Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Tony, you didn't tell us your girlfriend was a master chef," Sam called out to Tony, who was walking down the stairs. He reached the ground floor and looked over at them with a smile. His eyes flicked over to me and his smile widened on his face.

"I didn't know she was a chef," he called back, making his way passed the heroes and over to me. He leaned on the other side of the counter across from me and smirked at me. He was now cleanly shaven but his hair was still fluffy like it'd been earlier. I smiled at him and reached out to run my fingers across his jaw.

"You look much better Stark," I smiled at him. He smiled, leaning his face into my hand lightly.

"Thank you sweetheart," he muttered into my hand, "Do you need any help Lucy?" he asked.

"No, it's basically done. It just needs to cook and the rice needs to be steamed but that can wait. There is nothing really to do but wait," I explained, pulling my hand away from his face and folding it under me.

"You didn't tell me you could cook," Tony smirked as he looked at me. I leveled a smirk back at him and flipped my hair over my shoulder.

"You never asked," I said. He cocked his head to the side and looked at me like he was studying me closely.

"What else don't I know about you?" Tony asked, his voice gentle and soft as his eyes studied me carefully.

"What do you wanna know? I'm an open book Mr. Stark," I said. The corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile.

"I want to know everything," Tony's voice was soft and endearing. It was the softest I'd ever heard him talk and it made my heart melt. My mind wandered back to what Steve had said to me on the jet, about Tony being in love with me. Maybe Tony Stark was really in love with me. All I knew was that when he talked to be like he was and looked at me with so much compassion in his eyes, it made my heart swell and made me fall for him a little more. Tony reached his hand out and pressed my chin between his thumb and pointer finger lightly, bringing my face closer to his. My face was inches from his and his features blurred together in my eyes. His eye closed and lashes fluttered over the high plane of his cheeks. I brought my hands up to his cheeks and ran my thumbs in small circles. His forehead rested against mine, his breath fanning over my face.

"Tony, all you have to do is ask. I'll tell you anything," I whispered, loud enough for only him to hear.

"Lucy, I-" before Tony could finish his James yelled out, cutting him off.

"Whatever you're making smell amazing doll!" he called. I broke a laugh and Tony groaned.

"Thank you James!" I called back. I looked back at Tony and found him already staring at me. His eyes were soft but there was something hidden behind them that I couldn't place, "I have to finish cooking Tony," I whispered back to him. Tony's fingers brushed up my cheek and into my hair lightly, before nodding slightly.

"Okay," was all he said before pulling his hand away from me. I stepped back from the counter and went back over to the oven to check the food and how it was cooking. It was almost done so I decided to put the rice into the microwave. I waited patiently for the microwave to finish cooking the rice. Once it was done, the meal would almost be complete. I dug through the drawers until I found an ovenmitt to pull the pan out of the oven. Once the timer when off, I pulled the pan out of the oven and set it on the counter. I set the rice on the counter next to it and turned off the oven. From the TV over the fireplace, a familiar language floated over to me.

"Now back to a story from ealier this summer that put the whole world on edge," the journalist said, her French perfect but with a slight accent I couldn't place. I continued to work, while listening to the news. I dug out a large bowl for the rice and a stack of plates, "That story about that Lead Archaeologist that went missing out of Niger in mid-June," my hand froze over the plates. They were talking about me. I was still in the news? I'd totally forgetten that I was a news story. That people still thought I was missing and that ISIS was behind it. My fingers froze on the plates I was preparing. Natasha and James both cocked their heads slightly to the side and shared a quick between them. The rest of the heroes shifted uncomfortably under the Journalist's accusing stare. Tony, who still leaned against the counter, turned his head slightly to glance at me, "Lead Archaeologist Doctor Lucy Scaffer-who is a junior professor at the City University of New York-was studying in Western Niger when her work site was blown up early on the morning of June 27th," I gripped the counter in my hands so tight that my knuckles turned white. The memories of that morning flooded back to me, no matter how hard I closed my eyes against them. "Little is know about what happened on that morning in Niger. Colleagues of Doctor Scaffer say she liked to take early morning walks through the village and down to her work site. Her students recalled that most mornings when they arrived at the site, she was usually waiting for them. Doctor Scaffer's work has never come under any suspicion for anything in her professional life. ISIS, the radical Islanic State ravenging the Islamic world in recent years, has been known to blow up World Heritage Sites in Syria like Palmyra; but Dr. Scaffer's site hadn't warrented much Heritage attention until now.

'The site that I worked with Dr. Scaffer on was important to us who worked it but under no circumstances was it under investigation for World Heritage status,' a man spoke in fluent, unaccented German; French subtitles floated across the bottom. I knew this man instatnly. He was Doctor Johan Lausten of the Freie Universität Berlin. He had been the one who had taken Thalia's spot after she'd been killed.