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IRON AND FIRE: PART I

03. in which everything goes wrong

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Tyler's apartment was at the edge of the city, looking out over a small park. Through the window of the guestroom Abby could see the people walking around in the early hours of the morning. Some were jogging, others walking around with their dogs, everyday lives going on. She scoffed in annoyance as she turned away from the window. She knew it was childish to hate people for living simple lives, but she couldn't help it. She would give everything to have been born in a normal family instead of a rich and famous one.

Even though she'd been staying with Tyler for two days now, the bitter aftertaste of the disaster at Caesar's Palace was still fresh on her tongue. She couldn't let go of the thought of what might've happened had Tony been there. Obviously he wouldn't know about what Pepper and Rhodey had done. The situation probably would've been horribly awkward, which made some small part of her glad he hadn't shown up. Yet her stomach ached at the thought of having missed an opportunity to talk with her brother.

Abby had lost count of the amount of times they had argued about the smallest of things. If she were to be honest with herself, she couldn't even remember what they had fought about last time she saw him. Probably something about his weapons again. It was unbelievable she hadn't talked to him for a whole year over something so small but the Stark siblings were proud. Neither one of them was willing to admit their mistakes and take the first step to apologize. Abby knew it wasn't his fault that he hadn't shown up last night, well it was, but he didn't know she'd be there.

While trying to ban those thoughts from her mind, she made her way downstairs. Upon reaching the kitchen she couldn't help but from at the empty table. Tyler was nowhere in sight yet she heard him walk downstairs earlier and she knew for a fact he didn't have to work today. With a shrug she decided it didn't matter and started to prepare breakfast for herself. She was about to throw some eggs in a pan when a pained yelp made her halt in her movements. It came from the bathroom, followed by a hollow thud. Without thinking she dropped the eggs, not bothering to look back as she heard them crack against the kitchen tiles. Abby sprinted towards the bathroom and threw the door wide open.

Tyler lay on the ground, unconscious.

'No, no, no,' she muttered as she fell to her knees beside him. With trembling hands she checked his pulse for a heartbeat. A shaky breath of relief escaped her lips. It was faint, but it was there. She straightened her shoulders and forced herself to calm down. As quick as she could, she pushed herself up and ran back towards the living room. She grabbed her phone and sprinted back towards the bathroom.

When Tyler was in the early stages of his recovery Abby had seen him faint before. It scared the living hell out of her and she'd forced the doctors to explain to her at least five times how he was going to be okay. They'd reassured her that once the meds started working and he got enough rest, it wouldn't happen anymore. But it had, it was happening right now...

The bathroom tiles were cold against her legs as she knelt down beside him once again. She dialed the emergency number and held the phone against her ear. All the while Abby kept her other hand on his pulse. His heartbeat beneath her fingers was the only thing keeping her from falling apart completely.

"911, what's your emergency?"

'I need an ambulance right now! My friend, he-he,' she inhaled deeply to keep her voice steady and managed to explain Tyler's situation as fast and clearly as she could.

The woman on the other side of the line told her to stay on the phone until the ambulance arrived and to keep checking his pulse. Having no other option, Abby did as she was told. It felt like she sat there on the floor for hours, trying to keep herself calm in order to make sure Tyler would be okay.

By the time the ambulance finally arrived it felt as if a lifetime had passed.

She opened the door and watched numbly as the Paramedics rushed into the apartment. They talked to each other with medical terms she didn't recognize and didn't care to know the meaning of. It all meant nothing unless Tyler was okay...They put him on a stretcher and carried him into the back of the ambulance.

Without saying a word, Abby climbed into the back with him.

'Are you family, ma'am?' one of the paramedics asked.

'Yes,' she replied without hesitating.

The man nodded and closed the door before climbing behind the wheel. They set out with blaring sirens, racing through the streets but Abby hardly noticed any of it. She held Tyler's hand the entire ride towards the hospital. When they took a sharp right turn, Tyler stirred on the stretcher.

Her heart leaped in her chest. 'Ty?' she whispered, moving closer towards him. 'Tyler, it's me, Abby. I'm right here.'

'C-call,' he mumbled, his words barely audible. 

She leaned in closer, placing her ear near his lips. 

'Call Sam,' he whispered before darkness took him again.

The name was vaguely familiar. She believed Sam had been his partner in the army before his accident but that didn't explain why he would want her to call him. She had no time to question it. Abby reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. She searched through his contacts until she found him. Quickly she pressed call and held the phone to her ear. She tried to stop her arm from trembling but it felt as though she had lost all control over her body.

'Sam Wilson,' a male voice came from the other side of the line.

'H-hi,' Abby stuttered, not really knowing what to say. 'You don't know me but, uhm, I'm calling because Tyler asked me to. He's in a bad state. They're taking him to the hospital right now.'

'I'll be right there,' he said with a strained voice before hanging up.

She put the phone down and leaned towards Tyler again. 'He's coming, Ty, just hold on a little longer.'

When they at last came to a stop, Abby felt as though all of her energy had been drained. As if her beating heart had given Tyler the strength to hold on. The Paramedics pulled the stretcher out of the ambulance and took Tyler to the closest operation room.

Abby had been following closely behind. Until the doors closed right in her face.

'No, wait-' she was about to shout but she was interrupted by a nurse.

'You can't be in the operation room, ma'am. I'm going to have to ask you to wait here.'

She despised the pitiful look she was given but knew shouting wouldn't help the matter. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she nodded. She fell down into a chair closest to the door and hung her head in her hands.

Tyler had reassured her time and time again he was getting better, that the doctor's had been hopeful about his recovery. She'd been stupid enough to believe him, completely blind to all the signs that proved the opposite.

