Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tony left Fury's office a few minutes later, but no sooner than he started the engine of his R8 did his blackberry ring.

"Yeah?" Tony grunted.

"We need you," Fury said.

Ten minutes later, Tony was walking down a long flight of stairs with Nick Fury and Sensei Stick, who had mysteriously turned up right after Tony had left. The long staircase led to a dank and musty old basement that Tony wouldn't have expected to be under the SHIELD building. Lying in the middle of a table was Nicole's body. Tony felt chills shoot through his body as he looked at the body. She looked as if she was sleeping, which confused Tony slightly.

"She died two months ago," Tony said. "How—?"

"Magic," Fury said simply. "You've got a lot to learn still, Stark."

Sensei Stick began chanting in a foreign language, and Nicole's body began glowing. Tony waited with baited breath, hoping that it would work.

Back in Tony's mansion, Nicole was crying. Her spirit was in a lot of pain, and she didn't know why. She felt like she was being stabbed over and over again. She was praying for it all to end, when she felt herself be pulled suddenly. She was pulled out of Tony's mansion and down along the Pacific Coast Highway, all the way from Malibu to LA. She recognized the SHIELD building as she was pulled into it and then her vision went black.

Tony watched as Nicole's reactor lit up and she began breathing. Her back arched and she cried out in pain. Tony was sure the shrapnel had just been pulled from her heart and her heart had been repaired. As her eyes fluttered open, tears streaked down her face. She sat up and looked around. She was alive.

Before saying or doing anything else, Nicole was taken to shower and change her clothes. Once she was done, she found her way back to Fury's office where Tony was waiting along with Nick Fury himself. Her ears were ringing with voices and they were actually starting to give her a migraine….

"How are you feeling, Nicole?" Fury inquired as she sat down.

"Weird," Nicole admitted. "Why am I able to hear people's thoughts still?"

"It must be a side-effect," Fury said.

"I don't want to be able to hear people's thoughts!" Nicole cried. "Can't you take it away from me?"

"That is not in my ability to do, Nicole," Fury responded.

"Wait, you can hear thoughts?" Tony inquired.

"I could when I was a ghost," Nicole said. "Fury, I can't control it! I never could!"

"Perfect time to learn."

Nicole glared daggers at the elder man, "Then can I go now? I have a fucking migraine now…."

Fury nodded and both Tony and Nicole got up. Nicole shook slightly as she walked, so Tony wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. Once out of the building, all the voices in Nicole's head vanished. She exhaled deeply as she leaned against the hood of Tony's R8. Her eyes squeezed shut, and her nails dug into her palms.

"Hey," Tony said, grasping her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Nicole responded. "I feel weird. Goddamn, you know ninety percent of those women we passed inside were mentally hitting on you?"

Tony grinned as his cheeks flushed slightly, "Too bad I only have eyes for you."

Nicole beamed as she slid into the passenger side of Tony's R8, "I can feel again…."

She leaned over as Tony slid into the driver's seat and kissed him on the lips. Tony moaned into the kiss and allowed it to deepen. The smell of him, his touches… Are enough to drive ANY woman crazy...

Nicole was in heaven. Between Tony's kisses, his scent, and his touch, she felt like she actually managed to move on. But thankfully, this time, it was all reality. In an attempt to deepen the kiss further, Nicole shifted slightly and lost her balance a drop. Her hand slammed on the steering wheel and accidentally sounded the horn.

"Nicole…." Tony laughed, shaking his head when Nicole looked around like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Sorry," Nicole grinned guiltily.

"Only you…."

Tony drove them back to his mansion. Nicole was happy to be able to actually have to open the door instead of gliding through it.

"Jarvis," Tony said once the door closed behind them. "Please change the sheets on my bed so Nicole can get some sleep."

"Oh," Nicole said. "You don't have to do that for me. "There's somewhere else I want to rest."

Tony gave her a look of confusion as she took him by the hand and led him through the back door. She took him to a hammock that was suspended in the middle of the backyard and laid down on it with him. Once they were both settled, Nicole promptly put her head down near his reactor and sighed. Now she was really in heaven. She felt Tony's arm slide up under her shirt and along her ribcage. The roughness of his skin against her soft skin felt….

"Amazing," Nicole sighed.

"Hm?"

"I missed all of this so much," Nicole said as the sounds of the waves nearby reached her ears.

"Well, I missed you," Tony said, kissing the top of her head.

"Yeah, you and all the blondes you slept with in the last eight weeks," Nicole smirked. "Can I just tell you how nasty those girls were in their thoughts while in bed with you?"

"Do I even want to know?"

"I don't think you do," Nicole said.

'I'm actually a little concerned of what she might've heard…'

"Tony," Nicole said flatly. "I can hear you. I'll admit, I heard some disgusting thoughts that probably would have made me vomit if I would have been alive. But, you were screwing these women for God's sake; do you really think anything different passes through my own mind?"

"I would hope so considering you're more intelligent than these women by like 200," Tony grinned.

"That doesn't mean I'm any different than another woman when it comes to getting laid," Nicole reasoned with a smirk of her own. "That just means I think the same things as these women, but in a smarter way."

TBC!

AN: Hey guys! I just wanted to inform everyone that updates may be coming a little slower from now on. I got a bad report card last semester and I'm on thin ice with my parents, trying to prove that I can do well in my college summer classes. But updates will be coming, don't worry! I wouldn't leave you guys without giving you some Tony/Nicole action! I love you guys, and thanks so much for all the reviews thus far!