"I wasn't talking about me, you idiot," Pepper cried, wiping at her cheeks with her free hand. The action was more to comfort her than anything else: Fresh tears kept replacing the ones she swept away.

"We'll share it," she insisted, and her chin lifted slighty, some steel coming back into her spine despite the damp state of her face. "Until you can make another new one, we'll switch out." The look on her face suggested she was prepared, even in her current state, to battle him on this if need be.