When Pepper looks down at her hand, she notices with odd detachment she is actually shaking. If pressed to identify a single reason for it, she would come up with rage. But there is so much more there.

It's not the first time he's said he loves her. No, drunk Tony is always affectionate and sloppy. She's used to fending off his hands, and even at times his mouth.

But when he started... shooting things... inside the house... with all those people there.

She will kill him. She wants to kill him with her bare hands right now, to rip that suit off him piece by piece and then give him exactly what is on her mind. Of course, that might mean speaking to him again. And she will not be speaking to him any time in the near future.

What is WRONG with him?

She's known him to be reckless, she's known him to be a drunk. She has never known him to put others in danger. And she can't get through to him. For the first time in years she used her best weapon, "Tony, trust me," and he would not.

And it is easier to be furious than to acknowledge the aching void where her heart used to be. The gnawing, roiling bile in her stomach.

Tony. She stands under the roof of the entryway with Happy. He won't let her go back in after he literally physically pulls her out of harm's way. That's how far gone Tony is.. He almost hurt her. Physically. Emotionally, she isn't sure she could be hurt any more.

Confused? Absolutely. Pissed? Entirely. She hoped in the last few months. Since Afghanistan, he has grown up. Oh, he is still narcissistic, impulsive and borderline manic; but she has not had to 'take out the trash' once. Tonight is the first binge he's been on. Even in Monaco, he'd shared a suite with her and behaved himself admirably.

Her heart caught at that... They've not talked about it. They've talked around it, but she doesn't want to admit she completely lost it. He... well, he's just been not right. He's not talking about *anything.*

When the explosion blasts through the house, Pepper screams. Her first instinct is to run toward it. Only Happy and Natalie, one on each arm, keep her from going into the house. In moments which feel like a lifetime, when he thinks there won't be another explosion and there does not seem to be spreading fire danger, Happy tells her he'll go check, but only, ONLY if she stays put with Natalie.

Time slows to a crawl between him entering the house and his return to them. The look on his face is somehow reassuring-disgust and disappointment. Despite everything, Happy would be devastated if Tony were not alright.

"No fire. The place is trashed. He'll be sore tomorrow, which he deserves." Happy pauses, seems as if he's going to say something else, then changes his mind. "Let me get you ladies home. You'll have enough to deal with in the morning."

Natalie sits in front. Neither she nor Happy speaks. Pepper tries furiously to keep the tears at bay until she is in the privacy of her own apartment. The rage is so hot it is as if she sees red. But the pain is there too. It is easier to be mad, so she hangs on to it.

Enough to deal with indeed.