A/N: Cyber cookies to everyone who's followed, favorited, and reviewed. We love ya!
i-am-the-wallace: (Reply) Funny that you mention Pepper... ;)
Tony, how could you have known that? -CB
Tony stared at the text message for a moment, blinking in confusion. Shit, yeah, how did he know that? He frowned, shaking his head slightly. If he was planning to keep a low profile, he really had to get some control on what he said.
Not that Tony ever had control on what he said.
Dunno. Just do. -T
Clint swore under his breath at that response.
You're remembering things, aren't you? -CB
Of course not, don't you think I would've told you? -T
At this point, Clint wasn't really sure if Tony would tell him. More accurately, he had no idea if Tony would tell anyone at all. He made a mental note to himself to ask the rest of the team about their suspicions after the mission. For now, he let it go.
I guess. –CB
Clint sighed as he sent the text and he shook his head, suddenly realizing something. Perhaps that's why Cap was mad- he suspected Tony was remembering things, even though the genius wasn't saying anything about it. That would be frustrating and a good reason to be in a bad mood.
Well.
If that was the case, then Clint was gonna knock some sense into Tony. Stubborn or not, the man had a husband now, and he needed to share these kinds of things with him.
Steve sat fuming in the chair, letting the whir of the engine calm him as they descended to Tokyo. They still had a long trip to get there, and he knew that something was bugging Clint from the looks he was getting. What was Tony telling him on that cell phone, anyway?
"Problem, Barton?" He kicked himself mentally. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh, and to use Clint's last name. Steve always used last names when he was pissed.
"No, sir," Clint emphasized the title with such sarcasm it made Steve even more angry, even though he had no authority over Hawkeye whatsoever.
Clint rolled his eyes as he watched Steve. Great. Now he was going to be even more pissy.
Natasha slid her gaze to Steve, and then to Clint, for just a moment. "Let's not be angry with each other before the damn mission even starts," she said cooly. "It's not going to help the situation."
"And it's stressing me out," Bruce muttered from his seat.
Steve immediately snapped his attention to Bruce, who was now cradling his head in his hands and his leg shook spasmodically. "Bruce..."
"I'll be okay. I think Hulk can hold out until he needs to start smashing everything," Banner told him, his voice strained.
"Can I trust you on that? Because I like this jet. It's very...adequate." the archer's tone was joking, but his face revealed his concern for his teammate. "Tell you what, if you can hold out, I'll give you $20 dollars as a reward."
"Make it a hundred." the doctor teased.
"What? Who do you think I am? Tony Stark?" Clint scoffed, and Thor harrumphed, probably thinking of how strange Migardians were to bribe on such a matter. Nevertheless, Bruce kept breathing deeply, "yoga breathing" as Tony called it.
"Bruce..." Steve said again, still focused on the man. The doctor shook his head, letting out a long, slow breath.
Sighing, Steve looked away, knowing that the mere act of worrying about Bruce hulking out made the other guy nervous. That was the last thing that they needed right then, to be honest. Clint shifted in his chair, looking to Steve with raised eyebrows, both in question of Bruce and if Steve himself was alright.
Chagrined, Steve tried to calm himself down so that the aura of the jet would be less tense. Clint kept a watchful eye on not just Bruce, but him. He knew that Clint was well aware of Steve's discomfort, and that it had to do with Tony. Of course it was; what else was new? He gave the archer a thumbs up to acknowledge his concern.
Bruce was clearly calming down himself, too. His knuckles were still white as he clenched them against his temple, but his breathing was considerably easier sounding and he seemed to be managing it. To be frank, he actually looked like he was going to fall asleep. Steve wondered when was the last time Bruce slept soundly. Was he frightened of nightmares that would trigger the Hulk? Steve could bet on it. Bruce, Tony, and himself had their fair share of panic attacks from unsettling nightmares.
Knowing Bruce would manage, he leaned back in the seat for the long flight ahead.
Whoever said patience was a virtue, must not have the mind of Tony Stark. 2 days, he'd been either bedridden, closely watched, or nagged by Steve and the rest of the team. That kind of tolerance didn't sit well with Tony, but he'd put up with it to get them off his back. And it worked, other than Steve poking at him for answers for his memory change. It wasn't fair for the "older" man, and Tony felt guilty for it. Not that it slowed him down any.
"Jarvis, shut down for me, please," he told his A.I.
"I've been recently updated with direct programming to stay online at all times. Courtesy of Ms. Romanoff." the disembodied voice told him.
