Across the Universe

An hour later and freshly groomed Tony made his way downstairs to the dining room where Pepper had instructed him Scarlett was having her visit with the doctor. Sure enough, through the grand entryway he could see Scarlett sitting on the table with her back to him speaking to a man in a white coat. The doctor was helping her stretch her arm, seemingly showing her some kind of exercise that would help with her recovery. Each corner of the room was a display of the extravagance that was Tony Stark. It was practically a party room! But, since there was a grand dining table in the center of it he referred to it as the dining room. The DJ booth in the far corner that spun out of the wall on command begged to differ but Tony stuck to his guns on the matter.

He walked past the doorway four times before he realized he was never going to be noticed and then finally bit the bullet and walked into the room. Scarlett heard his familiar gait but didn’t bother to turn her attention his way. Instead she listened to the careful instructions of the doctor whose name she hadn’t bothered to remember. It was likely she would never see him again after today.

“Don’t hold it above your head for too long or all the blood will go rushing into your shoulder. But don’t be afraid to do it either. If you do these stretches everyday for a half an hour then you should heal in a few weeks. If you neglect them then recovery could become more complicated.” The doctor instructed in a scolding manner. Tony could see the disapproval on the doctor’s face even before he was acknowledged. This stranger thought what they were doing was crazy, so why was it so hard for Scarlett to understand that he was worried about her? Then again, almost ninety percent of what Tony did on a daily basis the general population regarded as crazy so who was he to talk?

“Hey, I hate to interrupt.” Tony cleared his throat then held his hand out to the doctor to shake. Carefully the doctor helped Scarlett rest her arm back at her side then turned to shake Tony’s hand.

“Mr. Stark, I was wondering when you’d be joining us.” Tony could already see the look of judgment in the keen doctor’s gaze. It was a look Tony had gotten from doctors on numerous occasions. Apparently he was too old to be making these sorts of egregious health errors or something of the like. When people gave him that look his brain sort of turned off and drifted to more interesting topics.

“Well, you know, CEO of a major business and all that. I’m pretty busy.” Tony shoved his hands into his pockets after shaking with the doctor and then walked around the table. Not bothering to acknowledge his existence, Scarlett stretched her arm in front of her and turned her wrist every which way, clearly counting in her head. He doubted that the doctor meant she should be doing physical therapy right this very second. There was no real way to convince his stubborn girlfriend of that though, so Tony didn’t bother.

“Yes, on a Saturday I’m sure that’s just the case.” First he released a heavy sigh then the doctor offered him a smile. Great, Tony thought, he’s one of those judge-y types of doctors. Unless Scarlett had told him what a douche bag he had been. Gaze flickering back to Scarlett who was still mouthing her count, he considered if she was the type to do that. Considering they barely spoke about why they were fighting, he highly doubted it.

“So, what’s the damage? Will she be okay?” Tony walked around the doctor and stood in front of Scarlett who narrowed her eyes at him instantly. She was still mad at him. Of course she was. It was partially why Tony had dragged out any attempts to shower and groom before coming downstairs to see her. Either she’d be sad or mad and both of those were undesirable emotions for Tony at the moment. Sometimes mad was something he could deal with since it wound up in angry sex or makeup sex but Scarlett was no longer the kind of angry that was going to get him laid.

“She’ll be just fine.” Finally the doctor relaxed and Scarlett followed it up with her best ‘I told you so’ look. “However,”

“However?” Tony grimaced. “However is never good. What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Calm down.” With a laugh the doctor held his hand in front of Tony to stop him from jumping to any conclusions. “She’s lucky.”

“I’m always lucky.” Scarlett chimed in making no attempts to hide her smugness.

“The tearing of her skin was pretty severe but the muscle damage wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been considering what I pulled out of there. Thankfully there was no tendon damage that I could see, without further examination that is. But every test I’ve done on her range of motion has gone just fine so I think she’s in the clear for that. The piece of metal that I pulled out of the wound,” the doctor held up a small baggy with several fragments of a knife blade in it, “unfortunately dug into the muscles. Nothing was severed in the process which is very lucky considering how sharp these fragments are.”

