Chapter 27
December 2012- Session 27
“What do you mean that wasn’t a date?!” Elaine said.
I had been to therapy before I fell into another universe and most of them sucked which was why I was so surprised when I met Elaine. She was a great therapist and definitely cared but I had to say she was very invested in my love life or lack thereof. Almost a little too invested…
“It wasn’t a date.” I said.
“He asked you to have dinner with him.” Elaine said.
“He asks me that every night.” I said.
“He was trying to make plans with you.” Elaine said.
“That’s what we normally do at Brunch.” I said.
“Hanna.” Elaine said.
“We had a great day and a day of rollercoasters is just what the doctor ordered.” I said.
“Okay I think you’ve made enough progress getting you to a point where you can handle your feelings to talk about the gigantic elephant in the room that somehow you can’t see.” Elaine said.
“Huh?” I said confused.
“You have six soulmates.” Elaine said.
“Yes hence why I’m no longer colorblind.” I said.
“And what are soulmates? Hint its in the name.” Elaine said.
“I’ve been told but we’re not like that.” I said.
“Why?” Elaine said.
“Okay we’re not doing this. I went through the same thing when Natasha got into my head making me think Tony had a thing for me when obviously we’re just really good friends. I might even go as far as to say he’s my best friend.” I said.
“Hanna you know there’s more going on there.” Elaine said.
“We’re every good friends.” I said.
“The man went to therapy for you. He got on Goliath for you.” Elaine said.
“He’s a thrill seeker and once you spend hours flying in a suit of armor that goes faster than a rocket nothing seems as scary.” I said.
“Okay but tell me this, if two weeks ago when you two were at that very romantic ridge overlooking the city when you had that ‘weird’ moment on the car if he had leaned in to kiss you…” She started.
“He wouldn’t have. I had burger breath.” I said.
“Okay if he had said Hanna I love you.” Elaine said.
“He would not…” I started.
“But what if…” Elaine started.
“Its not…” I started again.
“What if?” Elaine said sternly.
“In another parallel universe where that could have happened we would have had a very awkward conversation about how we don’t want to ruin the friendship not do a thing. It’d be awkward for a while because we live together and he pays for everything…. I’d probably have to move out. The rest of the team would have to pick sides and they work with him so obviously they would side with him and that would be okay. In a few months or more, I’d run into one of them and we’d be friends again but not as close as we were before because there are some things you can’t take back.” I said.
“UH… that was a lot more specific than I was expecting.” Elaine said.
“Thinking things through has never been my problem.” I said.
“Is that your anxiety and depression talking or is that really what you want to happen?” Elaine said.
“Huh?” I said confused.
“People with anxiety and depression tend to prepare for the worst case scenario. That’s your first instinct and you rarely let yourself think of what you really want. So what do you really want Hanna?” Elaine said.
And boy was that a loaded question…
We ended our session there, the last one for the rest of the year because it was Christmas. AKA Tony getting his life blown up. Literally.
Was this really a good time to be wondering about the improbability of one of my soulmates having more than platonic feelings for me?
I was putting a pin in this issue until at least after new years.
“Hey.” Tony said.
“Hey.” I said smiling.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Could we skip the whole brunch and just go get a funnel cake and ride a bunch of rollercoasters again?” I teased.
“I kind of have a heart condition…” He retorted making me laugh.
“I don’t know it’s pretty solid.” I said tapping on the reactor.
“Very funny.” He said putting an arm around me and pulling me into a side hug as we walked out.
“I thought so.” I said. “So did you figure out what you were going to get Happy for Christmas?”
“I gave him a promotion, isn’t that enough?” He said.
“Tony he’s one of your most loyal friends. Yes he works for you but he has gone above and beyond that.” I said.
“So one week vacation in Hawaii?” Tony said.
“Make it two.” I said. “He needs to cut loose.”
“Two it is. And I think someone is going to really happy with their present.” Tony said.
“It better not be a giant stuffed rabbit.” I said getting to a car.
“Why do you and Natasha hate bunnies? I thought girls were supposed to like cute fluffy animals.” Tony said.
