After their misfire on Valentine's Day, Tony and Martha made a vow not to rush the progress of their relationship and to let things evolve at a natural pace. So while they didn't have sex for the weeks that followed, despite another close call on her birthday, Tony was happy that they had at least resumed sharing a bed.
It wasn't every single day that they slept together and their evenings didn't always start off that way. On many nights, they'd part ways after dinner with Tony retreating to his lab. After putting in a few hours, he'd stumble into Martha's bed instead of making the trek to his own room. Martha would welcome Tony with open arms and tender kisses while the rapidly growing Bohr would use him as a pillow, except for the nights when Martha lay in the middle with her boys surrounding her on both sides. Tony's favorite nights, however, were the times when Martha came home late and snuck into bed with him. One such occasion occurred in late March.
Martha had been called back to London on UNIT business and, although she was only away for a week, it was the longest they had been separated since she moved in in January. Tony was in bed alone when she came to him. Bohr had taken to sleeping in Martha's bed while she was away. Tony imagined that Bohr was picking up on her lingering scent on the linens, but he didn't need to hug pillows to keep him going because every bit of Martha's essence was imprinted on Tony's brain.
Martha, on the other hand, mirrored Bohr in the sense that she had stolen a few of Tony's t-shirts to make the journey with her to London. She even went as far as spritzing some of his favorite cologne onto the fabric to preserve the scent. That was probably why he smelled her coming before he saw her face.
When Tony opened his eyes, Martha was standing at the edge of the bed wearing only his Black Sabbath t-shirt, the hem of which she was fiddling with. "Come here," Tony requested softly as he reached for her hand and pulled her towards him.
Martha placed her free hand on his shoulder and slipped a leg over both of his so that she was on his lap. Tony put his hands behind her knees and pulled her towards him so that their bodies were flush against one another. "Hey," she said in barely a whisper, as she moved her hand from his shoulder to stroke his cheek.
Tony's hands moved upwards over her thighs and gripped her hips to hold her in place. "Hey," he replied. "Welcome home."
Martha let out a breathy chuckle which Tony echoed. She lifted her other hand and cupped his face between her palms. They sat there in quiet contentment holding each other's gaze for a long while, neither of them bothering to say a word. She traced tiny circles on his skin with her thumbs. Tony, in turn, caressed curve of her hips with the tips of his fingers. He lowered his head to rest against her chest and closed his eyes. Underneath the haze of his cologne, he detected her sweet scent and inhaled it deeply. Her fingers worked their way into his hair and his hands disappeared beneath her shirt.
"Is this real?" Tony muttered against her shirt.
"Hmm?" she responded softly. "What do you mean?"
Tony raised his head. "Is this really happening?"
Martha stared at him in confusion. "Of course it is."
"So I'm not asleep right now?"
"You think this is a dream?"
Tony shook his head. "No…a nightmare." He tightened his grip on her to convince himself that she was real. "I'm afraid I'll wake up again and none of this will be real."
"It's real," Martha promised. "And I'll prove it." She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
Tony returned the kiss hungrily before pulling back suddenly. "Where's Bohr?"
"He's still asleep in my bed. I didn't want to wake him up so I changed in the bathroom downstairs."
Tony glanced past Martha, half expecting to see the Great Dane bounding towards them to greet his mother's return. Instead, he discovered that Martha had closed the door behind her when she entered the room. "He won't be able to get in."
"Yea, well, that's more or less the point." She chuckled softly and stole quick kiss. "I thought we should have a quiet reunion of our own tonight."
"No kids allowed?"
Martha smirked. "Absolutely not."
"I had a dream about you while you were gone," Tony confessed.
"Do you want to tell me about it?"
"I'd rather show you," he insisted as he moved his hands further up her sides.
"Show me."
"I might need my shirt back first."
Martha lifted her arms above her head, allowing Tony to peel her shirt off. He dropped it to the ground and exhaled slowly as he looked her over. She wasn't wearing a bra because she never wore one to bed, but that wasn't what caught his attention.
"Did you always have that tattoo?" he asked as his fingertips gazed the tiny flower inked on her skin to the right of her navel.
"Well I wasn't born with it," she quipped. "But I have had it for as long as you've known me." Tony knew all about the butterfly on her arm, but it was somehow surprising and thrilling to think that her body still held so many secrets from him. He was eager to learn them all.
Tony's eyes flicked up to meet hers and Martha was looking back at him expectantly. He reached over his shoulders with both hands and pulled his shirt off, tossing it somewhere on the floor. Martha stared at the spot on his chest where the arc reactor had once been with all the intensity one might expected from a physician. They were both well acquainted with each other's emotional scars. The physical ones, however, were new territory.
"Does it hurt?" Martha questioned.
"No, it's just sensitive sometimes."
