Disclaimer: I do not own any of the music, products or movies mentioned in this fic and I don't own Iron Man or any of its characters, I do however, own those characters and storylines which appear in this fanfic, but not in the movies or comics. No copyright infringement intended!

"What are you doing here?" Pepper asked as she opened the door to Jack.

"I need to talk to you" Jack said.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something but don't worry I promise I'm fine" Pepper said.

"You weren't fine in the morning and on the way here. I'm not going to let that idiot hurt you again Gin. You're my friend and I care about you. Let me get you out of here and we'll talk and you can call him later. I don't want you to make any kind of decision while you're vulnerable" Jack said grabbing her arm.

"I'm not an idiot Jack. I know what I'm doing and I love Tony and if he tells me nothing happened it's because nothing happened. I'm so thankful that you care about me but you don't know if I'm vulnerable or if I can or can't control my emotions. I appreciated your concern but I'm fine" Pepper said pulling her arm away.

"Yeah figures Tony would send you to confront me since he's not man enough to come respond to me" Jack said.

Tony pushed the rest of the door opened and stared at Jack. His hands curled up into fists as he continued to glare at Jack. Jack took a step forward and stared at Tony frowning at how calm he seemed to be.

"Don't think you get to hurt Gin and get away with it because I can assure you I will get your ass" Jack said.

"Don't you think I want to kick your ass for molesting my girlfriend? I could've of seriously hurt you but Pepper held me back. But if you keep getting in my face like you're doing now I will hurt you" Tony said.

"I know Gin and she would never go for someone like you" Jack said.

"Then apparently you don't know her well enough" Tony said.

"I am here you guys and I know what I'm doing. Jack, I appreciate your concern but I can take care of myself and I'm asking you to please leave and let me work this problem out. Tony, just because I love you doesn't mean I'm not pissed about what happened and that I forgive you" Pepper said.

"Fine but call me if you need me" Jack said.

"I will. I promise" Pepper said.

"Make sure he showers Lexie off" Jack scoffed turning to exit the hotel.

Tony pushed past Pepper and punched Jack's face knocking him off balance. Before Pepper could react Jack sprung to his feet and punched Tony back. Pepper gasped and tried grabbing Tony's arm but he pushed her back and grabbed Jack by his shirt and slammed him against the wall. Jack pushed Tony back and punched his face making him stumble back.

"Tony stop please" Pepper screamed as she got between Jack and Tony.

"Get the hell out of here" Tony snapped pushing Jack towards the exit and past a crowd of people that had gathered.

Pepper sighed and followed Tony fearing that he would kill Jack or Jack would kill Tony. She caught up with them and found them arguing outside with the hotel security between them. Pepper walked up to them silently and grabbed Tony's hand pulling on it to make him face her. Tony turned to look at Pepper and immediately stopped arguing with Jack seeing how exhausted she looked.

"Stay away from us" Tony snapped as he stormed into the hotel.

"Please Jack. I'm fine just go home," Pepper said.

Jack stormed off in the opposite direction without another word leaving Pepper in the front of the hotel by herself. She watched as Jack finally disappeared down the street and decided to go back inside.

When she entered the room she saw Tony sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. She walked past him and grabbed her bag and stood in front of him. Tony looked up and frowned and went to grab her hand but she pulled it away.

"I'm going to go home and pack," Pepper said.

"Why? I thought we were staying here until Saturday" Tony said.

"I'm staying here until Saturday but I need you to go back today" Pepper said.

"What? Why?" Tony said.

"I need time for myself" Pepper said.

"Honey I swear I don't know what happened but I need to figure it out and I can't do that if I go home," Tony said.

"Tony seriously I don't care about what happened or didn't happen. I just need you to go home. I need time to think and I can't do that if you keep getting into fights with Jack" Pepper said.

"I don't want to leave you here by yourself" Tony said.

"I'll be fine and I won't be by myself," Pepper said.

Tony sighed and put his head back in his hands for a couple of seconds before looking up at Pepper again. She was still standing in front of him but now had her eyes closed. She sat down next to him on the bed and sighed.

"I think we should take a break," Pepper whispered.

"Do you really want that?" Tony asked.

"No but I also don't want to keep fighting" Pepper said.

"We can work through it. I need you. I love you. I don't think I would be the way I am without you" Tony said.

"I think we both need a break," Pepper said decisively.

"We don't" Tony insisted.

"I need you to fly out today and get back to the company and I'll fly out Saturday and pick up my stuff from your place and I'll also hand in my resignation letter" Pepper said.

"There's no changing your mind?" he asked.

Pepper shook her head and got up from the bed, she kissed Tony's head and left the room.

Tony watched as she left the room and once the door completely closed he fell back against the bed and closed his eyes. He laid there for about an hour until a knock on the door made him get up.

He opened the door and found Pepper on the other side with his suitcase and carryon. She smiled at him and passed him the bag and the suitcase. He motioned for her to go inside the room and closed the door once she stepped inside.

"Thanks for bringing my stuff" Tony said.

