Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Justin floated in and out of consciousness for a long time.

He felt okay, but his body seemed to be weighted down by something. He couldn’t move or speak, was barely aware of his surroundings.

Mostly he stayed in his head. Vague images and shapes floated through, constant disconnected noise. Justin floated peacefully.

But nothing could last forever. Slowly, so slowly that he could not pinpoint when something had changed, Justin began to wake uo.

It was not a welcome change. With it came memory, and a dull ache all over his body.

Justin slept fitfully. He couldn’t shake the fear, the recollections that haunted him and had him gasping in the wee hours.

No one would tell him anything. He knew that he mumbled out questions to the nurses, and he was pretty sure they understood him. They would murmur back empty reassurances - or perhaps they did answer his questions and Justin was just too fucked up to understand them.

His head slowly became clearer, in fits and startles. One day he found himself laughing at something that had happened on the television.

They told him he’d been out for weeks. Justin, obviously, had no memory of this and was disturbed at the thought of all that lost time.

He asked after Connor almost constantly now, and this time he knew when they were avoiding the question. It made him anxious. Apparently the doctor had been around, but Justin had either been too unconscious to ask or he had forgotten about the visit.

The prison officer set to guard him was equally unhelpful.

Justin knew him. He was called Lee, though Justin had never been sure if that was his first or last name. He was pretty quiet as far as the officers went, but he was loyal to them. He was not here to be on Justin’s side and would not answer anything if asked.

Justin did not ask. He avoided Lee as much as possible. The other seemed perfectly happy to do the same, sitting out in the corridor with a book most of the time.

It was not for several days after he woke up that Justin finally got his first scrap of information.

His lawyers showed up, and that should have been his first clue, but he was just excited to be speaking to people that might actually answer him.

“You had quite the accident, Mr Hammer,” said one, adjusting his glasses.

Justin’s own glasses had mysteriously disappeared, and he hoped his confused squinting might be taken as him just not being able to see. He decided not to question that until he’d gotten what he wanted, as he had a feeling things were about to go wrong for him - and he had been working on developing that feeling recently, as apparently he had been historically bad at seeing the bad times coming.

“How’s Connor?” he rasped instead of responding.

The three lawyers looked at each other, and Justin’s hands clenched in the sheets.

“Answer me,” he demanded frantically.

Another sighed.

“Mr Hammer, I’m sorry,” he said. “Connor passed away. His head injuries were too severe.”

Justin gasped, clutching at his chest. It felt like he was burning, and he realised that it was because he wasn’t breathing. He tried to suck in air. Above him, the lawyers were scrambling and calling for the doctor. Justin cried out. He tossed his head. He wished he had never asked.

Two minutes ago seemed like pure bliss, paradise on Earth, compared to knowing Connor was dead.

What was Justin supposed to do now? How was he supposed to go on, having tasted real happiness for the first time and lost it forever?

They put something in his drip, and he gradually lost consciousness again. Before he went to sleep, he heard the lawyers being scolded for upsetting him.

“He’s not out of the woods yet,” he heard.

-

The next time he woke he prayed - actually prayed - that he had imagined it.

The nurses did not correct him, but Justin knew in his heart that Connor was gone. There was a sense of pain, deep pain, just out of reach. Justin still had little control over his body; all he could do was lie there and feel it, dreading the day that the pain would break through.

He suspected that he was still losing time, but now he was grateful for it. They say time heals all wounds, and Justin hoped that with enough time spent under the influence, he would not hurt so much when he finally did return to life.

As for what the nurses had said at the end there, that felt like the least real aspect of the whole thing. Justin felt fine, physically. Sure, he could hardly move, but he was awake, wasn’t he? As long as the pain was kept away, surely there was nothing to worry about.

-

Justin did not remember exactly what had happened.

He saw disconnected movements in his dreams. A hand reaching for him, the swing of a stick, a leg kicking. He saw Connor most of all, but Connor as he wished to remember him; Connor in their cell, Connor in their bed. Connor must have been there that last time, though, and Justin couldn’t believe that he hadn’t been there because of him.

This conviction was so quiet that Justin himself was not yet aware of it.

