Tony and Rhodey sat in Tony's kitchen, drinking scotch and bourbon. Not mixed together, of course. Rhodey had come over to discuss a new initiative for Iron Man, but, being Tony Stark, he had conned Rhodey into sitting down and drinking with him instead. They talk and laugh awhile, before silence overtakes the room and Tony breaks it.

"Why didn't Pepper come with you?" Tony asked, looking around to be sure she wasn't there. Rhodey straightened his tie as an uncomfortable expression appeared on his face.

"She's on a date with Robert."

Tony frowned and narrowed his eyes, taking another sip of his scotch.

"You know, I never liked that guy," Tony said with anger in his voice.

"You've never met Robert."

"I don't have to have met him to know that Pepper deserves better."

Rhodey laughed, "I thought you were a card-carrying cynic?"

"Oh I am, world class, but there is an argument to be made that beneath every cynic there is a frustrated romantic," Tony said simply, as he finished his glass of scotch while Rhodey continued to laugh at him.

"So," Rhodey said with a huge grin, "you're a hopeless romantic now?"

"Frustrated. Frustrated romantic. Not hopeless, never hopeless," Tony murmured as he poured himself more liquor.

"Ah."

The two sat in silence for a moment longer, before Jarvis alerted them that Rhodey's phone was ringing in his jacket where he had left it by the door. Rhodey groaned and stood up to stretch.

"I gotta go, man. That's probably Fury; I was supposed to have left here," he checked his watch, "Holy shit, four hours ago. Have we really been drinking four hours?"

Tony flashed him a smile.

"I have, but I dunno about you."

Rhodey grinned and turned, heading towards the door. Tony didn't move until he heard the door slam. Now that he was alone, Tony let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. Pepper was on a date. With a guy that wasn't him. If she could have fun, so could he.

Tony downed what was left in his glass, grabbed the full bottle that was on the counter, and the keys to the convertible.

...

Pepper sat behind the steering wheel of her car, maneuvering her way around piles of snow on the road that had yet to be plowed. She didn't like driving in the snow, especially when she was the only vehicle on the road.

Her date with Robert had gone well. They talked and talked for what seemed like forever, and he said he thought they really connected. Pepper didn't think so. Her and Robert had absolutely nothing in common, except for the fact that they both hate white wine. But that wasn't something you could form a relationship from. She hadn't really connected with any man in her life.

Except for Tony Stark.

Whose convertible was in the snowy ditch.

Pepper quickly pulled the car over and got out, rushing to the car as fast as her heels would take her. Tony was not inside. She heard a groan and hurried over to look down into the ditch, and there he was.

Tony Stark lying face down in the snow, in his new, extremely expensive, Armani suit.

"Tony," she called down to him, "what are you doing down there?"

He raised his face from the snow to look at her.

"Just taking a nap. I'm fine. You can go back to your date with Robert now," he slurred.

Oh great, he's absolutely hammered, Pepper thought.

"My date is over, Tony. I'm on my way home. Please come up from there."

Tony frowned, and got up on his knees; Pepper noticed the near empty bottle of scotch in his right hand. Just as Tony got to his feet, a semi truck came speeding by blaring it's horn, which caused him to tumble back down into the snow.

"Tony!" Pepper gasped, as she took one step into the snow but retracted it once she felt the cold on her feet.

Tony didn't react to the sound of his name. He wasn't moving at all.

Pepper sighed and pulled out her phone to dial 911. They would be surprised he'd stayed out of the hospital for this long.

...

The ambulance picked Tony up from where he lay in the snowy ditch in almost 10 minutes. Pepper supposed she must have made it sound worse than it was. He looked absolutely terrible as they loaded him onto the stretcher, and they wouldn't let her ride in the ambulance with him. As she watched the ambulance rush away, she pulled out her phone once more to call a tow truck to deal with Tony's convertible.

Pepper got back in behind the wheel of her car and started it, trying to hide her worry for Tony as she pulled off of the road to follow behind the ambulance.

...

She knew which room he was in when she got to the hospital. The staff assigned him his own room because he was there so often. Nobody asked questions as to why Tony Stark was in the hospital so often, and nobody dare mention that he needed rehab. But Pepper knew that he did.

When she walked into his room, he was lying awake on the bed, rubbing his right eye.

"Oh, Tony," she said as she sat down in the chair beside his bed.

He didn't say anything but continued to rub his eye. Pepper looked awkwardly down at her shoes.

"I'm sorry," Tony said quietly. Pepper glared at him.

"You can't get hammered and go on a joyride every time I'm on a date with a guy," Pepper said angrily. Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh? You were on a date? I had no idea," He rolled his eyes.

Silence.

"I think... You need to go to rehab, Tony," Pepper didn't look at his expression. She didn't want to see his anger.

"I tried that. It was killing my night life," he said nonchalantly as he looked at his hand and away from Pepper.

More silence.

"I'm serious, Tony, you're in here so often that you're becoming like a regular patient. That's like a new record. And you're Tony Stark, what are the tabloids going to say if they find out about this?"

"What would they say if they found out I was in rehab?" Tony retorted.

Pepper didn't say anything as she stood up from the chair, giving Tony one last look as she walked out of the room, leaving Tony alone. Tony frowned, looking at the spot where she was sitting. He missed her already.

Tony sighed, and thus began the time when Tony Stark considered going to rehab.

...

A/N: My friend said that I should write a rehab fic, so I'm considering it. Tell me your thoughts & opinions? I usually need discussion and talking over about an idea I'm unsure of, so it'd be great if you left me some feedback :)