Bygone

“Hey.”

“Mmmph.” Tony pulls the sensor stuck to his temple off.

“Quick. You’re so not allowed to have this.” Darcy hands him a to-go cup of coffee. She’d been in and out, but Tony had needed x-rays on his arms and his head.

He accepts it and chugs it, wincing at the burn, but powering through like a champ. Darcy takes it back as the door opens, leaning back in her seat with her hands curled around the cup.

The attending doctor doesn’t give them a second look, but Doctor Cho looks between them suspiciously. Darcy likes the woman. They do a check, talk about concussion safety.

Tony mostly ignores them, but tells them Pepper will be by to see them later.

“Pepper is on her way.” Darcy says when they leave. “I’ll probably head back to the apartment. Talk to our new friends.”

“I don’t do friends. I have Rhodey. That’s it.”

Darcy raises her brows.

“You’re my sister. Mom said.” Tony looks away. He’s got one of his phone prototypes in his hand, the back panel open. “And Pep is Pep.”

“Fine. I’ll go talk to my new friends.” Darcy rolls her eyes. “Do you remember your promise?”

Tony rolls his jaw, still not looking at her. Darcy sighs and starts to talk, but he turns, his eyes intense. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Tony. Just a few bumps. You got the worst of it.”

His eyes flick over her face, then down her body. He swallows hard.

“Tony.” Darcy leaves her chair and climbs onto the bed next to him. “I’m fine. What you need to worry about is Pepper. I heard her on the phone with the doctor. She sounded pissed.”

Tony shrugs a shoulder and reaches for his coffee again. Darcy grabs for the remote and turns on the television. It’s turned to the news, and an aerial shot of Tony’s wrecked Bugatti is being shown. Darcy changes the channel to the Food Network. Paula Deen promises to tell them the secret after the commercial.

“I bet the secret is butter.” Darcy drops the remote into her lap.

You know what I was thinking?" Tony gingerly drapes his arm around her shoulder and Darcy leans into his side and makes a questioning noise. "You said you knew that I lived through the wreck, but that would mean that you always went back in time. Like a loop, which would mean-"

Darcy presses her hand against his lips without looking up. "Do you think I haven't thought about all of that? You said you don't believe in fate, but I do. How could I not? I fly airplanes, I held JJ when he was a baby, if I didn't trust something, some part of this, I'd be afraid to do anything. So other than on bad days, I believe I was supposed to be here. Right? Here with you."

"If anyone rates time travel in order to get a sister, it's me. I am pretty-"

Darcy covers his mouth again. "So yeah. I'm one of those people believing in something out there in the universe, pulling the strings. And so I don't let myself worry about shit I can't control, you know disturbing the butterfly who flaps it's wings and on the other side of the world- Fuck, you know? I'm here. And I try really hard to believe it's because I'm supposed to be here."

“You still don’t regret getting married?” Tony leans his chin on top of her head, arms tightening around her like an apology for crossing one of the invisible lines they've drawn around their emotional fault lines. “Even though he left you? You wouldn’t trade it for not having him to lose?”

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Darcy says, not looking away from the Pepsi Blue commercial. “Not any of it or them. It hurts so bad now that I’ve lost them, but the good times are worth it. More than worth it. And he- He is the light of my life. Even now that he’s gone, he’s still making it so I can see my way.”

“Being with him, even for such a short period of time, changed me forever. For the better. And having had that-“ Darcy lets out a shaky breath, “that kind of love, it makes you feel like you can do anything. So if you think you could have that with Pepper,”

Tony makes a dismissive noise in his throat.

“Then don’t screw it up. Don’t throw it away because you’re afraid.”

Darcy straightens at the sound of yelling. She recognizes that voice. Obadiah Stane.

“Gotta go.”

“I’ll come see you when they let me out of here.” Tony catches her hand. "You're okay, right?"

“And when Pep lets you out of her sight.” Darcy teases, dropping a kiss on his head. "And if I need you, I'll call."

