"Fifteen minutes, Stark!"
"The time is now 2:40am with an outside temperature of eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit," JARVIS said quietly.
Pepper woke up but didn't move or open her eyes until she felt the mattress beside her dipped. Yawning, she turned halfway over, to watch her husband pulling a t-shirt down over his head. She yawned again, then said, "So, you're really going to do this, hmm?"
"Yep," Tony said, sitting down on the bed's edge to slip on a pair of socks, "I am."
She smiled at him, thinking about the discussion that had happened just a couple of days ago.
"Hey, buddy," Tony began one evening just as they were finishing up dinner, "Do you remember when we went to the really neat place last week where we saw all the movies about the stars and the planets?"
The four and a half year old nodded, "Yeah, yeah!"
"Don't talk with your mouthful, sweetie," Pepper said in a mild scolding tone, looking across at him from where she was feeding Eva her dinner.
"Pep, really! I asked him a question."
She looked at him, "Well, please don't ask him questions when his mouth is full!"
Mommy was scolding Daddy!
Ethan giggled at this.
Tony smiled, shaking his head, and looked at his son, "Oh, you thought that was funny huh?"
Ethan opened his mouth to respond.
"Ahhh, finish chewing that bite, and swallow it before you answer your Daddy, Ethan. And please chew with your mouth closed!" She shakes her head, trying to hide a smile as she spoons in another bit of rice cereal into her daughter's open mouth.
Thankfully, Tony had waited until Ethan had finally finished his food to tell their son about how there would be some very pretty star showers tonight. He had asked the little boy if he had wanted to come outside with Daddy, and watch them together. Pepper wasn't entirely sure that their young son had understood everything his Daddy was asking him but Ethan had given an excited, "Yeah, yeah!" in response, which resulted in tonight's father/son outing on their terrace to watch the Perseid meteors.
"You know, he's just gonna fall asleep again, right?" Pepper said, revoicing a point she had previously made.
Tony grabbed a small box he had left on the nightstand, and nodded at her, "Yeah, probably but we can still go outside, and try this. I'm pretty sure that if he really liked going to the planetarium and seeing their star 'movies'. He's gonna love this because we'll be looking at the real ones live tonight instead of just some old home movies that NASA's made."
Pepper couldn't stop yawning She knew that she wasn't going to change his mind said, "Okay, then. Have fun but do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Take the light blanket I left folded on the couch tonight with you when you go outside, please?"
"But it's eighty-four outside!"
"Yeah, that might be the temperature reading for everyone at street level but we're high up and you know that sometimes it can feel a little chilly outside Even in the summer that's true. I don't want Ethan to get sick from being a little cold tonight."
"Okay, I'll take the blanket with us."
"Promise?"
"Uh huh."
"Tony."
"Okay, I *promise* I'll take the blanket out with us."
"And use it if it's even the slightest bit chilly?"
"Pep-"
"Promise to use it?"
He sighed, "Okay, I promise to use it if it's even the slightest bit chilly outside. Happy?"
If she hadn't been so sleepy, Pepper might have asked what their head security man had to do with it but as it was all she said was, "Yes, I am. Thank you."
He leaned over the bed to kiss her, "Go back to sleep. I'll be back in, in an hour or two."
She nodded, closing her eyes, "Okay. Oh, and Tony?"
"Yes?"
"Can you please go check on Eva before you get Ethan?"
"Will do."
"Thank you."
Smiling he replied again, "Go back to sleep."
"Have fun!"
Tony had checked on the boy's baby sister as his wife had requested before going into wake up his son. Since everything with Eva had been fine (she hadn't even needed to have her diaper changed), he had quickly left the nursery, and went across the hallway to Ethan's room. He carefully opened the door to the room then tiptoed his way over to the little boy's bed, and carefully sat down on the edge.
Ethan was curled up on his left side, snuggled up with his Iron Man encased pillow, fast asleep. It was almost a shame to wake him up from such a good sleep, and Tony considered forgetting this entirely. But then he remembered how Ethan had seemed so excited about the idea of getting do something so special with his Daddy that Tony only hesitated a second or three before he put his hand on the boy's arm.
"Ethan?"
There was no response from him. He didn't stir in the slightest.
Trying again, Tony just a little louder, while moving his hand back and forth on the boy's shoulder, "Ethan? Buddy? Wake up."
His son stirred a little, so he kept trying, "Come on, sport, open your eyes." When he heard a whine he asked, "Do you still want to go outside with Daddy to watch the shooting stars?"
Ethan finally opened his eyes, and looked at his father, "Uh huh!"
"Well, come on then. We've gotta go outside if we're going to see them. Okay?"
"Okay!" The boy threw back his covers, and swung his feet to the side of the bed just as his father stood up.
Tony put out his hand for Ethan to take, and said, "Alright we're going outside now but you need to be very quiet because we don't want to wake Mommy or Evie. Okay?"
Ethan nodded, "Okay."
"That's my boy. Come on."
Once Ethan had taken a hold of his hand, Tony led the way through the darkened penthouse, and out onto the terrace after stopping to grab the blanket Pepper had left for them. He had to admit he was glad of her forethought because the temperature was a little bit chillier than he would have guessed for a summer's night. He led Ethan over to the double lounger where they'd have best view of the sky. He let go of his son's hand, and said, "PIck a side, sport, and sit down."
