2432/Healing's hard work

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Healing's hard work
Date of Scene: 12 July 2020
Location: Avengers Mansion - Medical
Synopsis: Pepper assists a restlessly injured Tony.
Cast of Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts




Tony Stark has posed:
There were a number of messages for Pepper to check, though none of them were marked urgent - at least, not until the end of them. They were about various things that Tony thought of while he was restless in the morning. Some of it was Stark Industries related (she was encouraged to bring some things to sign, in fact, because he may as well do a lot of that while he wasn't busy doing anything /important/), some of it related to the repairs on the tower, and some of it personal: he wanted some of his specific items brought from the penthouse.

None of it was all that unusual, not really: Tony's been injured multiple times before, and there's usually this chatter at her because he's stuck somewhere - and he isn't able to disappear into his lab and out of communication!

At first entry, the room is empty, but that's not actually the case. Tony's predictably in his medical room, but got out of the bed, to tinker with the computer console connected next to it, seated on the floor cross-legged. Of course. He did bring his IV along, as well as the cords all connected up to his chest reactor, so he's on a leash - of sorts.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper's got the list of messages, one going *bloop*, then the next *bloop* as Tony adds one after another as he thinks about it. The list is pretty comprehensive; a testament to his boredom, no doubt, and even that thought makes Pepper ghost a smile as she checks it before finally leaving the apartment to head back to the Tower, and off to the Mansion. A quick text is sent in return, <<Give me a few. Traffic is a bear.>>

Once she makes it in, Pepper is looking every inch the PA that has to attend meetings; her heels are less 'sensible', her hair is up and into a bun with little red tendrils, and her face is actually made up.. the freckles mostly covered by a touch of natural looking foundation. She carries her leather bag, and as she steps through, she looks.. harried.

"I'm sorry I'm late," she begins, and as she looks to the bed to see that it's empty, she stops dead in her tracks and green eyes widen before she locates him, where she didn't really expect him. On the floor.

Maybe she should have expected it? "What are you doing out of bed? I mean, other than the obvious.. fiddling with the .. things."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Stop judging me and come over here with your extra hands," Tony says, gesturing with his right hand towards her. There is one of the drone robots by his left knee, helpfully having brought tools, probably. Tony's ability to reinvent things - including to recruit his little helpers to do new and interesting assignments - is of course legendary. And here he is, doing that.

There's a slight restlessness to it: a piece of the man that was trapped in a cave, injured and in a mix of shock and fear, and forced to work on a weapon. It's the medical lab, but something about the claustrophobia of it got him up and off the bed, and doing what he's up to.

"This slide panel has to be held up and then slid backwards in the same motion," Tony instructs expectantly.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The little robot... and Pepper cants her head at the little thing before looking at the console being worked on and exhales in a soft sigh as she finishes her cross to the bed to put the leather briefcase down and kick off her shoes in prelude to getting comfortable enough to help with some work of Tony's doing. She smells like fresh shower and 'business meeting prep' as she reaches out a hand, shaking her head. "I.. I have no idea what.. what, like this?"

Pepper takes hold of the little slide panel and tries to follow the instruction, trying not to crowd Tony in the process but pauses with, "I'm not going to get shocked or anything, right?" She looks to straighten briefly, green eyes meeting his brown, "Because if I am, it's not funny.."

Tony Stark has posed:
"You won't get shocked." A pause. "I mean, I don't //think// so," Tony amends, with a sort of thoughtful look towards the sliding panel as if judging it again to decide if it actually might do it. But then he side-glances at her and flicks a little wink at her. He was just trying to make her bluster.

It's not the same as a wink he gives across a table to a supermodel; those come with a sly, roguish smile. This lacks that smile: which makes it come from a different place. A more natural one, maybe.

"It pulls back then off fully, just like if you've ever opened your computer tower," Tony describes. He never talks down to her, not ever; his tone is just descriptive. "We're just upgrading something so that I can use more of the lab from here. Normally I keep it limited: we don't want someone that isn't me using the lab when they're supposed to be healing."

Right.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Tony," comes as a soft warning as she begins to straighten a little more from her spot before she catches his look and lets out that nervous, 'I really don't know what I'm doing' laugh. "Okay.. okay. Now, what am I doing?"

She takes the instruction with good humor, and it's pretty obvious that she really doesn't open her computer tower. Ever. "You know I have you to do that for me, right?" Or, well, IT. "If you're too busy, I call Carl. He's usually prompt." She's got that smile on her face again, and she looks between the slide and Tony.. and back to the slide.

