Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Twelve

"What happened here Tony?" I asked again, this time desperate for an answer. Any answer would do but I just needed an answer. His hands hesitated for a moment before he looked up at me with eyes that were full of pain.

"I don't know. JARVIS. He should have been able to block any break-ins and notify me at once when something starts going wrong. I don't know what happened but I will find out," Tony muttered quietly. I winced as he dug into my foot, "Sorry," he breathed. He wrapped my food in clean bandages before moving on to the other one.

"Stark, what are you doing?" I asked finally looking up at him. He was concentrating entirely on what he was doing, worry etched into his face.

"Trying to get the glass out of your foot, if you would just hold still," he laughed lightly as I winced again. He wrapped this foot up as well before placing both my feet on his knees and focusing on my knees.

"No, Tony. What are you doing? Why are you being so nice to me all the sudden?" I asked. His hands paused as he looked up at me and we made eye contact for the first time in a long time. His eyes were soft as he looked up at me with more concern that I'd ever seen him have on his face.

"I guess you've grown on me," he said softly before returning to the removal of glass. After a few more winces, he finally had all the glass removed from my knees and patched them up with band-aids. He moved the chair back and grabbed a broom from the corner and started sweeping up all the shattered glass.

"What am I going to do?" I asked mostly to myself as I pulled the tub of pot sherds toward me. Looking at them made me want to cry again. All that hard work, ruined. He finished sweeping the glass into a pile and leaned the broom back against the wall. He sighed as he walked over to me and placed his hands on my waist.

"Look, I understand how upset you must be. I know I'd be pissed if someone ruined everything that I'd been working on for months," I winced and looked away from him. He placed his hand under my chin and tipped my head back up to look at him again, "but, you're smart. You will be able to get back up and continue. Who ever did this may have broken a few things," he paused and looked around the room, "Okay maybe a lot of things," I laughed and cast my eyes down as I felt the tears raising again, "but they can't take the things that you figured out from your brain. You still know all the work that was done. And even though it sucks, you can put all these things back together. Think of it as a minor set back and not completely ruined," his voice was soft and melodic and all I wanted to do was to lean against him and sleep. Maybe when I woke up, this would all just be a horrible dream. I sniffed and cleared my throat.

"You know, you're kinda smart Stark," I laughed and looked up at him, tears still falling from my eyes. A smile grew across his face as he reached over and brushed a few stray tears from my cheeks.

"I may have been told that before once or twice," he teased. I laughed and looked down at my feet again. He was standing so close to me. Almost like when we were dancing. But instead of heat radiating off of him, it was something else. Something I hadn't felt from another person in a long time. I felt peace. Happiness. Safety. He took a deep breath and his hands went to my waist again, "Come on doctor, let's get you back home. You've had a long day," Tony said as he helped me down from the table. The minute my feet hit the ground, I buckled under the pain and my own weight on my injured feet. I stumbled and gripped onto Tony to keep from collapsing to the floor. His arms tightened around me protectively as he helped keep me from falling completely to the floor. I hissed in pain as he helped me stand straight and braced my weight against him. There was a mischievous grin on his face and I knew instantly that there was a sarcastic comment coming.

"Tony, control yourself," I warned as he helped me start walking.

"Falling for me already doctor?" he smirked. I rolled my eyes as we continued walking.

"Jesus Christ Stark," I groaned. He simply laughed. His laugh was a beautiful thing that up until know, I realized I hadn't actually heard. I clenched my jaw and swallowed hard, trying to keep myself from thinking about just how beautiful he really was and focus on walking.

"What about all my work?" I asked as we left the lab and entered the hallway leading to the elevator.

"Don't worry, it'll still be here tomorrow when you get up. I'll figure out what happened with JARVIS and I can help you piece everything back together if you want," Tony offered as he pressed the call button for the elevator. My arm was over his shoulder and his arm around my waist as I leaned most of my weight on Tony, waiting for the elevator. His fingers bushed my hip as he turned to look at me, our faces dangerously close together. I forced myself to focus on talking and not the depth of his eyes as I formed my next thought.

"Y-you don't have you help me. I'm sure you have much more important things to do than jigsaw puzzle a pot back together," I laughed once.

"I want to help," was all he said before the elevator doors slid open. We stood there staring at each other for a long moment before I cleared my throat and looked down at my bare feet. Tony helped me into the elevator and pressed the button for my floor. The elevator started down and neither of us said anything for a long time.

"What about my shoes, there's still up in you're apartment," I said breaking the silence that we'd up been standing in up until this point.

"Don't worry. You can get them tomorrow," Tony said lightly as the doors slid open with a ding. He helped me down the hall and to my apartment. I yawned sleepily as I pressed my hand to the door lightly. It clicked open and Tony led me into the apartment. I yawned again and leaned against Tony again. He laughed lightly, "Alrighty, up ya go kid." Suddenly my feet left the ground and Tony's arms were under my knees and around my back. He carried me into the apartment and over to my room. He lay me down lightly on my bed and pulled the covers up over me.

"Thank you Tony, you're not as much of an ass as I thought you were," I mumbled, already half asleep. I heard him laugh lightly from the doorway.

"Well thank you sweetheart. Sleep good. I'll see you in the morning," Tony whispered as he flicked the light off and shut the door behind him. I was already asleep by the time the front door shut.