“There’s that word again.” Tony muttered under his breath and threw a glance toward Scarlett but she was once again focusing on the exercises for her shoulder.

“I’m guessing if she takes good care of it she should be back to her usual self in six weeks. If she’s lazy about it then maybe eight. It is very important that she does these exercises otherwise she may never regain her full range of motion in her shoulder.”

“Something tells me that won’t be a problem.”

“I can see this.” Chuckling the doctor watched Scarlett perform the exercises she was given. Then he grew more serious and spoke to Tony once more. “I already warned her but I will tell you too since you bothered to come all the way down here for this.”

“Don’t get the wrong impression of me.” With a grimace Tony folded his arms over his chest. “I care very much about her health.”

“He’s not kidding.” Scarlett assured the doctor even though she seemed to be paying very little attention to their conversation.

“Well, now that we’re positive of that I’ll get down to it. If her range of motion decreases or if you see any sign of infection then she is to come to my office immediately. Or better yet take her to an emergency room. You two would be better off if you knew when it was appropriate to go to a hospital.”

“Yeah, we weren’t exactly thinking straight last night.”

“Obviously. If there is anything out of the ordinary she needs to get it looked at again. The damage could be worse than I’ve theorized but I’m guessing that is likely not the case.” Without a second glance the doctor handed Tony a slip of paper which he didn’t immediately take. “That’s a prescription for an antibiotic. The metal left in her skin overnight seems to have infected some of the muscle tissue. I gave her a tetanus shot since her response to when she’d last had one was hysterical. This medicine will make her stomach a little upset but that’s normal. Once the prescription has run out she should be as good as new.”

“Thanks. Could you… set it down next to her? I have this thing.” Tony nodded sincerely and turned his attention back to Scarlett. The doctor gave Tony a confused look but then did as he was asked. “My assistant is outside in the hall and she’ll take care of the bill and lead you out of this maze.”

“Mr. Stark, can I have a word with you before I leave?” The doctor had made his way across the room but then stopped closer to the archway.

“Yeah, of course.” Turning his gaze once more to Scarlett Tony shook his hand and then held up one finger. “I’ll be back. He probably wants my autograph. You know, happens all the time.”

“Yeah. Sure. That’s it.” Scarlett cocked an eyebrow and spoke skeptically before returning to stretching her arm.

“What is it?” Tony stopped in the doorway and was surprised when the doctor grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the hallway. What was with this doctor? Most people were afraid to get near him nonetheless drag him into the hallway of his own home. He couldn’t decide if he was impressed or annoyed. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Does she have CIPA by any chance?” The doctor smiled but it was clearly a ruse so that Scarlett wouldn’t think he was talking about anything serious.

“What?” Blinking in surprise, Tony searched his memory for what that stood for. There was the Children’s Internet Protection Act but he was pretty sure Scarlett couldn’t come down with a case of that. The only thing left was the only thing that made sense. “Why do you ask?”

“She exhibited no signs of pain while I was digging around in her shoulder. It should’ve hurt and terribly at that. I’ve never had a patient refuse medication before a procedure. I must confess it scared the hell out of my assistants.”

“Well, yeah I’m sure it did.” Tony thought back to when he’d had a doctor at the house to take care of her leg. He’d never actually asked her if she had any weird diseases of any kind, but Tony had seen her in pain before. Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis would’ve prevented her from feeling any discomfort and she wouldn’t have been able to avoid injury nearly as well as she managed to. “She doesn’t have CIPA, I can guarantee you. I think she just does this thing where she bottles it up while it’s happening and deals with it internally.”

“You think or you know? CIPA is a very serious disorder, Mr. Stark.”

“I know.” Tony was tired of being treated like a child. “Look, I know what we did last night was stupid but I had no idea how bad the wound was. We made a mistake, it happens to everyone. Scarlett has many problems but CIPA isn’t on the list of them. I’d know if that was the case.”