What he was aware of, however, was his reaction when his lawyer had called it an accident. It had been visceral, instinctual. Justin knew whatever had happened had been no accident, and he was pretty sure everyone else knew it too. The nurses kept looking at him with pity, and he had noticed that they also avoided Lee the prison guard.

The day his lawyers came back, he was feeling the clearest he had ever been.

They had allowed him to sit up, and he had seen for the first time the extent of his injuries. The damage seemed to be centred around his pelvic area, and Justin was horrified to discover pins in his hips and legs preventing him from moving even the slightest amount. What was more disturbing was that he hadn’t even felt them.

He had realised then that things were worse than he’d thought.

He also had some extremely colourful bruises on his arms from where he had tried to protect himself. The doctor had spoken at him briefly about his injuries, but he must have been able to tell that Justin was not really able to follow. Justin did understand, though, that some of his organs had been damaged and that he might still get an infection and die.

He frightened himself by not caring so much about that.

His lawyers seemed pleased when they arrived, and their smug chattering disturbed the critical ward so much that a nurse followed them to Justin’s room just so she could shut the door after them, glaring at their oblivious backs the whole time. Justin only hoped he wouldn’t have to pay for that later.

They gathered around him like hunched vultures - in fact, they bent their necks like the birds to be more on Justin’s level. One even dared to pluck at his hand in false sympathy, even though they had never even heard of Connor before the incident - on account of them abandoning Justin to rot in prison.

“Great news, Mr Hammer,” one said, smiling insipidly. “We’ve been arguing for compassionate release on your behalf, and we think we’re very close to a breakthrough.”

It took Justin several moments to parse what he had said. He might not have to return to prison after this… It almost made him happy. He was certainly relieved.

It also unlocked something for him. Something that he had known subconsciously but not fully realised; it had been the guards who had attacked him. It had been their batons swinging, their polished boots kicking. They had murdered Connor.

The circumstances and days before the attack were still lost in mist, unfortunately.

The lawyers were waiting for a reaction, and Justin managed a smile, even as something niggled at him. This pleased them though.

“We’ve missed you,” a different one said. “All of us. We’ll be glad to have you back.”

Of course. His release was conditional on him returning to Hammer Industries, returning to making his business partners a lot of money. If he told them he was done, they would drop him faster than hot rocks and he could say goodbye to compassionate release.

“I’ll be glad to be back,” he said.

Thankfully, he was still nowhere near full strength and began to wilt soon after. The lawyers quickly packed up their things and promised to be back with more news soon.

Justin closed his eyes as soon as they were gone, needing at least the impression of peace and quiet. His life, he thought in despair, had spiralled out of his control.

-

Pepper Potts, Miss Potts to most, was not having a good day. Tony was being flighty as usual, off somewhere with his new friends, the Avengers. Even though he had been due to submit a new project to R&D for approval.

He would pull off a last minute miracle, she knew. Still, it would be a lot less stressful for her and the rest of them to be able to plan ahead a little.

Add to that the mess with Hammer, and well…

She sighed, resting her head in her hands. She took a moment to centre herself, shutting out the bustle of a busy office, the traffic on the street below, the endless paperwork. For a blissful second she was just Pepper Potts, and she could almost convince herself that she had never accepted this god forsaken job in the first place.

But the moment passed, as it always did, with a knock on her door. Pepper roused herself and told them to come in.

It was Happy, but happy he was not. He had a pinched look on his face, and he shut the door firmly behind him, hesitating over locking it.

There was only one topic that would make him behave that way, and Pepper straightened up and gave him her full attention.

“What’s going on?” she said, preparing for the worst.

Happy let out a heavy sigh and dropped into the chair in front of her desk.

“They’re gonna ask for compassionate release,” he said. “Probably get it too.”

Pepper groaned, slumping back and rubbing her head.

“Right,” she said with a defeated sigh.

“If he survives,” Happy added.

Pepper frowned. She couldn’t deny it would make her life a lot easier if Justin Hammer did die, but she couldn’t say she wished for it either. They were calling what had happened an accident, and there would be no inquiry - no one was calling for one - but another inmate had died. It was obvious that there was more going on. She even felt a little sorry for Hammer; apparently his injuries were quite severe.

“Could we block the request?” she asked tiredly.