"You're welcome" Pepper said.

"There's no way to change your mind?" Tony asked once again.

"No…listen Tony, I love you I really do but I think this time apart will do our relationship good" Pepper said.

"How our we going to work on our relationship if we're not together?" Tony asked.

"I need to think about us and where our relationship is going and if it will go somewhere. I know that you love me and care about me but sometimes I fear that I'm not going to be enough" Pepper said.

"I don't need anyone else. I don't want anyone else" Tony said.

Pepper took a deep breath and grabbed Tony's hand in hers. She smiled and looked into his eyes before bringing him in for a hug. Tony wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against him while she buried her head in his neck.

"Please let's just both go home and continue like we were" Tony whispered.

"Everything will be fine I just need a break. I have a lot going on in my mind and I need some time to think" Pepper said.

Tony nodded and brought his face down to her neck inhaling her scent. Pepper cupped the back of his head and carefully began to run her fingers through his hair soothing him. Pepper began to pull away from his embrace but Tony pulled her tighter against him.

"Just a couple of more minutes" Tony whispered.

A few hours later Pepper had gone and packed Tony's stuff and was now back in the hotel. She had printed his ticket and arranged for Happy to pick up Tony once he arrived. She knocked on the door and smiled when Tony opened the door talking on the phone. He motioned for Pepper to come in and closed the door behind her.

"Okay well I'll figure it out once I get back" Tony said.

Pepper sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Tony paced the room and finally stopped in front of the door.

"I'll talk to you later" Tony said before hanging up.

"Everything okay?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah. Listen, are you sure you don't want to come back?" Tony asked.

"I'm sure" Pepper smiled.

Pepper stood up and walked towards the door with Tony right behind her. Tony grabbed her arm and pulled her back and kissed her lips softly. Pepper moaned and wrapped her arms around Tony's neck and opened her mouth when Tony's tongue began pushing into her mouth.

"Mmm" Pepper moaned and began to pull back.

Tony groaned and bit Pepper's lip and wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her back in for another kiss.

"I have to go" Pepper whispered as she pulled back.

"Okay. I love you" Tony whispered.

Pepper left Tony's room and leaned against the wall once Tony closed the door behind her. She felt tears gather in her eyes but she desperately blinked them back. On the other side of the door Tony sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

A couple of hours later Tony was boarding his plane back home. He smiled at the flight attendants wearing his company's logo and took his seat.

"Are we waiting for Ms. Potts," the flight attendant asked.

"No. Can you get me a whiskey?" Tony said.

"Right away sir" she said and quickly walked away.

Tony sighed as the plane took off and he looked at the empty seat in front of him where Pepper usually sat. He was about to close his eyes when his phone began to beep. He looked at the id and answered right away.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked

"Does something have to be wrong for me to call?" asked Rhodey.

"No but it usually is" Tony said.

"I hate saying you're right but I have some info on Justin if you're ready to hear it" Rhodey said.

"Yeah download me the info," Tony said.

"No Pepper around?" Rhodey asked.

"No I'm actually on my way back," Tony said.

"Why? Did something happen?" Rhodey asked.

"No…yeah…kind of" Tony said.

"What happened?" Rhodey asked.

"We had a fight. She had a barbeque and a lot of her friends went and one them was all over me and I'm convinced she drugged me and I almost had sex with her" Tony said.

"What? What do you mean she drugged you? Did you report it? What about Pepper? Couldn't she be dangerous?" Rhodey asked.

"Pepper said we need time apart," Tony said.

"Oh man I'm sorry" Rhodey said.

"She's resining and moving out" Tony said.

"Man is there anything I can do?" Rhodey asked.

"Is there any way you can keep an eye on her with Justin still around?" Tony asked.

"Yeah sure count on it" Rhodey said.

"How are things going?" Tony asked.

"Well we think he's going to first try and recover some of his technology" Rhodey said.

"And do what? Build more Hammeroids?" Tony said.

"I don't know…but what I do know is he is going to come after you and it's going to get ugly" Rhodey said.

"I can take care of myself," Tony said.

"Yeah…" Rhodey said.

"Listen just give me the last thing you heard about him and I'll do my own research and report it back to you…in the meantime I have to deal with my relationship with Pepper…which is more important to me" Tony said.

"Well you won't have a relationship with Pepper if you're gone" Rhodey said.

"Just send me the info," Tony said before hanging up.

Tony gulped the rest of his drink and closed his eyes. He looked over at the two flight attendants who were gossiping in the corner and sighed when he saw a new problem arising in trying to keep them quiet. He usually had Pepper to deal with them seeing she always did a good job at making sure people kept quiet whenever they heard something about him.

He was about to fall asleep when his phone began to ring again. He answered without looking at the id figuring it was Rhodey again since he had cut their conversation short.

"Hello?" Tony answered his eyes still closed.

"Tony…long time no talk…"

Sorry for the long wait! It took me longer to update than I had originally planned! Please review and let me know what you think! I'll try and update as soon as I can! A lovely review might help me update faster ;)