“You should ask. If she’s a CIPA patient then I’d love to talk to her about it. There are some excellent clinical trials I could get her into.”

“Would you? Would you really? Because you wouldn’t even ask her about it.”

“On the off chance that she didn’t have CIPA I wasn’t about to ask someone who could stomach that kind of pain an off-putting question.”

“Smart man.” Tony continued to narrow his gaze, scrutinizing the doctor. There was something he didn’t like about this guy. “Is that it?”

“That’s it.”

“Pepper?” Tony waved down the hall to the woman who was on the phone speaking haughtily to one person or another. She muted her call and then walked over to the doctor and led him away, speaking about the amount of money that was owed and reminding him of the confidentiality agreement he’d signed on his way in. With a shake of his head Tony walked back into the dining room and sat himself next to Scarlett on the table. “That looked like fun.”

“Oh, yeah, a regular party. You missed the best parts.” Scarlett finally stopped stretching her arm and allowed it to rest on her knee. It was throbbing after having been pushed beyond its limits. “He wants me to wear a sling. I told him that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t question me. I think that might be a code of ethics violation or something.” She chuckled under her breath but Tony could see the distance in her form. After the fight they’d had the night before she was emotionally out of reach. Scarlett was hiding back on that pedestal she’d been on when they’d first met. Defeat sank heavy into Tony’s shoulders. How would he ever reach her way up there?

“I’m not surprised by that at all, actually.”

“What did he want?” Scarlett nodded toward the hallway. “He was talking about me.”

“What, do you read lips too?”

“You don’t?” Scarlett shot him a look half mixed with surprised and half with disinterest.

“…you’re joking with me aren’t you?”

“Yes, genius.” Scarlett exhaled deeply. “So? Spill it.”

“He wanted to know if you had CIPA. I told him you didn’t. I’m right, right? It occurs to me we never had a conversation about weird diseases. You know, standard couple stuff.”

“CIPA?” Scarlett cocked an eyebrow. “No way. I couldn’t do what I do if I couldn’t judge how much pain I was in.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Though I may have hidden any pain I was feeling so I could freak him out.” Scarlett shrugged and then pouted when her shoulder responded with a twinge of pain. Tony chuckled and wiped his hand over his face before exhaling with a sigh.

“That’s my girl.” They both watched as Pepper walked past the entranceway to the dining room on the phone, speaking in an animated voice.

“The only reason there were no casualties last night was because Iron Man happened to be there! Just think what would’ve happened if he hadn’t…” As she walked down the hallway her voice drifted off but Tony and Scarlett both knew that she was trying to calm the media shit-storm that had followed up the collapse of the restaurant. Maybe Tony would think about rebuilding the place. But to what end? Just to have it destroyed on yet another failed attempt to date his girlfriend? Usually he’d brush this sort of incident off of his shoulders, so why couldn’t he do it this time?

“We both made some pretty bad decisions last night,” Tony began in an all too official voice. As many times as he’d had this conversation with a woman he’d never been the one to start it off and his tone of voice made that perfectly clear. “We said some nasty things we probably didn’t mean.”

Clenching her jaw, Scarlett narrowed her eyes but kept her gaze on the doorway in front of her. Tony couldn’t possibly think she was simply going to forget what had been said! But the more she thought about it the more she knew that he very likely hadn’t meant what it the way it had sounded. Unfortunately Scarlett saw the truth in his words and that was really what had set the mood for her day and likely the next year of her life.

“That’s exactly it.” Scarlett relaxed the nervous tension in her body and turned her attention at last to Tony. “You’re right.” Much to Tony’s surprise Scarlett didn’t seem angry with him. Weary, was the word he would’ve used but he wasn’t sure why. Other than the wound being picked at on her shoulder he wasn’t sure why she should seem so damn exhausted. He’d seen her handle far worse in far more dire situations and yet here she was, completely worn out. Was she giving up on him already?

