Notes

This fic is completely written and will be updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a routine mission. Hell, it was a routine mission, just a little reconnaissance around a suspected hideout of a new terrorist group intent on bringing the world back to a hunter gatherer state.

The base was located in the Adirondacks, deep in the woods and mostly buried beneath the loam. Natasha was scouting out access points and possible security weaknesses from the ground while Tony looked for electrical systems from above.

After 20 minutes of aerial recon, Tony Stark was ready to call it a day. He had all of the footage and scans they'd need of the area and unless they were going to go in, there was no point in hanging around.

He cleared his throat, "Let's wrap this up, Widow. I've got places to be, people to see - anything else you need?" He swooped down to hover over her position. They hadn't seen a soul and the infrared said nobody was nearby to notice the flashy armor.

She scowled up at him. The rest of the team was back at the Tower, waiting for them to deliver the intel. Tony already had JARVIS send his data to Bruce's computer in his lab, but Natasha had to wait until they were back to present her findings.

Tony idly wondered if she would ever consider a cybernetic implant to link her with JARVIS, but then decided he didn't want her having that kind of access to his systems.

"I think this is as much as we can get at this point. Unless you want to go inside?"

"Hell no. Who knows what kind of booby traps these people have in there. Better to let Cap go first." She smiled and raised an arm for Tony to grab so he could pull her up into the air with him. Because she would never consent to being carried bridal style, Natasha wrapped her arms around his neck and laid across his back as he started the flight back to Stark Tower.

Maybe it was the pollen in the air, or something about all the pine trees, but five minutes into the flight, Tony felt his throat get even grittier than it was before. He muted the comlink and tried to cough it out, but all that succeeded in doing was causing his throat to swell.

Air whistled in and out of his lungs and it felt like even though they were expanding, no air was really circulating. "JARVIS," he rasped. "Up the O2 sat."

A readout appeared to his left with his current oxygen intake and oxygen levels in the suit. Luckily, the flight to the Tower was only fifteen minutes long and they were already over the skyline.

Tony kept the com muted from his end as he landed on the helipad on the main level of Stark Towers. Natasha nimbly jumped off and then walked a few feet away so he could land and begin the dismantling process, but he rose back up into the air and dove over the edge for the workshop levels.

The HUD registered her yelling after him.

Tony landed hard in his main workshop and let the robots do their thing. The suit came off, but the reactor felt like a lead weight in his chest. When he was free, he staggered over to a workbench, sat down, and focused on his breathing.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Natasha found him like that a minute or two later. She stormed into his workshop and zeroed in on him immediately. "Stark, you know we have to report our findings. Tell JARVIS your brilliant idea and he'll save it for - Are you alright?"

He had one arm braced against the table and the other wrapped around his stomach. He was hunched down so that his head almost touched the chrome, but he raised his head reluctantly to look up at her.

"Lungs," he gasped. "It'll pass." He coughed again and the inhale was all wheeze. He was convinced that none of it made it into his lungs this time.

"Jesus, Stark, you idiot." Natasha came around to his side and sat on the table by his head. "JARVIS, there has to be an inhaler somewhere in the medical kits in this tower. Can you have one delivered to the workshop without using one of the team?"

Tony blessed her ability to read people.

"Certainly, Ms. Romanov."

She turned back to him. "Tony, you're having an asthma attack. You need to sit up and look at me." His vision was beginning to sparkle and he didn't think he could move. Surely he was okay like this?

She grabbed his arm and pulled him upright. Then she braced a hand on each shoulder and scooted over on the table until she was right in front of him, legs on either side. Natasha ducked her head to make eye contact. "You need to slow your breathing down or you will pass out. Come on, in through your nose, out through your mouth."

He tried to do what she said, but he could feel his heart beating against the arc reactor and he couldn't stop running the probabilities of a malfunction in his head. He closed his eyes to concentrate.

She stopped holding him upright and started to run her hands up and down his upper arms. "Come on, Tony. One more minute and JARVIS will have the inhaler to us. Just keep breathing. You're getting air, even if it doesn't feel like it."

DUM-E rolled up to them and thunked the little metal device on the table next to them. Natasha grabbed it and held it up to his mouth. He almost gagged as the first spray hit the back of his throat, but he forced himself to inhale it.

Then another.

Then he was coughing, but his throat was clearing and finally, finally, he was able to breathe. Deep breath in, deep breath out. The relief hit him hard and he leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder. His chest ached and he swore he could feel every inch of the arc reactor as it pressed against his lungs.

He crossed his arms tight so that he wouldn't try to rip it out.

Natasha brought a hand up to cup the back of his head, ruffling his hair. The other lightly traced soothing patterns on his back. She tilted her head, her cheek resting against his ear, and he was surrounded by the lingering scents of hot metal and pine sap from the mission and from his suit.

Tony relaxed a notch and realized he was starting to shake. Reaction to stress, pure and simple, but he wouldn't let it overcome him. He took a few more deep breaths and tried to ignore the pull of the metal embedded in his chest. Experience said it would take a few hours to quit being hyper aware of it again.

Natasha let him go when he sat up and regarded him steadily. He closed his eyes and rolled his neck, forcing the tension out of his muscles.

Her voice surprised him when she spoke for how rough it was. "This isn't the first time this has happened, is it?"

"No."

"Did Pepper help?"

He looked away and his mouth twisted. "Sometimes. She's wonderfully cool in the board room and in tense situations, but she doesn't handle medical situations very well." He thought for a second, then sighed. "I hate being made to feel guilty for being injured. Always have."

When she didn't speak, he glanced back up and saw from her expression that she got the rest of it. Of course, she'd read his file long before he'd read hers.

Natasha seemed to come to a decision and started to get up. "If it happens again, come find me. Come find any of us. Nobody will yell at you for something like this."

He nodded reluctantly and she left him there to recover his composure.