The Hamptons' House

2009: Part 2

Tony woke just as the sun began to rise and he crawled out from between the pocket that you and Kurt had made around him. He was reluctant to get up. It was nice to wake up cuddled up with other people and he really relished his time with you. He'd like to just lie there until you both woke and then spend the morning finding other reasons to stay in bed, but he had a few things to take care of before you woke, and it would be nice to take the time to watch the sunrise over the ocean. He wasn't completely sure he'd get another chance to see it.

He went to the workbench in his room. It hadn't changed much since he'd installed JARVIS. The only new thing on there was the device he had made to check his blood toxicity level.

He'd known when he'd first made the miniaturized arc reactor having it embedded in his chest would be dangerous. Palladium was toxic, but the toxins would kill him much slower than the pieces of shrapnel floating around in his chest so he'd hoped that he'd be able to find some alternative to the palladium, preferably before it killed him. In the meantime, he was trying to live a little healthier. He'd been drinking chlorophyll smoothies to try and negate the poisoning.

He pricked his finger and watched as the display lit up.

Blood Toxicity 06%.

Not too bad - he could work with that. He would need to figure out how to get that under control though because at the rate it was going up, he was barely going to clear his next birthday.

He put the device aside and looked out the window. He could worry about that later. Now he had to worry about how he was going to tell you what had happened to him and how it was still not over.

He hadn't really told anyone what had happened. Not all of it anyway. Some people knew parts. Everyone knew he had been in the cave and about inventing the arc. No one knew about the waterboarding or how from months after he got home when he got in the shower and the water hit his face - he would flinch. Pepper, Rhodey, and some of SHIELD knew about Obidiah - but no one else. No one knew about the dance with Pepper or how he'd realized he was falling in love with her and he was fairly certain she felt the same way.

He wanted to tell you. You of all people wouldn't hold any of it against him or pressure him to do something he wasn't comfortable with. It wasn't going to be easy though.

"Tony?"

You spoke at barely above a whisper and yet the sound startled him in the quiet room. He jumped a little and spun around in his chair. Kurt still slept soundly, but you were sitting up, looking at him. You'd pulled the sheet up to cover yourself but your breast was exposed. He could see the look of worry on your face and a wave of guilt hit him. He hated how upset you'd been last night. He'd wished he could have protected you from that fear, and he had been grateful that he'd never actually started dating you in the first place. He could only imagine how panicked you'd be if it had just been the two of you.

Tony's automatic reaction was to smile. It wasn't real and he knew you'd see through it. He hated using that smile on you, but it had become so natural to wear it. When he realized what he was doing he let the facade fall again. "Hey," he whispered. "Go back to sleep. It's early."

You climbed out of bed and moved to him. When you reached him, he wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you close, resting his forehead on your bare chest. "Why are you up?" you whispered.

"Guess I couldn't sleep," he admitted. "Needed to get my thoughts in order."

"Yeah?" you asked. "Like what?"

He pulled back and looked up at you. "Maybe we should go downstairs so we don't wake, Kurt."

You nodded and pulled away, going to your bag and pulling out a sleep shirt and a robe. The two of you headed downstairs together. The house was a hive of activity. In the kitchen, the cooks were preparing breakfast-to-go for the party guests that were sleeping off the events of last night. Tony paused just long enough to ask them to bring you something out to the patio before moving on. There were maids and cleaners and Happy's security team waking up people and moving them on as they cleaned up. All over the living room and out on the deck people were blearily getting dressed and making their way to the buffet table that had been set up with tea, coffee, and juice and was being laden down with toast and breakfast sandwiches.