Hello, friends! I know it has been a while, but writer's block is a bitch to get over. Anyway, here is a new chapter and yes, there was a large time jump. Don't worry, there will be flashbacks to seal any time gaps.
Also, I seem to have forgotten the basic rules of proper comma placement. Ignore that.
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.
And there you have it. Yes, I am aware that pillow fights are trope-y and unrealistic for Tony Stark but let's not forget that Alessandra is still quite young. She sees the world through her young eyes and often lets Tony do the same. He had to grow up quickly when his parents died at 17 years old and (as evidenced by literally everything) he is not above being childish when he wants to be.
The Stark Expo will be coming up soon, as well as Tony's birthday bash (which goes about as well as it did in the movie). Natasha Romanoff will be popping up in the next chapter or so and you have definitely not seen the last of S.H.I.E.L.D's interest in Alessandra's life. I'll try not to disappear for another seven months, but I can't promise anything.
Tumblr: bobistony