"This isn't fair," Pepper wailed, scrunching her eyes tightly as another stream erupted from her mouth. "We ate the same thing. How are you not sick?"

Tony rubbed her back tenderly with one hand while the other held back a ponytail-full of her strawberry blonde hair. "Honey, I'm Iron Man," he teased. "Which means I have an iron stomach."

"I'm never—" her shoulders hunched and another urgent, loud groan erupted and she dropped her face deeper in the toilet "—eating ahi tuna again!"

Tony winced and looked away as she coated the inside of the bowl. "If you don't stop this soon, I may be making the same offering to the porcelain god with you." She only whimpered in response. "Ooh my God, there are so many colors! Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Her tired words echoed and she feebly reached up to flush. She spat a couple of times and woozily stood up, using Tony's arm to brace herself. "I just need some water. And some Tums. And an industrial power washer to clean this taste from my mouth."

"You need bed," he ordered. "Bed and electrolytes and food that is far removed from anything fishy."

"No," she gulped, shaking her head firmly. Her face was pale with sweat streaking her forehead. "We have the meeting today with-with—" Her eyebrows crinkled as she tried to recall which important executive they were meeting but she couldn't summon the name.

"Bob? Jim? Jim-Bob?" he suggested, teasingly. "Nope. No can do, Potts. As your boss and three persons removed from signing your paycheck, I am ordering you to stay in and recuperate. The last thing I need is for you to show the President of Whatever-It's-Called the color of your bile."

"No," she protested again, weakly, as Tony pushed her out of the bathroom and to their shared master bedroom. "I need to be there."

"Yes, you do," Tony agreed. "I need you with me, all the time, especially with these meetings." He nudged her into the bed and she hardly resisted, flopping back onto the mattress. "But, I can still manage it today. I can fly solo now and then. Trust me." He tugged the blanket over her and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. "Jarvis will be watching. I'm literally in the same building, in the tenth-floor conference room. I'll be back before you know it."

"Uh-kay," she moaned through unmoving lips. Her eyes were half-lidded but those beautiful blue orbs were unfocused and lazy. "Can you… water?"

"Of course." He kissed her again, pressing his lips to her cool and clammy skin, not wanting to leave her if only a moment. He hurried to the kitchen to grab her a couple bottles of water, some Tums, ibuprofen, and crackers. By the time he returned, she was asleep, snoring lightly, and with her eyebrows knitted in pain. He quietly tiptoed away, and on second thought, grabbed the trash can from the bathroom to leave at her bedside just in case. He spun on his toes again, took a roll of toilet paper, and left that on the nightstand.

"Be back soon," he whispered to the darkness.

###

The meeting was not as intense or worrisome as Pepper presumed. Tony was one of many high-level executives representing Stark Industries in a division he didn't really pay much attention to, but it was always good for him to make an appearance whenever a Fortune 500 company flitted through headquarters. He hummed and nodded in appropriate places, focused more on texting Jarvis for updates.

- She up?

- Ms. Potts is still asleep.

- How's her vitals?

- Her heartrate remains elevated at 75 BPM, which is higher than her typical resting average of 56 BPM.

- Fever?

- A slight fever.

- Contact the restaurant we went to last night and let them know about her food poisoning.

- Certainly, sir.

The dog and pony show lasted another hour, Tony endured the customary handshakes and the same, insufferable jokes about Iron Man, and after he promised to review this and that proposal, he took the limited-access elevator up Stark tower to his and Pepper's floor.

He was surprised to find Pepper in the kitchen, flipping through a magazine, and nibbling on… Doritos?

"Who are you and what have you done with my Pepper?" Tony accused.

"Hmm?" she chirped, looking up with a cheesy fingertip between her lips.

"Since when do you, Pepper Potts, health guru, eat Doritos?"

She shrugged. "After I puked out half my body weight, the only thing that sounded appetizing were Doritos."

Tony tossed his jacket on the counter and strode to her side. He pressed his hands to her cheek and her forehead. "Are you still feeling sick? You're warm. Are you feeling warm? Are you feverish? Is this a fever dream? Potts, wake up! Step away from the highly processed and oversalted snack foods!"

"Stop!" she laughed, slapping her hand against his chest. It hit the still-tender skin that had been stretched across the chasm the arc reactor left. "I'm fine. I napped it off. Must have been a short-lived bug of sorts."

"Hmm," Tony murmured, nuzzling his nose in her hair. "You're still warm to the touch. Drink some more fluids. And promise me you'll get looked at if you're not better by tomorrow morning."

"Mm-hmm," she said, noncommittedly as she continued to peruse her trashy magazine. "Hey, look! Apparently, Cap has been seen on the streets with Lady Gaga." She pointed to an obviously Photoshopped image of Steve Rogers and the ubiquitous singer strutting down some street in Los Angeles. "Oh, wow! That's terrible!" she laughed. "I need to text this to him. He finally got a real phone right? Where's mine?" She spun around and jumped off the stool and immediately sank to her knees.

"Pepper!" Tony reached down to catch her before she could topple over entirely.

"Whoa," she gasped, her head lolling drunkenly. "I just – wow, I'm dizzy." She gripped her hands on Tony's forearms, trying to pushing herself up to a standing position, and her eyes rolled back. Tony caught her mercifully in time before her head could crack on the marble tile. The last thing she heard was Tony's panicked voice pleading out to Jarvis.