I know it's been a while since I updated this fic, but I've been working on "These are the things that bind you" and "Friday, I'm in Love" pretty steadily, and thought I should give this one some attention as well. So I hope you enjoy it. Illness has prevented me from writing as much as I would like in the last few days, but thank you for all of your support in the mean time! It means the world!
Happy Reading! ;)
An hour later, Tony and Bruce sat in the doctor's private office, solemn and ready to take their verbal lashing.
"Dr. Banner," the doctor began. "When you and Mr. Stark came to me, you assured me that Mrs. Stark's life would never be put in danger by what you'd proposed. Yet, I just had to pull her back from the brink of death."
"I signed a waiver, you do remember," Tony pointed out testily. "So why you're upset is..."
"I'm upset, Mr. Stark," the doctor shot back. "Because your wife just had myself and three nurses hopping up and down on her chest, trying to restart her heart, after one of your experiments!" he exclaimed.
"Doctor, I assure you," Bruce calmly replied. "Nothing we've done would cause Mrs. Stark to go into cardiac arrest. Why that happened is...a mystery."
The doctor worked his jaw and nodded. "Uh huh," he said skeptically. "And the white marks on her finger nails? Are those a mystery, too?"
Both Bruce and Tony looked at each other questioningly. "White marks?" Tony said. "What the hell is he talking about? What white marks?" he asked Bruce.
Bruce took a deep breath. He looked back and forth between the doctor and Tony. "I think he's saying she's been poisoned," he stated softly.
Tony lookede at him in shock. "Poisoned?!" he gasped. He glanced between Bruce and the doctor anxiously. "You...you think we did this?! You think I'd...I'd poison her? My own wife?! You think I'd do that to her?" he exclaimed defensively, slowly rising up out of his chair and becoming more and more agitated by the second.
"Tony," Bruce warned.
"No, Bruce! No! I'm not gonna stand here and have this quack try to tell me that I've..." Tony argued.
"Quack?!" the doctor cried. "Listen! Mr. Stark! I agreed to allow you and Dr. Banner to proceed with your efforts to try to help your wife only because of Dr. Banner's credentials, and your reputation in the academic community! Now, I'm not saying you've done it intentionally. But it doesn't help to disprove that what you are doing is nothing short of reckless endangerment. And I have no choice but to report you to the..."
"Wait, wait, wait," Bruce said, holding up his hands between the men, who had quickly gone from being across the desk from each other, to standing up and leaning over it, in each others faces, and were currently looking at each other like they wanted to rip each others heads off. "Gentlemen, please. Let's...take a moment, shall we?" he pleaded. "This is getting out of hand. I know you both can at least agree with that."
Tony huffed, relenting, and threw himself back down heavily in his chair. The doctor cleared his throat and hastily buttoned his long white lab coat. He smoothed a hand over his hair and sat back down in his desk chair. "He's right," he said, gesturing to Bruce. "I apologize for losing my composure."
Tony held up a dismissing hand and Bruce nodded in acknowledgement. "I get it," Tony said. "But you gotta know. I would never do anything to put Pepper's life in jeopardy. I mean, for God's sake, doctor!" he said. He looked in to the doctor's eyes squarely. "I'm trying to save her!" he said in a stern murmur.
The doctor nodded, and held up a hand in surrender. "I know that," he assured. "But how do you explain the evidence of a toxin in her bloodstream?"
"All of our injections are saline-based," Bruce explained. "As you know, doctor, the nano's are made with surgical steel, and biodegradable components. Once they expire, they disintegrate, and get flushed out through the kidneys, like any other waste matter. I am 100% positive there is nothing in there that would cause any level of toxicity. We made sure of it when we engineered them. That's the last thing Pepper would need in her body right now. But you're more than welcome to have another sample analyzed," he offered.
Tony nodded and then looked back at the doctor expectantly.
The doctor shook his head in refusal. "That's quite alright, gentlemen," he said. "But we need to find an explanation. And soon. I have no doubts that Mrs. Stark nearly lost her life this afternoon because of it. Next time? She won't be so lucky."
"We promise. We'll find where it's coming from," Bruce said, looking at Tony and then back at the doctor. "Just assure us we can proceed like we need to, and we'll figure everything out."