“Yeah I hate to tell you this but if a grown woman wants a giant plush toy of a bunny she’s either lying about her age or she’s looking for a daddy.” I said.
“Kinky.” Tony said with a smirk.
We were at the table when the topic of Christmas dinner came up.
“I know you can cook and it was the best turkey I ever had but maybe for Christmas we can hire a catering company?” Tony said.
“Sure.” I said.
“Really? I was expecting some push back.” Tony said.
“No I told you at Thanksgiving. Glad you enjoyed it because it’s not happening again anytime soon.” I said. “Is it just going to be us?”
“It can be.” Tony said smiling. “We can try out that new passport, fire up the jet. Have a white Christmas in the Swiss Alps…”
“I meant us… as in us, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Clint… we can try screaming at the sky to see if Thor gets the message…” I said.
“Yeah I was just… How about I see if Pepper and Happy want to join.” Tony said picking up his phone and calling one of them.
By the second ring happy had picking up btu the only things we could see was his forehead.
“Hello?” Happy answered.
“Is this forehead of security?” Tony teased smiling at me when I suddenly got a really weird sense of déjà vu.
“What?” Happy said before fixing the camera so we could actually see his whole face. “You know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I’m working. I got something going on here.”
“What harassing interns?” Tony snarked. Yeah that comment would not age well…
“Let me tell you something. You know what happened when I told people I was Iron man’s bodyguard? They would laugh in my face.” Happy said and Tony laughed and I kicked his foot.
“Be nice.” I whispered to him.
“I had to leave while I still has a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job. I’m watching Pepper.” Happy said.
“Watch implies stalking, say guarding.” I said.
“What’s going on? Fill me in.” Tony said. While he and Pepper were no longer together they were still really good friends and he would always love her. That and he would take any dirt he could get.
“For real?” Happy asked.
“Yeah.” Tony said.
“Alright so she’s meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome.” Happy said.
“Right, well she does have a type.” Tony said proudly and I just gave him a look.
“I couldn’t make his face at first, right? You know I’m good with faces.” Happy said.
“Oh yeah, yeah. You’re the best.” Tony said sarcastically.
“Yeah well, so I run his credentials. I make him. Aldrich Killian.” Happy said making me spit out my coffee splashing Tony and the table as I start coughing. “We actually met the guy back in… where were we in ’99? The science conference?”
“UH Hap I’m gonna have to call you back. Hanna’s choking.” Tony said.
“No!” I said grabbing the phone out of Tony’s hand. ”Happy listen to me. Whatever you do stay with Pepper.”
“Well I am her…” He started.
“No. You say with her at SI. Do not tail the shifty guy that came in with Killian. We know he’s creepy and walking talking bomb just waiting to go off but you do not go after him. Are we clear?” I said.
“But he’s showing Pepper his big brain.” Happy said.
“Mine’s bigger.” Tony said.
“Tony!” I said.
“Kidding.” He said. “Not kidding , just uh… I’ll call you back.”
With that he hung up.
“What was tha…” he started.
“We have to go. Like right now.” I said.
“But…” He started.
“Now.” I said putting down my napkin on the table.
“Okay.” He said throwing a few bills down on the table before leaving after me. “Hanna, slow down.”
“Nope now is not the time to slow down.” I said. “You have no idea how bad this is.”
“Hey.” Tony said gently grabbing my arm to stop me. “What’s going on?”
“Killian, is the Killian that’s going to blow up for your house in a few days.” I said.
“And?” Tony said.
“And?! Your house we all currently live in is going to get blown up. Happy who I seriously doubt is going to listen to us is going to end up in the hospital and Rhodey…” I started just as the radio in the car was turned on and a talk show host talked about the makeover the Government had given War Machine. “Uh we’re really screwed.”
“Don’t you think you’re being dramatic? It can’t be that bad.” Tony said.
“Google Iron patriot.” I said.
Tony took out his phone and looked it up.
“Oh that’s bad.” He said.
“Yeah and who do you think was behind that rebranding?” I said.
“You’re kidding.” Tony said getting into the car.
