Changes | Marvel

THREE. Recovery

The rattling of take off is painful but I ignore the fact that my whole body is throbbing when I finally register that I was in Rhodey's arms. An on-board nurse hovers around Tony while Rhodey opens up a water bottle and allows me to start drinking.

"Slowly," He warns me lightly "I know you're thirsty, but I can't have you choking when I just got you back." I finish the bottle of water slowly when finally, Tony pushes the nurse from his arm and over to me while demanding that I get checked out before him.

"Does anywhere on your body hurt?" She asks me kindly, sitting on a stool in front of me.

"Everywhere," I tell her. "My shoulder and my chest hurt the most." She goes to pull at my shirt when Tony speaks up to stop her.

"I wouldn't do that," he warned. "That's already been taken of, I don't want any questions." He mutters as she pulls down the top of my T-Shirt to reveal the arc reactor. She almost steps back at the sight, gasping a little in surprise.

"What is that?!" Rhodey exclaims, turning me around on his lap so he could get a better look.

"What's keeping us alive." Tony sighs, also pulling down to reveal his own battered chest. The nurse only nods once, leaving my shirt alone and instead focusing on my shoulder.

"Ouch!" I yelp when she manipulates my arm forward.

"It's not broken or dislocated." She mutters. "Must be a strained muscle, I'll need to do an ultrasound to see for sure." She announces out loud.

"We'll do that." Tony agrees, watching the Nurse pull out some bandages to fix up some of the cuts on my legs to finish up. I lean back into Rhodey and close my eyes, feeling tired and groggy from the day I had. Eventually I fall asleep, not to wake up until we land back at home. When the plane touches down, I was already seated patiently waiting for the hangar door to open and reveal Tony and I to the world once more.

"I can see Pepper!" I tell Tony as I peek out of the lowering door. "Happy is there too!"'

"Well come on ,what are we waiting for." He takes my hand and we begin to walk down the gradual slope.

"Watch it, coming up." two people from a medical team begin to come up to us, but Tony waves them off whilst pulling me closer to his side.

"Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them." Tony complains to them as he continues to walk past them. I could hear the hundreds of shouting voices and the clicks of cameras coming from paparazzi who were gathered behind barriers towards the side. Through my still semi-groggy state I saw Pepper waiting for us with red eyes as if she had been crying. I race forward and pull her into a hug, feeling her arms wrap around me just as tight as she also leans down to reach my height.

"Oh my god." I heard her whisper.

"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?" Tony follows me over, smirking and greeting Pepper who had let go of me. Instead of sticking around, I make my way into Happy's arms in which he picks me up into a slight swing which made me laugh.

"We missed you kid, too much." He whispers into my ear. Happy was like my other protective older brother but a lot more chilled in a way. He would let me eat candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner if it kept me quiet and obedient.

"I missed you too, Happy." I whisper back to him. "Did you take care of Pepper while we were gone?"

"As much as I could." He kissed my cheek and Happy puts me back on my feet. I could still hear the clicking of cameras from behind us as the paparazzi keep taking pictures of our welcome back party, following us as we were ushered by Happy into the awaiting Limo.