EMERALD

Avoiding Tony Stark was not easy.

His name was constantly in the news, his face was on every screen throughout California, and it was unrealistic to think anyone had not heard of him.

Avoiding Tony Stark when I lived in the same house as him was damn near impossible.

I had been trying my best not to actually see him since the holiday party fiasco. When I had to talk to him, I deferred to email and text with the occasional phone call. I wasn't sure how much he remembered about that night, but for me, I needed time.

Needless to say, I was shocked when JARVIS called me downstairs into Tony's workshop. I was reluctant to even head down there, but a part of me missed him. I missed our daily banter and the way he always found a way for a smile to appear on my face. I missed my friend more than anything.

I punched in the code to the workshop and entered with no issues. It only took a few minutes for me to spot Tony as I rounded the corner. The mystery man of the hour was standing on his podium, the Iron Man suit just finishing its assemble around him.

Tony turned around as I approached, the helmet clutched in his hands.

"You, uh, wanted to see me?" I asked, still not making eye contact with the billionaire. I played it cool, not entirely sure where this was going.

He smiled sincerely, and for the first time, I wondered if he really had no idea what happened that night. "Yeah," he said with a straight face. "I wanted a goodbye kiss, and you know how Pepper gets."

Never mind.

I didn't move, my arms crossed over my chest, as I waited for the secondary reaction from him.

He burst into a wide grin, tilting his head to one side. "Kidding, Em," he quickly added, although I could tell his eyes were flickering over my body language as if to judge my reaction. "I trust you know how to fly a plane?"

I couldn't control the surprise on my face this time.

"No," I said slowly. "What kind of question is that?"

He nodded, comprehending what I was saying without looking at my expression. "I guess we'll just the autopilot feature then," he replied to himself before he turned back to me. "You'll get used to it."

I finally started to catch on.

"Wait."

There could have been a million reasons why Tony needed to see his assistant on a Thursday afternoon. This, however, had not been one of the million reasons that I considered.

"Are you asking me to come with you?" I finally asked. "On a mission?"

"Well, when you put it like that, indirectly."

I shook my head, taking a step back. Uncrossing my hands from my chest, I held them in the air in a sign of surrender. "Just because I've been training doesn't mean I'm ready for something like this," I tried to reason. "I can't just leave my life behind and trust that you're going to have my back."

Hurt rang across his face for a moment, but I chose to ignore it. I had to at least say my piece before I sent myself off to die.

"You don't have to trust me, that's fine," Tony said. "But I would trust you with my life. That's not something that comes easy, Em. The only other person I've ever said that to is Rhodey." He paused. "Besides, JARVIS seems to think you're ready."

I made a face, electing to overlook his sentiment. "So, I'm putting my life in my hands thanks to a computer. I feel really safe now." The sarcasm just rolled off my tongue.

Tony smirked. "Technically, he's artificial intelligence but-"

"Shut up," I snapped, throwing my notebook in his face. I wasn't mad, in spite of my actions. In fact, this was the best I had felt in a long time. I finally felt… normal.

Tony's gaze looked up and down my blazer and pin skirt, raising an eyebrow. "You may need to change," he commented, prompting an eye roll from me.

"Thank you, Sherlock."

I tossed the comment over my shoulder as I headed back to my own room to dig out that tactical gear Fury had provided me with. As hard as I tried to fight off a grin, it was already plastered on my face. I had Tony back, I had my somewhat stable life back, and now I had a mission.

Besides our missions, I rarely had time to speak to Tony or Pepper since they were busying themselves in the development of Stark Tower. I wasn't complaining in the slightest. This was the moment I had been waiting for.

Tony and I got back into our routine as if the night of the holiday party hadn't even existed. As much as a piece of my heart hurt to think about it, I was glad that we were okay. He was my person.

I had more near-death experiences than I had in my entire life working with Tony, but the adrenaline kept me going. I finally felt like I was worth something in this new world.

It was another few months before I made an executive decision to end things with Fury. I had given him way more information than he ever asked for, even if I had fudged a few of the documents. I was becoming my own person in this world, and I wasn't going to let Fury ruin that for me.