“What I said last night didn’t come out the way I wanted it to.” What he should’ve said was that he was sorry he had blamed the collapse of a building on her but he couldn’t seem to form that simple word. Could ‘sorry’ really fix anything anyway? He’d said what he said! An apology wasn’t going to take that back! It was an admission that he had been wrong and Tony still wasn’t convinced that he had been wrong. If they were founding their relationship without lies he couldn’t apologize.

“How was it supposed to come out then?” Scarlett countered, more curious than ever to what Tony could have possibly meant. She didn’t blame him for being scared that she would get hurt. But did he really think that she wasn’t just as worried about him? There had never been a clear reason for Scarlett to keep living or to endure pain until this point in her life. She’d lived simply for the sake of living or perhaps out of spite for those who had wanted her to die. Now it was all for Tony. And a little for Jarvis. Tony opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He had been afraid she would ask that. “That’s what I thought.”

“Scarlett, it’s not like that. I’m just not good with words.”

“That may be the worst lie you’ve ever told me. You’re famous for being good with words, Tony. I like to hold back credit to you just to pull your chain but you can talk almost anyone into anything and have them thanking you for it. You can’t expect me to think that you’re suddenly terrible at saying what you mean.”

“That’s just it. I’m as confused as you are!” Tony slumped forward and hung his head, his elbows on his knees. “I know what I need to say but it’s not coming out the way I intended. The more I think on it the worse it gets.”

“What I think,” Scarlett sighed heavily and turned her gaze back to the figure down the hall that was Pepper still speaking animatedly on the phone, “is that it is precisely what you meant to say. But in your head you were searching for a way to twist it so it wouldn’t sound quite as bad. Maybe even a way to manipulate it in your favor.”

“Manipulate? Scarlett, come on, that’s not me.”

“That is you, Tony.” Rolling her eyes she looked away from Pepper’s pacing; it was making her dizzy. “It is you.” He stayed quiet and wondered if that was the truth. Maybe she was right. Tony had always gotten what he wanted and what he wanted right now was for Scarlett to stay safe. He still didn’t see what was so wrong with that. Why was fear bubbling in the pit of his stomach now? “I’ve always known that about you and I’ve been willing to deal with it. I told you. I don’t expect you to change who you are for me. That’s not how this works.”

“How could I change something I wasn’t aware I was doing?”

“Did you only listen to parts of that sentence? Because there were all sorts of other words in there that brought it together and implied exactly the opposite of what you got out of it.” Looking deep in thought Scarlett clicked her tongue in disapproval.

“So now I’m only hearing what I want to hear? Why would I hear something that made me feel like a jerk?”

“Maybe you already felt like a jerk and now you’re hoping it’ll be my fault.” Scarlett grunted and got off of the table, tired of catering to Tony when he was acting crazy. Why was he the one who was upset? Maybe he was tired of dealing with the baggage that followed her around everywhere. Repeatedly she’d tried to leave it behind and avoid tripping on it through their complicated relationship thus far but had only succeeded in making the inevitable fall worse.

“Hey!” Tony followed her off of the table and grabbed her good arm before she could make a run for it. With a sound of annoyance she turned to face him and waited expectantly for what was to come. She didn’t expect an apology from Tony; he was never the type to apologize. However that did not change that she was upset after their fight the night before and she wasn’t going to let it go.

“This is not the first time that you’ve been a controlling dick bag about my life.” She pushed his hand away from her arm and didn’t back down. Truly she was hurt and that’s all there was to it. If Tony felt so strongly about what she should and shouldn’t do because of MedCo then how was their relationship ever going to work? They never talked about it and she didn’t see any sign of resolution in her future, especially when every opportunity she found to pursue them she was stopped by him or Pepper. “I don’t do the control freak thing, Tony. You should know that after Scott.”

“I’m not a control freak!” Mouth agape, Tony looked taken aback. Quickly he recovered. “Okay, maybe a little but you knew that about me going into this.”

“Of course I did. But I’m not going to stop living my life because of it either.”

