Entry tags:

active: pepper potts, active: tony stark

Who: Pepper Potts and Tony Stark
What: Reuniting
Where: Goodland Hospital
When: Middle of the afternoon on Thursday


The days and hours dragged on, and as they did, Pepper almost felt like her sanity was falling away with it. She was certain that she’d lost her family to the treacherous monsters that hung in the darkness. She hadn’t bothered with her phone, she couldn’t keep calm anymore and she refused to add more terror to the network. Maybe this was what happened when you were poisoned by the serum? Maybe you start to go insane. Tony had cured her once, and maybe he could again… if she ever got out.

She was exhausted. She’d lost her jacket somewhere, which was fine because she was so hot that it was just another thing to drag with her. She just kept moving, staggering even, on tired feet. She had been wearing some black heels when she’d first entered the maze (she had been working), but those had been lost somewhere on the first day. She was covered and dirt and scratches and sweat.

She turned the corner, and saw the exit. At first, she thought that it must be just another mirage, but then she saw someone, slow and hesitant to exit too. And she slowly made her way towards it. She moved cautiously, waiting for something bad to happen, something to pop out of her from the depths of the darkness.

But nothing came.

The crowd and the sunlight outside of the maze was almost… deafening in a way. To move from the solitary darkness, to the crowd waiting to help, waiting for their loved ones. It was a surreal transition. She didn’t wait though, she couldn’t. She asked first about Tony, where was he? Where was Morgan? The people couldn’t answer her questions, and she went to the only reasonable guess she had. She moved to the hospital, not even bothering to right herself.

When she did make it to Tony’s room, she stopped. She stared at him. He was alive, and right in front of her, and she couldn’t stop the happy tears from streaming down her face. Pepper didn’t cry very often, but it was exactly the sort of release she needed.

“Tony,” Was all she could say, softly, as she moved to his bedside.

---

Tony, aside from bruises and scratches, was fine. Medical staff insisted on keeping him because of his stupid heart, but his tests looked good so Tony was about to blow. He visited Morgan the moment he heard she too was in the hospital. Morgan was the only thing keeping him from running back to that maze and looking for the rest of their family. He had been exhausted and hurting when Rhodey brought him in on Tuesday, but Tony was currently alert and ticked. He was going to figure Goodland out. He wouldn’t leave his family’s lives to chance.

“Pep!” He was hooked to a machine monitoring his heart, but he was sat up in bed and dressed in a fresh pair of sweats and a t-shirt that a friend brought to him. “Oh, thank God.” He held his arms out as far as the machine allowed when she moved toward him. His eyes brimmed with tears.

---

Pepper practically fell into Tony's outstretched arms. She was typically so much more graceful, but she was exhausted and weak and so damn relieved to see her fiance again. She had been terrified that her last memories of him would be hallucinations from the maze. She sobbed into his chest for a second at the thought, though she quickly tried to compose herself. She was a mess.

"I was so scared," she admitted to him softly. "So scared of losing everyone… you and Morgan and Peter and Rhodey." She sighed and brought her hand up to wipe her cheeks only to realize how she must look covered in dirt like she was.

Her eyes took in the machine Tony was plugged into. "Are you alright?"

---

Tony thought Pepper looked gorgeous. She was alive and whole and in his arms, which was the most beautiful thing in the whole world. “I’m right here,” he soothed as he stroked her hair. “Morgan is too,” he added quietly. “She’ll be okay. The staff knows I’ll tear down the place if they don’t tell me the minute she wakes up. Pete and MJ are outside the maze too.” He had been out of it Tuesday and Wednesday, but his first thought upon coming to his senses was about his family. It had been all he could do to stay put when no one could tell him where Pepper was; he knew someone had to take care of the kids. “I’m fine,” he added in a dismissive tone. “I was a little banged up and they wanted to keep tabs on the old heart, but I think they mostly didn’t want me back in the maze.” He rolled his eyes. “I can’t wait to take you and Morgan home.” Pete and MJ, as far as he knew, were already there.

---

Pepper sat on the edge of Tony’s bed, trying to take up as little space as possible, even though she was wrapping her arms around him. She was just so relieved to have him in her arms. She was still a little worried, her eyes flickering over the monitors. Pepper was not a doctor, but things looked… okay. His comment about Morgan caught her attention though, and her eyes widened slightly.

“Wake up?” Her hands sought out Tony’s hand, squeezing it. Was her baby in a coma? What was going on? She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to calm herself. She was so tired, and the war of emotions that was flooding through her weren’t helping. “I just want to get us all back together, and keep us all safe,” she told him.

