•Night Angel•

CHAPTER XXXVI - I'M BACK, STAR.

May 2008. Los Angeles Air Force Base. El Segundo, California.

Sophia was standing with her arms wrapped around her torso and swinging back and forth in her heels. She was looking at the sky, her sunglasses blocking the sunlight and her teeth attached to her bottom lip, biting it out of nervousness.

On her left was Pepper and on her right a little far behind, Happy. They were at the Air Force base in Los Angeles. She had arrived early in the morning and went straight to the place. Rhodey had called her a couple of hours after Nick told her that they had found her brother. She wasted no time in getting on a jet that Nick had arranged for her. Michael couldn't be there at the moment, but he was going to arrive later in the day.

Sophia was starting to get impatient. She knew the flight was long but she didn't know if it was because she was nervous or it was actually late. When she heard the familiar sound of the airplane and saw how everyone was preparing for the landing, she felt her heart beating faster than before. Her whole body was shaking and she just wanted to land that plane herself and hug her brother.

She had no idea how Tony would be. If he was injured, if he was unconscious, if he was healthy or not, if he had no recognition of anything, she had no idea. But she just hoped that he was okay. As okay as you can be after being kidnapped for 3 months by a terrorist group.

After what felt like hours to her, the plane had finally landed. But it took them another 10 hours (according to Sophia) to open the door.

Shifting anxiously in her place she turned to her left when she felt a hand take hers in a reassuring way and give it a gentle squeeze. She saw Pepper giving her a small smile and Sophia returned it. She knew Pepper had missed her boss. It was obvious. But at the same time, Sophia was very good at reading people. Very good. And what she saw in Pepper's eyes was more than just happiness to have her boss back and alive. Sophia just smiled mischievously. Her train of thought stopped when she heard the gate of the plane open.

Watching with excited eyes as the door descended slowly, she saw two figures making their way down the ramp. One being Rhodey, and the other the figure of the person she had missed the most.

She lifted her hand to her instinctively and caressed her necklace. The tears that had piled on her eyes, waste no time on running freely through her cheeks now. And she didn't hold them back.

Smiling through her tears and letting out a huff of happiness, she let go of Pepper's hand and started running towards her brother.

When Tony was coming out of the plane, he had his eyes glued to the ground. A part of him didn't want to see the looks of pity and sorry of the people around him. But as he was walking down the ramp with Rhodey holding his arm, something told him to look up. He held his head high and as soon as he did that, he was met with the eyes of the person he thought he would never see again. The person he fought for every single day of his captivity, the person he did everything for without hesitation, the person that made him smile and be a better version of himself every day. His reason to smile, his best friend, his little sister, his Star, his angel.

He saw her and he instantly felt more alive than he had in months. He saw her running towards him and with a gentle movement, he removed his arm from Rhodey's grip.

Sophia crashed against his brother and held him in a tight embrace. Her hands around his neck and close to her. She needed to make sure he was real. That this was not some sort of sick nightmare like the ones she had where after hugging him, he would vanish in thin air.

At the moment he felt his sister hugging him, Tony didn't care about his wounds, bruises, sprinted arm, or the piece of metal on his chest. With only one available arm, he hugged her as tight as he could. He placed his head on her hair and gave a kiss to her head. He felt his eyes stinging with tears and one of them ran freely down his cheek. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment of being back with his little sister again.