Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize, but my OC's are MINE!
AN: Welcome to the sequel to 'Rivals!' I would suggest you read that first if you haven't already, otherwise you're going to be VERY lost. (I know I said I was going to post it this weekend, but I couldn't help myself…Tee-hee!) Our Story begins two months after the end of 'Rivals…'
Chapter 1
Tony Stark had been drunk. He had been so drunk, that he was unsure how he managed to get the blonde bimbo home in the first place. Getting drunk had been a regular think in Tony's life at one point, and then he had stopped slightly when he'd first become Iron Man. He'd stopped almost entirely when he'd met Nicole Lion. But after Nicole died….
Stop it, Tony's inner voice yelled at him. You are not thinking about that now!
It was early; only around 5 AM. Tony had awoken from his adventures with the slutty blonde he'd dragged home to find himself, as usual, not hung over. Somehow, no matter how much liquor he drank, he never found himself hung over the next morning. But that was not really a comforting thought, because that only meant one thing. The voice was going to kick him in the balls for what he did.
Tony missed Nicole like crazy, but there was one thing that bothered him ever since she had died two months earlier; she did. Tony couldn't tell anyone without a risk of him getting shipped off to a mental institution, but at least three times a day, Nicole's spirit called out to him. Usually it was to make him feel worse than he already did about anything that was going on. But he was certain it wasn't his imagination as each time he could also feel her presence.
'You go from sleeping with me to sleeping with piles of trash again?'
Yep, there it was; the familiar chill and Nicole's sarcastic voice calling out to him. Tony sighed as he trotted down the stairs to the living room.
"Goddamn, Nicole," Tony grumbled as he sat down on the couch. "Don't you have anything better to do than make me feel miserable?"
The chill that came over him whenever Nicole spoke to him turned into a full gust of wind.
"Actually, no, I don't."
Tony's hair stood on end. That had sounded a lot more like an actual statement than the usual whisper on the wind. He slowly looked around and nearly passed out. Nicole was floating a few feet behind him.
"What the hell?!"
"You can see me?" Nicole floated back a few feet.
Tony nodded, not believing what he was seeing. Nicole looked just as she did before she died; her hair long and brunette, cascaded down her shoulders, her blue eyes were as bright as ever….The only true difference was that she was glowing and he could see right through her.
"How can you see me?" Nicole asked. "You've never been able to see me before!"
"You tell me!" Tony said. "You're the spirit."
"Don't remind me," Nicole growled.
Tony examined her again before standing up and walking in front of her, "How are you?"
"How am I?" Nicole repeated. "How do you think I am? I'm dead, I'm stuck on earth, and I have to watch you drag home sluts every night! Oh, yeah, I'm fine, Tony."
Tony bit back the urge to laugh, "Can I ask you something?"
"You might as well," Nicole shrugged.
"Why haven't you moved on?" Tony asked.
"You think I don't want to?" Nicole inquired. "I've been trying for two months to move on! I just can't! My spirit can't." Her face fell and she turned her back on Tony. "It's not like you really care, anyway."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You went back to the way you were when you first put my reactor in, Tony," Nicole said. "It's like that time we were together meant nothing to you. You're back to bringing home sluts every night and getting so drunk that you can't remember even getting up the morning before! I may be dead, but I'm still worried about you."
"How would you like me to be, Nicole?" Tony asked. "I lost you during a fucking battle. You could have been alive now if I hadn't been so angry."
"You don't know that," Nicole said. "Stane would have still tried to use that rocket on one of us. But there is something you need to know."
"What?" Tony asked.
"Do you know where my body is?" Nicole asked.
"Nick Fury took it," Tony said. "He sent out a cover story that you went AWOL when you were on a vacation."
"That's not my point," Nicole said. "My body was never buried."
"What?!" Tony's anger flared up. "Where is it?"
"In a crypt underneath the SHEILD building," Nicole said. "That may be one of the reasons I can't move on."
"I'll talk to him," Tony said.
Nicole nodded, "I miss being able to feel your touch, Tony."
Tony's face saddened, "I miss you more than you know, Nikki."
"Please, don't ever forget me."
Tony laughed, "You really think I could if I tried?"
"And please, for my sake, watch who you sleep with…"
Tony rolled his eyes, "Even as a spirit you're insane, Nicole."
Nicole smiled and vanished.
'Don't forget to get out before SHE wakes up.'
Tony shook his head as he heard the whisper on the wind. He had bigger things to worry about than a bimbo who was fast asleep in his bed.
TBC!
AN: Ah, The first chapter! Always interesting…. I hope it was to everyone's liking, and don't forget to leave me comments, I ALWAYS love them!