Darcy slips down the hall, going in the opposite direction of Stane. Maggie falls into step next to her.

“Give me a ride?” Darcy asks with a smile.

“That can be arranged. Where do you need to go?”

“Someplace with burgers.” Darcy wiggles her fingers at her sides and tries to shake off the tentative state talking about Steve with Tony had left her in. “Where are the others?”

“Had to report back to their stations.” Maggie answers as they step onto the elevator. “I don’t have much longer either.”

“No chat over burgers then?”

“I’m afraid not.” Maggie has shed her ambulance gear. Now she wears a tactical suit, a holster under arm and on her thigh.

They step out of the elevator into a basement garage.

“Your car.” Maggie nods to a navy sedan. “Chris will take you anywhere you want to go. And keep anything he sees to himself.”

Darcy turns to thank her, but Maggie is holding out a slip of paper.

“This is a private line to me. Untraceable. I’ll make sure it always works. You need anything, you only need to call.”

“It goes both ways.” Darcy tells her. “Thanks for this.”

“No need for thanks.” Maggie says, and jogs away with a salute.

“No need for saluting. Ever.” Darcy calls after her. “Seriously!”

She has Chris drive her downtown, then back uptown, watching for a tail. Then she has him drop her at Rockefeller Center. She takes a path through the buildings that Howard had shown her, using access stairs and enclosed back allies, until she comes out on the other side.

Then she walks down to the apartment. She lets herself in and Jim turns from where he’s standing near the windows, his cell phone at his ear. “She’s here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Tony. Bye, Tony.”

“Jim! Tell me you’re here to take me for greasy diner burgers.” Darcy says.

“That raccoon get out?” He asks as he crosses the room.

“Ah, no. I-“

Jim hugs her. “I know you were in the car. Tony told me, how do you think I found this place?”

“Was Pepper there yet? Did they have a big romantic kiss after she punched him in the face?”

“Yes and no. Tony’s insisting he was alone, even while Pepper’s working to force non-disclosure agreements on the people saying there was a woman there.” Jim steps back. “And then he motions me over and privately sends me after you, handing off the key and address to this place. So no, no romantic kiss, but we did get pretty close to the punching.”

“I think they’re going to come together. The punching and the kissing.” Darcy tells him honestly. Then she pats his arm because he seems a little strung out. “Don’t worry, they’ll figure it out.”

“I’m not so sure.” Jim says, but puts an arm around her shoulders. “So, greasy burgers.”

Jim takes her out to a place he knows. In Miami. It’s probably good for them to get out of New York and away from the press. Jim promises to help her make sure Tony follows through on hiring a driver.

Pepper is disappointed with a capital D with Tony. And Obadiah had used Tony’s shitastic state to his advantage and pushed through some kind of board vote.

So Tony is in pain, pretending not to care that Pepper is back to treating him like his full-on playboy self, acting like his full-on playboy self to prove that he doesn’t care, and ignoring that Obadiah had crossed some lines in his ongoing epic battle to resist a fate chained to the big desk in SI.

Darcy does what she can to help him. She works in the labs, keys in new code for the artificial intelligence system that has gone live. Jarvis. Seriously, Tony? She's long past thinking Howard hired Jarvis for his name, but she still feels a bit like she's an actor in a movie, all home, James.

She helps weld Dum-E’s new and improved arm on. The bot gets over-excited and during his first test run he sprays Tony, Darcy and U with fire retardant foam.

Darcy mostly ignores the women that sometimes pass through. These ones are for flash and show, and if they have other qualities they aren’t showing them when leaving in the mornings.

Darcy has to tackle him when he doesn’t notice one of his projects over heating, or Jarvis' insistent warnings. They hit the floor hard, and by then he’s more with the program and together they scramble back towards a reinforced wall.