He was not fine.

All those comforting words had only been meant to shield her from the truth. She'd been blind to a lot of things lately. Sitting there in the hospital hallway, close to pulling her hair out, she wished she wasn't so focused on her work all the time. Maybe then she would take more time to notice the people around her. She wasn't better than Tony at all. She behaved the exact same way she always lectured him about. She was just as ignorant to the problems of others as he was.

Perhaps that was the true reason she couldn't face her brother. Because it meant having to look in the mirror and face her own shortcomings.

Her entire body was numb and cold by the time she finally lifted her head and leaned back into her chair. But her eyes remained focused on the wall, unseeing.

'Here,' a familiar voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. 'Maybe this will help.'

She turned to look to her left, her eyes meeting the warm gaze of a black man with broad shoulders.

He was holding out a cup of coffee, a reassuring smile on his lips.

Abby nodded at him, the only thing she could muster in that moment, and took the coffee. She wrapped her hands around the cup to warm herself. 'You must be Sam,' she said, watching as he took a seat next to her.

He nodded, taking a sip of his own coffee. 'Indeed I am.'

Abby brought the cup to her lips but lowered it at the last second. 'You guys were partners right? Before the...'

'Accident,' Sam finished, staring ahead. 'I'm only in town for a couple of days before returning to Afghanistan. Tyler and I were going to have lunch together today, you know catching up.'

She raised a brow at him.

'What?' he asked with a small chuckle.

But his act didn't fool her. He could laugh all he wanted, it didn't erase the worry in his eyes. She shrugged. 'I'm pretty sure Tyler didn't tell me to call you just to let you know your lunch date was off.'

Sam leaned back in his chair. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

With a sigh she shook her head. If she believed herself to be bad at understanding someone else's feelings before, she certainly didn't now. Compared to Sam over here she wasn't that bad after all.

'What I'm trying to say is, you were the first person he asked about when he was conscious. Are you sure that's just because you two were partners?'

He took another sip of his coffee, suddenly unable to directly look at her. 'Partners can get pretty close,' he mumbled.

'Mmm,' was all she said, unable to hide her smirk.

They sat in silence after that, just waiting until the doors would open and they'd know how Tyler was doing. She took a sip from her coffee as well, the hot drink warming her insides. Hours ticked away and with every minute that passed Abby felt herself growing more nervous. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and stood up from her chair. She started pacing back and forth through the hallway.

Sam sat still as a statue in his chair, staring ahead of him as if the world around him didn't exist. Like the only thing that mattered anymore was for that door to open, to finally know how his partner was doing.

Her stomach started growling but she ignored the hunger pangs. No matter how hungry she got, she knew she wouldn't be able to swallow anything anyway.

It was starting to get dark by the time the door was finally opened. A nurse stepped outside, looking exhausted.

Sam jumped up so suddenly, her heart jumped in her chest.

She walked towards the nurse, her nails digging into her skin. 'How's he doing?' she asked.

The nurse tried to offer them a reassuring smile but it looked more like a pained grimace. 'I'm sorry but it doesn't look good. He's been forcing himself and not taking the rest we suggested to him. There has been an internal bleeding. He's stable for now but he's going to have to stay here under close observation.'

Abby closed her eyes for a moment, hoping against all hope that when she opened them again this would be nothing more than a bad dream. But when she did, she was still standing in a hallway that was way too bright with a nurse looking at her as if she was a child.

She nodded wordlessly before sinking down in her chair again.

'Thank you,' Sam muttered to the nurse.

She smiled at him before turning around and disappearing into the room again.

The soldier turned around to look at Abby. 'You want to go see him?'

Abby gave a weak shake of her head. 'You go first, I'm gonna get something to eat.'

He nodded at her, an understanding warmth lingering within his eyes. Then he headed into the room and softly closed the door behind him.

Abby pushed herself back on her feet and headed down the hallway towards the cafeteria. Now that she knew Tyler was okay she had no excuse to not try and eat something. Or else she might just faint as well. She had just reached the end of the stairs when her phone rang. With a frown she took it out of her pocket.

It was Pepper.

Annoyance flared up inside of her. She'd waited for two days to hear something from the woman. Anything that came close to an apology. She just had to pick this moment to finally do so?

'What?' she snapped as she picked up.

Silence was the only thing answering her.

Immediately her annoyance was replaced by cold dread. 'Pepper? Are you there?'

The silence was broken by a sob.

Her stomach tightened uncomfortably. She really couldn't take any more bad news today... 'Pepper what's going on?' She had to force herself not to shout at the woman on the other side of the line.

'I-it's Tony,' Pepper sobbed.

It was unsettling to say the least to hear the always so calm and kind Pepper so broken, crying even. Whatever her brother had done now, it must have been pretty bad. 'What about him?' Abby questioned, trying to brace herself for the answer.

'He was at a weapon's presentation in Afghanistan,' Pepper said, trying her very hardest clearly through her sobs. 'His convoy they-they got attacked.'

The whole world started crumbling around her, forcing Abby to seek support against the wall before she would fall over. Her knuckles were turning white from holding her phone in such a tight grip.

'He's alive but the Ten Rings have him and they have no idea where. He's gone Abby.'

Tears gathered in her eyes and her vision disappeared behind a watery haze. The words echoed on repeat through her mind, a cruel joke that refused to leave her alone. He is gone.

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Aaahhh I still love this introduction of Sam so much! Him and Tyler are just too adorable for words! It's just sad Abby and Sam met under such tragic circumstances. Our girl is going through a lot right now and she will be dealing with it in very interesting ways :) Please leave some comments with your thoughts. I always love hearing from you guys!

xx Nelly