afterglow - tony stark

31

Eira didn't know precisely how long she had been missing. It was hard to keep track of time there but she was gone for six months.

Tony had been an absolute wreck while she was. He couldn't even build anything with her gone because he'd usually think of what she was going through and then he'd end up throwing something.

But one thing he did accomplish was making sure everyone knew who she was. It didn't matter if someone was in the middle of nowhere, they would know Eira and what she looked like.

So when Bucky rushed into the building and said she'd been found, he didn't even have to say her name. Everyone knew. And with the information that she was found, the authorities moved quickly.

Although, what people also knew was that Bucky specifically was the one who kidnapped her. So when Eira was taken out of his arms for medical attention, he was also arrested and he didn't resist. He just wanted Eira to be okay.

_____

A month passed.

Eira had been placed into a medically induced coma for awhile at a hospital in New York. They stopped the bleeding and patched the vessel. They fixed her hand and it was in a cast. They treated the pneumonia that she had. They placed her on an IV drip with the required nutrients as she was extremely malnourished and skinny. The rest would have to heal on its own.

But her body was ready to wake up now. Her eyes blinked open and as she realized she was in an unfamiliar place, she started to panic. She went to clutch for her necklace but it wasn't there which was about to send her into another panic but then the door opened and someone stepped into the room.

Tony.

Even though her body hadn't moved in a month, it was Tony. She would cross galaxies as she laid dying just to see him.

She leapt off the bed with all these wires and tubes attached to her. She stumbled over to him like her lift depended on it.

When Tony walked into the room and saw those green eyes, he froze. They said she'd wake tomorrow and he was prepping himself all day but she was awake, alive, now. Then she bounded out of the bed as she started crying.

"Snowflake, don't...."

But she stumbled to him and she nearly fell but he caught her. She wrapped her arms around him tightly in a hug as she placed her head on his chest.

"Tony," she said in such relief but she began to hyperventilate. "Please, don't let go. Please, don't..."

"Like I would ever let you go again," Tony promised as he clutched her tightly like a ship holding its sail.

She could only cry. She had endless tears. He was here and she was clinging to him. It felt like too much after wishing for it for so long. And she was scared that it was all a dream.

_____

Tony had convinced her to sit back on the bed so the doctors could look her over. But she stayed clutching his hand with the one that wasn't in a cast. And she got her necklace back (it had been taken off so they could treat her).

All of the doctors said she could go home tomorrow. But now she was alone with Tony again and he kissed her knuckles gently, "Snow, I'm sorry."

She furrowed her eyebrows to find that a guilty look shined in his eyes. She couldn't believe he put the weight of what happened on his shoulders.

"Stop," she pleaded. "It's not your fault."

"I had one thing I needed to protect," he clenched his jaw. "And I let you down."

"You could never let me down," she promised. "I love you."

A few tears fell from his eyes while he looked down as he heard that phrase. Sometimes, on his darkest days, he thought he wouldn't hear it again and that scared the life out of him, "God, it's been awhile..."

He wiped the tears away as he looked back up at those green eyes that he missed so much. He couldn't imagine a world without that color, those eyes.

"I'll always love you, Snow."

_____

The next day when she finally got her bearings, she left in the limo with Tony. But as she got in, she turned to Tony, "Where is James?"

"Who?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"James. He's the one who got me out of there," Eira clarified. "Where is he?"

"He's the one who kidnapped you," Tony clenched his jaw. "He's in jail where he belongs."

"No!" Eira screeched. "He does not. You don't understand, Tony. He's just a victim. I have to get him out."

"He's a killer, Eira," Tony argued with a hard tone.

"So am I," she reminded.

Tony stared at her before he sighed in exasperation and called to Happy, "Take us to Washington."

_____

Eira argued for hours with the police. Bucky was only incriminated for kidnapping her (not for any of his HYDRA crimes which the public didn't know about and the government didn't reveal his actual name to the public because of the fact that he was supposed to be dead). She didn't want to press charges but they wouldn't listen until Tony stepped in and, of course, they listened to Iron Man.

When Bucky was released, his eyes widened, "What are you doing here?"

She quickly hugged him, "Are you an idiot? You got yourself arrested, James."

"You...can call me Bucky," he decided as he hugged her back. "And I should be here."

"No, you shouldn't," she defended as she let go of him. "So I got you out."

"Great, you two...hugged," Tony said with a frown and Bucky tensed with his presence as he stared silently. "Can we go now? Is there somewhere we can drop him off?"

"He's coming back home with us," Eira announced.

"Excuse me? He's doing what?" Tony said flabbergasted.

"I won't leave him right now, Tony," she said emotionally.

Tony stared at her eyes and he could never say no. He really needed to work on it because now her request was to let an assassin stay at the house.

"God, fine..."