Pepper lowered the damp cloth away from the man's forehead as he shifted his body miserably away to roll onto his back and stare up at her with those large, pitiful eyes. Damn the man. It was so easy to be upset with him when he was being snarky and vindictive...or when he was wearing that smug, over-confident smirk of his...or when he was just purposefully trying to push all of her buttons in order to get a rise out of her. But when he was like this? Suddenly it became rather difficult. There was a kind of vulnerability to him that made her want to hold him close. To just comfort him and sooth him until all the pain had gone away.
Which, cleverly enough, was exactly the reason she was here.
"You're not a bad boss, Tony," she murmured softly, turning back towards the bedside table and wetting the cloth that she held once again with fresh water. "You're not even a bad friend. If you were, I wouldn't still be around, now would I? I'd have left you high and dry years ago!"
She turned back to him with a disarming smirk as she placed the cloth down against his forehead gently, her fingertips gliding along his cheek in a gentle manner, just letting him feel some manner of calming physical contact.