Innocent Bystander | T. Stark ✔️

fourteen ▼ a surprise visitor

Juliet was torn between the persistent, nagging hunger clawing at her stomach and the man facing her. His eyes were closed, one hand loosely intertwined with hers over the bed covers. It was eight in the morning and she doubted Tony had slept that late in years. If she moved she ran the risk of waking him.

In the three weeks since the attack on Stark Industries, a lull had washed over Malibu. No more crazed extremis subjects made their way to the streets, no more buildings were brought to the ground. After the stretch of silence, General Irwin had informed Tony that research into extremis was being put on hold until further notice. Apparently there were matters higher on his list of priorities. 

And so Juliet had no distractions, no other responsibilities, nothing at all to keep her from falling for Tony. It was like it was a natural response to being with him inside her. She could feel a section of her heart becoming more and more his everyday.

Still, she felt guilty. Extremis could sill be a threat, whether or not it fit in General Irwin's schedule. An anxious feeling bloomed in her chest whenever her mind had a moment to wander to the possible repercussions from ignoring it. She and Tony felt strongly that the attack on Stark Industries and the extremis experiments were from the same source. There were files inside the building on extremis that they likely didn't want to be seen. Not only did that mean that the person behind extremis's return had the resources and power to bring down a facility with hundreds inside, but that they had won a victory the day they did. No one opposed them.

The nurse looked at the door, another pang of hunger reminding her of her plight. A sleeping Tony lay between her and it.

Slowly, carefully, she began to shift off of the bed.  She only dared move an inch at a time, and her whole body tensed every time Tony stirred. When she finally made it out of bed, she slipped once in her socks on the slick floor on the way to the door, but made it downstairs to the kitchen without any other incident.

"Good morning, Jarvis." Juliet greeted the system as she began rummaging through cupboards.

"Good morning, Miss Ward."

Juliet, unwilling to wait long enough to cook something, poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat at her usual place at the island. She sat in silence, allowing her thoughts to wander. Every time her conscious lighted on a memory of her and Tony's time together over the past three weeks a rush of adrenaline flowed through her, starting at her head and ending in her toes.

Though she tried to ignore them, there were feelings of fear and worry intermingled with the euphoria. Caring more about him meant the possibility of hurting more if anything happened to him. With the chances of things going wrong while he was out fighting for the world so high, the seed of terror grew inside her all too easily if she let it.

Footsteps down the stairs alerted her to Tony's arrival. He moved slowly, eyelids still heavy with sleep and hair sticking out at odd angles where it had been on his pillow. He stopped beside her to kiss her forehead and mumble a sleepy greeting before moving to the coffee maker on the counter. When his coffee was made and in a mug, he turned to face her, leaning against the countertop behind him. He sipped at the drink, and it seemed he was lost in thought.

"Penny for you thoughts?"

Tony set down his mug with the ghost of a grin. "I was thinking about the first time I met you."

The day felt far away, but Juliet remembered it clearly. The nerves of arriving at arriving at her new job, the excitement and the awe at her surroundings.

She brought her empty bowl to the sink and hopped up to sit on the counter across from him. "What was your first impression of me?"

"I thought you were...innocent. I didn't want someone here watching me, trying to fix me; I didn't think I needed anyone. I particularly didn't think I needed a bright eyed nurse. And if I'm honest, I still don't think I needed a live in nurse." Tony's fingertips reached out to graze her's, teasing her with his touch. His voice was barely audible as he began again. "I needed you, Jules. I do need you."

Juliet could feel his breath tickling her face. She looked down at him from her place on the counter, hands on his shoulders as he moved closer to her. His lips brushed hers once, then twice. Every fiber of her body felt like it was crying out for their lips to meet. Her thoughts were a jumble of unintelligible thoughts. He kissed her neck, her jaw, her temples, leaving a line of skin burning with the memory of how it felt to be touched by him. His lips found the corner of her mouth and her entire body filled with anticipation.

"Mr. Stark, you have a visitor outside."

Juliet heaved a sigh and let her forehead fall forward on his shoulder. "If you weren't such a tease, these things wouldn't happen," she grumbled into the fabric of his shirt.

"Who is it, J?"

"Maya Hansen, sir."

Juliet's eyes widened. "The Maya Hansen?"

Tony picked up his phone, accessing the security camera with a view of the front door. Juliet could see a woman in the video feed, hands nervously twitching at her sides. What she could see of the woman's face matched the picture of Maya Hansen she had seen in the lab.

Tony ran a hand over his mouth and exhaled a deep breath. "Let her in, Jarvis."

Within seconds a borderline frantic looking woman was standing in the kitchen with them. Juliet tensed when Maya's eyes immediately landed on her hair; the blonde curls were disheveled and wild from the way Tony had ran his hands through them only moments before. Fighting the crimson creeping into her cheeks, she smoothed it out as discreetly as possible.

"Maya, it's so nice to see you alive and well."

"I don't have time for your sarcasm." Maya's voice trembled when she spoke. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her, knuckles white. "I need to talk to you about something very important."

"Please, Maya, tell me you aren't connected to this extremis experimentation." He said, jaw tight.

The woman swallowed thickly, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment. "I was, but I'm trying to do the right thing now." Her eyes opened again with new resolve in them. "I work for the man who brought back extremis. I know what he plans to do with it, I know where it is. Everything."

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credit for making the gif goes to the wonderful maxrussos