~:~

A FEW NIGHTS LATER

"-the soldier's DNA is working wonderfully-"

"-The project is a success"

"-Get out of here-"

"-We found her-"

"-I'm pregnant-"

"-She's beautiful-"

"-Momma, no!-"

"NO!" I gasped, sweat covering my body. The same dream night after night: memories flooding my sleep.

I headed toward the bathroom, turning the shower on. The cold water shot down my spine, erasing the sleeplessness that consumed me.

First, it was an invasion, now this. I laughed to myself. What am I getting in to…..

~:~

SOMETIME LATER…..

"Pepper, I know..."

"Then do something!"

I ran a hand over my eyes. "I don't know what's up with him. One, I'm way too far away to know; and, two, if I'm not around him for a long time, I can't feel him."

"Then, maybe you should come visit and, I don't know, FIGURE IT OUT!"

"Fine, fine! I'll see what I can do. Bye." Click.

Logan walked into the room. "What's up this time?"

I shook my head, slumping onto the couch. "Don't ask."

"What's going on?"

"Tony's being-." My phone interrupts my thoughts.

"Hello?"

"How's it going, Annie Jo?"

"First of all, don't call me that. Secondly, and please be honest, what the heck is going on Tony?"

"Nothing's going on. Everything's fine."

I raised a brow." That's what you said last time and then you built a weaponized 'prosthesis'."

"Can't your uncle call his favorite niece?"

"Tony! This is serious."

"Fine! I need to talk to you about something. I want to ask if you were interested in-."

My eyes widened. Not this again…. "No. Ask Pepper."

"You didn't let me finish."

"I know what you're going to ask. So, no, I don't want to run Stark Industries. Never have, never will." I ran a hand through my hair. "Tony, what is going on?" my voice cracked.

"Angie, I-I got to go." Click.

"Tony! Dammit!" I slammed my phone shut.

Logan raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Guess I might be gone again. Cover for me?"

"Course. Who would if I didn't?"

I laughed, "I think they'd find, well, anybody."

~:~

"Charles?"

The man looked up from his desk. "Ah, Angie. How can I help you?"

"I hate to do this again, but I need to go see my uncle again. I've been having some weird dreams and I-."

He narrowed his eyes, "Dreams? Again?" He wheeled his chair around to sit in front of me.

"More like memories. But there are some parts I'm not sure about," I replied. "I think I'm seeing the future."

"Not again," he muttered. Charles raised a hand to my head. "May I?" When I nodded, he put his fingers to my temple, searching for some sort of explanation.

After a while, he gasped. "Take as much time as you need."

I was confused. "What did you see?"

He shook his head. "Time will tell, my dear. Time will tell."

"Remember what happened the last time I let time take its toll? Warren went berserk and I got hurt. I won't risk it again, Charles."

"Hopefully, this won't come for a long time."

Reluctantly, I nodded my head and got up. "And-"

"-We will watch over him, my dear. Don't worry."

Giving him my thanks, I rushed out the door. I gave Marcos a quick goodbye and a warning, along with a strong warning to Logan for them not to get into any trouble. I made sure that Jean would keep an eye on them.

"I'm serious, Logan. If one hair is singed, I will have the Professor make you believe you are a 12-year-old girl."

~:~

"Welcome back, Miss Angie."

"Thanks, JARV." I headed down the hall and set my things in my room. "JARVIS?"

"Yes?"

"How long until Tony and Pepper get back from Monaco?"

"According to my records, they should return sometime tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you."

"Um, miss. I think you should see this," the AI pulled up news feed from Monaco.

Tony was being attacked by a man with an electrical whip-like device, slicing the car in half. Tony activated the Iron Man suit. They continued to fight until Tony ripped something off the man's chest, disarming him. Police surrounded the man and arrested him.

"Good lord-JARVIS!"

"Already on it, miss."

Beep. Beep. "Hello?"

"Hey, Pepper. It's me."

"I'm guessing you saw the news."

