We Can't Go Back

Bucky is Alive

The next day, Steve left early in the morning for his run but he would be leaving right after for his mission. Lizzie felt like his time off was too short but it would be hypocritical of her to tell him to cut down on his workload.

She had finished her agricultural development project for Tony so she decided to fly up to New York to give him a rundown. Of course, he automatically approved it without reading over her proposal.

"You know, I make mistakes. How do you know my prototype will even work?" Lizzie said.

"I've never seen you make a mistake. Maybe you do make mistakes but you make sure no one sees you do them. I guarantee whatever you submitted was flawless," Tony said.

"Well, I flew up here just for you to review it so what now?" She asked.

"You want to blow some stuff up on the roof?" Tony asked.

"That's so juvenile."

"So?" He said with a devil may care grin.

She paused for a long time. On one hand, there's so many better things she could be doing. On the other hand, maybe doing something juvenile for once would make her feel something. Plus, she could read Tony well enough to know that he needed to do something to keep his mind off of the billions of things flying around in his head right now.

So, they went up to the roof and threw things in the air then shot them down with hand repulsers. Apparently Tony didn't scrap every part of his Iron Man suits.

Lizzie was a better shot than she would have thought. During the war, Peggy showed her the basics but she was always too afraid to hold a gun. For some reason, weapons didn't bother her like they did. To be fair, she is unrecognizable to the woman she was during the war.

By the time they were done, the roof was covered in glass and ceramic and the sun had set. She definitely felt ridiculous but more care free than she had in a long time.

"That was fun-."

She was cut off by a searing pain in her ribs. Tony grabbed her shoulder as she hunched over in pain.

"Ribs?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," she said through gritted teeth.

Tony took her down to the medical bay and had her lungs X-rayed. There were some fractures but luckily no breaks. Tony helped tape up her ribs without saying a word but she knew what he was thinking.

"I know you don't understand-"

"You're right, I don't" Tony said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"What if something goes wrong? What if I end up like Bruce? Always being terrified that my temper could kill people? I rather die," she said.

"I'll tell Steve," Tony threatened.

She threw up a hand dismissively.

"No, you won't. You're not a snitch. Besides, if you were going to you would have done it already," she said.

Tony knew she was right. As much as he would like to tell Steve, he won't. It's her decision and she's not going to use it even if Steve knew.

"If there's any side effects, we can cross that bridge when we get to it," Tony said.

"Why should we risk that?" Lizzie asked.

"Because you are my friend," Tony said.

Lizzie knew they were friends but the comment still surprised her. They didn't talk about feelings. They talked about work or debated topics but feelings was never on the table.