This was all an accident to start with. In the beginning, she was no more than a yellow flag Friday notified him of. Some unusual activity was happening around Queens and Friday thought it was worth looking into. But, at the time Tony was busy with a million other things so he pushed it aside. It wasn't until he woke up, heart pounding, sweat drenching his clothes, that he found it. Tony could only walk around his floor of the tower so many times, trying to stave off sleep. Walking down to the kitchen he grabbed a glass of water and went to his lab. The tile was cold against his bare feet as the lights lit up around him.

Smiling smugly, he thought Pepper would be so proud of him: Reading emails, contributing to the company, and being responsible. It was amazing all the junk he was supposed to do. With a mildly guilty feeling he forwarded most of the mail to Pepper's assistant, Sam or Sarah or something. He would have to make sure to send her some extra vacation days to say thank you.

Bored of doing company tasks he decided to look through the stuff Friday set aside for him. There were no emergency flags and the yellow notices caught his eye. Someone had reported seeing the Hulk. A pang caught in his chest and he stuffed down the hope that started blooming. It wasn't Bruce. He had left, disappeared. Tony was sure of it. They had caught a signal in the sea but when he went to search later, Bruce had been nowhere to be found. Tony quickly deleted that and moved on.

Next was more of a folder really. Filled with videos and local news clippings of some person helping the people of New York, centered on the Queens area. Returning a lost bike, fixing potholes and even rescuing a kitten from a tree were just some of the articles in the folder. Tony snorted at that last one.

One curious thing was that there wasn't much actual footage. The best video featured a blur of blue and red on the edges of the screen. Intrigued, he began to look further into the folder.

The local news had interviewed a few witnesses, all holding nothing substantial.

There was one interview of an older gentleman that held some promise. He had sung the praises of the masked individual after he had helped him and his wife one afternoon.

"We had ordered Zelda's new chair the other week. They were supposed to bring it in and help us figure out how to put it together," He said. His wife, Zelda, had been confined to a wheelchair for about five years and he had to use a cane so moving about was difficult. "The company just left it on the porch and I was trying to bring it into the house. Darn thing was way too heavy for me to lift up, let only carry inside. Then all the sudden this kid in a mask appeared out of nowhere. Asked if I needed help. Well, you know me," He gave a smile to someone behind the camera, "I was about to say 'Thanks but no thanks' when he lifted the box up with one hand. Imagine that! He just carried it in the house no problem. Wonder what they are putting in the water now days. Sure could use it these days. The boy didn't even sound out of breath, although it would have been hard to tell with that mask on." He scratched his chin in thought. "Did you see those eye glasses on him? Were sure weird. But I can't complain. Not only that but he even stayed and helped me put it together for my sweet Zelda." It then went on to show a charmingly blurry picture of an elderly lady sitting in a wheelchair with what looked to be stacked books all over the room.

The news lady finished the story by saying that no one else had seen the masked person and that he had gone right after helping the Fitzpatricks. Although, the masked helper did accept a sandwich and cookie to take on the road.

He was seen later that week chasing after a mugger who had stolen a purse. "Masked subject suspected harmless. If any information available please call the hotline now," was how the segment ended.

Tony sat back in his chair. His eyes out of focus as he took off his glasses. "Fri, watch out for anymore news or sightings of this person. Make sure to add it to this file and send me an alert." It would be lying to say he wasn't intrigued. Why did the kid take the time to help these ordinary people out with their every day problems?

Cracking his back he said goodnight to Friday, though instead of heading to his room, he went into the next level of his lab and started to tinker around with his suit. Tony was much too wired awake to try and go back asleep. It had nothing to do with the fact he didn't want any repeat dreams from earlier that night.

It was silent in the lab until a voice interrupted his work. Blinking, he saw Pepper come down the stairs as Friday brightened the lights and opened the windows. He quickly tried to remember if he had something to do today but couldn't think of anything important on his docket.

Plastering a smile onto his face he rose to give her a hug. "Pep. To what do I owe this pleasant drop by? Missing my gorgeous face?" He leaned his hip on the table, arms crossed. She stared back, un-amused, and seemed to be waiting for him to say something else. They stayed silent for a moment and with a sigh she turned away, asking Friday to display something.

What looked like a schedule showed up in front of both of them. "Tony, you promised me you wouldn't forget. Today was the big board meeting."

He stared at her blankly.

"You know, the one where you had to go and charm all the uniforms. General Ross was supposed to be there"

Still nothing.

"The meeting we scheduled weeks ago because you didn't have anything planned."

With a sigh, she threw her hands into the air.

"I cannot believe it. I cannot believe that I trusted you. Again, Tony."

"Whoa, whoa. Pep. There's got to be some mistake. There's no meeting today. I made sure I wouldn't forget. It's supposed to be the 22nd of September. When have I ever let you down?" She should've been so impressed but looked the exact opposite. After all, it wasn't every time they had a meeting he took the time to memorize it. In fact, he didn't remember the last time he had even been to a meeting. Usually Pepper took care of all of it for him and he was happy to not be involved. He was so busy being Iron Man it was hard to run a company and if he were being honest with himself he just didn't have the patience. It was too much like having a child, too much responsibility.

Pepper could see how hard he was trying and felt something soften in her chest. Try, as she might, she couldn't bring herself to be completely angry. The confused look he was giving her wore down her reserve. Glancing toward the ceiling she let out a long breath and started to move toward the stairs. Her heels were the only sound permeating the room.

"Pep. Hey, Pep. Wait up! See I remembered it's not today. It's the 22nd of September. Wait!"

"Friday, please inform Mr. Stark of today's date."

"Sir, it is the 22nd of September. You had the board meeting this morning which I did remind you of."

Tony didn't know what to say and started to feel a blush make its way up his neck and congregate in his cheeks. Grabbing Pepper's hand in his, he tried to say something but it lodged itself in his throat. She must have noticed something in his expression and took pity on him.

"I know. Really, I do. I just had hoped this time would be different." She extracted her hand from his and handed him the paperwork he had missed. "Make sure you sign all these and give them to Selena by tomorrow morning. We're running out of time Tony. I've got to go now, but I'll talk to you later on."

Tony was still glued to the floor, mute as he watched her walk away: ashamed for once again letting her down.

"And Tony," she glanced back at him with a small smile on her face, "Make sure you take a shower. You look terrible." A sad laugh left her as she let herself out of the apartment.

The click of the door shutting released Tony from the spell. He stumbled over to the couch and sat down. Running a hand through his hair, he could feel the grease building up. The shame he felt throughout the conversation once again rose and he felt tiny pricks at the back of his eyes. Why must he always do this? Promise something and then fall through. It seemed like that was what his life was now. Failed promises. But what was he supposed to do? Contrary to popular belief he wasn't a total narcissist and unfeeling person. That was just the persona he hid behind, an inheritance left to him by Howard. He never set out to let people down. It just sort of happened, ever since Tony could remember. He was disappointing someone.

He fell back, throwing his wrist over his eyes, "All the money in the world and I have the most uncomfortable couch."

Author's Note: Thank you for reading!