Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

October 26, 2009

There was something soothing about the California coastline. Just sitting still and looking out over the water had given Alessandra a peace she hadn't felt in a long time. It settled on her shoulders in a gentle embrace as she breathed in the salty air. It was incredible how the waves seemed to drag her problems out to see with them as she allowed herself to lose track of the night.

The last time she had been to the ocean was over a decade ago. She was six years old and her mother surprised her with a trip to the sea. Living in landlocked Nevada didn't give them many opportunities to visit the coast, but this trip had been special. Her mother had looked content, and even a little bit happy, as they drove for several hours through the desert. It was a nice departure from the uneasy looks she had been sporting those last few weeks. Her tense phone calls and the outings that followed had left Alessandra home to fend for herself. Not that she had minded all that much. She was capable of brushing her teeth and getting herself ready for bed. Her mother had important adult things to do so she was happy to wait for her return.

Unfortunately the outing that preceded their trip to the ocean had taken much longer than Alessandra had anticipated. When she had woken up the next morning, there was no trace of her mother. She tried to convince herself that her mother was fine as she poured herself some cereal and brushed her teeth, but after staring at the front door for another four hours her calm façade broke. She cried as she grabbed the phone from the wall and dialed the only number she could remember. She cried as a voice spoke on the other end. And she cried as she opened the front door to find her Nonna standing there.

At the sight of her granddaughter, Luciana Costa's anger flared. How could her daughter leave her little Alessa alone? Quickly schooling her features, Luciana puttered around the apartment hoping to distract her granddaughter from her mother's absence.

When her mother finally returned to the house two days later, it was obvious that she had been crying. Alessandra was not sure what happened after that because her Nonna had sent her to play in her bedroom. All she could hear was quiet conversation and harsh tones.

The very next morning her mother packed up the car, woke Alessandra at the crack of dawn, and told her that they would be taking a road trip to the beach. She hadn't known that the beach trip would be the last time she would ever see her mother, but maybe if she had, she would have appreciated their time together a little more.

As Alessandra sat up against a large rock facing the ocean, taking in the midnight sky, she contemplated the last few months. It had been five months since the day that single-handedly destroyed her. Just a week after her eighteenth birthday she had unceremoniously passed out in the hallway of her high school. Alessandra was familiar with the symptoms of fatigue and when she woke up lying in a hospital bed hours later, she began to cry. It was back. There was no other explanation. She had been healthy and strong for two years and just when her life was back on track, it was ruined.

The doctor she was so familiar with walked into the room with a sad but measured face and her fears were confirmed. Her cancer was back.

"I'm sorry, Alessandra," was the only thing Dr. Matthews said. He just sat in the chair next to her bed and waited for Alessandra to gain control of herself. When she had, he informed her that they had called her grandmother.

She nodded her head and sank back into the pillows of the familiar bed. Flashes of the last time she had been in the hospital ran through her mind. The horrible sounds and smells. The pain and nausea. The chemo. The radiation. More pain. Everything ran on a loop and the only thing she could think to do was wait for her Nonna.

A hand was shaking her shoulder when she woke from an uneasy sleep. Looking up she had seen them. The two officers that had come to deliver news worse than that of her illness. Her Nonna, the only family she had, was dead. She had been on her way to the hospital when she was struck by a car. Luciana Costa was dead before they had even loaded her into the ambulance.

That was all it took for Alessandra to well and truly freak out. She began to scream and cry as she thrashed around in the bed. The officers looked on in alarm as Madison, her favorite nurse, ran into the room with a large sedative. She passed out for the third time that day. By the next morning, she had snuck out of the hospital, walked through the deserted morning streets of Las Vegas, packed a few of her possessions, and began driving in a random direction. Alessandra then adopted a new personality to match her new lifestyle; one of uncaring nonchalance.

Since then she had been all across the United States, making money hustling pool in bars, and trying anything she had been too afraid of before. She was dying and she was all alone in the world. The only person to ever care for her was 6 feet under and no amount of pleading phone calls from Madison or Dr. Matthews would convince her to fight for her life. There was no point. Alessandra had nothing left to fight for, so she decided to live her life to its fullest while she could. It was her own form of reckless suicide. And she embraced it fully.

The loud purr of an engine broke Alessandra out of her memories. She was content to ignore it as it drove by but with a squeal of tires, the engine cut out just behind her. She froze and stopped breathing for a moment, listening to the sound of a door opening and slamming shut. There was a quiet shuffling for a moment before complete silence. Sitting there, completely unnoticed, was quiet possibly the most awkward situation she had ever found herself in. Should she make herself known? Should she just sit there and wait for whoever it was to leave? They were on a fairly deserted stretch of road so maybe making herself known isn't a good idea. He or she could be a psycho axe murderer!

You have cancer. You're dying anyway!

Shrugging to herself, Alessandra listened to her own thoughts. What the hell, right? Peeking over the large rock she had hidden behind, she gaped at what she saw. The other person was in fact a man wearing a baseball cap, large sunglasses, and a black leather jacket. His appearance isn't what had her staring in awe, but his car was another matter entirely. It had to be the most expensive thing she had ever laid eyes on. Her eyes raked over the pristine paint job before resting them on the license plate. It was personalized STARK11.

Stark? Stark, Stark, Stark… Stark! Tony Stark!

So the guy disguised as a serial killer was Tony Stark. Looking closer at the figure reclined on the hood of his car, she could see dark hair peeking out from under the hat and his very distinct facial hair.

Alessandra had heard all about Iron Man. A few days before her arrival in California, stories blew up about two men wearing suits of iron armor destroying half a city block. Of course, her first thought had been bullshit!, But yesterday, when none other than Tony Stark, richest playboy alive, proclaimed that he was the Iron Man, her reaction went from skepticism to full-blown amusement. Who the hell builds an iron suit to run around in?! It was crazy and ridiculous in all the ways her life wasn't.

Seeing him now in the flesh, with a hard look on his face, Alessandra wondered what exactly happened that day at Stark Industries. Whatever it was seems to have upset Mr. Stark. Maybe I should talk to him…

She argued with herself for a moment before standing as quietly as she could and walking around the other side of the boulder.

"You look like crap."

Her loud admission had Stark tumbling off the side of his car with a loud yelp.

Seeing one of the richest and most famous men in the world squeal had Alessandra hunched over in laughter.

"Oh my god!" She gasped out between laughs as Tony Stark stood from his place on the ground. He was grumbling to himself as he looked toward the laughing teenager.

When Alessandra finally controlled her breathing, she began to feel extremely faint. All that energy spent laughing at the billionaire had left her swaying on her feet. She stumbled back a bit and ended up slumped against the rock she had been hidden behind. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths and counted to twenty. It wasn't the first time Alessandra had felt exhausted after exerting a small amount of energy but her faint spells were increasing in frequency. Her cancer was spreading.

"Woah," Stark said, dragging out the word. "You on drugs or something, sweetheart?"

Alessandra couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Or something, Mr. Stark." At the use of his name, his head snapped from the left and right. It didn't take long for her to see that he was making sure nobody else was around. Hell, that horrible disguise and his appearance on a random beach told her enough. He was hiding. "You should get a better disguise if you didn't want anyone to recognize you. And maybe ditch the fancy car. It's a dead giveaway."

Tony glanced at his license plate before rolling his eyes and cursing under his breath.

"Chill out. It's not like there's anyone out here anyway," she assured him with a small smile.

"Yeah, except you," he said quickly, "what do you want?"

"Nothing," she said as she slowly made her way over to the front of his car. He watched her warily as she approached. "What do you want?"

The way she emphasized the word you did not go unnoticed by the billionaire, but before he had the chance to answer, Alessandra had hopped up onto the hood of his car and reclined against the window.

"Seriously? You're just gonna-," he cut himself off with a sigh and hopped up next to her. Obviously he wasn't in the mood to argue.

They sat in silence for a while, looking out at the ocean. It almost felt like a contest, Alessandra thought, a battle of wills to see who would speak first. I mean, it's not every day that you spend quality time with a stranger on the hood of their car; never mind that said stranger was a billionaire. For Alessandra, she had spent a fair amount of her childhood in silence, waiting for news from the doctors. She could do this all day, but for Tony, he wasn't as patient. He needed things done quickly and as loudly as possible, which is why he was the one to break the silence.

"This asshole broke into my house."

Alessandra raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question.

"Yeah. My house! I have J.A.R.V.I.S. and that asshole still got in! Talking about some super secret boy band he wants me to join." He said all of this loudly, gesturing with his hands in frustration. "Not sure if he noticed but I don't exactly play well with others." Alessandra snorted. "Who does he think he is? I don't care if he is the director of some spook agency, he messed with J.A.R.V.I.S.! Nobody messes with J.A.R.V.I.S.. He better watch his back."

Not knowing what else to do and not knowing who this Jarvis person was, Alessandra nodded along to his rant… until he got to the part of the guy being the head of an agency.

"Maybe you shouldn't," Alessandra was cut off by Tony jumping off the hood and pacing in front of her.

"Yeah. That's what I'll do. This guy thinks he knows everything about me. Now it's my turn." As she shook her head and tried to interject, he pulled out his phone and spoke into it. "J.A.R.V.I.S.! Dig up everything you can on S.H.I.E.L.D.. I wanna know all of their dirty secrets."

"As you wish, sir," an accented voice spoke back.

"Umm… Mr. Stark, are you sure you should be," she was cut off again.

"Ugh, call me Tony. Mr. Stark was my father." He said, while still muttering to himself.

"Right," she said slowly, wondering if he was more madness than genius. "Tony, you probably shouldn't-,"

"You are absolutely right, kid. Good idea."

With that last comment, Tony walked around the side of the car and opened the driver's door. Not sure exactly what had just happened, Alessandra just sat there staring at him. He got into the car and started the engine before noticing that she hadn't moved from his hood.

"Move out of the way or I'm gonna run you over." She jumped down and watched as he slipped his sunglasses on, unnecessary really since the sun was coming up, and revved the engine once. "Bye, kid."

Alessandra raised her hand in a silent salute as she watched the billionaire speed down the road.

What the hell was that?

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

October 31, 2009

In the days following her run in with Tony Stark, Alessandra hardly had any time to think about their encounter. Being far too busy, she wrote him off as a one-time thing. 

She had been driving down PCH thinking about the night before when she was rear ended by a car nearly as ragged as her own. Behind the wheel was a girl around her age with bright pink streaks through her blonde hair and an incredible amount of piercings.

Hmm, maybe I should get a piercing. Haven't done that yet.

Pulling over, Alessandra got out of her hand-me-down 1970 Rebel Station Wagon (Why fix what isn't broken? Her Nonna had said when she gave her the car) and assessed the damage. Just like an old Nokia, there wasn't a scratch on her. The person who rear ended her hopped out of her car and ran at Alessandra frantically.

"I'm so sorry," the girl spoke loudly. "This morning has been complete crap and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. First, my land lady decided to raise the price of rent- which is kinda ridiculous considering the shit hole I live in - and then because I had to listen to her rant about the housing market, I am going to be so late to work!"

"Hey, don't worry about it. No harm done. See?" Alessandra tried to placate the frazzled girl. She knew exactly how bad days went.

"Oh, Thank god," the girl breathed out. "I don't even know what I would have done if your car had been totaled."

With a small smile, Alessandra shrugged and added, "I hope your day gets better," before making her way towards the front of her car.

"Wait!" The pink haired girl was peeking into the backseat of Alessandra's station wagon. "Do you live in your car or something?"

What is it with Californians? Are they not born with filters?

"Umm… no," Alessandra lied. She didn't really need some stranger knowing about her life as a rubber tramp. "I just moved here and my housing arrangements kinda fell through."

The pink haired girl's head snapped up and she exclaimed, "Are you serious? That's great!"

"Excuse me?" Alessandra couldn't help but be a little offended.

"Oh, no I mean, it's great that you're looking for somewhere to live because I could use a roommate, not because you're basically homeless."

"Oh," was all Alessandra could say. She didn't even know if she wanted to stay in California. Traveling around had given her adventure, something she had never known before. Settling down and actually paying rent on a place was a big step.

"Please, please, please? It'll be great. The rent will be super cheap since there are two of us and I could even help you get a job at the coffee shop!" Pink girl was outright begging now. "I've been working double shifts because the last guy we hired turned out to be crazy."

That's reassuring, Alessandra thought drily. What the hell, I've never had a job before. Might as well give it a shot.

"Sure, sounds good." A loud squeal left the other girl's mouth and Alessandra found herself swept up in a hug. "Wow, you're very… enthusiastic." After that, Alessandra found herself being led to a homey-looking coffee shop that boasted their all organic coffee drinks.

The days went by quickly as she worked from 4pm till closing every other day, moved her few belongings into a two bedroom apartment overlooking a leather goods retailer, and went for walks along the beach when her roommate was home. No offense to Amanda, the pierced girl had a surprisingly mundane name, but her rambling monologues were exhausting to listen to. Instead, she found herself exploring the seaside city she found herself in. It was loud and chaotic in a way Las Vegas could never be. There were no brightly lit casinos or strip clubs every few miles along the highway, but the roar of the ocean and the swarms of rich folk shopping all day long created just as much noise.

It was Halloween night, five days after her first meeting with Tony Stark when he fell into her lap. Literally. She had been on her way home late at night after her shift when she heard loud music pumping out of a mansion. Walking past the gates of the enormous house, she was able to see what looked like hundreds of people dressed up in costumes. There were your typical Mean Girls worshippers (skimpy costumes, anyone?), those who went the traumatizing route (did he really need that much fake blood?), and those who didn't dress up at all (too cool or too rich, take your pick). Ducking her head, Alessandra began walking faster to avoid the atmosphere all together. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough.

A loud voice rang out from her right, "I AM IRON MAN!"

She whipped her head towards the voice, only to see the great Tony Stark sitting on the ground next to a bush and giggling madly to himself. He looked absolutely smashed. His costume was torn and stained with – oh for god's sake, what even is that? – and his wig was on backwards. Despite his appearance, he was laughing loudly and seemed to be in a good enough mood.

Alessandra stood there in the shadows thinking about what she should do. She had revealed herself to him that night on the beach but it hadn't exactly been an offer of friendship. He would be fine, she decided, he was a genius and his bodyguard would find him eventually.

Before she had even taken two steps away, the sound of retching filled the air. Shit. So close. Alessandra turned and jogged toward the billionaire as he vomited into the bush. She took off his hat and wig before throwing his tie over his shoulder to prevent vomit from getting on it. As a girl who had thrown up many times in her life, she was very familiar with what he was going through, and it was not pretty.

"Agh," he groaned as he finished retching and sat up straight again. Finally noticing her presence, he squinted at her and leaned into her personal space.

"Woah, back up buddy, you have seriously bad breath." She wrinkled her nose and watched him carefully. His eyes had gone a bit glassy. Just as she was about to ask if he was alright, Tony Stark passed out directly on her lap, knocking her from her kneeling position. Both of them sprawled on the ground, Alessandra grunted out a curse.

On the list of things that Alessandra thought would never happen, lying under a passed out Tony Stark had to be at the top. To be honest, she never thought she'd live in a place as affluent as Malibu, California either, so she guessed that this entire week should top the list.

Thinking over her options, Alessandra thought about what her grandmother would do. Her grandmother. It was times like this when she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her Nonna's arms and cry. She had been gone for five months and it still tore at Alessandra's insides. Luciana Costa was the strongest person she had ever known, and for her to die in a car accident… it just didn't seem right. None of it was right. Her being here, Tony Stark lying on top of her smelling like vomit, her cancer returning. It wasn't right! She was supposed to be living a happy and healthy life with her grandmother in Las Vegas!

A wave of anger washed over her. Looking up at the billionaire, Alessandra pushed him off roughly and struggled to her knees.

"Hey! Wake up!" She said loudly, only earning a soft grunt in return. "Stark! Up. Now" When nothing she said worked, Alessandra got an idea.

Well, here goes, she thought with a small smirk. She brought her hand down swiftly and slapped Tony across the face.

With a yell, he bolted up and groaned. "What the hell?" He slurred, obviously still drunk.

"Come on. Up you get." She said impatiently as she struggled to help the man to his feet. Her being only 100 lbs soaking wet made it almost impossible. "Help me out here, fatty!" Taking the hint, Tony took some of his weight off of her shoulders. "Thank god," she muttered before asking, "alright, where's your bodyguard or girlfriend or whoever?" He didn't reply. "Hey!" She tapped his cheek a few times, "do you want me to leave you here?"

"Nooo, I'm hungry!" He was still slurring as he slumped into Alessandra's small shoulder once more.

"Jesus Christ," she breathed out. Standing in the front yard of some random mansion wasn't going to get her home and into bed. She felt her anger slowly bleed away and exhaustion take over. She wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath and sleep.

Looking over at the billionaire, she threw out a mental fuck it and began digging through his pockets.

"Woah," he giggled, "buy me a drink first."

Shooting him a small exasperated smile, she mentally cheered when she found his keys. "Okay, now where's your car," she mumbled more to herself than to Tony.

He answered anyway, "Are you trying to rob me? Because you can't. I mean- I AM IRON MAN!" Tony said, dissolving into giggles again.

"Okay, ow." He had screamed right in her ear. Nice.

Choosing a random direction, Alessandra began walking, billionaire draped on one shoulder. She clicked the lock button on the keys for several minutes before hearing a beep.

Turning to where the noise came from, she spotted what looked like a custom Audi parked along the curb with STARK6 on the license plate.

Holy Shit.

Stumbling a small ways to the –beautiful- car, she unlocked the back door and heaved the man in. She slammed the door and went around, plopping into the driver's seat, breathing hard. This had to be the most exercise she's had in months.

Moving the seat up a few inches and adjusting the mirrors, she turned the car on and pulled away from the curb. "Okay," she said slowly, tapping on the steering wheel, "let's buy you a drink."

Driving around for a while, Alessandra thought about the first time she learned how to drive. It had been a few months after her sixteenth birthday and she was in remission. Given that she wouldn't be dying anytime soon, Alessandra had begged her Nonna to teach her to drive. When Nonna agreed, Alessandra had thrown her short hair up in a bandana and jumped in the car. It was surprisingly nice having her grandmother teach her. She was patient and understanding, (except for the u-turn mishap, but she never really counts that anyway) so much so that by the end of the day, Alessandra was a pro. She got her license six months later.

It didn't take long to find a retro looking diner off of PCH. Pulling into the parking lot and shutting off the engine, Alessandra turned to see Tony snoring across the backseat. Chuckling a little, she walked around the other side of the car and pulled Tony out. He was groaning, slapping her hands away, and calling her Pepper. Wow he's smashed. Why is he talking about pepper? Alessandra shoved his wig on and adjusted his tie before reaching hand in his back pocket and pulling out a nice leather wallet.

"Bingo!" She smiled widely, "Alright, let's go."

"Go? Go where? Where are we going?" She laughed a little at how confused he was.

Alessandra linked arms with Tony and made for the diner doors. "You, my good sir," she said shaking his wallet, "are going to treat us to a nice big dinner."

At the mention of dinner, Tony began to wake up more. "Oh man. Dinner! I want a cheeseburger. Can we get cheeseburgers?"

Smiling a little, she replied. "Yeah, I think we can do that."