I was in the middle of typing the email when I was cornered by Tony and Pepper simultaneously. Raising an eyebrow, I pushed my computer off to the side of the couch apprehensively as I judged their grim expressions.

"Who died?" I immediately asked.

Pepper rolled her eyes unsurprisingly. "No one," she said with an exasperated sigh. "I trust Tony's filled you in about Stark Tower."

My heart leapt into my throat as I realized this was the moment I had been counting on. "Yes," I answered slowly, trying not to sound as excited as I felt.

"We're putting the finishing touches on it," she continued as if I hadn't spoken. "We want to relocate there so we can put all of our effort into it."

For a second, I was worried that Pepper was going to kick me out of their lives, but I should have known better.

"Who's we?" I finally asked.

"Do you really think I would leave my partner behind?" Tony questioned.

A blush crept up on my cheeks despite my best intentions to hide it. I had no idea what I was supposed to say to that, let alone what I was supposed to do with this information. I could tell from Pepper's expression that this idea was not boding well with her, but it didn't matter to me.

I was going home.

"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't forget about me," I joked.

It didn't take nearly as long as I thought for the three of us to pack up our stuff and head off to New York City. It was only when we landed on the runway that I could finally breathe again. Even though it wasn't the New York that I remembered, it still smelled like home.

Happy picked us up directly from Tony's private jet, and as I clambered into the car, I realized how much my life had changed. This was a lifestyle that was barely recognizable to the old me, but it was one that I had grown comfortable in. For the first time, I wasn't sure if I would ever want to go back to the way things were.

"Welcome home," Happy announced from the driver's seat as we pulled away from the airport. I had smile. This was home.

I turned my head to the right, laying eyes on the familiar skyline. The streets passed by around me in a blur until I felt a hand brush my arm. Spinning back around, I faced Tony who was examining my facial expression intently.

"You missed it here, didn't you?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.

"I guess I did."

Goosebumps rose up on my arm, and I had a sneaky feeling that it wasn't just because it was surreal being back. Shoving the buried feelings further down, I tried to ignore what was happening inside of the car and focusing on the sights around me.

It didn't last long.

Tony tossed something into my lap, my reflexes causing me to jump again. I caught it at the last minute and glanced over at him curiously.

"I thought you might like it back," he said, gesturing to my own phone that was back in my hands. "I took it from you when you were sleeping on the plane and made a few modifications. I uploaded a full map of Stark Tower, or at least what's completed so far. Just so you don't get lost, of course."

"Of course," I commented back, a smirk appearing across my face.

I had pretended my entire life that the Metlife Tower behind Grand Central Station was actually Stark Tower, but seeing it in person still took my breath away. I froze in the middle of the street, causing cars to honk around me, but I didn't care. This was exactly where I needed to be.

I found myself sitting on the couch next to Tony that night, flicking through channels on the television screen. He was tinkering with some tiny machine in his hands. Raising an eyebrow, I thought about questioning why he wasn't down in his workshop, but I enjoyed the company.

"Are you an HGTV or Food Network kind of guy?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Tony glanced up, still holding a screwdriver in his hands. "Why are those my only two options?" he quipped right back.

Rolling my eyes, I gestured towards him with the remote in my hand. "Are you the one holding the remote?" I asked. "I don't think so." I paused for a minute. "HGTV or Food Network?"

"HGTV."

"A surprising answer."

Tony threw me a look. "Don't tell the press," he commented, a smirk crossing his lips.

It was halfway through the episode that he spoke again, so soft that I could barely hear him.

"I'm sorry."

I thought I had misheard him, for my head snapped to the side hard enough to give me whip lash. "What did you say?" I asked, ignoring the warm feeling spreading through my neck.

He put down the machine part in his hands, giving me his full attention. "I said that I'm sorry," he repeated, sighing as he said it.

I lowered the remote on the couch arm, folding my legs underneath myself in order to turn closer to him. "For what?" I queried. I was still in shock that Tony was even capable of saying those words that my brain didn't process what he was referring to.

"We never talked about it."

Oh.

