A/N: Hey you guys, long time no see! Merry Christmas, here is the last chapter!
The way towards recovery was long, exhausting, and long. Not only because Tony had his starting point from a wheelchair, but because he had to be so damn stubborn. He had held it hidden from Pepper for over a week that he had been coughing blood, and then she noticed once when they were having a conversation and he didn't manage to cover it up. Pepper swore she was seconds from fainting, but she managed to pry him into hospital soon enough. Tony's poor heart hadn't coped very well with all the electrocution, or the damn contraption slowly cutting the bloodstreams away from it. Moving around, even if it only was by a wheelchair, had obviously been too much for him as his heart rate was almost severely uneven as an extra addition to the whole thing. The visit at the hospital was rather short though, Tony didn't want to stay in there for long, but they managed to hold him for a couple of days as they watched his heart rate even out.
When they went home to the Stark Tower again, once and for all, it was just the same as it had been before the hospital visit. Pepper would nag Tony about doing different exercises so that he would get well again, tell him to eat, when to sleep and really just take care of him as if he couldn't do it himself. The only thing was, he could, but he just felt like being a total dickhead and say no to everything Pepper said yes to and the other way around. In the beginning it was somewhat okay with Pepper, because she kind of knew what he had been through. It had to be exhausting being reminded of it because of all the circumstances all the time. He would have these flashbacks and throwbacks sometimes, which actually freaked Pepper out, and she would be there for him, comfort him when he went to somewhere dark where she couldn't reach him. Eventually she got tired of Tony not leaving the wheelchair. He should have left it three days past when she started to react and she thought that it wasn't like Tony to not get rid of it as soon as possible, maybe even before recommended. A decision was made inside Pepper's head about talking to him the next morning when they ate breakfast, because then he was always a bit tired and not just as alert as normal, especially if it had been a bad night. Suddenly, Tony brought up the topic himself.
"Do you think it will ever go back to normal?" Tony asked as casually as he could, but Pepper could clearly hear the concern under it, plus see the slight frown upon his face.
"Of course it will, it's almost back to normal already, you just get rid of that wheelchair and you'll be back in no time if I know you right… Which I do, since I actually know you better than yourself." Pepper was taken aback by his sudden question and how small he seemed when he asked it, but she managed to say what she meant and make him smile.
"No… no, I mean like real normal… as in me being Iron Man and all, working with the Avengers, for Fury-" Just there Pepper cut him off.
"You mean you want to work for him again?" She exclaimed, almost shrieked. She couldn't believe she just heard that, did she really?
"Well, after all, I think he's indeed a great leader, and anyways… I like the other guys, you know, Legolas and Capsicle and all…" Tony looked down into his plate with a perfectly made omelet ala Pepper Potts.
Pepper sighed and went quiet. Tony was right, after all he did always seem to have a good time when he worked together with basically everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D, unless he had deemed them incompetent because they didn't understand all of his incredibly high tech, self made computer systems. Pepper went back to answering his first question again, reassuring him that it would all be fine.
"Tony, I am sure you'll be sitting down in your workshop in a few days, not coming up to sleep or eat or do anything else a normal human being should do to… what do they call it again?... Oh, yes! Survive the whole ordeal called living." Pepper raised an eyebrow and smiled down into her breakfast, just as Tony did.
It seemed that this had gained him some kind of newfound courage and belief that he could actually get completely well again, as his whole face lit up and his shoulders relaxed. Small attempts at rising up from the wheelchair could be seen, but Tony felt as if there were no bones left in him, being a total jelly when he laid pressure on any sort of body part. Maybe I should've done those exercises Pepper was nagging about. No, no. no. no. Don't think like that, you're not blunt Stark. He tried once more, with all the power his still battered body maintained, and dragged himself up from the chair to support himself on it shortly after. Pepper looked at him with disbelief and amazement, that same look she got when he had just "saved the world" and still managed to stand upright and give her a passionate kiss. For a couple of seconds, Tony didn't think he was going to manage, head throbbing and body feeling like it was only held up by sheer force of will. However, he dared to take one step forward, towards Pepper sitting on the sofa. He smiled for a brief second, together with her, as if they were teaching a toddler how to walk, but it was broken abruptly when Tony screamed in agony and fell down onto the carpet. He was quick on hiding his face in his trembling hands. No matter what he did, what he tried, his eyes turned glassy and red, filled with all his fears from the flashbacks now raving through his mind.