"Right," she begins again, adding her help, "Now, are you going to put it back the way you found it after you're out? Just so, you know, someone doesn't access what they're not supposed to?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"You're fine, one hand here," Tony says, guiding her. "Now straight back, and lift, just follow me." He guides her through it, then immediately looks into the opening spot.

Tony has transfered one of the tools - a screwdriver with a particular handle by all appearances -- to between his teeth because of the one-handed problem, and scoots in towards the panel to insert a hand and switch some things off. The whole console powers down, the lights inside dim. Will he put it back? "Uh huh," Tony says around the item in his mouth. He slides towards the open panel and inserts almost all of his right arm back into it, doing something by feel, then leaning out enough to snare the screwdriver, and insert that...

Tony's working blind now, nose wrinkled a little bit, eyes moving towards the ceiling, slightly squinted. "Ummmm, the 44 wire set," Tony asks the little bot by his leg, which rapidly begins to sort little tools on the floor, and then extends the one Tony wanted. He instead picks up some wire cutters, and hands those towards Pepper, and then extends some 44 wire lengths. "Clip about halfway."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper makes a face as she follows instructions, her attention fixed on what she's trying to do, and she nods quickly, feeling the motion of the slide. "Got it.. yeah, got it," she acknowledges. Glancing back to her personal genius, brows rise and she shoots him a quick smile. She's got it!

It's moments like these, where she gets to watch Tony work up close, and be something of a part of it, it seems so natural? Right? Or, rather, it gives her the chance to watch him, watch him innovate, create.. and it puts her in a happy place.

Catching his voice, it brings her a little out of that 'moment', and she has to work out what he's saying. "Hmmm?" The 44 wire set.. and glancing back at the robot, she looks expectantly at it. It's the wire cutters that she doesn't expect, and she looks a little dubious as the cutters are handed to her. Her eyes narrow and she shakes her head, "Are you sure about this?" Her flickering gaze moves from cutter to wire to cutter.. to wire. It's dark, and she knows it! No power.. and she reaches out slowly, resting the blades on the wire, and she looks once more for confirmation.

Tony Stark has posed:
Tony watches her tentative assistance, and lifts his eyes to meet hers as she looks at him questioningly. "Don't worry, Pep," Tony teases her gently. "It's not heart surgery." THAT has happened, in part... and a slight callback to her vital assistance in the past!

Tony gives her an entirely supportive nod, and gestures with his eyes to the wire where she's got it held. Once it's clipped, he turns it about and gives the ends to the bot. "Fuse on a dual-split coupler to those."

A few moments later, the robot makes a chirp noise, and Tony extracts the leads, and bridges across to another section inside the open console, clipping that into place. He then puts his arm back in, to power things back on again.

"That's the hardware part; just some software," Tony says, starting to try to draw one of his knees under himself awkwardly, pain registering on his tightened jaw.

Pepper Potts has posed:
A soft breath of air exits the redhead as she is reminded of //that// particular moment, and she gives him that tight-lipped look, a mix of amusement and annoyance, but all in good humor. "Right..." and there is that undercurrent of dubious. Still, she closes her eyes at the *snip* of the wire, and once it's severed, she looks back at him and is more than happy to hand it over and set the cutter down.

As the little bot takes over the work, Pepper shifts a touch back and straightens again, her head canting as she watches the little thing at work. It's impressive, once one realizes how directable it is and how many different things is can do.

Of course the moment she sees Tony having a little bit of trouble, Pepper is there, ready to offer a hand. There's no way that she'll move to get under, but rather serve as an anchor; someone that he can pull himself up to give him a little bit of balance. "Tony, here.." and her tones do hold that hint of concern, more out of the pain that he's experiencing than anything else. "You need to get back to bed before you set off the alarms."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Don't worry about the alarms," Tony comments as he lifts his forearm up to give her plenty of his arm and elbow to guide upwards. He's never had an issue with her helping him; that type of pride isn't an issue with her. That's what she's there /for/, to assist him...

"I turned them off."