“I just don’t think it’s wise for you to be putting yourself in harm’s way all the time.”

“I don’t think it’s wise for you, either. How do you feel about that?” She countered immediately.

“I’m Iron Man. It’s different.”

“How so?” Scarlett folded her arms over her chest and the pain in her shoulder shown easily on her face. She’d spent so much energy hiding it from the doctor to make him nervous that she no longer could. Tony stuttered on his words. How could he tell her that him having a suit of armor made it okay for him to run around in front of loaded guns? Every way he spun it in his head made him think she’d run out and get a suit of armor of her own. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered doing that for her already, but rather that he thought she wouldn’t want one. In reality, the armor only protected him to an extent too. Eventually danger would catch up with them both.

“What are you trying to say?” The growing fear in Tony’s head was raging in full force. Was she trying to break off what they had? Didn’t she love him? How was it that the most profound relationship of his life had come to a standstill only a few months in? He thought they’d at least make it a year before she found a way to let him down easy. Scarlett was more than he had ever wanted and he meant that in the best way possible. Maybe he was wrong to think that she could see past who he had been and what he had become.

“What I’m trying to say is this isn’t about control. It isn’t about my past, it isn’t even about yours.” Scarlett felt fatigued. Before she could properly explain what it was about her phone buzzed on the table. Turning toward it and standing on her tip toes to bring the screen into focus, Scarlett saw the call was from S.H.I.E.L.D., specifically from Agent Bennett. S.H.I.E.L.D. could wait. Right now the only thing that mattered to her was clearing the air with Tony. Walking over to the table, Scarlett silenced her phone and then turned her attention back to her conflicted boyfriend. “It’s about trust, Tony.”

“Trust?” Tony hadn’t thought that was an issue. Did she not trust him now? When it came to his fidelity and devil may care attitude toward life, he had thought she’d been a confident enough woman to deal with any rumors that may come to pass. But the only rumors that had been in the paper these days all involved her and considering what had happened the night before he was sure that would only get more intense.

“Trust.” Scarlett took a step closer but offered a weak smile, much to Tony’s surprise. Wasn’t she mad at him? Was he over thinking things? Yes, he was definitely over thinking things. Somewhere in his mind he’d already decided that Scarlett could never forgive him for what he’d said, maybe because he didn’t know how to come to terms with it on his own. If he couldn’t figure it out then how could she possibly manage? Tony hadn’t even given Scarlett an opportunity to understand where he was coming from. Instead he’d jumped to conclusions and his conclusion was that things were on their way out.

“You don’t trust me?” Tony finally managed to swallow the three thousand thoughts in the back of his mind but the defeat was written all over his face. Scarlett’s phone buzzed again and yet she continued to ignore it.

“No, Tony. You don’t trust me.” Gingerly she placed her hand on his cheek and brushed her thumb against the perfectly manicured goatee he’d grown for as long as she’d known him. Tony couldn’t think of a response. That was certainly not what he had expected and it was obvious to her that he hadn’t thought of it that way. “You don’t trust me to come home to you. You don’t trust me to stay safe. And you most certainly don’t trust me enough to think that perhaps I worry about the same things you do and am doing everything in my power to handle that. Maybe you don’t even trust that I’m going to stick around. It’s about trust.”

“That’s not true,” whispered Tony but as he thought about it he realized that maybe it was part of the problem. He was scared she would leave and irrationally so. Relationships were something of a number to Tony Stark and he’d had more than anyone he’d ever known. But somehow this seemed to be the first and only relevant one in his life. Romance with Scarlett was on a new level than any relationship he’d had in the past. He did trust her though! It was everyone else he couldn’t trust. As much as Scarlett could take care of herself there were people out there who could kill her if they wanted to. Outside forces beyond her control, that’s what he didn’t trust! Now she was twisting his fears and turning them into doubts about his trust for her.

“Isn’t it? That’s what it comes down to. Either you trust me or you don’t. There’s no way around it. I know I screwed up!” She threw her hand to the side, exasperated.

