little Tones

Save Him

"Captain." Steve looks from just exiting the bathroom and sees Fury walking towards him.

"Sir." Fury stops and takes in Steve's bloodied clothes and red eyes. He sighs and bows his head in sadness, then looks back up with sad and angry eyes. "Are you alright?" "Yes sir." "But Tony -" "yes, I know. Nat told me." " Fury cuts him off. Steve nods his head and looks down. Fury sees people staring at the two. Well, one has a shield on his back and is covered in blood and the other is wearing all black in a black trench coat and wearing an eye patch. They are a sight for sore eyes.

Fury gesture for Steve to take a seat. They both go and take a seat in the waiting room.

"Sir, I'm so sorry." Steve bows his head in guilt. "Rogers, this wasn't your fault, you did all you could." Steve shakes his head. "No. I was supposed to protect him. I just . . . . I didn't see the other gunmen and -" he trails off and leans back with his hands in the air, (Palms up) and looks down at his chest, gesturing to all the blood. Fury frowns as he stares at Steve with understanding and sympathetic eyes.

"Here." Steve looks up and is greeted with a grey U.S.A t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a navy blue jacket. "Put these on." Steve graciously accepts the clean clothing, but looks at fury, silently asking how he knew to bring new clothes. "Natasha told me about it." Fury says. Steve nods his head. "But what if something happens? I cant leave -" "Don't worry. I'll come get you if something changes." Fury assures. Steve agrees and then goes to change his clothes.

He comes back to the waiting room wearing his new clothes and shield on his back, carrying the teddy in one of his hands. He asks Fury if there's been any word on Tony. There hasn't. The nurse at the front desk said she hasn't been told of Tony's current condition, and that he's still in surgery.

Fury notices the rabbit, knowing it's Tony's. His lips curl into a small smile seeing how Steve holds it like its the most fragile and sacred thing on Earth.

Fury sits beside Steve, leaning back in the chair, on hand rests on the arm rest as the rests on his knee. Steve is hunched over, his chin rests on his interlocked hands as his elbows sit on his knees, one knee shaking and going up and down in nerves and anticipation. Steve stares straight ahead, eyes unfocused and lost in thought.

"Hammer." Fury looks up, a bit stunned by the broken silence after 2 1/2 hours. "I know Nat's okay. Did she get Hammer?" Fury nods his head. "Yes. Justin Hammer is in custody." Part of Steve isn't satisfied. He wants the bastard dead, but he's happy they at least have the asshole in their hands.

Steve nods his head and looks down at the teddy in his hands. He notices it has some spots of blood on it. It's dried by now. He swallows and holds the rabbit tighter.

"Steve Rogers?" Both men look up and see a nurse standing a few feet away. "Yes. That's me. How's Tony?" Steve asks as he and fury both stand up. "Well, he just got out of surgery. I'm not too sure about his condition but it looks like it went well. He's in recovery right now." Fury and Steve both breath a huge sigh of relief. "You're not Steve Rogers as in, Captain America, are you?" The nurse asks, with a small smile. "Steve gives a small nervous grin back. "Yes, actually. One in the same." The nurse's smile widens. "Wow. Well, thank you for your service." The man reaches out his hand. Steve kindly accepts it. "Thanks. . . . Can I see tony?" "yes, of course. Right this way." the nurse says.

Fury starts to fallow but the nurse stops him. "I'm sorry. Only one visitor right now, but soon you can come back as well." He kindly informs Fury. Steve gives him an apologetic look. Fury nods his head and gives a reassuring smile and goes to sit back down.

After an elevator ride, and three long hallways, they make it to Tony's room.

"There you go." The nurse says, quietly and opens the door for Steve. "Thank you." The nurse nods his head and leaves Steve and Tony alone.

Steve just stands at the door taking in the scene. Tony lyes in bed with an oxygen cannula under his nose and over his ears. He also has an IV hooked to his arm along with electrodes (From the heart monitor) placed on his chest under his hospital gown that also covers the thick bandages wrapped around his stomache.

He looks so much smaller, (If that were possible. He weighs like, 35 pounds) and so vulnerable.

Steve swallows and steps into the room, shutting the door behind him and going to take a seat beside Tony's bedside. It's silent except for the reassuring beeping of the heart monitor.

Steve looks at Tony's sleeping face then sighs and looks down. He remembers he has Tony's teddy when he sees it still clasped in his hands. He takes it and gently lays it in the crook of Tony's elbow on his side. I should probably wash the blood out of that before giving it back to him.

He sits back and for hours, just looks at tony, Watching his chest rise and fall.

He begins to drift off into sleep, being so exhausted, physically and emotionally. After about 30 minutes, he starts to hear a noise. It sounds familiar. He stirs a bit and finally pries his eyes open. Steve yawns and wipes his hands over his face. When he removes his hands, he's met with little Tony's sparkling, brown eyes looking at him through half lidded eyes. "Capin?" Tony rasps.

"Tony." Steve sighs in relief, excited to see Tony finally awake and safe. He scooches closer to the bed and lays a gentle hand on top of Tony's head.

"How'ya feeling, buddy?" Steve asks, with just the normal concern. "Good. Just -" He yawns. "tired." Steve nods his head. "Yeah I bet. But your not in pain or anything?" Tony shakes his head. "Good." "Awe you awewight?" Steve smiles. That's Tony, always asking if you're okay when he's the one in a hospital bed. Steve nods his head. "Yeah, I'm fine, definitely now that you're awake." "Mmmm, what happened?" Steve frowns a little as he holds Tony's little hand in his on the bed. "You don't remember?"

Tony thinks for a minute, trying to clear his mind and remember, but can't. He shakes his head. "No." Steve nods his head. "That's okay. Umm . . . When we were getting your cure, you got hurt. So doctors had to perform surgery on you, but you're gonna be just fine." "Oh." Tony replies grogilly but a bit surprised.

Steve gives a small smile and brushes the bangs from Tony's forehead. "Get some sleep, okay? You need rest." Tony yawns and nods his head before closing his eyes and snuggling into his teddy.

Steve looks behind himself when he hears a small noise. It's fury standing at the door. Steve takes one more glance at Tony before standing up and quietly leaving the room.

"How is he?" Fury asks, with concern. "Good. He says he's not in any pain and he looks good, so -" Steve trails off, and nods his head. "Good. We spoke with hammer, maybe a little more than just speak, but he said there's no way to change Tony back. It was an ireversable drug they used. Bruce has been studying little Tony's blood and the drug in it . . . and he agrees that he doesn't see how we could bring Tony back."

Fury finishes, disappointedly with a frown. Steve frowns and bows his head at the news. "So . . . You don't think Hammer's lying?" Steve asks, hopefully. Fury sadly shakes his head. "No. Bruce can corroborate that." Steve nods his head.

"But sir . . . We can't just give up on Tony like that. We can't stop trying to bring him back, I mean . . . Tony, OUR 40 year old Tony, is gone. He disappeared. We have to do . . . something." Steve exclaims, frustrated and upset.

Fury frowns and bows his head. "I know, and we won't give up on getting the older Tony back but right now, there's no way to bring him back. We'll keep looking but . . . It just seems very, very, very unlikely we'll find a cure." Fury replies honestly. Steve nods his head in understanding.

  I lost Tony. I lost a friend. I mean . . . I didn't really lose him, but the Tony I knew, he's gone. I mean . . . At least he's still with us. He's my son now, which is REALLY wired saying that, but I'll get used to it.