It's Forbidden

It Hits Her

Aspen and Bucky spent the rest of the day and next laying in bed together. Just holding each other, talking, watching T.V. Soaking up the bliss. Both afraid it would disappear and taking advantage of it while it was there. They knew they had to come out of their little hibernation eventually though. They couldn't just keep to themselves, they had the team that was expecting them to show face eventually and Steve. They couldn't just leave him now that he excepted everything.

And Aspen needed to talk to Tony. He knew they were related now, but she still hadn't had a real conversation with him. At all. Even when she was sick, before and after her surgery, she never really even talked to him. He was present but it mostly consisted of him ordering Steve around to keep the peace or him checking up on her, but not a word was said about Aspen's revelation.

She felt bad she had even waited this long to talk to him, so she needed to hurry up and find him. She got up the next day, Bucky was still asleep. She kissed him on the cheek and told him she was going to talk to Tony. He kissed her, and went back to sleep. Aspen freshened up, since she had just woken up, and she set out to find Tony. She looked in his room first, then the kitchen, the lab, the training room, he wasn't there.

She went out on the balcony and she found him. He was sitting, looking out on the ocean view they had. She had never really taken the time to look at it. As she walked out the door, and slid it closed behind her, Tony looked away from the skyline to her for a brief moment, "Hey Tony." Aspen said. "Hey." Tony said back, then he looked back at the view. Aspen made her way out to where he was. He was sitting on the farthest side of the balcony. She made her way over, and sat in the chair that was next to his, but it had a full coffee table length between the two chairs.

She looked out at the view with him for a moment. Drinking in the silence. Trying to figure out exactly what to say. She had come out here and she still had no idea how to say anything to him, or what to say to him. She had been thinking about what she could say when they finally had a conversation about everything, but she could never come up with anything.

She stated the obvious now, hoping he would start the conversation if she said at least something, regardless of what it was that she said. "So..." She started. She internally cursed herself. Thinking about how dumb she probably sounded. But she took a breath, she remembered this was her nephew. He was family. Now they knew they were blood, she knew how Tony felt about family, no matter what, she thought, he couldn't really ever be mad at her.

"We should probably talk." Aspen says. She shakes her head at herself. Thinking to herself how obvious that had already been. She didn't need to say it. But it would at least start a conversation, so she thought, whatever, it's fine. It'll be alright. Everything will be alright. We'll be alright. And it was. Tony chuckled, looking at Aspen. He could practically see her internally cursing herself and beating herself up. He saw how stressed and nervous she looked even though she knew that there was really no bad outcome, right? Was there?

"Yea, I checked the tests at least fifteen times since I heard. And every time, they're the same." Tony tells her. He tried laughing it off, trying to make her less anxious. When he thought about it, the situation was truly unique and insane. Her nervousness was completely understandable. He found his own palms sweaty, shaking slightly. She was technically 104 years old. But if they were going by the time age she was frozen, she was about 23. And Tony was 48. He was twice her age, if they were going by her age being 23, and she was his aunt. It was crazy. They knew that anyone on the outside of their superhero lives, would never be able to fully comprehend this.

Aspen nods, she didn't want to sound like a therapist, but she wanted to know exactly how Tony felt about it. It was a lot to take in, a lot to process, she knew because it was a lot for her too. It took a little while for her to fully understand. And it was worse for her because she was the one who was adopted and lied to her whole life. "And how do you feel about that?" Aspen asks him.

She rolled her eyes to herself. She really did sound like a therapist. She couldn't stand it. "Well my dad has a sister. Which is you. And he never told me." Tony says. "I get you were supposed to be dead but it would've been nice to know." He continues. He didn't was to be open and honest with Aspen because they wouldn't get anywhere if he lied to her. It would be a terrible start.

"And I'm not mad at you because you didn't know either. Hell you didn't even know you were adopted." Tony says. Aspen says nothing yet. She knew he wasn't finished and wanted to let him continue his rant of his feelings. She knew it wasn't often he opened up about anything. "But I also flirted with you when you first got here and technically your my aunt." Tony says. Aspen had thought about that and yes it really did make her cringe, but it was harmless flirting and nothing ever came of it, so she brushed it off.

"I have actually never been so relieved someone rejected my advances." Tony tells her. "And maybe my dad was going to tell me before he died...but he died in a car crash and I don't know if he was ever going to tell me." Tony says. And it hit Aspen. He knew. He read Hydra's file. But he wanted to see if she remembered and if she did, he wondered if she would come clean.

Aspen laughs nervously. She couldn't admit to it without Bucky. He was a part of it. She needed to talk to him first. She shakes off her uncomfortable feeling and looks back to Tony. "Well..." She says. "I did ask you how you felt about it didn't I?" She said. "Uhm...I have no idea. Like you said I didn't even know I was adopted. I don't even know if Howard knew." She tells him. Thinking back to their brief interactions in the forties. "As far as I know, when I met him, when Steve and I got the serum, he thought Steve and I were siblings." Aspen tells him.

"Well that being said. I'm glad it's you i'm related to and not Rogers because he always has a stick up his ass." Tony says. Aspen laughs and shakes her head. "Tell me about it. I grew up thinking he was my brother so I do love him but god he is high strung." Aspen says. "Anyways I have to go, but if you wanna grab a drink or something later?" She asks him. "Rein check?" Tony asks. "Yea." Aspen says. She gets up and leaves the balcony, and goes to find Bucky.