Tony's smoothly unrepentant about it, but at least the alarms won't create an annoying klaxton. "I can feel your disapproval coming off you in waves, though," Tony adds, changing position as he gets his legs under him, moving his arm instead to loop it securely around her waist, his hand tightening on her opposite him. "Oof. I feel like I was in a battle with Brainiac in person, not just virtually." Still, he's up, and that's what matters. He's dressed very comfortably in a light gray tee and black Avengers-logo lounge pants. The glow of the arc reactor is subtle in it's triangle and myriad of little geometric shapes through the thin shirt.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The moment Tony states those words 'Don't worry', of course there's something that he'd done, and while she's aiding him to his feet, helping steady through the pain, she's ready to ask...

But he beats her to the punch with the answer. There's that moment where her expression shifts to that displeasure, and she shifts subtly for that forward attack; shoulders back, and she digs her bare feet in, figuratively.

"You know that's supposed to warn people if there's a //problem//, Tony. What happens if, god forbid, some--" happens.. She exhales in an angry.. no, more frustrated chuff of air and she looks down at the robot. "You're part of this too." Though.. so is she.

"I can't believe you.."

She wraps her arm around him, though; there is her first priority, and that's to get him to bed, get him comfortable and where he //belongs// for the time being. She can feel the warm of his body under his shirt, and the closeness really does keep any other argument from forming. Instead, she's fully there for him.

"I think you would have done better with him than your laser," she gently teases. "You don't do anything halfway."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Not /all/ of the alarms. Just the ones that would go off for, say, being on the floor," Tony parries, as if that made the situation any better. Had he collapsed on the floor, no alarms.... "JARVIS is keeping an eye, anyway. Stick up for me, JARVIS," Tony tells the ceiling.

"Mr. Stark, I did recommend that you remain in your bed," JARVIS says, as if he were also very put-upon by Mr. Stark not listening at all. He's on Pepper's side!

"Right, thanks for the backup." Tony adjusts his other hand. "Mind the wires, I'm still plugged in, here." To the IV and so forth. However, he moves back towards the bed, allowing her to help him to slide back up onto it; he brings the arm up off her waist to more at her shoulder, before the heavy movement is complete.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Thank you, Jarvis."

Is that a hint of triumphant smugness? It could be why Pepper just hasn't fully bonded with Homer, perhaps? He may learn yet. "I know he'd say something, but an alarm would get a touch more attention." Of course, there's nothing keeping the AI from hitting klaxons if he thought he wasn't being listened to, but that's... gauche.

"He's right." Pepper has that tight-lipped smile again, and as Tony gets situated to get back into bed, she helps guide. Once there, the sheets are pulled taut before she pulls them up. "Now just stay there. I'm asking the doctor when he think you'd be ready to leave, but he said it was up to you." There's that green eyed stare before it tempers down to //almost// a plead, "So please.. just do as he says?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"I would like to point out," Tony begins as he groans quietly as he shifts and works his way back up onto the bed. It's positioned for him to sit upright; there's a console leaned over nearby him since the Brainiac issue that is still there, though most of that gear as taken out: per Stark's orders. He didn't need the battlestation in there getting in his way anymore. But it's not ALL gone!

"--- that alarms did go off last time, and you arrived with the Avengers to give me a hand," Tony says. He smiles at her, hand sliding off of her shoulder some but moving the fingers to tug on a loose strand of wavy hair near her neck. "I have you to look after me, now don't I."

There's pain, but a brief appreciation there, too, a rare reflectiveness. He knows she helped then, and is helping now.

Pepper Potts has posed:
She's trying, she really is... she's tamping down a lot in order to handle the physical moving of a hurt Tony. Her boss. But it really is getting harder to see the lines as they blur, and she's enjoying the warmth, the weight and the closeness that is here and now.

And when he's healed, things'll go back to normal.

Pepper breathes a laugh and shakes her head. "I think I heard the *boom* in my soul before I heard the sirens." Probably not, but that's how it feels! She's gently guiding, and as he pulls some of her hair, she gives him another look, but there's that flickering of amusement coupled with .. that warmth.

Breathe, Pep. Just breathe.

"Yes, Tony," is the response. "But please don't think I want to watch you get hurt. I can't." But she simply doesn't have it in her to turn her back. Not when he needs her. Wild horses (and Avengers) couldn't keep her away.

Tony Stark has posed:
"I don't like /being/ hurt any more than you like looking at it," Tony points out, with a growl of mild pain. "Speaking of that, go ahead with those painkillers anytime," Tony asks the ceiling, breaking their eye contact to look up. The machine next to Tony makes a noise, indicating that the request was, indeed, completed. "Maybe no coding for a bit. Also MAYBE should have waited; hindsight." That he should have coded first, then got his morphine, but whatever.

