The Hamptons' House

2009: Part 1

You drove up to Tony's house in the Hamptons feeling anxious. The thought of the orgy that was most likely already underway was the last thing on your mind. All you could think about was Tony and making sure he was okay.

Things had been fairly uneventful immediately after your last trip to the Hamptons. You'd gone home and slotted right back into your role as anthropologist, wife, and mother. Tony went back to being Tony and you worried about him when you saw articles in the tabloids. The rumor that he went twelve for twelve with the Maxim cover models in 2007 was a little distressing, the least of the reasons being that Ben Stiller was October that year and he was a happily married man. If he had really done that, sex had moved on from just being fun, it was now becoming part of his career. Tony Stark billionaire, playboy blowing through conquests because they were things to do not people to connect with.

You had hoped he'd hit bottom soon and that bottom wouldn't involve his death.

Then - in 2008 - Tony Stark died.

At least that was how the news had reported it initially. As soon as that report had gotten to you, that Tony Stark had been killed on a routine trip to Afghanistan, it felt like something had broken inside you.

Denial is always the first stage of grief and while it felt like something had ripped open your chest and pulled out your still-beating heart, you'd gotten on the phone and called anyone you could think of that would know for sure because there was no way that Tony could actually be dead. The news must have gotten it wrong.

Rhodey has been your first choice, but all you ever got when you tried calling him was his voicemail. Still, you called it until it was full and even then you would call in the hope he'd pick up.

After that, you called Tony's home only to have It ring out. You called Stark Industries and had them tell you that there was no comment and a continuous refusal to put you through to anyone who might know something, including Pepper Potts.

After a week when you were well into the anger phase because no one would get back to you and tell you if it was true, Rhodey called.

Rhodey has told you everything he could, though some information was classified. He'd said Tony had been riding in a different vehicle to him. He'd said that the vehicle had been attacked. That the bodies of the four soldiers had been recovered but that Tony had not. They were holding out hope that he'd been taken hostage and they'd send demands for his release. Though the military's stance was not to negotiate with terrorists. He had assured you that he'd not given up hope of finding Tony and he wouldn't stop looking until he had. He promised to let you know if any of that changed.

It was three months before Tony came back. Three months of hoping and grieving and having to pretend there was nothing wrong when you went to work or went out for drinks with people. Three months of your heart beating out of your chest anytime Rhodey called because you were sure that this time it was because he'd been found dead. Three months where you didn't know if you just needed to let him go or hold out hope that he'd come home.

The stress you were under and the grief you felt didn't just affect you. It put a strain on everything around you and for the first time since meeting Kurt you wondered if your marriage was really going to last because even though he knew why you were so upset, he didn't know what to do about it.

So when you got a call from Pepper Potts saying that Rhodey had found Tony and he was on his way home, the relief you felt was overwhelming. You had asked her to get him to call you when he was up for it and you received a call that night.

You had wanted to see him, but he had been pretty adamant that he needed to recuperate and that his plate was very full now he was back. He had plans to change the direction of Stark Industries from weapons to clean energy. You told him you were proud of him and you missed him. He told you he missed you too and that he'd see you next year.