| the success |

❝ a p o l o g y ❞

"Can't sleep?"

James jumps, having been lost in thought and staring off into the distance as he sits at the bar in the top floor of Avengers Tower, or as Tony lovingly referred to it; the 'party people place'. Brielle laughs, sliding onto the stool next to him. The nearby skyscrapers light up the dark room through the floor to ceiling windows, it being far too early in the morning for the sun to be rising.

He was surprised to see her, to say the least, but wasn't going to complain. Ever since waking up to find her head on James's shoulder during the ride back to the Tower, she may or may not have unintentionally avoided the man during all of the hours that followed.

"I guess not," he admits, running a hand down his face. "But it looks like the same goes for you."

"Everyone knows brilliant minds never truly sleep," she scoffs. "Look at Tony, for example. I'm nearly positive the man doesn't even know what a bed is."

James gives in briefly, grinning at her joke. The woman adjusts the stool so she can face him fully, concern gracing her features.

"Want to talk about it?"

"I just can't stop thinking about all that happened today," he admits, the grin disappearing. "I had resigned myself to the fact that I'd be going back to that life of torture, not even putting up a fight once I regained consciousness. But then you showed up, with no idea how to fire a weapon and a plan to get me out of the most dangerous HYDRA base in the world. I guess what's bothering me is that I can't seem to figure out why."

"Why what?"

"Why you did it. Why would you risk everything for me?"

"I made a promise that I would do everything within my power to help you get the life you deserve," Brielle states, choosing her words carefully as her gaze falls to her hands resting on the counter. "Besides, with Steve as mad as he was about us having you here, I highly doubt he would have been too happy with me if I willingly left you in the hands of HYDRA."

"Are those the only reasons?"

She glances up, taken aback by the hopeful smile touching the corners of his lips.

"That depends," she teases, not offering anything else out of her response.

"On what?"

"On your response to this."

Before James can ask, Brielle gathers what little amounts of courage she has left and leans forward, her lips crashing onto his. His body immediately stiffens, causing her to draw back.

"I'm sorry, I-"

Don't be," he chuckles quietly, pulling her forward to return the gesture.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

"We need to actually start getting work done," Brielle admits, pulling away from James's grasp and earning a groan from the man. "Tony and Bruce will be down here soon, and I highly doubt Tony wouldn't throw a fit if he saw me kissing the 'murderous man that looks like a kicked puppy'."

"Is that what he calls me?"

Brielle laughs with a nod of her head, ignoring his grumbling protests as she searches for the necessary ingredients for the next hypothesized serum.

The psychologist would be lying if she said her emotions weren't caught up in a hectic turmoil. Her true feelings towards James had come into the light far sooner than she had anticipated, and to have them eagerly returned certainly threw her for a loop. Devoting her life's work to HYDRA left no time for romantic relationships, which is part of the reason Brielle's mother had left her father all those years ago. Finding herself so close to being in one both, frightened and excited her.

Taking into account all that James has been through, the practical part of her mind knows he's in no condition to be romantically involves, at least not until they found the cure to undoing all that HYDRA had caused. It left Brielle feeling as though she's taking advantage of his disrupted emotional state, though logically she believes he is still capable of making his own decisions.

"Why am I not surprised to see that you beat me down here?" Bruce jokes as he enters the lab, greeting Brielle and James with a wave.

Steve follows close behind with two mugs of coffee, having thought of every excuse in the world to remain in the Tower once they got back from Siberia yesterday. He walks up to Brielle, offering her one.

"I remembered how you made it that day you were at Sam's," he assures her, noticing the way she side-eyes the black coffee in his mug warily. "It's a peace offering, or an apology, for growing angry with you. I know now you were merely trying to keep everyone's requests balanced and happy. I was upset with all that's been going on and shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," she says, clinking her mug against his and taking a large drink, barely suppressing her surprise at how good it tastes.

"And I'm not here with the expectations of you being the same man I knew in the forties, Buc- I mean James," Steve continues. "I still want to be here for you, but I'll leave if that's what you truly want."

An uncomfortable silence falls over the lab as James doesn't immediately respond. His gaze lands on Brielle, who offers a shrug of her shoulders, hopefully conveying that she'll support whatever decision he believes is best.

"Stay," he finally calls out as Steve turns to leave. "Please."

There's no mistaking the instant change in Steve's demeanor, going from a grieving man to an excited child in the matter of seconds as he turns back around, a million dollar smile plastered across his face. James can't help but to grin in return, extending his arm across the lab table to shake his outstretched hand, only to accidentally knock over several beakers and vials of potentially dangerous liquids.

"Shit," he curses, glancing to Bruce and Brielle apologetically and stepping back as they rush towards the mess. "I'm sorry."

"I don't think you need to be," Bruce mutters, holding a hand out to stop Brielle from attacking the mess with a wad of paper towels. "Our problem was that we weren't combining enough chemicals. Look."

Brielle follows his gaze, confusion turning into astonishment. Like the other possible serums they had poured onto the table for JARVIS to analyze over the past few weeks, the AI had silently scanned the mess, projecting his findings in a hologram above it.