Happy shrugged, looking uncomfortable. Pepper would rather not stoop to that either, but it would be for his own good.

“Maybe, but… you know, I’m not supposed to know this, but our informant was very informative,” Happy said furtively. “According to someone inside the hospital, Hammer might not walk again. They really messed up his hips somehow; broke bones, damaged organs. It wouldn’t be right, boss.”

Pepper took a moment to absorb that. It was true that she couldn’t justify sending Hammer back to prison when he was that injured, although it made the situation a lot more complicated for them. Not that she would have been comfortable going crooked for his sake anyway.

“You’re right, Happy. Of course,” she said with a small smile. “Any word from Tony?”

“No. On either front. Things have been quiet for a while now.”

Pepper hummed doubtfully. Quiet, maybe, but that didn’t mean anything. Hydra was sure to have plans already working regarding Justin Hammer’s lucky release from prison.

“Keep me informed, Happy,” she said. “Let’s hope the Avengers find something.”

“Always, boss.”

Chapter Text

The devastating news of his injuries left Justin numb. He had no energy left to care.

He had missed Connor’s funeral.

It wouldn’t have been much of a ceremony, he knew. Connor did not get along with his mother and he had no siblings. No one from the prison would have been allowed to go. Justin cried himself to sleep at night thinking about empty pews.

If he ever got out of here, he would go to Connor’s gravestone. It might feel real then. He never expected Connor to walk through the hospital door or anything - he couldn’t picture him anywhere except the prison. But he also kept catching himself wondering what Connor was doing right then, as if he was just waiting at the prison, living his life quietly until Justin got back.

The love of his life had died in a dingy prison hallway, wearing a hand-me-down jumpsuit.

Someone was going to pay.

-

Justin grunted and rolled over on the thin single bed. The magazine in his hands was yet another ‘Pepper Potts is the greatest’ issue. Bitch. He grumbled to himself as he looked at her picture on the cover.

“Why are you subscribed to those if they only make you angry?” came Connor’s voice.

Justin looked up in irritation. Connor was seated on his own bed, his modest makeup collection spread around him and a tiny hand-mirror balanced on his knees. Minimum security federal prison had its advantages, but it couldn't compare to being free.

“Why do you buy makeup when you can’t even wear it anywhere?” Justin snapped back.

Connor paused in the middle of his eyeliner. The boy was in his mid twenties, curly black hair, very attractive. When he wore makeup even more so, but it was true that he could never have worn it around the prison; he would probably be killed. He was hurt by Justin’s harsh question, but trying not to show it.

“I’m practising,” he answered calmly.

He didn’t look up, and Justin felt a bit guilty.

“For what?”

Connor fiddled with the eyeliner pen.

“For when I’m out, and I can walk down the street,” he said. “I have to look good.”

“What for?” Justin asked, putting the magazine down. Then, realising how that might sound, he said, “I mean, you always look great, baby.”

Connor smiled and finally looked up. He shook his head to Justin’s question.

“I have to look good because I want people to know me,” he said.

His smile turned pensive. His eyes turned dreamy. The eyeliner pen turned round and round.

“I want them to look at me and go ‘that’s Connor. I want to be like him’.”

“You want to be a star,” Justin said.

“Yeah,” said Connor. “A model, maybe. Or a singer.”

He glanced over at Justin, seeming almost shy. Justin hummed casually, picking up his magazine again.

“Well, all you need is money, and you can do whatever you like,” he said. “I’ll make it happen for you, baby.”

“Really?”

Connor sounded so excited. Justin couldn’t wait to show him all that he’d been missing. Money really did make the world go round, and he intended for Connor to have the best piece of that world money could buy. He smiled behind the magazine.

“Anything for you, baby.”

-

The day after his lawyers had visited, Justin was finally able to sit and listen to the doctor tell him what was wrong with him.

It wasn’t pretty. They were optimistic about his survival, but Justin was not reassured. How could he be when it seemed that the quality of his life had been reduced so much? Even after the months of physical therapy, he would never be what he was.

What was he going to do? He wouldn’t be fit to work for - well, a long time. If he couldn’t work, Hammer Industries might abandon him once and for all and take his lawyers with them. No lawyers, no compassionate release - Justin didn’t have any money, after all. All his assets had been seized. Everything he had was being paid for by the company.

