When I woke up I could already tell it was late just judging by the sunlight covering the room. I got dressed and ready, then made my way to the kitchen.
Frowning a bit as I saw a plate of pancakes and maple syrup on the table with a note next to it, I picked it up to read it.
'Aillie,
Jarvis told me you were still asleep and I had to leave, but I made you breakfast!
-Enjoy, Pepper.'
That's really nice of her. I sat down and enjoyed my calm breakfast, pouring a lot of the maple syrup on the delicious tower of pancakes. After eating I put the dirty plate on the sink and I took the maple syrup bottle to the fridge.
Before I closed the fridge door something caught my eye, the pizza box from last night. Curiosity got the best of me and I opened it just a little, only to find out it still had the same number of slices I left for Tony. So he never had dinner?
I closed the fridge and made my way to the living room, then down the stairs to where I knew Tony's lab was.
When I got there I saw a glass door blocking my entrance, but I could see Tony inside, his back facing me, working on something on one of the multiple tables filled with things and what looked like separate parts of his suit.
I lightly knock on the door, then I knock again a bit harder since Tony hadn't seem to hear me. He finally reacted, and walking up to the door he pressed some buttons as he put a code and just a moment later the glass door opened.
"Hey, whatcha doing here?" He frowned. "Isn't it late? You should be sleeping."
"What? It's like way past eleven. In the morning." I start to worry, did he really not notice it? I mean, there's no nature's light here in the lab but like, he couldn't have possibly thought it still was last night, right?
"No, it's not." He laughed, then looked up as he spoke again. "Jarvis, what time is it?"
Jarvis's voice echoed through the room. "It is currently eleven thirty four, boss."
"Shit. Did Pepper leave yet?" He said as he walked back to the table that had the part of the suit he had been previously working on.
"Yeah, she did." I walked up next to him.
"Crap. Okay just call for me when she gets back." He shrugged.
"What?"
"Yeah. You got time to do whatever it is you kids do, she'll be here like at 6." He raised the part of the suit up, which I had now recognized as a part of the left arm, so he could see it better.
"Wait, so you're just going to stay here?" I frowned, I can't believe him.
"Well, I gotta finish what I'm working on before I leave." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But you have to sleep! You haven't even eaten anything!" It was frustrating to try to understand his reasoning.
"Yes, and I'll do it once I've finished here." He was now going through the hologram-like screen, watching a digital version of the part he was working on.
"But I wanted to ask if you'd-" He interrupted me. I felt bad to bother him but I needed to ask if he would accompany me to England.
"Not now Aillie! I'm really busy here, okay?" I'm not exactly sure how I expected him to react, but I certainly didn't think it'd be like that. It took me a moment to be able to even process he'd actually snapped at me like that, so only after a couple of seconds I sighed before talking again.
"Sorry to bother you, then." I turned around and walked up to the door, that opened automatically this time, and before I even started walking up the stairs a loud rock song started blasting as Tony kept on working.
So no England then, got it. Maybe I should just go by myself but I'm still scared of what I'll find there, how people will react and think of me, is everyone still afraid and angry at me?
But I can't just ignore Draco's letter, I have to let him know somehow I'm alright and that I forgive him. I'll find a way to send him a letter.
Feeling bad at the way Tony had snapped at me and at myself for not being brave enough to go back by myself I decided to go to the library, so maybe reading for a bit would help to clear my mind.
_
That encounter with Tony had been some weeks ago, and I can't really say things had gotten better or worse, because we never really talked much.
I was just calmly enjoying my day on my own, and before I even realized it was already dark outside and I was still in the library reading, though by the time I got up I'd already finished the variety of books that I'd selected for today.
When I went to the kitchen I found Pepper was there too, eating noodles out of a take out box.
"Hey." I said, and she looked up at me from her phone.
"Oh hi! Are you hungry? I got you some fried rice."
I sat down and took the chinese food box she offered me.
"So is Tony coming up for dinner tonight or...?" I asked, she gave me a sympathetic look before she answered.
"Sorry honey, he took down his food to the lab."
"Oh." I didn't know what else to say.
"Sorry, I know you probably expected something very different when you got here." She gave me a small sympathetic smile.
"To be honest I'm not really sure what I expected by coming here actually." When she gave me a worried look I tried to laugh a bit so she wouldn't take it the wrong way. "I just mean, I thought he'd be more present is all. But I'm used to this kind of dynamic I guess, my adoptive parents weren't really present a lot of the time so I'm used to be pretty independent."
