Hollow Scars

Mind still caught in a fog, Scarlett woke up to the sound of Tony’s low voice at the other end of the room. It took her a few seconds but she eventually realized he was on the phone with someone. Her head was pounding but she felt significantly warmer and in far less of a fog than when she’d fallen back to sleep. The cling in her throat made her cough but she pulled the blanket up over her mouth to mute the sound. Peeking one eye open, she saw the casually dressed handsome man at the other end of the room pacing back and forth and smiled. As her vision cleared the pounding in her head lessened. On his ear Tony wore a small headset that was blinking the occasional bright blue. If she didn’t already know it, she would’ve guessed at this moment that Tony was nothing more than an average business man.

An average business man with a very cute butt. Scarlett readjusted on the bed so she could better watch him pace. For the first time in a long time she’d woken up not thinking about MedCo, death, betrayal, or guilt. No, the sound of Tony’s voice had helped to clear her thoughts and distract her with something much different than she had ever anticipated waking up to.

Scarlett had woken up in a way she’d never woken up before.

She was happy.

She was in love.

It still felt odd and foreign for Scarlett to even consider the notion that love existed. There had been a time when she thought love was a game that pathetic, desperate people played in poor attempts to ignore their insignificance in the greater scheme of things in hopes of feeling fulfilled. Love had never been in the cards for her. Hell, she’d rolled her eyes at people who claimed that they loved anyone, including their family. Family meant obligation, not love. And yet here she was, mooning over the man at the other end of the room.

Why did love have to actually be a thing? Her plans had been going so well before she’d met Tony Stark.

Well, that wasn’t true at all. That had been a damned lie. Things had been going terribly before she’d met Tony. If he hadn’t saved her in Africa she wasn’t sure what would’ve become of her. Most likely she would’ve become one of the experiments she’d read reports on at the facility. Her stomach churned at the notion. As much as she wanted to have faith she would’ve found a way out, with a chemical burn and a gunshot wound it would’ve been nearly impossible. Meeting Tony, as conflicting and painful as it had been, had given her direction and more of a reason to survive outside of the next job.

Before she could further contemplate the maze of emotions she’d developed in the last month, she felt someone’s hand in her hair and nearly jumped a mile. While logic dictated it was Tony, being touched casually was still something she was getting used to.

“Someday you’re not going to attack me when I touch you, right?” Tony joked, but lazily ran his fingers through her hair. He’d noticed her watching him across the room and had slowly made his way over once his phone call had ended. Somewhere along the line he had ditched the earpiece.

“That remains to be seen.” Scarlett cocked a curious eyebrow but then leaned into his comforting touch. Now that he was closer, the more remarkable things about Tony were visible including his arc reactor which he made no attempts to hide when he was with her. Before they’d gotten comfortable around each other he’d doubled up on shirts to keep the reactor out of plain view but now he didn’t seem to care as much and wore a plain t-shirt that the arc shone through brilliantly.

“How are you feeling?” Tony’s fingers brushed over her forehead in an attempt to feel her temperature.

“Better… but still sick.” Scarlett closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. She laughed when he pulled his hand away and pouted.

“I can’t tell if you have a fever or not. Pepper said I’d be able to tell but no matter what I do you always feel hot.”

“It’s cute that you’re trying, if that means anything.” Scarlett yawned and rolled onto her back before carefully sitting up. The soreness from her various endeavors over the last few days had finally caught up with her. The plan had been originally not to deal with any of the pain until she’d stopped MedCo but as she had learned, plans seldom ever came to fruition the way she wanted them to.

“She said I’d be able to tell if you had a fever. I asked how and she said I’d know but every time I guess I’m way off, so Pepper is either a wizard or a liar. I can’t decide.” Tony crawled onto the bed next to her and helped adjust her pillows so that he could join her.

“You’re not used to giving a damn about other people, are you?” Scarlett turned her head to look at him, very much amused by his frustration.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Terribly.” Scarlett yawned and covered her mouth before it turned into a cough. Shrinking down against the pillows she groaned in irritation. She was never very good at being sick. In fact, she had a tendency to ignore the symptoms until she wound up in the hospital. Short of being drugged, Scarlett had never rested easy. “Don’t feel so bad about it… I’m not used to being taken care of so we’re on an even playing field.”

“What, Scott didn’t cater to your every whim?” Tony’s level of disdain for Scarlett’s ex-boyfriend that he had never even met was pretty remarkable. It was no secret that Tony was a jealous person.

“He certainly tried.” Scarlett noticed Tony stiffen up next to her and exhaled deeply. Glancing over at the nightstand, Scarlett grabbed the glass of water that had been left for her and one of the antibiotics Tony had shipped all the way across the globe for her. After taking it, she nudged Tony with her elbow. “Stop pouting about Scott.”

“Me? What? No, I’m not pouting. That’s not what I do.”

“You are clearly pouting.” Scarlett turned and rested her hand gently on his shoulder, adjusting herself against the pillows so she could look up at him. Tony furrowed his brow and pouted out his bottom lip. “And now you’re pouting about pouting which is just ridiculous.” When he didn’t respond, Scarlett rolled her eyes and shook her head. “What I had with Scott is not what you think I had with him. Scott was this nerdy scientist who pined over me for weeks while we were working together on a job in Senegal. I was already well into the darker circles of Africa before we met. I was dangerous and exciting and all safe guys find that to be a turn on.”

“All the not safe guys find it to be a turn on too, just so you know.” Tony stopped pouting and readjusted the pillows, urging her to sit away from them momentarily so he could add another to the mountain they were leaning on.

“I never thought about it much. I mean, I’m not stupid, I know what I look like but back then it wasn’t important. In a regular work environment it’s actually a hindrance.”

