Last part!

It's nearly three in the morning when she gets the call. She throws on the first clothes she sees, grabs her car keys, and heads to the hospital.

When she gets there, he's alive but unresponsive. The doctors tell her that he was flying up from Long Beach in the suit when the micro-turbines in his jet boots inexplicably failed, leaving him to fall nearly 10,000 feet to the ground below. Thank goodness he had armored the suit to protect him against such falls, or else he would have been killed upon impact.

He won't wake up. For nearly 2 months, Pepper spends every waking hour in the hospital, constantly at his side. She doesn't want to leave him alone, to fight the darkness by himself. The doctors tell her that he will most likely never come out of the coma, and if he does, he will have lost all of his previous memories. But she knows that her Tony is in there somewhere, and she refuses to give up.

She can't give up, not without seeing him open those chocolate brown eyes again. There's so much that she still needs to tell him. Pepper is in love with him, but he doesn't know that. She's hidden it from him for years now, but she wants him to know. And it terrifies her that she might not be able to tell him how she really feels.

And she's terrified that he won't remember her, or even himself.

When he finally begins to stir, Pepper is right there, by his side. She watches in astonishment as he opens his deep brown eyes and stares at her. At first, he looks thoroughly bewildered, and her heart sinks. But then, understanding and realization replace the confusion, and he remembers. "Pepper?" he questions, raising a weak hand to rest it against her cheek.

Tears of joy spill up from over her eyelids as she leans into his touch. "Yes, Tony, I'm here."

And that's the end of this one! Please read and review, if you enjoyed it.