---

Tony nodded. He certainly did know. “They tell me she will be fine,” he responded, “But I need to see her with my own eyes.” He gently slid his hand out of her grasp and gestured for her to rest her head on his chest. “C’mon, I’m fine,” he urged. “I’ve missed you so much, honey. Did someone check you out?”

---

With Tony’s urging, Pepper couldn’t help but fold herself into him, resting her head on his chest. She had been so convinced that she would never see him again, but he was here. He was with her. “She’ll be fine, she’s tough like her Dad.” Pepper said softly, to reassure the both of them. Pepper’s arm snaked across his body, holding onto him.

“I missed you too, Tony.” She told him, breathing out as she relaxed against him. “No, I came here when I got out… I was told you were here and I had to see you. I’m fine though.” She told him. And she was, she was tired, and maybe a little thirsty, but she was fine short of a handful of cuts and scrapes from being in the maze. “It… was awful in there. I never want to see any of that again.”

---

“You need to get checked out,” he insisted, despite not wanting to let her go. He pressed his lips against forehead, allowing them to linger just long enough to remind himself that he wasn’t dreaming. He was awake and his future wife was there in his arms. “I hate that you went through that.” Annoyance flickered across his face. He knew Goodland was their only chance at a real life together, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get angry about what it put Pepper through. “Do you want to tell me more about it?” Maybe talking would help? Granted, he wasn’t much of a talker when it came to those things, but he didn’t mind when those he loved need to discuss their feelings.

---

Pepper just sighed slightly, she knew that Tony was right, but she wasn’t willing to leave him in that moment. Stubbornly, she slid to get even more comfortable next to him, a silent promise that she was not going to leave his side for a little while longer.

“It felt like… like watching the worst things I could imagine. I kept seeing Rhodey crashing to the ground… and you in the ship… I kept-- kept finding pieces of Morgans suit broken and scattered around. Peter and MJ injured.” She chewed on her lip, “When I first got there… Killian was standing over me and there were needles. I could feel it, I could remember what it was like to be poisoned by his broken super serum. It was… it was hot, and I couldn’t breath. I swear… I swear I kept seeing him behind me whenever I turned a corner.” Her voice hitched at several points, and her body tensed, even as she spoke about it.

---

He held Pepper tighter as she recounted her predicament. Having witnessed it firsthand, he knew exactly what sort of hell she went through, especially since her experience was rooted in things that happened to her in their old world. “You are alright,” he said softly. “You are here with me and you are fine. I’m not letting anything happen to you.” His mind was already whirling with possible inventions to prevent that shit from happening again. “You’ll get checked out. Morgan will be okay. Pete and MJ are home. We will be there before you know it.” He wished he could tell her that Rhodey was okay, but his damn friend rushed back into the maze once he knew Tony would be okay. “I love you. I can’t wait to marry you.”

---

Pepper nodded gently against him, and stretched slightly to press a kiss against his cheek. “We’re all okay.” She said, just as much to herself as she did to Tony. Because it was true, they were all going to be okay. They had to be, she would accept nothing less. It was much easier to think about their upcoming wedding, than to worry about what they’d just gone through.

“You and Me together forever with our little family. Nothing sounds more perfect than that.” There was still a few things that she had to do, but at the end of the day, the details didn’t matter too much as long as she was marrying the love of her life.

---

“Family,” he repeated. Sometimes the word still sounded weird to him. He, Tony Stark, had a family. He never really felt part of a family before, even if he loved his mother and father. Howard was not an easy man nor had he been a good father. His mother, while certainly better than Tony’s dad, was no cookie cutter mom either. Jarvis, his butler, had been family, but he was gone. Tony couldn’t help remembering Yinsen. He told the doctor he had no family when they were held captive together. Tony hoped he made Yinsen proud. “We got lucky,” he continued, “And we are going to make sure the luck lasts.” He didn’t care if he had to fight his way through a million mazes; he would find his way back to his family every time. He wouldn’t lose them again.

---

“Family.” Pepper said again, firmly, almost a vow. She was going to do anything she possibly could to protect her family, to give them the best life they possibly could. She loved them, even if she’d known Morgan and MJ for only a month. She was happier here than she could have imagined with a house full of teenagers and animals.

“We deserve a little bit of luck.” She smiled at him. Pepper was more than happy to relax against him for as long as the people in the hospital would let her. “Whatever I can do to help,” she told him softly, “You and I are in this together.”

---