Yeah they weren't present except for when it came to making sure I was training to become deathly and knew everything there was to learn about dark magic and all that kind of good stuff. At least Tony doesn't torture me, so I guess it is an improvement.
"I'll talk to him Aillie, I'm sure he can spend some more time with you, and it would do him good to see the light of day every once in a while." She laughed and I did too.
After that neither of us really said anything else. When I'd finished eating I excused myself and went back to my room, where I took a piece of paper and a pen.
After about ten minutes I looked proudly at my little drawing. In one side of the paper I'd drawn Draco's constellation, and in the other I'd drawn my own. Then I realized something.
"Jarvis, what's today's date?" I asked out loud.
"It is currently June fifth." I couldn't believe it. This is the first time ever we hadn't celebrated his birthday together. I turned back to the paper in front of me.
"Hope you had a happy birthday, wish I'd been there.
-Phoenix." I wrote at the end of the page. I sighed as I put down the pen.
I folded up the page, and put it inside an envelope I'd made. Now I just have to find a way to send it to him.
__________
The next days blurred into weeks, and by now it was the start of July. It had been more than two months of being here.
I pretty much had the same routine every day, I'd wake up and have lunch with Pepper, then I'd spend the rest of the day in the library reading though I occasionally played piano too, then I'd have dinner with Pepper again and every once in a while Tony would join us too, though he always was in a hurry and would rush to go back to the lab.
It was pretty monotone, and kind of boring too if I'm honest, but at least I'd already finished reading pretty much every book that had caught my interest (going as far as reading Tony's old books from university) which meant I now could understand everything Tony would have to tell me about his tech and suits, though we barely even spoke at all.
Another thing that happened was that Happy, who would come and talk to me in the library at least a couple of times a week and who I honestly had grown really close to, had taught me how to drive. In the beginning I was mortified of it, but once I read a book about how cars worked I got more comfortable with the thought of it and learned how to drive. Pepper told me I could drive any car I wanted to from Tony's collection but since I didn't really know the city or anyone outside the house I hadn't taken up on her offer.
Today though I was surprised when I walked into the living room as I made my way to the kitchen ready to have breakfast before going back to the library, when I found Nick Fury was standing in the middle of the room.
"I'm telling you, something really bad is out there and it's coming for us. I saw it." Tony tried to say quietly but was speaking loud enough for me to hear from the entrance of the room.
"Stark, I get your concern but-" Fury stopped himself when he saw me. "Irya. Good morning." He greeted, and I walked to him so I could shake the hand he extended to me.
"Morning. Sorry to interrupt." I looked between him and Tony. Lately I wasn't really sure how to act around Tony, he would sometimes act super happy to see me and would start rambling about whatever it was he was working at the moment, but then he'd also snap at me if I dared interrupt even whatever song he was listening to. That's why I had decided to mostly just keep to myself and not go down to the lab again.
"No worries, I was just getting ready to leave." He looked back to Tony. "Stark. We'll have to continue our conversation some other time, gotta go." Tony didn't seem to like that, because he just turned away and walked out the living room probably going back to the lab.
"Actually uh, I wanted to ask you for a favor." I reached out for his arm so he wouldn't leave as he had already started to walk. He stopped in his tracks and turned back to me, looking at my hand grabbing his arm with a little pissed expression, so I quickly let go.
"And what would that be?"
"So, remember how you gave me two letters last time I saw you? I figured since you got them all the way to me you probably would be able to make sure a letter of mine could make it to someone in the wizarding world in England. Please?" I tried to give him my best little smile so he would accept.
"To who?" Okay, I didn't think it'd be this easy to get him to help me.
"Draco Malfoy." By the look on his face I know he knew who Draco was, and probably even what he means to me. He was quick to regain his serious expression, before answering.
"Fine." I didn't waste a second, running quickly to my room to get the letter and then back to the living room where Fury was waiting, looking somewhat amused at my reaction.
"Here. Thank you, a lot." I smiled, and he nodded as he took the letter from me. "Oh, and if you could say hi to the rest of the team for me, that'd be cool. I haven't talked to or seen any of them since New York."
"I'll see what I can do. Take care, Irya."
"Thanks, you too." He walked out of the house and quickly got inside a black car that was waiting for him outside.
__________
After that nothing much had happened, I continued with my routine and spent again almost all day in the library. What was kind of unusual was that when I went to the kitchen to have dinner, Pepper wasn't the only one there waiting for me.