“You screwed up?”

“Yeah. I did. A number of times, really. But you’re not completely innocent either. None of us are. I trust you, Tony. Implicitly. Despite everything, I trust you. Everything in my head screams at me to trust no one after Scott but I still trust you.” Maybe Dr. Ganter had been right about a few things. Talking seemed to ease the weight on her shoulders but it didn’t really seem to fix anything. Soon enough she was sure she would be eating Tums like candy to deal with the stress related acid in her stomach. Either way she was sure her shrink would tell her this was a big move for her and in the right direction at that. Something worthy of celebration it was not, that was for sure. “Do you trust me?”

“It’s not about that, Scarlett.” Tony whispered but he had a smile on his face. She trusted him? Did she really? Now he was confused! He was sure that she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him in the Mark VI. Now she was telling him differently. Maybe if she trusted him he’d be able to tell her what was really on his mind and get the thoughts sorted out. There was a wall built between them and Tony wanted to break it down. What had once comforted him suddenly became fear. She trusted him? How the hell did that happen? Why? Was he worthy of such a gift?

But then Scarlett’s phone rang a third time and Tony mentally deflated. Was it S.H.I.E.L.D. calling her in at long last? Was it a lawyer? It couldn’t be, it was the weekend and the kinds of lawyers they hired were not the type to work on weekends without an outrageous amount of money being paid. “Can’t you turn that off?”

“Hold on.” Scarlett snatched her phone off of the table and then turned away from Tony. “Now is not the best time.” She snapped at the woman on the other end who hesitated to speak thanks to Scarlett’s tone of voice.

“Miss Damien?” Jinx squeaked nervously.

“Can’t this wait? I’m obviously in the middle of something important.” If S.H.I.E.L.D. even considered speaking about her public persona and the events of the night before then she was going to lose her damn mind. Why couldn’t these people stay out of her life? Yes, she had signed a contract with them but only after months of harassment from their agents! Now she had thought she was finally making progress with Tony without either of them throwing a tantrum and S.H.I.E.L.D. felt the need to interrupt.

“I’m afraid it’s urgent.”

“Well, what I’m dealing with is pretty important to.” Scarlett held the phone to her chest when she felt Tony tap her on the shoulder.

“You should go.” Tony spoke but something was cold in his voice. He was over thinking things again. At first he’d felt relieved when Scarlett said she’d trusted him but then he’d panicked. That was an awful lot of pressure being put on him after they’d only been dating for a few months! Now she wanted his trust and what was worse was that she had already given him hers! Maybe he didn’t feel worthy of it. How was that possible? Tony held himself in such high esteem it seemed almost impossible to think there was something he was unworthy of. But if trust really was the issue and he couldn’t give that to her then how would he fix it?

Would she stick around if he didn’t trust her? He kept thinking that she would leave if he messed things up even a little. This happened every time he got serious about a woman. He freaked out and screwed things up beyond repair. If he lost Scarlett, he wasn’t sure how he would recover.

“But we were talking.” Scarlett didn’t say it but she was hurt. Why was he being so cold to her now of all times? Hadn’t she done something right for once in this relationship? How was it that things had been so smooth for weeks and now suddenly they were on a downward spiral? She’d had faith that this relationship with Tony was solid enough that she could give up the life she once had. Had she been mistaken to throw her past out the window for a guy? Had she become one of those girls she quietly judged?

“That’s obviously more important.” Tony didn’t say another word on the matter and walked away. Scarlett stared at him with her mouth agape. What the hell happened to progress? She hadn’t even gotten a kiss goodbye or a promise to see her later. Now Tony was the one putting up walls when Scarlett had finally bothered to step over hers. What else could she do? Sit around and mope all day? Tony was obviously going through something and he’d made it more than perfectly clear that he didn’t want her to interfere.

But still, Scarlett wanted to try and help him in some way. Maybe he was mad at her for holding his hand through his insomnia. Or maybe he was mad at her for going out the night before. Well, he was obviously mad about something or she’d said the wrong thing. Scarlett was no good with this romantic nonsense! She’d never had to think about this crap before.

