He brought her a few cups of tea every day; no one really questioned it even though she was in a coma. She used this one mug the most. It was pink with a half a heart handle. Funnily enough, it was technically his.

The day she was five they had gone out and she saw it in the window of a store. She pulled on him to stop walking and told him to buy it while pointing directly at it, but not for her, for him-

"Why do I need it squirt? I have a bunch of coffee cups at the tower."

"This one is if-er-ent, Tony! This one has a half heart on it!"

"And why does that make that one special?"

"This one will remind you about how much I love you when you use it." The way she said it, like it made so much sense the whole world should understand it, made Tony's heart melt a little bit.

Tony shook off the memory and found himself sipping the tea as he read the paper in his hand. He was more of a coffee guy, but the tea wasn't bad. Made it just the way she liked it too: English teatime tea, four spoons of sugar and enough milk to make it light brown.

"Come on Mar.. Wake up for me.. Please.."

The only sound that answered him was the heart monitor beeping out each of her heart beats.

"Guess that's better than nothing, better than a flat line anyway." A few more beeps.

Tony smiled; "Glad we are in agreement." He took another sip from the tea cup and gently picked up the hand closet to him. "You are too cold, I don't like it." Another beep. "Not just me then."

"Do you normally hold conversations with the heart monitor?"

"Bruce you know the machines and I are one. Besides, it keeps me sane." Tony said before he gulped down the rest of the contents of the mug.

"Got to have it to keep it," Bruce muttered as he looked at the monitor that recorded Mary's vital signs. "Drinking her tea now too?"

"It's good. But if she asks, Mo did it."

"I'll remember that, now can you move? I have some tests to take."

"Oh fine…"

~ A week later~

Mary was curled up on the sofa, a cup of tea in one hand, a book resting on her drawn up knees. She looked up and smiled as Tony walked in.

"Hey Tony!"

"Hey, Mar, how's the book?"

"Good, oh, I hope you don't mind that I'm using your cup."

"Which one?"

She held it up. Pink, half a heart handle. "Oh yeah, use it all you want, squirt." She didn't notice the look in his eyes or the smile on his face.

"Okie dokie, Thanks." Mary said back absent mindedly as she was already back in her book's universe.

Technically it was his mug, but he'd much rather think of it as theirs.