In Tony's excitement, he flung open the doors and loudly announced that he wanted cheeseburgers, earning the pair several odd looks and a few cheers. Finding a booth near the bathrooms (for when Tony needed to puke again), they were only seated for a moment before the waitress was sliding two coffee mugs over. Tony dove at his and drained the cup before taking hers.

"He drunk?" She asked.

"Yes."

"He been barfing?"

"Yupp," Alessandra said, popping the 'p'.

"You both ordering burgers?"

"Yeah."

The waitress, whose name tag said Rhonda, watched the pair for a moment before nodding, "I'll bring some extra fries and coffee."

With a bright smile, Alessandra yelled out a thank you as the waitress retreated.

Turning her attention back to the man sitting across from her, she noticed that his glassy eyes were fixed on her. Goddamn, even drunk this man's stare is intimidating. Refusing to wilt under his gaze, she stared right back, an unreadable look on her face. He leaned in slowly, Alessandra copying his move, eyes squinting at her. Tilting his head right, and then left, he seemed to be analyzing her. Well, as much as he could while pissed drunk.

"I don't know you." He said with a finger pointed in her face.

Considering their one and only meeting had involved him ranting and her nodding, she thought that was an accurate depiction of their relationship. "Nope."

"And you held my hair as I vomited."

"Uh, yeah."

"And you carried me to my car."

"Well, no not re-," she stopped herself, "yeah."

"And you stole the keys to my car."

Technically she did take them from his pocket. "Yeah."

"And you put me in my own car, drove me to a diner, stole my wallet, and used it to buy burgers."

She ran through the events of the night before nodding, "sounds about right."

It was silent for a few more seconds before he shrugged, "Yeah, okay." Alessandra's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Wasn't he supposed to freak out, call the cops, and press charges for grand theft or something? Not that she honestly expected him to. He was Tony Stark for god's sake! He was known for his eccentric and often uncaring ways. In light of everything that had happened since she met him, maybe the tabloids weren't wrong about that.

Rhonda returned then with two plates overflowing with fries and a whopping burger. For once in a long time, Alessandra could feel her appetite returning. She didn't even remember the last time she had eaten anything other than the occasional bowl of soup. If there was anything she hated about having cancer more than actual death, it had to be not eating whatever she wanted. Sure, she could eat it, but when you spent the next hour vomiting it back up, it wasn't really worth the effort. When she decided not to go into treatment, Alessandra knew that she would get much worse before eventually kicking the bucket. But sitting there in a random Malibu diner at 2am with a drunk billionaire, she couldn't help but feel that this was as good as it could get. It was random, and weird, and absurd in every single way, but it was such the complete antithesis of her life in chemo that she felt truly happy. Maybe Tony was good for her, even the very little time they spent together.

"You're not eating." Tony's loud voice broke through her thoughts.

She had a wide smile on her face as she replied, "Just thinking." Taking a large bit of her bacon cheeseburger, Alessandra moaned. "So. Good."

"Ugh I know right? This shit is bananas."

At his Stefani reference, Alessandra hummed and pointed to him. "Best song. Seriously."

This admission had Tony full on singing Hollaback Girl. "OOH, THIS MY SHIT! THIS MY SHIT!"

Her first reaction, Oh my god Tony shut up!, was quickly overruled when Tony held out his make-shift ketchup microphone to her. She was the new and improved Alessandra King. Cancer had given her a new outlook on life, so she decided to go with the flow and say what the hell.

"LET ME HEAR YOU SAY, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

They got through the entire second half of the song before dissolving into loud laughter. She had expected to be kicked out but surprisingly Rhonda only smiled and hummed along as she delivered everyone's orders.

"Hell no! Wind It Up is definitely the catchiest," Alessandra argued.

"I-I don't even know how to feel about that. Obviously you're wrong, Rich Girl is the best."

"You're biased! It doesn't count."

"Yes. Yes I am." Tony deadpanned.

As they continued to argue their favorite Gwen Stefani songs, Alessandra couldn't help but think about everything she had ever heard about the billionaire. Tabloids called him an arrogant, drunken, merchant of death before his captivity in Afghanistan and a crazy, drunken, hippie after his return. Honestly, he seemed like a bit of both. From what she could see he was arrogant, crazy and most definitely drunk, but despite all of that being true, he was so much more. He was hilarious (despite most of his jokes being at her expense), he was a genius (even completely drunk he used words she'd never heard of), he had killer taste in music (his Halloween costume was Angus Young for god's sake!), and even knowing that she was a complete stranger, he treated her like a friend would (of course he might just be like that to everyone). Something about singing Hollaback Girl together in a semi-crowded diner shook away all she had thought she'd known about him. Don't get her wrong, she was still a bit wary of the guy (anyone with the nickname Merchant of Death should not be fucked with) but she knew she could get away with relaxing a little around him.

Her thoughts and their argument broke up when her phone rang. Confused, who would call in the middle of the night?, Alessandra pulled her prepaid phone out of her pocket. Before she had the chance to answer it, the phone was snatched out of her hand and Tony was speaking.

"Hello! Girl's phone, Tony speaking." Pushing Alessandra away as she tried to grab the phone, Tony continued, "Will you please tell this psycho that Rich Girl is the best Gwen Stefani song after Hollaback Girl? She is deluded."

Nodding a little at whatever was said on the other end, Tony opened his mouth to speak. Instead of words, a loud cry of pain exited the billionaire's mouth. Alessandra, seeing no other option, had kicked him in the shin. Hard.

Satisfied, she plucked the phone off the table where it had fallen and said, "Sorry, who is this?"

Laughter rang out from the other end, "Who is that?" Amanda. "Is that your boyfriend? Oh my gosh I didn't know you were seeing anyone! Way to inform your friend, roomie!" Alessandra tried to cut off Amanda's rambling but couldn't get a word in. "Anyway, it works out perfectly because I need the house for the night."

"What? Why?" At this point, Tony had squeezed into her side of the booth and pressed his ear up to the other side of her phone. Wow this guy has boundary issues.

"This guy I've been sorta seeing is coming over and it'd be totally awkward if you were here, ya know? Totally not into threesomes." At the last sentence, Alessandra choked and Tony collapsed into laughter.

"Threesome?!"

"I know, totally weird right? Anyway, since you have this Tony guy you can stay at his place! Problem solved."

Trying to save the conversation, Alessandra rushed out, "He's not my-!"

"Oh, he's here! I'll see you at work, roomie!" Amanda hung up the phone and all Alessandra could do was stare at it in shock.

She just got kicked out of her house because her roommate was hooking up with her 'sorta boyfriend.' Things like that happened in movies, not real life! Well, she didn't really know. In elementary school she had friends and knew all about proper friend etiquette. 1. Don't steal your friends toys. 2. Share crayons with them if you want them to share with you. 3. Don't hog the paste. Simple!

In middle school she had learned not to tell on her classmates if she saw them doing something wrong. (Something about middle school turned people into delinquents. No joke. Cheating on tests, lying to teachers, gossiping viciously, getting into fights, stealing other peoples stuff, etc.) Of course, near the end of her 8th grade year, she had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for the first time, so that is essentially where her experience in social situations ended.

Sure, she had seen Mean Girls and The Breakfast Club (Madison thought they would cheer her up. They didn't.) but they were just movies! Weren't they supposed to be exaggerated and unrealistic?

Apparently not, she thought wryly. With a sigh, Alessandra accepted the fact that she wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon.

"Roomate but a sock on the door?" Tony asked with a laugh.

Nodding her head at him she didn't expect any of what happened next.

"Awesome! Now we have the rest of the night."

Alessandra's eyebrows shot up. Was he making a move on her?

Apparently her thoughts were written all over her face because he laughed harder. "Oh, god no. Not that I wouldn't, but you know getting kidnapped by terrorists kinda gives you a new outlook on things. And I really don't want a repeat of Vanity Fair." He stopped laughing and looked closer at her. "Besides, what are you fifteen?"

She would be insulted if it weren't a completely understandable assumption. Wearing a plain black polo, black hoodie, and khaki colored pants-work uniforms sucked!-did nothing to help Alessandra look her age. Being 18 years old and dying hadn't given her a lot of options appearance wise. She hadn't ever learned how to put on more than mascara, she didn't wear heels or dresses, and she had lost a bit of weight since leaving the hospital, shrinking her boobs immensely. Overall, she looked young. The only redeeming quality she had was her height. Thank goodness she was tall.

"No. I'm 18." Being a famous billionaire and all she figured she would know if he were a criminal or not. Her age wasn't exactly stalking material either so she felt no problem being honest about it.

"Oh good, you're legal."

"Good?" Again, was he hitting on her?

"Yeah, if we get arrested I'm not going down alone." This statement was said so matter-of-factly that questions popped up from every corner of her mind.

Voicing one, she asked, "Is that a problem with you? Getting arrested, I mean?"

"Meh, sometimes. It depends on my mood." Shrugging, Tony began to climb out of the booth. "Let's bounce, pipsqueak."

"You realize that I'm 5'8" right?" She asked, amused.

"Potato, potato." He said both words exactly the same way, making her laugh outright.

Dropping a $50 from Tony's wallet on the table for the bill, plus Rhonda's pain and suffering (they weren't the best singers), she followed Tony outside.

The first thing she saw upon exiting the diner was Tony stripping out of his costume. "Ugh," he groaned, "this wig is so hot. And this jacket. Christ, it's a sauna out here!" Considering the fact that it was barely 70 degrees and they were on the coast, Alessandra mentally called bullshit.

As he began to unbuckle his pants, her hands shot out to stop him. "Woah, woah, woah! That is definitely something I don't need to see."

"You sure about that?" He added an eyebrow waggle to his already suggestive smile.

As hard as she tried, Alessandra couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out at his arrogance. "Yeah, I'm sure." She chuckled a minute before an thought came to her. "But I do have an idea. Let's go."

Without waiting for a reply, she pulled his keys out of her pocket and hopped into the driver's side of the Audi. He wasn't fit to drive and she knew he wouldn't really care. Waiting until he was slumped into the passenger seat, she buckled him in and pulled out onto the highway.

They drove for a few minutes in complete silence. It wasn't as uncomfortable as Alessandra thought it would be. As someone who had undressed in front of a new nurse every day and even had help showering until she was 16 -IV's are a bitch to shower with- she had known her fair share of award situations. What had surprised her was how comfortable Tony seemed to be in the silence.

She glanced over at him and saw that he was staring out the window with a stormy look on his face. Instantly, Alessandra wanted to know what had him looking like that. Of course, it could have been anything. From what she knew, he had been orphaned when he was only a year older than her, he had been held captive in Afghanistan for three months only a short time ago and he had been in that huge battle at Stark Industries. Alessandra was someone who had faced a lot in her short time alive, but even then she was hesitant to compare their lives. He had spent time as a prisoner to terrorists, which she figured must have been like her time in the hospital only way worse and he was an orphan, just like she was. They had a lot in common, something that made her nervous. She didn't know if she wanted to be around someone who was just like her.

"There were no cheeseburgers."

At his abrupt comment, Alessandra glanced at Tony again. "What?"

"In Afghanistan. They didn't have cheeseburgers."

Not knowing how to respond, she kept silent, only glancing over at the billionaire every few seconds as she drove towards their destination. Why would he bring that up? Yes, she had been thinking about it, and yes, she was curious, but she would never in a million years have brought it up. Alessandra had figured that was just something you avoided like that plague around Tony.

TONY POV

Pulling up at the beach where they had first met, pipsqueak turned the engine off and left the keys in the ignition. Tony made no move to exit the car; he was too wrapped up in his thoughts of Afghanistan. It had been hell complete with fire and brimstone. One minute he had been joking around with America's finest and the next minute he had been staring down a missile, a missile with his name on it. How was that for poetic?

Growing up with Howard Stark and the weapon making industry, he had never truly understood the negative press his family got. Howard had fought against the Nazi's and won! He was building incredible feats of engineering and providing the United States with its greatest defense (and let's be honest, offense). Tony had been raised to believe that what their family was doing deserved praise, but not everyone felt that way. They were idiots, he had thought, only idiots didn't understand that the Stark's were this countries savior.

Of course, they had advanced more than weaponry. Their medical advancements were revolutionary, not that he had ever been particularly interested. It was a section of the company that he had never had an active hand in. He was an engineer, not a doctor. Weapons are what he was bred to do and weapons are what he excelled at. The medical division of SI was full of the best researchers and scientists in the world and that was enough for Tony. He checked in with them every once in a while (when Pepper demanded it), and went on his merry way blowing stuff up in his labs. Even their intelli-crops were revolutionary! They had save millions of lives and the numbers never lied. Tony Stark was a savior, goddamn it, and if anyone thought differently, they were idiots.

He had believed all of that until earlier this year. There was nothing better than the feeling he got when one of his weapons demonstrations went off without a hitch. The military had put in one of the largest orders he had ever received for the new Jericho and he had a class of cold scotch in his hand. How much better could life get? That is, it was great before fire rained down from the sky and he had an electromagnet shoved into his chest. Spending three months in Afghanistan had opened his eyes in a way he never thought was possible. There were his weapons. All of them sitting cozy in the hands of terrorists.

When Raza had demanded that he make the Jericho and he was tortured for refusing, he had thought that was the worst he would ever feel. It had to be the worst thing that would ever happen to him. Unfortunately, he was wrong again. After he had blown up the Ten Rings camp and returned to America, he had found out that it was Obie who betrayed him. Someone he had grown up with and considered family had been selling his weapons to terrorists and had even had him tortured. It was the kind of pain Tony didn't know he was capable of feeling. Again, he thought that he had hit rock bottom. But again, he was wrong. Seeing Gulmira, Yinsen's home, taken over by the Ten Rings using his weapons had torn his heart right out of his chest. He had done that. Tony Stark, the world's "goddamn savior" had never been so confused and horrified by anything in his life. When people talked about what he was doing as war profiteering, he had laughed them off as idiots. Of course he didn't love war. Tony wasn't so ignorant as to believe that people weren't dying, but he had been trying to advance weaponry for the United States; the same country that boasted freedom and equality for all. That should have been enough, right?

And yes, perhaps he is lying to himself. He had always been an arrogant son of a bitch, but he didn't think he was actually so careless. Tony shook the thought away, of course he had been! The Billionaire Playboy image hadn't just been an image. He was truly an asshole. One of the largest the world had ever seen. And if he were being vindictive, he could have blamed Howard for all of it; the weapons, the attitude, the arrogant complex he developed at an early age, but he wasn't feeling vindictive. Not tonight. Tonight it was only bitter sadness that he was feeling.

He had told a perfect stranger that Afghanistan didn't have any cheeseburgers. Who does that? This girl, someone he knew absolutely nothing about, had held his head as he barfed in some dudes lawn, driven him passed out drunk to a diner in order to sober him up a little, and didn't even get upset when he made several jokes at her expense. It was strange… and also liberating. Tony was used to being surrounded by Pepper, Rhodey, Obie, and the bots. They had known him long before he decided to shut down the weapons manufacturing division of SI, they had seen him through his drunken playboy ways, and they had loved him for it.

But that was also the problem. He was Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, war monger, Tony Stark, and they had loved him for it. That was more than he could have asked of anyone, but when he returned after having his eyes rudely shoved open wide, they had thought he was crazy. Rhodey hadn't even listened when he tried to explain Iron Man, Pepper had quit when he asked her to help him rid Stark weapons from the Middle East, and Obie? Obie wasn't even worth thinking about anymore. And okay, he understood that neither Rhodey or Pepper had been leaving him, not really, but it had hurt all the same. They didn't understand what he was trying to do. He wasn't some crazy vigilante who went around killing people. He was just a man trying to fix his mistakes before any more were made.

Maybe that was why he hadn't called Happy to come pick him up yet and maybe that was why he decided to stay here of all places; in the company of a teenage girl. She hadn't asked him any questions about Afghanistan or Iron Man, she hadn't expected anything from him that first day on the beach (yes, he did remember that, he was drunk not senile) and she was perfectly content to sit in silence. Something about the fact that he didn't even know her name was exhilarating. She no doubt knew who he was, which is why he hadn't bothered hiding it, but she was still a Nobody to him. She meant absolutely nothing to him.

And maybe that's why he decided to tell her everything.

Opening the door, he stepped out into the moonlight and sat on the hood of his Audi. It was silent for a few minutes before he heard the door open and close and a body recline next to him. They sat there, together in silence, taking in the salty air and sliver of moonlight they could see behind the clouds. Finally, Tony let out a small sigh, and began to talk.

"It wasn't only cheeseburgers. There were no toilets or showers or J.A.R.V.I.S." He started out with a tone full of nonchalance, knowing that he was failing to cover up the sadness he felt. "It was only a dry, dark cave full of dirt. There were flimsy little cots set up for me and Yinsen and we didn't get any real food, just some mashed up gunk."

Stopping, Tony thought about whether or not he should continue. The girl hadn't reacted at all, not even looking at him as he talked, but he was determined now. He had to get this all out.

"They tortured me." Her hand twitched. "They wanted me to build the missile I had been demonstrating; the Jericho. When I refused, they dunked my head in a bucket of water until my lungs were on fire. I thought I had died a few times, fuck, I wish I had. When I was unconscious they shoved an electromagnet in my chest. No anesthetic. But that wasn't even the worst of it." She was watching him now. He could feel her eyes on him as his own glazed over, but he didn't dare return the look. Looking at her would just ruin it. "They had killed Yinsen's family with my weapons, took control of whole cities and burned them to the ground. All because of Obadiah Stane. The man that had been like family to me."

Sighing, he finally turned to look at her. He knew he must have looked have crazed but it was her that was a shock. Anger, confusion, and a horrible understanding were written plainly on her slim face. What would she have understood? How could anyone possibly understand what he had been through? And the anger. Tony could tell that it wasn't directed at him, but seeing the amount of cold anger that burned through her features confused him. Why would she feel anger like that? Sure, he had been tortured but that couldn't possibly have made her seething mad, she didn't even know him.

Her voice broke through his confusion, "Is he dead?" Her tone was nothing but calm and measured, hiding the feelings splayed across her face.

"Who?" He knew exactly who she was asking about but he needed to think about how he would respond. The answer was a resounding yes, but would he give her the cover story S.H.I.E.L.D. had sold the world? Probably not, he had just told her more than anyone on the planet knew, Director Fury included. Nobody knew about Yinsen, his friend and the man that had kept him alive. Nobody had heard the details of his torture, as limited as they were, and nobody knew the extent of Stane's dealings. She deserved the truth, but more importantly, he deserved the right to tell it.

"Obadiah Stane. Is he alive?"

"No," he paused before adding, "he was the man in the other suit. I killed him." And just like that his shoulders felt freer than they had in months, years even. Tony didn't regret killing Obie, the bastard deserved everything he got, he only wondered how his silent companion would take the news of him being a murderer.

She turned her head towards the ocean and was silent for a long moment. Just when Tony was about to justify his actions, he heard it.

"Good."

And that was it, conversation over. He had confessed his sins before god and a stranger and it felt amazing. Sure, there was a lot left he had to do, and maybe more pain to endure, but right then, sitting on the beach with pipsqueak, he felt content.

He didn't know it then, but that feeling of contentment was something he had been longing for.