Her fingertips brushed against his skin in a gentle, almost reverent, manner. Without warning, she ducked her head downward and pressed a string of light kisses over his scar. Tony closed his eyes at the contact and exhaled slowly. After a while, he felt her flatten her palm against his chest. "Your heart is beating fast," she observed.
Tony opened his eyes and smiled lazily. "Good thing I know an excellent doctor."
"Mine's racing as well," Martha admitted as she nibbled her bottom lip. Tony placed his hand over her heart causing her to shudder. He had been in bed for a while so they weren't as cold as they probably would have been otherwise, which meant she was trembling for a different reason. "We should grab a…"
"Yea," Tony agreed. He slipped an arm around her waist to hold her in place while he reached into his nightstand. Once he pulled his hand back, Martha gave him a slow lingering kiss then rose off of him long enough for them to deal with the remainder of their clothing.
When all barriers had been discarded, except for the one previously encased in foil, Martha settled back onto his lap and slipped her arms around his neck. "Does this live up to your dream?"
He ran his hands up and down her back slowly. "The real thing is so much better." Martha laughed and their lips met once more.
Tony wasn't a timid lover by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn't mean he was above relinquishing control. In that moment, he was perfectly content to submit to Martha's whims completely. In a way, she had set the pace for their entire relationship. So why would their first time be any different?
He didn't give up control easily. Long before he donned his first Iron Man armor, he had been building up a proverbial suit of armor for most of his life. It wasn't completely impenetrable. Rhodey had been one of the first to seep through. Even a few of the woman Tony met over the years tempted him to let down his walls at least temporarily. Meredith. Sunset. Janice. Whitney. Bethany. Indries. Rumiko. With Pepper, he was prepared to cast it off completely. But when he was with Martha, he realized that he didn't need it all.
Tony was impulsive and, more often than not, reckless. Martha's calm and methodical nature brought him much needed balance. If anything, he wanted to build a wall up around her and protect her from the external threats as well as all of his internal failures. Better yet, he could build a safe haven for the two of them and Bohr to guard them from the world outside the Tower. It wasn't realistic though and Martha would have hated it anyway.
Life was about living. And while there were still plenty of times he felt broken, he couldn't let the darkness defeat him. His life was still worth living. Staring up at Martha as they made love was definitely proof of that.
Love. There was that word again.
Tony closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath once their bodies stilled. Martha was still on top of him, her face buried in the crook of his neck and her breath coming in short bursts. A small part of him was still afraid of this being a dream, but how could it be fake when his entire body was on fire? Every nerve felt alive and every cell was singing. He only wondered if she felt it too.
Eventually, their breathing leveled out and Martha rolled off of him. Tony didn't waste any time curling himself around her and hugging her back to his chest. He had slept too many nights without her in his arms and he wasn't ready to be denied her warmth again. He closed his eyes content to fall asleep that way until Martha shifted her position. The movement was minimal at best, but the friction it caused was enough to incite a reaction. Before long, their bodies were moving in sync once more.
After that second encounter, Tony was in desperate need of a breather and drifted off to sleep almost immediately. The sun was up the next time he opened his eyes, but Martha was thankfully still in his arms. Tony lowered his head to kiss her bare shoulder, spurring her to stir.
"Mmm…" Martha mewled softly. "Is it time for round three?"
"Round three?" Tony repeated with his lips still brushing against her skin.
"You know…repeating the experiment to test the chemistry? Seeing if we come up with the same results," she joked. "I reckon we ought to be scientifically sound about this."
Tony let out a breathy chuckle. "That's funny because here I was thinking that I might have found something that finally made me believe in magic."
Martha dropped her head back against his shoulder. "Bloody hell!" she replied with a playful groan. "Do you actually hear yourself when you talk?"
"Public opinion is that I love the sound of my own voice," Tony retorted as he pressed a kiss to her neck.
Martha moaned softly and reached back to stroke the nape of his neck. "Now that I can believe."
"Admit it…you love it," he growled against her throat.
Martha let out one of her signature amused huffs. "I love a lot of things about you, but I'm not sure if that's one of them."
Tony let her words sink in for a moment before speaking again. "So you only love parts of me?"
Martha pulled away from him long enough to roll herself onto her back so that they were face to face. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," she answered while reaching to cup his cheek.
"You choose now to talk about synergy?"
Martha exhaled sharply, but her expression was one of total adoration. "I'm saying that if the tin man needs a heart…then he can have mine," she answered. "Because I love you."
Tony's eyes locked onto hers. "Even though I'm a hot mess?"
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind," Martha said, quoting Shakespeare. "And you blow my mind, Tony Stark." She gave him a quick kiss. "Besides, I'm a bit of a mess myself."
"Debatable. You're definitely hot though." She began to laugh, but he cut her off with a searing kiss.
"So…" Martha panted when they finally broke for air. "Three for science, yea?"
"Absolutely," he agreed between kisses. "We should test another variable though."