The only good thing about this whole mess was the fact that Bruce had conveniently decided to temporarily relocate to New York to make sure his new lab in the new Avengers tower was up to his standards.
I think sharing a lab with Tony had finally gotten to him.
On the plus side he wouldn’t be around if/when the house got blown up. The last thing we needed in the middle of that mess was the hulk smashing an already collapsing house.
I was already on crisis management making a list of anything that was irreplaceable that I needed to move to storage ASAP. I also made sure I had the key to Natasha and Clint’s emergency train station storage locker.
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Tony said as I marched into the house and got started labeling everything with sticky notes that either said save or boom.
“What part of your house getting blown up wasn’t clear to you?” I said putting a storage sticky on one of Tony’s priceless works of art.
“That happened in the movie that’s not going to happen here.” Tony said.
“You don’t know that.” I said.
“Yes I do. You want to know how I know?” Tony said.
“Just put a sticky on what you want to keep from getting blown up.” I said.
“Easy.” Tony said taking a save sticky and sticking it onto my collarbone. I just arched an eyebrow at him. “Done.”
“Cute.” I said sarcastically getting the sticky note off of me.
“Nothing’s going to happen.” He said. “and I’ll show you why.”
Tony took my hand and led me down to the lab.
“So I’m guessing you want to keep the cars?” I said walking to put a sticky note on them but Tony stopped me and led me onto a pedestal. “Wow you’re putting me on a pedestal. Not really sure how I’m supposed to feel about this…”
“Just… wait for it.” Tony said as the pedestal started spinning slowly before moving us down to reveal a hidden Hall of armor.
“Oh boy…” I said.
“Yeah, After New York I had a few ideas I wanted to try out and it just kept coming.” He said.
“This is what you’ve been doing the whole time you’ve been down here?” I said.
“Some times. Most of the time… 90% of the time?” He said.
“What did you do with the other 10%?” I asked.
“Therapy.” Tony retorted. “See, nothing to worry about.”
“No actually this just makes it worse.” I said turning around to get back on the pedestal. “Jarvis.”
“Hanna.” Tony said. “You don’t have to worry about anything. You’re going to be safe.”
“Tony guess what how many suits you had in the movie that you built because you had ideas after New York?” I said.
“That’s just a coincidence.” He said.
“No, no its not.” I said storming out of the lab.
“Hanna…” he started.
“This is how it starts… actually it starts with a one night stand on new years eve Y2K…” I started making Tony groan.
“It was years ago.” Tony said annoyed.
“And it’s coming back around.” I said handing a pack of the save and book stickies to Tony. “I’m going to go save my favorite coffee mug.”
“I can just buy you another one.” Tony said.
“Not the point Tony.” I said.
“Hanna.” Tony called after me as I went to go start moving what I could outside.
It was the middle of the night and after trying and failing to carefully get my favorite armchair downstairs I decided to accept the loss.
“I’m really digging the Fung shui vibe you’ve got going on. Though I don’t know why you think putting the Jackson Pollock in the driveway is supposed to improve the flow of the place…” Tony said and I glared at him.
“Well excuse me for trying to save…” I started.
“Nothing is going to happen…” He said.
“All signs say otherwise.” I said.
“You worry too much.” Tony said.
“Because you don’t worry at all.” I said.
“That’s not going to happen.” He said. “Because this isn’t a movie and the proof is that you’re here.”
“That’s not proof because you’re doing everything almost exactly the same.” I said.
“Okay then according to the movie what’s supposed to happen next?” Tony said. “What is the next thing I do?”
“You go see Happy in the hospital and tell the nurse to keep PBS on because he hates missing Downton Abbey.” I said.
Tony snorted. “Still can’t believe he likes that show.” He said.
“He’s a big softie on the inside.” I said going to keep packing.
“Hey.” He said taking the stickies out of my hand. “You need to stop. The house is not getting blown up and Happy is not going to end upin the hospital because you warned him.”
“Yeah because you both always do exactly as you’re told.” I said sarcastically.
“I can’t control what Happy does but I know what I am going to do next. I am going to spend the whole night staying up with you while we watch… What are we watching.” Tony said.
