afterglow - tony stark

15

        Eira was in the hospital.

       Apparently, on top of the alcohol, her drink was spiked with some drug. She had a terrible reaction and even had a seizure.

               Tony had paced her hospital room practically the whole time she occupied it. He kept running his hands through his hair worriedly. The doctors said she'd be okay but still...what if the last words she'd ever heard from him was wishing that she'd died? He couldn't handle that.

                  It was two days later when she woke up and she blinked her eyes open slowly. She was surprised to see him pacing the floor and looking so unkept.

              "Tony?"

              He heard her small, soft voice and he immediately halted as he looked over at her. Her green eyes were fixated on him and he let out the biggest sigh of relief, "You're awake."

            Awake? She didn't even remember falling asleep; she just remembered her world growing very dark. She looked around at the room before she asked in confusion, "Where are we?"

           "You're in the hospital," he explained. "Someone spiked your drink at the party and there will be...consequences."

               When he found out the news, he was so mad. Someone had hurt his flower girl and even though he didn't want to feel this way, he still cared about her.

             "And you were...worried?" she asked quietly. He didn't want her to be alive; why would he be here with her?

            He approached her bedside and sat in the chair next to it as he looked at her intensely, "Snowflake, you gotta understand that I say things I don't mean and you have to know that I would never want any harm to come to you."

                  He looked at her hand and went to reach for it but then he thought of her crime. He dropped his hand before it could touch hers.

               She noticed and she sniffled sadly, "But you're always going to be mad at me?"

               He looked at her with glossy eyes, "Yes, I'm mad. How I could not be? You're the reason..."

                  He stopped himself before he finished the sentence but he didn't need to. You're the reason I don't have any family except the friends that I made. Yes, she knew that very well.

          "You do know I'm sorry, don't you?" a lump built up in her throat.

             "And God do I wish that were enough right now, Snowflake," he breathed out deeply. He wanted more than anything to be able to let it go because she was perfect but he couldn't; not yet. He'd never known anything so complicated.

             He stood up and avoided those sad, green eyes, "I'll, uh, tell them you're awake."

            He left her room and left her all alone. Alone was exactly what she was. It was all she'd ever been.

            ______

After getting out of the hospital, she had decided to move out from living with Tony. She did it discreetly and she didn't confront Tony about it but she thought it was for the best.

She got her stuff and she did leave a note for Tony. She halted as she came to the front door and looked up at the ceiling, "I'll miss you, Jarvis."

"I will miss you as well," Jarvis replied. "It was a pleasure."

"Look after Tony for me?" she asked softly.

"I will certainly try," Jarvis promised. "But he is a handful."

She giggled a bit before she opened the door to the outside, "Goodbye, Jarvis."

"Goodbye, Miss Snow."

And she was gone.

_____

When Tony finally came up from his workshop, he found a letter and a red marigold; her favorite. He furrowed his eyebrows as he picked up the letter.

Dear Tony,
They say marigolds are like the sun and Pepper keeps saying you thought of me as your sun or something really bright like an angel...except no one knows I'm all tainted in red now. I hope you find a new sun, Tony. And I hope that when we meet again you can forgive me.

Always,
Your Snow

"Jarvis," his voice increased with urgency. "Where is she?"

"She left this morning, sir," Jarvis informed before his AI voice seemed to get wispy. "I was sad to see her go."

"You were...sad?" he said in irritation. "You're supposed to tell me these things, Jarvis."

"But, sir..." he said in confusion. "You said when she got here to fulfill any wish she had. She did not wish to tell you."

He groaned in frustration as he walked down the hall to her room. He pushed open the door and he immediately leaned against the doorway in defeat.

All of her flower pots were gone. There was only this one flower in his hand to remind him that his flower girl was ever there to begin with.

He stared down at the flower with teary eyes as he held it gently. He understand why she left but he was really hoping she wouldn't. He had the hope that eventually he could just get over it and they'd go back to normal. But he wondered if that was ever going to be possible for them.

Maybe it wasn't.

He could never go back to being that man before the cave but he'd also never known a world after it without Snow. Maybe there was a possibility of going back to their normal and he'd just lost the best thing that had ever happened to him. But, right now, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to get her back.

Right now, she was gone and he couldn't tell her all the things she wanted to hear. There was no other truth to it even though he wished there was another one.