Search for the Soul Gem

Epilogue

     "Tony?" I called out, walking through the living room. The apartment was humming but Tony was nowhere. "Tony!" I called out. 

     "He's in the study, miss," JARVIS said. I padded through the living room and across the kitchen to the glassy office that hung over the side of the building. The glass doors were closed but Tony was pacing around the office. I pulled the door open and stepped in. 

     "Tony?"

     "-I know it's short notice, but that's why I called you! Because you're the best!" Tony looked over at me with a smile, "Hi honey," he mouthed. I cocked my head, confused at what he was doing. He listened intensely to the other end of the call. Finally, he broke a smile. " I knew you could do it," he hung up the phone and looked over at me. "We have caterers!" he said, walking over to me. 

     "That's great, for what?" I asked. 

     "I want to throw a party in your honor," he said, excitement on his face. 

     "Me? What's there to honor about me?" I asked. 

     "There's so much to honor about you! First and foremost, I love you. And you just got your cast off your ankle so that's a plus. And we've haven't been seen in public for weeks since the break-in at the tower and I wanna come back with a bang!" he said. 

     "Is that why Happy had to drive me to the hospital this morning?" I asked. He smiled. 

     "Well maybe. I wanted to surprise you," he said. 

     "What if I wanted to just lay around and watch movies. I can finally lay around without my foot aching," I said.

     "We've been doing that for weeks," Tony said, playing with my hair. 

     "I know. You were around the entire time and it was so nice!" I said. He didn't say anything, just smiled, "But, I guess since you were such a good nurse, a party might be fun," I said. His smile widened across his face. 

     "Well good, considering I already set it all up," he smiled. 

     "Wow, you're efficient," I said. He laughed. 

     "You bet. The party starts in a few hours and I have a few more things to do. You can go get ready and I'll see you on the party deck when you're ready," Tony said, kissing my cheek. He turned and left the study, I followed him out but turned toward the bedroom. I went to the bathroom. By now, I was a pro at Stark's showers. I stepped into the marble shower and turned on the water. The warm water enveloped me and I stood there for a long time. Flashes from when I was with Loki raised in my vision. It was hard at first to tell what was real and what wasn't. I spent the first days home staring at walls, trying to figure out when the dream would turn bad. It took Tony weeks to convince me that I wasn't in a dream. His movements had been slow and soft, trying to get me to regain trust in the fact that he wouldn't hurt me. Weeks. It took weeks to get over it. But when I was alone, sometimes the idea snuck back into my mind. I jammed the heels of my hands into my eyes. The water fell on my back for a long time as I let it calm me down and bring me back to reality. After a long time just standing there, I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around me and padded back into the room. Before I could cross the room to the closet, something on the bed caught my eye. I stopped at the foot of the bed. A black dress with thick pleats from the middle spilled down, the neckline plunging down in a dramatic V. Resting on the bed next to the dress was a pair of red bottom Dirdibooties from Christian Louboutin. I gasped and ran my fingers along the velvet on the heeled booties. I'd seen these online before and knew that these shoes were expensive. They were $600-$700 per shoe, not the pair but for each. This pair of shoes cost something like $1200. On the dress rested a folded note. I picked it up and found Tony's handwriting.