And it was something he would never let go of again. Not unless they pulled it from his cold dead hands.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

November 1, 2009

Alessandra POV

Alessandra was confused. This man, a brilliant, rich, broken man, had just told her about the darkest time of his entire life (she couldn't imagine it getting much darker than that). She hadn't even told him her name! Although, she figured that was probably why he did it. She knew the importance of anonymity and what it could do. It had been in Texas when she had learned that lesson. A bar called the Roadhouse had been just off the highway and since she had been in the mood to eat she figured she'd stop in for a while. She didn't exactly have anywhere better to be.

A man, someone she didn't know, had been sitting alone at the bar as patrons played pool in the back. He had scruff on his face and dirt on his clothes. Honestly, he looked like he had just been out digging graves.

Something in her had snapped and she found herself taking the seat next to him at the bar. Without looking at him once, she had ordered some food and a drink before sitting in silence. It was somewhat awkward at first, but soon the man settled down and continued to drink his beer. Companionship at its finest. They were just two people sitting alone at a bar drowning in their thoughts. Glancing over at him, she had seen a kindness, something pure and open in his eyes. And that was when it had all come tumbling out. Mother leaving? Check. Getting cancer at 14? Check. Going into remission? Check. Just feeling happy again when her grandmother is killed, her cancer is back, and her world crumbles to pieces? Check, check, and check.

The man had sat there in silence, listening and not sending her pitying looks every few seconds like her old acquaintances had. She says acquaintances because the friends she had known from before getting sick had left her high and dry. Sure, for the first month they had visited and written cards, but slowly they all began to give excuses. Katie was too busy with her new boyfriend to come and visit, Lisa had won student council president and couldn't be bothered, Danny "didn't know how to deal with her being sick". Alessandra understood, really she did. If it hadn't been for her grandmother, she wouldn't have been able to deal either, but not one person had cared enough to ask how she was feeling. Until she met some stranger in Texas.

He nodded slowly as she finished her story, not noticing that half the bar was standing there listening in. "You're tough kid. You'll be just fine."

Normally, she would have scoffed at his words, but something about the way he looked at her made her believe him. He was just some random dude in a sea of billions, but he had the most trusting eyes she had ever seen. Clear and blue, they looked like they could see directly into her soul. So, she nodded her head, sent him a tiny smile (that probably looked more like a grimace), paid her bill, and left the bar. Alessandra began to believe him. She would be fine. Even if she died, she could handle that. Her grandmother would be there waiting for her on the other side, wherever that was. She had never been a religious person (who was when they were fighting for their life at puberty?) but just the thought alone helped her get by.

That comfort she had received from the Texan had changed her life and now she got the chance to do that for someone else. Tony Stark had chosen her to be his anonymous comfort and she would do everything she could to make sure his life was changed just as hers had been.

With determination flooding through her veins, Alessandra turned back to look at the billionaire. "Are you still hot?"

Confusion showed on his face for a brief moment before he understood. "God, yes! Aren't you? It's boiling."

"Well, that's why I brought you here. You seem fond of this spot." She casually motioned to the rock in front of them that she had sat behind almost a week before, wondering if he remembered.

Letting out a scoff, he didn't disappoint. "Oh you mean when you rudely pushed me off the hood of my car. Yeah, I'm so fond." His voice held more sarcasm than she had ever heard before. She was impressed.

"Pushed you? You fell! You even squealed a little as you went down." Alessandra had to laugh at the memory. It was forever ingrained in her mind.

"Whatever pipsqueak, what does this have to do with me being hot?" Again with the eyebrow waggle! His arrogance knows no bounds.

"Go ahead. We're at the ocean, so drop your pants and jump in."

Working hard to keep her face straight, she watched as surprise flashed across Tony's face before he broke out into a wide smile.

"Wow pipsqueak, skinny dipping? I didn't know you had it in you!"

Shaking her head violently, "oh no. I'm not doing it. You said you were hot, so go. Shoo!" Alessandra shook her hands at him.

"No no no, you cannot just ask a drunk man to skinny dip alone! It's practically rule number one. Trust me, I wrote them." He dropped to the ground and grabbed Alessandra's hands before she had a chance to refuse again. "Come on, let's go!"

At this point, she had barely known this man, for all intents and purposes he was foreign to her, yet, she knew arguing would be futile. She was tired, sore and she knew that if she jumped into the freezing cold ocean at 3 am she would get sick, something she couldn't afford to do with her immune system, but there was that little voice again. Do it! You need to let loose. She was not surprised at all to find that the voice sounded exactly like Tony. Who cares if she got sick, she was already dying. Her cancer made her immune system weak but she figured a short swim's not going to make things worse.

Shooting him a slightly frustrated look, mostly for show, she said, "Oh what the hell. We're here."

Tony let out an excited WHOOP before running towards the water, shedding clothes along the way, arc reactor brightening the sand. She shook her head and laughed before shaking her jacket off and removing her polo. Alessandra took all of her clothes off, excluding her underwear, bra, and white tank top, before walking slowly to the water. She had turned away as Tony stripped off his boxer briefs, he was old enough to be her father, and jumped into the ocean, letting out a loud squeal (I swear to god it was a squeal!).

She laughed again before running in herself. There were things she was sure were considered torture, and this had to be one of them. Her skin instantly started to turn purple and her teeth chattered as goose bumps broke out all over. "OH MY GOD TONY! This is the worst idea ever!" She chose to ignore the fact that it had been her idea in the first place.

Alessandra tried to make a run for the shore and her dry clothes but a hand wrapped around her bicep and pulled her back. "Not so fast princess! Live a little." Despite his mocking, his teeth were chattering just as much as her's.

Before she could reply, a wave came out of nowhere and crashed over the pair, sending them tumbling through the cold ocean. She only lost track of what was up for a moment before she instinctively broke the surface with a gasp. Looking around wildly for her swimming companion, she couldn't find him anywhere.

"Tony?" She called. "Tony where are you?"

Bright light could be seen at the edge of her vision and a moment later a body jumped from behind her yelling, "Boo!"

Screaming shrilly (something she later denied), she turned around and smacked him across the chest. "WHAT THE FUCK, TONY!" The only answer she got in response was wild laughter.

She mumbled curses under breath as she trudged towards shore. Yeah, she had wanted to distract him from his morbid thoughts but did he have to give her a heart attack? Of course he did, he was Tony Stark.

He followed along shortly after, her keeping her eyes averted as they both collapsed onto the sand, Tony still laughing and Alessandra trying very hard not to. If she were being completely honest with herself, she would have found it hilarious if she hadn't been the victim. Scaring doctors and nurses as they walked around corners had been the highlight of her hospital years. They would scream and do a little dance every single time, at least, it looked like a dance. Making butts wiggle and arms flail had been her specialty.

"Oh come on, you know that was hilarious!" Tony, starting to sober up more from the cold water, let out one last laugh before exhaustion took over.

"Ok, maybe it was a little funny," she replied, with her fingers only a centimeter apart, "just a little!"

"Whatever pipsqueak, let's get dressed before my balls get hypothermia." Alessandra let out a surprised snort. He was very crude… it was awesome.

Alessandra grabbed her clothes before walking around the other side of the car to change. She peeled the wet tank top off, along with her bra, and put her polo and hoodie back on, zipping the hoodie up tight. Deciding not to keep her freezing underwear on, she glanced around to make sure the coast was clear before quickly changing.

"All clear?" She questioned loudly while her back was still turned to the billionaire.

"Yeah."

She turned around to see him lying in the sand wearing his Halloween costume. He turned to his head to face her as she approached and plopped down next to him. "So, you have horrible ideas."

She turned to her own face towards him with an indignant huff, "It cooled you down didn't it?"

"Umm yeah, at the cost of the family jewels."

She snorted again and they continued to bicker throughout the night.

It was the sound of seagulls screeching that woke Alessandra the next morning. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep right there next to Tony on the beach. The last thing she could remember was calling Tony an idiot for announcing to the world that he was Iron Man.

He had been gloating about how he was "basically a superhero now," when she decided that it was safe to give her opinion.

"You were an idiot! Who tells the entire world their superhero identity? That's just asking for trouble."

"Trouble? I'm a billionaire former weapons dealer; I don't think I could get in more trouble."

She had rolled her eyes at his statement, already knowing that wasn't true. "Why don't I believe that?"

Before that, they had talked about everything else. Ketchup or mustard, Batman or Superman, who was going to the Super Bowl (not that either of them knew much about football), what movies they had seen and which were the best, etc. Alessandra had felt like she had known Tony her whole life. He continued to crack jokes and she thought the amount of puns he had in his repertoire was astounding. They were just Tony and Alessandra, not a Stark or Cancer Girl (high school girls were the worst), two people freezing their asses off on the beach at an ungodly hour. It was perfect in every sense of the world. She hadn't had that much fun in her entire life! But she knew that it would be ending soon, so she decided to enjoy every minute of it. She was his anonymous comfort in this crazy world, and just like the Texan, he wouldn't go looking for her again.

Opening her eyes, she squinted at the bright sun directly overhead. California wasn't much different than Nevada in that sense. It was November and the sun was still out and shining. It was ridiculous, but absolutely fantastic. She let her face soak up the sun for a few minutes and listened to the seagulls before noticing the body at her side. Tony had fallen asleep right next to her and she laughed upon seeing the state of him. His shirt was browning from whatever had stained it, there was sand everywhere she looked, and his mouth had fallen open. She would have taken a picture if she didn't think he would kill her for it.

"Come on, Tony, time to face to sun." She shook his shoulder and poked him in the face a few times before he began stirring.

His eyes opened slowly before slamming shut. "Arghh," he groaned, hungover from the night before. "It burns."

Laughing lightly, she slowly got to her feat, "Suck it up, drunky. I'm sure your people are looking for you as we speak. Wouldn't want them to think you've been kidnapped again."

He groaned again before holding both of his arms out, a silent demand to help him up. She took both of his hands before heaving with all of her might. Although, having almost no upper body strength meant that he had to do most of the work. Standing up fully, he draped and arm over her shoulders and slumped into her, much like he had done the night before.

It took them longer than it should have to stumble towards his car, Tony getting in the passenger seat and Alessandra taking the wheel.

"Where to?" She said as she turned the car on.

"Donuts. I need donuts… And maybe a Bloody Mary." His voice was scratchy as he replied, and his eyes were shut against the sunlight.

Before pulling away, Alessandra reached over to open the center console and pulled out a pair of expensive looking shades. She knew the drill, guys like Tony always had sunglasses around because they thought it made them look cool. Satisfied, she shoved them at the tired man next to her. "Here, put them on." He shoved them on his face quickly and mumbled something unintelligible.

She took off towards the nearest donut shop, something she had seen last night near the diner. The clock on the dashboard as they pulled up read 12:30. So, they had stayed out longer than Alessandra intended but again, it wasn't like she had anything better to do. She didn't work the rest of the weekend and she was sure she wasn't in the mood to listen to Amanda speak at 95 miles an hour. It wasn't that she disliked her roommate, quite the opposite actually. She was a breath of fresh air most of the time, but just like everyone (except her nonna) else she's ever met, Amanda could get annoying.

When they arrived at the small store, the duo, who probably looked like crap, sat in a booth near the window and ate in complete silence. This silence provided Alessandra with more time to dissect what Tony had told her last night. He had been tortured by terrorists in an Afghanistan cave… jesus fucking christ. Who even goes through something like that and comes back sane? Obviously she hadn't given Tony Stark enough credit. He was still a brilliant and funny man, probably the most resilient she had ever met. He had jumped into the water last night without any reservations and laughed. Laughed! You would think being tortured with water would make him completely aquaphobic. But no, he hadn't even blinked at her suggestion. It was incredible.

Even if she spoke to Tony again, she was content to have spent this little time with him. Alessandra wasn't a sappy person, not even close, but this man was strong. Stronger than she could ever hope to be, so, she would take a cue from him and keep her head held high. When she fell into her depressed moods over her impending death, she would push it all away and think of the man who stood tall and made something of himself despite being broken. And he was broken, anyone could see that. The way he had talked about the man named Yinsen, it was clear as day on his face. Yinsen had meant something to him. They were brothers in arms. Living in literal hell had given Tony a respect for that man; something she could tell didn't exactly come easily.

But he had died. Obadiah Stane's actions had led to the senseless murder of someone Tony respected very much. When he had revealed Stane's part in the whole affair, Alessandra had felt a deep understanding. Tony had been betrayed by someone who had been family, someone important. She knew exactly what that felt like. No, not in the same way Tony did, but she knew the pain that followed. Her father had never been in the picture so his absence was nothing to her, but her mother had been. Isabella Costa had raised her from birth, taught her how to tie her shoes, read a book, love. She had loved her mother with everything in her soul. The woman was her everything. But one day she had dropped Alessandra at nonna's house and never returned; nothing more than a wave and the squeal of tires. It had broken her heart and betrayed her trust in a way no one should ever have to feel.

But Tony did. He understood her and she was all the more grateful for their encounter. He reminded her that there were others out there who had felt that particular brand of pain, people who would understand. And that was enough.

The loud blaring of Black Sabbath's Iron Man shook Alessandra out of her thoughts. Laughing loudly, Alessandra shot him an amused look that said, really?

He shrugged with a smirk before answering his fancy cell phone. "Stark speaking, who are you and why should I care?"

She shook in silent laughter at his eccentricities but quickly stopped when she saw his grimace.

"Pep. Listen, I'm fine. Well, I'm hungover, but in one piece." There was a screeching coming from the other end of the line. "I went to a party. Yes! It was a good friend's house and I might have had too much to drink." More screeching. "Of course I have friends! I'm with a friend right now."

Alessandra snorted at the overstatement. Whoever this Pepper (oooh so Pepper is a person?) was, she was giving him hell.

"Ugh, yes I'll be home soon. Jeez, bye mother." He snapped the phone shut in annoyance. "My assistant. She's… been a bit smothering."

Giving him a look that questioned his sanity she said, "Well, yeah. You were in a cave for three months, give the woman a break. You're probably a PR nightmare as it is."

This time it was his turn to snort.

Not wanting to piss his assistant off, she stood from the booth and made her way to the car, listening as Tony did the same. Hopping into the car, she took off for her apartment. If Amanda and her boy-toy weren't finished by the time she got there, she would have no problem making it so awkward for them that he left. Another one of her talents.

She pulled up in front of the slightly shabby look apartment and turned off the engine. They both sat in silence for a minute, the realization that they had to go back to their lives crashing down on them. It wasn't a crippling feeling though. Alessandra had the night of her life and knew that she would be just fine with whatever came next, and Tony? He got to tell his story, show his anger, and just be Tony for a while. Not Tony Stark, billionaire playboy. It was fun and relaxing, something Alessandra would cherish.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and climbed out, Tony meeting her in front of the car.

"So." She said.

"So." He replied.

Not knowing what else to do, Alessandra went with humor. "I'm really going to miss…your car." He broke into a wide smile at that. "That baby handles like a dream. Ever think of giving it to the less fortunate?"

He chuckled a bit as he replied, "Not on your life, pipsqueak."

Not even bothering to reply, they went their separate ways, him to the driver's seat and her towards the front door. As she was pushing her key into the lock, she heard him call out to her.

"Wait!" He had rolled down the passenger window in order to speak. "What's your name?"

She didn't reply for a moment. Why did he want to know her name? They had made a silent agreement to keep things relaxed, unburdened. Would her name change that? He could look her up and learn everything he ever wanted to know about her… but he already knew where she lived. And she trusted him, to an extent, not to look into her past. He had told her his deepest secrets because he hadn't got the chance to with anyone else. Maybe he would give her the same courtesy.

"Alessandra," she said loudly.

He made a face before saying, "Too long." She smiled a little at this, knowing he was trying to lighten the mood. With that he sped out of her neighborhood and out of her life.

But just like last time, she was wrong.

Chapter Text

The next two weeks went by quickly for Tony.

Beginning the day after Halloween, he had J.A.R.V.I.S. monitoring all media outlets looking for new information about his captivity and the battle against Stane. After he sobered up and got a few more hours of sleep he realized that maybe he shouldn't have told a random teenager classified information. It was reckless and dangerous, two things he's never cared about before, but he remembers thinking that it was a brilliant idea at the time. This stranger was willing to listen to him spill his guts and that's exactly what he did; granted, he had been completely sloshed and couldn't remember any of the finer details of the night. So, he waited for the media to blow up with all the details of that last 6 months.

He wasn't exactly surprised when nothing showed up in the following weeks, but he was very curious. Tony had given her a literal goldmine of information to sell to the press and she hadn't made a move yet. Was she just waiting for the right time? Does she plan to sell the story at all? She was not someone he spoke with regularly or even cared to befriend but she was keeping his secrets for him. Why? If someone had given him a story as great as that one, he probably would have done something about it. He wasn't someone to go making light of other's troubles, but he wasn't exactly above it either. Tony Stark was a Grade-A asshole to the people he didn't care for; and even to some he did. So what was this chick playing at by keeping the story under wraps?

After a week of frantically checking in with J.A.R.V.I.S. and receiving no news, he decided to move on to something more productive. He had built another Iron Man suit, something lighter and more flexible to move around in but there was always the problem of portability. He couldn't exactly drag the suit around with him when he went into SI or anywhere else Pepper makes him go, so he was looking for a way to make the suit easy enough to cart around. He didn't want to be caught off-guard again if someone else were to stab him in the back… both literally and metaphorically.

Only, he couldn't come up with anything. He had been tearing his hair out over this for two days straight when he decided to just work on it later. It wasn't like he would anywhere that required a portable suit anyway. Tony had told Pepper to cancel any meetings she had scheduled as he planned on catching up on everything he had to finish in the Lab. A few of his cars had been abandoned mid-build, his new Iron Man suit needed to be fit with gadgets and even Dum-E needed to be fixed. (The stupid robot ruined some wiring trying to make a smoothie.)

Spending all of that time at home also gave him an opportunity to spend with one Virginia "Pepper" Potts. She had been in his life for years, longer than he deserved and somehow she had become the most important person in his life. Sure, Rhodey and Happy were pretty good friends and constant figures in his life, but Pepper Potts was another breed all together. Ever since the first day she had walked into his office half crazed and wielding pepper spray, he'd thought she was gorgeous. He'd wanted her then and there, so, to make it easier, he became a walking cliché and hired her. Yeah, he was well aware of the fact that sleeping with your secretary was top ten on the "Don't Ever Do This Because You Will Regret It" list but he'd always had a thing for red heads, so, c'est la vie, or whatever the phrase is.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, she hadn't given in to his advances. Pepper was a saint for knowing exactly how to handle him and do so without having any major lawsuits go through (because that was always a problem). She became his Girl Friday, the perfect assistant, friend, babysitter, etc. Tony didn't know where he would be without her. When Yinsen had asked him if he had any family back in Afghanistan, he had said no, but upon his return he'd realized that he did in fact have one. Pepper was more family than even his parents had been. Although, should someone want to sleep with their family? Because that's really fucking weird.

Either way, he loved having Pepper around. They bickered and argued about everything under the sun but when she looks at him and says, "Would that be all, Mr. Stark," with a small smile, he knows that their system works. He'd never thought twice about the attraction he felt for her but after everything went down, he realized that it wasn't lust at all. Tony genuinely cared about her. It was a strange realization to come to at the worst time—hanging over an arc reactor about to blow could possibly be considered worst EVER—but he did and ever since he had been at war with himself. Pepper Potts was galaxies better than he was and she deserved someone who could be that for her… but he was also a selfish man with selfish needs. She didn't belong to anyone but him, and okay that's a bit possessive, but he was Tony Stark, he'd always gotten what he wanted.