"JARVIS," Brielle begins slowly, not daring to let her hopes rise. "Will you read us your findings?"

"With the precise measurements you have used, and when combined properly, the chemicals you have put together will turn an eggshell white and effectively restore memories," the AI informs them. "Congratulations, Dr. Banner and Dr. Thompson, you have cured memory loss. I shall inform Mr. Stark at once."

Bruce and Brielle let out triumphant cries as he takes Brielle's coffee from her hand and pulls her into a hug so strong she's momentarily lifted off her feet. Steve is the next to hug her, practically tugging her body out of Bruce's arms in his excitement. Meanwhile, James remains in his seat, frozen in shock.

Brielle turns towards the ex-assassin, prepared to hug him as well. Unfortunately, a new thought swiftly overcrowds Brielle's joy, causing it to practically disappear.

"I'll be right back," the psychologist murmurs, her smile rapidly being replaced with a frown.

Bruce doesn't hear her in the midst of his excitement, but James shoots her a concerned look, to which she returns with a forced smile before scurrying out of the lab.

Moving quickly down the hallway, she reaches the elevator just as the doors open, revealing Tony.

"Bri! I figured I'd find you celebrating with-" he cuts himself off as Brielle pushes him back into the elevator, pushing the first button she saw in order to close the doors. "Are we getting par- hey, what's wrong?"

"What gave me away?" She asks quietly, her voice cracking as she glances up at him.

"Oh, I don't know." Tony rubs his chin, pretending to ponder over it. "Maybe the overall despair vibe you're giving off, or the fact that tears are currently threatening your eyesight."

The woman sighs, all but collapsing in his open arms. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the tears from falling - further confirming that she's quite certain she's cried more in the past week than she has in the past ten years.

"Talk to me about it?"

"James trusts me right now. He even cares for me," she sobs into the billionaire's arms. "And that's all going to go away as soon as we give him the serum. He'll remember what a monster I am."

"You are not a mon-"

"No, you don't understand!" She cuts him off. "I'm not like James. I wasn't forced to experiment on people. I didn't have to be forced to do unspeakable things to people. I did all of it willingly. He's going to hate me, and he should."

Tony squeezes her tighter to his chest, for once at a loss for words as she continues to mourn something that hasn't happened yet, sobs wracking her small frame. The elevator doors open, revealing an empty lobby, though neither make a move to get off.

"I don't think it's possible to hate someone like you. And if James isn't smart enough to realize that, then it's his loss," he reassures her. "What's important is that you believed what you were doing was right, and once you realized it wasn't, you left the situation. After all, even Hitler-"

"Are you trying to compare me to Hitler?" Brielle shrieks, effectively shutting him up.

"Perhaps that's not the best analogy for right now."

While struggling to think of a way to comfort her, it doesn't take long for him to come up with an idea on how to distract her. Leaning forward while not releasing his hold, Tony presses the button leading to the floor of his mechanical lab.

"What are we doing?" Brielle murmurs, her voice thick with tears and muffled as she doesn't bother to move her face from his soaked shirt.

"I'm going to answer your question with a different question," he responds. "Are you afraid of heights?"

She shakes her head, pulling away to give him a questioning look.

"You'll understand in a minute," he assures her, gesturing for her to follow as they arrive at the right floor, coincidentally the one below the lab the other men are in.

"Hey, JARVIS."

"Yes, sir?"

"Would you do the honors and bring out my latest project?"

The AI doesn't respond, but mechanical whirring can be heard as a machine rolls into view, holding up Tony's project. Brielle gasps, one hand flying to her mouth as tears once again threaten to make an appearance. A dark green and gold suit, designed like any other IronMan suit but with certain modifications for the opposite gender, gleams under the bright lights.

"Did you- did you build me a suit?"

The billionaire nods excitedly, a proud grin crossing his face as he drags her over to get a closer look.

"I thought about making it the same colors as mine, but frankly, the red would have clashed terribly with your hair. Plus, you can pull off green so much better," he says, explaining his thought process. "And, as well as being the perfect fashion accessory to any outfit, it fires automatically at any perceived threats if you give the word, considering you can't fire a weapon on your own to save your life."

Brielle can barely listen, too overcome with a new wave of emotions. Time and time again, Tony has went above and beyond to take care of the psychologist in the past couple of months, doing far more than anyone has over the years.

As he rambles on, she finds herself understanding why Steve would so willingly go to the ends of the Earth for someone that doesn't even remember him. If what Steve feels towards James is even a fraction of the platonic love her heart has swelled with for Tony, she couldn't imagine what she wouldn't do to pay back Tony's insurmountable kindness.

"Give me your hand," he continues, oblivious to just how much she's appreciating his new gift as he slides a gold bracelet with one green charm in the center onto her wrist. "Press the charm."

She does as he instructs, jumping when the suit flies off of the machine and towards her body. It opens up just as she braces for impact, encasing her small frame.

"This is a lot comfier than I expected."

Tony laughs, calling his own suit to him. Brielle lifts her legs and wiggles her arms, adjusting to the armor.

"What do you say, Bri? Want to take it for a test fly?"