It's usually the other way around. Usually I fall asleep after (amazing, mind-blowing) sex.
Tony studied Jemma's sleeping form. Then again, there were extenuating circumstances this time.
The most urgent of those circumstances - at the moment, anyway - was that the woman sleeping beside him was his soulmate, and as little as he cared for rules and regulations, Tony suspected she cared for them a great deal. So he pressed a kiss to her forehead and rolled off the too-narrow exam table to get dressed.
Before he left the medical pod, Tony scrawled a note and left it and a glass of water where Jemma could see them when she woke up. Then he left the pod and went looking for the Asian woman who'd been his contact so far.
He found her in a lounge area not far from the medical pod. She looked up from the report she was reading. "Is she all right?"
"Sleeping it off."
"Good." She set the report aside and stood. "Thank you. She's - special."
"Of course she is," Tony quipped. "She's my soulmate."
The Asian woman - June? April? No, May, that was it- stared at him almost a full ten seconds before she spoke. "You're kidding."
"Nope. Coffee?" He must be in a good mood if he were offering to get coffee for someone else.
May stared at him another long moment before she said, "Wait right here."
She was gone before he could respond. Tony stared at her half a heartbeat before deciding that right here included any place where he could still be seen from where May had been standing and crossed to the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup.
Tony took a sip and grimaced. Gonna have to upgrade that. My soulmate will not be drinking substandard coffee if I have anything to say about it. Does she even drink coffee?
He reviewed what he knew of his soulmate - prim like Pepper, middle class British accent, surprisingly uninhibited in bed (unless that was just the effects of the pollen) - and concluded that he didn't have enough data to answer the question. More research was required.
But Agent May had told him to wait right here, and she reminded him just a little too much of Natasha Romanoff for him to actively disobey. Which meant for the moment he was at loose ends.
Tony sipped his coffee and paced the lounge area, reminding himself that Pepper would not approve of him hacking the computers on board this converted cargo plane just because he was bored. Then his gaze landed on the report Agent May had left behind. He was just reaching for it when her voice interrupted him.
"Come with me."
Tony followed her through the aircraft, idly cataloging the modifications to the Boeing C-17 Globemaster as he walked. May stopped at a door that would not have been out of place in one of Stark Industries' offices, knocked once, then gestured him inside. Tony took a sip of coffee, then ambled inside, and stopped short when he saw who stood behind the desk.
"Stark." Agent Coulson - Phil, he reminded himself - seemed oddly hesitant, and no wonder, Tony thought, when the man had let the world, or at least the Avengers, think he was dead for two years.
"Pepper's going to kill you," Tony said conversationally. "And you won't come back from that one, Agent."
"Director."
Tony glanced at him, one eyebrow quirked. Coulson gave a slight shrug, as though to say the title wasn't his choice, before he continued, "Agent May tells me Jemma's your soulmate."
"Exchanged our first words earlier."
"Not the most auspicious of meetings."
"Depends on how you look at it," Tony countered. "I found it very auspicious."
"And now?"
"What do you mean, now?"
"Simmons is an invaluable, perhaps even irreplaceable, part of my team."
Tony took another sip of coffee. "She was mine before she was yours."
"She'll make her own decisions," Coulson said. "I just want your word that you'll respect those decisions, whatever they may be."
"I will if you will."
"This is no time for humor, Stark."
"I'm not laughing, Agent." Tony set his cup on Coulson's desk and leaned forward, resting his weight on his fists. "Events last year proved that SHIELD's motives and personnel weren't always pure as the driven snow. Some reassurance on both sides is reasonable."
Coulson studied him for a long moment, and Tony forced himself to stay quiet under the other man's gaze. Tony was accustomed to using money or charm or both to solve a problem (or, less charitably, to get his own way), but neither would work on this man, and both of them knew it.
"Of course SHIELD will respect whatever decision Simmons makes."
"And you, Agent?"
"I gave up my soulmate for the greater good - for SHIELD," Coulson said.
Intuition flashed, and Tony let out a breath. "The cellist."
"The cellist. I didn't make the decision lightly, and I still think it was the right one, for me. I wouldn't ask Simmons to do the same, nor would I condemn her if she didn't."
That would have to do, Tony decided. Coulson's next words brought him back to the present.
"But if you hurt her, I'll destroy you."
Tony grinned. "Back at you."
Coulson's lip twitched into an almost-smile, and then he offered his hand. "Congratulations, Stark. You don't deserve her."
That was probably true of pre-soulmate Tony, Tony thought as he shook the offered hand. But new, post-soulmate Tony would strive to be worthy of her. Starting now - when he should be by her side as she woke.
#
Jemma stretched when she woke, pleased to note that she was no longer restrained. She was also pleased to note that the simple movement didn't set any nerve endings afire. The worst effects of the sex pollen had worn off.
No, not worn off. She froze in the middle of the stretch as memory returned. Those effects had been burned off by some amazing sex.
With Tony Stark.
