Work Text:
Pepper blinked groggily at the dim sunlight coming through the large penthouse windows. It was somewhere between five and six o'clock, she was sure. She didn't bother to look at the clock or ask JARVIS. She didn't want to get up. She dreaded getting up.
With warm blankets cocooning her, Tony's arm around her waist, and her back against his chest, the last thing she wanted to do was leave him for Monday's workday. All she wanted to do was tell JARVIS to close the windows and for her and Tony to sleep until noon, then get up and make pancakes. (Well, she would make the pancakes, Tony would fiddle with whatever small contraption he'd stored in some random nook and ramble about projects and people and "Pep, have you seen the new ice cream flavor they're making? I need it.")
As CEO, she could theoretically give herself a three day weekend, but that wouldn't be fair to anyone else. She had four meetings, a hundred emails from over the weekend, and countless paperwork to file. She had to get up eventually.
Sighing, she twisted in Tony's hold to face him. Once, she would have found the pale blue light of the reactor, a reminder to them both that he was still alive. He'd gotten it removed a few months ago. The necklace of shrapnel sat on her beside table.
In the limited light, she found his eyes still shut, the faint darkness of exhaustion under them. His hair was a mess, a mix of a late night in the lab and a bedhead. The media would never believe it, but Tony was an incredibly hard worker. Even before Afghanistan happened, he worked as much as he partied. After Afghanistan, the partying essentially disappeared until his 40th birthday disaster, but considering what was going on with him at the time, that one got a pass. (She still felt incredibly guilty when she thought about it, how she didn't connect his increasingly erratic behavior to anything other than Tony going off the rails.) He worked harder than before to fix his mistakes and make the world a better place.
After the Battle of New York, everything got ten times worse. She hadn't known what to do to stop his spiral. She'd had to watch him crash the hardest he'd ever had in his life.
Then she helped him back up. They helped each other in handling what happened with Killian. He'd removed Extremis from her. The arc reactor was successfully removed. She figured out how to help him with his nightmares where he could sleep. Things had gotten better over the last few months, and she hoped that trend would continue.
As long as Tony didn't run himself into the ground.
One thing that hadn't changed over the years was that he was nearly unstoppable when he wanted something. She'd learned that on the first day she met him. Sometimes, it was a random piece of art that he absolutely needed, or something that required more effort, like an invention only he could create to do a specific thing. He stopped at nothing to get it. The word 'impossible' wasn't in his dictionary.
The only thing she'd found that could stop him was her saying no. He knew when she was serious and would drop the idea immediately. It was funny, really. Rhodey went along with a lot of Tony's antics. Happy followed to make sure he didn't get himself hurt or killed. JARVIS offered advice that was ignored. Pepper was the single person who could successfully say no to him.
She hadn't said no to his current project, but she was close to begging him to take a longer break than just a few hours. The Avengers were moving in next month and Tony was obsessed with making sure their floors and the common areas were absolutely perfect. He made them more gear, more weapons, more of everything. He wanted to welcome them in and make the Tower their home. She knew he would act like it was nothing when they got here, hiding the hours upon hours he'd spent on it all, bursting at the seams with hope that they'd love it while acting nonchalant.
He hadn't neglected his work as Head of R&D or owner of Stark Industries either. He worked from not long after she left until she got back, then would let her drag him out of the lab long enough for dinner and maybe a movie on the couch before he was back to work in the lab.
Tony shifted a little in his sleep, bringing her back to the present. He mumbled something indecipherable, his arm tightened around her. She bit back a laugh, smiling as she brought her hand up to run through his dark hair, gently pulling out tangles. Brown eyes peeked open. "Pep?" He murmured sleepily.
"Morning honey. How'd you sleep?"
He blinked at her, then buried his face halfway into his pillow, which was Tony speak for 'I am not awake enough to think yet.' Shaking her head in amusement, she removed her hand and went to get out of bed, only for him to try and pull her back to him.
"No." He protested, eyes shut. "Cold."
"I have to get ready for work. And no, I cannot give myself the day off." She said, sitting up.
He grumbled something, reluctantly releasing her and tucking his arm back under the blankets. Smiling softly, she leaned over and kissed his forehead.
He was warm. Too warm.
Frowning, she brought her hand to his forehead. It wasn't her imagination. "JARVIS?" She asked, not bothering to elaborate. He would know what she was asking.
"Sir's temperature is 101.3, Miss Potts." The AI replied, his concern clear. "My judgment said to allow you both to sleep as long as possible and have you assess the situation first."
She nodded absently, brushing back Tony's hair. "Tony," she called gently, "how are you feeling?"
He opened his eyes again, a bit more awareness seeping into his irises. "M' fine." He went to sit up and she pushed him back down by the shoulder. It took a pitiful amount of effort to do so.
"No, you're staying right there. Please. For me." She pleaded, cupping his cheek. After a few seconds, he nodded, his resolve to get up crumbling. "Thank you. I'll be back in a minute." She kissed the side of his head, then got up. She went to the bathroom first. Before she became his assistant, he only kept what was necessary to deal with a hangover. Now, he had a proper medicine cabinet.
With JARVIS's deduction of him having a cold or potentially a sinus infection, she grabbed the strongest sinus medicine they had as well as a fever reducer that was compatible with it. She brought both to his bedside table, took a brief second to check on him - he'd fallen back asleep - and then went to the kitchen, where she grabbed an orange Gatorade from the fridge.
Somehow, she got him to take the medicine with little fuss, likely a testament to how bad he really felt. Half awake, he shivered, and she recognized that him saying he was cold wasn't the normal attempt to get her to stay in bed. She climbed back into her spot beside him, propping herself up more against the headboard where he could curl around her, his head on her shoulder.
Eventually, he fell back asleep, and Pepper knew for a fact she was not going into work today. She had JARVIS send out emails to reschedule her meetings, then grabbed her phone off the bedside table to see what else needed to be moved or quickly done where she could spend the rest of her day taking care of him. She kept most of her attention on Tony, using one hand to type while her other hand carded through his hair or rubbed his back.
Two hours later, she was nearly done with what she could do when Tony shifted jerkily, his breaths going shorter in the telltale signs of the beginnings of one of his nightmares. He hadn't had one in a week. She dropped her phone immediately, wrapping both arms around him and pressing her forehead to his sweaty hair.
"I'm right here," she whispered. "I'm right here, Tony. You're okay. I promise, you're okay, shh." She kept up those comforting whispers, praying that she could draw him back into peaceful sleep rather than him waking up - a rare occurrence.
Against all odds, it worked. Tony settled, breathing easing as he buried his face in her neck. She kissed his forehead once more, arms still wrapped around him, and found his skin cooler.
"You'll be okay." She promised, letting her eyes shut, focusing completely on how Tony breathed against her. "I'm here."
Apparently not as asleep as she thought, he mumbled, "I love you, Pepper."
"I love you too, Tony."
She always would.