“This isn’t…” I started.
“Just give me a chance.” Tony said. “Come on. Maybe this is what saves the house?”
“No suits.” I said.
“Really I had the perfect suit. Grey Tom Ford three piece…” Tony said and I gave him a look. “No suits. Promise.”
“I’ll go make the popcorn.” I said.
So once we got into our PJs and bickered for an hour over what movie we were going to watch we finally settled for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“You know if Indy didn’t do anything this movie would still end exactly the same way.” I said.
“What?” Tony said. “That’s not… No…”
“Think about it.” I said.
“No. He’s the hero.” Tony said.
“He got involved and the Nazis got their eyeballs melted. If he hadn’t done anything they still would have gotten their eyeballs melted.” I said. “It ends exactly the same way. Sounds familiar.”
“That’s a movie, that is not the same as…” He started. “This isn’t a movie.”
“I know its not. Even if in the movie…” I started.
“SH… here comes the snake pit.” He said shushing me probably to avoid me ruining another classic movie for him.
It was around halfway through the second movie that I knocked out. I don’t know what it was about that couch but I couldn’t watch TV on it without falling asleep. I remember leaning on Tony’s shoulder and then slowly my eyelids got heavier and heavier and I was out.
Third Person’s POV-
Tony was watching Indiana Jones complain about snakes.
“That never gets old… I haven’t seen the new one yet but it must be good right?” Tony said waiting for an answer but only getting a soft snore. He looked down and saw Hanna asleep as she rested her head on his shoulder.
He smiled before gently trying to move his arm so he could slip out but before he could Hanna curled up to his chest putting an arm around him before letting out a sigh as she continued slipping.
Tony chuckled and decided not to go anywhere. Instead he pulled up the throw Hanna had left on the couch around her and sat back to watch the rest of the Indiana Jones trilogy because who was he kidding the fourth one was totally going to suck.
He didn’t last much longer though.. he didn’t even realize when he had fallen asleep. Even at the weird angle he and Hanna were curled up in Tony had to admit that was the best nap he had taken in ages.
Unfortunately his wake up call ruined it all for him.
His phone started ringing waking him up. Hanna on the other hand was completely knocked out and didn’t stir.
“Hello?” Tony groaned.
“Is this Tony Stark?” A woman on the other end of the line said.
“The one and only.” He said.
“Mr. Stark I’m Alice Smith a nurse here Los Angeles Mercy Hospital. There’s been an accident and I’m afraid your friend Harold Hogan was brought here. He’s in critical condition and…” She continued but Tony zoned out.
“Shit.” He said before looking down at Hanna. “UH.. I’m on my way.”
Tony thought about waking up Hanna but he didn’t want to worry her and he really didn’t want to hear her say the dreaded phrase ‘I told you so.’
So carefully he got a pillow and slipped it between Hanna and himself to gently slip out leaving her asleep on the couch before he sped off to go see Happy.
Hours Later…
I woke up still on the couch with the TV off and no Tony anywhere. Well I got him out of the lab for a few hours, I was going to take what I could get.
“Jarvis can you ask Tony if he’s in the mood for waffles for breakfast?” I asked.
“Sir is actually not currently home miss.” Jarvis said.
“Come again?” I said hoping I had misheard.
“Sir actually went out early this morning.” Jarvis said.
“Where’d he go?” I asked but Jarvis was uncharacteristically quiet.
“Jarvis?” I said but still no answer. Then my phone started ringing. It was way to early for anyone to be calling. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” Natasha said.
“Good morning to you too sunshine.” I said sarcastically.
“Hanna.” She said sternly.
“Considering it’s not even 8am and I just woke up I’m at the house.” I said. “Wait aren’t you supposed to be in Singapore or in that general time zone right now?”
“Is that Hanna?” Clint asked. “Where is she?”
“At the house she just woke up.” Natasha told him.
“So she doesn’t know.” Clint said.
“Don’t know what?” I said.
“Turn on the news.” Natasha said.
