When A Bright Idea Dims
By Sinead
Author's Note: Combining book and movie forms again because I like the pictures it makes in my head. You'll know it when you see it. Last chapter for a while as I catch up and write more. Last weekend was the final weekend for the renaissance faire, and it was a doozie on the emotional level since we've spent three months together and the season just closed. There will be more chapters within two to three weeks, but I probably won't be able to update four chapters in one week like I had done last week. This was a special for everyone who has been patient. Many thanks! And Sugar Queen, you know who you are, now stop whining for more chapters before I come down there and show you WHY this story is a challenge to write. XD
Chapter Nine
"You . . ." was all that Tony got out before he was cut off, his tone one of both awe and trepidation.
"I'm here for the same reason as those people upstairs." Walking closer, boots making a satisfying thud each time she stepped closer to Tony, Becka kept her face carefully neutral. "But I have a more personal reason for getting you back to work."
"O-oh?" he stammered, his face still disconcertingly pale from shock. This was the one person he hadn't expected to see after his birthday-bender.
"If you die now, I won't have the satisfaction of killing you myself for embarrassing me at your damn birthday party, ruining the house, and fighting your best friend and closest ally, quite possibly crumbling any support he may have given you. Oh, and last but not least, getting completely shit-faced even though you promised me that you wouldn't be more than buzzed at your celebration. Or how about the fact that you've been dying and haven't said anything at all about it, even though we promised each other that we'd be honest in all situations no matter the reasons? Thanks for keeping me in the loop, by the way." Crossing her arms over her chest in furious indignation and hurt, Becka stared the man down.
Swallowing, color starting to return to his cheeks and face, Tony replied very softly, his hands going out to either side as he whispered, "I am so, so very sorry. My only excuse is that I thought I was going to die, and I still don't know if I'm going to live much longer."
"So that gives you reason to act like a complete fool? That gives you permission to hurt me and not keep to your promises?"
He winced. "No."
"Why did you feel that you couldn't tell me?" she demanded, feeling her heart and gut clench as she tried to fight back the tears.
"I didn't want you to worry about something that I haven't been able to find a solution for and wouldn't be able to find a solution for in time to save my life," he replied, watching her, trying to find out if he should step forward and embrace her, or to stand back and give her the space she may need. "I didn't want you to be panicking over me."
"You're worth panicking over, Anthony Edward Stark, and damn it all, you should have told me! You said you wanted to marry me, and yet you didn't trust me with this?" Sweeping her arm back to point to the screens still hovering in the cleared space of his lab, she felt the first tears fall. "You couldn't even tell me that you were dying?"
"I'm-I'm sorry." Pressing his lips together briefly, he whispered, "I wanted to just do things quietly and prepare everything for you to take over my estate."
"Oh, was that all?" came the angry, tear-laced snarl.
"No, of course that's not all!" Tony snapped back, finally at a breaking point himself. "I was preparing everything that you could also be able to still have our children and be able to live comfortably, luxuriously for the rest of your lives without having to worry about finances or college funds!"
Silence fell between the two, and both deflated slowly. Striding the two steps between them, Tony embraced his lady and held her as she sobbed, holding onto his shoulders for support. He kissed her forehead, resting a stubbly cheek against it and closing his eyes. "I don't like people worrying over me. I'm still not used to someone caring enough to be in my face concerned for my benefit. I just . . . I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything."
She shook her head against his chest, drawing in deep breaths to calm herself. "Y-you have work to do."
"It can wait for a few moments," he murmured, tipping her chin up and wiping her cheeks clear of the tears before kissing her nose. "I'll figure something out. I have a little more time."
"I heard the conversation between you and Fury. I know you'll figure it out." She sighed, still trying to calm her heart. He had even planned for their children, even if he wasn't going to be around?
Hearing his amused huff, Becka opened her eyes to see him smiling. "Yeah. Fine." Leaning down, he kissed her soundly, hoping to try to reassure her that he still was there, still alive for even a little longer.
When they separated, she murmured, "So . . . you froze some of your own stuff, huh?"
"Yeah, shut up. Like it wasn't already embarrassing enough."
"So?"
"So in case whatever I figure out sterilizes me, I know that the place I'm at now, I'm still viable. So it stays where it is as a just-in-case. And it's completely secure. Nobody will steal anything." Smiling, Tony nosed her cheek and sighed, face falling again. "I'm so—"
"I forgive you." Blue eyes still dark with emotions, the woman reached up to brush her hand through his hair. "And if you make it through this, we can have longer talks later. But it's time to get to work, hun."