The doctor exhaled slowly, looking at them in thought before answering. "Yeah, okay," he said, finally, relenting.
Tony and Bruce both sighed and glance at each other with a look of relief.
"But promise me," the doctor said, jabbing a finger in their direction. "Be careful. And work quickly to find the source of the toxin. I don't want any more close calls."
Tony held up his hands in surrender. "No more close calls. That's a goal I don't mind working to achieve," he said, smiling warmly.
The doctor dismissed the men from his office, and when they'd left, Bruce patted his friend on the shoulder. "It's been a long day, huh?" he said.
Tony exhaled. "The longest," he agreed. "For a second, I thought he was going to cut us off."
"Me, too," Bruce said. "But the thing I can't get over is how in the world is Pepper getting poisoned?"
Tony shrugged and shook his head. "I have no idea. And what's worse? It gives Pepper that much more to have to battle."
XxXxXxXxXx
The two men had gone back to Pepper's hospital room so Tony could kiss her goodbye for the evening. Bruce had watched his friend in admiration as Tony tenderly whispered loving words in her ear. Tony then stroked her hair, and smiled weakly to himself, gazing at her for a few moments before gently kissing her cheek, and squeezing her hand. When they turned to go, Tony lead the way, and Bruce followed closely behind. But, as they were leaving, Bruce noticed a piece of clear plastic on the floor, just beside the bed. Tony had already gone out the door, so he didn't notice that Bruce had paused to pick it up.
He rolled it over in his hand and studied it, determining that it looked like a cap to something. But not a pen cap, or a bottle cap of some kind. It was long and cylindrical, and made of clear plastic. It reminded him of a cap on a syringe, but it was very different from the ones he'd observed the nurses using. Also, it didn't match the caps to the syringes he and Tony had used in their work.
He narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment. "Hmmmm," he hummed to himself. Then, he put the cap in his jacket pocket before quickly following after Tony.
XxXxXxXxXx
"What do you think it is?" Tony said, once they'd both got into the car. He held the small cylindrical piece of plastic between his thumb and forefinger, looking at it in the light. Then he handed it back to Bruce, who promptly stuck it back in his pocket.
"A cap of some type," he replied. "A syringe cap, most likely."
Tony backed out of his parking spot in the hospital parking garage. "A syringe cap? One of ours? I don't remember ours looking like that," he remarked.
"That's because they don't," Bruce replied. "And neither do the hospital's. This one is...an oddball. Maybe it came from somewhere else?" he suggested.
Tony frowned and glanced at Bruce before putting the car into gear and moving out onto the street. "Could it...could it be a cap to a syringe from outside the hospital?" he asked, worriedly.
Bruce bit his lip. "It could be," he said. "And if it is? I think the bigger question is-who was it that brought it into her room?" he said.
Tony nodded trepidatiously. "My God," he murmured at the frightening realization that the possibility of Pepper being poisoned suddenly went from an accidental oversight on their part, to something done out of malicious intent by some mysterious person. The thought that someone had been alone with her in her room, and injected her with some poisonous substance while she laid there, defenseless, enraged him. He gritted his teeth, and pounded a hand against the steering wheel in frustration.
"Damn it!" he barked suddenly, startling Bruce.
Tony noticed his friend looking at him with wide eyes. "Sorry!" he immediately spouted.
Bruce shook his head, and waved a hand in dismissal. "No need to apologize. It's troubling to say the least. Who could have snuck in there unnoticed? And more importantly, who would want to? I didn't think Pepper had many enemies. None that wanted her dead, anyway."
Tony shook his head, regretfully. "No, no, it's not Pepper. It's probably me. Whoever it is is using her to get to me. It's the blight on our relationship, I'm afraid," he said sadly. "A risk we both knew we'd have accept to be together."
"How romantic," Bruce commented dryly. "Tragically romantic. But romantic, none the less." He took in a deep, resolute breath. "Well, one thing's for sure," he said. "Before we do anything else, we have to get this cap tested to see if there is any trace of the poison left. At least then, we'll know what we were dealing with, in case Pepper goes into cardiac arrest again."
"Change of course, then?" Tony asked rhetorically, rerouting to Stark Industries HQ. It had been a long day as Bruce had said. But it was about to be an even longer night.