Faith in his timing

Mercy

"Rio, are you coming with us? We are going to the karaoke bar. You love karaoke. Tony hates it. It'll be fun." Behind Pepper, Tony rolled his eyes, completely offended that he was being forced to join them.

"No."

"She doesn't want to go, let's call it off." Tony tried to convince Pepper but the woman shot him a look that shut him up. Pepper knocked on Rio's door again. It was hard for the girl to be alone after what happened, it shook her up more than they initially thought. She was subletting her apartment and moved in with Tony and Pepper for the time being.

"Rio, you can't stay in there forever. You need a night out."

Rio opened the door to face Pepper and the young woman was shocked to see the state the girl was in. Her eyes were red from crying and she was still as pale as when she first returned. It had been weeks. No sign of Timothy, no word whatsoever. Tony was still recovering from going back and forth between the wormholes and it was clear to Rio that he was avoiding spending time alone with her. Or time with her in general. It was probably guilt, or he was mad at her for putting him through all that with Pepper.

"Will that stop you from banging on my door like a crazy person?" She asked Pepper in a hoarse voice and she shrugged a bit, stuttering some form of agreement.

"'Kay, gimme an hour."

Pepper nodded and returned to the living room with Tony, to wait for Rio. "Sir?" JARVIS asked him, seeming a little distraught. "Yeah, JARVIS? You wanna see me do karaoke? Apparently it's mandatory nowadays..." Tony murmured, glancing at Pepper. "Sir, miss Taylor's state is not improving. I fear that this is beyond any form of normal heartache, based on the information you have provided me with." Pepper tilted her head in confusion. "You gave JARVIS information on broken hearts?" Tony nodded. "So he would understand Rio better."

"This isn't something that's understood. This is something that...needs time. To heal."

"Time? Is that what I need? I thought I had enough of it by now."

A voice behind them was heard and Pepper got up when she saw Rio standing there, her hair still wet from the shower, in just her nightgown.

"Sweetie, I didn't mean...I.."

"Forget it. He used me. He never loved me. And I was stupid enough to fall in love twice there. I got hurt twice. Should have learned my lesson with Shelly and I didn't."

"I'm sure he knows he made a mistake." Pepper tried to console her but Rio shrugged. "It doesn't matter if he does or not. I'll never see him again. I'll...get dressed."

The girl shuffled out of the room again and went to dry her hair and put something decent on to go out in. She chose a leather pair of pants, a green top and a gold necklace, a pair of heels underneath to complete her look. After putting some make up on herself, she returned to Tony and Pepper.

"Looking to score out there, Dexter?" He asked her, doing his best to sound casual, even using her nickname for the first time since her return.

"So you can take him away from me again?" Rio asked him coldly.

The temperature in the room dropped immensely as Tony averted his gaze and Pepper stepped closer to them, without knowing what to do or say.

"Miss Taylor, may I point out that..." JARVIS started, in Tony's defence. "STOP IT!" Rio suddenly shrieked, holding her head as if she was in pain. The looks that her employers, her friends, gave her now made Rio want to run and hide. A mixture of fear and pity. Almost the same look as the Monsignor gave her during one of their final moments.