"Hey there, kiddo." Tony greeted me.
"Oh, hi. Didn't think you'd have dinner with us tonight." He looked at Pepper then back at me. That's when I noticed Pepper was wearing an elegant dress, and Tony was also wearing a black elegant suit.
"Yeah, actually..." He paused, looking at Pepper once again. Getting the hint, she continued.
"We are actually going out, we're having a date night." She smiled as she looked at him.
"We haven't had one for a few weeks."
"Yeah. We just wanted to tell you, but there's money on the counter so you can order anything you want for dinner." Great, at least I'm used to being on my own I guess. Though both of them look really happy, and I think it'd do Tony good to get out of the lab more often.
"Great. Have fun you guys." I smiled, I want to be happy that they are happy. They've been through so much, they deserve it.
"Oh, okay. Didn't think it'd be that easy." Tony shrugged and chuckled, and Pepper looked amused too. "Okay kiddo, be good. Jarvis." He spoke directly to the AI.
"Yes, sir?" The voice echoed through the kitchen.
"Keep an eye on Aillie, make sure she behaves." He joked, and Jarvis answered.
"Of course."
"Okay, then we'll be on our way. Have fun, and please don't bore yourself to death on the library will ya?" I didn't think he'd even be aware of the time I've been spending on the library, guess I was wrong.
"Sure. You have fun too." They walked out of the kitchen and soon after I heard the main door open. Then, after a moment I heard as the car started and they drove away.
I looked at the money on the counter and took the bills so I could count them. 150 dollars for dinner, that's so Tony.
I wasn't exactly sure what to have for dinner, but suddenly at the feeling of freedom I felt like doing something reckless. I mean yeah, it's not like I couldn't just go out any time I wanted but I'm sure if I wanted to go anywhere either Happy or Pepper would take me.
An idea popped into my head as I took the money, and made sure I had my wand with me, and I started to walk to the garage.
"Hey Jarvis, what's there to do in Los Angeles?"
__________
So half an hour later I'd changed into black shorts, a cropped tight green short sleeved top and a pair of sneakers, and taken up on Pepper's old offer and took one of Tony's cars. A black cabriolet that had caught my attention.
I was a bit nervous as I turned the key and I heard the rumble of the car starting, but I took a deep breath and reminded myself tonight no matter what I'm going to have fun and enjoy myself. Still in the garage I called out for the A.I.
"Jarvis, how did you say I can get to Santa Monica?" I spoke out loud, and my voice echoed in the entire garage.
"I've traced the route here for you to follow, miss Aillie." Jarvis's voice came out from the screen of the far in front of me. A map appeared on it, and a blue line marked the way for me to follow. Let's do this then.
---
A little bit over half an hour later, I was driving towards the nearest parking lot to the big lighted sign that read 'Santa Monica'.
"Okay Jarvis, first stop of tonight." I said as I parked the car.
"Hope you have fun, miss Aillie." Jarvis said before I turned off the car.
I started getting a little anxious when I saw the amount of people that were walking by in the pier, but I forced myself to keep on walking.
As I walked through the crowd I looked around, wondering where to go or what to do first. My eyes finally settled on the roller coaster that quickly dropped and spinned and continued with it's ride. Okay, the roller coaster first.
I got in line, and after a while when it eventually was my turn I paid for my ticket.
"Here you go, enjoy the ride!" The girl from behind the counter said as she handed me my ticket and my change. I walked nervously to the line, moving quickly as people got seated on the ride until it was my turn. What if it breaks and I fall?
"Enjoy the ride!" The boy that put on the security locks on my cart repeated what the ticket girl had said not five minutes ago, and when he had walked behind the security bar the ride started to move.
All of a sudden, it gained speed and we were moving quickly all around the pier. The views both of the city and the sea were absolutely stunning, even if I only got to see them for a bit before the cart continued to drop and turn.
Feeling the cold air quickly passing around me, brushing my cheeks, reminded me of the times Draco and I would chase each other on our brooms, and the time the whole friend group had a race. Draco and I got first in a tie, closely followed by Blaise, Daphne, Pansy and Theo in that order.
We had so much fun, even when we got caught and got detention for a week for being out of bed at three in the morning. It was completely worth it, I really miss them all.
The ride got to an end before I realized as I kept on reminiscing, and the boy from before asked me something as he lifted the security locks.
