A Stark Predicament

Chapter 97 Worries and Night Terrors

Meanwhile, Alina and Tony were sitting there in the penthouse drinking. Well, Tony was drinking, and Alina was having a virgin Margarita while she ate a bowl of nachos with a ton of jalapenos and a Snickers bar. Tony giggles as he watched cheese dribble down Alina's chin. He went to wipe it off with his thumb and just spread it onto her cheek instead.

“Get off, you dork!”

Tony laughed and licked his thumb, “Mmm, cheesy.”

“You are so gross.”

“Me! You're the one combining two things that should not ever be combined.”

He gets off the chair and flops down next to his sister, “Gimme,” He says, making grabby hands at her.

Alina rolls her eyes and hands him the bowl of nachos, then pulls it away, “First take a bite of the Snickers.”

Tony shrugs and takes a bite of the Snickers then scoops up the nachos with jalapenos, “Oh my god, that is so good.” Tony says as he chews.

“JARVIS, order more nachos and some Chinese food and put on Batman Begins. Ooh and order more Snickers Bars.” Tony tells his AI.

“And make me another virgin Margarita.”

**Right away Sir, Miss.**

When Pepper walked into the penthouse, after taking off to work as soon as they arrived from Middle Earth and working all day long, she found empty cartons of Chinese food were strewn all over the place, empty bowls of nachos, and Snickers wrappers everywhere. The Dark Knight was playing, and both Starks were passed out leaning against each other. There was a glass of bourbon next to Tony and a half-empty Margarita glass next to Alina. She picked up the glass and smelled it. Just as she thought, it was a virgin one.

Pepper sighed; this was typical when she left these two alone together for too long. And for some reason, a Batman movie was always playing. She often wondered why it was always Batman, but she never bothered to ask. Pepper takes off her shoes goes upstairs to change. When she comes back down, she orders three pizzas and has dinner while she waits for the comatose duo to wake up.

It didn't take long. With the smell of pizza in the air, the Stark siblings return to consciousness, “Ugh, my head,” Tony said as he cradles his head in his hands.

“Your head my stomach,” Alina tells him.

“I told you nachos Chinese food and Snickers were a bad combination.”

“It was your idea to add Chinese food!”

Tony smacks his lips, “Water.”

“Yeah, go get me a bottle of water,” Alina tells him.

“You go.”

Pepper stands in front of them and hands them each a bottle of water. They both look up at her and grin, “Thank you, Pepper,” they say in unison.

“Does that mean you don't want pizza,” Pepper asks.

“Ooh pizza with pineapple,” Alina asks

“On yours, of course.”

Tony stands up he offers his hand to his sister, and they head toward the kitchen. Sitting down next to Tony, Alina opens her box of pizza and takes a deep breath. Oh, how she missed pizza. Alina would have to teach Bombur how to make it; Alina knew Thorin enjoyed it just as much as she did.

At the thought of Thorin, Alina wilts a little bit. She thought back to their argument and felt her eyes sting as they began to well up with tears. Tony looks up from his pizza when he hears his sister sniffle. Getting up from his chair, Tony sits down next to his sister and brings her into his arms, “It's going to be okay, Alina.”

“Will it, Tony? I never thought that Thorin would treat me like an outsider.”

“You know he didn't mean it that way, Alina. Thorin is only worried about your health and that of your babies.”

“But I'm fine, and it's supposed to be my kingdom too. I have to be able to help the people when stuff like this happens. I don't want the Dwarves to think I'm a lazy pampered queen that can't do anything.”

“They would never think that, Alina. Not after everything you did during the Battle, and all the healing you did afterward,” Tony tells his sister.

“Yeah, but that's only the Dwarves from the Iron Hills that know that. The Dwarves from Ered Luin don't know a thing about me, other than I'm a human that's going to marry the king.”

“Thorin and Dis would never let them think that you're useless,” Pepper said.

“Yeah, but that doesn't mean they won't talk about me behind my back. And if Thorin treats me like an outsider, that gives the Dwarves permission to do the same thing. And what's going to happen when the twins are born? They're going to treat my children like outsiders as well, and they'll accept them as heirs to the throne!” Alina said as she started to panic.

“It's not going to happen, Alina, you're thinking the worst. You need to calm down, this stress you're causing yourself isn't good for the babies,” Tony told his sister.

Alina took a deep breath and tried to control her emotions, “You're right, Tony, I need to stop overreacting. But I can't help it.”

“I know you can't, Honey Bunny, but you have to. Think of what this stress is doing to the bambinos.”

Alina sighed, “I think I'll turn in early, I'm exhausted, and it's been a long day.”

Alina stands up, and so does Tony; he hugs his baby sister and kisses her forehead, “Sleep well, Honey Bunny.”

“I'll try,” After hugging Pepper, Alina went back to her room. She asked JARVIS to play the soundtrack to the Hobbit, and she cried herself to sleep.

Back in Erebor, Thorin is sitting in his bedchambers, drinking some chamomile tea, and staring at the fire. Balin had canceled the rest of Thorin's meeting for the day, knowing that Thorin wasn't going to be able to concentrate. Thorin sat there, thinking about how he had treated his One. Thorin knew that he had wounded Alina profoundly, and he felt incredibly bad about it. It was never his intention to make her feel like an outsider, Thorin wanted his One and soon to be wife to feel like she belonged in Erebor, that it was her home. But Thorin had driven her away with his insensitivity and stupidity. A tear ran down his cheek into his beard.

Thorin looked at the door, hoping Alina would come through it. When he realized how late it was, he realized that Alina was not going to return this night. Resigning himself that he was going to spend the night alone, Thorin got up and went to the washroom to clean up and get ready for bed. Thorin got into his side of the bed and grabbed Alina's pillow. He held it to his face and breathed in her scent, it calmed him a little, and Thorin hoped that the smell would help him fall asleep.

It took Thorin several hours to finally fall asleep, but when he did, his mind was plagued with dreams of his beloved Alina leaving him and never returning. Thorin tossed and turned all night but couldn't escape the images of Alina looking at him coldly and telling him that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. When Thorin finally woke up in the morning, his face was wet with tears.

Thorin got up and got dressed for the day. He had breakfast by himself but ate very little. After that, Thorin went to the council room, to begin with, the endless meetings he was going to have. It didn't take long for the rest of the council to arrive, Thorin didn't bother with the usual pleasantries and called the council to order.

As the day progressed, everyone could tell that Thorin's mood was becoming more and more fowl. He was irritated more than usual and was short with everyone. It was a blessing when Balin finally called for them to stop for lunch. Thorin immediately retreated to his bedchamber, where he could be alone and sulk in peace. After lunch, the meetings continued until dinner, where Thorin told everyone Thorin wasn't hungry and retired to his bedchamber. He ignored every attempt by his family to come to talk to him. Thorin only wanted his One and no one else.

Later that night, Thorin once again clung to Alina's pillow and fell asleep only to be plagued with the same nightmares as the night before. Though this time, his children were born, and Alina took them away from him forever.