Title: Protect My Heart

Author: Erik-in-CT

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer or Marvel Comics, and not myself.

The alarm went off with the annoying buzz that told her it was time to start her day. Monday...the first official day of her internship. Her hand landed somewhere in the vicinty of the alarm, and after a moment of fumbling around, she managed to shut of the blasted noise. Another night of dreams...why couldn't she get those thoughts out of her head? She hadn't even seen him all weekend, but he continued to consume her thoughts.

She had tried to change the course of her mind over the weekend. She had spent Saturday morning getting Twain and all of his peripheries set up in the apartment, and most of the rest of the day working on his programs and codings, tweaking with them the way she always did when she had nothing else to do. Or was trying to think of nothing else for that matter. And then Sunday had been spent in a necessary excursion into the city to supplement her wardrobe with suitable clothing for work. Luckily she had received an unexpected parting gift collabrated on by Charlie and Renee of a decent amount of funding for new clothes.

Finally, she managed to roll herself out of the bed, stretching in the morning sun that filtered through the curtained windows. A quick shower and her usual morning routines, and a half hour later she was drinking a cup of tea and glancing over the map of the Stark complex, trying to memorize her way around the areas she would have to find in just a little while. It seemed that the main building alone was three or four times the size of even the large high school she had attended in Phoenix. She was just folding up the page to place in her shoulder bag when she heard a knock on the door. Confused, she made her way over and opened the door, her breath catching slightly as she looked out.

"Good morning Bella," Tony said as she looked at him with a slightly dumbfounded expression on her face. He was looking quite handsome in an exquistely cut suit, and she found herself stumbling slightly over her words, flashes of him from her dreams racing through her mind her causing the blood to rush to her face.

"Um...oh yes, good morning Tony," she finally managed to get out, wishing she had left her hair down to hide the flush in her cheeks, instead of pulling it back into a ponytail.

If he noticed the redness in her face, or her momentary lack of speaking skills, he didn't mention it. He merely gazed down at her with the usual smirk. "I thought you might need a little help finding your way around on your first morning. Figured I'd give you a tour."

"You really don't have to," she said. "I'm sure you have much more important things to do than show an intern around." Tearing her eyes from his face, she turned away from the door, moving back into the main room of the apartment to gather up her things. She heard the door click shut behind her, and she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing as best she could.

"But not nearly as interesting," he said from somewhere near the door. "Pepper handles most of important stuff anyway. She can always find me when something needs signing."

"Pepper? Oh, Ms. Potts." Bella had met Ms. Potts after her win at the tech fair, sitting with her and Charlie for a small amount of time to go over all the details of her 'prize'. "Twain, where did I put my cell phone down?" She couldn't find it in her bag, and it wasn't in sight anywhere she could see.

"It fell off the nightstand onto the floor in the bedroom," the soft voice said from a speaker set on the desk next to the main system.

"Oh, thanks," she said. Looking back at Tony, she saw him watching her, one eyebrow quirked upward. "Oh, Tony, that's Twain. I think I told you about him before."

"You did mention him, yes." Tony answered. "Good morning Twain. How are you?"

"Good morning Mr. Stark. I am functioning within normal parameters, thank you." Bella stifled a chuckle at Twain's response. As a machine, he had no emotions to speak of, and his answer was as computer as it got. Quickly, she moved back into the bedroom, finding her phone on the floor next to the nightstand. She had probably knocked it off when fumbling for the alarm clock. When she returned to the main room, she decided she really didn't have much of a choice but to take Tony up on his offer of a tour. She was excited and frightened of the thought of spending more time with him. Not an unknown feeling for her.

"Alright," she said as she shouldered her bag. "I'm ready to go."

"Then let's be off," Tony said, pulling open the door for her.

A few hours later, Bella found herself almost completely overwhelmed by all that surrounded her. After giving her quite a tour of the facility, Tony had to run off to some meeting, leaving Bella in the charge of Dr. Riva, the head of the computer lab. Currently he was letting her watch over his shoulder while he worked on a project that involved nano technology for use in medical research, explaining to her what they were trying to accomplish. She couldn't understand everything he was talking about, but she got the gist of what he was saying. However, she was a bit relieved when he shut down his machinery and announced that it was time to break for lunch. Her head was filled with the information she was trying to process, and she moved to the small desk she'd been given in the office, pulling out a notebook and pen and jotting down her thoughts.

The rest of the day went pretty much the same as her morning had, and by the time everyone was ready to go home for the night, Bella felt she was staring to kind of get the hang of the work. She wasn't nearly as advanced as they were, but she felt that if she put her mind to it and really worked at it, she would be able to into the work just as easily as they seemed to. As she was packing up her bag and saying goodnight to the technicians, she saw Dr. Riva talking to Tony by the door. A smile tipped up the corners of her lips as she entertained the thought that he might be as interested in her as she was in him.