"What?" I asked, I had no idea what he said. He chuckled.
"I asked how was the ride." Oh.
"Oh, sorry. It was good, thanks." I smiled a little.
"Glad to hear that." He walked on to continue helping others out of their seats and I walked out of the ride, getting lost in the sea of people once again.
By this point my stomach was rumbling, and I located a hot dog spot on the area by the parking lot so I walked to it.
"One hot dog, please." The guy looked tiredly at me, like he was tired from working all day and he probably was.
I got my food and paid, and started walking to the parking lot back to the car so I could eat peacefully away from the people, but as I was walking and thinking about how hungry I was someone ran into me.
"Hey!" I said to the dude who almost made me drop my hot dog.
"Sorry." He said, but he looked at his friends and laughed. "Didn't see you there- hey! What a cool tattoo you got there!" He pointed to my left forearm.
"Uh." I didn't know what to say, I think it's the last reaction I would have thought someone might have about my dark mark. "Thanks."
"Hey guys, check it out." He forcefully grabbed my arm and pulled it up so he and his friends could have a better look. "Look it's - ugh, is that a skull?" He made a face of disgust. "I thought it was something else."
"Wait, I've seen you before somewhere." Said a girl from the group, taking a step forward as she squinted. They couldn't possibly know anything about the wizarding world, right? Let alone anything I'd done back in England or that I was probably being hunted by the remaining death eaters or anything like that?
"Uh, no. I think you may have mistaken me for someone else."
"No, no, it's definitely you." She basically scanned my face with her eyes over and over trying to figure out who she thought I was, but then another guy stepped forward from the little group, pushing her aside as he stepped to be in front of me.
"I know where I know you from," He had the proud look of realization in his eyes. "Yeah, you're one of those freaks from New York aren't you?" He laughed and soon after the whole group followed. "That's who you are. Just a freak." I probably should keep my cool, but I felt really offended.
"You mean the ones that saved the world just so idiots like you could still live freely in it? Yeah, it's times like this I think maybe it wasn't worth it." I held my head higher. Next I know he got really pissed, and his face twisted in anger as he took one step closer to me, then proceeded to push me back, making my hot dog fall. Son of a bitch, that was my dinner.
The guy to my left was quick to follow his idea and pushed me too, pushing me towards the girl that had spoken first about knowing me so she could push me too. But before the girl could touch me I took a step back just in time, the girl however wasn't quick to react and almost fell.
"Look at what you did, I could have fallen!" She screamed, and seemed ready to try to hit me or something. Funny little thing.
"Before any of you does something you'll regret, I do want to remind your little peanut idiot brains that I am still the girl that killed and beat the shit out of aliens in New York, so you might want to reconsiderate what you'll do next. Unless you want a broken nose or a black eye." I was done with their bullshit and clearly angry, of course I wasn't actually going to attack them, but they don't know that. The guy that first had bumped into me gulped before talking.
"Just leave us alone already, fucking weirdo." I could hear a slight tremble in his voice.
"Yeah, go back to wherever you came from, freak." Said the girl.
"Yeah, freak!" Another guy followed, and soon they were all chanting 'freak, freak' over and over again.
I rolled my eyes before walking around and past them, back to Tony's car. I quickly got in and started the car, speeding out of the parking lot all the while hearing the group chant over and over again 'Freak!' until their voice got lost in the distance.
I wiped the tear that had managed to escape my eye before talking out loud.
"Jarvis, what's next on the list of places?" My voice was a little shaky from the anger and sadness I was feeling.
"Are you okay, miss?" His robotic voice replied.
"Sure, don't worry about it Jarvis. Where to now?" I blinked away the rest of the tears, and I saw as the directions to the next stop appeared on the little screen of the car.
"The Griffith Observatory, I think you'll appreciate more the solitude of the place right now." He answered.
"Thank you, J. Hey, play some music please, whatever kind will do. I want to see what kind of music these muggles listen to." I muttered the last part.
"Sure. You're listening to Thunderstruck by AC/DC." He said, and the next second the song started playing, it was a rock song and it was damn good.
"Maybe Tony does have good taste in music after all." I said, trying to focus more on the road and the song and less about the disgusting encounter I just had.
---
After about another half-hour I was pulling up to the nearest parking spot to the entrance of the observatory. The place was mostly alone, just a couple of cars parked in the parking lot, their owners calmly walking around the place.
"Welcome to the Griffith Observatory, miss Aillie." Said Jarvis as I parked and the rock music faded into silence.
