, or try again. Instead six months later, after not evening jokingly flirting with her once, he meets someone else and ends up marrying her. It was not what Pepper expected. She could've fixed it, could've went to him at anytime and told him. But by then she doubted herself; she never thought he'd give up, so maybe he would've just rejected her too caught up in his new romance to deal with old forgotten passing lust. And one of her reasons for rejecting him was his problem with monogamy.

"I just wanted one weekend, Rhodey. One weekend where I could forget, and let it all go. Is that so much to ask?"

He watches her with careful eyes. He looks down by her feet and into the still open liquor cabinet. She watches as the wheels turn around in his head, and he goes through the different scenarios. He looks up and she catches his eye, pleading with him. He nods at her.

"Promise me you'll find your phone?"

"Yeah." She says, with a half smile.

"Okay." He nods again, and looks around. "Okay."

Pepper's knees generously wait until the she hears the door slam shut before they buckle, tears cascading down from her eyes, holding onto her bottle like a lifeline.

Pepper's work life is a double-edged sword. She doesn't get to see Tony as much as she used to, there are certain things that his wife takes care of like forcing him to go to work, or to show up on time, and nag him about things like dressing appropriately. It kills her because she misses seeing him, talking to him, his flirty banter and everything that makes Tony who he is. She doesn't spend nearly as much time with him as before, and she can accept that, and at times, even being grateful for it. Then she doesn't have to watch the sweet talk between him and Amanda, doesn't have too watch his eyes follow Amanda around, like she's a goddess that walks on air.

She resents Amanda because Pepper always thought in the end she would be the one to 'tame' Tony. All the looks since Afghanistan, staying beside him through everything, for all those years, the way he said her name, the way he lingered just a moment too long on her sometimes. She had finally allowed herself to hope he was starting to be serious, that he could settle for one girl, the night on the balcony, the kiss on the rooftop. In the end she was right not to trust any of that. He gave up on her, after one very weak rejection, to find the next available thing.

Some things never change.

"Here we are, Miss Potts." Happy says as they pull into the drive forcing Pepper to return to reality. She has to brace herself, steel away all her emotions, as she puts on her stoic face. It takes longer than it used to, but she forces the shell of what she once was on again. The instant she stepped out of the car, she became Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, polite but firm personal assistant that could accomplish any task, followed orders while keeping her boss in check, and the one who doesn't react to anything.

This is what made her the perfect assistant for Tony, and she just hopes it will last. She has to pause, and take a deep breath before punching in her code to the front door, and has to beat weepy and hurt Pepper into the back recesses of her mind at the sight of the interior of the house.

It feels like her second week on the job again. That was when she realized Tony was basically a five year old, a very perverted five year old, but one none the less. She had to steel her self against anything he would throw at her, not react to anything her said. She would firmly but professionally deflect anything too racy, and focus on the job at hand. That's who she had to be again.

"Good Morning, Miss Potts." Jarvis greets her the second her feet are inside the door. She smiles, knowing the AI can see her from the multiple cameras around the house. One thing she misses more than the intimacy she once shared with her boss was the AI's friendship and sarcasm.

"Good Morning, Jarvis. Where is Mr. Stark?" She asks briskly, mostly because she wants the papers signed, so she can get back to her desk, and away from Tony Stark.

"He's down stairs." Pepper turns towards the sound of a female voice. It takes her a few moments to realize that it was Amanda who answered her question and not the AI. (But Pepper could swear she heard a disgruntled snort come from the AI.) She's staring at Amanda, because her brain just won't process anything. Amanda shifts on the couch, nervously adding: "You know, in the work shop."

"Yes." Pepper says her brain finally switching on. "Yes, Thank you."

Both women stare at each other, accessing. Amanda cocks her head to the side, bites her lip, and glances at the TV screen before turning back to Pepper.

"Do you have a code to get into his workshop?" Amanda asks sheepishly, and Pepper is taken aback. So much so that the only response she can give is a nod. Amanda nods, and they start at each other again.

