stoneheart ; 𝐭. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤 , 𝟐

14 | final request

february 2019

TONY COULDN'T BELIEVE the strength of the relief that crashed over him as he stared at her, his eyes opened wide in wonder at the woman before him. His body was sore from fighting, his fingers cramping at holding her arms so tightly. The suit was nothing more than dead weight weighing him down, but it had saved his life three separate times that day. 

She had tried to kill me, a dark voice inside of him whispered, but he shoved it out of his head. 

She loves me, he reminded himself. She loves me.

He couldn't stop looking at her. He'd let the whole world fall apart if he could have just a few more minutes to look at her. She was just as he'd remembered her, with her dark brown hair falling around her shoulders in straight curtains. Her frame was just as strong as it had been while she lived in the Tower with him, her muscles rippling down each limb. There was one thing that was different, though. 

Jack's eyes had always been beautiful, clear despite her previously lethal intentions for him. He'd always been able to stare at them for hours if he wanted, though she would have snapped in response, saying something snarky about how she hated when people stared at her. But now, looking at her face, her eyes were clear, but they were empty, bottomless depths. There was no end to her grief; it was like they'd taken away another piece of her. This time, the piece that Tony loved dearly. 

She stared at him, her breath uneven and her arms shaking in his grip. "Love," she whispered again, as if feeling the word roll on her tongue, trying to understand its meaning. 

But she did understand the meaning, he realized as he saw a tear roll down her sharp cheekbone, dropping into the snow. She understood what love was, and she meant it. 

"Jack," Tony said softly, caressing her wrists with his thumbs. He didn't want to let go, not yet. Not until he heard her answer.

Her response was delayed by only a few seconds. She dragged her eyes across his face, her hands still shaking. Squeezing her eyes shut, Jack inhaled deeply and blew out a breath, opening her eyes slowly. She didn't have much room to move, but she managed to lean closer to him, her face mere inches from his. "Tony," she breathed, eyes darting from his eyes to his nose to his lips. "You came," she said, choking back a sob. 

It was all Tony could do not to kiss her right there and take her away from this place. He had her, she'd woken up, and now all he had to do was leave. Get her out of here and help her heal. Figure out how Barnes had done it, and get her the help she needed. 

He could see it in his mind as he carefully lowered his hands, releasing her wrists. He knew he'd left bruises on her skin, and he would apologize for them, but he couldn't stop looking at her eyes. Her eyes that were so empty, so void of everything. 

The tears were real, though. And the smile that she'd worn just a few moments ago. Those were real, and she told him that she loved him. That was real. 

Jack bowed her head, pressing the palms of her hands to her eye sockets as if trying to expel something. Or to keep something in. 

Tony watched as she fought something, but what that something was, he had no idea. He didn't understand what was happening as she groaned in the cold air. He couldn't hear the words she was muttering until they reached a pitch at which he could decipher them. 

"Your name is Jack," she was murmuring to herself, her hands now pressed against the sides of her head. "Your name is Jacqueline, but Tony calls you Jack."

Stepping closer to her, Tony wanted to touch her, to ground her where she was and make her look at him, but she kept backing up. Not to avoid him, not to run from something, it seemed. No, instead, it looked like she was trying to keep something else from running at him.