Fated Marks

After Thanksgiving Will and I went back to the apartment. For a second I could have sworn Tony was trying to convince me to stay but it was probably my imagination. I went back to work on Monday. My classes got cancelled so I headed in to help sort out the last details of Tony’s transition. I got to the tower as everyone was having breakfast.

“Morning everyone.” I said. “I got your usual coffee orders.”

“Hey sit down we were just about to eat breakfast.” Steve said.

“I will but first I have to go get Tony’s signatures on a few things and get him out of the lab so he can make sure he got everything.” I said.

“Why don’t you just have Jarvis call him up?” Natasha suggested.

“When has Tony ever listened to Jarvis?” I said. “I’ll be back.”

I made my way downstairs and saw both Bruce and Tony working on their own sides of the lab. Bruce saw me walk in and smiled.

“Chai Tea and breakfast is ready.” I said.

“Thanks.” He said starting to put everything on hold and having all reactions neutralized.

I knocked on the glass but Tony was really into the nanotech he was working on and didn’t bother to look up. I put in my code and walked in. He was blasting music. I turned it down and that got his attention.

“You know I don’t like it when you turn down my music.” Tony said.

“Well you know I only do that when I need your full and undivided attention. Just remember that this is the last time for a while I’ll be interrupting your lab time. I need your signature on these.” I said handing him the folders “And I also need you to check upstairs to see if there’s anything you need to pack or if you want me to ship it later.”

“I have what I need, and in the rare case I forgot anything I’ll let you know so you can overnight it to me. Is there anything else?” Tony asked.

“Breakfast is ready, and since it’ll be your last team breakfast for a while I suggest you get your but up there.” I said.

“Does that mean I get a choice?” Tony asked.

“Yeah you go there willingly or I lock you out of the lab.” I said.

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you hang out with Pepper.” Tony said.

“Come on, deep down you know you’re going to miss them.” I said as we walked in.

“Are you going to miss me?” Tony said.

“If it weren’t for the fact that I know your ego doesn’t need the boost I might actually say yes.” I said.

“You are. You care!” Tony cheered.

“If I didn’t I wouldn’t bother to feed you.” I said as the elevator dinged.

“Look what Hayley managed to drag out of the lab.” Clint said.

“Very funny Legolas.” Tony said.

“Oh another movie series for the list Steve. Lord of the Rings.” I said.

“Writing it down.” He said actually writing it down in his little black notebook.

The rest of the day was pretty normal except Tony decided to spend his last few hours out enjoying everything Malibu didn’t have and I was forced to go with him.

First stop Magnolia Bakery.

“I thought you hated sweets.” I said.

“I don’t hate sweets, how can anyone hate sweets. Wow, Howard hated sweets, banned them from the house. Jarvis had to sneak them in unless it was my birthday.” Tony rambled.

“You never talk about your dad.” I said.

“You never talk about yours.” He retorted.

“Touche.” I said.

“It’s true you know everything about me and I hardly know everything about you. Like where are you from?” Tony asked.

“In my defense it’s my job to know everything about you.” I said. “As for where I’m from I’m not really from anywhere. Moved around a lot growing up.”

“So where did you move to?” He asked.

“Why the sudden fascination with my childhood?” I asked.

“Why are you deflecting?” he asked.

“I’m not deflecting there’s just not much to say.” I said biting into a red velvet cupcake. “Wow these are good.”

“I know right. Come on, there’s somewhere I need to visit before I go.” He said.

We drove out of the city and into Long Island. I don’t know how long we were driving before we stopped at a flower shop. Tony went in and came out with a bouquet of white roses. Then we drove some more until we got to a cemetery.

Tony opened the door and got out. When I didn’t move he opened my door.

“Come on.” He said.

“I’ll give you some space, it’s kind of a personal thing.” I said.

“Kid you’ve literally pulled my underwear out of the dryer for me, it doesn’t get more personal than that.” Tony said not letting up.

I sighed and got out of the car. I followed him and we stopped at a grave.

Howard Anthony Stark

Maria Elizabeth Stark

Tony out down the flowers and we stood there in silence until he finally started talking.

“I was twenty one or so probably about your age when they died. I remember I was finishing up my second or third Ph.D at MIT. I had just given my dissertation and I wanted to party…used to do that… still do on occasion. I had gone home for the holidays and I didn’t call ahead so my parents were leaving for the holidays, the Bahamas. I was mad so I threw a party and I got pretty hammered. I woke up the next morning to a trashed house and two police officers at the door breaking the news to me. Merry Christmas to me.” Tony said. “You never know what you have until it’s gone.”

