Never Forgive

“Three more steps,” Dr. Cho encouraged. 

Tony was standing in front of his hospital bed, with Sam and Rhodey on either side holding the man up. He had padded socks covering his thick leg braces and a back brace around his torso. Unlike his previous physical therapy appointments, he was not able to hold himself up and did not participate in walking at all. Dr. Cho and Sam worked together to move his foot forward while he focused on trying not to pass out. 

Tony whimpered as his back serged in pain and the little energy he put into holding himself up vanished. “Please?” He whimpered. His person was soaked with sweat and his breaths were becoming heavier. 

“Two more, Tones, you can do it,” Rhodey grunted from where he was holding the genius up. 

Tony whined in frustration. He wasn’t doing anything. They were essentially dragging him across the room in his motionless body. It was pathetic, it was embarrassing, it was painful. 

Tony shouted when a spasm shot up his spine. “Stop, please!” Rhodey heard the pain in his friend’s voice and commanded the others to freeze. Tony gritted his teeth and forced back a sob. 

Rhodey frowned, realizing what was happening. “Do you want to sit down, Tony?” He asked softly. 

Tears dripped from Tony’s eyes and he shook his head. He let out another shuddering breath. 

Dr.Cho stood from her chair and looked Tony in the eyes. “What happened? Does something feel wrong?” She held her hands out, afraid to touch him. 

Tony shook his head again, squeezing his eyes. “No, it’s just a spasm.” His voice broke off at the end and his knees threatened to collapse. He knew it would hurt worse if he let his back bend, so he fought to keep it straight until the spasm was over. 

Rhodey looked at Sam and shifted positions so that Rhodey was in front of Tony and Sam was in back of him. Rhodey took Tony’s arms and wrapped them around his own neck while Sam supported Tony’s waist. Rhodey rubbed Tony’s shoulder blades while the genius tucked his head into the side of his neck. “Breathe,” Rhodey encouraged when Tony’s breath hitched. 

Dr. Cho silently pushed pain medicine into Tony’s IV. She knew he was trying to wean off of it, but he deserved some reprieve from the pain. 

They waited until Tony untucked his head and nodded, dried tears on his cheeks. Instead of walking him back, Rhodey picked him up behind the knees and shoulders and carried him back to the bed. Rhodey tried not to focus on how light his best friend was, especially his useless legs. When he sat Tony down on the bed, the man’s legs hung twisted and limp on the edge, so Rhodey pulled them up himself. It was the little things that made him upset on his friend’s behalf. 

Tony panted and sunk into the sheets in exhaustion. He wasn’t even upset when Helen placed the oxygen mask over his face. He simply closed his eyes and let the whispered conversation of his friends lull him to sleep. 

___________________

James loved looking up at the stars. There were so many of them, an endless amount, and despite their inability to talk- they made him feel safe.

“I miss my kid,” Scott said next to him. 

He didn’t have kids, but he figured he’d miss them too if he had any. 

Scott went quiet again, but James could practically hear him thinking. 

“Do you want to be here, James?” Scott asked. His nervousness and hesitation was painfully evident in his whispered question. 

Honestly, James didn’t know how to answer him. Did he want to be here? Here in the middle of nowhere? Here with the Rogues? Here, alive? He didn’t think the answer to any of those questions would satisfy Scott. “Do you want to leave?” He asked instead. 

He could hear the nervous man’s heart beating. “Well...not that I don’t want to be here, i'm just thinking,” Scott stumbled. James didn’t respond, and Scott was quiet for several minutes. 

“I really miss my kid,” Scott said quietly to himself. 

James pretended not to hear him and feigned sleep. 

_______________________

Tony was in the middle of his morning breathing treatment when his phone started ringing. It took some time to find it since he hadn’t used it in several days. He found it on the third ring in the side drawer. 

He quickly answered but his face paled as a voice shouted through the phone. 

“She’s dead. She’s dead. I don’t know what to do, anymore. You have to help me, Mechanic. She’s dead, and they’re coming for me, he’s coming for me,” the person cried. 