As if that weren't mortifying enough, Jemma had a vague memory of his first words to her - the same words that were scrawled across her right shoulder blade. But that couldn't be right. Tony Stark couldn't be her soulmate.
Could he?
Jemma opened her eyes to confirm that she was, in fact alone on the narrow medical bed. A wave of disappointment swept through her.
Lovely. Just lovely. Her soulmate had abandoned her, just as he had abandoned so many other women over the years. She'd expected - no, she'd hoped for better given the bond between them. Apparently that hope was misplaced.
With a sigh, Jemma sat up and looked around for her clothes. Her glance fell on a table near the bed. A glass of water and a couple of white tablets rested on it, along with a note in the same messy penmanship as was on her shoulder: Back soon. Take the aspirin, Doctor.
That he hadn't bothered to sign the note made Jemma smile. Her soulmate hadn't abandoned her, after all. But the aspirin was a good idea, she decided, and quickly swallowed the tablets, then drained the rest of the water from the glass, suddenly aware of how dry her mouth had become.
Probably from all that screaming.
Jemma felt herself flushing, even though she was alone, and pressed her hands to her face to try to cool the heat of her embarrassment.
There's nothing to be embarrassed about, she told herself firmly. The pollen aroused you beyond the norm, and even if it hadn't, sex is a normal, healthy function in all species.
And that was very healthy, wasn't it?
Oh, hush. And why is my conscience talking in Tony Stark's voice?
It smugly refused to answer, so Jemma turned to the next order of business, getting dressed. A glance around the medical pod showed her shoes beneath a small instrument table, her skirt neatly folded atop it … and the rest of her clothes strewn about in a wildly haphazard manner. She reached for the knickers that had landed on the sharps disposal box and was just sliding them up her legs when the door to the pod opened.
"Don't get dressed on my account."
Something about Tony's insouciant manner made Jemma's tone arch just like her eyebrow did. "Are you suggesting you're not satisfied?"
"Just enjoying the view." He grinned at her, and Jemma cursed the peaches-and-cream complexion that showed just exactly how much his words had affected her. Thankfully, he chose not to pursue it.
"I brought coffee," he said, offering her one of the mugs he held. "I thought it should have been tea, but Agent May assured me you drink coffee, so it's her fault if this isn't what you want."
"No, it's fine, thank you." Jemma took the mug, stared down at the dark liquid inside.
"Jemma?" Now Tony sounded uncertain, and something in her hurried to reassure him.
"It's fine, really, I love coffee."
"But -?"
"I'm just surprised," Jemma confessed. "Your reputation - well, you're not known for caring for other people much."
"I don't." The response was one of a man who'd long since accepted himself for who and what he was, and Jemma envied that certainty. "But you're not other people. You're me. A part of me, anyway, and I am very well known for taking care of myself."
"Other than imbibing mass quantities of alcohol at inappropriate times."
"Ooh, feisty." Tony grinned at her. "But you'd have to be, to put up with me."
"I'm not, normally. Do you think it's because of -" Jemma broke off, embarrassed again at the circumstances that had brought them together.
"The pollen? Could be. It could also be that the soul bond's already working on both of us."
"Working on?" Jemma repeated, frowning in confusion. "There's nothing that indicates anything changes when a person receives their soul mark. Or when soulmates meet."
"Nothing in the biology, maybe. I don't know, it's not my field. The physics are a different story. Do you always talk science in the nude?"
"Oh!" She'd completely forgotten about getting dressed. Jemma set her coffee aside and reached for her bra. "My clothes are all wrinkled now."
It was an inconsequential non sequitur, but Tony took it in stride. "All your fault. I was folding things, see? Then I let your hands out of the restraints. That's when you started throwing things. Everywhere."
"Oh, God." Once again, she buried her face in her hands. A second later, his hands clasped around hers and gently pulled them down.
"I didn't mean to embarrass you."
Even through her mortification, Jemma reflected that not many people ever saw a sincerely apologetic Tony Stark.
"It's not you," Jemma managed. "I just embarrass easily."
"Must be that proper British upbringing," Tony quipped. Then he turned serious again. "I'm not going to stop being me, which means I'm not going to stop saying things that might embarrass you. I won't always remember to apologize for them."
"It's lucky for you that I will remember to forgive you anyway."
"I'm very lucky."
The emotion in his eyes made her flush again, but this heat was from arousal, not embarrassment. Unconsciously she lifted her chin, just a little, and then his mouth covered hers.
His kiss was flirty and serious at the same time, and Jemma gave herself over to his skill, following his lead in the kiss, nibbling and tasting. She moaned softly, and Tony pulled back, smirking.
"That's way sexier than you were earlier."
Jemma blinked, tried to catch his train of thought. "Thank you?"
"Just means I like the real you better than pollen-infected you. You going to finish getting dressed, or are we going back for round four?"
"You mean I had three orgasms?" Jemma didn't know whether to be proud or embarrassed.
"Relax," Tony said seriously, though his eyes twinkled with amusement. "I'm only counting the ones I was inside you for."