"Thanks. Let's hope this one goes better than the last one."
I got out of the car and walked inside. I was greeted by a big room that had desks to either sides of the door and had a roof decorated with pretty paintings, in the center of the room was the most mesmerizing thing though, as a pendulum went back and forth in a hypnotizing way.
I walked from one room to the other, stopping on each one to admire the things on display and their respective explanation. This place is full of interesting things, all about the stars and space. I never would have imagined muggles would care so much about astronomy but clearly they absolutely were as interested about it as us. After walking around some of the exhibitions they had I decided to walk outside.
As I climbed the stairs to the next floor I was completely stunned by the views. The observatory overlooked the whole city and saying it was completely mesmerizing, and stunningly beautiful wasn't nearly enough.
The night city offered the perfect view to end my night, and soon I found myself lost in thought as I looked at the lights of the city, shining in the distance. I had never seen anything like it.
Oh how I wish all my friends were here to see it. How I wish Draco was here.
I feel so stupid, for not moving on from him even though it's been months, for still being afraid to go back and face everything and everyone back in the wizarding world, and for feeling so bad after being called a freak.
I didn't bother trying to stop anymore the tears falling down my cheeks and into my hands that were tightly holding the railing.
Perhaps they are right, perhaps I am a freak. I know at least most of the wizarding community thinks of me as a heartless monster, and the remaining death eaters think me a traitor. Now, the rest of the world has gotten the opportunity to see who I am and have decided to call me a freak.
If it was five minutes or an hour that I remained there just crying my eyes out I have no idea. I let it all get to me, and I let all my feelings out.
It's been months since I got here, and all I've felt is loneliness. Sure, this city is beautiful and I've got to see more of the world, and yes I've learnt a lot from the books in Tony's library, and Pepper and Happy have been nothing but kind to me but I just feel so alone all of the time. The more I think about it the more it makes me want to go back to England.
But no matter how much I want to, I know I'm not ready to go back. I wouldn't be able to.
I sigh, and I let go of the railings noticing my hands hurting from holding so tight onto them. I wipe the remaining tears away and slowly start making my way back to the car.
"How was the observatory, miss Aillie?" Jarvis's voice came out of the speakers.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. Just mark the way back home, please." My sadness reflected in my voice.
"Right away, miss."
_____
When I pulled in to the garage I noticed the car that they had gone in to their dinner date was back, meaning so are they. I am really not in the mood for a lecture right now.
"Aillie?" Tony asked me as soon as he saw me walking up the stairs into the living room, where he and Pepper were, hugging each other and clearly intoxicated.
"Uh, hi." Maybe they are drunk enough they won't even care.
"Hey, you were just coming up the stairs. Why were you in the lab?" He frowned.
"Uh, I... Wasn't?" I want to slap myself, what was that? "Hey, how was your date night?" I tried to change the subject. And it worked.
"It was great, but it's still not over yet, right Pepper?" He turned to see her and they both smiled so sickly in love it was almost disgusting. "The night is still very young." Okay, too much information. I rolled my eyes and fake gagged, before turning and quickly walking back to my room that is thankfully at the complete opposite part of the house from their room.
After a, probably way too long, shower and changing into some comfortable pajamas I finally laid down on my bed, hugging myself as I cried myself to sleep.
_____
I woke up late in the afternoon, after Jarvis insisted on me getting up since I had already missed breakfast and it was getting late for lunch.
Reluctantly I got up, and went straight to get changed into an oversized shirt and shorts because I know if I think too much about it I'll probably end up going back to bed. As I got in the bathroom to try and fix my hair I winced when I saw the state I was in.
I looked completely trashed, my eyes were puffy and irritated and there were dry tears adorning my face. I just sighed and washed my face, anyway it's not like I'm going out after what happened yesterday. After that the tears were gone, wish I could say the same about the redness and puffiness of my eyes.
I don't even know why I'm feeling so bad about everything, I should know better than to let it get to me, but it feels like a blinding sadness has overcome everything else. Sadness, anger and nostalgia. Suddenly a thought pops up.
"Jarvis, what's today's date?" I asked out loud walking back to my room from the bathroom.
"It is currently July tenth, miss Aillie." His robotic voice answered.
Shit. Of course, it just had to be my birthday today.
I sighed once more before walking out my room and making my way to the kitchen, where I was honestly surprised to see Tony and Pepper. I tried to keep my back to them as I walked to the fridge and took out the orange juice.