“I’m sorry.” I said.

“It happens.” Tony said. “Come on I want to grab a pizza for the flight.”

I looked over at a freshly dug grave and froze.

“Hales you okay?” Tony asked. He put a hand on my shoulder and I flinched.

“Sorry, just really hate cemeteries.” I said.

“I’d be more worried if you didn’t.” He said.

We got in the car and it was quiet. I don’t know what made me do it but I just had to say it.

“I never met my Dad and my Mom never talked about him. She was a free spirit had a lot of loves so we moved around a lot. She died when I was thirteen. My brother… I was better off without. I’ve been on my own since. Never told anyone that not even Will.” I said.

“Why are you telling me?” Tony said.

“Don’t know, just felt… right.” I said.

“Have seen your brother since?” Tony asked.

“Once.” I said not elaborating and he could sense I didn’t want to talk about it.

We stopped by the usual pizza place before heading towards the airport.

“Before I forget, you’re Christmas bonus.” Tony said handing me an envelope.

“Tony, you already do more than enough I can’t take this.” I said.

“Hayley take it, you work hard and you’ve earned it. Can you for once not fight me on it?” Tony said.

“Tony you pay for school, my books, my rent and on top of that I get a salary, a very generous salary at that.” I said.

“That’s what I’ve always paid my assistants. Ask Pepper, it’s probably the only reason she put up with me as long as she did.” Tony said.

“That’s a load of crap, she loves you and cares about you that’s why she put up with you.” I said. “I mean I’m sure if she hadn’t met Daniel you two would have been hitched by now.”

“Yeah, the split was actually mutual.” Tony said.

“Seriously? You two always seemed so put together.” I said.

“Pepper and I have history and I love her but just not like that. We thought it was like that but it just wasn’t what she has with Daniel.” Tony said.

“You’ll meet yours one day.” I said.

“You ever wonder about yours?” Tony asked.

“Sometimes, they’re kind of hard to ignore. I get a lot of feelings from them. It’s kind of hard to tell what’s their feelings versus what’s mine sometimes. I mean the two on my arms I feel calm and collected. The one on my shoulder blade and my hip those make me feel really confident or sarcastic. The one on my left shoulder’s weird, I either get really calm and mellow feelings or uncontrollable rage. The ones on my ribs those are weird.” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well they both used to make me feel really cold then out of nowhere one of them would hurt and then it would go away. The other one was always cold up until a few months ago it felt confused lonely and at times kind of righteous if that was even possible to feel.” I said and that made Tony chuckle “Don’t even get me started on the rare occasion they’re all active. Happened during the invasion, made PMS a new form of torture.”

“Never had to worry about that. I just have the one. I get a bit of everything. Happiness, sadness, anger, and then there’s fear. That one doesn’t go away.” Tony said.

“Must be anxious.” I said.

“Yeah maybe.” He said “So in all seriousness are you going to miss me?”

“In all honesty, as big of a pain in the ass as you can be you do make my day that much more interesting and I will miss you… if you actually give me a chance to miss you that is. I have a feeling you’re going to be skyping me all the time.” I said.

“You can count on it, besides I don’t think you’ll be too lonely. You have the rest of the team to keep you busy.” He said as we pulled up at the hanger. He handed me the keys to the car. “Drive safe.”

“Always.” I said. “Don’t do anything crazy and try to live off something that isn’t coffee and scotch please. I’m not going to be there to nag you.”

“You could always stop by for Christmas.” He offered.

“I’ve always loved Christmas in New York don’t think the West coast can compete with that.” I said.

“If you change your mind, you know where to reach me.” He said.

“I know, but seriously if Pepper tells me you’re not taking care of yourself I’ll be on the first flight out there and I’ll nag the hell out of you.” I warned.

“Well in that case…” he started.

“Tony.” I said.

“I promise I’ll try.” He said. “Got to go if I want to make it in time to beat traffic. Take care kid.” He then surprised me by pulling me into a hug.

“Have a safe flight.” I said returning the hug before we broke apart.

I saw the plane take off and I felt oddly sad. Tony was my boss and kind of one of my best friends I was going to miss him. Then again I was sure he was going to call me on the way to the tower to make sure his car’s okay. I suddenly got this really weird sense of sadness from the mark on my hip. I took a deep breath and started the car. I drove back to the tower. Just as I parked I got a call from Nate.

“Hey so I picked up a few movies, and some Indian food since I know you’ve been craving it and was wondering what flavor ice cream you wanted for desert.” Nate said.

“Actually I got us some cupcakes from Magnolia bakery so I have that covered.” I said.