"Okay," he replied, stealing a kiss before smiling and looking at his consoles. "So when did you crack, Jarvis?"
"That is classified information, password-protected by Miss Fahey."
"Ooh, snippy today."
"When you are back to yourself, sir, I will happily reinstate my subroutines on being polite and courteous."
Eyebrows shooting up, he asked, "Who disabled those?"
"Miss Fahey. Also a password-protected session."
"Right. Care to keep turning my own creations against me?"
"I couldn't crack You, Dummy," she replied, smirking as he rolled his eyes and kissed her once more before getting a move-on again.
IM
Tony went through the crate of his father's belongings like a whirlwind, not caring were things landed. Becka, however, moved around him, settling blueprints upon a table and pinning it down with the old film canisters, folders, papers, and pictures. She took the time to examine the faces of those who were in the pictures before placing them down. Just as she was about to come to him and see what he was up to, he made a small sound of satisfaction while staring down at the canister in his hands.
Starting to look up, Tony's gaze fell upon Becka's boots and he froze. "Those boots . . ."
Not moving, the woman nodded once, her voice low and quiet. "Yeah. I kept them."
"I didn't think that you would."
She walked closer and knelt before the sitting man, her face open for him to read. "I need to be in the mindset of helping you keep alive, too. Wearing something from Afghanistan reminds me that you have a job to finished and a deadline to beat."
In the dim lighting of the workshop, Tony nodded as he watched the woman he loved as she moved. Even though this wasn't a time for sex, the giddiness that came from realizing that he was going to live made him want to put everything on hold and seduce her. "All right. Found something that might work. Hold this, see if you can find any notes or notebooks in there while I go find a projector." He moved off, completely in a productive mode.
Rummaging carefully through the crate, she found a full and an unfinished notebook, both with handwritten notes within them. Grabbing both, putting them upon a chair that she knew he would use, she followed the sound of Tony's grumbles as he looked for the projector. She came up behind him, and he pointed to his left, still pushing boxes aside. "Grab that and set it up for me, willya?"
"Got it."
Picking up the screen and the stand, she walked off, hearing Tony hiss a curse and call after her, "Please and thank you! Sorry!"
"Shut up and find that projector!" she replied, grinning.
Hearing his soft half-barked laugh, she moved to set the screen up just as Natasha came down the stairs and entered the workshop. "Tony? Medication!"
Tony walked out from the storage room with a projector, setting it up upon a rolling cart that Rebeckah had just pushed over. "You know how much I hate needles?"
"That's not a concern to me."
"I really wish I could fire you."
"Tony, stop stalling and deal with it," Becka sighed as she moved past them and opened the door. "I'm going upstairs to see if you destroyed the coffee and tea, too."
"Uh . . ."
"Yeah. You can apologize for ruining my kitchen if you make it past forty-eight hours."
She turned to walk through the door, but was stopped by her fiance's soft call. "Hey. I love you."
Pausing, turning, she smiled to her man and replied, "I love you too. But you will have to make everything up to me for putting me through these last two weeks."
"I know. I've got just the thing in mind, and it includes a tropical location."
"If it's sex, I don't need to be hearing this conversation," Natasha snarked, rolling her eyes. These two were absolutely unbelievable. She had been so sure that they would have split after last night, but no, they were actually closer than before, if that was possible. She found herself regretting her prior decision to try to understand their relationship and what made it so concrete.
Natasha found herself on the receiving end of two rather irritated people's glares. Releasing a noise of disgust, Becka walked up the stairs and out of sight. Tony pulled the collar of his robe aside and turned his gaze away. "Thank you for ruining a reconciliation moment, Natasha. Hit me and get out of my sight and my house until you have to administer another dose."
This was not going to be a good day for the agent.
IM
The lights were low, the projector running, playing the reel of film that contained all the original footage recorded for the original Stark Expo, from outtakes to final takes. Pausing in reading one of the journals that Howard had written within, reading his personal notes and thoughts about various technologies of his time and where he wished to see them go, what he wanted to see happen with the household tech in comparison to military tech. Frowning at seeing the little amount of tape left upon the spools, she stood and walked to stand behind the chair Tony was sitting in as he listened to the final bits of commentary and his frustrated father giving up and the film going white.