“I can see why. You and I would never get anything done. We’d just have sex all the time.” Tony nodded his head and gestured in front of him.

“I have a pretty intense work ethic, I’m not sure that’s much more than a wet dream.” Scarlett laughed and then grimaced as it turned into another fit of coughing.

“So do I, but I also have a pretty intense libido so it’s conflicting.”

“Stop making me laugh.” Scarlett swatted at his arm gently and then let her head rest back against the pillows.

“It is not my fault that you think that I’m funny.” Tony started to tug the blankets down so she wasn’t so covered up and he could see her better.

“As I was saying, Scott kept asking me out and I turned him down like fifteen times before I finally gave him a pity date. It didn’t go well but a few weeks later I came into work ill and hurt after a bad night of the second job and uh… he helped me hide it and took care of me.” Scarlett shrugged her shoulders. “I fought him the whole time about relationships, how I didn’t want them and somehow we ended up as this… twisted confusing couple that I didn’t even want to be a part of.” Scarlett shook her head in dismay.

“The more he wanted to take care of me the more I didn’t let him. I was stubborn and Scott wanted me to be someone I wasn’t in the long run. No one really wants to date the dangerous girl, you know. Men like the idea of me because I’m different, strange and… exotic but the reality is far less romantic. I’m difficult. I’m a loner, generally smarter than most men, stubborn and definitely not the type to settle down with a family and kids. That’s what most men want including Scott. And when I refused to turn into that woman he would get angry with me. I started to feel guilty that I couldn’t be the woman he wanted me to be. He had always been hoping that I’d change out of love, but the truth was that the love was never there.” Tony still wasn’t looking at her but instead listening intently. He didn’t like Scott before but now he liked him even less. Something in the back of his mind assured him that the ex-boyfriend had been up to no good.

“Look, Tony when Scott tried to take care of me he made me feel guilty because I didn’t let him do so and that I insisted I didn’t need taking care of in the first place. I like that you’re trying to take care of me. I can see it means you care about me. The real difference here is that I want you to try to take care of me. I’ve never wanted that before.” When Tony didn’t respond, Scarlett felt frustrated. This wasn’t her forte.

Relationships were often more work than they were worth but she didn’t want to screw this one up with Tony. He’d proven that it would take more than she thought to do that considering he’d chased her halfway around the globe already to keep her from getting killed. She hadn’t even been the one to bring Scott up! If she had it her way, she’d never talk about Scott again. All she managed to do when thinking about him was feel guilty about having dragged him through years and years of a dead end relationship when he clearly deserved more.

“You know that’s not true.”

“Which part? I said quite a few things and that’s a very general statement.” Scarlett shivered without the blankets. Now that she’d been awake for more than a few minutes she could tell she still had a fever.

“The whole thing about no one really wanting to date the dangerous wild woman.” Tony cleared his throat and nonchalantly slipped his arm around her. “I kinda like her… She’s not as dangerous as she thinks she is.” Scarlett smiled and leaned into Tony’s touch, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Brushing his lips against her forehead he gave her a kiss and got the shivers. “You’re really warm.”

“That’s because I have a fever.” Scarlett pulled the blankets back up around them both this time. She’d never been one for snuggling in the past, but with Tony she could picture herself getting used to it. “I’m far more dangerous than you think I am, for the record.”

“No you’re not. You’re practically a kitten, a sex kitten at that. And you don’t have to worry about being smarter than me… so that’s not a problem.”

“I don’t think you’re making this better,” Scarlett laughed. She was surprised but pleased when Tony tucked the blankets around her to make sure she was warm enough.

“From what I understand about love from the… ten romance movies I’ve ever seen, eight of them in the last two weeks thanks to Jarvis, things aren’t supposed to work like they did between you and Scott.”

“That’s an ideal created by the media, Tony. All that garbage is what women are taught to want, not what they actually get.”

“Hear me out.”

“Okay, but remember when I’m glaring at you that you had the chance to stop this conversation before it got out of hand.”

“If you have to change the person you’re with then you don’t love them very much.” Tony shrugged. Scarlett leaned away from his shoulder and propped herself up on one arm against the pillows with a small smile on her lips. “Yeah, look I’ve already changed since we met. I’m not chasing skirts other than yours and I give a damn about someone else. But you didn’t ask me to do either of those things. You didn’t push me to. I did it in spite of your god awful attempts to push me away.” Scarlett shivered but not because of the fever. What romance movies did Tony watch that gave him this impression?

“I’m not asking you to stop chasing MedCo because I don’t want you out running around in the face of danger. I’m asking you to stop because I’m afraid you’re going to get killed. I want to help you so I can make sure that doesn’t happen. I fell in love with you in spite of myself too. I have three thousand reasons to kick you out or have you arrested and I don’t care about any of them. Real love is about taking a person as they are and wanting them anyway.”

“You got all of that from watching The Notebook? Really?” Scarlett laughed after she’d actually absorbed what Tony had said. It was strangely insightful coming from the famous playboy.

“Well, there were a few really awful ones mixed in there too but the message was all the same. Love is acceptance. Sounds to me like Scott didn’t love you very much.”

“I know.” Scarlett nodded her head and then rested against him again. Closing her eyes and placing her hand over his reactor and brushing her thumb against it, Scarlett smiled. “I never loved him either, that’s the only reason I know he couldn’t have. I felt guilty that I couldn’t be the woman he wanted me to be. I avoided it and made no effort to change because when it came down to it… I cared more about my career than I did about him. God, how did we get to talking about this… It’s really unpleasant.”

“I made the mistake of mentioning Scott and made myself jealous?” Tony nuzzled his nose into her hair and took in her intoxicating scent. Even after having been sick for days, she smelled nice.

“Oh, I’m glad you realized that this was your fault.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Pretty sure you just did.”