"Morning Aillie, are you okay? It's kind of unusual for you to wake up this- " Pepper stopped herself when I turned around and they saw my face.
"Shit." Tony muttered. How kind.
"Thank you." I said, while pouring myself some orange juice in a glass. "Don't want to talk about right now, so don't even bother to ask."
The room got quiet for a minute, and I enjoyed the silence as I finished my drink. Until Tony shared a look with Pepper and she left the kitchen, then he spoke again.
"So uh, actually Jarvis told me what happened." That damn snitch.
"Yeah right. What could he have possibly told you anyway?" I rolled my eyes. I mean, it was by the parking lot that it happened, but the car wasn't even on.
"He just said people were chanting 'freak' while you left the parking lot in Santa Monica. What happened? You know you can talk to me." He walked closer to me, but I took a step back as I walked to put the orange juice back in the fridge.
"Yeah right." I muttered as I closed the fridge.
"What?" He heard me. I turned around to look at him, the sadness getting quickly replaced with anger.
"I said yeah right." He raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something, but I kept on talking. "Because you've made it real clear that I can talk to you whenever I need to. Because it's not like you have been confining yourself to the lab and snapped at me everytime I tried going there to talk to you!" Little tears from the anger were forming on my eyes.
"Well I'm sorry I've been busy, but you have no idea what's going on with me! I'm trying to protect you!" He was getting angry too, and started speaking louder.
"Maybe I would know if only you told me! If you even talked to me!" I couldn't contain myself at this point, I was letting my anger and sadness for everything going on out on him. I know he didn't deserve all of it and I felt bad for yelling at him, but there was no stopping myself. "You said you've been looking for me for a long time, that you wanted me to come live with you so we could be a family! So you could actually be father to me! And yet you've done nothing but ignore me." I took a deep breath before continuing on my rant.
"Aillie, I..." He wasn't yelling anymore, his voice was quiet, and his words got lost when I started to speak again.
"No, you've kept on ignoring me, just like you've done all my life! And here I was, moving half the world away for someone who doesn't give a fuck about me! Reading every book I could find on the library so I could surprise you and make you proud that I understood your science but you didn't even give me a chance to prove that to you because you won't even speak to me!"
"Please, stop." His breathing was getting laboured, and I think tears were starting to fall down his cheeks, mimicking mine. But I wasn't done letting out my feelings.
"No I'm not stopping! Because it's not fair. It's not fair that I have to feel this way every day, because of you! It's all your fault, because maybe if you hadn't been so selfish I wouldn't be so broken, if you hadn't decided that you didn't want me all those years ago. Maybe I wouldn't have grown up in that hellhole, wouldn't have been forced to become the freak that I am! I wouldn't have had to go through that, to grow up hating you and that yet the moment I met you I decided that I wanted to make you proud of me being your daughter! Because it isn't fair. It is just not fucking fair that because of your mistake, of your selfish decision I am the one that had to pay the price." The tears felt as if they were burning me as they felt down my face, and I was shaking uncontrollably as I tried to get my breath back. I felt my knees get weak, so I sat down on the ground with my back against a wall.
Only then I looked at Tony and realized he was silently crying too, holding onto the counter as he put one of his hands on his chest and tried to breathe. He looked like he was about to have an attack or something. I got up quickly from the ground, drying my tears with the back of my hand as I walked to him, putting one of my hands on his shoulder.
"Tony?" My voice broke. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. What do I do? Jarvis?!" I tried to make him calm down but his breathing wasn't getting better. "Jarvis!"
"It seems Mr. Stark is having an anxiety attack." Jarvis's voice echoed.
"Okay calm down, please." He looked at me and held my hand with one of his while the other stayed put on the counter. "Inhale, exhale. Come on." I repeated over and over again, and eventually his breathing got better.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left you. I'll spend my entire life regretting that." He said once he had gotten back his breathing enough to speak. I wanted to tell him that I forgive him but the words died in my throat before they even began to form. I would be lying to myself if I said that.
"It's okay." I said with a small voice. Then I heard heels making their way to the kitchen, and when I looked up I saw Pepper standing in the doorway.
"What happened?" She asked as she walked towards us, specifically to Tony.
______________
AN: Hey!! I'm sorry I took an eternity to update, I had like the worst writer's block I've ever experienced and didn't know what to do with this chapter, lol. But I'm hoping you enjoy it, even though I know it's not my best work.