If he could fool them all into thinking he was better than he actually was…

He covered his eyes, trying to trick them into not crying. Maybe he could fool everyone long enough for the compassionate release request to be granted, but they would drop him after that no question. And then where would he be? Destitute, with piles of medical debt and a broken body.

Those guards might have murdered him yet.

-

“Anything?” Pepper asked Tony.

Tony grunted vaguely, bending over some piece of machinery and sticking a screwdriver into its guts. He had his hair slicked back, a tank top to show off his muscular arms and back. There was a bandage around his right shoulder.

“And in human speech?” she asked, leaning against a table.

Tony looked up in confusion, then smiled wryly at himself when he realised he had not actually spoken. Pepper shook her head, but she was smiling too. She always forgot how much she missed him until he was back.

“Broke up a couple of Hydra bases,” he said, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Didn’t find anything more about Hammer though. Caught a bunch of low level goons, but Nat doesn’t have much hope that they know anything.”

Pepper made a sympathetic noise.

“What do you want to do?” she asked him.

She watched Tony carefully. He turned away from her, hiding his face.

“This is on me,” he said quietly. “If I had just told you what was happening back then, Rhodey and I never would have fought and Hammer never would have gotten at that suit.”

“Tony…” Pepper said with a sigh.

He huffed out a laugh.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Same old, same old. I won’t let Hammer get a chance to make more War Machine suits.”

“Well,” Pepper began, shifting, “we don’t really have a lot of options. We can’t justify blocking his lawyers’ request, not with him being as injured as he is. He’ll have to go free. But then he’ll also be free to work with Hydra.”

Tony was silent for a moment, idly rolling a screw back and forth.

“We don’t know yet if he’s already working for them, or if they’re planning to kidnap him or what,” he finally said. “Maybe we can scare him off - or pay him off.”

Pepper knew Tony didn’t like this. Most of the people who had access to Stark Industries’ weapons were people he could fight. But until Hammer made a move, Iron Man couldn’t make one either.

Pepper hesitated before she spoke.

“I was thinking of going to see him,” she said.

Tony turned to look at her sharply.

“Why?” he asked. “To appeal to his humanity?”

He scoffed and walked away a few paces, running his hands over his face.

“No,” Pepper said. “Not really. Just… We’re in the dark here. We don’t know where Hammer stands. We don’t know what Hydra is planning. We don’t know how the executives at Hammer Industries are involved, and we don’t know where this ‘accident’ falls in all this. Justin Hammer could shed some light.”

“I should go, then,” Tony said, shaking his head. “I’m the one he was fixated on. He even claims he doesn’t hate me.”

“You’re needed here,” Pepper said firmly. “Hammer does hate me, and he might slip up and reveal something if I push him.”

Tony looked at her reluctantly.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll bring Happy. What’s the worst Hammer could do? He’s bedridden.”

Tony sighed. He crossed over to her and raised his hands as if he was going to embrace her, but fatally hesitated. Pepper twisted gently away from his half raised arms, straightening herself up and smoothing down her skirt.

“Don’t underestimate him,” Tony said.

“I won’t.” Pepper fought down the urge to cup his face. “You better get back to work. R&D was expecting your project proposal yesterday.”

Tony gave her a strained smile.

“On it, boss,” he said. “Will that be all, Miss Potts?”

“That will be all, Mr Stark,” she answered quietly.

-

“While you’re there,” Natasha began, “I’ve got an informant you should speak to.”

She handed Pepper a folded up piece of paper. Her eyes were serious, and Pepper knew she had protested her going on this trip.

They were in the underground parking garage of Stark Tower. Happy was already in the car, waiting to drive her to the airport.

“Who is it?” Pepper asked, peeking at the paper.

“Someone who works in the prison,” said Natasha. “More like an informant of an informant. Said he had information for us. I’ve set your meeting for a public place, but be careful.”

Pepper smiled.

“I will,” she promised.

She turned to go but Natasha grabbed her wrist - not hard, loose enough that Pepper could easily break her hold, and she was reminded that the Avengers still thought of her as a civilian. Natasha visibly hesitated, but anything Natasha did visibly was not to be trusted.

