So, last night I had a dream that I was Tony (which was the first baffling part seeing as how I'm ever so slightly female) and I broke up with Pepper (second baffling part because who the feck would break up with Gwyneth Paltrow?) but the bit I dreamed was me (Tony) trying to apologise and get her back. It was so vivid I woke up and actually thought I'd broken up with someone, and I've still got that post break-up feeling in my stomach o.O

To combat this (hopefully) I decided to write it out...mainly because I WOKE UP BEFORE I COULD FINISH APOLOGISING and therefore have no idea what the fudge happened to me (Tony) and Pepper, or indeed why I (Tony) broke up with her in the first place. But at least everyone at work had a good laugh about it.

Finally, I own nothing you recognise, not even the title, which belongs to a Mr. Stevie Wonder and sums up the entire fic completely. It's also one of my, and RDJ's, favourite songs. You have NO idea how giddy I got when I found that out...but I digress.

Enjoy!

P.S. For those who don't know what an 'office bike' is, it's basically the office whore. Everyone's had a ride of her.

Three weeks. That's all it took for Tony Stark to take Pepper Potts' heart and rip it right out. Three weeks of increasingly gruelling missions, arguments, stress from the SI Board and one drunken night with Lydia from Accounting.

She'd seen this coming, she admitted that. He'd picked up his old buddy Jack again about a month after his fight with Vanko and slowly but surely, Tony 1.0, as she had dubbed him, make his comeback debut. SHIELD were breathing down his neck at every opportunity, something that had caused around 90% of their arguments and the majority of his drinking. The office bike had been the last straw. Pepper had taken what little she had left in the mansion after staying for the weekend without having to go anywhere near the room where those noises were coming from.

Well, she thought as she closed the front door behind her, at least he's not using our...no, his bed.

Hours later, as Tony crept softly out of the bedroom, an instant feeling of guilt slammed him repeatedly. Either that or he was sobering up. More likely both. He staggered towards the kitchen and went straight to the liquor cabinet. He stopped fast when he saw a yellow post-it attached to the glass.

Tony,

Hope you had fun with your new friend.

See you around.

"What are you doing here?"

It had taken him a solid month to find her. She had left everything; her phone, laptop, credit cards, even her car, everything with which he could track her down, so he had to resort to doing a complete background check on her entire family, visiting every single house across the country that had any tenuous connection to her, finally finding her here in her great-grandfather's apartment that had been left to her.

"I wanted to see you." He said

"Well, unfortunately, I don't wish to even breathe the same air as you, so if you'll excuse me." She tried to shut the door but Tony put his arm up to brace it.

"Pepper, I've just flown over two thousand miles, literally across the country, to try and sort this out, and you're just gonna slam the door in my face?"

Pepper cocked her head and pursed her lips in mock thought, and then attempted to close the door again, but he still wouldn't let her. "Tony, get away from the damn door before I call the cops."

"Then let me in so we can talk." He said calmly.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. To. You." She hissed, jaw clenched. "So just turn around and go back home. I'm sure Lydia is missing you."

The sting behind her words stunned Tony enough for Pepper to slam the door shut, millimetres from his nose.

"Pepper!" he pounded on the door. "Pepper, I'm not going anywhere so you may as well let me in." Silence came from the other side. "God dammit! Pepper!" the door was flung open again and Pepper glared at him, tears in her eyes.

"Tony, let me make this clear to you," she said in a low voice. "You betrayed me. I trusted you with everything and you slept with another woman. Whatever you have to say doesn't even begin to register on the meaningless scale, do you understand?" a couple of tears made a bid for freedom and rolled down her cheek. "I moved to the other side of the country to get away from you, I never want to have anything to do with you ever again, you complete and utter waste of oxygen." Her breaths were coming hard and heavy now and her hands were shaking. Tony swallowed and then before she could blink, he stepped forwards, gathered her in his arms and kissed her, the forward momentum carrying them into the apartment.

He managed a grand total of three seconds before the shock wore off and the gloves came off. With a resounding smack that Tony was fairly certain could have been heard through the walls, Pepper's hand collided with the side of his head and ear, literally knocking him for six. He stumbled sideways, clutching the side of his head and wincing.

"You complete bastard." Her tears were falling freely now. "What the hell makes you think you can barge into my own home and assault me?"

"Pepper, I love you-" she slapped him again. His ear began to ring as he turned back to her. "I love you." Another slap. His eyes grew red and began to water. "Do it again. Hit me again, go on. I fucking deserve it." He stepped forward. "I love you, I fucked up, I deserve it, fucking hit me. Do whatever it takes to make you feel better." She slapped him again.

"How was she?" she spat. "How do we compare?" Tony remained silent. "Come on, Stark, enquiring minds want to know. How was she?"

"It meant nothing to me."

"Oh! Well I'm glad you threw us away for something worthwhile." She laughed, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Pepper, we can come back from this." He said, reaching for her.

"You broke us!" she shouted at him, backing away. "I hate you! Do you hear me? I fucking hate you!" she was full on crying now and Tony was not far behind. "No one had ever made me feel as worthless as you did." She turned away from him and tried to support herself on the wall as sobs wracked her body. Tony caught her before she hit the floor and pulled her against him. She struggled against his grip as they slid down the wall but he held her tight, ignoring her weak pleas for him to get away.

"I'm so sorry." He said, his voice cracking as his own tears sliding down his cheeks and landing on Pepper's head. "I'm sorry Pepper, I love you, I want to make this right, just tell me what to do, please." He pulled her onto his lap and held her as she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm a fucking idiot."

"I hate you, I fucking hate you." She mumbled into his neck but wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him tighter to her.

Tony kissed the side of Pepper's neck and stroked her back soothingly. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to make you love me again." He breathed. "I promise."

Finito.

Yeah, that ending sucked, but this was a one shot and everything else I could think of to end it would have resulted in another chapter, which just won't be happening. Hopefully I can go back into my dream tonight and fix whatever I (Tony) did. I've still got the guilt trip feeling in my stomach, it's frigging horrible. I'm such a freak o.O