AN: Alright you've pressured me into it. But this is it. Really it. I can't keep up with the stories I have right now, let alone another. But your reviews inspired me to write just one more piece. You're welcome.

Also, this one moves backwards in time, as opposed to the other that moves forward. You'll see what I mean when you read haha.

-O-O-O-

He'd waited a decade and a half for this. It only took that long to convince her that this was the right thing for both of them.

Her white gown was simple. The silk train ebbed behind her as she approached. Her brother, a tall man with shocking red hair led her down the narrow aisle. Her cheeks were blushed, and she ducked her head to her chin, grinning beneath her veil. When he eyes flashed to his, he just wanted to kiss he right them. He vaguely entertained the thought of snagging her arm and fleeing the church. Eloping together like a pair of teens.

And then she was beside him. Finally. After years of waiting.

Camera bulbs flashed, but he could care less about anything around them. He had her here, with him, forever. And it would be forever. He would show her. He would make up the lost time. Make up for the bitterness that love had been for her up to this point. For both of them.

He would show her everyday how amazing he thought she was. He'd show her what kind of man he'd become since Afghanistan: a man who understood what it really meant to be proud, what it really meant to be brave. A man who'd come to understand what love really was.

A man who, while he still drove flashy cars, drank only the best bourbon, and owned a penthouse in nearly every major city worldwide, had not to not place his happiness in these things. He'd come to live his life for something greater. For the rush of repulsor blasts beneath his feet, and for seeing the smatter of freckles along his lover's cheeks.

The vows were said, spoken with tender care. When her slender fingers slipped the ring onto his finger, he had no words to describe the feelings. People had said it felt like a weight, or like a supernatural force holding them together had somehow been enacted. But it was none of those things. It was unique, and their very own.

All things he'd been holding out on didn't seem to matter anymore at that moment. The things he'd seen overseas, the deaths he'd watched happen before his eyes due to his own hand, had no victory over this brightness. And when he kissed her, he could only hope she understood.

But this one thing she would never know: every time he flew off to face death itself, she was his motivation to come home safely. More than his duty to the world at large, it was her. Her that kept him going. Her that had made him the man he was. Only she could lift the weight he carried.

-O-O-O-

It happened just as she expected it always would. He had always had some strange obsession with the beach. She'd been with his to see nearly every ocean on Earth. So she always knew this was the place he'd pop the question.

They'd gone on a retreat to Hawaii. The board, of course, had been suspicious when they snuck off that weekend. They hadn't notified anyone of their whereabouts, creeping off as quietly as possible in a company jet, landing on his private beach. They would spend the next four days here. She'd even vowed to keep cell phone usage to a minimum. This was their time with one another to get away from it all.

He knew she needed this now more than ever. With new stresses of being CEO. He might add that stocks had never been higher since she took over; he should've appointed her CEO long ago. He'd never had the patience or the skills for business. He liked being the brains of the operation, rather than the hands.

Speaking of hands.

Hers were gorgeous. He'd always thought so. They were slender, with long fingers that were always manicured and painted with a neat French tip. Pepper was not a nail biter. She was a hair twirler. He loved to watch those fingers work through that pony tail, nervously or anxiously, as she leaned back in her office chair on an important conference call. But here, in his own, was his favorite place for her hands to be.

Maybe not his favorite, but it made the top three.

He smiled down at her, breathing in the salt of the air around them mixed with her subtle perfume. He hadn't exactly come up with a speech. He figured he'd just wing it, but now his throat was drying and all he could do was stare at her like an idiot. Finally, he managed a weak murmur. "I've been thinking…" He shifted closer to her, their hands held between them, close to Pepper's warm belly, covered by the thin material of her sundress.

Before he could speak again, his knee hit the soft sand beneath them, kneeling before her, her hands still in his own.

The little blue box hidden in the pocket of his board shorts made her gasp when he retrieved it and her crystal eyes glow in the dimming sunlight.

"Oh, Tony…" was all she managed.

Once he had placed the ring on her finger and gotten a solid answer out of her, he lifted himself up once again and she clung to him, giggling and crying all at once into his t-shirt.

Yes, he thought for a moment. Happiness was here.

-O-O-O-

The look of absolute terror in her eyes made him regret the decision.

"Tony," she squeaked, hands covering her mouth in terror. "What happened to you?" she whispered.

He buttoned his shirt and leaned back against the soft leather seats. In all honesty, all this luxury felt foreign now after three months of hell.

"Shrapnel to the heart," he said thickly. "The doctor cut a six inch hole in my chest, and put in the miniaturized reactor. Ya dig?" He tried to smile, tried to lighten the mood but it was useless.

"Tony…" she stammered. "You…you made that? You haven't even miniaturized arc reactor technology here…how did you…?" She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut, making more tears flow, smudging her makeup. "They hurt you."

He was almost shocked to feel his heart hammer close against the baseplate of the device embedded within him. He'd hurt her. He hadn't even realized then the repercussions of this. Yinsen had said it was a crazy idea, but the only one they had, and the only one that would keep him alive. Now he was different. Everything was different. He needed to keep this under wraps…literally. And worst of all…she thought he was a monster now. Deformed. Handicapped.

"I wanted this," he said suddenly, the words tasting rotten in his mouth. Yinsen's last words reverbed through his consciousness.

Pepper leaned away from him, wiping at her face with quick fingers. "I don't…" she began.

"I was dying. I was dead. For more than a few minutes."

He could've stopped while he was ahead, but he was never good at that anyways. Pepper sobbed quietly through her hand. "You were dead?"

The absolute fear and desolation in her eyes made him reach out for her instantly. His arm tugged her to him across the backseat, pressing her form against his shoulder. "I'm back, Pepper. I'm here."

It didn't sound comforting. It sounded like a revelation. Like he himself was relieved and shocked.

She pulled back after barely a minute, wiping at her face. "We're almost there. We need to…"

His hand shot out to rest on her elbow. "Wait a minute."

He tried to get a breath, but it caught in his throat. He told himself on the plane ride back that he'd do this. Now why was he so frightened?

He wasn't one to beat around the bush. Cut and dry, as usual.

"I can't waste any more time, Pepper," he began. "I have to tell you…how important you are. You…you're all I've got."

She just stared at him with the same bleary eyes.

He tried a different tactic. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say..?" His chocolate brown eyes begged her to understand.

He watched her lips part, watched her chest expand with a deep breath. "Yes. I do."

His eyes fell closed and he lowered his hand. The weight lifted, and the device humming against his sternum didn't seem so foreign anymore.

The Bentley slowed to a stop. It was over. It was done now. Pepper hurried, rifling through her purse for a mirror and her mascara tube. Seconds passed, and he wadded up the greasy tissue that had contained a double cheeseburger just before Happy opened his door. Before he dove into the crowd, he peered over his shoulder at the woman behind him. She knew now. Time didn't seem so short anymore. They could discuss things later tonight after the camera sharks got their blood money.

Shutters and shouts of reporters were surprisingly familiar when he turned to face the crowd.

Back to business as usual.

And even if things weren't particularly happy now, he had a hope that they would be.