Tony looked back down at the notes in his hands and tossed his tablet to a table and the notebook containing his father's notes and equations into the crate. He ran his hands over his face in frustration before picking up his glass of coke with a sigh, drinking from it before staring into space and trying to piece together what Fury thought could be pieced together from this crate, from his father, the past.
He had a lot of loose ends, strings that were too short to be tied in the middle.
That was when a picture came back onto the screen of his father walking towards the table, away from the camera and leaning against the diorama, holding an infant up to his shoulder with ease and care. "Tony . . . this is the third night you've kept me up crying, so I thought that I'd give your mother a rest."
Becka moved closer to the screen, coming around the chair to stand beside Tony, her hand going to his shoulder, fingertips resting upon it lightly as they watched his father reach through the years to give his son a message. "You haven't mastered English yet, and you're too young to understand what I have to say even if you did speak English at three months of age, so I thought that I'd just put this on film for you."
They watched as he turned and moved out of the way of the camera to look at the model behind him. "I built this for you." Looking down at the wide-awake baby in his arms, he smiled and continued speaking to his son. "And someday, you'll realize that this means a whole lot more than some people's inventions." Moving so that he was looking back at the camera, Howard Stark spoke with great gravity. "It represents my life's work. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day, you'll figure this all out. And when you do, you will change the world. You'll do even bigger things with your life. I just know it. You're the future."
Tony felt his eyes prickling and his nose itch with unshed tears, but he couldn't and didn't look away. This was the side of his father that Fury was talking about and had known. He felt Becka's hand rest fully upon his shoulder, but he focused completely upon the screen and his father's words.
But he didn't expect what was said next.
"What is, and always will be my greatest creation . . . is you. I love you."
The reel ended, but he continued to stare at the screen for a moment longer before looking down at his hands again, seeing spots of wet upon them just as Becka turned the machine off and sat on the arm of his chair, her arms around his shoulders. He rested his arm around her waist before drawing a deep breath and wiping his face with his free hand.
His dad left him a message and a lesson, and he had to figure it out.
But he needed that model of the expo.
Somehow, that was relevant.
Turning and kissing one of Becka's hands, he stood, silent, and then ran up the stairs, hearing her follow his breakneck pace, not asking any questions but following him to see where his mind was running to, not shocked in the least that he was going to his room, narrowly avoiding the hole in the floor. "Woah! Forgot that was there."
"What do you need?" she asked as soon as he was talking again.
"Um, to change. And for you to find me some shoes or strawberries."
"Why strawberries?"
"There's something about Pepper and strawberries."
"She's deathly allergic to them."
"Right. Shoes?"
"Right here." She held them up, having grabbed them moments before.
"What would I do without you?" he asked as he began to change out of his pajamas, not even bothered in the least that she was watching.
"Remain the most-eligible bachelor until you became impotent?"
That gave him pause, and he grinned before nodding. "And probably would still be a lush."
"Still? Do you not remember last night?"
"Yes, and that's why I need to bring something nice to Pepper. She's going to kill me if I show up at the offices without a peace offering."
"Chocolate-covered cherries."
"No, you're the one who likes those."
That surprised her. She didn't expect him to remember that little thing about her. "Well. I guess then you'll have to pick them up for me on your way back."
"I guess that I will." Wrapping her up in an embrace, kissing her before taking the shoes and shoving them onto his feet, Tony murmured, "Do I still have a chance with you?"
"I'm still here, Tony, even if I'm not happy with you, I still love you," she replied immediately.
He grinned like a teenager in love before sobering again. "Wait. So. What am I bringing to Pepper?"
"Chocolate with mint, or chocolate-covered cherries."
"You both like the same things?"
"Sometimes, yes. Now go, before they notice!" Pulling her keys from her pocket, she handed them to him. "Don't get pulled over. My car isn't locked down with the rest of your vehicles and I told Fury not to tag it. My phone's tagged and if I turn the GPS signal off, they'll alert people to find me, thus you, so I'm staying here. Hurry."
He grinned and embraced her once more before running out of his room and back down into the basement, moving to take a secret exit out of it before Coulson tried to find him.
Taking her time going down the stairs, Becka intercepted the agent with a dulled look upon her face. The man frowned, then indicated where the billionaire genius had run to. She shrugged. "He had to get changed, I didn't know where he was going, followed him up here, and then he darted back down there. I guess that he's worked something out."
"You should keep with him. I don't want to hear that he's becoming mentally imbalanced."
"Where've you been?" she replied, grinning and following Tony down into the workshop. "He's been unsound for years."