“No, that wasn’t admitting fault as much as it was stating the situation.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass.” Scarlett laughed and cleared the cling in her throat. Tony was warm and comforting. She wasn’t used to having that or wanting it when it was available.

“I know.” Tony smirked and placed his hand against her back. When he felt her breathing starting to slow while they were relaxing, he grew weary of the silence and worried that she would fall asleep. He’d spent the last few hours in mostly silence while she’d been resting and while he’d had multiple business calls and had talked to Pepper for a bit, it wasn’t quite the same. “I have a confession to make.”

“You only watched those movies to get laid? I had no doubt of it. Don’t you worry.” Scarlett whispered, her eyes still closed. The longer she stayed awake the more the sickness weakened her. It was easy to feel better after having finally gotten some quality rest uninterrupted by nightmares but now that she’d been sitting up with Tony for the last twenty minutes the stress of her illness was weighing her down again. It was still better than it had been the day before, but after having ignored it for so long the symptoms had built up and were weighing her down every time she tried to function properly.

“No, no…” Tony laughed and then considered what had been said. “Okay yeah, I did, but… that was not what I was going to say.”

“Why are you so serious suddenly?” Scarlett yawned brushing her hand over his chest. Snuggling still seemed silly but it sure felt nice when she was cold with a fever. She really could adjust to it. How many times would she have to convince herself of that before it felt normal?

“I’m not being serious.”

“Yes you are. You have your serious face on.”

“Okay I am, but that’s because I have something to confess. Most confessions are serious. Wait, I have a serious face?”

“You do have a serious face. And confessions usually are serious, unless they’re from you, then they’re usually sexual.”

“This one isn’t.” Tony chuckled, pushing her hair out of her face. “Would you let me talk?”

“Don’t you talk enough? Constantly even? Isn’t it about time that I interrupted you for a change?”

“I bugged you.” Tony interrupted. Scarlett didn’t lift her head from where she was leaning against his shoulder and chose to stop playing around. When things became serious she still retreated into humor. She knew Tony did too, but when he had something to say he always made sure it was said unlike Scarlett who struggled to find the words. “I’m sure you wonder how I keep finding you. When I caught up to you in London I tapped your phone. You were sleeping and I seized the opportunity to grab it and put a tracking device in with the SIM card.” Scarlett grinned and shook her head. “I know it’s deceitful but I couldn’t risk you slipping under my radar forever.”

“I already knew you bugged my phone. This isn’t much of a confession.” Scarlett didn’t lift her head from his chest or make any attempts to get up. This was a conversation long in the making but she wasn’t sure she was ready for it. Tapping his fingers against her back, Tony contemplated what this response actually meant. Maybe he was reading too far into it, but the woman he knew would have pulled out the GPS or ditched the phone if she’d wanted to avoid being found. How many times had she told him to get lost? On how many occasions had they fought about him following her across Africa? She’d said it was too dangerous and he’d needed to get lost.

“What?” Was all he Tony managed to say. Scarlett knew that her response required explanation.

“I knew you put GPS in my phone. It was the only thing that made sense. You’re not that good Tony, no one is. I made a career out of making sure I’m not followed. If I really wanted to ditch you, then I would’ve.” Scarlett sat up finally and pushed her hair away from her face and glanced out the window of the hotel room she had barely gotten a chance to admire.

“Then why would you keep letting me follow you around? I thought you were trying to get rid of me. How many times have I had to listen to you tell me how this is way too dangerous for me to be involved in? Even though I’m Iron Man and have more than proven how capable I am of caring for myself.”

“No, no…” Scarlett began but hesitated and instead of speaking just leaned forward and rested her arms against her knees. “It’s complicated, Tony.”

“I’m pretty good at unraveling complicated situations. I’m a genius, or so I’m told. I could show you my doctorates if you want… But we’d have to fly back to Malibu.”

“Haven’t you unraveled me enough in the last few weeks?” Scarlett hung her head and rested it against her arms.

“Why didn’t you ditch the phone?”

“Because I love you. Isn’t that obvious?”

“That both does and doesn’t make sense.” Tony sat up straight, confused and conflicted.

“When we’re not together I feel cold.” Scarlett laughed skeptically, resting her hand in her hair and trying not to think too hard about the matter at hand.

“…like you need a blanket?”

“No, not literally cold... just cold.” Scarlett purposely messed up her hair and nervously wrapped it around her finger. “I’m not good at this. Sharing emotions is foreign for me, you know.”

“Hey, I’ve spilled my guts to you before, it only seems fair. It’s not like I practice this in the mirror or something.” When Scarlett didn’t respond, Tony instead speculated. “So if it’s not the literal sense of cold then it must mean…emotionally cold? That’s the only thing that makes sense.” Tony seemed to be figuring out what she was trying to say faster than she could say it.

“Yeah, I feel cold, okay? Cold, as in the way I used to feel all the time. I don’t want to be like that again. I never had this stupid thing we have together. I joked around all the time but I was manipulative, calculating and a borderline sociopath. I don’t want to be that woman again when I don’t have to be. When we’re apart I feel this emptiness.” Scarlett furrowed her brow and continued before Tony could make a snide comment. “It’s hard to describe and I’m usually good with words. When we’re not together I’m afraid that I’m going to lose what made me finally feel human. And I don’t know if that makes sense but it’s like I found something I lost years ago. So, yeah Tony, I wanted you to follow me. But I didn’t because I’m scared you’ll get hurt. And at the same time if you don’t follow me then what if I get lost again? And not actually lost, it’s just… again the words aren’t making clear sense right now. What if it’s too late to bring me back? I’m screwed up enough without this nonsense.”

