Hearts Collide

Come on, hurry up," Alex muttered to herself as she anxiously waited for the elevator to reach the 30th floor where she had left Steve. "Ugh. Why is this taking so long?" she uttered before the elevator finally came to a stop.

The doors opened to reveal Natasha standing there; a twisted smile appeared on her face as the Russian woman stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the 28th floor. "Hello, Alex," she greeted. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine," Alex answered automatically as she eagerly pressed the 'close' button.

"So no more vomiting I presume?" Natasha inquired.

"No, Doctor Romanoff," Alex commented sarcastically. "I'm fi—wait a minute, how did you know about me vomiting? No one but Pepper and Steve know about that. Unless you were spying on me in the bathroom, in which case, you're a pervert," Alex stated as she eyed Natasha.

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Natasha stepped out of the elevators, uttering, "You're the genius, you figure it out."

As Alex watched Natasha began to walk away, she thought back to the day before she got sick. She had also run into Natasha that day and spoken to her. Then she thought back to what Pepper had told her— that she had a rare strand of a stomach virus.

"Could it be?" Alex thought as she stepped out of the elevator and followed Natasha.

"Natasha!" Alex cried out. "Did you poison me?" she asked blatantly.

"Well, I wouldn't call it poisoning," Natasha stated nonchalantly. "You're not dead."

"No, but you're about to be in three seconds if you don't tell me why you did it," Alex threatened as she narrowed her eyes at Natasha infuriated. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Think of it as a warning," Natasha replied. "Don't ever try to make a move on Clint again."

"Wait," Alex began confusedly. "You got me sick because I kissed Clint? Are you insane?" Alex asked, her voice rising in anger. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Why would you be worried about a stomach virus?" Natasha questioned plainly.

"I wasn't!" Alex exclaimed. "I was worried about something else!"

"Like what?" Natasha asked before a small 'boom' was heard from upstairs.

"Oh my God, Steve," Alex said, her eyes widening as she ran to the elevator and frantically pressed the 'up' button.

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Tony's eyes were filled with anger as the elevator approached the 30th floor where he'd last seen Steve. When the elevator doors opened and Tony stepped out, he immediately made his way to the living room.

"Steve," Tony began in an authoritative voice as he approached Steve. "Can I have a word with you?"

"Sure, Tony," Steve agreed with confusion in his voice, "What's going o—"

Steve soon silenced when he felt the iron armor from Tony's fist collide with his the left side of his face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Tony demanded.

"What's wrong with me? What's with you?" Steve asked as he placed his hand over where Tony had hit him, quickly recovering from the punch. "Last time I checked, people don't go around punching other people in the face."

"Last I checked, ninety year olds don't go around getting nineteen year olds pregnant!" Tony shouted as he raised his fist to hit Steve once again. Steve, however, was able to block the attack this time by raising his arm in front of his face in defense.

"Tony, listen."

"No, you listen," interrupted Tony. "How could you get Alex pregnant after those people tried to kill her? Do you want her to be an easy target?"

"Do you really think I'd let anyone hurt her?" Steve stated defensively. "I care about Alex and I'm not going to let anyone do anything to her."

"Oh yeah? And how do I know you're not going to leave her? I know you barely talked to her after you found about her and Clint."

"Because I'm not you. I'm not going to abandon her and our child like you abandoned her and Christina," Steve stated firmly.

Those words hit Tony hard and he instinctively began to raise his armor-clad hand at Steve.

"So what? You think I'm going to abandon my own grandchild, Captain?' Tony asked as he prepared himself to attack.

Steve noted this and immediately reached for his shield that was lying on the coffee table—he had begun carrying it with him when he was with Alex in case anyone tried to harm her. He never thought he'd be using it against her father. Just as Tony fired at Steve, Steve raised his shield in defense to block the blow, causing a small 'boom' to be heard as the men crashed into either ends of the room.

"That's not what I meant," Steve said.

"Then what did you mean?" Tony asked as he raised his hand at Steve and walked over to him ready to attack again.

"Tony, I'm warning you, don't do this," Steve warned as he made his way over to Tony.

"Make me," Tony dared as he fired again.

This time Steve dodged the blow by leaping out of the way before it hit him, landing a few feet in front of Tony in the processes.

"Tony, stop this," Steve demanded, however, Tony responded by once again attempting to punch the super solider in the face.

Steve used his shield to block Tony's attack and pushed forward, causing Tony to go backwards and land on his bottom.

"Tony, listen to me—"

"No, you listen to me," Tony interrupted with a hate filled voice as he raised his armor-clad arm to attack. "Everything that happened to Alex is your fault and I'm not going to let you get away with that."

"Dad, Steve, stop it!" they heard Alex's voice cry out.

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"Screw this," Alex muttered. "This is taking too long, I'm taking the stairs."

As she ran up the stairs, she thought repeatedly to herself, "Please just let it be an accident." As she stepped onto the 30th floor, she heard the sound of Tony and Steve shouting at each other from down the hall.

She frantically made her way to where she heard them fighting and burst open the doors, her eyes widening at the sight of Tony on the floor with hate filled eyes as he had his hand raised to attack Steve who was standing in front of him with his shied at hand to defend himself against Tony.

"Dad, Steve, stop it!" Alex cried out, causing both men to look in her direction.

"Alex, stay back," Tony demanded as he turned his direction back to Steve, preparing to attack. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Dad, what are you doing?" she questioned. "Don't you dare attack Steve."

"No, Alex. I'm doing this for your own good."

"How is this for my own good? You're going to hurt each other!"

"Because he got you pregnant!" Tony exclaimed as the beam from his armor began lighting up indicating he was about his attack.

However, before Tony able to deliver another blow to the super solider, the light from his armor dimmed down as he felt a small electric current pulsing in his armor.

He turned to face Alex and saw her breathing unevenly as she had her arm extended; aiming the bracelet he made her at his hand.

"Alex?" Tony questioned. "Why did you—"

"Because I'm not going to let you hurt him," Alex interrupted as she rushed over to Steve's side. "Are you alright?" she asked as she briefly examined him.

"I'm fine," Steve reassured.

"Thank God," Alex whispered as she embraced him in a hug. "Dad, are you alright?" she asked as she pulled away from Steve but got no response. "Dad?" she questioned as she looked at where he was lying to find nothing.

She then heard a pair of footsteps leaving the room followed by the sound of the living room door being slammed shut.

"Dad!" Alex called out. "Dad, wait!"

Tony ignored her calls as he automatically pressed the elevator buttons and waited for the elevator to arrive on the floor that he was on.

"Jesus, dad, slow down and let me make sure you're okay," Alex stated as she quickly examined him like she had done to Steve.

"Leave me alone, Alex," Tony replied irritated.

"Look," Alex sighed. "I'm sorry I took a blow at your ego when I stopped you back there, but—"

"You think this is about my ego?" Tony interrupted.

"Yeah. Why else would you walk out of there like that?" Alex questioned.

"I don't know," Tony scoffed bitterly. "How would you feel if your own daughter used your own weapon against you?"

"Dad," Alex began as she felt a surge of guilt. "I'm sorry, but you we're going to hurt Steve and—"

"Since when did Steve become more important than me?" Tony snapped causing Alex to flinch.

"I-I-" she stuttered.

Just then the elevator doors opened and Tony stepped inside, leaving Alex behind. He sighed before sadly saying, "Yeah, I thought so."