Who: Pepper and Tony When: Thursday, September 13 Where: Stark Tower, Manhatten What: Pepper and Tony... recover.
One thing she could say about living with Tony - it was way more efficient. No one was really working, per se, but Pepper was trying to keep up with things for when this was over. Unfortunately, there wasn't all that much to keep up with when SI and the rest of the business world was in such chaos (she shuddered to think of the mess they'd have to clean up when things went back to normal) so she'd also taken in clothing, cooked and baked enough to fill Tony's fridge, then cleaned maniacally, keeping the television up loud and her eyes glued to it whenever Tony was on it.
When she'd returned from her own challenge to find him gone again, Pepper had been struck by an overwhelmingly superstitious fear that this would be the one he didn't come back from, but there was nothing she could do besides watch, wait, and for the first time since she got there, other than when she slept, she stopped moving.
They didn't hug. That had hugged in the past, even recently, but it was nothing they did with any regularity. As soon as he appeared again, Pepper lunged, throwing her arms around him as though she'd decided that if they planned to take him again, she was going with him. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again," she said firmly, brooking no argument, very obviously relieved to see him.