While the upper floors of his self-sustaining tower were in a shambles, most of it was relatively intact, unlike most of New York City. After the fighting and the schwarma, he and the others had wanted, needed, nothing more than sleep. Because they'd been awake for almost 3 days straight, and even the Star Spangled golden boy had asked for a bed. And since they'd been in New York and his building had all the security they could need, and, you know, was still standing, he'd offered them all a place to stay. The six of them had practically stumbled in. Loki was secure, thanks to Fury and SHIELD, and tomorrow, they'd have to send him and Thor home. But for now, they all just needed a few hours to crash.

Which was what he had been doing. Unlike Thor, the demi-god, and his other two compatriots-the science experiments- Tony Stark was just a guy. The same could be said of Romanoff and the Hawk. They'd shown the wear of the battle more than most. Maybe Tony was just better at hiding it. After all, hadn't he made a life of nonstop partying? Staying at bars and clubs till the wee hours of the morning and then turning around to give presentations on his newest homing software. But this was different. Because he'd spent an entire night becoming an expert on astrophysics and battled a demi-god, and then there was the attack on SHIELD's flying fortress, and then the battle over New York. All in all, it had been a busy couple of days, on top of the long nights he'd been pulling in preparation of launching Stark Tower. The constant use of the suit, battling stronger than average opponents, it left him exhausted.

But something had pulled him from sleep, a presence in his room. Tony Stark didn't sleep with other people present. Had barely been able to do it before, but certainly couldn't do it after, Afghanistan. Except Potts. He didn't mind her presence. The very thought of her had him bolting upright, though the action had him wincing in pain and hunching his shoulders. There was movement in the far corner, visible only now because of the blue glow coming from his chest. His eyes locked on the pair sitting fifteen feet away.

Pepper Potts sat still. She hadn't meant to wake Tony, had merely needed to see him after everything. But there he was, sitting up, staring at her. It took all her strength to keep from flying across the room and into his embrace, mainly because she didn't wish to cause him more pain.

"Jarvis, bring us up to 15%." Tony's voice was low, rough from sleep and battle. But the AI obeyed, lightening the room just enough that neither occupant's eyes hurt, but plenty to see each other. Not for the first time when faced with his assistant, Tony had trouble finding the words. There were a hundred things he could say, wanted to say, but none made it out. As he had walking down the gang plank following his captivity, he fell back on his oldest friend, sarcasm. "I'm pretty sure this is illegal, whatever this is. I'm guessing peepery, or skulking with intent to leer, something along those lines."

Two more tears tracked their way down Pepper's face. After opening the door to find him gloriously alive and breathing, she hadn't been able to leave. She'd sunk into the chair and the tears had come. She'd let them fall, taking comfort in the gentle in and out of Tony's breath, and the soft glow of his chest piece. She chose to ignore his accusation, she knew better than anyone his tendency to deflect. But she wasn't in the mood to dance around the issues, not tonight. "In the ten plus years that I have worked for you, I have never, not once, missed a call. Middle of the night, middle of a shower, from half way around the globe, I have answered every time. From takeout orders, to drink requests, to picking out which shirt to wear from the other side of the country, I have always answered."

"Pepper, I…" Tony attempted to cut her off. He should have tried calling again, after the bomb and the fighting was over, after the schwarma. But they'd all been exhausted and he'd basically crawled into the bed to begin with.

She cut him off by standing up. Her long legs took her five steps away, before she turned, eyes narrowing on him. "You call me in the middle of my sister's wedding, and not only do I answer, I leave to go authenticate a Klimt you want to add to the collection." She began to pace, five steps, turn, five steps, turn. Each scenario punctuated by a spin of her body. "You call from the airport, you forgot the plans of whatever stupid project you were working on, and I answer, and bring them to you. You call from the slopes, you need a present for the model you flew to the Alps, and I, I stop what I'm doing, and fly to Europe, to make sure you get it. In all these years, all this time, I have answered every stupid pointless, inane phone call you have placed." She stopped pacing, her eyes finding his. There is pain in hers that he didn't expect to see, didn't want to see.

"Please, Pepper…" Still, Tony is at a loss. What words can make up for not calling her to say he was all right? He had promised after the Expo, and the palladium poisoning, that he would never do that to her again. Yet he had.

Her voice was small when she spoke again, "How is it possible that the one phone call I miss, is the one that matters the most?" Her shoulders slumped and the steady trickle of tears turned to sobs. Despite the pain, and soreness, Tony quickly left the comfort of the bed, preferring instead to offer Pepper the comfort of his arms. She wasn't mad at him, she was mad at herself, and he had to make that better. She fit into his arms easily, her own wrapping around him and pulling tight. It hurt, two days of battles and machine abuse, even through the suit, had left their mark, but he doesn't complain.

This time, the words come easily. He's horrible at apologies, but comfort, for Pepper, that he can do. "Hey, it's okay, you didn't know. I say missing one out of like 7 million, that's not a bad track record. I know some ball players who would kill for those stats." He held her tight, letting his beating heart and tight embrace reassure her that he is okay, and that single missed phone call doesn't matter anymore.

"I was watching. There was live footage of the fighting, and there were no details, but they kept saying you were there. And I saw you, and those things, and God, Tony, you could have died. When you went into that hole, I think my heart stopped. And then you were falling and, I don't ever want to see you fall again. I thought I knew pain, three months of sitting by the phone while you were in Afghanistan, and not knowing, when, if, I'd get another call from you. But those three seconds, when you were just falling…" Her voice rose steadily, hysterics getting the better of her as she relived the worst moments of her life. Tony did the only thing he could to stop her, he squeezed her tight, reassuring her that he wasn't missing, he wasn't falling, he was standing there, holding her.

When her breathing had evened out again, he released her, and held her at arms' length. He caught her eyes and held her gaze. "Listen to me, Pepper, I can't change what I am now. And unfortunately, being Iron Man, it comes with risks, and danger, and yeah, crazed demigods leading armies of aliens. I can't help any of that. But I can promise that through it all, danger and bombs, and ET, and whatever else comes our way, I will always do everything in my power to make it home to you."

The sobs stopped, but the tears continued to fall. His hands gripped her elbows, the pressure a solid reassurance that he really was in front of her. But she needed more, so she placed her hand on his chest, ignoring the cool metal of the reactor and placed it instead over the steady thrum of his heart. She counted a beat, two, felt her own heart slow to match his. Then she met his eyes again. "Don't make that promise unless you intend to keep it."

He pulled her forward, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then wrapped his arms around her once more. "Everything in my power." He gave her a few moments of this, of reassurance and solace, then he pulled back and offered her his trademark smirk, "Of course, if you're not gonna answer the phone…" She stopped him from finishing the sentence with a playful swat to the shoulder. His wit had accomplished his goal. She had a small smile on her face. He pulled her in for a real kiss this time. "Come on, I think we could both use some sleep."