"Sorry, about this…" Pepper apologizes lamely. She's not really sure what to say, 'I'm sorry I'm staring at you like a crazy person, but I really want you to just keel over dead right now.' Did not sound like the proper apology.

"Don't worry about it." Amanda says, with her award-winning smile. Pepper heads down to the workshop without another word. She will get along normally. Pepper had her pity party, and she was done with it. From now on she was going to move on with her life, she wasn't going to spend all her time focusing on Tony. That was how he pulled her in so close the first time, and Pepper Potts does not make the same mistake twice. She makes that her mantra as she punches in her authorization code before turning down the blasting AC/DC. She pulls the door open fully back in work mode.

"Mr. Stark, you need to sign these documents, make a decision on whether the Greenfarm project is a go or not, also MIT is bugging me about doing the commencement speech again, since you were unable to make it the past two years." She starts and finishes her rant before he's out from underneath the latest car he's been tinkering with.

"Mr. Stark?" He mimics, taking the papers from her hands, and adds his chicken scratch signature. She could forge it properly by now, but even though they are bittersweet she relishes in every minute she gets to spend with him.

She doesn't say anything to his question, just takes the papers back from him. She can feel him staring at her as she checks them over, making sure that the signatures are all where they are supposed to be.

"Greenfarm?" She asks, pulling out her blackberry. She already has the rejection email, and acceptance email typed, ready to send out either.

"Mr. Stark?" He asks again.

"Mr. Stark." She confirms. With this Pepper realizes that they are having a conversation on more than just the face value. This is going to set the tone for the rest of their interactions; this is going to be the rest of her life at Stark Industries. It hurts to go so far back in their relationship, but she refuses to live her life tied to this man anymore. She just can't do it, it would break her and she's so cracked now.

"Greenfarm is go. Commencement speech? That's like June. Don't bug me about something months away."

"It's in two months, Mr. Stark." She replies while sending out the acceptance letter, and already beginning to draft the speech that would be given in her mind, whether or not Tony actually followed the cue cards, well nothing could give that guarantee.

"Fine. Will you…"

"Already have the speech drafted, sir." She says without looking up from her blackberry her fingers firing away writing the e-mail that assures MIT, that Tony would show up so long as his Iron Man duties didn't interfere with it, and she would do everything within her power that the speech went as smoothly as anticipated.

"Anything else?" She asks, specifically choosing words as far from her catch phrase as possible. He shakes his head no, and she turns mechanically on her heel.

"Pepper." He says, in a whisper that breaks her heart. She can do nothing but stop, cursing how much power he still had over her. She waits obediently by the stairs. She refuses to turn around, but she can tell from the heavy silence and the slight rustle his clothes make that he's fidgeting.

"I heard you had a visit from Rhodey." He says in that half whisper way. Pepper clenches her jaw, wondering how he found out and how much he was told. She closes her eyes and takes a breath in quickly trying to curb her anger.

"What I do with my free time no longer concerns you," She manages to grunt out in a calm sort of tone, "Mr. Stark." She adds to emphasis their new relationship, the new roles that would now have to play. Mr. Stark the married billionaire, and Ms. Potts the personal assistant who doesn't have a schoolgirl crush on her married boss. They don't get into each other's personal lives; there would be no more late night pizza deliveries while watching re-runs of friends, or hanging out in their spare time.

"Pepper…"

"Is there anything else, Mr. Stark?" She asks ignoring him. Ignoring everything she wants to read into in his voice, his tone, the way he said it, how long he held out the 'r' at the end of her name.

"Pepper." He says again, and it's closer this time. Her hand moves to the door, and clasps the handle tightly like a lifeline.

"If you need anything, I'm at the office until eight." She says, pulling the door open hoping it will deter him from saying anything else. She doesn't want this game to play out, she just wanted to get in, get out. She was sure her mask would crumble soon, and she needed to get before she broke down crying. She felt trapped like an animal, and she had to escape.