“Okay…” I said reaching for the remote and turning on the TV to the news where the Hollywood’s Chinese was on fire and firefighters were cleaning up the mess. “Oh no…”
“I’m standing here in front of the remains of the Hollywood’s Chinese theater where last night a terrorist attack took place killing five people and leaving dozens in critical condition including close personal friend and former body guard of Tony Stark.” The reporter said.
“Shit.” I said.
“That’s one word for it.” Clint said.
“When asked about what was being done about the Mandarin, Tony Stark had this to say…” She started before the footage rolled.
There was a crowd of reporters outside of the hospital when tony came out.
“Oh don’t do it…” I mumbled.
“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?” The reporters started but Tony ignored them before walking to his car.
“Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy? Just sayin'.” A pushy reporter said finally making Tony snap and turn to him.
“Don’t do it…” I said again.
“Is that what you want? Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided” he said taking off his sunglasses. “that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10-8-80, Malibu Point, 9-0-2-6-5. I'll leave the door unlocked.” Tony said before turning to the reporter. “That's what you wanted, right?” He then too the phone and threw it into a wall shattering it to pieces. “Bill me.” With that he drover off.
And to make matters worse guess who walked into that house at that exact moment.
I had to give it to him he had great timing.
“Hey you’re up. I brought do…” He said before looking at the TV. “Uh-oh.”
“Nat I’m going to have to call you back.” I said hanging up the phone.
“Before you say anything… it’s not as bad as it looks.” Tony said.
“Seriously Tony.” I started.
“Someone had to do something.” He said.
“I’m not arguing that but you couldn’t have put a little more thought into what you said. Namely the part where you dared a terrorist to come on by?” I said.
“Nothing’s going to happen.” Tony said.
“Would you stop saying that! Everything I’ve been trying to warn you about for months is happening exactly how it happened in the movie. Everything including your televised tantrum.” I said.
“They went after Happy.” Tony said.
“And that fucking sucks, and when he gets better I’ll help him get his nurse’s number but until then we’ve got to go.” I said.
“Go? We can’t go.” Tony said.
“Tony you gave a terrorist your home address. Your home that that is on the edge of a cliff. You want to fight a terrorist fine but be smart about it. Now go downstairs and go pack your toys hell pack a suit or two but we have to go.” I said.
“No we should stay.” Tony said.
“We’re going.” I said ending the discussion as I went to go pack both of our things.
As I packed my things I had to stop for a second. We were going to leave and chances were I would never come back here. Mostly because the house would be destroyed but I’d never come back to LA. All the movies happened in New York, the East Coast… London even on another planet but not LA.
This was it.
I’ve been in another universe for months and it just hit me that I was not in ‘Kansas’ anymore so to speak.
I took a breath and got back to stuffing everything I wanted to keep into my suitcase before going into Tony’s room and trying to do the same but it was harder. Mostly because Tony had way more stuff and a way bigger closet.
“Jarvis can you ask Tony if there’s anything specifically he wants me to pack for him?” I asked.
“Of course miss.” Jarvis said before pausing for a few moments. “Sir wishes for me to assure you that there is no need for you to pack a bag for him as he has no plans to travel.”
“Tell him he’s being a real pain in the ass and is not helping.” I said as my phone started ringing. “Nat now is not a good time.”
“You need to get out of there now.” Clint said.
“Clint?” I said surprised.
“We have a plan for this exact reason.” Natasha said.
“So we’re doing the conference call thing now. Guys I’m packing Tony’s bag as we speak, we’ll be out in ten minutes, it would be faster if Tony would stop dragging his feet!” I shouted hoping Jarvis would pass the message along.
“Leave without him.” Clint said.
“What?” I said surprised.
“Tony can handle himself. He’ll be fine but you won’t. Go.” Natasha said.
“It’s ten minute maybe an hour tops. Nothing’s going to happen. I’ll text you when I’m out.” I said.
“Han-“ They started but I cut them off when I hung up.
As it turns out a lot of things can happen in an hour. A lot.
While I was packing our bags Tony was downstairs doing research on the Madarin. It was going well until the doorbell rang.
“Are we still at "ding-dong"? We're supposed to be on total security lock down. Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?” Tony asked Jarvis.
