It had all happened too fast. One second he could see her, and then the next he was deafened and all he could see was smoke as warnings flared before his eyes of high carbon levels.

He wasn't too late. He refused to be late. For once in his life, Tony Stark was not going to let himself be late.

"Pepper!"

Ripping the helmet off when the armor started to fail from being used too harshly at how fast he'd flown here to save her, he tossed it to the ground and stumbled through the rubble and dust filled air, coughing and hacking up a storm.

"Pepper!"

Why wasn't she answering? Potts always came when he called. Sure, she may do so with complaint and lots of irritated glances, but she always came. This wasn't the time for her to start playing games with him.

"Dammit, Potts! Where are you?"

Tripping over one of the hunks of metal that had tried to kill him mere minutes ago, Tony crashed to the hard ground and coughed yet again. He was risking his life staying here seconds after an explosion; the toxins in the air were liable to kill him if he didn't get out soon. Where the hell was Pepper?

Crawling forward, Tony groaned and felt around on the ground, tugging one of the gauntlets off. It was of no use to him at the moment. He needed a sense of touch to find what he was looking for… Aha. There it was. The familiar milky feeling of that perfect skin he'd been marveling at for years. The skin he knew was splattered with freckles, and looked gorgeous when she blushed; Pepper's skin.

"Pep," he said hoarsely, releasing another cough as he dragged himself forward, with surprising difficulty due to the deadweight of the suit. "Come on. Get up; we have to get out of this hell hole."

She didn't move. Staring at the pointed toe of her stiletto shoe, Tony frowned and crawled closer. Why wasn't she freaking out? If he'd just survived an explosion, he'd be freaking out.

Hell, he'd done it before.

"Pepper, this isn't funny. We don't have time for this. The toxins in this air are going to kill us both. Let's go."

Still nothing. Finally close enough to look down at her, Tony frowned. Was she unconscious? She certainly didn't look good, and he shuddered at the sight. Her hair, normally so perfectly done, was a mess of tangles, dirt, and blood, and her face was filthy and bruised. She looked like she'd been through hell. Swallowing roughly, Tony forced himself to sit up and lifted Pepper into his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder as he used his bare hand to push her matted hair from her face.

"Pep," he said, more gently this time. "Come on. Open your eyes, Pepper. Isn't it about time for you to yell at me about how this whole mess was my fault? I know you want to; you love getting angry at me, and I love it when you get feisty…"

A small smirk tugged at his lips, and he frowned when she continued to stay unresponsive.

"Potts, I'm serious; wake up. Wake up or you're fired."

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a twitch, not a whimper, not a bat of a single lash. She had to be really out of it to ignore that comment.

"I'm kidding," he said nervously, worried he may have offended her into not waking up with the threat of firing her. "I'd never can you. I can barely tie my shoelaces without you, let alone run the company again on my own. I need you, Pep. You know that…"

Slowly, Tony began to panic. Why wasn't she waking up? She should have at least moved by now, or made a noise. He'd gone through this before. He'd kept fading in and out of consciousness the entire time. He'd only been fully out cold for a few moments, he assumed.

"Pepper…?"

Hesitantly, Tony shifted her in his arms and pressed his ear to her chest. His breath caught in his throat, and anger flashed through him. Nothing.

"No," shaking his head, he sat up straight again, unable to linger there for a mere second as his grip on her frail, limp form tightened, "Don't you fucking dare, Virginia. If you think for even a second that I'm going to let you leave me, you're more insane than Hammer. Wake up!"

Shaking her, he tried desperately to get a response out of her. Something, anything; he couldn't just let her slip away like this. Not when all of this was technically his fault. Not when it should be him that was dead, not her. Not when he should have died months ago, and she should have mourned him and moved on…

But Pepper didn't move. She was limp, placid, and growing increasingly colder in his arms. He was aware that he was making noises he didn't recognize, and it took him a few minutes to realize he was crying. No, not crying; sobbing. It wasn't possible; Pepper wasn't… dead. Shuddering, he buried his face in her chest, begging her quietly to come back to him.