Even through the shouting, he recognized a certain word. “Harley?” He whispered, hands shaking. 

“Please Mechanic. I don’t know what to do. There’s no one else. They said they’re going to take the house, I don’t have any money. Please, Mechanic,” Harley cried. 

Tony could practically see the kid’s broken face sobbing into the phone. “Harley, Harley,” Tony called, sitting up. “I’m on my way, but you have to explain to me what’s happening.”

“My mom died,” Harley cried, breath hitching. 

“Just now? What happened?” Tony asked, looking around the room for a jacket. 

“No, she died last week. She had cancer,” Harley said. 

Tony paled. “Last week? Why didn’t you call me sooner, kid?” Tony said softly. 

“Because we were fine. I’m not a kid anymore. I can take care of my sister by myself. But now they’re taking the house. And they will see that we’re here- an-an-and they’ll-” Harley panicked. 

Tony remembered a similar situation all those years ago, their roles reversed. “Deep breaths, Harley. Come on, buddy, calm down,” Tony soothed, listening to Harley trying to breathe. 

“You can’t let them take her, Mechanic. They’ll separate us, I know they will,” Harley whispered brokenly. 

Tony held the phone in a tight grip, wishing he could give Harley a big hug. “I will not let them take you, I promise kid,” he said firmly. 

Hearing the emotion in his voice, Harley’s breath finally calmed. “See you soon, Mechanic,” he said softly. 

“See you Harls,” he responded just as soft. 

As soon as he put down the phone, he started the struggle of pulling his legs to the side of the bed. There was a wheelchair parked next to it, despite his previous inability to use one that wasn’t motorized. 

The small burst of adrenaline the phone call gave him allowed him to make his way to the side, his legs hanging uselessly below him. He looked nervously at the chair but prepared himself to transfer. His back throbbed threateningly, but he placed one hand on the bed and one on the arm of the chair to continue his mission. 

Lifting himself seemed impossible, but he managed to do it after three tries. Unfortunately, a second later his arm strength gave out, and he collapsed rough and awkwardly in the chair. He picked up his limp legs to place them on the footrest and shifted his hips so he was sitting more steadily. He was soaked in sweat and his arms trembled, but he quickly put his hands on the metal rims and started to push. 

It took him five minutes to reach the door at his snail’s pace, but he made it. He almost gave up when he stuck his head out the door to see the long white hallway that suddenly looked the length of a football field. His clammy hands made it even harder to push himself, and his slowing pace made it obvious he would be forced to give up soon, but he kept Harley’s tearful voice in his head and kept going.

He made it about four more feet when Rhodey arrived as visiting hours started. “Tones, what are you doing?!” Rhodey shouted, angry. “You’re not supposed to be up without supervision.”

“Harley’s mother is dead and the bank is taking back the house, the kids have nowhere to go,” Tony explained. 

Rhodey sighed, rubbing his face. “And Harley is that kid from…”

“Tennessee,” Tony answered. 

“Tennessee,” Rhodey parotted. The man thought for several moments and Tony could practically see the migraine forming. “I’ll go get them, you stay here,” he finally concluded. 

“No! I need to get them. They don’t know you,” Tony pretested. 

“You are in no condition to pick up kids across the country,” Rhodey scoffed. “You are going to lay here under Dr. Cho’s watch while I go get the kids and bring them here.”

“No! Rhodey, you don’t understand. I need to go. I need to be there. I can do it, please,” He pleaded. 

They stared each other down for several seconds before Rhodey finally gave in. “Fine. Call the jet while I talk to Helen,” he huffed. “I don’t have the address anyway,” he grumbled as he took off down the hall. 

Tony smirked before grabbing his phone from his pocket. 

It wasn’t long before he regretted coming along. 

He and Rhodey were the only ones on the jet, so the ride was pretty quiet aside from the AC/DC music Tony insisted on. 