"Miss Potts." He tries one last time, sounding resigned and hurt. She stops on the staircase. He played within the rules of the game, and he really did sound sad. She couldn't comprehend why. Didn't he just get married? Didn't he walk hand-in-hand with his bride, smiling and laughing? She saw the clips on Youtube, and replaying on every celebrity channel and replaying in her mind every time she closed her eyes.

"Yes, sir?"

"Call me Tony?"

"Goodbye, Mr. Stark."

Pepper is trying to have a social life.

Tony is trying to ruin it.

She sighs, watching another call go to voice mail. She's on her third beer of the night in the noisy bar. It's almost twelve o'clock at night and she has no idea what Tony could possibly want this late. In the past she would be sure it's a drunken call, asking her for something ridiculous like the number for the hot dog shop that delivers, but now he should be snuggled up in bed with his wife.

She watches her phone light up again. The caller ID displaying Tony (Home). She is captivated by his efforts to call her. Why should he care where she is or what she's doing?

"So, are you going to get that?"

She turns half-expecting it to be Tony, tracking her by her cell phone signal. It's Rhodey, standing beside her a goofy grin in place that reveals he's been drinking.

"No." She responds as he pulls up a chair, she sends him a glare while he orders another round for the both of them.

"Spying on me again for Tony?" she asks poison dripping from her voice, "Or you here to lecture me?"

"Spying?" He says, likes its outrageous. But he can tell by the look on her face that Tony spilled the beans.

"He's got such a big mouth, you know?" Rhodey sighs, before taking a drink.

"Well, after the 'I am Iron Man' fiasco, you should've learned your lesson." He laughs, and that draws a giggle out from her. Before she knows it, her and Rhodey are laughing uncontrollably, drawing stares and glares from the other patrons at the bar.

"He's the one who asked me to stop by." Rhodey says when they've both quieted down, and the atmosphere takes on a serious tone suddenly. Pepper sighs, shakes her head, and starts to peel at the label on her beer bottle.

"He was worried about you." Rhodey says in a half whisper, like it's the biggest secret in the world. He points at her phone as it lights up again. "Like he's worried about you now."

"But why?" Pepper says, taking the phone in her hands, and watching the name scroll by on her phone. He shouldn't be worried about her. None of it matters anymore; she needs to pull away from him. She needs to get out and see people, talk to anyone besides Tony, or Rhodey, or Jarvis. Her three constant companions the last ten years.

"Since when does he need a reason?"

"Ever since he said 'I Do.'"

"Mr. Stark-" Pepper starts as she walks into his office one morning; Tony cuts her off.

"God-damn it, Pepper!"

Pepper stares at him, nothing akin to shock or alarm on her face. She is, admittedly, a little confused but refuses to let him see that. Unfortunately for Pepper, nothing is happening. He doesn't elaborate, and this is not going to get them anywhere. Pepper checks the clock, he's got a meeting in an hour, and she really needs to go over his schedule before that.

"Mr. Stark?" She asks after watching precious minutes slip away. She hopes if she asks him then he will tell her all about it, so she could deal with it and prioritize the information away. She can tell he's in a mood, and wonders briefly if he had a fight with Amanda, marvels at how slight a throb it is now four months since he's been married, and moves on to think about how it would affect the rest of his schedule if they're late to this meeting.

"Would you cut that shit out?" He yells again. She's not really sure what 'shit' she's supposed to cut out. She sighs, and forces herself to stop thinking about how bad it will be if he's late, and focus on the problem. Turning her full attention to Tony she assesses how pissed off her looks, and tries to think what she did since entering the room. She doesn't come up with anything, and decides he is just taking anger out on her. Resigned to her position, she decides to urge it on, so he can get it off his chest and they can get everything done.

"Mr. Stark, I don't understand."

