'Desert Winds' by deejay
(written as a "treat" for Yuletide 2008)
Colonel James Rhodes hated having to fight down the urge to fuss, but with the reconnaissance helicopter crew's curious eyes on them he figured the less insanely relieved he appeared to be, the better.
To keep from readjusting the blanket Tony Stark was wrapped up in, he all but sat on his hands. "What I don't get, Einstein, is that you ran away from the convoy. Hightailed it like some girl. You should have stayed, slid under your Humvee, waited for help to come ... it was right behind us, man."
"Yeah, I had time to stand around and wonder about how safe that would have been ... after I saw them blow the shit out of you and the top of your own Humvee," Tony coughed wryly. He closed his eyes and appeared to be drifting off to either unconsciousness or sleep. "I ... only took off when I thought they had killed your ass, platypus...."
Rhodes dared a quick sideways glance at him, suddenly tongue-tied.
As the helicopter pilot announced an ETA of five minutes until touchdown at the air base, Stark stirred. Rhodes watched carefully as Tony splayed a bruised and bloodied hand across his chest before turning to him. Tony's wide grin split a face that had obviously just seen and passed through the Gates of Hell. "Don't worry about it anymore, Rhodey," he cackled in a whisper. "I happen to know there's more than one level ... of being dead."