"Tony, just… take it easy, there's no need to rush anything." Pepper sat down with him on the carpet, leaning her back against the couch. "You will get there, just take it easy, be patient." She whispered and almost laughed at herself for the last words. Tony being patient? Really?
She was just about to hug him tightly, but she didn't get much longer than to touch him and it made him flinch violently. One loud sob escaped him, but then he seemed to suddenly calm down and he reached out for her again. She closed in on him again, very carefully so that he shouldn't flinch again or get scared. But it was okay this time, he held around her like a lost child who had finally found its mom again. Quiet, soothing words poured from Pepper's mouth as she rocked both of them back and forth. Tony held his eyes tightly shut and almost clawed at his girlfriend's back. His breath was shuddering under the force of pushing away the bad memories, but it was so hard, so damn hard.
"You know, at one point, you'll just have to have this breakdown, just let it all out, you know? We can't keep going like this. I know this is though… or… I can't even imagine how much, but this would happen eventually, because no human mind is strong enough to put up with all of this. " To hell with it, he's had so many breakdowns lately, but just one more, this last one would do it.
And so, for the last time, Tony couldn't hold it together anymore, he had to make all the bad memories go away, disappear, distinguish. There were no more tears to shed, he was finished with all of that. Instead he let out small, choked screams and whimpers against Pepper's shoulder as they sat on the floor. All the bad memories flashed before Tony's eyes, but something was different now, they didn't circle around and come back for him, it was as if they left for good. This made him curious, or even more so confused. They were gone, not bottled up anymore, just completely gone. He quieted eventually and then Pepper helped him into their room, without the wheelchair this time. They laid down on the bed, and finally Tony was the one holding around Pepper.
"No, not that, it looks awful Rhodey. Just… sit down, keep quiet, drink your scotch and let me do this, the people of America will be disgusted by it if you do the design." Tony mumbled as he put together parts for the new Iron Patriot suit. "You know, with the looks of it now," He gestured towards the screen "you could absolutely change the name."
"Oh really, are we still there?" Rhodey answered playfully.
"Yes, and we will be "there" until you decide that Iron Patriot sounds like… like… well, at least not like War Machine." Tony turned around again and continued to add gadgets, weapons and other cool applications to the suit.
Rhodey smiled for himself, ridiculously happy for having his friend back. He had never understood what exactly had happened, he just knew that Pepper must've done something to make him forget, don't care or get over all the latest experiences. The Arc Reactor was still there, and he knew it agonized Tony from time to time, reminding him of everything or sometimes clench around the ways into his heart. The thing was that he had got used to it, and sometimes Rhodey thought that he actually liked it better to have it there than not. What he thought was most incredible was how big improvement he had done since the hospital after they found him with Hammer's daughter. He was in no way that little, white silhouette they had seen in the bed, surrounded by enormous pillows and sheets. Even his screams that had hunted Rhodey had ceased, now he was just all big smiles, jokes and sassiness again. The latest weeks they had both been locked up in Tony's workshop in New York, fixing Tony's suit and making Rhodey's, and it had been two of the best weeks in Rhodey's life so far, so many laughs and old memories. Pepper had also been in a few times, and the look she gave them… it told everything, how pleased she finally was. Everything seemed to be in perfect order, everything was in perfect order, just like before. Harley had been there the whole first week and working together with him and Tony, he couldn't deny that it had actually been fun. The kid had started out a bit shy, but it seemed that he was just as curious, funny and actually bit of a badass as Tony was. Rhodey was sure it had been good for both of the two boys to be around each other, but Harley had to go back with a promise to one day come back to New York.