"Hey Tony," she said as she walked up to him, starting to feel much more at ease in talking to him. For a moment she was worried that something was wrong, because he seemed upset, but when he turned his eyes to her, the expression on his face changed, and his mood seemed to lighten.

"Hey. How was your day?" Tony asked.

"Exhilarating," she replied. "I've so much to learn, I don't even know where to start."

"She did great Mr. Stark," Dr. Riva said with a smile for Bella. "She's got a lot of potential, that's for sure." He gave a wave and a nod to the two of them before turning towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Bella, Mr. Stark."

They responded in kind, and after he had left, Tony turned back towards Bella. "Have dinner with me?"

"Again? You can't keep taking me out to dinner Tony, I might get the wrong idea," she responded with a laugh.

"Maybe," he said with a laugh. "I was thinking take out at your place, and you could show me more about your Twain. Maybe work on developing your programming a little. I do have a little knowledge in the area as well, you know."

"So I've heard," Bella laughed as they began making their way across the complex. What was it about him that managed to bring out so much life in her, she wondered. She couldn't remember smiling and laughing as much as she had of late in quite a long while. Whatever it was, she would take it while she could. It felt so good to have those feelings again. The feeling of...of being alive.

The sun was still shimmering slightly in the sky, causing Edward to have to keep to the dark shadows cast by the buildings and landscaping around him, and severely limiting his movements. But he was able to catch glimpses of Bella as she moved across the wide expanse of land that seperated the main building from the smaller outlying structures. Seeing the smile on her face, and the way her eyes sparkled as she looked at the man with her, he felt a confusing mixture of emotion. He was glad that she seemed to have found happiness in her life, but he was also saddened that it was a happiness that didn't include him.

He followed from a distance, skipping easily from shadow to shadow to keep her in sight, while remaining hidden himself. But when he neared the area where she was staying, he halted and stiffened. A breeze had brought a new scent with it, and he was immediately on alert. It was a few hours old, but it was there. She had been there. He scanned the area with his mind, searching for the buzz of her thoughts, but it seemed she was no longer in the area. But his fears had been confirmed. Victoria had found Bella in the city, and was following her. Should he follow the trace of her scent? No. She could return here before he caught up with her. No doubt she had discerned his own presence in the area, and was planning her own moves carefully. He would wait for her to return.

They had ended up ordering Thai take-out, eating directly from the delivery containers as they sat in front of the computer desk Bella had set up over the weekend. Bella's eyes were starting to blur over slightly from staring at the screens, but she didn't feel like stopping. She was enjoying herself too much. Tony was giving her great ideas of way to improve Twain's programming, dropping hints and comments to help steer her towards developing the fundamentals of the ideas herself. He was actually doing a lot to help her learn more complex codings that she could never have figured out on her own.

"Earth the Bella," Tony said, his head tipping downwards slightly to catch her eye.

"Hmm?" Bella responded, finally noticing that he had said her name a few times before she noticed. She was really staring to fade out, and she was a little embarrased. "Sorry, been a long day."

"No need to apologize. I probably shouldn't have kept you up so late."

"No no, I really enjoyed your help! You've given me some really great things to work on." A yawn escaped her lips, and she smiled apologetically.

"Alright, time for bed, I think," Tony said as he pushed away from the desk. Grabbing the back of her chair, he pulled her away as well. "Twain, turn this stuff off, Bella needs to rest now, and if we let her, she might end up going all night."

"Mr. Stark is correct Ms. Bella. You do need to rest." Twain said as the monitors went dark.

"Everyone is teaming up against me," Bella jokingly protested.

Tony laughed, and in a swift movement, had pulled her up out of her chair and slung her into his arms. "For your own good." He walked her to the bedroom and dropped her on the bed, staring down at her with a smirk on his lips. She gasped slightly as she hit the mattress, then smiled up at him.

"Alright, alright, I get the point. Now shoo!"

Tony affected an embellished bow, chuckling slightly. "As you wish," he said, then grinned devilishly as he swept down, pressing his lips against hers for just a split second before turning to leave the room.

For a moment Bella didn't know how to respond. It was there and gone so quick that she was stunned. Recovering herself, she grabbed a pillow of the bed and threw it at his retreating back, laughing as it made contact just before he made good on his escape. "You scoundrel!"

"One of the best," she heard him say as he closed the door behind him.

Author's Note:

Alrighty...that was the longest chapter so far! But so much fun!

For those who might have missed it, I posted (as a seperate story on my main page) the full uneditted version of Bella's dream sequence from Chapter 9. I couldn't resist. :)

As always, thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated!

Tony: "You realize, you've written 10 chapters, and I've yet to have a scene as 'Iron Man'."

Erik: "I did realize that, yes."

Tony: "You know, it's kind of important. It's a part of who I am. I need a scene with the suit!"

Erik: "Alright then. You pick. A sex scene, or an armor scene?" *laugh*

Tony: "Can't I have both?"

Erik: "We'll see."