Tony grabbed Scarlett by the shoulders and pulled her against him, silencing her with a kiss. What she said had been more than enough to explain why she hadn’t ditched the phone. And while it wasn’t easy for her to explain and nothing she said had really shared what was going on in her mind, it was apparently enough for Tony. Scarlett didn’t argue and instead placed her hand on his cheek. He was just asking to get sick when he kept kissing on her like that.

Turning on the bed Scarlett went to pull away but instead felt Tony pulling her back so he could keep kissing her. She couldn’t help but smile against his lips once she realized what he was aiming at with kisses like that but knew the risks far outweighed the benefits.

“Tony, you’re going to catch this bug… How many times do I have to warn you?” Scarlett whispered between kisses, the cling in her chest only worsening the less she was able to properly breathe. But it was worth it to know that what she’d said to Tony had clearly had some effect on him.

“I don’t care. You’ll just have to be my nurse…” Tony gently urged her back against the pillows, continuing to kiss her, but slowing himself down so that Scarlett could catch her breath between kisses. He knew that the illness she’d contracted had settled into her lungs and was making it hard enough to breathe without him kissing on her. Slipping her frozen hands around his middle, Scarlett gripped at his t-shirt and leaned into his slow and gentle kisses. Even though he’d slowed down her heart was beating incredibly hard within her chest. What had she said that had spurned this romantic gesture? She thought that she had sounded like a bumbling idiot.

Pushing her hair away from her face, Tony sat at her side and urged her to lay back down against the pillows before leaning over her. He never pulled away from her lips, not for a second other than to breathe and even that seemed like a formality. Untangling his fingers from her hair carefully, he slid it down the side of her neck, her skin immediately responding with goose bumps to his touch. Picking up her hand Tony placed it on his shoulder before urging his down to her hip where his thumb brushed just beneath the shirt he had put her in days before.

Getting the shivers, Scarlett found that she was gripping at Tony’s shirt and pulling it up even before she’d realized that was what they were aiming at. For some reason every time they started to kiss like this it turned into something more physical. Though she shouldn’t have been rightly surprised seeing as he was Tony Stark and his reputation had long preceded him. Slowly his warm hand crept beneath her shirt and over her side, pulling the fabric up and away from parts of her. Once Scarlett realized where this was going, she began to tug his shirt up purposely. Using her chilled hands to her advantage she ran them down the length of his bare spine and to the elastic of the exercise pants he wore.

Tony groaned and arched his back into her touch, giving her lip a playful bite as he did so. There wasn’t much that had to be said between them as they exchanged sensual kisses and touches on the hotel bed. Each time they’d made love before it had been premeditated and they’d joked about it. Only once before could she recall where it’d started without words and that had been after he’d saved her from the hands of MedCo when they’d attempted to abduct her from the prison. It had been just as confusing a feeling back then as it was right now.

Each time that she’d abandoned him in a hotel room felt different now that she’d explained her true motives. Was it possible Scarlett was less calculating than he’d thought when first pursuing her? It was easy to forget that they were still getting to know each other and discovering what made the other tick. After all they had only known each other for a short time before they’d become swept up in a whirlwind romance that had quickly grown past their physical needs.

Tony was never a romantic, not in the past and he certainly wouldn’t call himself that now. But with Scarlett he could see how easy it was to turn into one. Romance had never been something he’d even attempted but he had fallen into the process naturally with Scarlett and found it just as exhilarating as the physical passion he’d used as a crutch to distract from the unfulfilling flings he’d become obsessed with.

Scarlett’s hands were trembling as she pulled away his shirt, attempting to hungrily take in the oxygen her lungs sorely needed. Despite how different and romantic their current situation had become, she still felt oxygen deprived. Tony’s hunger for her grew as he urged his hands beneath the shirt she wore. Knowing that his every touch sent her into a fit of shivers and goose bumps made him excited and increasingly aggressive. Starting to kiss down her neck and purposely sucking on her skin against a mark that he’d made on a prior occasion and had begun to fade, Tony nipped at her flesh and hoped to renew it.

Coughing, Scarlett covered her mouth and turned her head to the side. As much as she wanted to abandon the illness ravaging her body in favor of making love to Tony, she couldn’t. Of course, it wouldn’t stop her from trying but the phlegm in her lungs wasn’t going to wait politely for them to finish up before bothering her again. Leaning her chest into his touch as his hands found her breasts beneath the shirt Scarlett groaned and was momentarily distracted from her own touches and instead gripped at his shoulders. Tony wanted to make a snide comment but instead found that he was unable to properly form more than a low groan.

Squeezing her breasts playfully to increase her pleasure he watched as she gasped and moaned beneath his touch. It wasn’t often that she didn’t fight for dominance against him, but he found that he enjoyed their lovemaking either way. It wasn’t about the struggle or overcoming her, it was about making love to her and that had been more compelling for Tony than any prior sexual encounter and he had many. Scarlett had always been in it for the game, but was more than happy to hand over the reins to Tony that day. Her heart was beating far too fast, her fever and his touch making her shiver and the cling in her throat and lungs was making it much harder to play the way she usually would.

His touch on her chest always set her on fire, but today in particular it was muddling her senses altogether. Panting and whimpering for him, she desperately needed to get rid of the shirt she wore but found it just about impossible to pull it away with Tony touching her and taunting her with his rough hands. She wasn’t sure she had the energy in her to make her next move but it had never stopped her from trying in the past. Slowly she wrapped her legs around him but was forced to hesitate when Tony urged his hips flat against hers. Through the soft material of his casual pants, she could feel how excited he’d come to be in the short time it’d taken them to become intimate.

“Tony…” Scarlett exhaled between quiet coughs, tightening her legs around him purposely and urging her hips to rock gently up against his in an attempt to better feel his arousal. He stiffened his grip on her chest and bit playfully at her shoulder as growled in response. Then he peppered her shoulder with kisses and moved his lips back to her neck, letting his tongue brush against the sore spot on her flesh that he’d created.

