AN: HERE IT IS AT LAST!!

Chapter 12

Nicole could almost swear she felt her skin turning green. She was sick with herself. She loved Tony deeply, despite the fact that before she left she wouldn't let him touch her, and yet, here she was in Gotham City, dreaming about sleeping with another man.

'What the hell kind of girlfriend am I?' Nicole wondered silently. 'Goddamn my father and this fucking situation he got me into. Well, look where that got him...'

Nicole looked up and saw her reflection in a mirror opposite the bed. She could barely recognize herself. Her red hair, the dark purple circles under her bloodshot eyes... Her face looked thinner and her eyes didn't even glimmer.

"Who am I?" Nicole asked out loud.

"I'd say that you're Nicole Lion," Answered a voice from the doorway. "But all three of us are having a hard time seeing her."

Nicole looked at the door and saw Bruce walk in with his ever-faithful butler, Alfred Pennyworth, who was holding a tray of juice and toast in his hands.

'She's going to be pissed at me in a second...' Nicole distinctly heard Bruce think as he walked closer to her.

"What did you do?" Nicole demanded.

Bruce gulped slightly, 'I forgot she can read minds...' "I made you a doctor appointment."

"Keep dreaming," Nicole snarled. "The last thing I want to see or deal with right now is ANOTHER doctor."

"Another?" Bruce inquired.

"Tony forced me to go to the hospital after he rescued me," Nicole said.

"My competitor is smarter than I give him credit for," Bruce said offhandedly. Nicole rolled her eyes as she sighed.

"I'm NOT going to a doctor."

"I know," Bruce said casually. "The doctor is coming to you."

'Three weeks, it's been fucking three weeks...' Tony's mind was growling as he flew through Los Angeles via Sunset Boulevard. Tony was NOT in a good mood at all. Apart from Nicole vanishing for more than three weeks, it was still snowing in Los Angeles County, and it wasn't getting any better. "Jarvis, any luck reaching Nicole?"

"None, sir," Jarvis responded in his calm British tone. "Her phone is still disabled. All I have for you is the location of her Arc Reactor."

Tony growled, using Nicole's Arc Reactor to go find her sounded majorly stalker-ish in his ears, but he needed her; maybe she could have some insight as to why it was still snowy in LA. But more importantly than that, he needed reassurance that she hadn't killed herself.

"Set course," Tony said stiffly. "It's time we found her."

Nicole was in a bitchy mood. She sat out on the balcony of Bruce Wayne's penthouse, trying to clear her mind. The morning had been hell; she'd been poked and prodded by the Wayne Family's doctor for the second time, and that did nothing to improve her mood. As Alfred tidied up inside, she had decided to get some fresh air and some sun out on the balcony. As she had been laying out for the better part of an hour, her eyes closed, she'd heard everything going on around her: cars honking angrily at one another, sirens of the men and women of Gotham's finest going off to save the city, a jet roaring by, a jet roaring by again...?

"Huh?" Nicole's eyes popped open as the sound of the jet didnt fade away this time, but stayed close to her. She blinked twice, not believing her eyes, but the red and gold Iron Man descended in front of her. "Oh, my god..."

"BRUCE WAYNE?!" Tony inquired as he landed and pulled his helmet off. "Bruce Wayne is the idiot you ran to when you needed someone to comfort you?"

"Stop it," Nicole growled. "This has nothing to do with business, and you know it! Bruce is an old friend of mine, from BEFORE I started working for my father, before he even ran his family's company." She paused, a small pain shooting through her body. She inhaled sharply and her hand flew to her stomach. Tony looked at her, worry shooting through his eyes as he advanced on her.

"Are you okay?" Tony inquired, touching Nicole's shoulder. She halfheartedly pulled away from him, but then decided against him.

"I'm scared," Nicole said at last. "I'm scared, and I can't do this alone, Tony. You saw how it almost destroyed me that first week when I was alone in my house; Bruce has Alfred watching me when he's not home, but if he lefy me alone, I don't know what I might do to myself. This entire ordeal has turned me into someone even I can't recognize."

"I want you to come back with me," Tony said.

Nicole looked away from him and walked into Bruce's penthouse. Her anger, pain, and confusion were all reaching their boiling points. She needed to find clarity... She just needed her life to make sense... if even for a split second.

"Why did you come after me?" Nicole inquired suddenly as Tony hesitantly followed her.

Tony cocked his head as if he hadn't heard her corectly, "Because I love you, Nikki, and I was worried about you."

"Tony," Nicole said after inhaling slowly and deeply. "I hope you know that I still DO love you too. I love you so much that I can't even fully tell you how much I love you. I want to spend as much of the rest of my life with you as I can, whether or not the child growing inside of me is yours."

"I was hoping you still felt that way," Tony admitted gently as he extended his hand, covered in its gauntlet and cradled Nicole's cheek. "I understand if you need to stay here for a while longer, but just promise me that you'll actually call me once in a while."

"Tell that to Bruce Wayne," Nicole smirked. "He disabled my Blackberry."

"Sonofabitch," Tony smiled. Nicole punched him playfully, but his armor absorbed the hit, reminding him... "By the way, do you know any company that has had advances in snow technology?"

"Snow?" Nicole repeated in confusion. "No, but Hammer Industries, run by that sonofabitch, Justin Hammer, has been attempting to work with weather control... Why do you ask?"

"Because he's trying to freeze Los Angeles," Tony said. "Fucking God, I should have known... I got to get back there..."

Nicole nodded halfheartedly, she didn't want him to go...

Tony walked over to her and kissed her passionately, "I love you Nikki."

"I love you too," Nicole sighed as Tony's boots roared to life and he vanished in a streak of light.

Nicole sat back down on the chair she had occupied before, a tear streaming down her face.

"Y'know," Bruce's sarcastic voice came from inside. "That was so touching, I almost cried."

Nicole glared at him, tossed a pillow roughly at him, and sent the cup of coffee he had been holding tumbling out of his hands and onto his shirt.

"And that was so touching I forgot to laugh," Nicole retorted grudgingly, watching the trail of light and smoke left behind by Iron Man vanish slowly

TBC!