And an update for New Years! yay!
Give me love like her. Cause lately I've been waking up alone . . .
All I want is the taste that your lips allow. My my, my my, give me love
Every day was the same, he would wake up from a very minimal amount of sleep and instantly his heart would ache. She wasn't there. He was alone and it was all his fault. He wasn't fast enough. He would lay there in bed for a moment, pretending she was still there and wondering what she would think. What would she say? What would she want him to do? His Pepper. She'd known him better than anyone, including himself.
The first few days had been the worst. The days when he really expected her to be there and then would suddenly remember she wasn't. She was gone forever and a piece of him with her. Eventually that pain became too much for him to bear and Tony began to bury himself in work. All the while Jenna was taking care of him. Picking up the destruction his agony left behind.
One night, when he was dealing with another wave of depression, he had watched her work. She had seemed so at peace, and yet there was pain. He could see it. And when he'd finally asked her why she was doing this, she had sighed and tucked a hair behind her ear.
"Because saving people is what I do, Mr. Stark." She had responded.
He'd immediately shut down after that. He didn't need saving. He could do this. He could keep fighting. And then it kind of hit him.
What for?
What was he fighting for? Himself? No. He hated himself too much right now for that to be the answer. For his company? Not that either, it had been Pepper's company more than it had been his. As much as he wanted to claim it, she had done so much. So what?
He drank until he passed out several nights over this thought. What? Who? Why? Why? Why? Why did Pepper die? Why am I holding on? What am I going to do?
It took him until that night on the dance floor to figure it out. It was Jenna. The woman who'd stepped into his life and despite the fact that she didn't really care a whole ton about him, had taken care of him. He needed something to get him through all of this and it was her. He needed her… He wanted her… He loved her. Was it real love? At this point he didn't know or care. He needed love. He needed her love. He wanted her love. So he went to her.
Jenna was sitting on the couch, flipping through a magazine when Tony found her. It had been a week since the party and every day, at least once, he'd stolen a little kiss. A small thing to keep him fighting for her, for himself. Something to go on for. But today was different. He sat down beside her and leaned over to kiss her softly. Jenna smiled a little and put away her magazine.
"Hey." She murmured, looking at him with her big brown eyes.
"Hey." He returned, taking a moment to look into her eyes and think this over before kissing her again and scooting closer to her. He placed a hand on her neck and continued kissing her, his need for her growing. Jenna broke the kiss after a moment and looked at him, quite concerned.
"Tony.." She whispered, looking at him "What's wrong?"
Tony simply responded by going in for another kiss, but Jenna placed a hand on his lips.
"Something is wrong." She said again "Please tell me."
Tony took a moment to just stare at her before pulling her into a hug. He buried his face in her hair and took a few deep breaths as his eyes filled with tears. In that moment he just cried. Not loud sobbing or shaking, just crying. Crying because of Pepper and the other things he'd lost.
"I failed…" He whispered
Jenna held him and rubbed his back "When?" She pressed.
He took a moment to think, before letting that wall drop. "Pepper… New York… Yinsen..." Every breath was shakier than the last.
Tony knew she didn't know who Yinsen was but he didn't care. It was true. He'd failed.
"Tony you're not a failure… what happened to Pepper. That happens all the time." She said quietly "You were just another victim. If anyone here failed it was me. "
Tony pulled back and looked at her "What do you mean?"
Jenna sighed and gently took his hand "I'm a hunter."
"A hunter?" He frowned, a million thoughts crossing his mind. What on earth did she mean "Like deer and ducks and pigeons? Do people hunt pigeons?"
"No and Yes." Jenna looked away from him "I hunt monsters."
Tony's expression hardened "Miss Winters I wasn't joking."
"Neither am I." She looked back up at him, her expression a bit pained "When I was fifteen my foster brother was killed by the same type of thing that killed Pepper. And for some bizarre reason I will never understand, they didn't kill me. Though they did leave me with this nasty scar." She lifted her shirt a little to reveal three scars running from her naval towards her hip.
Tony reached out and slowly ran his fingers over the scars. They had to be caused by something large. Some type of animal or… well… monster.
"It was werewolves… Tony. A werewolf killed my foster brother and a werewolf killed Pepper."
"So you're telling me monsters are real and that you kill them?" Tony took a breath before looking her in the eyes.
Jenna nodded, and for some reason Tony believed her. Probably because of all the other weird things he'd seen. If all those other things did why couldn't monsters? He took another deep breath and began nodding in return.
"Alright… Alright so monsters are real. And you fight them?" He tilted his head "That's actually kind of bad ass. Can you kill any type of monster?"
Jenna shrugged "Most of them."
"Werewolf?"
"Silver bullets."
"Vampire?"
"Decapitation."
"Demons?"
"Demon knife or exorcism."
"Ghosts?"
"Salt and burn the bones."
"Damn…." He took a moment to think "Nope, that's all the monsters I know."
Jenna chuckled "Well I wish that was all we have to deal with. There are plenty of other things, but I won't go into that now."
"I must say I am kind of impressed." Tony smirked "And I don't say that often."
"I didn't figure you did." Jenna shook her head.
Tony watched her a moment before speaking again. "Thank you for taking care of the thing that killed Pepper."
She shrugged "It's my job."
He leaned over and kissed her again. This time it was more than just a craving for her closeness driving him. He wanted her to know that he really did appreciate everything she'd done. He was truly grateful. And perhaps he really did feel something more.
He continued kissing her, each kiss growing in passion as they inched closer to each other. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest as he moved to kiss her neck. He felt her fingers make their way through his hair and he closed his eyes, pausing a moment before pressing a soft kiss into the skin in front of her ear and whispering "Thank you..."
"You're welcome." She breathed back.
They both sat there, holding each other for a few minutes. The world silent aside from the sound of them catching their breath. Finally Tony broke the silence as he ran his hands down her sides "Love me…" he murmured as he pressed another soft kiss to her lips. Jenna simply nodded and wrapped her arms around him as the kiss once again grew in passion. They both needed something. And in this moment, the answer seemed to be only one thing. Love.