Pepper almost felt bad for thinking that way.

“I mean it,” Nat said. “Hammer will be out for revenge. He’ll probably try to trick you somehow so be on your guard. Don’t take anything he says at face value.”

“You know,” Pepper said gently, “I’ve known him a lot longer than you have. I’ve argued with him over meeting tables and cocktails. I know what’s he’s like, so don’t worry about me.”

She squeezed Natasha’s hand and she finally released her. The spy stepped back and allowed Pepper to get into the car. She got in the back, and Happy eyed her in the rearview mirror, eyebrows raised.

“It’s fine,” she said.

Natasha watched them back out of the garage, and Pepper raised a hand in farewell.

The truth was, she wasn’t sure she could handle this. Despite her claims, she hadn’t seen the incident at the Expo coming. She might be excused from putting it together that Hammer was working with Vanko, given that they had believed he was dead, but she should have known he would try something. She should have blocked Tony from giving him a slot. Who the hell gives their business rival a slot at their own expo anyway?

And now… Now she was walking into an uncertain situation. She was reasonably assured of her physical safety, thanks to a little secret she and Tony had kept. It was Hammer reaction she was worried about; if he wasn’t already, this visit could tip him into bed with Hydra if she wasn’t careful.

-

“Jarvis,” Tony began, flinging the diagram into the air where it sparkled and expanded, “any updates?”

Tony studied the schematics as he waited. He was playing around with revolutionising the cell phone industry. Thor and Steve and even Bruce had been complaining about theirs. Maybe something more durable?

“No word from Shield about the Hydra prisoners,” came Jarvis’ voice. “But I have uncovered something interesting about the convict who died in Justin Hammer’s accident.”

Tony swiped the schematics away carelessly, turning to one of the computer screens.

“Let’s hear it,” he said.

Things began appearing on the screen. He raised his eyebrows and whistled.

-

Georgia was warm this time of year. Pepper stepped out of the car in front of the hospital, fanning herself with some loose papers she had found in her purse. Happy followed, stoic in his black suit and sunglasses.

They already knew which room he was in and didn’t intend to stick around and get stopped by the nurses. Pepper went straight for the elevator, stuffing the papers back into her purse. No one got in their way.

Hammer had been moved out of intensive care, though he apparently still needed a lot of attention. Pepper was almost surprised that he was still in Georgia at all; she had half expected his board members to have him moved closer, confidant as they seemed to be that he would be getting released.

It was quiet, for a hospital. People glanced their way as they passed through, conspicuous in their business attire. Happy seemed to make people nervous, more so as they got closer to Hammer’s room. No one appeared to recognise them, though - most people didn’t tend to read business magazines, and perhaps Pepper was too out of context to be recognised as Iron Man’s… whatever they were.

She and Happy turned the corner onto a long hallway, slipping through a set of double doors. As she got closer, she could see where Hammer’s room was supposed to be.

There was a man sitting in a chair outside the room, legs stretched out in front of him in the eternal pose of someone who had spent far too long in the uncomfortable plastic. He was wearing a uniform, gun clearly visible, and Pepper slowed as she approached.

Dammit, of course Hammer was being guarded. He was still technically a prisoner, after all.

Pepper turned quickly down a side corridor, pulling Happy aside.

“I want my conversation with Hammer to stay off the record,” she said lowly. “Can you distract him?”

Happy glanced around obviously, sliding his sunglasses into his pocket. Without them, he looked more like a normal businessman.

“Like distract distract, or you want me to give him a little special treatment?” he asked.

Pepper gave him a look.

“Do not taze him,” she said. “Just get him out of the way.”

“Fine,” Happy sighed. “You got any change?”

-

One spilled sports drink later, Pepper was standing outside Hammer’s hospital room door. She had hid behind false bravado until now, but she could admit to herself that she was nervous. She could be walking into a trap.

But she didn’t think anything could be more frightening than that first cold shock of superhero life, the chains clinking against Obadiah Stane’s metal suit, so she pushed the door open before she could second guess herself again.

Hammer had obviously been sleeping, but he blinked awake at the sound of the door.