“There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address.” Jarvis sassed before bringing up a live feed of the front door.
Tony sent his remote controlled suit up to answer the door and he kept working.
“Tony you better be done down there.” Hanna said through the house com system before he saw her start to pick up the bags.
“Shit Need to run interception.” He said running out of the lab.
“Right there's fine.” Tony told Maya. “You're not the Mandarin, are you? Are you?”
“You don't remember. Why am I not surprised?” Maya said.
“Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast.” Tony said before I called out from upstairs.
“Donuts!” I called out.
“That's right.” Tony said bracing himself for what was coming.
“Okay” maya said looking at the suit and them at Tony not knowing who she should be talking to. “Look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent.”
“Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed situationship… sort of thing...” he said before I threw down two heavy Louis Vuitton leather suitcases before walking down. “It's...with her.”
“Ah, the one night stand. Right on time.” I said sarcastically. “We’re going.”
“No we’re not and this is Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely.”
“Genetic Coder that works for a Think tank and the real mandarin. You sure know how to pick them.”
“Wait I don’t… It’s not…” Maya defended. “I need your help.”
“What...what for? Why now?” Tony said.
“It’s a hard no. Bye.” I said walking her to the door.
“Frankly, I don't think you'll last the week.” Maya retorted trying to shrug out of my grasp.
“I'll be fine.” Tony said waving her off but when I opened the front door to my surprise Steve was standing right there just about to knock on the door.
“Hanna!” Steve said
“Steve?” I said surprised.
“Capsicle.” Tony said.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Steve.
“I uh… it’s almost Christmas and I wanted to surprise you but then I saw the news and thought maybe I should get here earlier and… yeah.” He said. “Who’s she.”
“An old friend.” Tony said.
“She works for a terrorist.” I said. “Also one of Tony’s one night stands.”
“It was Y2K.” Tony said as if that explained anything.
“She was leaving. Just like we are.” I said pushing Maya towards the door before going to get the bags.
“Great idea. Let's go.” Steve said helping me.
“I'm sorry. That's a terrible idea. Please don't touch her bags.” Tony said.
“Tony, this is how normal people behave.” I said.
“I can't protect you out there. I challenged...” he started.
“I know, I saw the news. Everyone saw the news.” I said. “And I warned you. I’ve been warning you for months. We tried it your way and here we are so my turn. Get a bag and your favorite suit and lets go.”
“We don’t have to…” He started.
“Tony, we are leaving the house; that's not even up for discussion.” I said.
“I said no.” he said.
“Fine. Then I’m leaving. Alone!” I said
“Guys, can we um...” Maya started.
“What?” Tony shouted.
“Do we need to worry about that?” maya said looking out the window and pointing at the shopper that shot a missile at us. The house was hit and as it exploded we were sent flying across the room. I hit my head on the marble counter.
There wasn’t any time to react I felt everything go dark and just as I wasn’t starting to come to… and I saw Steve shaking my shoulder to wake me up. Then another explosion crashed through the house demolishing it and making it fall off the cliff and into the ocean.
From there everything came in pieces. I heard crashing. Steve shouting my name. Then the water poured into the wreckage but I was pinned under a beam. I held my breath for as long as I could.
There was a light flickering letting me see the wreckage around me. The beam kept pressing down on me harder and harder. I felt something pull at me and when I turned, I saw Steve.
He reached for me and put a hand on my cheek trying to get me to focus on him. He pointed up telling me to swim but I shook my head.
I was pinned down and not going anywhere.
Steve moved to try and lift it up but the wracked kept falling and adding more weight.
I couldn’t hold my breath anymore.
I grabbed Steve’s arm to get his attention and shook my head telling him to stop.
‘Go’ I mouthed as I started choking on water.
He shook his head looking for a way and when that didn’t work he held me but everything was getting fuzzy and my lungs were on fire as I slowly drowned. The last thing I saw were Steve’s pleading blue eyes begging me not to close mine.
Everything went cold and dark and unlike the last time this happened I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to die.
Unfortunately that’s what happened.
Everything was dark for a while and then it wasn’t.