Before she lost her nerve and motivation, Scarlett used the momentum of her legs around him in order to push him onto his back on the bed. Tony stared up at her in surprise, his hands still beneath her shirt. Even sick, it seemed Scarlett had a bit of fight within her, though her motives were entirely different in this instance. She wanted nothing more than to get her shirt off so that she didn’t feel so confined. It was an odd feeling, to be chilled from the fever but burning hot from passion all at the same time.

Noticing that she had purposely left her hips hovering above his as not to startle them both, Tony grabbed onto her hips and then purposely urged her on top of him and none too gently at that. Scarlett squirmed and gasped loudly, having to grit her teeth to fight the much louder sound that he’d built up. Unfortunately having swallowed the sound had triggered a coughing fit and Scarlett was forced to rest her hands against the bed and hang her head as she sat coughing on top of him. Tony watched her and with a pained look on his face, pushed her hair away so he could see her face better.

“We can stop.” He gritted his teeth, practically whining as though it was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. But, if doing the horizontal tango was going to make her condition worse, then he didn’t want to do it. Scarlett placed her hand over his mouth to stop him from talking again and managed to fight off the coughing that persisted.

“I want this.” Scarlett nodded resolutely and stubbornly, though her voice was scratchy. She then sat upright and pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it behind her where it hung lazily on the side of the bed. Before Tony could object further, Scarlett urged her hips back against his and let her freezing cold fingers brush over his chest and abdomen, pressing purposely against his hips to increase the pressure that had so obviously built up inside him. Each motion she made against him she accompanied with a small noise of excitement. Scarlett’s heart rate wouldn’t slow down, despite their slow pace. Something about this moment made her sweat and made her nervous. She’d made love to Tony enough times now that the nerves shouldn’t creep up the way they did but somehow they persisted.

Tony sat up and urged his hands slowly over her sides and back to her breasts. When was the last time they’d made love? It hadn’t been very long ago but something made it feel like it was the first time to him all over again. Even if things weren’t as explosive as they had been when they’d fought for dominance along his staircase and all the way into his bedroom where they’d at long last given into their more primal urges, it was just as exhilarating. He could feel the arc reactor growing hotter as it had from that first time they’d been together. His fingers instinctively brushed over the scar tissue in the shape of his arc in the center of Scarlett’s chest.

Kissing over the scar, Tony urged his hands down to her hips, over her thighs and then around to her backside. His teeth grazed against the scarring as he decided that having stripped her and put her in nothing but his old ratty t-shirt had been one of his more brilliant ideas. Rolling her onto her back, Tony didn’t immediately lean against her and instead started to kiss over her chest. Scarlett cleared her throat of the cling and arched her back into his touch. Reaching over his shoulder and down his back while purposely tracing small patterns with her nails into his flesh, she attempted to pull away his pants.

To oblige her, Tony kicked off his pants and shoved them away with his feet. In the same moment he decided to be rid of his boxers. His skill with removing clothing was still rather remarkable and Scarlett couldn’t hide her amusement as a small laugh escaped accompanied by a cough. Tossing his boxers over their heads he whispered as his lips returned to her chest.

“For you, milady.”

“Ever the gentleman…” Scarlett groaned as she slipped her hands into his hair, gripping at it playfully. It wasn’t the most exhaustingly physical romantic experience they shared but it was amazing nonetheless. Every touch of his lips against her breasts set her nerves on fire despite her illness. The more he kissed, the more she forgot about the discomfort she felt from the sickness. Fevers didn’t matter, MedCo didn’t matter; the only thing that mattered was that Tony was with her. It felt stupid to think that way and Scarlett was still completely filled with conflict on the matter, but it was also comforting to know that there was one thing in her life that remained constant and that made her feel wonderful, even if it was in a confusing way.

That one thing was Tony and the more they made love, and the more that it felt like the first time all over again, the more comforted she was by him.

In the same breath, she was terrified of becoming comfortable. Was Tony just as afraid as she was? It didn’t matter, not now, not to either of them. Tony distracted her, kissing up to her lips and letting them brush against hers softly. Pushing his fingers through her hair he kissed her. She could see in his eyes that the only thing Tony saw right then and there was her and what they were doing. How on earth was it so easy for him to forget everything else?

That was part of how Tony knew that what he was feeling was genuinely love. When they were together nothing else mattered. The world could be crashing down around them and he’d find time to make love to her and he wouldn’t rush it just because of something horrific happening around them. It mattered more to him that he could have these small moments with her than it meant to him to save the world crumbling around them. It may have seemed petty, but Tony had always been a little petty.

That reassured Scarlett, but she whined when he pulled his lips away from hers and began to once again kiss down her neck and over her chest. Despite her objections to him moving away, she leaned up into his kisses. His hands slowly scraped down her sides and to her hips as his lips moved lower and lower against her form. Heart racing away in her chest, Scarlett fluttered her eyes open so she could watch every movement made by Tony as they continued together to make love.

Tony let his tongue brush over her chest and further down to her stomach. His scruff brushed over the indents of her muscles while his fingers slowly trailed down to her thighs, pushing them apart in preparation for what he’d do next. Her body was warm and ready for him. It gave him the shivers to know that he had as much of an effect on her as she had on him. As he continued further down, his lips brushing over her stomach and his tongue dipping into her belly button, Scarlett grabbed at his hair, not able to do much else at this vantage point. They hadn’t yet delved into this part of their relationship and it both excited her and made her nervous.

As much as she wanted to explore what Tony was surely very skilled at with his tongue, Scarlett wasn’t ready for it. Not for lack of desire but for worry that her endurance wouldn’t last up to finish the entire task. On top of that, Scarlett wanted to be able to return the gesture in kind. What kind of faces would he make in the throes of such passion? It was something Scarlett refused to miss out on simply because she’d caught a bug chasing MedCo.

