Roswell (S. Rogers & B. Barnes)

51.

Phil lets Tony into the apartment, the scientists arms filled with boxes from Roswell's office, a book sticks out of his jacket as he moves into the room. Phil takes a breath and closes the door before approaching Tony.

"Thanks for picking these up" Phil offers taking the files and stuff from Tony before setting them on the coffee table.

"No problem" Tony assures him. "How is she?"

"I don't know" Phil admits. "But I thought some work might help, she likes this stuff so..." Tony nods and then hands over Steve's book.

"Urm...Cap left this for her" Tony offers, Phil takes it from him. "I think he was looking for an excuse to see her" Phil nods a little.

"Tell me something" Phil starts and takes a breath. "Were they good for her?" Tony raises an eyebrow and then nods.

"Yeah" Tony answers. "Steve was....behaving on missions, Barnes was....you know, changing, recovering faster, he hadn't had a relapse since before she got here, he was talking more, he even let me replace his arm...." Tony snorts and nods. "It was working for them"

"I am this close to calling Dean" Phil admits. "He's the only one who will know how to deal with this sort of thing, but she's never....she's never had a long term relationship before. I really thought she'd be happy with Steve"

"She was" Tony assures him. "Anyone could see how much that feisty little redhead meant to him. He wouldn't have gotten so angry at the mutant facility if he didn't care about her"

"I read the report" Phil states. "There was worry that he used excessive force"

"Oh, he did" Tony agrees. "He damn near beat that scientist to a pulp for what he was doing to the mutants there, he would have killed him if Wanda hadn't stopped him, she had to use her powers just to get him to stop" Phil closes his eyes and pinches his nose. "Steve...loved Roswell, more than anything, this isn't Steve's fault. Nor is it Barnes' fault. This is on us" Tony admits, Phil opens his eyes and raises an eyebrow. Tony Stark just admitted fault. "Yeah, I'm changing too" Tony admits with a smirk. "Wanna know why?" Phil glances at him. "Because of that spunky magnetic redhead. She brings out the best in people simply because she exists" Tony offers. "She smiles and you want to admit your deepest darkest secrets to her, it's just who she is. Roswell is so pure of heart that everyone wants to do better, be better, be worthy of her friendship, she is good for this team, we need her." Phil looks at him utterly surprised and confused.

"Pepper back?" Phil asks. Tony clears his throat and shrugs.

"She's agreed that she could give our relationship another chance" Tony admits. "We're taking things slow"

"What happened?" Phil asks.

"Roswell happened" Tony answers. "She bought a gift for Pepper at Christmas for me to give her....Pepper loved it, thought it was personal and thoughtful"

"What was it?"

"A keychain" Tony answers. "One of those photographic ones, it had a picture of me and Pepper on, showed the way I was looking at her from our relationship tv interview, Pepper said she...appreciated the intent, not the cost of a gift" Phil smirks. "Roswell saved my relationship, and I..." Tony looks down and shrugs. "I was one of the ones to defend her when Wanda and Natasha told us. One of a few. We wanted to talk to her and get the full picture, but look how that worked out"

"You defended her?" Phil asks.

"I said that there was a reasonable explanation as to what was going on" Tony answers. "As did Sam, Scott, Pietro, Bruce, and Thor. We were in her corner. Not all of us jumped for her throat" Phil lets out a breath, that's better, he did assume that everyone aside from Bucky and Steve were against what she had, what they thought she had done. He feels better that there were some in her corner. Tony glances up seeing a flash of red, Roswell stands in the doorway watching them, Tony stands. "Hey, Ariel" Tony greets giving her a smile.

"Tony" she offers back. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just dropping off some of your work" Tony tells her warmly. "How you doin'?" he asks her, she shrugs and shakes her head slightly, unsure how she is herself. "I..urm...I was..."

"I heard" she assures him with a fond smile. "Thank you...but I don't think....I don't think I can do it, I can't go back"

"You can't leave" Tony states. "You don't know how much we need you" She clenches her jaw and looks away. "You're our friend"

"Clearly" she scoffs.

"Look, Wanda's sorry" Tony offers. "She was at your office door earlier....she sounded really upset"

"I'm really upset" Roswell reminds him. "And utterly humiliated that my so called friends outed my sex life like it was some...heinous crime"

"I know, okay, Ariel" Tony agrees with her. "I know they screwed up, but if you just flee, it will haunt you"

"Speaking from experience?" She asks.

"Yeah" he answers. "And if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have gotten my second chance with Pep, so I am going to make sure I repay you by not letting you make the mistake of leaving them" She sighs a little.

"You're not going to leave me alone until I agree to at least talk to them, are you?" Tony smirks and shakes his head.

"Tell you what" Tony offers. "Go into the city, have dinner, spend the night in a fancy hotel, just take some time, the three of you, away from the facility...and if it helps, take the black card, go shopping, treat yourself....."

"I don't want your money" she argues.

"You are a member of this team, whether in the field or not, you should be on the Avenger payroll, and you should have your own card, but for now....take mine" he raises an eyebrow, Roswell glances at Phil.

"It's up to you" Phil assures her. "But it does sound like a good idea...." Roswell looks back at Tony who gives her a smile and a nod, reassuring her.

"Okay" she whispers as she brushes her hair behind her ear.

"Right, how about tomorrow?" Tony asks her. "Take today to...." he motions to her. "Clean up" she wrinkles her nose but nods, understands that she could use a bath and to run a brush through her hair. "I'll talk to the super-lovers" She rolls her eyes a little. "It'll be okay" he offers. "Me and Pep are back together so you guys can be okay too" he winks at her and then leaves with a wave over his shoulder. Roswell tugs her cardigan closer to her body and looks down.

"Roswell?" Phil asks. "You want something to eat?" he adds knowing she hasn't eaten since she moved in with him, she's been too stressed, too upset. She nods. "Good girl" he stands from the couch and moves towards the kitchen.