You Name it Baby

Chapter 5

Rhodey was calling again.

The HUD alerted him and he let JARVIS pick up.

"Are you okay? I know I hung up quickly before, but I can talk now."

Tony thought about the cuts littering his body, his slightly dislocated shoulder, and his possibly cracked ribs.

"Yeah, I'm fine, what's up." He dove down and narrowly missed hitting a stray hot dog stand. He was trying to get back home, having just destroyed all of the STARK weapons that the Ten Rings had in their possession in Gulmira, as well as taking out many of their order and freeing the civilians. He felt like he was on top of the world.

Rhodey made a sound that could have been grunt, but Tony wasn't sure.

"What?" Tony asked. He gave an extra boost to the thrusters so he wouldn't be a target for oncoming traffic.

"Tony, I can't let you do that again." Rhodey carefully avoided mentioning what it was. He was still at the army base.

"I'm sorry, you can't let me?" responded cooly.

He heard some shuffling on Rhodey's end and then it was silent on the other line. Finally Rhodey spoke. "Tony you're a Little. How can you possibly expect me to be okay with this? You could get hurt, or go down while you're fighting."

"Yeah, um sorry, you don't get to make that call." Tony said, not sounding sorry at all. The mansion was in sight now.

Rhodey sighed, "Tones-"

"No don't 'Tones' me, I'm fully capable of making decisions for myself."

"Actually you're not-"

"Bye Rhodey." he hung up and blocked all calls for the rest of the day. He knew what he had to do, and no one could convince him otherwise.

...............

"Are those bullet holes?!" Tony whipped his head around at the sound of Peppers horrified voice. Busted.

He glanced at her and then down at himself, "Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."

Her fear changed swiftly to anger, her fists clenching. Pepper was about to lose it. "Tony what the- I can't believe- actually, you know what, I can believe that's the worst-" she shouted, rage choking her.

Tony finally struggled free of the armour and jumped down from the platform. He went over to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Pep- Pepper, woah, hey, calm down, I'm fine." he reassured her, wiggling his fingers to show her that everything still worked.

"You are so not fine!" she yelled, pushing his hands off her, her eyes filling. She gestured wildly to the suit, now lying in pieces on the platform, and then at him.

"This is crazy! You need help, Tony and clearly, Obadiah isn't doing it for you. Let me get you help, please." she pleaded, her eyes still full of unshed tears.

"Pepper, I-"

"Tony please, I can't stand by and watch this anymore- you're a Li-"

He cut her off, not wanting to hear what he knew she would say. "Enough with the Little crap. I'm also a grown-ass man who can take care of himself. I've been doing just fine 'till now, and I will continue to do so."

"Tony you know that's not healthy, you need to be Little, you don't have to be ashamed of it. Half of the planet is made up of Littles!" she burst out, poking him hard in the chest.

"I'm not asha-"

"Shut up Tony. Yes you are and we both know it. This is something you need to get through, and until you figure that out I won't stop pushing you."

"Stop. Pepper, I'm fine." He turned away from her- what did she know anyway?

.................

"I quit." Pepper dropped the USB drive on the table and turned to leave.
"You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction, and now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?" Tony asked, turning away from working on the suit to look her in the eye. She stared back at him, her eyes devastatingly sad. They were in Tony's workshop, surrounded by hundreds of parts for the suit. He was constantly trying to improve it to make it better and better- it had become his new obsession.
"You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I can't just stand by and watch. I'm not going to be a part of it. You hired me to help keep you okay, and to make sure you could handle everything, but Tony you're not handling everything you're blatantly ignoring a huge part of yourself and its ripping you apart." Pepper's voice cracked as she spoke, revealing how close she was to tears. She swiped at her eyes, her nose and cheeks turning pink.
Tony sighed and looked down at his hands. "I shouldn't be alive," he murmured just loud enough for her to hear, "unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right. And maybe a-after it all I'll....look into getting a real caregiver, but only after this is all behind us." He looked back up, his eyes set with determination. He couldn't just sit by, not with what he now knew.

"Tony," Pepper sighed. She walked over to him and put a hand on his cheek. He leaned into her touch. "I just want you to be taken care of. I know you're not Little all the time, but for the times that you are...Tony you can't be left alone, going into headspace by yourself is damaging- for you and the house. I believe in you, I know what you're doing is right, but how can I follow you when I see that you're falling apart when no one is looking? How could you expect me to just stand by and watch that?"

He felt his eyes begin to prickle his throat closing. "Pepper." he whispered. He wasn't even sure what he wanted from her, he just knew that he needed her right now.

"I'm here Tony." she said pulling him into a hug. He went willingly, curling into her motherly embrace.

They sat there for a while, Tony soaking in the comfort that only someone he truly trusted could provide. He sniffled and tried to discreetly wipe his nose on his sleeve. She grimaced down at him and handed him a tissue that seemed to appear out of thin air. He wiped his nose and sat up, not quite meeting her eyes. He hated crying in front of people.

Pepper stood up, looking once again like the formidable business-woman she was. She slipped the drive into her purse, her lips curling into something resembling a smile.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

Tony mimicked her serious expression. "Yes that will be all Miss Potts."

................