ＳＬＡＴＥ ◼ STEVE ROGERS◼

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"Honestly, I would say that I'm surprised you're reading some sappy love story but I'm really not,"

Charlotte Watson looked up from her book, a small smile crossing her lips as she saw Tony Stark enter the living room of the compound, the familiar Stark smirk resting on his lips.

"Me Before You is not sappy, I'll have you know," she retorted, ducking with a laugh as Tony walked by, flipping the blanket on the side of the couch toward her head. "And what else did you want me to do while I'm all alone? I already watched the movie, thought I should read the book while I'm at it."

Tony Stark let out a hum, walking into the kitchen as he threw his briefcase down on the counter-top. He unbuttoned his suit jacket, throwing it onto the counter-top as he poured himself a cup of coffee, looking out to Lottie was she placed the book back on the table.

"What'd you get up to without me? Hit up some nightclubs, start a Tinder? I heard those accounts can be load of fun,"

"I'm still an engaged woman, T, no matter what you might think of that," Lottie shot back, giving Tony a look as he held his hands up in surrender. "I haven't done much. Been relaxing, helping Happy with the paperwork for the move. Been pretty...lonely around here."

"I heard the kid was off to D.C. for some Decathlon trip," Tony called out as he took some of the trash on the table, throwing it into the bin. He paused once the lid opened, raising an eyebrow at the sight of three of his bottles of Vodka empty in the bin. He took a quick look up at Lottie, who wasn't paying attention. He quickly closed the lid, moving back toward the living room. "He said anything about how it's going?"

"Not really, haven't actually heard from him since they got in last night," she confessed as Tony took a seat on the other side of the couch. She brought her knees up to her chest, turning the news station on before turning to look at him. "The kid really looks up to you, maybe you should think about being his main point of contact instead of shoving him off to Happy and I."

"He adores you too. Don't try to pawn the kid off on me, you didn't have to do this," Tony pointed out. Lottie laughed lightly, turning to watch the news. Tony's eyes didn't leave her, a frown crossing his lips as he watched her. "You know, I've been thinking about something. Was thinking maybe it could be a gift to you as some...early birthday gift or whatever."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"A therapist,"

Lottie paused, slowly looking over at Tony with wide eyes.

"A what?"

"Lottie, I know you better than most," Tony told her, letting out a small sigh as he watched his best friend, who only looked down at the floor. "I know I haven't been here much, but you're not yourself. This is affecting you, and I'm worried that if it gets out of hand...there might not be a way back from it."

"You wanna take about therapy? Consider signing yourself up," Lottie shot back, looking up at her best friend. "You forget that besides Pepper, I probably know you best. You run away from your problems, which is what you've been doing when you go on all these 'business trips'. You want to act like you're fine, but I know that fight screwed you up more then you're willing to say."

"I lost Steve Rogers and half the Avengers, but you lost more," Tony retorted, narrowing his eyes at her. "You lost your future husband, your best friends, your family-"

"They were your family too," Lottie interjected. "Don't try to sit here and refer to them as the team. They were your family as much as they were mine. We both lost a lot."

"And you're holding everything inside, it's not healthy! What you need to do is talk to someone, a professional, since you won't talk to me-"

"Because you're never here!" the pair went silent at Lottie's outburst. The woman sighed, looking down at the floor once again. "We both lost...so much. Everything that we held so dear. I thought that maybe, just maybe, you'd open up to me and we would get through this together. But no, Tony Stark has to do everything on his own, he doesn't care how his actions effect others. While you've been off drowning your sorrows around the globe, I've been alone. I chose to be here, to stay with you when I promised you I'd never walk away. But all you've done is walk away from me and leave me alone."

The pair sat silent, the silence hanging heavy in the air as they stared at one another. Neither knew what to say. Neither knew if there was anything that could be said that would help make the situation better.

It was only the sound of the breaking news report on TV that drew their gazes away from one another.

"...if you're just tuning in, we have breaking news this afternoon. Police on the scene in Washington D.C. say there was an explosion at The Washington Monument, rocking the building and sending bits and pieces tumbling to the ground below. The elevator inside was stalled at the observation deck, and was seconds from falling with a group of students from Midtown School of Science and Technology of New York inside. The group was at the monument, celebrating their Academic Decathlon win, when the disaster struck. Thankfully, no one was harmed as sources say Spider-Man, the superhero known for his acts around New York, swung into the monument and was able to save the group. Witnesses on the scene describe the incident as..."

"Wow. Guess I gotta hand it to the kid, he did some good work..."

Tony Stark trailed off, looking to his right only to see that Lottie was no longer there. His eyes following her retreating figure down the hallway into the the bedrooms, a frown never leaving his lips as he watched her go.

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Sorry this one is so short! This one is more of just a filler chapter leading into the bigger stuff, but it was important none the less!