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Friday 24th June 2016
Consciousness slowly returned to him. He knew he'd been wavering in and out of it for hours now. He felt like he'd been run over and his whole body ached with pain.
"Tony? Honey… shh… It's alright. You're safe."
He was groaning. He knew. His eyes slowly opened and his vision focused upon Pepper's face looking over him. "Hey, Pep." He smiled lightly. "I… hurt…"
"You've had surgery, Tony. Your body is still recovering. You need to rest."
"I think… I've… rested… enough…"
Her hand was running through his hair, soothing him. "They've kept you sedated for a bit longer, just to give your body that little bit extra time to heal. They were going to bring you out of the anaesthetic after the surgery but they wanted to keep you under just a little bit longer."
Tony blinked, still feeling drowsy, turning his head to the other side. The sleepiness was slowly fading leaving him far more aware.
"Hey, Nat," he whispered.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Could be better…" he sighed, shifting in the bed. "I… wanna… know… one… thing…" He struggled to say the words, exhaustion from talking overwhelming him.
"What?" Natasha leaned forward.
"Why… did… I… feel… you… in… my… head?"
With those last words, Tony's eyes fell shut.
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Pepper glanced up at Natasha sitting quietly to Tony's other side. "What did he mean? Feeling you in his head?" Thankfully Rhodey had stepped out to bring them lunch otherwise Tony's words would have been very awkward to explain, especially since Rhodey had no idea about Tony and Natasha's true history.
Natasha winced. "I think… Tony and I are connected."
"Connected?"
"I could feel it each time he was shot," admitted Nat. "I didn't know for sure until I arrived there and saw where his injuries were. But we have a link… I tracked him because of it. I somehow… saw through his eyes," explained Natasha.
"I cannot explain it… or why, or how this link now exists. We didn't have it before we both came back. But something is linking us together."
"The voice is," reasoned Pepper. "You said you both hear it… That's the link. If you can both hear it then you already had this link but if you've only been sent back in time why do you have the voice now? Tony said you both woke up here and it was with you. Why has it now suddenly appeared unless…" Pepper stopped and then gasped, realisation dawning over her.
"Natasha, did you and Tony die?"
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Friday 24th June 2016
"Natasha, did you and Tony die?"
Natasha hesitated. "It's complicated…" she answered. It was the best way to describe their situation.
"How is it complicated? It is a simple question," responded Pepper. "Did you die?"
Natasha's shoulders slumped. She couldn't avoid answering.
Pepper had made an educated guess on the little information she had been given.
The fact they could now hear a voice and did not really know what the voice was, was a big clue as to how Tony and Nat had truly returned to the past. "We did die."
"How?"
"We both sacrificed our lives," she admitted.
It was the truth after all. Natasha had willingly jumped to her death giving Clint the opportunity to take the Soul Stone and see his family again and Tony… Tony had wielded the powers of the universe and saved them all, at the cost of his own life.
"We had to. We had to make the difficult choice to do so. When I died I remember it going completely black. And then I woke up back here in 2014, just before Hydra was exposed. All I had was a voice in my head telling me what I had to do. I freaked out at first, tried to tell someone but I couldn't. I was physically stopped from doing so. All I knew was someone would be joining me but I had to wait for their arrival. I was here for two years before Tony arrived. And the only reason I guessed it was him was because he got himself involved in an event he'd not been around for previously. Everything else played out as it was supposed to. I couldn't change a thing… couldn't halt Ultron or stop Bruce from disappearing…"
"I'm sorry you've had to live through that again…" Pepper looked down at her hands. "How did Tony die?"
"I do not really know… Not for certain anyway. I had already died… I think you need to talk to Tony. Neither of us wanted to tell you that we'd died… We didn't want to worry you. Tony wanted to protect you from the full truth… Don't hate him for it… He doesn't want to lose you."
"But I lost him…" murmured Pepper quietly. "Where you are from, I lost him."
"We have a chance to stop it, Pepper," explained Natasha quietly. "What happened to take our lives can be stopped but we have to work as a team. Tony and I hope we've been sent back so after we've completed our tasks we can live our lives. The lives we should have kept in the first place. But there is always the possibility we are still meant to die."
Pepper fell silent, her eyes falling from Natasha's face. There was conflict in her features.
"Don't leave him, Pepper. He needs you," whispered Natasha, aware she shouldn't be interfering in their relationship.
She knew how Tony would feel if Pepper left him.
"I need him too. Tony has been a part of my life for so long…" whispered Pepper, "but the thought of him having died… Was I even there? Was he comforted? I know from where he came from we were married because he knew about my past… Did we have children? Was I left to raise them alone?"
"Pepper…" Natasha reached out and gently took Pepper's hands in her own.
She glanced at Tony in the bed, still out-cold. "Please talk to Tony. He needs you more than you know. I know it may be hard for you to want to stay knowing it was death which brought us back."
Pepper's lips twitched. "I don't think I could walk away from him forever. Going on a break was difficult enough…"
"You took the risk before…" added Natasha.
If Pepper walked away from Tony she wasn't sure what she would do. Tony needed Pepper just as much as she needed him.
Their lives were so intertwined that it seemed impossible they could be apart.
But could Pepper take the risk knowing Tony had already died?
There was a moan from the bed and both women turned their heads to look at Tony who was gradually waking up again.
He was having moments of consciousness before falling back asleep but each period was getting longer and longer.
"Hey, Pep…" His voice was soft as he sought out Pepper.
"Hey…" whispered Pepper, leaning forward and taking his hand. "I'm here. I'm not leaving you."
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POWER STONES!!!
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