Tony adjusts his back and settles into the comfy pillows there, leaning his right arm across to fix the position of some of the bandages on his left shoulder and bicep.

Tony releases a deep breath and then gives her one of his press-release smiles. Charisma and charm, even when banged up. "Do you need some signatures before I pass out?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Then stop doing it." It's half a joke, half an actual plead, but once he's settled again, Pepper finishes getting the sheets taken care of. At the request, Pepper lifts her gaze up to that pump that gives that sweet relief of such pain as well, and seemingly follows the flow down as it reaches the IV in his arm. She can tell when it hits his bloodstream by the way he relaxes under it, the muscles that had been so tensed with pain suddenly.. aren't.

"I think that's a good idea." Pepper moves to the side to help fluff the pillows, pushing and pulling to help get the most out of the support they can give. Once done, she looks down to re-locate her work heels, and one foot is placed in, then the other.. and she's straightening again, looking all the world like a PA.

That smile is the one that she's probably the most familiar with, and what it says. It allows her to take that step back, emotionally, and settle into a role she's performed admirably for the last 8 years. Not that it's //easy// to do so, now that some truths are becoming a little more self-evident. "Well, some of those signatures are easier once you're a little more under the influence of the painkillers." She's got the deadpan down. "Like, the movement of money to an offshore account-" Beat. "Sorry, I meant the movement of money into a charity for widows and orphans." She's KIDDING.

"Seriously, though, yes. Quarterly reports that I have," and that leather briefcase is located, the flaps pulled back, and there is paper, with pen.

That's a lot of paper.

"Now," and she licks a finger to move through the sheafs of paper, "Here," and a finger first points, and then it's put in the general area for Tony to reach. "Initials are fine. And here.." And should Tony look at the paper? Stark Industries is above projected for the quarter. Good news for the shareholders. "And here."

Tony Stark has posed:
When she bent over to fix her shoes, Tony was looking, observing her movement. And she may well catch him looking steadily at her when she finishes with that and stood up again, because Tony doesn't hide things like that. Particularly not when he's feeling more relaxed.

Tony then regards the papers like a good CEO, and picks up the pen she'd set out for him. "It's a good thing I went ahead and messed up my left arm, or this would have been really time consuming," Tony comments dryly. He's very good at signing things, and follows each item reasonably well: brown eyes are alert, checking the things he does sign. There's trust here, but he didn't get where he is without paying attention.

"Mmmm, I thought we were getting a redraft of this one," Tony says, rejecting one of the forms. "Check with accounting again." Still, the others he initials, as they go through them.

Pepper Potts has posed:
That sort of attention is the reason why she may have missed that last piece. She doesn't normally do that!

Pepper blinks at Tony, looks down at the paper and back at her employer with something of.. embarrassment? An oversight is a mistake in her book, and she'd gone through the papers. All.. many, many, many of them. She has something of an apologetic, embarrassed smile that moves across her face and she pulls the single bit of paper from its pile and looks at it again. "Of course. I thought... huh." She'll check with accounting, but this means that some of her reporting is going to be off. Which means,

"I'm going to have to go to the office and get this taken care of," is said a touch flatly. "I can't go to the Board with this." While Tony might be a perfectionist, in some subjects, he may have met his match with her (usual) attention to detail. This one slipped by her and has the same effect as that laser beam had on him.

She's ready to get the forms back into her briefcase, now wordlessly working, her actions a bit jerky. She's upset.. but she'll fix the problem.

Tony Stark has posed:
In a way, it's something that Pepper CAN fix, can control, can make better, in a way she can't fix what happened to Tony. "Hey, some of us make mistakes. Very few ones. Be glad it wasn't an enormous starship-neutralizing laser," Tony says, which is his way of saying yes, there was a mistake made by him as well.

It happens and he'll carry around the guilt of it. FOrtunately nobody was hurt except himself. That, and some fire extinguisher robots. Natasha is vicious!

"Hey, Pep, hold up a second," Tony says, gesturing her back over, and then reaching out to touch her wrist with his warm fingertips.

Pepper Potts has posed:
It's that bit of control she does have over her life; her job. Well, her job at helping Tony run the company, anyway. (She'll NEVER be the one to say that she actually is the one that runs it. Tony runs it. Period.) She has a great deal of autonomy, granted by the CEO, and it's taken a few years, but the Board also has finally recognized his proxy in the form of his red-headed, shrewd Personal Assistant. Every few years, though, when the Board makeup shifts, she has to resubmit her qualifications to be sure that the company continues to run smoothly. All without whispers of whether or not the pretty PA is sleeping with her boss!