The first two weeks of November were a period of contemplation for the billionaire, something he detested greatly. Alessandra had been an enigma of a girl and Pepper Potts had become something far greater than he imagined. Honestly, he was so lost it was ridiculous. Tony Stark had always had a reputation for being amazing with women, but that was a load of bullshit. He personally didn't understand or really care about them, but sitting in his lab with the bots going over the two women who puzzled him the most, he wished his reputation had been true.

Because then he would know how to deal with the next six months.

For Alessandra, those two weeks couldn't have gone by any slower.

She got stuck in a rut, for lack of a batter term. Going to work four days a week had kept her entertained somewhat but that was only when Amanda was working. Despite her annoying habit of having to fill every silence, Alessandra's roommate was hilarious. They had developed a pretty good system of working together; Amanda would be the designated barista (because her drinks were delicious) and Alessandra would be the waitress, taking customers their orders and chatting with the regulars as she went. The coffee shop was a nice place to work at. There were the typical tables, chairs, and small music stands, but in the back corner a small library could be found. There were two towering bookshelves that were filled with old paperbacks brought in by the employees. Overall it led to a nice clientele, a mix of college students and older folk, both groups spending an hour or two reading as they sipped their latte's.

When she wasn't working, she would find herself sitting on the couch watching television or sleeping. It wasn't like she was all that tired anymore, her energy levels being surprisingly high, but there was just nothing better to do and having missed most of the great television shows of the mid-2000's, she thought it was as good a time as any to catch up. Amanda was always out with her pseudo-boyfriend and Malibu just wasn't that great when you barely had enough money for half a tank of gas. That was the primary reason for her walks to and from work. Money had always been a problem for her family and now that her only income was working part-time at a small coffee shop, she hadn't really had the funds to load up the station wagon's gas tank. This went on for over a week before Amanda decided to get her out of the house.

"Come on. You have been sitting in the same spot for, like, a month. You need some serious fun. I can practically see your ass imprints in my couch."

Alessandra scoffed at her friend, "It's been a week! And you're over exaggerating." She knew Amanda was telling the truth but couldn't let her pride get stomped on.

"Sweetie, get up. We are going out tonight." Amanda walked into their hallway closet and grabbed a jacket before chucking it at the girl on the couch.

Alessandra groaned before slowly rising to her feet and seeking out a pair of shoes. She had no idea where Amanda was taking her but she hoped an oversized t-shirt and ratty jeans would fit in—not that she cared either way, she was comfortable and nothing would short of a date with David Beckham would get her to change.

Walking out of the house and into Amanda's car, Alessandra thought about the last few days. She hadn't thought much about Tony Stark since he had dropped her off, but yesterday when she had seen him on the cover of People Magazine, she got a bit curious. Surfing the internet for Tony Stark fanpages was a dangerous thing, she realized. Because of his reputation as a ladies' man, there were various adult sites with his name on them. Finding a (PG) fan site with actual members on it, she couldn't help but create an account to read everything. What she saw had her laughing all day. There were various conspiracies out there about who was in the other Iron suit (some of which were correct) and many more about his more public exploits. There were stories about who he's dated, who he's slept with, the famous Pepper Potts, and even a few that couldn't possibly be true. All twelve cover models, really? It was absolutely fascinating to read comments from overzealous fans and know that she had met the man. He was everything they said and the complete opposite all rolled up into one six-foot package.

Something she hadn't anticipated was the online store. The Tony Stark fan site actually sold merchandise with his face plastered all over it! And not only his face, but that of Iron Man's. There were posters, blankets, t-shirts, and anything you could ever come up with. It had to be one of the greatest things Alessandra had stumbled across in a while. She couldn't help imagining what Tony would do if he ever got a hold of the site.Probably buy everything, she thought with a wry grin.

Alessandra shook herself out of her thoughts as they pulled into a parking space. Looking up at the sign, she saw that they were parked in front of a large bowling alley. COSMIC BOWLING, the sign read.

"Bowling? This is what you do in your free time?" Alessandra asked the question incredulously. Considering that her friend had several face piercings and multi-colored hair, she hadn't thought a bowling alley would be Amanda's typical hangout.

"Yeah! My friends and I come here every Thursday night. It's Happy Hour." With that, she stepped out of the car, Alessandra not far behind.

"You do realize that I'm underage, right?" She called weakly, hoping to get out of participating.

"Oh. I totally forgot. Whatever, they have soda too. Come on!"

Entering the shabby looking building, Alessandra was surprised by the neon lights and large crowd of people hanging around. It looked like everyone over the age of 21 was hanging out here. Glancing around, she spotted Amanda going up to a group of guys and one girl at the end of the row. They all looked like her roommate; tattoo's lit up by the neon lights, piercings in every place imaginable and hair colors ranging from the normal brown to a brilliant shade of green. Overall, if she were walking down the street alone, they were not the kind of people she would have made eye contact with. At Amanda's waving, she pushed herself forward and tried to adopt a casual attitude, something she's sure she failed at.

"There you are!" She grabbed Alessandra's arm and twister her to face the group standing will stoic faces. "Guys, this is my new roommate Alessandra. Alessandra, these are the guys."

She began gesturing to each person around. Adam had a dragon tattoo curling up his arm and a septum piercing, Benz was a shorter guy with jet black hair and plugs she could probably fit her whole hand into, Sophia was a gorgeous girl who looked like a 50's pin-up with tattoos, Johnny was the guy with the neon green mohawk and large jean jacket and Fitzgerald was a guy with bright white hair and polka dot pants.

Not knowing what else to do, she gave a small salute and said, "Hey."

Almost immediately they all relaxed and smiled at her. Sophia—who could give Dita Von Teese a run for her money—approached Alessandra first and gave her a soft hug.

"Thank goodness another girl arrived; I was beginning to think I'd have to listen to these guys talk all night!" Sophia laughed softly at the serious of indignant sounds that echoed around her. "Oh please, I can't listen to another lecture on proper music tonight."

Rolling his eyes, Johnny stepped up, "Don't listen to her, she's just jealous Adam and I have tickets to see The White Stripes Saturday night."

"I love them!" Alessandra hadn't realized she spoke out loud until all eyes were on her. "I… one of my friends was a huge fan, so he gave me their album." And by friend, she meant one of the nurses who had worked the night shift at the hospital.

He smiled brightly and wrapped an arm around Alessandra's shoulders, "I like her Amanda, let's keep her."

Seeing that some of the other guys were nodding and Sophia was smiling at her, the last of the tension in her shoulders faded away. These guys weren't nearly as bad as they looked. She could almost hear grandmother scolding her, Non giudicare un libro dalla relativa copertura, Alessa. (Don't judge a book by its cover, Alessa.)

So, she spent the rest of the night and early hours of the morning bowling with Amanda's group of friends. She found out that Fitzgerald was just a nickname they gave him because of his fascination with Ella Fitzgerald, Adam was a junior at Pepperdine on a full academic scholarship, Benz was the son of a famous designer and had gotten his nickname when he showed up to Johnny's house in a Mercedes, Sophia was a photographer and both Johnny and Benz were software developers. They were all incredible bowlers, something Alessandra was not, but they only laughed and helped her set up correctly. By the end of the night, she had scored straight spares, a miraculous feat considering her horrible hand-eye coordination.

As they were getting ready to leave the Alley at closing, Benz came up to her.

"I can't believe you haven't seen The Big Lebowski!" He had made obscure references all night and it was only around midnight that Alessandra had the nerve to ask. "It's such a great movie. You definitely have to watch it."

Shooting him a smile, she said, "Yeah, sure. I'll add it to the list."

As Amanda drove them home, she couldn't help but smile at the recent turn of events. First, a billionaire drops into her life, next Amanda comes crashing into it and now an entire group of people wanted to be her friend. It was all so new! Of course, they had no idea that she wouldn't be around more than a few years. That morbid thought wiped the smile straight off of her face. She'd be dead in a few years at most. Alessandra couldn't help but remember why she had decided to make a 'No Friendship' rule at the start of her road trip. In the end, she would be dead and they would be left wondering what happened. She had almost lost it when her nonna died, she couldn't do that to anyone else. It was unfair sure, but it was just the way things had to be.

With new determination, Alessandra decided that she wouldn't be seeing any of them again. Not if she could help it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

November 17, 2009

Tony POV

The morning of November 17th started out badly for Tony Stark. He had been up most of the night trying to solve his suit portability problem. The suit was far too bulky to be carted around, so he had tried to create a robot (similar to Dum-E and Butterfingers) to follow him around and morph into the suit when needed. Unfortunately, that plan didn't actually pan out. After three more hours of tinkering around with various ideas, he passed out on his desk from exhaustion, only to get four hours of fitful sleep. Dreams filled of Stane and other faceless villains filled his head, leaving him gasping for breath as he woke. Glancing over at the clock he saw that it was only 10:00am. Considering he hadn't slept in two days, he thought four hours was pretty good. Shaken up, he began working on the designs again, only to realize that he had run out of coffee and his brain refused to function properly without the sweet nectar.

Putting down his blowtorch (because it totally helps to set things on fire when you're frustrated), he decided to call Pepper.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. call Pepper."

"Sir, you might wish to know-," J.A.R.V.I.S. was cut off by an irritated Tony.

"Call Pepper now, J."

If AI's could convey sarcasm in their voices, Tony would swear that's exactly what was happening. "Of course, sir."

A minute of silence echoed through the lab as Tony waited for Pepper to pick up the phone. He couldn't help but be short-tempered by now. He hadn't slept for longer than 3 hours a night in the past week and had lived solely on an alcohol infused caffeine high. It wasn't the healthiest arrangement but Tony was more than paranoid about the possibility of another attack. He'd only gone out as Iron Man a few times in the last month and that had been to test his new suits flight capabilities.

Pepper's voice echoed around the room as she answered the phone.

"Hello, Tony."

"Pep. I need coffee." He knew he was snapping by now but he couldn't really bring himself to care.

"You sound tired. Have you gotten any sleep since I left?"

"Yeah, of course. But I need coffee like yesterday." Hearing strange voices on the other side of the phone he asked, "Where are you?"

"Shanghai."

Dead silence permeated the air at her answer. Tony didn't really think he had heard her right.

"What? When did you go to Shanghai? Why are you in Shanghai? Shanghai?" His response was stuttered, allowing Pepper to hear how confused he was.

"Yes Tony, Shanghai. I got here two days ago. A week after you had me cancel your appointments and take your place at this investors meeting."Her tone was measured and filled with forced patience. It was common for Tony to forget what he considered 'unimportant' details.

"What? No. I need you here. I need you to get me coffee. I thought that was the point of having an assistant."

"I told you that you were needed here but you refused and kept muttering about something being 'too heavy.' You told me to go instead. So, I'm here doing your job. Would you rather be here?"

He grimaced for a moment before responding. "Ugh. God no. Just come home, I need you here."

Muttering sounded from the other end of the phone as he finished his sentence and then Pepper was back speaking hurriedly. "Tony, I have to go. The Chinese investors just got here. Good luck."

"Wait no, I need-," the dial tone sounded as she hung up.

Making a sound of frustration, Tony demanded that J.A.R.V.I.S. look up the nearest coffee shop that doesn't taste like ass. Irritably, he stood from his slouched position and headed up the stairs, mumbling the entire way. He was a billionaire for god's sake and he had to go get his own coffee! He knew he shouldn't have let Happy take the week off. Honestly, he figured Pepper would be around to get him important things such as this. And now, he had to go out of his way to get it himself. Tony began to think more about his failed designs as he stepped into the shower, distracting him enough not to notice getting dressed or hopping into one of his cars.

The sound of J.A.R.V.I.S. speaking through his navigation system shook him out of his annoyed thoughts. Following the directions, he pulled into the parking lot of a coffee house five minutes later and couldn't help but let out a small snort at what he saw. The name of the place J had picked was 'Java the Hutt', no doubt chosen because of the obvious nerd pun. It looked like there weren't many people there, thank god, which wasn't entirely unexpected seeing as it was 10:30am and everyone would be at work.

As he walked through the door, making sure to keep his sunglasses on, he took in the shop. The walls were a soft mint green color, the chairs were all different styles and the tables were dark brown. There was a large bookshelf in the corner that looked like it was stuffed to the brim with old paperback novels and a few college aged kids were standing around reading the descriptions. At the front counter, a girl no older than 22 sat reading what looked like a romance novel—seriously a pirate? She had light blonde hair and pink streaks, which offset the incredible amount of piercings she had stuck through her face. Tony had never understood why kids mutilated their faces for fun of all things but hey, he had a flashlight in his chest, who was he to judge.

Approaching the counter he tried to get the girl's attention, "Hey. Wake up Blondie. Or is it Pinky? I'm never really sure what to refer to with multiple hair colors. Do you prefer Blondie or Pinky?"

His words came out fast and blunt, something that often had people confused. He was surprised when the girl only smiled a little and replied.

"How about Amanda?" It was then that she gestured to her name tag, which was in plain view.

"Right, Amanda. Listen I need your largest, strongest, blackest coffee, espresso, whatever you got." He glanced at the sizes on the counter, "You know what, just give me a bucket."

For the second time today, Amanda surprised him.

She raised a pierced eyebrow and said, "You like 'em big, strong, and black?"

Ha. He knew what she was doing. This girl had spunk! Unable to help himself he replied in the sleaziest voice he could muster.

"Yes, although I wouldn't say no to flat white with a few shots of cream." His comment was followed by a long look that scanned her body. As his eyes reached her face, he could see a large smile threatening to emerge.

"I'm sure," she said drily. "Would you like any of our hot and sticky buns today?"

At this, Tony was the one who had to hold back a smile. He'd never actually met someone so blunt and crude before, besides himself of course. It was hilarious and she had successfully distracted him from his Iron Man dilemma.

"Is it a flat rate or do you charge by the hour?"

His comment had finally gotten her huge smile to emerge and she shook her head at him before going to make his drink. He couldn't help but let a smug smirk cross his features. Nobody was as good as he was at the fine art of Innuendo (capital 'I' totally necessary). He watched her putter around behind the counter before she came back with a coffee drink the size of a Big Gulp.

At his raised eyebrows she gave a small shrug. "It was my idea. Most of the patrons are college students and finals can be a bitch."

Remembering back to his own MIT days, he made a noise of agreement.

Amanda spoke up again, "Will that be cash or card?" He pulled out a shiny silver card, making her eyebrows shoot up and look incredulously back at him. Yeah, he was rich.

Pointing to the card reader near the register, another smile lit up her face. "Strip down, facing me."

This time his face scrunched up as he thought of something to reply with, only to come up empty. Huh. He, the great Tony Stark, had been bested by a girl with more holes in her face than Swiss cheese. Touché.

"Do you work on commission?"

She busted up laughing at that. Her laugh was so loud and genuine that Tony couldn't help but let a small smile cross his face. It had been a while since he had made anyone genuinely laugh. Usually he got dirty looks and skeptical faces, even the occasional sarcastic chuckle from Pepper. Contrary to popular belief, his jokes were not all that appreciated by his colleges and fellow rich people. Although, now that he thought about it, that girl he had met at the beach had laughed at his jokes. What was her name again?

Just as he was pondering this, the barista spoke. "Oh man, my roommate would love you. She always gets a kick out of dirty jokes. Although, when I made one about threesomes, I think I broke her."

Roommate, huh? "Your friend hates threesome jokes? No fun. Those are the best."

"Nah, I just think Alessandra wasn't expecting it. She was with some guy. I could hear him laughing over the phone."

At the mention of her roommate's name, Tony had a flash of Halloween night. He couldn't remember all the details the next morning but he did remember a phone conversation about threesomes that had him gasping for breath. Kind of random, but pre-Afghanistan Tony would have jumped at the chance.

"That's a long name." He looked at her for a moment before deciding to just ask, "Is she tall, skinny, dark-haired, and makes you want to call her pipsqueak?"

Amanda's eyes almost popped out of her head, "OMG yeah! Do you know her?"

"I was 'some guy laughing over the phone.'"

She smiled slightly before it quickly turned into a scowl. "Aren't you a little too old to be messing around with an 18-year-old?" Her voice was suspicious and had a hard edge to it.

Hands in the air, the universal sign for surrender, he shook his head violently. "God no. We were eating cheeseburgers at a diner when you called!" At her skeptical look he sighed, dropped his hands and spoke again.

"She found me throwing up in some dudes front yard, took my car keys and wallet, drove me to the diner, sobered me up a little, and then took me to the beach. The water was freezing but there was no hanky panky going on. Jesus Christ, I have some morals."

Amanda gazed at him through narrowed eyes for a second before fond smile crept on to her face.

"Yeah that sounds like her. She probably held your hair too. Such a girl scout."

He nodded his head a bit before grabbing his extra large coffee and turning to leave the shop. Amanda's voice stopped him.

"Hey!" As he turned back she continued. "Do me a favor. Alessandra's been kinda down recently, not really sure why. You should go talk to her, maybe make some jokes and hang out. She seemed happy when you dropped her off last time."

That was something Tony had never expected to hear. This random barista was asking her to go annoy her roommate and cheer her up. He'd never been good at cheering people up, at least, not intentionally. Yeah, he could annoy someone into submission (Rhodey), or talk circles around a subject until all that was left was fond exasperation (Pepper), but he hadn't actually perfected the art of 'cheer'. What even was 'cheer'? But as his brain began to slide back to his lab, the problems surrounding the Iron Man suit only weighed him down. He really really didn't want to go back and fail another attempt at adapting the suit. Tony was loath to admit it, but he genuinely enjoyed hanging around the pipsqueak. She didn't shut his fun down and she even laughed at all his jokes, something he was still a bit skeptical about.

Not really coming up with any excuses, he shrugged and approached the counter again.

"Yeah, sure. I got nothing else to do." Amanda looked surprised for a minute before she scrambled to grab a pen and paper.

"Here's the address. I better see her in a good mood when I get home tonight. The kid's bummin' me out."

"No promises."

With that, he strut out of Java the Hutt and hopped into his convertible. It was an impulse decision really, but he was Tony Stark. He does what he wants and right now, he wanted to ignore his problem for as long as possible. If that involved going to see his favorite pipsqueak, he wouldn't complain about it.

Alessandra POV

Alessandra had been sitting on her bed knitting a scarf and watching movies for the past twenty-four hours straight when the doorbell rang. She had gotten through two chick flicks, four comedies, three action films, one horror movie, and half a season of her favorite sitcom at that point. It was exactly what she had done for the past two weeks—when she wasn't at work—but somehow it never got old. She hadn't been feeling well enough to eat much lately and the comfort of television and her arts and crafts kept her occupied.

After going bowling with Amanda and her group of friends, she had realized that maybe making more attachments wasn't a good thing. For the second time in the last six months she had forgotten that she was dying. It was exhilarating. But when she did remember, it made the experience ten times worse. Why would she become friends with these people if she wouldn't be around long enough to enjoy their presence? I mean, yeah, she had a few years to go at least, but what were three or four years in the grand scheme of things? She could hang out with Amanda and Sophia, go to concerts with Adam and Johnny, shop for polka dot pants with Fitzgerald and watch movies with Benz for a few years, but at the end of that time she would disappear when the symptoms became too much. Just slip away quietly and die alone in some random town far away from everyone she had ever gotten to know.

