Steel Meets Iron

Chapter 15

Tony was roused by timid poking, right in his jaw. He had been up late last night working under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s whip, he thought that he could get some sleep before Pepper let for work. Surely he could at least get that, just ten minutes of sleep. He was about to sit up when he realized that Pepper was still in bed. Not even Pepper was up, she was sound asleep beside him. This was ridiculous. It was illegal for him to get up before Pepper, downright abuse, inhumane.

"It's too early," he moaned to the poking. "Come back in twenty minutes. No, make that an hour." He threw his cover over him and the poking ceased. Peace at last.

"Tony," a voice called. A tearful voice sniffling, cracking. "Tony."

All the static cleared. It was Raven. She was early riser but she never came to him when he slept. Ever. She often went to J.A.R.V.I.S. if she wanted something, a snack, or juice, she never disturbed him when he slept. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Rae," he sat up and whatever dust of sleep blew away.

Raven was standing by the bed, eyes puffy and red. Tears fell down her face, her top teeth digging into her bottom lip to stifle her muted sobs that made her body jerk. Her entire face was wet with dried tears, her fists were curling obsessively pulling at her pajama shirt hem like she wanted to rip it.

"Hey," he turned out of bed holding her shoulder with one hand wiping away her tears with the other. "Hey, what's wrong huh? What's wrong? Rae what happened?" He's wasn't one for crying women but now it positively broke him up. She came to him and he felt utterly lost. "Was it a nightmare?" He asked.

Usually she couldn't wake herself from a nightmare and she screamed loud enough to wake the dead. He had no other conclusion for her appearance.

"Y-Yoda's," she struggled to say, "Y-Yoda's..."

"What happened to Yoda?"

"He's dead!" Her voice was completely broken and it gutted him. "He won't wake up and he's on his back!" Her voice rose to a wail as she broke out in a full cry which jolted Pepper from her sleep.

It's was like waking up to a train wreck. Pepper heard a yell and was up in a second. She was greeted with a crying Raven and a dazed Tony holding his head. For a minute they stared, he was dumbfounded at Raven's cries and Raven was crying dollops tears. He took her into his arms but it did little to console her. Her first thought was that she had had a nightmare, it explained the crying, but J.A.R.V.I.S would have woken them up, he did last time.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Yoda's dead," he explained shifting to cradle Raven who kept crying. "Just dropped." He moved her head into his chest to muffle her wails. What do I do? He mouthed to Pepper. He had no idea what to do, the pet was probably stiff if she was sure he was dead, he couldn't help the poor thing.

"Oh sweetie," Pepper came over to rub her back. "It'll be alright. We'll buy you another bearded dragon if you want."

"No!" She shouted at Pepper. "I don't want another bearded dragon. I want Yoda or don't want another one!" She broke out in tears. "He was my best friend in the whole world!"

Calm as always Pepper continued, "Alright. Alright. How about you come with me for a bit while Tony goes and... take cares of Yoda. Okay?"

Blubbery tears fell and she buried her face in Tony's neck. "We don't even have a backyard to bury him in."

Both adults tensed at the fact. What they needed to get her through this they indeed did not have. Tony saw Pepper's careful calculating but he had to think of something fast. Kids had a way of mourning for pets and he had to do it their way.