Tony bothered Espeon a little bit, which he did every time. It was practically ritual for the two by now. Ninetails snorted at him and stretched out, relaxed.

Espeon just gave Tony a flat look and whapped him with his forked tail, and then went to curl up near Ninetails.

Pepper stayed there for a while, just being a supportive presence for Tony. She knew he kept a guest room for her, so she could theoretically spend the night and still be good to run his company again in the morning. So she sat there, knowing he would talk more when he was ready.

Tony was stubbornly quiet for a little while. He knew Pepper could amuse herself in there.

But he did finally break after a while.

"Would you really blame me for the way I live?" he asked abruptly, looking at her. "Would you hold it against me?"

"That's a complicated question, Tony," Pepper replied carefully. "But, given what I know about you and how you grew up... No, I wouldn't. I wish you'd take care of yourself a bit better, but I know why it slips your mind."

Tony nodded. He knew Peps would understand. Even if they could never date, she understood him, better than anyone. Except maybe the Avengers but that was still a work in progress.

"What prompted that question?" Pepper asked gently.

"That's what she was doing," Tony said. "She was attacking my lifestyle. Which is a little ironic coming from her since she works for SHIELD and got hurt worse than anyone last time someone invaded New York."

"Was she attacking your lifestyle, or trying to look after you?" Pepper asked. "You have to admit, Tony, concepts like 'food' and 'sleep' kind of get shoved aside when you're down here."

"That's part of Jarvis's job," Tony said. "He reminds me. As does the rest of the team. Besides, it sure sounded a hell of a lot like an attack."

Pepper sighed.

"Tony, I don't think she honestly meant it as an attack," she said. "You were angry and upset, I'm betting she was angry and upset, and you know sometimes things happen when you're angry that you regret later."

Tony just snorted, because, hello, king of regrets, practically. And stupid choices. But he did get back to work at a slightly calmer rate.

"How long as it been since the Fight?" Pepper asked after another stretch of tinkering-filled silence.

"Jarvis?"

"Three hours, forty-two minutes," Jarvis replied promptly. Because they all knew Tony had troubles with time.

"Four hours," Pepper summarized. "And in those four hours, have you checked on her at all?"

"No." Tony gave Pepper an incredulous look. Four hours was definitely too soon after a Fight. A normal fight, yeah, sure, but a Fight? "I know she's still in the building."

Pepper sighed.

"Jarvis?" she asked. "An update, please?"

"She is currently in the gym with Julie," Jarvis replied dutifully. "Where she has been since she left the workshop."

"So she's been in the gym for the last four hours," Pepper clarified.

"That is correct," Jarvis responded.

"Has she been using the gym for its intended purpose for that time?" Pepper pressed. There was a pause.

"Briefly, but for the majority of the time, no," Jarvis said. Pepper just looked at Tony.

Tony looked at her and shrugged. "Yeah, and?" he said, stubborn. "Last time Rhodey and I had a Fight he went drinking." If Pepper was going to try to guilt him into something, she was wasting her time.

Pepper just left it at that. She knew Tony cared about Maeve differently than he cared about Rhodey, and he would guilt himself into checking on her soon enough.

Tony held out until the next day, working on his cars and his suits and generally keeping himself busy. Because he could and would out-stubborn Pepper when he had to.

Pepper hung around the tower, taking her conference calls and giving orders from her cell phone. She knew very well how to be just as stubborn as Tony. She did, however, keep tabs on Maeve through Jarvis.

Tony stayed in his lab for most of the next day too. But he did head up to the common area for dinner.

By that point, Pepper was fed up with Tony's sulking.

"Go check on her," she told him once he'd picked at his dinner.

Tony didn't get the chance to go check on her, because other things started happening. Other things like the fall of SHIELD, a shit ton of information going public, and the public flipping the fuck out. Tony had to do some damage control very quickly, and was too busy to think about Maeve.

Or at least, he told himself he was too busy to think about her.

Julie got pulled into things pretty much immediately, and she did a bit of immediate damage control, like changing all her passwords and securing all her accounts. But she wasn't going back to HQ, or any SHIELD building, not yet.