Because they didn't deserve to see her wilt away in a haze of pain. Just hanging out with them for a few hours had given her a pretty good idea of how amazing these people were. They were intelligent, artistic, creative and accepting, traits she adored in people. They didn't deserve for her to gain their trust and love, only to die a short while later. So, she decided that she would spend her last few years as a mere acquaintance; someone they had hung out with once and was just their friend's roommate. Nothing more.

Unfortunately, her plan was already failing. Amanda had given Sophia and Johnny her phone number—which inevitably meant that everyone had it—and they had tried to invite her out all morning. Worse yet, Amanda had made it her personal mission to get her out of her bedroom and socializing despite Alessandra's protests. It almost seemed futile, but she knew that they would get tired of her ignoring them eventually. She just had to hold strong and keep her silence.

Of course, just as she reminded herself of that, the person at the door had knocked. Loudly.

Muttering under her breath, she grabbed the blanket she had been laid on top of, wrapped it around her shoulders and made for the front door.

Her mouth dropped open in surprised at the sight of Tony Stark standing on her front steps.

When she didn't say anything, Tony took the opportunity to push his way into the apartment. "Finally, you took a while."

"Tony? What are you doing here?"

"Ran into your roommate at that nerdy coffee shop and decided to see where you lived. It's not much." He turned to face her and continued. "Are you sick? You look sick."

It was only then that she noticed the giant coffee drink in his hand. She stood there in silence trying to comprehend the situation before rolling her eyes and deciding to accept the weird change of events. From what little time Alessandra spent with him, she could tell he was a strange guy, prone to random bouts of insanity and offensive (read as: hilarious) comments.

She walked right past him and back into her bedroom, hearing his footsteps following along behind her. Taking a cursory glance around the room, she made sure all of her undergarments were tucked away and none of her projects littered the floor. Good enough, she shrugged and hopped on to the bed.

Her room was relatively small with plain cream colored walls. She hadn't thought about the possibility of finding a new home when she left Vegas, so the room had spartan furnishings. A double sized bed was pushed up against the wall directly opposite the dresser with a small TV settled on top and next to her small bedside table. Sitting on top of the bedside table was a small framed photo of Alessandra and her Nonna. Aside from that, there was no indication that a teenager lived there. It was simple, but simple was something Alessa had come to appreciate after her time on the road.

"Have you even left this room in the last two weeks? It looks like you're nesting." Tony began to walk around and inspect the few trinkets she had from her road trip, before catching sight of the half knitted scarf and needles on the bed. "You knit? Definitely didn't expect that. No judgment though."

"Yeah, I sorta had a lot of time on my hands growing up. Are you going to sit or just snoop through my stuff? Either way, let me finish this episode."

It was only then Tony noticed that the TV was on and paused at the image of a man wearing a suit getting slapped across the face. Alessandra couldn't help but laugh at the interested look on his face before getting up and walking into the kitchen. She hadn't been able to eat much in the past few days but figured maybe a little coffee would be fine. Grabbing a mug from the cabinet and a bag of chips from the cupboard, she padded back to her room. Tony was reclined against the headboard with an arm behind his head and his coffee in the other.

Alessandra climbed on to the other side of the bed and leaned back next to Tony, arms nearly touching, and threw the bag of chips in his lap before reaching for the coffee in his hands. He seemed to already know what she was going for because the only thing he did was pop the top off and hand it over.

It was then that she begun to realize just how unspoken their relationship was. When they had first met, she had reclined on the hood of his car and he followed, accepting her silent offer to talk about whatever was bothering him. Next, when he had been too drunk to stand, he hadn't bothered questioning her intentions when she dragged him to his own car and drove to the diner (although, that could have been the alcohol). She had known when to speak and when to keep silent, hoping that she was reading him right (which she was).

It was all very comfortable and familiar, something she had only developed with her nonna after a few years of living together. Here they were, sharing coffee and watching TV like they had known each other their entire lives. Tony would occasionally ask a question, to which Alessandra would launch into a long explanation of the past three seasons, laugh at the antics of the characters, and even pour his coffee into her mug when it got low.

They had both loved the episode of the search for the best burger in New York City and had lost themselves in stories of their favorite foods (not that Alessandra could pronounce any of Tony's favorites). It became a game, name as many delicious foods as you can.

Tony won.

By a landslide.

Before either of them knew it, the sky was dark and Amanda was standing in the doorway.

"Well you two look cozy." Her voice was full of relief at the sight of Tony and Alessa laughing and talking about the characters.

Abruptly Alessandra's laughter cut off. The moment Tony had set foot into the apartment she had forgotten her plan to become a social leper. He was just so damn charismatic! It was like nothing mattered in the world but the next joke or adventure with him, something that actually annoyed her greatly. She had been a bit indifferent towards Amanda lately and that was what she needed to do with Tony. Neither of them would find out what she was hiding and if isolating herself was the answer, then that's what would happen.

"Oh. Hey."

Tony glanced between the two roommates with a calculating look on his face. She knew she was being obvious but she had never been the most tactful person in the world.

Amanda's smile dropped a little before springing back up. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

With that, she walked back out and the sound of a door closing could be heard across the hall.

"Okay so I'm sensing a little hostility here. Did she steal your makeup?" His voice was nonchalant and his eyes were focused on the screen but she knew he was paying rapt attention to her response.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." She glanced around awkwardly, wondering how to get the billionaire to leave. "Look, I'm getting kinda tired. I haven't really slept in days so…"

At this, he gave up all pretences and turned to face Alessandra. She fought to keep eye contact but wilted under his intense stare. It was almost as if he were reading her like a book.

"What happened?" His tone made it clear that his curiosity had peaked.

Not knowing what else to say she told the truth… well, the semi-truth. "I've never been good at social situations so it's easier to just keep to myself. Like I said, it's not a big deal. I just don't really know what to say to her.

She could tell he wasn't buying it but was thankful when he didn't do anything other than to point at the screen and say, "Come on, don't kick me out now. I want to see what happens!"

The duo watched another two episodes before falling asleep in a mess of popcorn covered sheets.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

November 18, 2009

Beep. Beep.

Annoyed by the sound of her heart monitor, Alessandra pushed the button for the nurse and waited impatiently. It was something she should have gotten used a long time ago, but for whatever reason the sound did nothing but set her teeth on edge.

As Madison entered the room, she noticed that Dr. Matthews was following close behind sporting a happy look on his face.

"The heart monitor is beyond annoying, can we turn it off now?" Her voice was full of forced calm.

"Yes, I think you're stable enough now." Dr. Matthews' voice on the other hand was only upbeat. "We need to talk about your condition, Alessandra."

Giving him a long look, she sighed and waited for the inevitable.

"Based on our more recent tests, it looks like you've only got about two hours to live."

She absently nodded her head, not even paying attention to the words coming out of her doctor's mouth.

A moment later the words seemed to register. "Wait. I'm sorry, did you just say two hours?"

Dr. Matthews only nodded before adopting a sympathetic expression. "Yes. Two hours max. We called your grandmother and she said that it was about time."

"Excuse me?" Alessandra's voice had a hard edge to it and you could almost see her contemplating how to gouge Dr. Matthews' eyes out.

Madison chose that moment to respond. "Yeah. She's off playing bingo with your mom. Don't worry though, Luciana said it was alright if we cremated you. I mean, she said nobody would attend your funeral anyway."

The words were said with a careless shrug, making Alessandra wonder if they really were talking about her impending death or the breakfast menu in the cafeteria. As Madison and Dr. Matthews left the room, she could only sit there with her mouth open. That was impossible! Her nonna loved her and took care of her when Isabella (she hadn't deserved to be called mother in years) dropped off the radar. Nonna had taken her to countless doctor's appointments, stayed by her bedside as she wasted away in that very hospital room, taught her to be a decent human being and made sure she knew that she was loved.

Not accepting anything either of them had said, Alessandra reached over and grabbed the telephone, dialing her Nonna's number with shaky hands. Luciana Costa had been completely against cellphones—not to mention smartphones—but after the first time she'd been hospitalized, Alessa had convinced her to get an old Nokia flip phone.

"Pronto." The sound of Elvis rang out through the background as her grandmother answered the phone.

"Nonna, where are you?"

"Ah, Alessa. I'm playing the Bingo with Isa." Alessandra stopped breathing at the familiar name.

"Wha- She's there?" Her voice broke, something she would deny if asked.

"Of course. We're celebrating." The sound of Suspicious Minds and talking got louder on the other end. "I've got to go."

"Wait! Nonna the doctor said I'll be dead in two hours." Her breaths were coming in short gasps now and tears threatened the fall from her eyes.

"Si, piccolo. I've already spoken to the doctor. Good luck." Luciana's voice was distracted and interrupted by loud cheers coming from the other end of the line.

The sound of the dial tone rang in her ears. It was true. All of it, her mother showing up out of nowhere and her nonna not giving a rats ass about her dying granddaughter. It was like everything she had ever feared had come true. She was going to die alone in a dank hospital room; never having really lived in the first place.

Tears flowed freely down her sunken cheeks. The feeling of hopelessness settled in her chest and made her sob harder. Of course, that was when she noticed the beep of the heart monitor increase in speed. Madison had probably been too excited to deliver her death notice to turn it off. The only sounds that echoed around the room were choked sobs and the various machines attached to her body. There was nothing left. Nobody to keep her strong, nothing to motivate her, not even a freaking priest to come and read her last rights. Hell, she didn't even know who her father was.

After another half hour of this, Alessandra decided to take matters into her own hands. There was nothing left for her here and she would be dying anyway. Who cares what happens now?

With that last thought, she pulled the IV from her arm, tore the leads from her skin and used every bit of energy she had to get out of the hospital bed. I will not be a victim, she thought. Looking both ways before exiting her hospital room, Alessandra made her way to the nearest elevator and hit the button for the top floor.

She burst through the doors of the roof and took in the setting sun over Las Vegas. Sunset had always been her favorite time of day. Slowly walking towards the edge of the building, she thought about everything in her life. Honestly, it was an embarrassingly short list. Everything she had ever had, everything she had ever experienced were either gone or nonexistent.

But Alessandra would be damned if that was how she would go out; sobbing alone on her hospital bed, waiting for someone who would never show. So, she did the only thing she could do. She took a seat on the ledge and watched the sun sink below the horizon. As the darkness approached, thousands of lights flicked on and lit the night sky. It was almost as if the entire city decided to ignore the concept of sleep, making her wonder absently why Paris was the City of Lights. Alessandra took her time memorizing whatever she could before she felt her body begin to shut down.

Cold and Empty. That was all she felt. Dying didn't hurt; a fact that calmed her down.

Taking matters into her own hands, she stood up and tiptoed closer to the edge. She would only die on her own terms.

And then, she took one step and let a bitter smile stretch across her face.

A loud knocking on the front door woke Alessandra the next morning. Her breathing was shallow and all she felt was empty as the last memories of her dream bled from her mind. It wasn't the first time she dreamt of her death. In fact, it happened quite often.

Regaining her composure, she lies still for a few seconds hoping that whoever is disturbing her much-needed sleep would just give up and go home. It seemed like every time she tried to close her eyes, images of death and loneliness invaded her thoughts. Despite this, she refused to acknowledge any of it. She wasn't lonely and she most definitely did not fear death. It was a part of life and just like everything else, she would deal with it.

At that moment, something shifted near her right side. Alessandra tore her face from its smashed position on the mattress and turned over to see what she hoped wasn't a rat—you'd be surprised at the amount of rats that frequented motel rooms.

Nope, it was only Tony, who was spread out on his back next to her, snoring lightly. Memories from the previous day came flooding back and she couldn't help but let out a small snicker at the ridiculous face he made in his sleep. Remembering that someone was at the door, she made to get up when Tony rolled over and wrapped an arm around her waist. Making a face, she tried to push and shove her way out of the bed, to no avail. Only when another knock sounded at the door did she succeed in pulling her tiny body from the billionaire's sleepy grip.

Looking down at herself, she shrugged. Whoever was at the door this early would just have to deal with her messy tank top and shorts. Approaching the front door, Alessandra took the time to glance through the peephole. Not seeing anyone there, she shrugged her shoulders and decided to make some coffee. She had seen what Tony was like without either coffee or alcohol in his system… it wasn't something she'd like a repeat of.

With the coffeepot running in the background, Alessa tiptoed back to her room and made sure the door was closed up tight. Tony had looked half-dead yesterday—not that she thought she looked any better—so she figured she would let him sleep as long as he wanted. Back in the kitchen, she turned on the old CD player she had gotten for her eleventh birthday and Elvis' greatest hits began playing. She hadn't really been a huge Presley fan growing up but because of her nonna's obsession with 'The King' she could sing every song word for word. Ever since Luciana Costa's passing, Alessandra would play this album after a bad dream, hoping it would bring her some form of comfort.

Smiling and singing softly, she got started on making breakfast for Tony. It wasn't long before the smell of bacon frying woke the billionaire. She could hear him stumbling out of her bedroom and into the bathroom directly across the hall, cursing as he tripped over the blanket that had fallen to the ground sometime that night.

She filled a mug of coffee and set it down on the breakfast bar just as Tony made his way out.

"Here, drink up."

He didn't say anything as his drank from the mug but she could feel his eyes following her as she finished making breakfast. As the last chords of Blue Suede Shoes faded out, she placed a plate in front of Tony before grabbing her own coffee and taking a seat next to him.

Nobody spoke as he shoved his face with food and she calmly sipped her coffee. It was just like every other moment they had together: comfortable and familiar. Five minutes passed with the music being the only sound before Tony came alive again.

"You're really good at this Suzie Homemaker stuff. Look, you've even got Elvis playing."

Alessandra rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Don't get used to it."

He tilted his head at her. "Which one? The Suzie Homemaker or the Elvis?"

"Suzie Homemaker." She paused to consider how comfortable he was in her apartment before continuing. "You should probably get used to the Elvis if you insist on popping up in my life every time I turn around."

"If I remember correctly, you were the one who popped out at me."

She had to laugh at that. "Touché."

"You're not eating anything?" His voice was light but his eyes were piercing.

Alessandra studied her coffee as she replied. "Nope. Not hungry."

"You didn't eat last night either."

"I ate before you got here," she said with a small shrug. "And that's actually the last of the food. I need to hit the grocery store."

"Okay let's go." He wiped his mouth on a napkin and turned expectantly toward her.

"What, now?" At his nod, she clarified. "You want to go grocery shopping with me. Why?"

The only thing he did was shrug and ask, "Why not?"

Before she could make a sarcastic comment, she stopped herself. Hell, she would be grateful for the company. She absolutely hated grocery shopping.

"Yeah, okay. Let me just put some clothes on."

As she retreated back into her bedroom, she heard Tony call out. "No, no I wouldn't dream of it. Those shorts are working for you, pipsqueak."

Glancing down at herself, she took in her outfit. It was what she had put on yesterday for her TV marathon, not expecting anyone to come over. Besides, it's not like she had much of a figure anyway.

"Shut up, perv."

Despite her comment, she was chuckling. She knew Tony didn't see her that way. He might have been your average manwhore but he definitely wasn't a creep who slept with girls half his age.

When she had thrown on a pair of slightly torn jeans, a plain white t-shirt, an old LV baseball cap to cover her long hair and her converse knock-offs, she joined Tony in the kitchen. Well, if you could call it that. The apartment wasn't very big so it really should have been called the kitchen/foyer/living room.

"Alright, let's go. But you're driving. "

Tony only shrugged.

"Oh! Alessandra, I'm glad I caught you." Her elderly neighbor was standing there blocking their path to Tony's Audi. After hearing her voice, Alessandra took a huge step sideways and tried to block her view of Tony.

"Mrs. Evans! What are you doing here?" Her voice was laced with wariness and more than a little false cheer.

Something you should know about Mrs. Evans: she was in her late eighties and was the nosiest person on the planet. When Alessandra had moved in less than a month ago, Amanda had given her the lowdown on the old bat. The words, 'nosy religious psycho' come to mind. At first, she thought Amanda had been exaggerating. Not even a little bit.

Their first meeting went a little something like this:

"Oh, you must be the new roommate." Insert barely concealed disdain here.

"That's me. I'm Alessandra."

"Hello dear. I hope you're more normal than that other one. Her hair is pink for goodness sakes! My pastor would call that 'the devil's work.'"

Insert uncomfortable chuckle here. "Right…"

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you're a nice young lady. You should consider bringing that girl by my church sometime. Pastor Robbins does exorcisms."

"Umm, exorcisms?"

Insert creepy old lady smile here. "Yes, dear, exorcisms. That girl is possessed by a demon. There are boys coming in and out of there at all hours and she insists on getting more holes in her face! It's simply not natural."

Unable to resist the temptation, Alessandra enthusiastically replied, "Is that why she has that huge tattoo of a snake on her back?! I saw it when we met down at the beach and told my coven all about it."

"Coven?" Cue old lady freak-out and Alessandra internally cackling madly. She had met women like this before and never failed to make the situation as awkward as possible; if only for the hilarity of it.

"Yeah. Us witches get a kick out of that sort of thing, you know?"

After that, Mrs. Evans took every opportunity she had to slip church pamphlets under the door, throw holy water in her face, tape crosses to the apartment door and Alessandra's personal favorite, present baked goods made with salt rather than sugar (she found that out the hard way.) It was funny for a little while but when the little girl who lived in 2C asked if she 'sacrificed people', the whole thing just got tiring.

Mrs. Evans' voice shook her from her memories. "I only came to give you this batch of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. They're freshly baked."

It was then that the old woman noticed Tony. "Who is this dear?"

As Tony opened his mouth to answer, she stomped on his foot, effectively shutting him up.

"Nobody! Just a friend that stayed over."

Mrs. Evans' eyes widened and the grip on her ever-present Bible tightened before she took a step closer to Alessa.

"Is he a prostitute?" She sounded absolutely horrified as she whispered the last word.

"What? No, he's-," she was cut off by Mrs. Evans' loud response.

"Hiring an escort is a sin! That other one must be rubbing off on you. Please, dear, consider coming to church with me tomorrow night. Pastor Robbins will be there."

"Wait, Mrs. Evans, that's not…" Knowing that any protests she made were futile, her voice trailed off.

She quickly told the old lady that she had to work before taking off for the car, hearing Mrs. Evans muttering in Latin the entire way.

After that, both Tony and Alessa quietly got in. She knew he had questions but more than anything she just wanted to forget it had even happened.

"Just drive."

He turned the car on and pulled away from the curb but refused to let the subject drop.

"No no no. What was that? And why does she think I'm a prostitute?"

Slumping down in her seat, she adjusted the Tupperware on her lap before she answered.

"That was my nosy neighbor. She's… strange."

Tony glanced over at her, "Right. And she immediately thinks prostitute when a guy leaves your apartment?"

Alessandra only nodded her head, not really knowing how to explain everything.

"Well at least we got some cookies out of it." He leaned over to grab a cookie from her lap but only had his hand slapped away.

"You probably don't want to do that. They're inedible."

"Inedible? Why? Does she suck at cooking or something?"

"These cookies are probably rock hard and filled with salt."

They pulled up to the front of the grocery and stopped the car. "I'm sorry, did you say salt? Why the hell would they be filled with salt?"