“Tony…” Scarlett’s bottom lip trembled with passion and her body arched in excitement she was unable to control. Tony nipped at her skin and purposely brushed his neatly trimmed goatee against her hip bone, reveling in the goose bumps that appeared over her flesh. Brushing his hands down to her knees when Scarlett gripped at his hair, he growled playfully. Urging her hands away from his hair he started to kiss over her thighs, his pronounced nose brushing closer and closer to her warmth.

Suddenly Scarlett sat up and Tony looked up at her in surprise. Grabbing him by the chin she pulled him up to her so that she could kiss him again, her lips capturing his upper one and giving it a playful tug. Flustered was only the beginning of how Tony was feeling. She’d had things so rough the past few days between chasing down MedCo, the quarantine, having to worry and keep him safe and then finding the notes on an illness she might have gotten from horrific experiments that Tony had wanted nothing more than to ease her mind with the fog of an extraordinary orgasm that he would be more than capable of providing.

“Why?” Tony whispered against her lips between passionate kisses. Her arms slipped tightly around his shoulders and pulled his body closer against hers, forcing her to lean back even though Tony supported her weight and held her above the sheets.

“For another day… I want you.” Scarlett whispered against his lips between kisses.

“Mmm… is that so?” Tony groaned, still surprised that she’d stopped him. It was something he’d wanted to do for a long time now, but he wondered if maybe her physical stamina wasn’t yet prepared for such a feat. Still, he couldn’t help but be slightly amused at the way she’d chosen to phrase things.

“Eat it up Tony, I’m not going to say that very often.” Scarlett brushed her lips over his chin and gave it a playful nip. Immediately Tony squirmed, growled playfully and then pushed her back onto the bed before kissing her desperately.

“That was what I was trying to do and you stopped me…” Scarlett swatted at his shoulder and laughed, kissing him again between short coughs to try and prevent another more severe fit of coughing.

“That is so not what I meant.” Scarlett kissed him deeply between words, not pulling away as she spoke.

“It’s what I meant.” Tony smirked and nibbled on her lips again, brushing his hands against the inside of her thighs. “…what kind of a man would I be if I denied a woman in such dire need?” Growling again and urging her further against the bed, away from the pillows, Tony kissed her hungrily and adjusted himself before pushing into her. Scarlett cried out against his lips, muffled by the kisses they shared. She hadn’t even gotten to respond with something witty and couldn’t dream of doing so at this point. Tony was right, she’d needed him as much as he’d needed her.

Her body tensed immediately beneath him and he didn’t waste any time before moving within her. She urged her hips in time with his, but the physical effort of lovemaking took a much greater toll than she had anticipated that it would. Body clenching, hips aching, and heart racing a mile a minute, Scarlett had to pull away from Tony’s lips so she could both breathe and cough. Covering her mouth so she wouldn’t do so all over Tony, Scarlett closed her eyes and felt apologetic for having to deal with her illness amidst their lovemaking. The guilt that had blossomed was overshadowed by pleasure and excitement created by Tony.

Despite her having pushed his lips away he instead moved to kiss over the side of her neck. Biting on it he groaned and growled to excite her. Her arms caressed over his back and sides, over the marks she’d left on him from prior lovemaking sessions. He kissed up her neck and over her jaw to her ear, shivering beneath her touch. Scarlett tilted her head to the side as he got closer to her ear and nibbled on her ear lobe. Purposely Scarlett urged her cheek against his to feel the light scruff on his flesh.

“I love you…” Tony whispered in her ear. Sweet nothings had never been in his repertoire but he didn’t think it was too late to develop the skill. Scarlett got the shivers and leaned into his touch, wanting to hear every word in his deep voice that sent shivers down her spine as she used every bit of her remaining energy to urge her body with his. Fingers traveled up his neck, crawling into his hair and holding him close against her. Tony urged his hand beneath her and to the small of her back, lifting her hips up just enough so that he could change the angle of their motions. Scarlett let out a feeble yelp where her voice broke. The tension built up quickly within Scarlett and Tony whispering into her ear only enhanced her pleasure and excitement. Soft whimpers escaped her lips as she stifled her moans to try and listen to him better.

“Tony… oh Tony…” Scarlett cooed into his ear, her lips brushing softly beneath his ear lobe. Her body was tensing up, reaching ever closer to that inevitable romantic end of their lovemaking. Every part of her was burning up with pleasure, the fever and cough completely forgotten as they slipped nearer to the ecstasy of their orgasm.

Tony’s hand let go of her hips so they would rest against the bed again and gently brushed over her side and onto her stomach. He then pressed his palm suddenly much harder against her abdomen. Scarlett sat up in objection and cried out in surprise.

“Holy shit!” Heart racing faster, she felt suddenly the passion and pleasure rushing straight through her. The tension that had naturally built up was forced to increase thanks to Tony pressing against her. Grabbing onto his wrist being her natural reaction, Scarlett cried and shrugged her shoulders, clutching at the sheets with her other hand. Trying to tug his hand away, Scarlett whimpered as he refused to relent.

“Stop holding it in…” Tony smirked, amazed that he’d gotten such a reaction out of his girlfriend who turned out to be incredibly sensitive. Relaxing his hand momentarily, he brushed his fingertips lower against her stomach and then pushed harder. Leaning up again at the pressure that felt so unnatural in comparison to what she was used to, Scarlett was suddenly blinded by pleasure, seeing small spots of white flickering in the darkness of her vision, sparkling like tiny stars. She’d never actually seen stars before. Or had she? Each time with Tony had been so astounding, the little things felt like new.