He was enjoying the view for a long time before he started getting restless. Sitting in the stiff seats of the quinjet hurt his back horribly, and even though he was wearing a seatbelt, it took concentration to keep himself from falling forward as the jet hit turbulence. 

He was too nervous to go to sleep, so he tried to keep himself busy by making calls to get custody of Harley and his sister. Child Services were working to get the paperwork filed and said they would get back to him tomorrow to see if he was approved or not. He was explaining the situation to Sam and Vision just as they landed. 

Harley came running out of the house as soon as the jet hit the ground. He was pulling his sister by the hand, tears falling out of each of their eyes. Harley froze when he saw Rhodey wheeling Tony down the ramp, but it was only a second of hesitation before he continued to run towards Tony and fell to his knees in front of the wheelchair. 

Harley sobbed, laying his head on Tony’s knees and gripping the genius’ jeans tightly. Tony fought the lump in his throat and leaned down, pressing a kiss to the boy’s head and rubbing his fingers through Harley’s hair. 

The boy had gotten older, but grew out of his baby face nicely. His jaw was more defined and his golden hair had turned a shiny brown. Despite the hard and grief-filled look the older boy held in his eyes, Tony could still see a bit of the childish innocence he had seen in the boy so long ago shining through. 

A young girl stood a few feet away from them, hesitantly. Her tears poured from bright blue eyes and her hair was the same shade as younger Harley’s. She stood awkwardly, unsure if she should approach. But when Rhodey suddenly opened his arms, she ran over quickly, jumping into them and sobbing into the man’s neck. 

They spent several minutes comforting the grieving kids. Eventually, Rhodey shifted the girl to his hip and pushed Tony and Harley, who sat on Tony’s lap, onto the jet. Rhodey went into the house to grab the kid’s bags while Tony got them settled. 

It took an hour into the ride until the kids were calmed down enough to talk. Harley had migrated to a chair, still close to Tony, while the young girl still held tightly to Rhodey on his lap. “Why was the house almost empty?” Rhodey asked softly. It had puzzled him when he walked in to see half the furniture gone and the walls bare and figured it would be a safe question to start. 

Harley wiped his nose on his sleeve and picked at his pant seam. “I had to sell some stuff to pay the bills,” he responded. It was then Tony noticed the thin frame of the kids and Harley’s exhausted eyes. “I got two jobs, but it still wasn’t enough.”

“Did you guys have enough to eat?” Tony asked firmly, trying to hold down his anger. He was angry at himself for not checking up on them. He could have prevented this. 

“Harley always feeds me,” The young girl spoke up. 

“Sarah-” Harley interrupted, sighing frustratedly. 

“He always takes care of me.” Tony looked at the girl who stared with love-filled eyes at her brother.

“I’m sure he does. You have a great big brother,” Rhodey smiled. 

“He even protects me from Mark-” 

“Sarah!” Harley shouted roughly. Suddenly, the boy's eyes turned dark and narrowed as his body trembled. 

Tony’s eyes moved quickly between the both of them. “Who’s Mark?” he asked finally. 

“That’s our-” Before Sarah could finish, Harley stood from his chair and placed a hand over her mouth. 

“Stop talking! Do you think he cares about any of this? About us? He gave us a bunch of fancy toys and then left. He doesn’t care about us any more than Mark does. No one does,” Harley snarled. The boy glared one more time before stomping off towards the back of the ship. 

Tony frowned, heart in his throat. “Don’t worry, he gets like this sometimes,” Sarah said quietly, playing with her shirt. “Ever since daddy came back.”

Tony froze, eyes wide. “Your dad came back? When? Why?” 

Sarah did not break her gaze from where she was playing with her shirt. “He came back when he heard mommy was sick. I think he came to take care of us, but he does a bad job.”

Tony glanced at Rhodey, who shrugged. “Well, some daddies are new at their job and aren’t the best,” he told the girl. 

“Yeah. He’s not too mean to me, I just hate when he hits Harley.”