He looked… ill. He was thin, diminished in the way that hospital beds always made their occupants look smaller. He had a large cast around his waist, and the rest of him was a multi-coloured patchwork of bruises. Pepper closed the door shakily behind her as it really hit home that he had almost been beaten to death.

Hammer blinked groggily at her as she approached the bed. Something was off about his face, beyond the discolouration, and it took her a minute to realise that it was because he didn’t have his glasses on. She looked for them, but they weren’t on the side table or the swinging tray.

She sat awkwardly, and Hammer finally seemed to become aware of what was happening.

“Is this hell?” he asked, squinting at her.

His voice was rough, and Pepper watched in silence as his hands trembled around a glass of water. She waited until he’d put it back down before she spoke.

“Not quite.”

“Come to wish me well?” he said.

He was still squinting at her as if he genuinely didn’t know why she’d come, and Pepper experienced a flash of doubt that had nothing to do with herself. But she was aware that Hammer could be wily and chose to press on.

“What do you think?” she said pointedly.

Hammer smirked at her and settled back against the pillows. He almost seemed happy to see her.

“So what is it? Finally come to take my advice?”

It took her a minute to remember what he was talking about. That sentence he had spit at her as he was being taken away in handcuffs. Getting rid of the competition. Now you’re thinking like a CEO. It had been somewhat overshadowed by the threats of vengeance after.

“I don’t need your advice,” Pepper said stonily. “Just look at where we both are.”

Hammer winced, and she had to remind herself that this was about information, not trading blows. If she pushed too far, he might close up.

“Touche,” he murmured.

He appeared to lose track of the conversation for a second, thumb brushing over his lip as he got lost in thought. There was a glassiness in his eyes that got abruptly blinked away as he came back to himself.

“So if you’re not here to finish the job,” he said, gesturing to his injuries with false bravado, “and you’re not here to offer empty condolences, then you must want something from me. Something time sensitive, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Pepper gritted her teeth, but even the act of putting on a poker face let him know he was right. Damn. He was always like this, even in the boardroom; good at letting you think you had won, until he bit back with something vicious. The key was not to let him know the blow had landed. Distracting him with his own insecurities always worked.

So Pepper smiled and relaxed, leaning back in the hospital chair. She was aware in the back of her mind that they only had a limited amount of time before the prison guard returned.

“Maybe I just wanted to gloat,” she said, running her eyes down his frame as if she was judging the bruising and the cast.

Hammer scowled, deflating. He pulled at the covers, but the cast was on in such a way that it was an obvious lump. His hands were blue and black, and Pepper was surprised that he had been able to fight back and that none of his fingers were broken.

He knew he had been onto something, though. They had entered a kind of stalemate, and Pepper would have to be the one to break it.

She cleared her throat.

“I just wanted to know how the investigation is going,” she said. “And if it made any difference to your case. I should know if a business rival is getting back in the game, after all.”

“You know perfectly well there’s not going to be one,” Hammer said quietly. “And you also know I’m getting out of here. Soon.”

He just kept throwing her off. Where she’d expected him to gloat and slip up, he was instead quiet and reserved. She breathed through her irritation. There was obviously something going on here that they hadn’t expected, and that was still useful.

“You sound upset about that,” she said. “Aren’t looking forward to freedom? Or maybe it’s the other part. Why? An investigation would only slow things down. Unless…”

She trailed off, as if the thought had only just occurred to her. Hammer regarded her in silence, though it only just occurred to her that he might not be able to see her expression without his glasses. Whatever he could see, though, apparently led him to an interesting conclusion. He jolted in realisation.

“Why do you care what happened to me?” he asked. “Unless you already know. Did you hire them?”

He pushed himself up - or tried to anyway. His face was flushed, making the bruising fade just enough in comparison to put some life to his features. His eyes… Pepper had never seen so much emotion in them. She had honestly not been sure he was capable of human feeling before this.

She leaned back away from them, though she wasn’t worried about Hammer getting to her. His arms were trembling so much it was obvious that he was only being held up by sheer rage.

“I didn’t hire anyone,” she said evenly.

Interesting though, that that was his first thought. Also, he had just revealed to her that what had happened had definitely not been an accident - as if there had ever been any doubt. She had to press her advantage.