"Fuck!" He yells, his arms sweeping out. He pushes himself out of his chair, and stares at her. "It's like you've just gone and erased the past ten years or something, Pepper."

She still doesn't understand what he's trying to get at. Her eyebrow crocks up, finally showing her confusion on her face.

"Will you just call me Tony for Christ sake?"

That's his problem? She thinks. She closes her eyes briefly, takes in a small breath, and opens her eyes again ready to face the tantrum Tony was throwing.

"I'm sorry, but its unprofessional to be that informal, sir." She says then pulls out her black berry, scanning through her tasks at hand that day. She is about to start with his schedule and what he needs to know for the meetings when her phone is grabbed from her hands. She looks up and sees Tony holding it in his hands. He's wearing a grin of victory, and taunting her with the phone. Pepper stands there and watches him.

"You have to ask for it back." He states calmly.

"May I have my phone back, Mr. Stark?" She asks purposely, already knowing what he was trying to get at. He pouted full force at her. She just looked at him plainly, holding her hand out slightly.

"You have to call me Tony." He says through gritted teeth. Pepper doesn't change anything. He tries to stare her down, and she just looks back at him. Her mind does the math about how long they've been standing there wasting time.

"Just give me a minute, Mr. Stark. I'll just run to my office and get a printed copy of today's schedule." She says, nonchalantly despite her inner turmoil of leaving her precious black berry with Tony for long. She's sure when she gets back it will be smashed to tiny bits some how or completely dissembled, and she loves that tiny piece of technology almost as much as a mother would love her child.

"Here." He says, grabbing on to her arm as she turned to leave. He places the phone back into the hand he currently holds hostage. Her skin is tingling from the contact, and she prays that he doesn't notice the flush she can feel creeping up her neck. They haven't been this close since the kiss on the rooftop. Pepper quickly exiles her hormones away.

"Thank you." She responds, and goes to move but his hand tightens around her. He's able to pull her closer when she stumbles expecting her arm to be released. She looks up at him with expectant eyes.

"Unprofessional doesn't hurt anyone." He states. She can feel rage boiling inside her, but she pushes it down.

"Doesn't hurt you." She returns, pulling away from him as emotions play out on his face. Pepper forces her gaze at her blackberry, not wanting to see what he was revealing. She would read far too much into it, and that was something she couldn't afford to do. She was just able to function around Tony for long periods of time.

"What are you trying to say?" He demands, an edge to his voice. He steps closer to her, and she pulls herself up right, straightening her back. Despite their height difference, Pepper still feels like he's towering over her.

"I'm saying that you are the only one who benefits from being unprofessional, for others it lures them into traps." She snaps at him. He wheels around, exasperated at the cryptic message. As she watches him she realizes she's slowly losing her edge, her flare of rage as he starts to hit closer to home.

"What traps?" Silence permeates the room. She takes a step back, closer to the door, closer to the escape. He takes a step towards and it makes her feel like prey. It makes her feel too close to him. This shouldn't be happening, this was eerily close to how they were before, how things could've been.

"Potts?"

"The kind of traps that say your boss is falling for you, and then he just goes off to find the next available thing at the slightest bump." She snaps at him. She'll never be able to fully resist Tony. He's worked her up, and there's nothing she can really do about it.

"You said…" He starts, sputters, collects himself and begins again. "You turned me down."

Pepper doesn't reply, and goes back to her blackberry for support. She's fighting against the tears she feels at the brims of her eyes.

"You. Turned. Me. Down." He grinds out in a rough growl.

"And you gave up." She shouts, tears pouring from her eyes. " Tony Stark, who doesn't take no for an answer, who always follows through, who has never once stopped till he got what he wanted just gave up."

Pepper makes sure they don't see each other for more than five minutes at a time for months after their fight. She hasn't even been in his office since then, and she finds her hands trembling as she sits in his driveway in her car. She needs to get the new plans from the home office computer. She can't believe she forgot to get the file before she left on Friday, but its not really forgetting so much so as wanting to see Tony again.