"Probably because she thinks Amanda and I are demons."

Only silence followed that admission. It wasn't something you hear in everyday conversation, so Tony felt that his reaction was completely justified.

A minute later he asked, "Demons?"

"Yupp."

"Why does she think the two of you are demons?"

Now, Alessandra got a bit uncomfortable. "I might have made a joke about being in a coven of witches and that Amanda was a devil worshipper. She took the leap to demon possession."

Again, only silence. She couldn't help but remember the face Mrs. Evans made when she said Tony spent the night. A choking sound coming from her left had her looking over at him in alarm. His face was scrunched up in suppressed laughter and the choking sound was his attempt at maintaining the silence. That attempt was failed spectacularly the minute they locked eyes. All at once, both were doubled over and howling.

Tony and Alessandra sat in the front seat of his sports car for over ten minutes while they tried to control themselves, only to fall apart again as they glanced at each other.

Demons and witches. It was the most ridiculous thing either of them had heard in a while but Alessandra couldn't help but feel lighter than she had in days.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

November 18, 2009

"Incredible."

"Hey! You would have done the same thing! It was the perfect opportunity to make a pagan joke. I just didn't think she would be so serious about it."

Alessandra shrugged and ignored the incredulous look Tony sent her.

As he made a move to open the door, she pulled him back. "Wait. Won't don't you need a hat and some sunglasses or something?"

"What are you talking about now, Beelzebub?"

At his joke, all she did was scoff. "You're famous. Don't the paparazzi stalk you when you go to the grocery store?"

"Right…" He glanced around as if the solution to their problem would just appear.

She shook her head and pulled off her baseball cap. "Here, wear this."

He glanced down at the hat before looking at the top of her head. "You don't have lice do you?" He sent her a smirk before shoving it on and exiting the car.

Shopping with Tony was either a great decision or the worst. There was no in-between. When they had walked into the store, Tony pushing the cart in front of him, he had declared that they would go through every single aisle and make sure you grab more popcorn with butter. He just took complete charge of everything; not even asking before throwing things in the cart. He dragged her along as he thoroughly cleaned out the store.

"Are you trying to feed an army? You realize that only Amanda and I live there right?"

He glanced back at her before going back to contemplating different types of noodle. "I know, but pasta sounds delicious and I can't cook."

"I thought I told you not to get used to Suzie Homemaker." Her voice was light, letting him know that she wasn't really arguing.

"I've never really followed directions well."

Alessandra only sighed and followed him around like a lost puppy. It was probably better to just accept it now. Tony was a steamroller when he wanted to be, she had learned that particular lesson the night they met.

When they had finally made it through the last aisle, Alessandra glanced down. It was incredible how much was stuffed into one grocery cart.

"Tony, that has to be a couple hundred dollars worth of food. I can't afford that!"

"Chill, pipsqueak. It's on me."

Her head snapped up to meet his and instantly began shaking it. "Not a chance. You are not paying for my food."

"Ugh." He rolled his eyes and turned to face her. "Are you one of those feminist chicks who hates it when other people doing things for them? Because I gotta say, that's super annoying."

"No I don't hate when people do things for me, but shelling out several hundred dollars for food is a completely different thing. I can't put you out like that."

"Did you forget, I'm a billionaire! Buying groceries is not going to make me bankrupt."

She had actually forgotten that he was richer than God. Standing in the middle of a Ralph's wearing a wrinkled band t-shirt, jeans and an old baseball cap made him look almost normal. Of course, the expensive Rolex destroyed the image. Regardless of how much money he had, she couldn't let him do that.

"It doesn't matter. I'll pay for it."

Tony shook his head and continued to the check-out. "Nope. And let's face it, I'll probably eat most of this anyway."

Now that actually made her pause. She didn't really eat all that much and Amanda was rarely home to eat full meals. Tony had already made himself at home in her apartment and seemed to be sticking around for a while…

"Fine. But never again." Her voice was firm and left no room for arguments.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Al."

"Al?" She asked this as she walked toward where a teenager was bagging her items. Grabbing a bag she began to help.

Tony had a strange look on his face as he watched her. "Yeah. Alessandra is way too long. Al is better."

Alessa considered that for a moment before shrugging. He had called her pipsqueak or kid since they met so she wouldn't complain.

It was then that the middle-aged cashier gasped loudly. Tony had just handed her his debit card.

"Are you-? Oh My God! You're Tony Stark!" Al didn't think she could have said that louder than she did.

"Nope. Not him. Just the same name. Happens all the time." He pulled the cap lower on his head and shot Alessandra a look that clearly said oh shit.

At that point, cell phones were out and people began to crowd around. Nobody really believed him; his comment only drawing more attention to the pair. At this point, their bags were tucked in the cart and the receipt was just printed. Not one person had asked about the girl who was clearly with the billionaire but Tony knew it was just a matter of time before they did.

As the cashier handed back his card and the receipt, Tony grabbed Alessa's arm and pulled her toward the front entrance, cart getting pushed in front of them. She ducked her head and hoped that nobody got a good picture of her. It wasn't that she was camera shy but being female and getting seen with an infamous playboy would lead to a lot of questions. Questions she was sure neither of them wanted to answer. Their friendship was strictly theirs, not anyone else's. It was weird, new and entirely personal.

Practically running toward the Audi, Tony popped the trunk and they threw everything in before the hoard people followed. Alessandra could see people taking pictures at the store entrance as they hopped into the car and Tony peeled away.

"You really should have thought about the license plate thing before you got them on every single car."

"Yeah, didn't think about it." She only hummed a bit in return and sat back against the seat.

Arriving back at her apartment, Al made sure Mrs. Evans wasn't around before letting Tony get out of the car. The last thing she needed was the old bat giving her disapproving looks for keeping the 'prostitute' around.

They grabbed the bags (Tony bought way too much food) and set them all on the kitchen island before locking the door. When everything was set down, Tony took a seat the bar where he had eaten breakfast and just watched her put everything away.

As she cleaned up the kitchen, Tony began mumbling to himself. Alessa couldn't make out exactly what he was saying but she could tell he was irritated by something. It was only when he jumped up and began pacing that she spoke up.

"What?"

Tony paused in his pacing for a moment before continuing. "What?"

"What's your problem?" she said, leaning over the island to get a better look at his face.

"Nothing you could help with." The way he said it was dismissive and even a little rude, but Alessandra knew he was just bothered by something.

"Try me."

Her voice was nothing but determined. She helped him with his break-in problem (if you could really call it helping) and listened to his Afghanistan story so she figured maybe she could help him with this.

He took a long, analyzing look before sighing and running his hands through his hair. "I'm looking for a way to make the Iron Man suit portable. You know, with the probability of someone attacking me and all. I've tried everything I can think of but with the weight of the armor, not to mention trying to reduce the size of various components without taking away from their functionality, it's practically impossible."

By the end of his mini-rant, his voice had risen and the frustration was clear in his eyes. This is probably why he showed up yesterday, to get his mind off of it, she thought. Before she could speak, he continued.

"I'm an engineering genius; you would think I could come up with something practical and discreet to carry my Iron Man suit in."

Alessandra didn't really know how to help at this point. She had never been interested in engineering and the most knowledge she had was from the few months she spent in high school physics. Instead of answering, she nodded her head and just watched as he resumed his pacing all while mumbling under his breath.

He seemed to be really upset about this. Alessa could understand that though. He was worried about something like Stane happening again. Someone close to him betraying him, or someone trying to catch him off guard in public. Creating a portable Iron Man suit was the next logical step, in her opinion. Batman always carried around his batarang's and even Superman carried around his suit in…

"Hey, what about a suitcase?"

At this, he halted his steps and just stared at her. Taking this as her cue to explain, she did.

"Like Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent. They were superheroes but they also had side jobs. And you're a CEO, it's not outside the realm of possibility for you to be carrying a suitcase around."

With that said, she stopped. Okay, so maybe her idea was mainly grounded in fiction, but based on what she had read, this was the man who had created stuff straight out of science fiction novels. Most of her mind was trying to explain the logic of what she had just suggested, but the other part was reeling over how cool it would be to have a suit-suitcase. It was so comic book she could scream.

Tony's sudden motion broke her out of her thoughts. He had resumed his pacing and he was mumbling as if he were a million miles away. She was half-tempted to have Mrs. Evans come perform that exorcism she's always talking about. He didn't actually say anything to her so she figured her idea was stupid and went back to cleaning up.

A minute later he was rummaging through one of her cabinets and telling her to grab his keys. She did as asked and handed them to him. He had the box of Nutter Butter's (who knew he had a secret love of peanut butter?) in his other hand and was headed for the door without so much as a goodbye.

"Uh, see ya." She threw him a small wave when he turned around.

"What? No, you're coming with me. Let's go." He said this all as if she were stupid.

"Go where?"

"My lab. We'll be pulling an all-nighter because I think I know how to make this work."

"Oh, well that's great but I have work in the morning."

He was still looking at her like he was stupid. "So? Bring your work clothes and I'll drop you off in the morning."

She hesitated but went to grab her black polo and a fresh pair of jeans anyway. She stuffed them in an old tote bag before throwing in some toiletries and then grabbed her large knitted blanket before heading to the front door.

Alessandra wasn't sure what she could do to help but figured he needed a soundboard to bounce ideas off of. And maybe she wanted to prove her mad scientist theory as well.

Driving up to 10880 Malibu Point was surreal. She had never really been one for opulence but there was definitely something incredible about seeing the place. It was painted white and had a ridiculous number of windows. It kind of reminded her of the Millennium Falcon, except way classier and with a swimming pool. Despite her awe, it was exactly the kind of place she imagined him living in.

They drove straight passed the front door and down a ramp that headed underground. She was about to ask if this was where Chewbacca lived, when she caught sight of their destination. It was Tony's lab. She knew that's what it was immediately, not because of the mountains of tools and equipment littering every surface, but by the various Iron Man suits lining the far wall. They were absolutely beautiful.

The minute she felt the car turn off, she was out and striding towards the suits. Alessandra had seen pictures of him wearing one online but seeing them in person was something completely different. The red and gold paint glittered under the florescent lights and the silver one nearly blinded her. Each one was different and the hole in their chest plates glowed exactly like Tony's Arc Reactor. She walked along the wall examining each one closely, cataloging their differences and struggling to keep her jaw from dropping at every new one she came across. The amount of artistry involved was beyond anything Van Gogh could cook up.

Turning to face the inventor, she saw that he was standing only a few feet behind her. His eyes were examining her face carefully and Alessandra almost slapped herself at how she had reacted to the suits. She was some stranger he had brought into his lab, a place that was probably sacred to the engineer, and the first thing she had done was examine them like she was casing the joint. She didn't blame him for looking a little wary.

Before she could get a word out, he was striding over the desk in the desk in the center of the lab and talking quickly to himself.

Only, he wasn't really speaking to himself—something that became clear when a voice responded. The voice sounded like the same one that had come from Tony's cell phone back during their first meeting. She just stood there in silence; watching the master at work. There were now holograms floating around Tony and she would be lying if she said she were surprised. After everything she had seen and heard since meeting the billionaire, holographic computer screens were to be expected. Not that her mind wasn't blown. She was still considering nicknaming the place 'Falcon'.

She tuned out Tony's rambling and the disembodied voice's responses as she walked around the lab. There were things everything. Alessandra couldn't really tell you what any of them were but she knew instinctively not to touch them. He was an engineer and logic said that most of these instruments were dangerous.

The whole place was fascinating.

It was like standing inside Tony's brain. It was chaotic but organized at the same time and despite the monochrome décor, it was surprisingly warm. Like being home. Everything is exactly as she expected it to be, right down to the robot puttering around in the opposite corner. She could tell that Tony spent a lot of time there and she hadn't seen the rest of the house, but somehow Alessa knew this place was unique. She loved every single bit of it.

But it also left her incredibly confused. Tony was a rich guy, someone who probably had a million and one trust issues after the Stane incident. Why would he bring her here? She was completely ignorant in the area of engineering (and most sciences really) and would be no help at all. If this place was Tony's home, his favorite place in the world, why was she allowed in?

Glancing over, she decided to ask him. "Why am I here?"

Her voice rang out loudly in the quiet lab, making him look back at her from across the room. His face was a mask, one she hadn't really seen before. He must have registered her assessing look and threw on a lazy smile.

"Are we talking existentially? Because people have asked that question for years. Maybe you should ask a priest. Or a philosopher." He was deflecting and not really doing a good job of it.

"No, really." His mask was back in place and his shoulders straightened a bit. "Why am I here? You don't know me and yet you've invited me into your lab, a place I'm almost positive only a handful of people get to see. Why?"

"I don't know."

His answer sounded sincere but she didn't think it was entirely truthful.

"Of course you know. You're a certified genius—in more ways than one—you don't do anything without thinking about every consequence or outcome."

"Most journalists would disagree with you."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, well, I said you were a genius, not that you made the best decisions." He snorted at her response. "This place is important to you and you let in a random teenage girl you've had contact with for about three days."

Tony turned back towards the desk and began fiddling with a screwdriver before he spoke.

"I trust you." He kept his back turned towards her as he continued and if she hadn't known that he was emotionally constipated, she would have thought he was lying. "You saw me puking in some dudes front yard and dragged me half unconscious to my car just to sober me up. You didn't steal my keys or money or car. You sang Gwen Stefani with me in a diner in the middle of the night and you weren't even drunk."

His words were coming faster now and she could hear his incredulity.

"When we first met on the beach, I ranted at you for who knows how long and you just sat there and took it. You let me tell you about Afghanistan and Stane—which was probably a bad idea—and you didn't tell anyone about it. I expected it to be written on the cover of every magazine the next morning, but there was nothing. It showed you were trustworthy.

"I was irritated and pissed off about not finding a solution to the suit problem, so I went to get coffee, only to find your roommate there. She told me your address and for some reason I showed up. We watched TV for hours, something I haven't done since I was a kid, and I-I actually had fun. "

Turning to her, Tony had another new look on his face.

"You confuse me."

Alessandra simply stood there with a patient face as he rambled. She didn't know how she confused him but she felt like asking would make him shut down. He obviously felt uncomfortable speaking about his feelings (or whatever this was) so she just let him continue.

"As far as I can tell, there is absolutely nothing special about you."

She would be offended but she kind of understood was he was getting at. She didn't have an extraordinary IQ, no special talents that she knew of and not much money to her name. She was Plain Jane, someone a billionaire like Tony should have written off as a 'nobody'.

Seeing that she wasn't mad, he continued. "You're not different from anyone else and yet you confuse me. I actually spend time thinking about how weird you are and I don't do that for just anyone. So, I figured why not keep her around."

"Well," she didn't really know what to say to that so she decided to be honest. "You confuse me too. So, I guess we both have puzzles to solve."

Alessandra shrugged her shoulders and laughed, destroying the tension in the room. Tony gave her one more assessing look before he gave a sharp nod and turned back to his project.

"What do you have for me J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"Based on your initial calculations and my configurations, the Iron Man suitcase seems promising, sir. I believe it will work."

"It'll work." His voice was equal parts relieved and excited.

"Yes, sir. I believe it will."

"So… I did good?" Alessandra couldn't keep the slightly smug smile off her face as she spoke.

"No need to gloat, Al. I would have come up with it eventually."

Her smile only grew wider.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

January 5, 2010

Tony would never admit this to anyone but deciding to let Al into his life was one of the best decisions he had ever made.

After introducing her to his lab and J.A.R.V.I.S. they spent nearly all of their time together. He went to Java during her shifts and drank Amanda's god awful coffee creations, stayed at her place marathoning sitcoms almost every other night, and made a standing Tuesday food date with her. Every week they would switch off picking a new restaurant to try. It could be anything from a hot dog stand at the pier to a five-star gourmet restaurant in the heart of Beverly Hills. On those occasions (whenever they went in public, really) they wore disguises. Al came up with the idea for disguises after the Grocery Store Incident as she liked to call it. If they were honest, it became more of a game than anything. Dodge the paparazzi and see who can come up with the craziest costume. In his whole life he never thought he'd spend that much money on wigs, glasses, scarves, hats, and Tommy Bahama tourist t-shirts.

The Tuesday Date was Tony's idea. He was always an observant man—not that it was public knowledge—and he had noticed Al's eating habits almost immediately. She never ate. It was subtle on her part and when he brought it up she would shrug and make an excuse. He may have been drunk that Halloween night (Gwen Stefani always came up when he was drunk) but not clueless. She had mostly shuffled the food around on her plate before taking a few bites and sucking down a glass of water. At first he figured it wasn't his problem. He's been surrounded by models and socialites often enough to notice the signs of an eating disorder and in the beginning, it didn't matter. Al was just some girl he couldn't quite figure out, one that didn't bore him to tears after ten minutes.

But after the Suitcase was built, things changed. She was valuable to him. Her ideas had helped him solve a problem he was too smart to come up with himself (yes, too smart!)and she kept him entertained. Really, it was the best of both worlds.

So, he decided to let himself care about Al's problem. He began taking her to exotic restaurants and diners hoping that she would start eating more or that she would tell him what her problem was. Tony would never bring it up himself; that was crossing the line of concern he had set himself years ago. He may care about his friends, but he would never be overt about it. He had a reputation to maintain, thank you very much.

But she never did tell him what her problem was. Instead, she began eating more and even contributed to the exotic food finds. (Don't get him started on that Honduran food she made him try…he loved it.) Al was putting on more weight and her skin color was no longer pale and ashen. Tony thought he deserved a humanitarian award for that.

Okay, so maybe she was less fortunate—almost everyone was compared to him—but he really did feel good about helping. She treated him like any other guy and while in the beginning that may have bothered him, he wouldn't change it for the world. Al became one of the few constants in his life and that was worth all of the disguises he had to wear when they hung out.

Pepper had returned from China the day after Al stayed over and he wasn't the least bit surprised to see her holding a tabloid with his face on the cover. It was a horrible unflattering photo of him wearing Al's baseball cap and holding up a can of pasta sauce in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. The back of Al's head was just visible behind him but thankfully nobody mentioned her in the article. Pepper was curious though. The great Tony Stark going grocery shopping on his own! What a shock.

The conversation went a little something like this:

"Where is all the food?" Pepper pointed to the tabloid as she rummaged through the refrigerator.

"What food?"

"The food in that photo. It looks like you bought half the store! Did you already eat it all?"

Tony's face remained impassive as he answered her. "I gave it away. Except for the Nutter Butters, those I kept. They were good, too."

At this point Pepper was just confused. It wasn't normal for Tony to just give food away to people unless they were his leftovers he couldn't be bothered to throw away.

"You willingly went to the grocery store, bought as much food as you could, and then you gave it away."

"Not the Nutter Butters." He interjected.

"…and then you gave all of it away except for the Nutter Butters. Did I get that right?"

Tony thought it over for a second before responding. "Yeah."

After that Pepper had just stared at him for a few seconds, nodded her head, and walked away. He could tell she was confused but it definitely wasn't the weirdest thing he had ever done so she dropped it.

Al thought the photo of him was hilarious and insisted on keeping it. Something about seeing him "ruffled and confused" was hilarious. As you can image, he didn't appreciate that very much, so for the next week he had walked around with his camera ready to take an awful photo of Al in return. Unfortunately for her he managed to get a photo of her mid-sneeze, her eyes scrunched up, mouth open, and her shoulders braced.