"What do you think? What have the police said?"

"Not much. They ran him through the system and found nothing."

"I can get JARVIS to run it until y'all get back."

"Don't worry about it. Everybody's okay, and that's what matters."

"Pepper, I might as well run it because Tony will just do it when y'all get here."

"True. Alright, then. We'll be see you sometime tomorrow."

"Okay, Pepper. Stay safe."

"Bye." Click.

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"-Do it!-"

"-No, wait.-"

"-Stark, these things are still coming!-"

"-I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute-"

"-And I know just where to put it.-"

Gasp. Okay, now these dreams were starting to get weird.

The clock said 5:00AM. "Might as well get up. There's no way I'm sleeping now," I muttered to myself. I went to the kitchen and turned on the coffee.

"Would you like me to play your morning playlist, Miss?"

I took a sip of my coffee. "Sure, why not?"

As the music played, I sang along, busting a move or two.

"Wake me up before you go-go, don't leave me hanging like a yo-yo. Ba-dun-ad-do. Ah! " I turned around to see Phil Coulson. "Don't do that!" I gave him a weird look. "Wait…. how'd you get in here?"

"The AI let me in," the man chuckled. "Sorry to interrupt you, but I need to speak with you."

"About Tony? Well, if you came here looking for answers, I don't have them. Me and Tony maybe close but we're not that close as of late."

"I wouldn't be too sure, about that. Every time something life-threatening happens to him, you always seem to show up. Why is that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because he's family, that's why Mr. Agent. And, if you've noticed, I haven't been back since the press conference a month ago."

"That's not the target of our concern. It's his actions as of late that bother us."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's selling off all his assets, handing off the company to Ms. Potts. And of course what just happened in Monaco." He handed me a file. "Your uncle is very sick. The palladium in his reactor is slowly killing him."

"He's…." I looked at the file. "You have an agent on the inside?"

"Yes, she goes by the name of Natalie Rushman. I'm not at liberty to reveal any more information right now."

"Understandable. So, why do you need me?"

"To try and get Mr. Stark to let you help him."

"The words 'Stark' and 'help' are never in the same sentence."

"We understand that, but he needs to find a suitable replacement for the palladium or he will die."

"I can't promise anything…."I replied. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Wonderful. Until this gets sorted out, we're having an agent placed on you for safety purposes."

I raised a brow."Safety purposes?"

"The man who attacked your uncle in Monaco: he just broke out of jail."

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself."

"Just for extra precautions."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

The man called for the agent to come in. When the agent entered, Coulson introduced him, "This is Agent Barton. Have fun."

After he left, I walked back in the kitchen. "JARVIS, resume playlist, please." The newer agent just stood there like a statue. I stared at him raising an eyebrow.

"So are you going to talk first, or am I?"A small grin crept onto the man's face. "Dude, you might as well relax. You're going to have to blend in, being my top-secret bodyguard and all." I knew I was slowly breaking him. Looking to the plate right next to me, "I got pancakes."

His stomach growled in protest. He finally broke, "Gimme some."

"That's what I thought." I watched the man stuff his face as I gave him some coffee. "Where do you put that?"

He just shrugged. "Sorry, these are really good."

"Thanks. My mom always said the quickest way to anyone's heart was through their stomach.," I smiled. "So, what do I call you? I mean Agent Barton just sounds suspicious."

"Just call me Clint."

"Clint, huh." I stuck my hand out. "Well, Clint, call me Angie."

"Pleasure," he shook my hand. As we touched, my eyes flashed.

I saw a him with a woman, who was heavily pregnant; both beaming with joy.

I smiled again and gestured towards the pan. "Want some more?"

With the intros out of the way, we just sat there eating pancakes and drinking coffee. After we finished, I put our dishes in the sink. "What do you for fun?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's within reason."

"Got any video games?"

"Oh, do we," I laughed, walking over to the TV console and opening the door. Video games and movies covered the shelves all the way from Guitar Hero to Mario Kart. "Just take your pick."

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