Now, that she was sitting out side his house, trying to decide if he was home or not, she wasn't really sure she needed to get this file. Sighing, she forced herself to get out of the car. Tony, or his ridiculous confusing signals wouldn't scare her off. Just breathe, Potts. Just breathe. She repeats over and over again in her head.

Somehow the odds are in favor. She sees neither Tony nor Amanda. Jarvis greets her, and she murmurs her reply quickly. She slips into the office, sits down at the computer and finally breathes. She impatiently taps her foot while she's waiting for the file to copy on to her jump drive, and her fingers ghost over the keys as quickly as they can shooting off a few emails while she waits.

She lets go of another nervous shaky breath as she pulls out the jump drive looking towards the door. Bracing herself, she pulls open the door and begins the mini-marathon back to the outside. She's almost to the home free, can see the hallway leading to the door, she can see her way out when she hears footsteps on coming up the stairs.

She's trying to decided if she could run or not, would she be able to get away with it, and what about the noise? Maybe if she takes her shoes off? But that dies the second she hears who ever it is stop on the step, they've spotted her already. She doesn't know if she wants to turn around to see who it is. She's not really sure if she'd prefer Amanda or Tony, each come with their own pros and cons, and her mind decides to wander by listing each.

"Potts?"

Shit. It's Tony. She turns to face him more out of reflex than anything. He's standing there in jeans and a tee shirt, barefoot on the top stair just staring at her. It's almost like he's trying to decipher if she's real or not. She frowns thinking of the things he would be putting into his body that would make him think he's hallucinating.

"Mr. Stark." She states, glaring at him. She's trying to decide what her next line of action should be. Stand there, staring at him while she watches him stare back? Leave him, escape back to her condo, and hope to god he doesn't do anything too damaging to himself.

"Potts…" He whispers again, his feet shooting into motion bring him within inches of her before she can even comprehend it. He places one hand on her waist, and pulls her close. The other is resting on her cheek, his thumb rubbing across, while his eyes scan her face for emotion. Emotion that isn't there, that she is too shocked to actually show. She's stiff, and doesn't know how to react.

Tony pulls her into a hug. His head nuzzling her neck, arms now fully wrapped around her. She can feel blush rushing to her face, especially when she hears him mumbling her name over and over again under his breath. She doesn't know what to do, or say. So she takes another play from Tony's handbook, and just goes with the first thing that sprouts into her mind,

"Where's Amanda?"

She can feel him stiffen against her; like he just remembered that Amanda existed. He moves back but doesn't really let go of her. Pepper is still standing straight, arms at her side, watching him.

"She's out at some lobbying political donation fund thing." He states, his eyes never leaving her face as he tries to articulate the correct words. Pepper goes to take a step back, and he grabs hold of her adding: "In New York."

"Alright." Pepper says, and goes to move back again. He holds on tighter, and she looks at him.

"Mr. Stark." He loosens his grip on her, but doesn't let go. He seems scared, and shaky. It reminds her of the nights when he would have nightmares about Afghanistan. Half of her wants to wrap him in her arms, the other half is screaming at her to run away.

"Mr. Stark?" She ventures again.

"Sorry…" He mumbles, his grip slackens, as he looks at the floor. "They had you…it was…It's nothing, Potts." He says with a half smile, but he squeezes her quickly and gently, "I'm great. Nothing I can't handle."

And that was the moment. Right there. The way his eyes bored into hers, the pure fear and want hidden in those big beautiful eyes, the sorrow etched in his voice, they way he held out the words, the neediness in his grip, the disbelief that she was really here. All those things combined made it the moment that everything went downhill.

"Oh, Tony…" She whispered back to him. His eyes widened at the name, and his grip tightens. He watches her eyes the whole time he pulls her closer. She lets him, taking a step into him, helping him. He leans down, eyes still watching her. She feels her eyelids flutter close, seconds before his lips meet hers.