“Scarlett? I mean, Miss Damien, are you still there? What happened? Did a building fall on you? Was there another fire? I see a lot of fire in your future. Did I mention that already?” Jinx could be heard clamoring away through the phone line.

“What do you need, Agent Bennett? What can I help you with?” Scarlett finally put the phone back to her ear. What else could she do? It was true, she wanted to crawl into bed with a tub of ice cream and watch bad movies all day but it wouldn’t do her any good. Maybe if she kept busy with S.H.I.E.L.D. for a little bit she’d get some of her nervous tension off of her shoulders. When she got home she would try to talk to Tony again and maybe they would make some real progress. Then again, it was turning out that Scarlett had no idea what the hell real progress was! She’d thought they’d been making it but here she was, standing in the middle of a very expensive dining room after having been given the cold shoulder.

Weren’t women supposed to be the moodier confusing half of a relationship? Scarlett was beginning to understand the regular woman’s love for chocolate and ice cream. Perhaps that’s why they were such an important staple in gift giving. Women needed sweets to deal with men.

“We’ve got a case for you. If you could get down here as soon as possible we can get started. Time is something of an issue.” Julianna finally spoke freely. It seemed she really had been concerned about a building falling on Scarlett. The brunette made a mental note to later ask about all the fire she’d seen in her future. Now that she considered it, there had been an awful lot of fire accompanying collapsing buildings in the past few weeks. As odd as Scarlett’s life was, that was strange even for her.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Scarlett hung up the phone without asking for further instruction. Tony was already long gone and without another word to her. He’d gone down the hall and away from the elevator, toward the staircase that would take him back upstairs. If Scarlett was leaving she’d use the elevator and he needed to get away from her. When she’d told him she’d trusted him it had struck a nerve. Maybe he really didn’t trust her. Their entire relationship had been built on top of the lies they’d told the other in the very beginning. It was only natural for him not to trust her. But then how could she trust him?

Then S.H.I.E.L.D. had to keep calling and interrupting! How could she go and work for them after they’d fought about it so many times? It felt like a big smack to the face every time she got a call or a letter from them. Now he was afraid she was going to walk away from him. How was it that his fear of losing her was pushing him closer to losing her than he had ever been? Tony needed an outlet. He needed a drink. What did it matter? At this rate she was going to be gone before Christmas. Tony had been so excited for Christmas. It was the first time he’d had an excuse to begin traditions and decorate to the nines. Not that he hadn’t always decorated to the nines, but now he had a real reason to. So much for that. He had to shut his mind up and quickly before he made more bad decisions.

“What happened in there? Is Scarlett alright? The doctor seemed concerned about something called CIPA. Isn’t that an internet thing?” Pepper’s voice came from Tony’s living room once he’d gotten up the stairs. Ignoring his assistant he walked across the room and to the bar. He grabbed the first bottle of scotch he found there and pulled the lid open. “Tony? Are you okay?”

“Are there any meetings today, Pepper?” He spoke quietly as he poured the amber liquid into a glass.

“It’s Saturday.” Pepper knew that tone and she didn’t like it. She hadn’t heard it in a very long time.

“Is that a no?” Tony took a drink from his glass and made a face at the taste of it.

“No meetings, Tony.” Pepper cautiously approached him but stopped when he held his hand with the glass up and turned to face her. His eyes were dark and angry. “What happened?”

“Go home.” Tony nodded toward the door.

“Tony, whatever happened you can…”

“I said, go home.” Without another look at his assistant Tony walked away from her with a half empty glass in one hand and the scotch bottle in the other. He couldn’t talk right now. Not after the morning he’d had. Something in his head wouldn’t shut up and the only way he knew how to kill it was with alcohol. There were things he had to do before he could talk to Scarlett again and if he was going to get through those things with his sanity intact then he would need much more to drink than what was left in that bottle.