There was one thing though, that had almost sent Tony back to his state of distress. All of the Avengers had been standing in Tony's penthouse when he woke up one morning, and together with Pepper they had told him that the Stark Industries base was, sort of, in ruins. His mouth had dropped to the floor and he sat straight down on the floor from where he stood, and then he said nothing. Everyone's eyes had escalated a thousand times, they had tried to prod him and shake him to get him to respond, but nothing happened. Suddenly he had just snapped out of the, clasped his hands together and exclaimed that "well then, they just had to clean it all up and get everything running again, so that he didn't lose more money than necessary". Everyone had been a bit more aware of him the days after, ready for him to have a drawback, but after he bellowed at everyone to leave him alone and stop pitying him, everything went back to normal pretty quick.
It was just today that everything landed, today everything crashed down on Tony like a block of solid and pinned him to the ground. There was one single call and everything changed back into normal.
"Sir, Director Fury's on the line." Jarvis said ever so politely, but with what seemed like some uncertainness in his voice. Rhodey shook it off, was it possible for a machine to get uncertain?
Tony's head perked up and he seemed to chew on what Jarvis had just said, literally chewing at it as he bit his teeth together several times loudly.
"Put him through." Tony almost regretted it as soon as he had said it, but decided this could get interesting.
"Ready to save the world Iron Man? The hovercraft, now." And with that, Nick Fury hung up on him.
Tony sent Rhodey a glance telling him everything. No. Can't do it. Not ready. Can't. Stop it. Help! Why now? I'm fine! Rhodey walked slowly towards him and placed a firm han on his friends shoulder, making him jump slightly.
"I think you guys are ready now." He nodded towards the suit and Tony looked from Rhodey to it.
Suddenly a little smirk got plastered into his face. That certain, adorable, sassy smirk that could make even the worst villain stop what he was doing and just surrender. Suddenly Tony jumped over the desk and ran towards the suit. He stretched, clenched and unclenched his fists and stepped into the suit. It locked around him, everything except the visor. Tony turned dramatically and raised one eyebrow towards Rhodey who crossed his arms and almost giggled.
"Oh yes, I am definitely ready." And there he was, the incredible dork.
Rhodey saw the whole front wall open up as Pepper came running down the stairs. Oh no, please please please don't ruin this now, look at the kid, this is like Christmas for him!
"What the… what's going on here?" Rhodey raised his eyebrows at how playful Pepper sounded.
"Gotta fly!" Tony winked at Pepper before he turned the visor down and flew off into the city.
Tony flew low, near the ground, between the buildings. Just to make sure people saw him. Children pointed up at him and jumped up and down, adults stared, and some reporters out in the streets yelled for him. Tony found one reporter that he genuinely hated, a man in his thirties, really irritating douche bag, and flew down to him. He hadn't yelled for him or anything like some of the others, but he snatched the mic out of his hands and tapped at his shoulder. The man turned around with shock, and got even more shocked when he saw who stood behind him.
"Iron M… I mean, Mr. Stark?" His eyes widened and Tony could see that hopeless fan in him.
"Yes, figured I'd just make a pit stop on my way to an important mission." Tony could now see a whole bunch of reporters and writers coming running towards him, they stood outside a building where something boring was obviously happening, the prodigal hero was more probably more interesting though.
The man snatched his microphone back and gestured for the cameraman to film this whole thing, if it was for the news or his own profit, just to have proof he had been talking to his big idol, Tony didn't know. He fumbled with the mic and stuttered out a shocked "Where have you been?"
"I didn't stop by to talk about all that's happened, because life is what happened and life is where I have been. Anyways, that is of no importance to anyone at all… at all. What matters is… I'm back on track!"
Hope you like the ending and that it wasn't to much of a cliché. Once again, Merry Christmas and hope you get the best New Year ever!