I love Iron Man. This story is based of the movie. It's switches around a lot in the beginning so hang on. I don't own anything. ENJOY!

Chapter 1

"Sir, I advise you to stay within the height limit." Jarvis warned.

"I want to test this, Jarvis." Tony Stark replied. He had been perfecting his suit so that it could attain higher altitudes and, eventually, space. Now, he was testing his latest improvement.

"May I ask you to recall your last incident?"

He laughed. "Don't worry. I'm prepared."

"I don't think you are aware of how far you will fall if you fail to defrost."

Tony glanced down toward the ground. It looked like a road map now. "I think I am aware, Jarvis." his gaze returned to the sky above him. There was a jet plane blocking his path. He swerved around it just in time.

"You must be more cautious of your surroundings, Sir."

He rolled his eyes. "I know, I know."

"You've just exceeded your estimated safety range. I advise you drop your altitude."

"C'mon, Jarvis, what's the point of being a superhero if you can't push the envelope every once in a while?"

"The point is saving lives and I don't think you'll be able to do that if you keep this up."

"Relax. I'll be fine."

"That's what you said last time and you ended up with two broken ribs and a fractured arm."

"So...I messed up a little but it's not going to happen this time. Trust me." His phone went off. "Who is it?"

"It's Miss Potts."

Tony answered. "Hello?"

"Thank God." Pepper replied. "Where are you? You missed your meeting and a press conference."

"Chill, Pepper. I'm out."

"Out where?" she seemed suspicious.

"Flying."

"No. You're not. Do you remember what happened last time?"

"No. It's all a blur. Maybe the pain caused it."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Mr. Stark. I don't want you to get hurt again."

"I won't."

"You sure?"

"One hundred percent."

"Okay." she sighed. "Goodbye, Tony." she hung up.

"She seems worried about you." Jarvis commented.

"Yeah, well, everybody's worried about me." he hovered in midair. "I think it's time we went back to the workshop."

"I agree. Some of the joints are starting to freeze up."

He turned around and headed home.

"I can't believe you, Sarah. This is the third home you been kicked out of this week." Mrs. Spilter glared at her. The giant mole on her right cheek bouncing. She smoothed back her white hair. She looked like a witch that stepped out of a fairy tale.

"I'm sorry," Sarah said. "I just...I don't fit in with anyone." her blue eyes studied her hands. Her dark hair caught the sunlight and shimmered in response.

They were sitting in the counselor's office, which was Mrs. Spilter's, at San Hill Orphanage. The orphanage that Sarah Paton had spent most of her life. She didn't remember her parents like some of the other kids did. She didn't even know who they were. The orphanage had told her that her mother had died in childbirth and her father was unknown. That was all she had to go by. No pictures. No memories. Nothing. Just some story that could have easily been a lie.

And in the midst of that depressing life something was happening to her.

It all started when she had disappeared a few months ago. No one was able to find her. It was like she had melted into thin air. After two weeks, they found her unconscious in a park across town.

She seemed to have changed. Her usual flamboyant self had disappeared, replaced by timid and shyness. Mrs. Spilter wasn't the only one to notice that she got into trouble less often and wasn't up to playing pranks anymore. She seemed to have matured dramatically over those two weeks.

She didn't like to talk about her brief disappearance. Whenever someone would ask about it, she would kindly ignore them until they dropped the subject. Most thought that it was because she had been kidnapped and forced to work those two weeks or was tortured, something along those lines.

But that was a long shot from the real reason and Sarah didn't even know what that was. When she recalled those two weeks, a great pain shot through her and she found only blackness. Something was blocking her from reaching her own memories and she blamed who placed it there for all the explosions.

After she had recovered enough, by Mrs. Spilter's standards, Sarah was sent of to live with the Wilksons. She liked her new foster parents, especially her foster mother, Nancy, she made the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, but after Sarah had, supposedly, set the house on fire, they sent her back.

Similar things had happened with the other two foster homes, she had sprouted wings, which was hard to believe coming from a drunk, or turned into a bear and destroyed the living room. No one believed anything her former foster parents had said. Everyone thought that they were crazy so, for Sarah's protection, she was sent back to San Hill.

Sarah knew what they had said was true. She had the memories to prove it. They were all a result from whoever--whatever had taken her and she knew it. She wanted to know so badly who had done this to her and why. The answers where lying right outside the door...but nobody would let her go, not until she was eighteen. That was at least four years away.

Mrs. Spilter sighed and shook her head. "I bet there's a family out there for you. We'll find them."

"I hope." Sarah whispered.

"You may go now."

Sarah rose silently and walked toward the door. She turned the knob and swung it open slowly, listening to the creaks as if they were saying something.

Mrs. Spilter didn't stop her. She had been around children long enough to know that Sarah was suffering.

When the door was open, Sarah walked through the door frame and carefully shut it behind her.

Tony heard angry footsteps coming down the stairs. He knew those footsteps.

He had just returned from his test. The machines were still taking off the suit. "I thought I fixed this problem." he muttered to him self.

"You did, Sir." Jarvis smartly replied. "But it seems to have come back again."

"Yeah, it seems."

Pepper strode in. Her face showed how she felt: angry. "Mr. Stark, do you know how many--" she stopped when she saw him struggling with the machines. "Are there bullet holes this time?"

Tony grinned, remembering his first long distance flight. "None, I promise."

Pepper sighed in frustration. "Fine. When you're done here, I'd like to have a word with you."

"Of course."

She turned on her heel and left.

--

"He's coming up, Miss Potts"

"Thank you, Jarvis." she replied. She was sitting on the couch in the main room watching the news. When she heard Tony's footsteps, she grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

He was surprised to see her just sitting there waiting for him. "Did you sit here the whole time?" he approached the back of the couch.

Pepper turned to face him. "Yes, but I was occupied."

He glanced down to the remote in her hand. "I see."

Following his eyes, she hastily dropped the remote on the couch. "Sit down, Mr. Stark." she let her anger seep into her words.

He got the point and sat down next to her. She wasn't expecting him to sit so close but continued anyway.

"Do you know how many times I had say 'I'm sorry, Mr. Stark is out on an errand'? And not to mention how many reporters attacked me with their questions?" she raised her eyebrows.

"No, I don't know, Miss Potts, and I'm ashamed of my behavior." Tony replied. He knew that this was one of those lectures that always ended with her forcing that sentence out of him, so he decided to skip the lecture part. He wanted to occupy his time with something else.

Pepper was speechless. "What did you say?" she whispered.

He smiled at her sudden lack of words. "I think you heard me correctly, Pepper." he leaned in closer. His face was centimeters away from hers.

"I--" she was cut off by the kiss. She fought it at first, then she gave in. She knew that somewhere deep down, she wanted him and she wasn't about to give this chance up.

Tony pulled away. "I expected you to fight more. I'm surprised."

"Me too." she whispered and pulled him back into the kiss. Pepper wanted it to go on forever but air was a necessity.

They pulled away from each other, gasping for air. "I love you." she whispered.

He wasn't surprised, as she'd thought he would be, he was in love. "I love you, too." he whispered back and kissed her passionately. She didn't hesitate to reply.

Hey, sorry. It gets better. I'll post the next chapter sometime today or tomorrow. Review!