Tony took this time to watch her and he held his breath to keep the pressure of her orgasm from sending him over the edge. But he was forced to move faster, harder, deeper as her body contracted and burst around him in a beautiful cacophony of groans and cries. Her nails once again dug into his back, the other hand gripping and pulling at his hair.

Slipping his hand away from her stomach, Tony wrapped his arms behind his girlfriend and lifted her onto his lap, urging her to keep moving as he pulled her flat against him. Scarlett’s body was writhing in ecstasy against his, but she found her strength and tried desperately to urge her hips with his so she could feel his end as well. It occurred to her between the haze of passion and pleasure that she had never cared much about what the other person in her sexual encounters was getting out of it. Sex had always been a selfish means to an end for them both but in the last hour they’d proven that it was no longer such an experience for either one of them.

While she struggled to breathe through the process, it seemed to only enhance the experience of their lovemaking, despite how her lungs painfully strained for oxygen. Tony couldn’t hold on much longer. With Scarlett seated in his arms and rocking against him, her chest pressed flat against his and the hot reactor most likely burning into her skin again as it had on multiple occasions, he couldn’t contain the pleasure he’d built up within his own body.

With a final jolt of his hips, Tony cried out loudly as he reached his end, a flood of excitement and euphoric bliss. He gripped tighter onto Scarlett’s backside as he urged his hips to move against hers faster. Scarlett bit her lip to stifle her cry at the feeling of his end and then gasped as she felt a renewed rush of pleasure strike her in a second orgasm. It was much harder for Scarlett to move on top of him while her body was crippled a second time by the intense pleasure that swept over her in wave after wave of excitement. Tony groaned against her lips between frantic kisses his own breath caught in his chest from the intense amount of physical strength it took for them to keep moving during such hectic circumstances.

Together they rode out the remainder of the pleasures, though Scarlett had to pull her lips away from his to struggle and catch her breath. Her chest was aching miserably from lack of oxygen, but it didn’t matter much to her. It was a small sacrifice to make for her to be able to function while making love to Tony.

“God, you’re so good Tony…” Moaning quietly as they rose and fell together, Scarlett buried her face against the side of his neck. Each minute felt like an eternity of bliss and euphoria.

When finally they had finished, Tony secured his arms around her form tightly and urged her to stop her now feeble motions and rest against him. His heart was racing and his reactor was burning but he could feel Scarlett’s severely increased heart rate while she leaned heavily against him. She was dripping with sweat and momentarily he became concerned that the physical activity had been too strenuous. As he leaned his head back to get a better look at her, he was relieved to see her smiling despite how she coughed every few moments. Her cheeks were delightfully pink from both lack of air and overheating. It probably hadn’t been the smartest idea for them to make love while she was still so ill. If what she had was contagious there was no doubt that Tony would be showing symptoms in the next forty eight hours.

But none of that mattered.

His body starting to cool down, Tony urged his hands over her back, soothing her in attempts to help her breathe. Struggling still to breathe, Scarlett’s body began to finally calm down though her fingers and toes both tingled and trembled.

“…good, huh? I was hoping for… amazing, fantastic, life changing… but I can’t argue with good either.” Tony brushed his fingers through her hair gently.

“Life altering, world shattering, practically a paradox…” Leaning her head slowly up from her shoulder she felt light headed and dizzy. Slowly she kissed over his chin, resulting in another groan from Tony.

“Careful, those words and that kiss could result in another go and as much as I’d love that, I don’t think you’re prepared for the consequences…” Tony growled before capturing her lips in another kiss. Scarlett laughed and swatted at his shoulder again, biting her lip in a smile as she glanced down at his reactor. The tiny action of her swatting at him was very quickly becoming one of Tony’s favorite things. It was likely not designed for him to enjoy, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

“We shouldn’t have done that.” Slowly Tony urged her to lie back, leaning over her as he did. Pulling away from her once he was sure she was comfortably rested on the pillows he laid at first on top of her before adjusting so he was at her side, his head on her shoulder. He wanted to make sure that she could breathe easy.

“That’s the summary of my entire life, Scarlett… I shouldn’t have done that. But you know what? We did and it was pretty amazing.” Tony kissed over the side of her neck while he continued to catch his breath. His hand slowly crept over her stomach and onto her chest where it sat over her heart which he could still feel beating at a mile a minute. Making love had taken more effort than he had expected it to on her part. Considering with what ease he was used to, he knew that she truly must have been ill. Tony tugged the blankets back up to cover her as she began to once again shiver. The sweat on her skin certainly wasn’t helping.

“Not surprised that would be your motto.” Scarlett muttered sleepily, comforted by Tony’s touch. Blinking one eye open she glanced lazily over at him despite where he hid against the side of her neck. “You’re right though, Tony. It was worth it… More than worth it.”

“I’m always right, when are you going to realize that?”

“Only if you actually end up being right more than twenty percent of the time. Those are your odds so far.”

“What? My odds! There’s no way it’s only twenty percent. I think your math is a little off.” Tony laughed and urged his head on her chest now that she struggled less to breathe.

“Unlike you my math is never off. I’ve been keeping track. You’re smart, but easily distracted…” Scarlett kissed the side of his head. Teasing Tony had become one of her favorite things.

“I’m going to improve those odds, you know.”

“I’m hoping you do.” Scarlett yawned. Usually they would both drift to sleep after making love since each occurrence seemed to happen later in the night. Tony, as tired as he was, didn’t want to go right to sleep. He wanted to talk to her and spend time with her before she needed to rest. Scarlett, who gave the side of his head another kiss, seemed to want the same but also didn’t seem too eager to start the conversation. She was comfortable doing nothing but lying there with him.