"You can't…" he all but moaned with grief. "You aren't allowed to go… Only I can tell you when you're allowed to go… Only me…"

He was aware of the sound of another suit hitting the ground a few feet away, and he instinctively held Pepper's body tighter if it was someone bent on hurting her again.

"Get the hell away!" he shouted through his tears, and the confused voice of James Rhodes answered in response.

"Dude, relax. It's just me. What's…?"

He trailed off when he got close enough, his faceplate flying up to get a closer look. "Oh, God…"

"I said, get the hell away!" Tony yelled again, and Rhodey frowned.

"Relax, Tony. We'll get her help. She'll be okay…"

"She's dead!" he yelled, clinging to the woman in his arms and objecting to anything Rhodey had to say that begged to differ. He knew it was true; he wasn't stupid. He was far from it. "She's dead, and it's my fault. It's all fucking Hammer's fault! Who does the moron think he is, breaking a psycho out of jail and then parading his tech around for everyone to see and end up dying for? I swear I'm going to kill him. I'll kill him!"

"No, you won't," Rhodey tried to state calmly. "Tony, more violence isn't the answer to this. What do you think Pepper would say if she could hear what you were saying now, right in front of her?"

Gritting his teeth, Tony glared straight ahead, ignoring the presence behind him.

"Go," he hissed, for he didn't want to hear another damn world the colonel had to say. He was the only one disrespecting Pepper by implying that she didn't deserve to be avenged. "Get away from me. Take the suit. I don't give a shit about the suits."

He really didn't. The only thing he actually did give a shit about was lying in his arms, dead; dead because he'd invented suits that the world wanted; dead because of his father's past; dead because he'd loved her.

Freezing, Tony looked down at her as a realization dawned on him. He had loved her, hadn't he? Maybe even from the moment she barged into his office, threatening to pepper spray his guards, just to show him a mistake he'd made in his accounting. Yeah, it wouldn't surprise him if he'd loved her since then. He'd just been too big of an idiot to admit it.

For someone so smart, he could be downright stupid sometimes.

He heard Rhodey backing away, obviously deciding it wasn't the best time to challenge the man before him. Pulling Pepper closer in his arms, he attempted to fix her hair, tears leaving tracks in the dirt on his face.

"You must hate me for messing up your outfit like this," he croaked, brushing the dirt and blood from her cheeks, "and your shoes… your shoes are pretty bad. But you're still beautiful, Pep; still gorgeous…"

Shaking his head, he brought his lips down to his her forehead, releasing a broken sob as he kissed her face over and over, finally ending up at her lips and pressing to them the most tender kiss he'd ever given. If only she'd been alive to feel it…

Slowly pulling back, he nuzzled his face into her shoulder, tears staining her dark, dirty dress. "I love you," he choked out, breathing rapidly as he tried to bravely fight back the hysterics fighting to break through. "You completed me… and now you're gone, and… and… I don't know what I'm gonna do…"

Laughing hysterically, more tears fell. "It should have been me. I should have died. You'd be strong; I know you would. You'd still be able to run the company, and function enough to keep everyone else going… I'm gonna break, Pep, I… I can't get through this without you."

He could practically hear her response in his head.

"Oh, don't be stupid. You're the strongest person I know. Just take a few weeks to recharge your batteries, and then get back out there. Make me proud, boss."

"I will," he answered, even though she hadn't really said anything. Shit. He was already hearing voices. "I'll make you proud, Pepper. I'll go to every meeting, and get there early; hell, maybe I'll even bring coffee for more than just myself. You'd like that… something about charisma being a good quality in people like me… I'll tell you what; I'll even let Hammer live. I'll let him live with the guilt of what he caused…"

Trailing off, he squeezed his eyes shut as a single tear fell, holding her closer and clutching her to him. "That's punishment enough for anyone…"

Breathing shakily, he hid his face in her hair. He had to keep going. He had to tough it out, for Pepper, in hopes that he might see her again someday… He had to be the man she'd tried so hard to make him be. He had to be a man she'd be proud to call her boss; to call her friend.

But how was he supposed to do all that when he'd just lost the one thing he couldn't live without?