Iron-Man: For The Love Of The Spy

Morning

Natasha woke up to the sound of knocking on her front door. She frowned and looked at the clock, it was only six thirty in the morning. She stumbled out of bed and pulled on her robe and slipped into some bedroom slippers. She came down the stairs yawning as she approached the front door.

When she opened the front door she was greeted by a smiling Tony Stark holding a her blouse on a hanger. "Morning  Ms Lang, to apologize for a crappy day yesterday I have personally had your blouse dry cleaned and I will be driving you to work today."

Natasha was genuinely surprised, "Um Mr Stark, there's no need." Tony smiled a little bit and stepped into her house, "Of course there is, I pride myself on making sure that my employee's are treated right. You had in my opinion one of the worst first days in history. I mean security try and kick you out, you get knocked on your ass by an idiot, then your new boss walks in on you. So a pretty bad day." Natasha blushed a little as she fixed her hair behind her ear and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Why don't I fix us some breakfast Mr Stark, I think I could use some don't you?" she asks with a smile. Tony smiles right back, "Sure, I don't see why not." Natasha makes her way into the kitchen followed by a curious Mr Stark who is glancing around him at the details of her home. She notices him looking but continues preparing some scrambled eggs.

"I notice you don't have any photos of family or friends here," says Tony as he leans against the marble counter top. Natasha shrugs, "I don't really have a family. What friends I did have I couldn't be around anymore." Tony takes a seat on a stool, "Wanna talk about it?" Natasha smiles to herself and continues making the eggs, who knew Tony could be this compassionate?

"Well, I hadn't got many friends if I am honest. I could probably count them on one hand. But the ones that I did have, they turned their backs on me when I needed them the most. Since then I have been by myself," says Natasha as her mind flashes with memories of Clint Barton, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson. "Wow, that sounds...awful," says Tony as he seemed to be struggling to find a word for it, his face echoed nothing but empathy for her. Natasha doesn't even realize that there are tears falling as she places a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Tony on the breakfast bar.

"Yeah well I do fine by myself," says Natasha as she sniffs a little. Tony can feel his heart breaking over this girl in front of him, he reaches a hands forward and cups her cheek using his thumbs to wipe away the tears, "You have me now Sarah, I went through something like this when I was a kid. I had no parents around to take care of me. My only friend was Rhodes, and even now he's turned on me. The only person now that I trust beyond myself is Pepper. But I have a feeling that some day I could count you as well."

Natasha smiled and Tony slowly took his hands away from her cheeks. "Let's make a promise, you watch out for me, and I will watch out for you. Deal?" asks Tony with a soft tone, she looks into his eyes and can see that he is being sincere about this offer, this Tony Stark was really something else thought Natasha to herself. Natasha nods her head, "Deal Mr Stark."

"Yeah seeing as we're going to be friends and all you can just call me Tony, no need for the formalities," he says with a slight chuckle. "Okay Tony, then how about you eat your eggs whilst I go get dressed. I don't think I can go to work in a pair of shorts and a tank top."

"Sure thing Sarah," chuckles Tony softly as he eats his eggs.

Natasha smiles as she exits the kitchen and heads towards her bedroom to get dressed. She doesn't take too long and soon she comes down fully dressed in a red dress and some matching heels. Her eyes scan the kitchen and stop at the sink in surprise to see Tony Stark with his sleeves rolled up doing the dishes in her sink from not only this morning but the night before. When she enters the kitchen he turns and smiles, "Thought I'd give a hand, you look nice by the way." Natasha smiles a little, "Thanks Tony, but you could have left those I would have washed them when I got home."

"Nonsense, I have two good hands I may as well help you out, besides I'm done," says Tony as he finishes drying the last dish and placing it inside a cupboard. He smiles and gestures to the sink, "See completely clean." Natasha smiles at his antics, why was he being so nice to her? They had technically only met yesterday, what was his endgame?

Tony walked over to the front door and opened it wide, "After you," he says as he gestures outside. Natasha smiles and steps by Tony throwing him a flirty smirk to which he returns. After Tony drove them to the office she couldn't help but notice how unhealthy that he really was.

As he sat next to her in the car she finally got the chance to examine him. There were bags under his eyes, possibly from lack of sleep. He was definitely thinner, she could see that his cheeks were a little more hollowed than when they had met before. His skin was pale and slightly resembled a very pale gray. The poisoning must really be taking it's tole on the man.

As they pulled into the parking lot and parked she could see Tony lean back in the driver seat and close his eyes for a moment as if trying to focus. "Hey Sarah, this is embarrassing to ask but do you think you could help me out of the car? I don't think I have a lot of energy in me."

Natasha's eyes filled with concern, "Is everything okay?" she asked in an attempt to pry a bit more information out of him about his condition. He didn't speak but opened his eyes and looked at her wearily. Then after a moment of intense eye gazing he nodded. She got out of the car and made her way to the driver door and opened it for him. He gave her a grateful look and he swung his legs out and held out his arm. She took it and heaved him to his feet, he swayed and fell backwards holding onto the car for support. Natasha's concern grew when she saw of pale and sweaty he had become.

"Tony, are you sure you're fit to come into the office? I can take care of things while you rest," she said in an attempt to sound competent. Tony looked at her and smiled, "Nah, I'm fine. If you would help me get to my office I would be grateful."

Natasha nodded and closed the car door before grabbing Tony's arm and throwing it over her shoulder guiding him towards the front doors of Stark Industries. He would stumble now and then but he seemed to be holding his own weight. As soon as they entered the foyer a familiar strawberry blonde haired woman rushed over to them.

"Tony! What's wrong are you okay!?" stammered Pepper Potts as she stood before them. Tony nodded, "Perfectly fine Pep, just need to get to my office and do some work for a change." Pepper didn't seem convinced in the slightest, she immediately rounded on Natasha, "You will take Mr Stark home this instant and make sure he doesn't leave the property." 

"I'm sorry Miss Potts but I take my order's directly from Mr Stark and he wishes to go to his office," said Natasha with a raised eyebrow. Pepper's face grew red, "Don't disobey me on this one, just do as you're told."

"Pepper, I know you're concerned but the best thing for me right now is to get to my office so please step aside," said Tony in exasperation. Pepper wasn't backing down though, "If you don't take Mr Stark home right now then you will be out of a job Miss Lang."

"I'm sorry but that is not your call Miss Potts," said Natasha in a business like voice and with that she began proceeding to the elevator to take Tony to his office as requested. When the doors closed Tony leaned against the wall taking his weight off of Natasha. "Nicely done Sarah, nicely done. Not many people are willing to ignore Pepper, hence why I fired my last three personal assistants. They forgot that they worked directly for me and ignored what I said and just did what Pepper or anyone else told them to do."

"Of course Tony, I respect you," said Natasha softly.

The elevator doors pinged open and Tony straightened himself up before walking out of the elevator on his own. Natasha followed him just to be sure that he was okay. He smiled at her as he entered his office.

"Thanks Sarah," he said with sincerity.

With those words she could see how much it meant to him in his eyes. She gave him a nervous smile in return as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "Of course Tony." And with that she walked out of his office and entered her own, she was ready to just collapse into her chair but the problem was, that someone was already sitting in it.