Title: Chains of the Heart

Author: Erik-in-CT

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer or Marvel Comics, and not myself.

"How touching," a voice suddenly said, and they both jerked upright, heads turning towards the sound.

"You," Tony said in a tone that clearly showed his aggravation, glaring at the man leaning against the far wall of the workshop. "What are you doing here?"

Bella glanced between Tony and their mystery guest. It was obvious that Tony knew this man, though Bella was sure she hadn't met him herself. And how had he gotten into the workshop any way? She took a brief moment to try and get a feel for the man, but wasn't able to tell much. He was sharply dressed in a business suit, and definately had a no-nonsense air about him, despite the crooked smile on his face. If she didn't know better, she would say he reeked of government official, which could never be a good sign.

"I'm here to check up on you, obviously. You have been causing quite a stir, haven't you?"

"Perhaps," Tony responded. "Though I don't see how it's any of your business."

"We make it our business," the man said. "We need you, and in better shape than you are in now."

"I told your boss, I'm not interested."

"Tony?" Bella said, glancing up at him and conveying her frustration about the cryptic conversation going on over her head. "Care to enlighten me?"

Tony turned his gaze from the man across the room, focusing his attention on her. "Bella, this is Agent Coulson from the Strategic something or another..."

"Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division," the man supplied.

"Yeah, that. SHIELD. They've been trying to recruit me for some top secret superman boy band." Tony turned his eyes back to the agent. "Why don't you run back to Patch and tell him to buzz off. My answer hasn't changed."

Bella still wasn't sure she was quite following what was going on. But her attention was distracted by the sight of Edward appearing at the bottom of the stairs and making his way into the workshop, golden eyes on their guest. Tony and Coulson noticed him as well, and Bella noticed the sudden intensity of Edward's gaze on the man when their eyes met. She was about to ask Edward what was wrong when she was interrupted by the agent.

"Hmm...vampire. Natasha was right." That certainly got everyone's attention, and all eyes swiveled to the agent. But it seemed as if in his mind, it wasn't an issue at all, and he had already dismissed Edward's presence and his own statement as if it were nothing to be concerned with. Instead he was focused on Tony once more. "Director Fury asked me to bring you this," he said as he gestured to a large metal trunk against the wall that Bella hadn't noticed before. She could see something stenciled onto it, but she couldn't read it from where she was.

"What is it?" Tony asked, not even bothering himself with getting up to inspect it.

"Some old things that were left at the SHIELD headquarters after your father died. He left instructions that they were to be given to you." Coulson's eyes studied Tony's face for a moment, and Bella wondered what was going through his mind. She had never heard Tony talk about his father before, though she knew a little bit about him from working at Stark Industries over the last few months. "You didn't know?" Coulson asked. "Your father was one of the founding members of SHIELD."

"Well I didn't know a lot about him," Tony said after a moment, slipping away from Bella and standing, making his way over to where Coulson was standing. After a moment, he glanced down at the trunk, then kneeled down to flip open the latch and pop the lid off.

Bella stood and walked over as well, glancing down into the box. It seemed to be full of a jumble of papers, notebooks, blueprints, and old film reels.

"Well, I'll leave you to get to work," Coulson said as Tony rifled through the papers. "I'll be back to check on you."

"Wait," Bella said, turning towards the agent as he started to make his way towards the stairs leading to the main house. "What is all this? Work on what?"

The man glanced between Bella and Tony, still kneeling in front of the box. "Howard said the Arc was a first step to something bigger, something that would change the world. But he never completed his vision, and he left all his notes and research to Tony."

"Do you mean that there might be something in there that could help Tony? Something that could..."

"Perhaps." With that, Coulson turned and left the room, heading up the stairs.

Bella watched after him for a moment before glancing back at Tony. She decided to leave him for a few moments to go through his father's old papers, and instead turned towards Edward, who was still looking towards where Coulson had disappeared to. "Edward," she said as she stepped next to him, laying her hand on his arm. "How did he know about you?"

"I'm not sure, " Edward replied, his tone distracted. "But he knew exactly what I was the moment he saw me. And apparently his colleague Natasha saw me upstairs during the party and told him I was here." He turned towards Bella, glancing back to make sure Tony wasn't paying attention to them before leading Bella a little bit away to speak with her privately. "Is everything alright?"

Bella sighed softly. "Well I'm sure you heard everything from upstairs," she said, and Edward nodded.

"You certainly gave him the riot act." His lips quirked upwards in a crooked grin. "I didn't even need vampiric hearing to hear you down here." He chuckled at Bella's flush of embarrassment. "Not that it wasn't deserved."

"I just hope I actually got through to him this time," she said. "I know things were bad for awhile, and it got a little nuts, but I never would have imagined him doing something like what he tried tonight. He's too...proud to just give up like that." She glanced back over at Tony pouring over a notebook he had pulled from the trunk. "But maybe this will give him something to focus on, and maybe..." she couldn't even voice the hope that maybe there was a solution to Tony's condition buried somewhere in that mess of papers. She didn't want to get her hopes up. She smiled up at Edward, reaching up to give him a brief hug, which he returned gently. "Thank you Edward, for everything. Why don't you head home for now? I think I can handle things for awhile here, especially if he's engrossed in some new work."

"Alright," Edward said. "But promise you'll call me if you need anything."

"Of course. And tell everyone I say a hello, will you?"

"Of course."

Bellaa watched as Edward gave a last once over of Tony before he turned and left the room. She was so grateful that Edward was there for her when she needed him, and that he was willing to help her with Tony, despite everything that had happened. But then she wondered about Edward himself. From what she had seen for the brief time she had recently spent up at the Cullen's home, she had seen Edward and Pepper getting close, and she wondered if perhaps there was something developing there. A small smile curved on her lips as she entertained the idea. With that thought on her mind, she turned and made her way back to Tony, helping him sort through the contents of the trunk his father had left him.

Author's Note:

I promised a longer chapter! And Yay! I did it!

And we have the first official appeance of a SHIELD agent...if you don't count the sneaky Natasha a few chapters ago.

That's it for now folks! Please R&R