"And what do you suggest? New position? Different location? I still owe you a shower and there was talk of a lab coat."
"Maybe." Tony's lips found hers again. "How about one with the scarf? Not gonna lie, the scarf kinda does it for me."
"How about I use it to gag you?" she teased.
"Kinky. Are we going to need safe words?" he questioned. "If so, mine is dial-up because…"
"Nothing is a bigger turnoff than a slow internet connection?" she guessed. Tony pulled back to look her in the eyes. He suddenly realized how closely their conversation mirrored the dream he had in London. "What?" Martha asked with a frown.
"Nothing," Tony replied. "Just…I love how well you know me," he confessed. "And…"
Martha quirked a brow. "And?"
"And…" Tony hesitated for a brief moment. "I love you too."
Martha smiled brightly at his confession. "Seeing is believing, tin man."
Tony grinned. "Then I better get busy showing you," he suggested as he rolled on top of her. The next few days were devoted to intensive scientific research with only minimal interference for food and bathroom breaks, for both them and Bohr.
Late one Friday morning, Tony woke up to sloppy kisses and kibble breath as a now fifty pound Bohr stood above him. "Bohr. Stop it. Bohr!" Tony groaned softly, extracted himself from his son's loving embrace and pushed himself out of bed. "Yea. Yea. I love you too, buddy. C'mon. Let's go find your mother."
Bohr galloped out of the bedroom ahead of him as Tony hung behind to put on his pants and grab his previously abandoned t-shirt from the floor. Tony entered the kitchen pulling said t-shirt over his head and found Martha leaning against the kitchen counter, freshly showered with a cup of tea in her hand.
"You showered without me?" Tony questioned.
Martha chuckled softly. "If memory serves, the last time we shared there wasn't much cleaning involved."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Tony reached the counter and pulled Martha into a quick kiss. She tasted like Earl Grey and toothpaste. "Why are you dressed?" he added once they pulled apart and he took a good look at her. "Are you going somewhere?"
"I was thinking that maybe we should get out for a bit," Martha reasoned with a shrug. "We've been holed up in here for nearly a week with no communication with the outside world."
Tony released her completely and turned to fill Bohr's food bowl. "Again…you say that like it's a bad thing."
Martha huffed softly. "I do have a job, Tony. And family. And friends," she reminded him. "As much as I've enjoyed our little sexual holiday, we can't put off the real world forever."
"Are you sure? Why not?" Tony pressed. "The real world highly overrated and there's still a few more rooms left that we could christen."
"We need to get outside," she insisted. "Breath fresh air."
Tony scoffed. "In New York?"
Martha rolled her eyes. "Go wash up and get dressed."
"Can't it wait until after breakfast?" he questioned petulantly.
"We're going out to breakfast."
Tony sighed in defeat. "Alright. You win, but I need caffeine first."
"Do you want some tea?" she asked as she retrieved his House Stark mug.
Tony took the mug from her with a tiny frown. "Can I make a confession?"
"Always."
"So I've been thinking, we've got a good thing going here, right?"
Martha nodded. "Right."
"And it's not good to start a relationship off on lies, right?"
Martha curiously lifted a brow. "Yes."
"Well the thing is…" Tony sucked in a breath through his teeth. "I don't actually like tea. I only drink it because it sorta became our thing, but I kinda hate. I mean why would I want leaf water when I can have coffee?"
"You mean roasted bean broth?" Martha countered with another huff.
"That bean broth is delicious," Tony said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "I need some stronger than tea to get me going."
"That's because you've only had that weak swill you Americans like to pass for tea in this country," Martha retorted quickly. "What you need is a proper builder's to sort you out."
Tony laughed into his cup. "I love it when you're overly English."
Martha set her mug down and moved closer to him. "That was nearly a perfect sentence."
Tony paused to think. "I overly love you, English…when…it…are."
"Smartarse," Martha retorted before kissing him passionately. "Now go get dressed. I'm going to check my messages."
Tony stole another kiss and took his coffee with him back upstairs. He washed up quickly and pulled on some clothes before returning to the kitchen. When he found her again, Martha was sitting at the table gaping at her cellphone with her hand covering her mouth. "Bad news?" he asked. Martha glanced up at him and he could see in her eyes that bad probably didn't even begin to cover it. She thrust her phone in his direction. Tony took it from her and stared at the screen in disbelief. "J.A.R.V.I.S., give me the news on the big screen. Now."
Tony moved over to the screen and watched in a stunned silence. The sight of smoke pouring from the Triskelion and destruction littering the Potomac. The words they were saying about the recent events. Assassination of Nick Fury. Captain America a fugitive. The fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. None of it made sense.
"How could this happen?" Martha asked at his side.
"I don't know." Tony shook his head slowly. "But you were right about one thing."
Martha slipped her hand into his. "What's that?"
Tony turned towards her with a deep frown as he squeezed her hand. "It's time to stop putting off the real world."