It was the new background on his phone.

He was broken out of his thoughts by an alarm blaring through the lab and a hologram screen appearing in front of him.

"Sir, it seems that more Stark Weapons have been seen long the coast of Africa, moving towards Israel." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.

Tony cursed under his breath, "Get the suit ready for flight, J, we're going sightseeing."

Al had just worked a six hour shift at Java and was relaxing on the couch, hoping to get her energy back.

Before her move to Malibu, or meeting Tony, she couldn't have handled so much physical exertion. Now she was working full days, spending nights with Tony or Amanda and eating full meals. It was more than she could have ever hoped for because as much as she liked to pretend to be normal, she was dying. She was slowly withering away as the cancer spread through her lymphatic system and there was nothing she could do about it. Chemo wouldn't help and even if she wanted to live longer, the pain was not something she ever wanted to go through, not after the first time.

So, Al was reveling in the small miracle she had been given the day she snuck up on Tony Stark. He had made her feel more alive in their short friendship than anyone in her entire life (not that the list was particularly long). They spent every Tuesday afternoon together wearing their ridiculous disguises and raving about her favorite thing in the world: food. She may not have been able to stomach much of it when she was younger but she had always been something of a foodie. Much to her surprise, Tony was as passionate about food as she was. But of course he would be! He probably grew up with a five-star chef cooking all of his meals and eating at the most fabulous restaurants around the world.

What really surprised her was how many run down diners and fast food restaurants he frequented. Every Tuesday they would switch off in deciding where to spend the afternoon and more often than not, Tony would choose a small shack or truck with a sign in the window claiming to have the best something-or-other on the west coast. More often than not the signs were horribly misleading but there were a rare few that got it right. Those visits were when Al had the most fun because despite Tony being insufferable when he is right about something, it usually meant that she would be laughing the entire time.

Although they had been friends for a few months, it still surprised Alessandra how well they got along. From their very first meeting it was almost as if something had clicked and Tony had become the best friend she had ever known. There was a pretty big age gap (he was old enough to be her father!) and he was a genius billionaire so she was completely on board with Tony's unspoken decision to keep their friendship on a need to know basis. People were inherently nosy and that always led to misunderstandings so they would just avoid the media frenzy for as long as possible.

Despite their easygoing friendship, Alessandra wasn't delusional. She knew that someone like Tony Stark would move on from her eventually, most likely with no notice whatsoever. It was inevitable. She was some random teenage girl who had the decency to hold his fake hair while he puke on some dude's front lawn. That does not sound like something that would have a fairytale ending. Besides, even if Tony decided she wasn't completely worthless, she would be leaving him soon enough. For now, she would take whatever hand of friendship he was extending towards her and when the inevitable fallout came to pass, she would suck it up and move on as well. The horrible ending would be worth it when all was said and done…at least that's what she planned on telling herself.

The beeping of her phone (a new Starkphone Tony insisted on getting her for Christmas because her old pre-paid was horrifyingly old enough to have been used by Alexander Graham Bell and no friend of mine should ever use anything other than the latest Stark tech) broke her out of her thoughts. The screen was nearly translucent as the text message popped up.

T : Heading to Egypt so I'll be late today. Want me to bring you back a mummy?

A : Only if it comes with a Canopic Jar.

T : Done.

Alessandra chuckled to herself before deciding to take a nap. It would probably be a while before Tony returned from whatever it is he's doing in Egypt of all places, so she had time.

Before she knew it, hours had passed and her phone was ringing once again.

Running a hand down her face and using the other to grab her phone from the bedside table, she answered it in a rough voice, "Did you get my mummy?"

"You sound tired, pipsqueak, have a nice nap?" Tony's voice was slightly distorted but the amusement rang through loud and clear.

"Yupp. How was Egypt?" She turned on the speaker and tossed the phone onto her bed knowing he would be able to hear her as she headed to the closet.

"Dry."

"Like your sense of humor." She replied almost immediately.

"You know me so well." He deadpanned. "Anyway, I'm somewhere over the Atlantic so I'll be back in about an hour."

"Cool. That gives me time to go to the bank."

Alessandra finished brushing the knots out of her hair and stood back to look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a black wig that only hit the top of her shoulders with a bright read headband. Her look was complete with one of Amanda's old Halloween costumes; a light blue Lindy bop dress and red belt to match her headband. She thought she looked like a Grease reject but the overall outfit served its purpose nicely.

"Well, keep me on the phone. Tetris gets boring after a few hours of flying."

She shook her head, "Should you be playing arcade games while piloting a vehicle, Tony?"

"That's what J.A.R.V.I.S. is for, Al, keep up." His tone was mocking but she knew he was only joking.

She held her phone in one hand and her bag in the other as she locked up the apartment and made her way to the station wagon.

"Is that the Beast I hear?" He always referred to her car as a Beast and considering its condition she couldn't really blame him, although she'd never admit that out loud.

"Hey, this car has been good to me okay? Don't diss my ride."

"It's a behemoth, Al, a death trap. Come on, if you won't let me buy you a new car, at least let me have a look under the hood."

They had had this argument several times since Tony first set eyes on the Wagon but Al was a stubborn as ever. She could take care of her own car, thank you, and she would be damned if she let Tony spend all that money on her. Besides, buying her groceries and taking her on their Tuesday Dates was more than enough.

They argued the entire way to the bank and even as Al was waiting in line to deposit her latest pay check.

Just as the man in front of her was leaving the teller and Tony was rattling off the list of cars he could buy her, a series of loud bangs echoed through the room and shattering glass fell to the floor. Before she could register any of what was happening, women were screaming and she had been shoved to the ground by the man behind her.

"Listen up! We only want the money, so shut up, do what we say and this will all be over soon."

Peering through the black strands of her wig, Al spied a group of men standing near the entrance of the bank, all holding some sort of weapon. They were wearing plain white masks and all black outfits. In any other circumstance, she would be laughing about how cliché these bank robbers were but the sight of the gun erased those thoughts completely. She was terrified. Nothing this dangerous had ever happened to her (given that she had been traveling the country alone for months before Malibu, there were plenty of opportunities) and she was positive something bad was going to happen.

Her life was never terrible but just as Murphy's Law dictates, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I mean, what were the odds of a fourteen year old girl getting cancer, overcoming that illness, and then getting it again only for her grandmother to die that same day? Alessandra knew she had the worst luck in the world and honestly, she figured something like this was bound to happen. Everything had been going too well lately and Malibu seemed more like heaven with every day that passed. Only now, she'd be too dead to appreciate it. She was smack dab in the middle of an armed robbery and she just knew that with her luck, she'd be the one to go.

The sound of glass cracking under feet reached her as she followed the gunmen with her eyes. Three men were headed for the counter and another stood watch only a few feet away from where Alessandra was sprawled out on the floor. The floor itself was freezing cold except for one spot near her knee. Shifting slightly to see what she was lying on, she froze when she realized that it was her cell phone. The cell phone she had been using when he shots rang out. The phone that had a superhero's number programmed into it!

Al carefully kept her eyes on the nearest gunman as she slowly reached for the StarkPhone. She glanced at the screen the moment the robber turned his back to her and she saw four missed calls from Tony. Honestly, she was a bit surprised that the phone survived the drop at all but seeing as it was Tony's design she could probably guess that it was fire and waterproof as well. When it lit up again with an incoming call from T, she didn't have enough time to answer it before she was being dragged to her feet by her hair.

Letting out a small scream, she tried to pry the hand from her wig but that only served to get her a slap across the face.

"What did I say about following orders?" He barked harshly. The man released her and turned her phone around in his hands, examining it. "This is one of those fancy hologram phones. What are you doing with it, sweetheart?"

She didn't answer him as tears streamed down her face and a gun was pointed at her chest.

The buzzing of her phone turned his attention to the screen.

"Is this who you were trying to call? Maybe say your last goodbyes?" Without another word, he answered the call and put the phone on speaker.

Immediately the worried voice rang out loud and clear, "Were those gun shots? What happened?"

"That would be my fault. Don't worry, your girl's fine, just wanted to say goodbye." The gunman's voice was filled with sarcasm as he spoke.

This time Tony's voice came out harsh. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the man who told your girl to shut up and do as I say, only she must have thought I was joking." His eyes found hers as he redirected his comments. "Did you think I was joking?"

Alessandra took a second to breathe before shouting, "Tony, there are four-!" Her warning was cut off by her groan as she was hit over the head.

"That's enough of that." The gunman hung up the phone and pushed Al to her knees. "You should really listen to the guy with the gun."

The sound of pounding footsteps echoed around the space as the three other men ran towards their leader.

"We got the cash, boss, let's go."

Their leader was still focused on Al as he replied. "Sure, I just have some business to take care of first."

At that, he cocked the gun and placed it against Alessandra's temple.

Chapter Text

January 5, 2010

Earlier…

Tony was pissed off. No, scratch that, he was pissed off and annoyed. Despite his best efforts, Stark weapons were still popping up all over the globe. Last week he had stopped a shipment of missiles from reaching Moscow, and shortly before that he was in South Korea eliminating a terrorist group, who thought it would be fun to set off a series of Stark configured EMP-bombs.

Obadiah Stane had probably been selling weapons on the black market for half a decade, before Tony was able to stop him. That would explain the sheer amount of unauthorized Stark Weapons that had fallen into enemy hands. It still stung Tony to think about the betrayal, but honestly he was terrified more than anything. The weapons he had created could level whole cities and topple governments. That kind of power was dangerous no matter how intimately he knew his products, and he was just one man trying to stop them all. What if he hadn't been there in time to stop the terrorist from killing schoolchildren in South America? How would the Chinese economy have fared if he hadn't stopped their electronics from shutting down across the country?

He had been there for each and every one of those attacks and had even stopped an extremist group from acting on American soil. It was his job to end the carnage, and he was terrified that he would let everyone down. The U.S. government was already calling for his head on a platter, and the media was trying to crucify him because apparently people don't change. The world believed he was still some spoiled rich boy with a talent for causing destruction, and no matter how much good he did, nothing would change that.

Despite the rough past couple of months, he was not going to stop until the world was safe. Or safe from his creations at least.

Now it was Tuesday, he was in Africa, and he was late to dinner with Al. Normally Tony could care less about being fashionably late (because let's face it, he is always fashionable) to a meeting/dinner/demonstration/award ceremony, but this was actually something he enjoyed. Spending time with Al was fun; it was something to help him remember that he's just Tony. Not Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, playboy, weapons manufacturer, but just Tony, the guy who really likes cheeseburgers and building things. Growing up as the son of Howard Stark wasn't exactly conducive to a modest lifestyle, yet every Tuesday he spent with Al was just that.

And he loved every minute of it.

Surveying the now empty landscape around him, Tony caught sight of a bazaar style shopping plaza, no doubt to attract tourists. Giving the land one more sweep—he had thoroughly dispatched the men who had been hell bent on using his weapons at this point—he headed off towards the shops.

It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for, and as he headed towards the only man in the room, Tony noted the terrified look on the owner's face.

"How much?" Tony asked, holding up his intended purchase.

The owner's face took on a look of bewilderment as he understood Tony's request. Not surprising, Tony mused, I did just blow apart half the street.

After tossing a handful of American money at the owner (he hadn't exactly anticipated needing Egyptian currency), Tony set off for Malibu.

Halfway across the United States and three games of Tetris in, he and Alessandra were discussing (read as: arguing) over replacing The Beast.

"Just pick one," he was saying, "it doesn't have to be a Maserati, although I could get that if you want. Maybe a red one with blacked out wheels and—"

A series of loud bangs cut his rambling off midway, followed by pure silence.

"J, what was that?"

His last game of Tetris was removed from the screen, as J.A.R.V.I.S. replied almost hesitantly, "It appears to be gunshots, Sir."

Tony swallowed hard, "I'm going to need a little more information than that, buddy."

Less than a minute later, J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke, "I have triangulated the young Miss' phone to a bank along Pacific Coast Highway, Sir. It appears, that she has not moved from her previous position."

"Call her back, now." The call was sent to voicemail almost immediately. "Turn on her phone remotely, and call until she picks up. Monitor the police reports in the area and find out what the hell is going on."

It took four calls and five minutes for the phone to pick up, but it wasn't Al on the other end. Tony's mind froze, as he spoke to the man with a gun to his friend's head.

Al is in danger.

At this point, it's safe to say that Tony was in shock. His Al, someone who was not connected to either Tony Stark or Iron Man in the eyes of the public, was in the middle of an armed bank robbery.

Life was a cruel bitch. That was the only logical conclusion, he could come up with. Tony, a man who had grown up around weapons and kidnapping threats knew what it was like to be put in a position like that, but he couldn't imagine what a civilian like Al had to be feeling. She was a pipsqueak, barely having reached adulthood, and a friend of his. Tony would be damned if he let anything happen to her.

Tony swore colorfully, and in more than one language, as he heard the familiar cocking of a gun. He directed all of the suit's power to the thrusters and raced towards the danger.

Alessandra's eyes were wide, and she begun to feel faint. A gun was being pressed into her head, and she felt an overwhelming sense of panic envelop her. She was going to die.

That wasn't exactly a new thought for her, but in the far corner of her mind she had always believed that she would have more time. Time to say goodbye to everyone she wanted to—really only Tony and Amanda—or time to pick a nice place to settle in, and watch the stars before her eyes lost focus and her heart stopped beating. She imaged that despite the dull, throbbing pain she had begun to feel in recent days, dying would be like falling asleep. Lying down to rest, closing her eyes, and then letting go. Nothing more and nothing less. At least, that's what she felt she deserved.

Unfortunately, life was a cruel bitch as Tony would probably say, and her death was not going to be peaceful. The cold metal, that was pressed up against her temple, made her skin feel like it was on fire, and she became hyperaware of everything around her.

There was a young boy sitting against his mother's folded legs, sobbing loudly and staring at Alessandra with wide eyes. His mother was doing her best to quiet him, but it looked like she was in a similar state of distress. Alessandra couldn't help but stare back at the boy, and wonder what his life would be like after witnessing her death. Would he grow up and become a police officer, to compensate for not being able to do anything now? Would he fall into a life of crime, because the world is rough and he was unfortunate enough to witness it? Would he be like her and get sick, never getting to experience life as it was meant to be? There was a brief moment where these thoughts distracted her from her current predicament. This boy, no older than four years old, would be scarred forever and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

In a feeble attempt to soften the blow, Alessandra attempted to calm her racing heart and sent a small nod and the young boy. She couldn't even muster the energy to attempt a smile, but it seemed as if she didn't have to. The boy quieted at her movement and stared at her for a second, before shutting his eyes and covering his ears.

Alessandra turned her head and stared up at the gunman. She may not have had the courage to fight back, but she did want to see the look in her killer's eyes when he pulled the trigger. More importantly, she wanted him to see the look in her eyes when he pulled the trigger, knowing without a doubt that the image would haunt him.

Three.

There was a small but noticeable tremor in the man's hand, as he held the gun to her head, and a soft buzzing sound echoed around them.

Two.

His eyes had flickered to the group of men standing by the door, and she knew that he was doing this to maintain power. He would kill her, because that was what they expected him to do. The buzzing grew louder.

One.

She would finally get to see her nonna again. At that last thought, her body relaxed and she felt almost at peace. The buzzing sound was everywhere now.

Time's up.

CRASH.

Alessandra's head snapped to the side, away from the muzzle of the gun, and she almost sobbed aloud at what she saw.

Standing in the center of the floor was Iron Man, with one hand outstretched, thrusters buzzing loudly, and head tilted slightly as if asking a silent question.

Seeing Tony actually wearing the Suit was much more intimidating than when she had seen them lined up in the lab. The paint was chipped in some places and black marks that looked like they were made with fire were present along the left side of the suit. Clearly he had just been in a fight of some kind, but Alessandra thought that added more to the intimidating image.

She had hoped that he would be able save her, but never considered it to be a likely scenario. She knew that he had come to see her as a puzzle, and maybe even a friend, but she didn't expect him to show up in full armor just to save her. And yes, she may have been reaching a bit—there was a bank full of people that needed saving, not just her—but it had been her that he called when he was bored, and her that he spent every Tuesday afternoon with. They had become something like friends, and she didn't think it was too far out of the realm of possibility to assume that he had come for her.

The feeling of a hand yanking on her hair had Alessandra shaking away her thoughts and standing up quickly. The feeling of metal was back on her temple, and her back was pressed up against the gunman's body.

Loud voices were echoing around the atrium, and before she could make out what they were saying, her body went slack and she passed out.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

Nick Fury had just ended a call with The Council, when Agent Phil Coulson entered the room. A second hadn't passed, before he noticed the slight furrow of Coulson's brow and his tense shoulders.

Something had happened.

"Sir, a bank in Malibu was just held up by armed gunman," Phil started off. In response, one of Fury's eyebrows rose and his face clearly asked why he should care.

Phil only stared back with a blank face before continuing, "Iron Man was on the scene."

Turning his full attention on his right hand man—while Maria may have been Deputy Director, Coulson had always been his most trusted agent—Fury waited for him to finish.

Instead of speaking, Coulson strode over to one of the computer screens and pressed a few buttons, bringing up a local news station. A helicopter camera was shooting the outside of the bank, while reporters on the ground were talking about Iron Man's abrupt appearance. Not a minute later bright flashes of light were seen from the windows, and then people began streaming out the doors. Hostages were shoving their way through the crowd of people present, and paramedics were on scene trying to corral the victims. After the last hostages had left the building, a woman and a young boy, the Iron Man suit was seen stepping through the front doors.

But he wasn't alone.

Pressed tightly to his chest was a girl. Her head was resting against his shoulder and her body was curled up against him as he carried her bridal style. For a moment, Fury thought the girl was dead, but when Tony headed for the nearest ambulance it became clear that she was just unconscious.

"Iron Man was just in Egypt taking care of some stray Stark weapons." Phil's voice rang through the quiet room. "As of right now, it is unclear what prompted him to stop a bank robbery, but I will have more information for you soon. I have people working on it."

It was curious. Iron Man never handled run-of-the-mill threats, and here he was stopping something that the local law enforcement could have handled. Fury's thoughts were running wild until he saw it.

The reporters had zeroed in on Iron Man and the girl, who was now lying in the back of an ambulance being examined. The paramedics were working on her as Stark hovered closely over their shoulders, his helmet now removed. If Fury didn't know better, he would say that Stark looked concerned. Not only concerned, but scared.

When the paramedics were finished they turned to Stark and nodded their heads. Fury guessed that was the only thing he needed, because Stark's face relaxed, and he pulled the girl back into his arms before backing up and flying away.

He cared about her, which was obvious. The only question now was why?

Fury turned back around to face his agent, the look on his face clear. He was thinking about what this could mean and how he could use it to his advantage.

"Tell me everything," he commanded.

Alessandra woke up with a gasp, but kept her eyes firmly shut. She had been having the worst nightmare! She had gone to the bank to deposit her latest paycheck, when armed gunmen stormed the place. The feel of the gun against her temple had been so lifelike that she could still feel the pressure.

Her breathing slowed as she lay there. The air was cool, but not cold against her skin and the bed she was laying on had to be one of the most comfortable she had ever felt.

But her bed was not comfortable. In fact, most of the time it felt like she was laying on her carpeted floors.