Ethan immediately went to the right side of the lounger.
Before sitting down beside him, Tony unfolded the blanket, and spread it out over them both as he settled down onto the chair. He opened the box, and pulled out the two pairs of his specially made light filtering glasses and put a pair on the boy's face. Ethan started to take them off but halted when Tony said, "No, no, little man. You have to wear these if you want to see the shooting stars."
"Why?"
"Well because New York has way too much light pollution for us to be able to see the stars without them," he replied, adjusting them back onto Ethan's face, "There. Now look up, buddy, and see if you can see the stars!"
The little boy looked up and his immediate gasp told his father that he could indeed see the stars. "Oooo pretty!"
With a huge grin, Tony slipped on his own special glasses, and looked up.
He gave an impressed whistle, "Wow! I'm good! I mean I really did outdo myself if I do say so myself!"
"Congratulations for your remarkable success, Sir," JARVIS commented rather dryly.
Tony rolled his eyes, and quipped back, "Hey, I wasn't talking to you, buttinski!" When Ethan giggled at the name, he realized what he had said, and looked down at his son, "And I don't want to hear you repeating that, mister. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Especially not around your Mommy or she'll kill me," he added under his breath.
Only a few minutes had passed when Ethan began to yawn. Tony noticed immediately of course, and slipped an arm around him, pulling the little boy closer to him until his head was laying down on his shoulder. He pulled the blanket up over them a little more when he felt a shiver pass through his son's body. When the little boy yawned again, he smiled then softly said, "Go back to sleep if you want to, buddy. It's a little late… or maybe too early for you to be up yet, so it's okay for you to go back to sleep."
The boy snuggled closer to his father, and gave a little sigh of, "Love you, Daddy."
Tony blinked back tears, tightened his arms around his son, and pressed a kiss, Ethan. I love you too."
"Okay, Stark, five minutes! Start wrapping it up!"
The guard's warning had savagely ripped through his warm, happy reminiscence, bringing him back to the cold, terrible reality that in just a few hours from now he'd be dead. He didn't know if the water had started to run cold, or if the guard's warning had caused the chill he was now feeling all over his body. Suddenly cold or not, he ducked his head under the spray since he didn't want the guards to see that he had been been crying.
"I love you. I love you," Tony repeated his words to his son a whisper, not wanting to chance the guards overhearing him, he let the water keep running, "I love you and… I'm sorry that I'm never going to see you… or my sweet baby girl ever again. I'm so sorry-"
"Time's up! Shut off the water please and get dried off!"
With one last duck underneath the water, he did as the guard had ordered, and shut it off. As he stepped out of the stall he grabbed the towel that was hanging on the wall and keeping his back to the guards as much as possible, he began drying off.
"There's a fresh set of clothes for you out here on the bench," one of the guards repeated when he nearly finished.
Tony considers going over to grab the clothes, and ducking again behind the curtain but the truth is, it doesn't provide him with any more privacy than he'd find dressing out in the open. He also realizes that his reputation for not being the most modest person on the planet is probably coming back to haunt him now. So once he's dried, he wraps the towel around his waist, and exits from behind the curtain.
"Over there," one of the guards said, pointing at the bench.
Without a word, Tony goes over to the bench, and since he knows they can't completely turn their backs for him to get dressed, he just simply turns his to them before dropping the towel. Once dressed, Tony turned around, he placed his hands behind him, and waited for one of the guards to handcuff him.
"Turn back around, face us, and put your hands out," one of the guards instructed.
He was puzzled by the instructions but he didn't argue. When he was turned around to face them, Tony saw that one guard was holding the waist restraints. He considered asking why they brought him here in simple handcuffs but would be using the restraints for the return trip but decided to not waste either his words or breath So he lets the one guard to put his hands into the restraints while the other goes behind him to fasten the restraint band around his waist.
Tony soon had the answer to his unspoken question about the restraints when they reached the cellblock. When they got there, a man Tony had seen all too infrequently since he got to the prison was standing by a chair that had been placed in the middle of the room.
"I thought that perhaps you'd like to have a haircut and shave," the warden supplied from across the room.
Tony gave him a look of surprise then nodded his answer. The guards led him over to the chair, and he sat down. The prison barber covered him with a sheet that he tied around his neck, and began his administering his services with the haircut first. The only time anything was said between them was when Tony said, "Remember, I like everything but the goatee gone. I've gotta look my best for tonight, you know."
"Yeah, yeah I remember, man!" the barber replied in an annoyed tone. "We can't have you looking in any other way, now can we?"
Those few words were the only words spoken between the barber had done his work, and while he cleaned up the area, the guards escort him back out while others returned Tony to his holding cell. His eyes are locked on the warden as he sits down on his bunk. The warden's head is turned in another direction as he's quietly speaking with a guard. When he finally turns back to look in his direction Tony tells him with genuine appreciation, "I wasn't expecting that. Thank you."
"You're welcome, Mr. Stark."
"Now, normally I'd say I hope that you won't take this the wrong way but at this point I don't I really care if this offends you or not. Would you, and everyone who has been watching me like a goldfish for the past fours days, just leave me alone now for the little time I have left?"
"If that is how you wish to spend your remaining hours, then yes we will leave you alone as much as we can."
"Yes, good. Being alone is exactly how I wish to spend my time."