"Okay, er..." he thought about it. Natasha was certainly advanced in computer programming, but Jarvis was designed with back doors. Even if the A.I. was directly ordered not to shut down when told, Tony could bet the spy hadn't covered all of the bases. "Can you reboot?"
"That would be shutting down, Mr. Stark." If it was possible, Tony could almost hear a creeping suspicion.
"No, not with my programmed reboot," he smirked. He'd created a sort of reboot that turned off all of Jarvis's systems, including cameras, security measures, and even the computers. But his hard drive of information would still be intact, including the voice. He had his knowledge, just not his eyes or ears that Tony had designed. Everything would turn back on in 20 minutes automatically, and that gave Tony enough time to sneak out of the house. "So, reboot."
"Very well, sir. Security functions will be offline as well as your computers."
As the screens dissipated and the blinking red lights of the cameras blinked off, Tony blew out a breath and dashed (in his mind, anyway) to the bedroom. He threw on dress pants, a button down dress shirt (incredibly thankful for the buttons so he wouldn't have to lift his arms, though the buttons proved to be difficult with one good arm and the other in a cast), and sunglasses. The less press, the better.
He called Happy. The man had visited him in the hospital at one point, when Tony was drugged up after all the tests. He was half-conscious, but he remembered perfectly how devastated the old boxer was about him being completely helpless to stop the crash. "Happy? I need you to take me to where ever Pepper is now." It was clear that the request surprised Happy.
"I'm serious," Tony said after a moment as he blew out a long sigh. "I need to speak with Pep, so, come on. Take me to her." He was assuming that she was just at the office working right now, as that's typically where she stayed (from what Tony could remember anyways), so he knew finding her wouldn't be hard.
"Of course," Happy finally gave in. "The car will be waiting out front, as usual."
"Good." Tony was pleased it had been that simple. He didn't have Steve and the team watching his every move; he'd easily found a way to escape the house; Happy was agreeing to take him to Pepper... Yes, it was good.
Getting out to the car, was not. Movement was still difficult and the thudding pain in his ribs caused him to pause here and there, cursing under his breath and muttering something about how he wasn't healing fast enough. Ugh. He let Happy open the door for him, sliding in to the familiar seats of his Rolls-Royce Phantom, even though it had to be a different car since the other one Tony was in was totaled, that he'd initially bought for Happy's chauffeuring, but as their friendship grew he let Happy use the car for himself as well. He breathed in the leather and car freshener before rummaging through his pockets with his good hand and pulling out a medicine bottle. Fumbling with the top, he managed to pry it open with his teeth and he popped in two pills. Painkillers would do well.
"Tony? Does Steve know you're going?" Happy asked hesitantly.
"No."
The driver paused before sighing and igniting the engine. "She's at the office."
"She's still CEO, right?"
"Yeah."
Tony didn't say anything more and looked out the window. Everything could still be the same. Right now, everything felt the same.
-
When Tony remained silent and seemed to look a thousand miles away, Happy made a mental note to himself to text Steve that Tony was running "errands". Then again, maybe he shouldn't. After all, he'd been the one who had almost gotten Tony killed in the first place, and he couldn't bare the thought of the freaking Avengers angry with him.
He decided that he'd just go along with his boss and hope that his friend didn't do anything too stupid. It wasn't long until they reached their destination. Happy was still looking a bit skeptical about this whole thing, but he didn't say a word as he got out of the car and walked around to open the door for Tony. The other man looked a little pained as he slid out of the seat to stand, but he didn't say anything about that, either. He knew Tony probably didn't want to have someone smothering him, asking if he was alright. Steve had probably been doing enough of that to drive the man crazy. "Shall I wait here for you?"
"Yeah, that'd be great," Tony nodded to the man as he took a deep breath. Those pain pills should be kicking in soon, he thought as he walked into the familiar building that was the office. Here's to hoping they didn't make him too drowsy. Sighing, he headed up to where he knew Pepper probably was, ignoring the glances of a few other interns and employees as he went.
He made it to the glass office doors, and peeking in, he saw Pepper typing away on her computer. She looked almost exactly the same as he remembered. Same ol' Pepper. He relished the feeling. Nothing seemed the same anymore, except for the little things. Feeling a sense of confidence, he opened the door and greeted the woman, "Hey,"
When the ginger looked up, Tony grinned at her expression. It was priceless.
"Tony!" she exclaimed, shocked. "W-what are you doing here? I heard about your accident; Natasha called me a few days ago. I meant to come and visit you, but they told me it wasn't a good idea and I must say I agree-"
"Why wouldn't it be a good idea?" Tony asked, confused. Steve had told him that although he and Pepper had something for a short time in the definitive, they'd decided to keep it strictly friendship. Soon after that, Tony had apparently grown closer to Steve. Actually, Steve hadn't told him much at all about Pepper.