Cracking open one eye, Alessandra was met with dim lighting and chrome colored walls. The ceiling was high and arched and blue flickering images flew around above her head. The distinct sound of metal on metal floated over to her, and a soft accented voice could be heard from across the room. Feeling the soft fabric beneath her body, Alessandra instantly recognized her surroundings.

She slammed her eyes shut again and sunk into the sofa, all the while shaking her head. She was in Tony's lab, and if she were there that meant her dream had been real. She had been in the middle of a bank robbery, and Tony had shown up to rescue her. So she really had been seconds from death. As scared as she had been, Alessandra recognized the peaceful feeling that had settled over her right before Tony arrived.

It was relief. And maybe even longing.

Hot shame flooded through her body. She had been relieved at the thought of her own death. What kind of person felt that way? She had never been suicidal, but the moment her thoughts had turned to her nonna, Al had wanted to join her. It was a selfish thought and all she could think about was the look on Tony's face if he ever found out. He was her best friend, someone who had shown up to protect her, and she had wanted to…

NO.

Without her realizing it, tears had begun to stream down her face. It was like every emotion was crashing down on her at once. Relief, guilt, shame, happiness, sadness, and desperation were all fighting for dominance, but she didn't have the strength to fight back.

The sofa she had been sitting on dipped next to her. Al knew that Tony was not the type to be emotional, but right now she didn't care. He was sitting next to her on the couch, not quite close enough to touch but his presence was impossible to ignore. She shoved her face into her hands and sobbed, reveling in the little bit of comfort he was willing to give her.

Seconds, minutes, or even hours later Alessandra lifted her face and got her first look at Tony. His face was void of his usual smirk and there were bags under his eyes. Honestly, he looked like he had been the one facing death.

But he had been. He had just been in Egypt that day (yesterday?) facing terrorists or something similar and without thinking twice, he dove straight into her mess. She couldn't even begin to express her gratitude for him, so she just settled on curling up into a tighter ball on the sofa and resting her head against the arm rest.

They sat there together, not touching and both staring at the wall in front of them, but neither of them minded. It was a detached sort of comfort, one that might have seemed strange to anyone else.

But it worked perfectly for them.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

April 8th, 2010

Alessandra P.O.V.

Alessandra's life in the last four months had picked up exponentially. Rather than meeting up on Tuesday's for dinner, Al and Tony spent nearly all of their time together. She spent her days off work following Tony on his adventures and her nights keeping him company in his lab. When Alessandra went to work, Tony went to Stark Industries with Pepper. (When asked about his new found dedication to the company, he claimed that J.A.R.V.I.S. had been pestering him to get more work done at the office. Al secretly thought it was because he was getting bored without her around to irritate him.)

Both Tony and Al had abnormal sleep schedules so it was normal to find one or both of the awake at any time. She still lived with Amanda above the leather goods shop, but more often than not she only went back home to grab a change of clothes. Tony's house was her sanctuary and she knew he got lonely at times, so she figured staying with him would be killing two birds with one stone.

Initially, Alessandra was concerned with spending so much time with her friend. He was a genius and observant of his surroundings, it wouldn't be ridiculous to assume he has noticed the changes she had gone through over the past couple of months. She was losing more weight as a result of eating less frequently—nausea tends to make eating incredibly difficult. Her insomnia had kicked in full force, partially due to nightmares of the Bank Incident and partially due to her guilt over keeping such a huge secret.

Not only that, but the cancer was beginning to manifest itself in more obvious ways and it was getting harder to shrug off Tony's questions with a joke or a change of subject. For the most part, he was good at pretending to be oblivious but Al knew he was keeping a close eye on her.

She had considered breaking off their friendship entirely but after everything she had been through, she wanted a friend. Especially one who had saved her life without a second thought. He didn't deserve for her to disappear without as much as a note goodbye. He was so much better than most of the world gave him credit for and because of that she would do her best to keep things the way they had always been. They were friends who traded good-natured barbs and dared one another to complete ridiculous bets, who shared more meals together than not, and who were completely content to spend hours together in silence. As far as she was concerned, that would never change.

So as she sat with Dum-E in the lab (Tony was currently occupied making more palladium cores for his arc reactor), she thought about what to get her best friend for his birthday. It was a little over a month away but she just knew that if she didn't get started now, she would never come up with anything in time. What does one even get a genius billionaire who was access to practically every resource on the planet? Not to mention, how did she knew someone else wouldn't get him the same gift?

A metaphorical light bulb went off in her head as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps on the floor above.

Tossing an "I'll be right back" over her shoulder to Tony, Al quickly made her way up the stairs and into the kitchen. There, she found the source of the footsteps and the answer to her problem.

Happy Hogan, wearing a sweaty t-shirt on his back and boxing gloves around his neck, was peering into the refrigerator and humming what sounded suspiciously like Barbie Girl.

Biting back the urge to sing along, Al thought about the day she had met the stoic looking man.

Flashback (February 2010)

Arriving at the hospital, backpack of contraband slung over one shoulder, Alessandra thought about how she would pull this off. It was a difficult field operation but thankfully she was prepared.

She had gotten a call from Tony about an hour ago saying that he was bored and that he wouldn't be at the house when she got off work. After a ten minute rant about the military interfering in one of his Iron Man missions he finally let on that he had been injured and was currently laid up in the hospital. The first thing she had felt was panic—he waited ten minutes to tell me he almost died, seriously?- followed by amusement as he began to complain about the "general suckiness" of hospital food. Devising a plan, she hopped in the car, picked up some important merchandise, and drove down to the medical facility.

Walking through the parking lot and towards the doors, she vaguely registered a few news vans parked around the entrance. She didn't think much of it until she noticed the reporters camped out near the large automatic doors. She furrowed her brows for a minute in confusion before slapping a hand over her face. Tony was famous. Right, she thought rolling her eyes. Honestly, it was easy to forget the Stark aspect of Tony's life.

Obviously news of Tony's condition had gotten out, making her job much harder. Quickly ducking her head, she strolled casually through the mass of reporters, getting almost no attention. Being a 'nobody' and dressing in ripped jeans basically meant they hadn't been looking too hard at her. Inside the hospital was another story. There were men in suits stationed everywhere and she could see a frazzled looking red head speaking with a doctor near the front desk. These were people she definitely didn't want to get the attention of.

She had always been particularly fond of spy movies; Nancy Drew being a total badass had started her fascination with the genre, so she drew on everything she had ever seen to be as inconspicuous as possible. If only Tony could see her now, sneaking into the hospital to bring him contraband. He would probably cheer and claim that some of his awesome had rubbed off on her.

Alessandra tried to look casual as she ducked into the nearest storage room she could find, only just getting there before an official looking man walked passed. Taking stock of what was in front of her, she quickly found a box of scrubs and white lab coats. Oh this is beyond illegal. Ignoring the angel on her shoulder, she stripped off her jacket and threw a pair of scrubs over her jeans and t-shirt. Next, she grabbed a lab coat and threw her long hair in a ponytail, hoping to look somewhat professional. Slinging her bag over her shoulder she grabbed a blank clipboard and breathed out a nervous sigh. WWNDD.

Grim expression on her face, she made sure the coast was clear before walking out of the room and down a random hallway. Alessandra silently berated herself for not getting the room number first and marched off down the hallway, trying to look official. She recalled the hospital in Vegas where she had spent most of her life and decided to use that building as a guideline for navigating this one. Luckily, hospitals were pretty predictable with their floorplans. It was only ten minutes later when she saw the red head marching towards a room with a large man standing guard over the door. As she approached, the man nodded and opened the door. Immediately she could hear a familiar voice complaining, "This is ridiculous! Take me home, Pep."

Al's mouth made an 'o' as she realized that the redhead must be Tony's assistant, Pepper. He spoke about her often and yet the two women had never met.

Not knowing how to precede, she froze in place and turned to the nearest reception desk. Pretending to read over some files, she flicked her eyes over at the door of Tony's room every few seconds. The man standing there had to be the most stoic man she had ever seen in her life. His face hadn't even twitched in the time she had been watching! This must have been Happy, bodyguard and friend of Tony's. Al knew from what she had heard of the man that it would be no easy feat getting past him. Tony described him as strong and courageous, despite also making fun of him at the same time. That only left one option: the two F's, flirting and flattery, a tactic Tony had often used to get what he wanted (even if the flattery part of the equation was severely lacking), but one she had never used before.

Another couple of minutes went by and she was starting to get nervous before the door opened and Pepper walked out. She turned to speak one last time, "suck it up, Tony," before strutting away in her five inch heels. Honestly, it was very impressive. Alessandra could understand why he had hired her in the first place. She looked like a force to be reckoned with and Alessandra would bet a hundred bucks that she could stab someone with the point of her shoes.

Shaking off her admiration, she looked over at Happy, noticing that he had been admiring Pepper as well. Stifling a laugh at the look plastered on his face she made her move.

"Excuse me, sir." Okay, so maybe the two F's weren't her first move. Something she had learned from the lovely Nancy Drew was that subtlety was everything, so she had just strolled straight up, clipboard in hand, and made a move toward the door. Unfortunately, Happy seemed to be good at his job.

"I can't let you in there, ma'am." His voice was stern and his eyes were narrowed.

Apparently she would have to bust out the flattery first. "Oh! Hello there. " Chuckling like an airhead, she tilted her smiling face towards the bodyguard. "You are obviously very good at your job, but I'm only here to check up on Mr. Stark's condition." She put special emphasis on the compliment, but no dice.

"Do you have credentials, ma'am?" Damn.

Pretending to look down in shock at her chest she exclaimed, "Crap! My badge is gone. It had been there minute ago… you don't think someone could have stolen it do you?" At the last part, she grabbed Happy's arm and widened her eyes in fear, noticing with triumph that his cheeks began to color. "I would be in so much trouble. There are reporters crawling all over this place!"

At the mention of reporters, his head snapped up and began to survey his surroundings. "Don't worry, ma'am, I'll make sure everyone who comes through here has adequate identification. We'll find your badge in no time."

Satisfied with her performance, Alessandra decided to have some fun at her friend's expense.

"Of course you will! You seem to have everything handled. I'll just pop in and check on Mr. Stark and then we can go look together."

Pretending to be nervous she gestured for him to get closer. Complying, she whispered in his ear. "I was told that Mr. Stark was having trouble urinating. Apparently, his suit doesn't exactly protect ALL of his extremities, if you know what I mean." His eyes widened comically before he winced in sympathy.

He nodded gravely and she allowed herself to beam brightly. "Great, thank you so much Mr…" she trailed off expectantly.

"Hogan, ma'am. Harold Hogan."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Hogan." She winked before quickly opening the door and stepping into the room.

She barely registered the fancy set up before she was collapsed against the door in a fit of quiet laughter. Oh man, Happy Hogan had just been promoted to favorite person in the universe.

Her entrance had startled Tony from his game of solitaire and when he saw who was making all of the noise, his eyebrows shot up.

"What the hell, Al?" he said loudly.

Flapping her hands at him and approaching quickly, she shook her backpack off and followed suit with the white lab coat. "Shut up! Happy's right outside."

"Wait! How did you even get in here?" He seemed to realize what she was wearing as he asked the question and now it was his turn to crack up. "You do realize that impersonating a medical professional is a felony right?"

She threw him a smirk as she dug through her backpack. "Yeah but I figured your fancy lawyers would get me out of it. And besides, this was important."

She adopted a serious expression, causing Tony to sober up and look at her worriedly. "After your phone call, I pulled some serious strings to get you something I'm told is banned from this room."

Alessandra threw a look at the closed door before slowly pulling her hand out of her backpack.

"Is that what I think it is?" Tony's voice was hushed and his face was full of awe as he gazed at her.

"Yupp." She said nonchalantly, dropping the serious persona.

In her hand was a bag of double cheeseburgers from Burger King.

Making 'gimmie' motions with his hands, Tony's eyes lit up. "Will you marry me? Seriously, I think I love you." He was tearing into the first burger as he finished his sentence, his declaration of love coming out muffled.

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed a burger of her own and pushed Tony over to the other side of the bed so she could sit.

"Not in a million years. But I'm glad you appreciate it because I basically dodged an army of Men in Black out there. Not to mention some vultures are posted at the hospital doors." He grunted in acknowledgement and reached out for his second burger. They sat in companionable silence as they ate.

Alessandra couldn't help but feel a burst of pride. She had successfully infiltrated Tony's heavily guarded hospital room and had made her friend smile. This was always something she had wished her friends would do for her. Hospital food was the absolute worst and she had lived off of it for years, not ever having greasy junk from a fast food restaurant. And besides, Tony deserved this. He had been working hard lately to help the world gain a little bit of peace and quiet. There hadn't been any major terrorist attacks and the media were attributing it to the efforts of Iron Man. He had become a symbol to the world at large, a message of hope for the people who had none.

Either way, she was proud of what her friend had accomplished. When she had started hanging out with him on a regular basis, it begun to sink in just what she was getting into. He was not only a rich CEO, but a superhero. A superhero who would regularly, and willingly, get himself caught in dangerous situations. At first, she hadn't been sure how to deal with that knowledge but after the Bank Incident, she understood. He was a hero and she wouldn't let her own worry get in the way of him protecting others. He was Tony, the man too stubborn to die after three months of torture in Afghanistan. He would be fine.

Only, then he had called her from a hospital bed. She had been sad to hear that he wouldn't be making home and then terrified as he brought up his current whereabouts. And okay, maybe she had brought him food for completely selfish reasons, but she wanted to make sure he was okay. So, she sat on the bed next to him rather than the chair sitting in the corner of the room. He looked fine, other than the bruises on the visible parts of his body and he was acting normal as far as she could tell, so she relaxed and thought about how she could make this afternoon better for her friend.

"Penny for your thoughts, pipsqueak?" She hadn't even noticed him watching her.

"Just wondering when I'm getting my friend back," Alessandra replied with a forced casual shrug. "We were supposed to try that new Indian place today."

It was obvious that she was lying, but she was grateful when he chose to play along. "That's right! We'll go on Friday. I hear they have some killer curry."

"Should I be worried about this so-called 'killer curry?' It sounds dangerous."

Tony sent her his signature taunting smirk, "Danger is my middle name, sweetheart."

Laughing, "Nice try, Eddie."

"Don't ever call me that again." He said with a grimace, making her laugh harder.

"Are you sure, Eddie? I think it has a nice ring to it. Ed, Edward, Eddie!" She was outright mocking him now.

"You really want to do this?" He was reaching behind his back now, hand grasping his pillow. "You should know that all actions have consequences and I'm not above being petty about it." He punctuated 'petty' with a smack of his pillow directly in her face.

She squeaked and almost fell out of the bed before grabbing the only other pillow and trying to hit him back. A full on pillow fight broke out right there in the hospital room, showering the place in feathers. Of course, only she and Tony could make it look like guerrilla warfare.

Tony didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up with the teenager as he threw as many hits as he took, making her wonder why he was in the hospital in the first place (she later found out that he had lost consciousness in the suit because he had forgotten to change his palladium core, not that he could explain that to his doctors). At a particularly hard hit to Al's face—one that sent her sprawling to the ground—he laughed loudly and began to do a small victory dance, all while looking smug as hell.

She huffed, not really angry as evidenced by her small smile, "you're stronger than I am, so technically you already had an advantage."

At this he began to sing the chorus of "Sweet Victory" at the top of his lungs, as Al watched on.

Both of them froze as the door slammed open and Happy Hogan, in all of his glory, stood there with his mouth hanging open. Alessandra wondered about his shock before realizing what they must have looked like. Tony Stark had his arms raised above his head and a pillow clutched in one fist while Al was reclined on the floor, her clothes rumpled and ponytail askew. There were feathers and blankets laying all over the floor and the almost empty bag of Burger King had landed at Tony's feet.

Slowly, and in sync, the two friends looked at each other. A silent conversation began, punctuated by hand movements and changing facial expressions as the two argued over who would explain their situation to Happy. Al was quite proud to admit that this was one battle she could win.

Happy was able to control his features, many years working for an eccentric billionaire had meant seeing some strange things, and spoke calmly to a sheepish Tony. "I'm guessing you didn't really need help urinating, sir."

At this Tony went from sheepish to sputtering, causing Alessandra to roll over, laughing hard.

"Urinating?"

Nodding solemnly, Happy explained, "This young woman impersonated a nurse and suggested that your suit hadn't protected your… extremities during the battle."

The billionaires eyes widened and he swung his head at the girl trying to recover on the floor. "Seriously, Al? You had to go with that?"

Despite the question, amusement and something that looked suspiciously of pride, danced in his eyes.

Happy's calm demeanor broke once again as he heard the girl's name. "Hold on, this is Al? The friend you've been spending all your time with? The same one who convinced you to jump naked in the ocean while drunk?"

Alessandra and Tony glanced at each other again before breaking down—this time Tony bent over with his hands on his knees. She doesn't remember what she had been thinking when she suggested skinny dipping in the middle of the night, but it had to be hands down one of her best memories.

Two minutes later, when he was able to control his giggles, Tony nodded his head at Happy. "Yeah. Hap meet Alessandra, Al meet Happy Hogan."

Alessandra got to her feet and smiled widely at the befuddled bodyguard. "Sorry about messing with you outside. It's nice to meet you."

He just stared at her for a moment before turning to Tony, "Does Pepper know about her?"

Confused by the question, Tony answered slowly, "Yes. You were there when I mentioned her, why are you asking?"

At this, Happy's face flashed with realization and he slowly shook his head, mumbling a quiet "this won't end well." Before either could ask, he spoke to Alessandra, "You should probably go before anyone else shows up. Tony's awful singing voice probably carried through the whole hospital."

Their eyes grew wide at the realization that they had been yelling, and Alessandra dashed backed to the head of the bed to grab her backpack before hustling to the door.

"Al, take the evidence!" At this, Tony tossed the bag of trash at her.

She expertly snatched the Burger King bag out of the air and saluted Tony with two fingers before closing the door.

"Thanks Happy!" She called as she made a break for the exit.

She could hear him chuckling softly before she turned the corner and got lost among the patients and staff.

Her hospital break-in and meeting one of Tony's closest friends had been a complete success.

Chuckling, she shook herself out of her memory.

The sound of Alessandra's laugh had Happy standing up abruptly and turning to face her with a fierce looking written across his face, as if preparing for a fight. When he saw her raised eyebrows, he deflated, rolled his eyes, and turned back to his perusal of the contents of his boss' fridge.

"Happy, I need some help," she said as she perched on a stool at the kitchen island. "It's Tony's birthday next month and I have no idea what to get him."

Pulling out the ingredients to make himself a sandwich, Happy succinctly responded, "You can't buy him anything he doesn't already have, kid."

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem here."

He shrugged, completely unconcerned by her desperation. "He's difficult to shop for. Even when he was younger, I doubt his parents knew what to get him. Although, from what I heard his dad wasn't the warmest guy around…"

As Happy continued his rant about the difficulty of buying gifts for his boss, Alessandra thought about Tony's parents. He had never really mentioned his father, but he did make offhanded comments about his mother occasionally. From the way he spoke, she could tell that he loved her.

With that thought, another light bulb went off. She knew exactly what to get Tony and she was positive it was something completely unique.

Pulling out her cellphone, she waved goodbye to Happy and told J.A.R.V.I.S. to let Tony know she would be back tomorrow.

If she was going to do this, she had to get started right away.