“Oh great, wait isn’t that all the way on the other side of town?” Nate asked.

“Yeah Tony had a craving so we stopped by before going to the airport.” I said.

“Does that mean you’re getting time off from work?” Nate asked.

“Not really, It just means instead of working directly with Tony we’ll skype and I’ll be assisting the rest of the team until he gets back.” I said.

“Oh, that’s cool. I’ll meet you at your place.” Nate said.

“Okay just going to check in with everyone before heading home.” I said.

“See you there.” Nate said before hanging up.

I headed upstairs and everyone was getting ready for movie night.

“Tony get off alright?” Steve asked.

“Yup, got him a pizza for the road along with some cupcakes too. Speaking of.” I said pulling out a box of cupcakes.

“Cups of cakes!’ Thor cheered. He was such a happy person.

“You’re the best Hales.” Clint added.

“Steve I know you hate cupcakes so I got you a slice of apple pie.” I said handing it to him.

“Thank you.” he said with an adorable smile and a slight blush on his cheeks. He had the cutest dimples. What the hell is wrong with me? I’m seeing someone else and wow I never notice Bruce has dimples too. His eyes twinkle when he smiles. He should do that more often. Oh fuck I’m checking out the entire team. Nope I have a boyfriend He is great and he makes me smile… sometimes and he’s at home waiting with take out.

“Well unless you guys need anything I’m going to head home.” I said,

“But its Movie Night.” Thor whined.

“We’re watching Forrest Gump.” Natasha said. “It’ll give a run through of the Sixties and Seventies.”

“Great movie and I wish I could stay but Nate’s waiting for me back home.” I said.

“How are things going with Nate?” Clint said looking a bit tense.

“Things are good. We’ve been on a few dates we put a label on the relationship apparently we’re boyfriend girlfriend and we’re going to see where this goes.” I said.

“Apparently?” Bruce said.

“I’ve never been out with anyone past three dates this is number four so yeah it’s pretty serious.” I said.

“So what are you doing tonight?” Natasha asked.

“Just a movie night with some takeout.” I said.

“Sounds nice.” Steve said.

“Will you also be watching The Forrest’s Gump?” Thor asked.

“Hopefully something with a lot of explosions or a comedy.” I said.

“Well have fun.” Bruce said.

“I will, Night.” I said before walking out.

“Night.” Everyone said.

I got home and Nate was waiting for me on the steps in front of the building.

“Hey.” He said with a smile.

“Hey.” I said returning the smile. He put his arms around me and kissed me.

“Finally I get you out of the office.” He said.

“You know as stressful as it can be I love my job. It’s a lot of free study and research not to mention I’ve learned a lot about business and I get to hand out with a lot of amazing people.” I said.

“Anything I should be worried about?” Nate said with a chuckle.

I laughed a bit. Let’s see should I mention the fact that whenever I need advice or just want talk about even the dumbest thing that happen to me the first person I think of is Tony. Or that whenever I look into Nate’s eyes I compare them to Steve and Thor and I can’t help but think Nate’s are dull in comparison. Or the fact that whenever He says he read a great book I think about how Bruce has recommended way better ones. Let’s not even start on how his idea of the best take out places in the city kind of suck and Clint’s food adventures had better results. I really shouldn’t mention the dream I had about… Yeah I’m so, so screwed.

“Nope, lab time and stuffy meetings kind of kills any possibility of that ever happening. Besides there’s this hot guy I’ve been seeing, it’s kind of starting to get serious.” I said. I wasn’t screwed, I was fucked.

Nate also chose today to bring out his artsy side. He chose to play musicals. He didn’t choose anything fun he chose Les Miserable. It was in French. I don’t speak French but apparently he did. I spent the first hour nodding along and ‘tearing’ up at the appropriate times. I wish I was watching Forest Gump.

About halfway through the movie which was an hour and a half later Nate made a move. He put his arm around me and he kissed my temple, then a minute later my cheek. Then we kissed and before we knew it we were full on making out. I had never gone this far before and honestly I didn’t feel anything. Physically Nate was a great but emotionally… I felt nothing. I’m not saying I wasn’t enjoying it I just felt nothing for Nate which made me feel guilty.

Just as he started sucking on one particular spot on my neck that had me moaning Will walked in.

“Oh, Shit sorry, sorry.” Will said shutting his eyes and running to his room before tripping on something. “Fuck.”

“Will!” I said pushing Nate off of me and going to help Will.

“You forgot the sock on the doorknob.” Will groaned.

“Sorry man, it wasn’t planned.” Nate said.

