I think I've left you guys waiting long enough! :) Sorry 'bout that!
Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine! NOR WILL IT EVER BE!
Tony woke up after another five days. Not for long though. Pepper had been more of talking to herself than anything as she waited for Rhodey to return with lunch. She hadn't even noticed that he was shifting in his bed as his eyes fluttered open. She just held his hand as she subconsciously rubbed circles into the back of his hand.
The instant Pepper realized he was awake, she had looked him in the eye with excitement. Tony, not really knowing where he was, or who he was with, sort of freaked out.
Needless to say, Pepper was ushered out of the room as the doctor's once again sedated him before he could hurt himself any more than he already had.
…
Three more days of close observation, limited visiting hours, and horrible hospital food, Tony woke up once again. Luckily, it was the middle of the night, and a nurse was there to calm him down and explain some things before he got too many of the IV's out of himself.
He was soon taken off of the breathing tubes, so he could talk again. He couldn't say much, since they drugged him up pretty good with pain killers. After all, he did demand for them. He fell asleep soon enough though.
Pepper must have been the happiest one to see that he was awake, and not panicking. At least as far as Tony could see, Rhodey and the rest of them seemed to just be immensely relived.
Pepper tried squeezing him to death, but a nurse pulled her away quickly not wanting to harm Tony any further, saying his lung were just starting to work properly again, and he did just undergo a bunch of operations. Pepper gladly backed away.
She held his hand as the others went for lunch, promising to get Tony some food, since the only thing he's eaten since he first arrived was weird stuff through a tube.
"I was worried you know." Pepper said softly. "I almost failed Algebra because I lost my best study partner."
Tony actually looked a bit worried himself. "Pep, you know Rhodey's close to acing Algebra as well."
Pepper smiled lightly at him. Trying to ignore how scratchy his voice sounded. After all, he hadn't spoken a work for weeks. "Rhodey had his own demons to fight."
Tony looked guilty. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Pepper whispered, Pepper felt close to tears. That's just how relieved she was. Though, she wasn't just relieved, she was scared. Scared that something else was going to happen. Something was bound to happen. Something always happened. They thought they fixed the problem there last trip to the hospital. Too bad that wasn't the case.
She felt scared that the next time, they weren't going to be so lucky. One of these days, Tony might get sick beyond measure. He might not recover….he could…he could die!? He might die one of these days, couldn't he? And there was going to be nothing that she could do about it! What if he –
"Pep!"
Pepper blinked when she heard his voice. She'd been so worked up, she must not have noticed that Tony's been trying to call her for almost 3 minutes. At least according to him.
"Yeah?"
Tony squeezed her hand, though a bit weakly. "I'll be fine, I promise."
She couldn't help but smile. He could always tell what she was thinking. "I know, Tony. Everything will be fine, I know it."
Tony smiled at her before yawning. "I'm beat, I think I'm going to take a nap."
Pepper raised an eyebrow. It'd been only a little over an hour since he woke up from his last nap. She didn't question it though. Of course he was going to be tired.
Instead, she just crawled in next to him.
…
It took Tony about two days to return back to normal. Well, close to normal. He no longer wanted to go along with the whole hospital thing. Typical Tony. He already tried coming up with a plan of escape, but Pepper managed to talk him out of it. That didn't mean he liked it though. He just went along with everything for Pepper's sake.
After all, she was his girlfriend.
Though, he was still pretty out of it. He still took way too much naps, and he was still in too much pain to sit comfortable without some kind of pain med. So he often had groggy conversations with Rhodey and Pepper.
Soon enough though, the day had arrived where Tony was allowed to leave the hospital. After days and days of tests, hospital food, and constant watch over him, he was finally allowed to go home. Of course, he was strictly limited on what he was able to do. The doctors told him to be extremely careful for the next couple weeks to make a full recovery.
Which, to the doctors, it seemed like an easy task. But to the genius's best friend and his girlfriend, it was nearly impossible. They knew Tony was going to get back in the game as soon as he got the chance. Though, they were determined to keep him away from the armor, and out of trouble.
After all, he did have tons of homework to catch up on.
…
Turns out, they had no problem keeping Tony out of the game. It came as a shocker when the genius himself said that he didn't plan on confronting any villains at the time being. He even went as far to set Rhodey in command of the use of Iron Man.
After some intense training on how to use the Iron Man armor correctly. Though, Rhodey didn't want to admit to it, but he'd already pretty much mastered the use of the armor, saying the weeks that Tony was in the hospital, he already did have to take over.
Tony seemed quite focused on his latest invention. Jarvis. He'd been running tests, and even more tests since he first got to the lab. He seemed determined to perfect Jarvis in any way he could. His friends had to admit, the finished product, was impressive. Almost as impressive as the Iron Man armor itself.
Especially when the Ai itself got uploaded to the armor, just as Tony had planned.
Tony seemed quite healthy compared to the last days he spent in the hospital. They must have fixed him up pretty good for him to be so active so soon. Though, luckily he hasn't gone and done anything stupid yet, so they should be fine.
…
Test results for everything turned up negative. All the tests that the doctors ran, were a negative. Which, was a good sign, sure, but that just made them worry even more. If he was healthy and he wasn't sick in any sort of way, then why did he have to spend weeks in the hospital?
Even the doctors were baffled by the results. They highly expected it to be something deadly or serious, but to turn up empty? That couldn't be right.
They wanted to run some more tests on him, to double check or find something that they must have missed, but Tony denied their request. He was too stubborn to go back to that hospital. No way was he going back, for he knew the doctors wouldn't find anything.
He'd just have to trust that everything was fine, and nothing was wrong.
…
Tony was alone, and talking some plans through Jarvis for his next project. It was one of those Monday's where school was off, and he decided to do something useful. Rhodey was off handling some Jewelry Thieves, while Pepper was at her aunt's house.
So, Tony was alone. He was actually finishing up his latest project. He was going to do what the doctor's couldn't. He was going to find out what was wrong with him. Sure, he liked to believe that nothing was wrong, and that the doctor's really did fix him, but that didn't mean he actually did believe that. He wanted to trust that he will be just find, but he couldn't.
He didn't feel right.
"Jarvis, run some final tests, I want to see results." Tony said.
"Yes, sir."
Worth the wait? I sure hope so, cause I worked pretty hard with this! :D
Fun Fact: I love shopping for school stuff, but I don't like school all to much.
Good news you guys! (Well for me) I finally get to see my dad! (I think) I haven't seen him since a funeral last christmas, and that last time I went to his house was way over a year ago! :( BUT, I'm almost positive he's going to be taking me to the State Fair, and we're going to watch tons of movies, and most of all, I get to see him for THREE WHOLE DAYS! :'D I'm the happiest girl EVER right now!
On a different note, I think I'll be attacking an old story of mine, that I think a lot of you guys are going to like! :) How many of you guys want to guess which one? No promises though, because I'm babysitting a lot, and I'm going to my first year of high school next week, so I might be a bit busy, but i'm not entirely sure! :)
Hugs and Love, SilverPedals!
P.S. Any of you have an good Male Bird Names I can use? (No commons ones, if you have one or so)