I dropped my gaze to my socks tucked under my knees, the HGTV episode forgotten. "You don't have to apologize, Tony," I tried to reason, but he cut me off before I could babble even further.

"I do," he said. "Because you're the closest thing I have to stability." My eyes flickered over to him in astonishment, but I let him continue. "I have Rhodey, I have Pepper, but you… you're something else entirely. You surprised me." There was another long pause as if he was trying to choose his words carefully. "I see myself in you, and the last thing I want is to ruin you like I ruined myself."

That took my guard right down.

"Tony," I said softly. "You're the only friend I have here." I was going to say more than that, but I had no idea how to even begin to describe what I was feeling.

"I know that, which is why I'm sorry. So much bad has happened in my life that I… I tend to drink to forget all of that."

I wasn't going to let him finish this time.

I shook my head. "I know," I repeated. "We're a lot alike, as much as I hate to admit it. We're both ridiculously stubborn, we're both the first to jump into action, we're both hot-headed with our emotions, but we're both survivors. I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through and comparing my troubles to yours seems unfair. I kept my distance because you're all I have right now, until I figure this whole new life of mine out. I don't want to lose my best friend."

Tony's surprised expression matched my own from earlier. I turned and gave him a soft smile. There was nothing more to say. That was enough.

Being here in New York and clearing the air with Tony felt like a new beginning to me. Even if I had no one else here in this strange new world, I had him.

As my thoughts drifted back to the episode now finishing on the screen, a jolt of what felt like electricity ran through my blood. I was in New York now. How the hell could I have forgotten so quickly.

"I have to go," I announced abruptly, getting to my feet and grabbing my phone from the side table.

Tony threw me a look of concern, raising an eyebrow. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Was it something I said?"

"No, no," I reassured. "I just realized I have to be somewhere. I'll be back."

As I darted into the elevator, I opened up the three-dimensional holographic model of Stark Tower that Tony had uploaded in my phone. I spun it around a few times before I found what I was looking for.

I exited on the correct floor, sauntering through the rooms until I stood in front of the largest, most complex computer I had ever seen in my life. I pressed a button on the keyboard, and the computer fired to life, whirring around the room.

"Can I help you with something, Miss Maitland?" came the electronic voice of JARVIS through the speakers in the room. I winced at the harsh sound.

"I'm good, JARVIS. Just keep it down, and don't alert Tony, alright?"

"Another secret project I see?"

I rolled my eyes. "Mute."

JARVIS fell silent, and I turned back to the burning task at hand. Somehow, I navigated my way through the system until I found a search engine on the screen. Tapping it once with my finger, it brought up a whole database that I had never seen before. Slowly, I typed in the name that had washed over me earlier.

Nothing.

I sighed, knowing it wasn't going to be that easy. I tried a different combination. Still nothing. Three more trials brought up no results either. Someone was trying very hard to keep this off of the grid.

It hit me a few seconds later.

I typed in a name that was my last hope. A single ping showed up on the screen after a few minutes of searching, and a grin appeared on my face. An address was all I needed.

Sneaking into the apartment building was easy enough, especially with all of the missions I had been going on lately. The hardest part was bringing myself to knock on the wooden door that I had been standing in front of for about ten minutes now.

Pushing all doubts out of my head, I raised my knuckles and wrapped twice. My heart hammered in my chest as I waited, ignoring the thoughts in my head telling me to run.

Luckily, a tall blond man answered the door before I could even think about moving. "Hello?" he asked sleepily.

My breath caught in my throat as I realized I was staring at the actual Steve Rogers. Captain America himself was standing in front of me. I had to take a couple of breaths to compose myself before I spoke again.

"Uh, hi," I said softly. "Is Pandora Whitman here?"

Steve opened his mouth to make an excuse, but the door opened wider nonetheless. I heard a soft, "Steve, it's fine," before I took another step backwards, my black hood still firmly attached to my head.

I locked eyes with one of my best friends for the first time in months.

"Can I help you?" questioned Pandora, eyeing my suspicious black outfit.

I took a deep breath and lowered my hood, forcing a smile on my face.

"Surprise."