“It’s okay just not something I was expecting. Oh Les Miserable.” Will said.

“Yeah it’s a classic.” I said not knowing another word to describe it.

Will stood up and plopped down in the middle of the couch. Nate gave me an awkward grin before sitting down beside Will while I sat down on the other side.

We finished watching the movie, which at that point I was falling asleep.

“Well I guess we should call it a night.” Nate said.

“Looks that way.” I said walking him to the door.

“I had fun.” Nate said.

“I did too.” I lied.

“Maybe next time we should have movie night at my place.” He said.

“Yeah maybe.” I said with a smile. Why couldn’t I stop digging myself deeper and deeper?

“Talk to you tomorrow?” He said.

“Sure, night.” I said.

“Night.” he said kissing me before going on his way.

I walked back into the apartment and pulled Will into a hug. “Your timing is as impeccable as always.”

“I’m sorry?” Will said.

“Don’t be, I need time to think.” I said.

“About?” Will asked.

“Life.” I said closing the door to my room.

A Few Days Later-

Finals were in full swing. On top of dealing with school I was in charge of helping Pepper and Tony plan out the Annual Stark Christmas gala, Nagging Tony long distance and dealing with whatever whims he came up with. Not only that I still had my regular responsibilities and Nate. My boyfriend became another item on my checklist. The exact listing was:

Figure out what to do with Nate.

I’m a horrible person. To make things worse I had my monthly visitor and cramps that just wouldn’t go away.

It all started on a Wednesday. I was in the lab taking a practice test while Bruce was working on some enzyme regulator. I was fiddling with my pencil when I dropped it. I stood up to go pick it up when I felt a sharp pain on right side. I groaned for a bit before straightening up. I walked over to the first aid kit and pulled out a bottle of ibuprophen.

“Everything okay?” Bruce asked.

“Just mother nature paying a visit.” I said swallowing two pills. The pain was there but no matter what it wouldn’t go away. My appetite was a bit off but it was probably due to stress.

Thursday I stayed in. Thor and I started watching Gladiator, which he really enjoyed. I on the other hand just felt really cold and the pain was still there.

We were watching a fight when the one of them stabbed the other and blood spurted out. I suddenly felt really nauseous. I stood up and ran to the closest restroom. I felt someone behind me pull my hair back while I threw up.

“Are you well Lady Hayley.” Thor asked.

“Yeah, probably something I ate. Don’t have a lot of time to cook so I’ve been eating out a lot. Take out does not sit well with me.” I said.

“You must rest.” He said.

“It’s okay Thor. I’m okay I feel fine.” I said. He looked unsure. I stood up and quickly rinsed my mouth. “See totally fine.” My side was killing me but I couldn’t afford to waste time. At the same time the mark on my shoulder just gave me intense feelings of worry.

“Maybe it is best to consult a healer.” Thor said.

“I’ll make an appointment with my GP, and before you say it Bruce is not that type of doctor.” I said.

“As you wish.” Thor said looking concerned.

Friday was the day of my last final. I pulled and all nighter and walked into that lecture hall ready to kick ass. I got in there and finished in record time. It was a cakewalk. Afterwards I went with the usual routine and picked up everyone’s coffee order. I walked into the common room and everyone was sitting around watching as Clint made waffles.

“Morning.” I greeted.

“Morning.” They all said. Natasha turned to look at me and continued on her phone before looking at me concerned.

“You look like crap.” She said.

“Thanks Nat that’s really what I want to hear after pulling an all nighter for my last final of the semester.” I said. “Vanilla Latte.” I said as I handed over her usual.

“I’m making waffles take a seat.” Clint said.

I walked over to an open seat but as I leaned over the pain in my side got worse. “Actually I think I’ll stand for now.” I said holding my side.

“Are you feeling all right?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah, probably just slept at a weird angle. I fell asleep on the floor while studying last night for an hour before waking up and studying again.” I said.

“If you want to take the day off…” Steve started.

“Can’t I have a meeting with the event planner to work out the last details and a conference call with Tony and Pepper in about an hour.” I said.

“Try to take it easy then.” Bruce said.

“I am,” I said.

“Waffles.” Clint said putting a plate in front of me.

“Thank you.” I said before Steve sat next to me and put a plate with bacon eggs and hashbrowns beside that plate.

“You haven’t been eating.” He said.

“My appetite’s been off.” I said starting to feel a bit light headed.

“Hayley, are you sure you’re…” I heard Clint say before the room started spinning and then I felt like I was falling but someone caught me.

“Hayley!” Steve shouted. I saw everyone standing around me before I blacked out.