"Oh, I-" she looked at him sadly. "Your amnesia. Do you still have it?"
"Well, yeah, for now. I'm sure I'll get it back, as everyone keeps telling me." he looked around. "Didn't change the place much, did you?"
He hoped Pepper could hear the intended secondary question.
"I've moved things around a little."
Tony's eyes scanned the room for a moment longer and then he headed for a chair, wincing slightly as he sat down. this was better than standing, though, he decided. Standing hurt. A lot.
Pepper watched him from where she sat, her mouth turned into a small frown. "I'm not sure if you coming here was a good idea. You need to take time to heal, Tony. I'm sure you should be resting-"
"You're starting to sound like Steve, Pep," he muttered in an annoyed tone, his brow furrowing.
She sighed. "Sorry, Tony, but you know that I'm right."
"Yeah, you're always right, huh?"
"Well, yes."
"But I'm-"
"I know you're the genius here." She smiles at that, though it's a cautious grin. Nevertheless, it's the type of thing that has Tony feeling /normal/. Like things are supposed to be like this. He's supposed to sit around and banter with Pepper, because that's just what they do. As silence fell on them, Tony regarded Pepper carefully. She was avoiding his gaze, her thumbs twiddling. That was weird. Pepper always acted calm, collected, and very strict around him. She was no-nonsense. "Bet you're wondering how I snuck out of the tower."
"That I am. I highly doubt Steve let you, or the rest of the team, for that matter."
"Fury called, and I think they said something about a nuclear threat in Tokyo that needed to be dealt with immediately." Tony said, and noticed that she had checked her watch at least 3 times since he walked in. "What, is Oprah on a few minutes?"
"I'm waiting for someone, that's all," she sighed, and looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. It made Tony's heart pang. Okay, so maybe things weren't as normal as he'd thought.
"Who?" he asked, his voice much more harsher than he'd intended. If Pepper caught on to his tone, she didn't look it. "A date, perhaps? If it is, then I want to meet him. I really do. You're in control of my company; I need to be very sure if he'll make sure you live up to your standards and such. I hope you picked a nice guy out of your fanclub. Some of them are very rude. I'd know, I've had them call me and-"
"Tony." Pepper had her eyes closed and was pinching the bridge of her nose. "There's something you should know. And you should hear it from me."
Whatever green monster had started to arise in his blood raised its ugly head even more, this time worse because he was telling himself not to be jealous. He hadn't even been romantically involved with Pepper, although he'd wanted to very badly at that time. "That's okay, you can tell me later when I'm sober."
"You haven't been drinking. I can tell." Pepper was irritated now. "Now can you please shut up and listen for once?"
"How's Rhodey, by the way?"
"Tony, I'm engaged."
At first, he acted as if she didn't say anything. "Seriously," he murmured, picking up a mint from the fancy dish that sat on the desk. "How's Rhodey doing? I'm surprised he didn't visit when I was in the hospital. I would've thought-"
"Tony, I'm serious," Pepper cut in, her tone quiet. "I'm engaged."
That seemed to shut him up and for a moment he stared at her, something in his chest tightening painfully. "Oh." He finally found his voice, though he sounded off. "That's... congratulations." He sounded abnormally calm, and without some sort of snarky or sarcastic comment to follow, Pepper knew he was hurt. It was written all over his face.
"Tony..." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Look, I-"
"No, no, no," he held up his hands and forced a smile, though it looked more like a grimace. "That's... great, Pep. Really great. Who's the guy? Because, like I was saying, you run my company and I need to check out whoever it is you're with. You know, make sure he's good enough and all that. Yeah?" He looked at her and nodded. She just stared. "Pepper?"
Before Pepper could answer, a light knock on the door made Tony freeze.
"Hey, Pep- Are you in a meeting because I can-" the ever familiar voice struck Tony right in the heart. I'm waiting for someone. I'm engaged. He didn't want to turn around. He hoped that the owner of the voice would just slip away without him noticing. "Sorry."
"No, its okay." Pepper voice was a little raspy, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Pep?"
Tony kept his head down, closed his eyes, and tried to imagine himself back in his lab, almost 2 years ago, working on an update to the suit with Pepper rambling in his ear about the company's interests.
"Oh, God, Tony?!" the stifled gasp made Tony wince and he forced himself to turn his head over his shoulder, now face to face with his best friend James Rhodes.
A/N: Ouch. That's got to hurt.
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