Hushed Willows invincible

Pepper asked the hard questions. In reality things were better now in some ways and worse in others. Stark had Banner and Rhodes, Banner was helping run things, and she seemed more happy so that meant Stark was happier. In others, the woman he couldn't stop thinking about was missing and probably hurt and three other pack mates were still lost somewhere. It was a toss up. "I'm exhausted." Stark admitted with a quiet voice. "When I'm not trying to keep things settled here I'm out looking for the Ostregas that are missing... A father and two kids. And then Octavia, too. She's gone, and she left her son - but I've been helping since he was a few days old." 

He was going to blurt it all out - he could feel it, just beneath the surface and it was this terrible sort of secret and no matter what he did he was feeling it like his skin was on fire. "Everything went wrong, Pepper - and... And I've gotta fix it. I can't let them all down." he blurted out finally but his gaze was far beyond her. He refused to look at her, she'd never seen him as anything other than the carefree vagabond she'd met months ago and he couldn't fathom that changing now. She'd still see him as nothing - not the man trying to be everything for everyone.