The Avengers: A Change of Fate

Chapter 17

Stella woke up in her bed. She bolted awake just in time to catch Vision sinking through the floor, his eyes glowing in the darkness. He must of snuck away with her from the living room and carried her to her bed. Her heart ached. He did still care. She lay back down and tried to go back to the peaceful sleep she had just awoken from.

Too soon she was brought back out of her sleep. She woke to Pepper gently shaking her shoulder. Pepper hated to wake her from such a peaceful slumber, but she didn't want to just leave her here.

"Stella, I'm going home. I wanted to know if you wanted to come back with me."

Stella stirred and rubbed her eyes, "Mhm."

Pepper smiled at her as she sat up. Stella squinted as she smoothed her hair. She stretched and yawned before moving to the edge of her bed to slip on her boots. She wore jeans and a flannel shirt.

"You ready?" Stella asked sleepily as she stretched again.

Pepper tried not to laugh, "Whenever you are, Dear."

Stella fell asleep again as soon as they were in the car. Tony managed to carry her upstairs without waking her. He had beat them home even though he had left later. He still carried her despite Pepper's protests.

"I've had to drag my suits in worse states than this. If I can do that, I can carry a girl to her bedroom," he argued with his usual sarcasm.

-And he did. They got her tucked in and everything and she didn't even stir. They both stood in the doorway and watched her sleep.

"Man, we should start feeding her more turkey. That stuff works miracles with her," Tony commented.

Pepper giggled before pulling him out of the bedroom. Tony closed her door quietly before they both snuck away to their own room. Stella awoke more rested than she had been in weeks. The sun shone brightly through the window. She had a quick shower before going down for breakfast. She scarfed down her food before rushing out the door.

She had realized this morning that both Tony and Pepper would be getting her Christmas presents, and while she could easily buy them something as well with her allowance, she felt that it wouldn't have truly come from her because it was Tony's money. She hadn't earned it- she hadn't even asked for it- Tony just gave it to her. So she ran through the forest. The morning frost was still thick on the foliage. The trees had long since lost their leaves and now stood out with their bare branches.

The layer of frosted leaves made the ground slippery, but Stella still kept her balance. She found three decent pieces of wood and headed back to the house. She took the timber down to Tony's lab and shaved off the bark. She refined the pieces into three even columns. Tony came down while she was working.

"What are you doing?" he asked when he saw her.

"Art project," Stella explained as she sanded the ends of a piece of wood.

She wasn't lying. That was what the third piece was for, "Well, can you be quiet? I have work to do."

Stella looked at the piece, "Yup," she gathered the wood and got up to leave.

Part of her wanted to know what Tony was working on, but she brushed it off. She had other things to focus on. She started carving the wood with her dagger over her trash can at the end of her bed. The first piece would be Iron Man. Tony always loved art of himself. She hadn't realized how long she had been working until Pepper knocked on her door.

"Dinner is ready, Honey," Pepper called from outside the door.

"Okay," Stella shouted so she could hear her.