With ringing ears, Darcy pulls her phone out of her pocket and flips it open to check the time. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

“It’s fine.” Tony brushes smoldering bits of ash off his arm. “I was-“

“It’s Maria’s birthday today.” Darcy tells him, and his eyes dart towards her, then away again. “Tony. You can’t keep burying your feelings, okay?”

“Uh, yes I can.” Tony pushes to his feet and kicks the twisted remains of a chair away as the overhead sprinklers come on. “It is the time honored way of the Starks, or didn’t you know?”

Darcy stands as Dum-E rolls past, headed for another fire extinguisher.

“Work,” Tony says, turning in a circle, then pointing once he locates a metal cabinet. “And booze.”

“Oh, get the fuck out with that.” Darcy tells him, starting across the room to take away the bottle of whiskey he’s unearthed.

“Tony! For fuck’s sake!” It’s Happy. The driver and or security guy, who is actually an old friend of Tony’s. Darcy is a fan of him, how he doesn’t take Tony’s shit. And she understands how this looks, Tony standing in the middle of his destroyed lab chugging f
from a bottle of whiskey.

But no.

She turns on her heel, between Tony and Happy. “Leave!”

Happy slows, looking at her in surprise. “Tony, who is this? I don’t have any visitors signed in.”

“Happy, I’m asking you to leave. Page nine of your contract refers to a confidentiality clause, that was worded really strangely? Hi. I’m clause thirty-three.”

“It’s all good, Hap.” Tony wraps an arm around Darcy from behind, and bends to rest his forehead on her shoulder, making his voice slightly muffled. “Remember, not a word to anyone about thirty-three, here.”

“Except for Rhodes.” Darcy adds, because she can tell Happy is torn. He gives her a slow nod, and picks his way back towards the door. He’s already got his phone out.

Once he’s gone, Darcy turns in Tony’s arms. He makes noises of protest, but doesn’t fight her on it. And he sinks into the hug.

“I know it’s hard to talk about your parents. But there is one thing that I know, that you should know. They both knew it too.” He tenses, but doesn’t pull away. “You got the best parts of them, Tony.”

Darcy tightens her grip, because now he does try to turn away.

“You got your mother’s caring, soft heart, and your father’s fierce loyalty. You have the same unshakable self-confidence that gave your father strength, and you have your mother’s sensitivity that made her into the beacon this family needed.” Darcy swallows past the knot in her throat. “I see all of that in you, Tony. So remember that, okay?”

“If I agree will you let me go?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.”

“Okay okay, or just-“

“Darcy.”

“Fine.” Darcy lets him go. Her lips curve when he doesn’t step back. “Tony, you know I love you, right?”

“Okay, that’s too much. Drink.” Tony shoves the whiskey bottle between their bodies. “How I ended up with you and Rhodey-“

“It’s cause you crave human contact. You love cuddles.” Darcy takes a swig of the whiskey, smirking to herself as he leaves one arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Pepper does too. I can tell.”

Tony drops his head back and groans.

“What? I ship it.”

“I know you ship it I just- NO! No, Dum-E-“

Darcy ducks and runs. Tony looks at her with such a look of betrayal that she almost feels bad enough not to laugh at his foam covered self. But it’s dripping from his goatee like a Santa beard. “What? I had to save the alcohol.”

They move to another section of the lab, saved from damage by the blast wall Darcy had suggested.

Tony comes back from his shower with wet hair and a new idea. Darcy tries to block his access to his work table, but he just picks her up and sets her on a filing cabinet. Shrugging, she grabs a handful of screws and bolts.

“Tony. Tony. Tony. Tony.” Darcy throws a bolt with each repetition of his name, and he ignores them pinging off of the side of his face. “Thai food or pizza. Tony. Tony. To- Oh shit! Tony, I don’t want to go!”

Tony swings around in his chair, throwing off his magnifying glasses. Darcy reaches for him, because she's not strong enough for this anymore. She needs him, and she's afraid, and maybe that's why the tingling starts to hurt this time. “Darcy. I’m going to fix it, I promise. I promise.”