“Tell me something I don’t know about you.” Tony yawned, leaning his head up carefully to look at her, propping it on his elbow once the silence had become too much for him. He never did handle silence very well. If it wasn’t music on in the background then he was left to his racing thoughts and then he would generally become destructive.

“Like what?” Scarlett tilted her head to the side so she could better look at him, resting her arm over the blankets and securing them over her chest.

“Anything. It’s not like we’ve had the chance to go out together and exchange stories lately... Our relationship is very confusing.” Tony chuckled, brushing his hand over her arm. “You’re the first girl I’ve dated that I haven’t properly gotten to wine and dine.”

“That’s true.” Scarlett considered what to tell Tony next. She didn’t want to talk about her old job and she most certainly didn’t want to talk about her childhood. “Okay… How about this? I know that this is going to sound terribly cliché but I love Paris. It’s my favorite place on the planet.” Scarlett smiled at the idea of it and stared up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts. Tony watched her as she spoke. It was a different dreamy side altogether.

“I never pictured you as a romantic, of the arts type of person…”

“That’s because I’m not. But there’s something poetic about Paris. I don’t know if it’s just the ideal created by Hollywood that I love or the fact that all of my favorite writers went there to be inspired but… I’ve always romanticized the place and yet… I have never been there. My favorite place on the planet and you’d never be able to guess because it’s one of the only stamps not on my passport.” Scarlett sighed softly. “I speak pretty decent French thanks to living in Senegal for awhile but… still I’ve never been there.”

“What? Why wouldn’t you go there if it’s you’re so obviously in love with it?” Tony folded his arms against her chest and leaned on his hands, watching her curiously while she spoke dreamily of France.

“I only traveled for work. Vacations seemed pointless back then. Scott wanted to take them together but I was bored by the idea of spending a week with just Scott doing nothing more than lying around in bed or seeing the sights. I always turned him down or made up excuses. Work mostly kept me busy and traveling the globe, anyway. But I turned down every job that involved Paris. No one ever asked why, I guess because I never let them. I can be intimidating when I want to be.” Scarlett’s smile faded and she leaned her head to the side against the pillows, avoiding Tony’s gaze. “If I took jobs in Paris I’d see the darker side of it. The beauty would be lost and I didn’t want that. I needed to have one place in the world that still seemed pure and magical. Paris is like a fairytale for me. I’ve never told anyone that before.” Scarlett fluttered her eyes closed and lingered momentarily before turning her gaze back to Tony. She expected him to tease her but instead he was giving her that serious look again.

“We can stop this, you know.” The gears in Tony’s mind were working in over drive and while he wasn’t saying it, it was clear what was happening in his mind. “SHIELD is onto MedCo already. They have a man inside and if we give them our information then they could put a stop to it and keep you safe.”

“SHIELD is twenty steps further behind than I am and as much as I’d like to think that they could help the only thing they could do to keep me safe is to take me captive. If I go to them then they’re going to bring me in, Tony. I have done many things that I shouldn’t be proud of and SHIELD will throw them in my face to get me to work for them. I know they’re overall a benevolent company but they’re willing to sacrifice us for the greater good. This is something I have to do. I wish you could understand that.” Scarlett covered her mouth and coughed. The fever was getting to her again and the urge to sleep was becoming overwhelming.

“I can’t watch MedCo destroy you.”

“I need to do this just like you needed to become Iron Man. Tony if I don’t do this I’ll never be free.”

“We could go to Paris.” Tony pled, brushing her hair back. “I could take you there and it would never lose its beauty for you. We could stay in a loft near the Eiffel Tower overlooking the river… we could eat at shitty bistros and I could rent out the damn Louvre for us if you wanted. I could make it as magical as you dream it is.”

“You know we can’t do that right now Tony. I’m not as free as you think I am. They want me. If I wasn’t hunting them they would be hunting me. I have to do this.[br /]
“I know but… they’re going to kill you, Scarlett. It’s not fair. I just got you and…” Tony drifted off, frustrated that he couldn’t fix their situation as easily as he would’ve liked to. Reaching to touch his cheek, Scarlett gave him a soft but weary kiss.

“I’m not going to let them win. Have some faith in me, will you? I’m not going to die Tony, not when I finally have something to live for.” Tony kept his eyes closed when she pulled from the kiss. “When I’m free we’ll go to Paris and I will make this up to you, I promise.” Her eyes were burning from a combination of fever and upset. What had started out so sweetly had turned into another conversation that neither one of them was ready to have. Scarlett closed her eyes. Her head was swimming and the fever was winning the fight for the evening. It wouldn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

“But I can set you free if you just let me. SHIELD can’t just take you away, I’ll protect you.” Tony kissed her shoulder and when she didn’t respond he grimaced. Leaning his head up to get her attention Tony sighed heavily when he realized that Scarlett had drifted to sleep. Touching his hand to her forehead, he could feel how warm she was but yet again couldn’t tell if she had a fever. She stirred under his touch but didn’t wake up.

There had to be something Tony could do to help speed up the process and prevent further harm to the torn woman lying in bed with him. As much as he insisted upon taking other options he knew that she had to fight against MedCo. She was right.

He’d needed to become Iron Man to cope with what had happened to him and the experience that had changed his life forever. If he hadn’t done that he never would’ve become the man he was today. Scarlett needed the same kind of closure so she could end that chapter of her life and start a new one side by side with Tony.

Unfortunately, neither one of them could guarantee her safety in the matter. When Tony had become Iron Man he’d had nothing to lose and had been willing to risk his life and limb to make amends. Luckily he’d come out on top, even though he had found enemies at every turn. Scarlett didn’t have a suit of armor and a multibillion dollar corporation to aid her in her pursuit of those who hunted her.

Tony wasn’t sure what he could do to tip the odds in Scarlett’s favor but it sure as hell wouldn’t stop him from trying to find a way.