It's the upset, jerky motions that might make the bed rock a little, and she closes the leather case, sets the brass lock, and picks it up, ready to go back to work at her technically closed office.

She's turned gracefully on those heels, and had been ready to leave before she stops at her name, turning around first with a look over her shoulder. "You survived the starship-neutralizing laser. I'm not sure I could survive your Board." She's got that soft lilt in her voice, knowing the fact that she's likening the two to be a touch absurd, but the point in her head stands. She exhales with a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and turns fully in order to walk slowly back towards the bed, and her boss. When he touches her wrist, she offers a slight smile, "Did you want me to offer my resignation?" She's joking.. mostly. This is her world.

Tony Stark has posed:
"I'm hoping such a letter would also be an accounting error," Tony jokes back naturally, with a rueful snort and lift of his eyebrows. He takes it as the joke that it is, as well: Pepper leaving had not really crossed his mind as something that was possible, and he doesn't soak it in as possible now. He takes her for granted, sure: but he does know he's reliant on her for a lot of things.

"I can handle the Board. I told you I'm back, focused here, not off in the presidential race or whatever. And I meant that. You're not on your own," Tony says, with the odd seriousness he can sometimes bring forward when the other bullshit gets set aside long enough.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Her leaving would mean that there was a failure; particularly for something like this, and she's not willing to admit failure. She's a perfectionist, and just needs to wallow briefly before she sets her sights on the solution. It's the business version of fight or flight.

Green eyes do meet those darker ones, and even in the pouring of painkillers through his system, his words sound a message in their tones. She breathes, truly breathes before she nods her head, accepting the words. "I know you are," comes as she tries to smile in the face of things. "I've noticed." Even in his forays of saving the world, she knows he's there. Even in her apartment, away from the hustle of Stark Industries, he's made his presence known, and it's that thought that had sent her over for the moment. Now, recovery and she offers up a game smile.

"I'll be okay, Tony. I'll get this fixed," and her tones are a touch stronger, more self assured. "It'll be right."

Tony Stark has posed:
"Okay. Counting on you," Tony says, with his usual trust in her. He relies on her to, indeed, get it right, or lean on the others who should have gotten it right. His eyes drop to her hand where he's touching her still, and he just leaves his fingers there: it'll be up to her to draw back and head away.

"I'm not accepting any letters of resignation right now," Tony teases her. "Not from you. I need you here." Not we, but 'I'.

Pepper Potts has posed:
If she doesn't find the corrected form, Pepper will indeed lean. She's got something of a reputation in the company; not only as a mouthpiece for Tony, but as something of a driver for the corporation. She wants what is right for Stark Industries, and it shows.

Pepper doesn't move, doesn't disengage. Instead, she bends her knees enough to set her briefcase onto the floor before straightening them once more. She reaches for his hand in order to give it a squeeze, and she murmurs, "Thank you, Tony." It's heartfelt, certainly. It's a 'thank you' that encompasses pretty much everything. She's not about to elaborate, not going to list everything that she's thankful for from him, but the sentiment is certainly there.

"I'll be back in a few hours and bring back something to eat. Get some rest, okay?"

Tony Stark has posed:
"Of course; you're welcome," Tony answers, a pleasant tease to his answer to her honest and heartfelt thanks. The tone is playful, but the rotation of hand under her squeezing one, and press of thumb along her knuckles, does prove that it's not all a game. Tony Stark does have a heart. Even if feels are difficult.

Tony clears his throat. "Something to eat? I'll remember that. How about tacos? Something good and messy I can struggle with one-handed," Tony suggests with a tired deep sigh, settling back and letting his eyes close tiredly.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper knows that he has a heart, and she's seen it many, many times. She also has heard that tone many, many times; it's that one that makes her feel that all is right with the world, and in the face of it? She manages a chuckle that manages to release a touch more stress. There is nothing like Tony being Tony that makes her feel better.

The warmth of his touch, and the feel of his hand does her a world of good, but unfortunately, she's got work to do, so she gently draws away.

"Tacos, I can do. Or, you can do." She'll bring them for him. "Something good and messy."

Nodding her approval as he lays back to close his eyes, she pauses for a second to simply watch him to be sure he's really staying put before she picks up her briefcase. Time to get to the office, fix the problems and come back with food.