“If I had done so, what might my reason have been?” Pepper continued.

Hammer collapsed back into bed, panting. He didn’t answer.

“You were out of the way, not bothering anyone,” she said, mostly talking to herself at this point. “Someone clearly didn’t want you to stay that way.”

Hammer’s head snapped up. He regarded her suspiciously for a moment. Pepper finally realised that she had more of the puzzle pieces than he did, and he was struggling to catch up.

“What’s going on?” he asked eventually. “This is not about business, is it? You… Somebody’s after me, right?”

Pepper breathed in sharply. He noticed, and his hands clenched in the sheets.

Her heart started beating, fast. How much should she reveal to him? It was clear by now that he was not working for Hydra, but that didn’t mean he wouldn't defect if given the opportunity. Telling him about them might also scare him badly enough to avoid them, though.

There was no one she could call for advice. There was no time.

“If I tell you,” Pepper said, “you have to return the favour.”

She could see the clench of his jaw, but he nodded.

“You first,” Pepper said, not giving ground. “The accident. What happened? The official story is that you fell down some stairs. Some kind of structural failure, a collapse. I take it that’s a lie?”

Hammer actually laughed a little hearing it, joyless and bitter. She wondered if this was his first time learning the official story.

“Yeah, that’s a lie,” he said.

He looked at her piercingly. Pepper met his gaze evenly, then his eyes strayed to the door. She followed his gaze and realised that he was craning his neck to see if that man was out there.

“He’s gone,” she said. “For now.”

Hammer raised an approving eyebrow, and Pepper gritted her teeth.

She could see him swallow heavily before he spoke. He didn’t meet her eyes.

“I don’t remember it that well,” he began. “Doc says I might regain my memories later. But I know we were attacked. Is- is anyone saying anything about Connor? The man who was with me?”

“Just that he died,” Pepper answered hesitantly.

This was not what she was expecting out of this conversation. Hammer was obviously holding something back, but this situation was way more personal than she’d been expecting too. The way he had said Connor’s name… He must have known the other prisoner, which made sense if this was not a random accident.

“Attacked,” Pepper said in realisation. “By the guards?”

She glanced in horror at the door, but the corridor was still clear. As she turned back, she caught the purposeful unclenching of Hammer’s fingers.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he asked again.

She blew a breath through her nose, but figured he had earned the information.

“A few weeks ago, the Avengers found some documents during a raid that mentioned you by name. They were partially destroyed, but they seemed to detail plans to have you make something for them,” she said. “The raid was on a Hydra base.”

Pepper watched for Hammer’s reaction when she said Hydra. He paled, reflexively pulling the sheets up as if they would shield him from the very mention of the name.

But, to his credit, his brain seemed to already be working through the implications. For about a minute while he recovered from the shock, his eyes darted about like REM sleep, not seeing the room he was in.

She gave him time to process, and a short while later his gaze zeroed in on her.

“You think my little ‘accident’ might have been orchestrated.”

It wasn’t a question, and Pepper didn’t attempt to answer it. She had a feeling she might have given Hammer too much information. Something smug came over his countenance then.

“So, what are we going to do about that?” he asked, crossing his arms. “You’re obviously pretty desperate that I don’t freelance for Hydra, but I’ll let you know I’m kind of tempted.”

He studied his nails brazenly. Pepper took a moment before replying.

Hammer might be bluffing. Why would he want to work for people who had had his friend killed? His display of emotion earlier had not been faked. But then again, Hammer was a slimy bastard. Who was to say that he wouldn’t sell out his friend’s memory like that?

But he had been consistently surprising her so far. Her gut was telling her that he was bluffing, and Natasha had told her that when in doubt, go with your gut.

“I don’t think you are,” she said with a smile. Then, in a flash of insight, “I think you do want to find those responsible for killing your friend. And you’re willing to get close to Hydra to do it. Am I right?”

Hammer gnashed his teeth for a moment, but eventually his face settled into a rueful smirk.

“It’s almost as if you don’t need me anymore,” he said.

Pepper couldn’t help her scoff.

“You need my help,” she declared.

“Why is that?” Hammer asked.

Pepper raised her eyebrow.

“Look at you,” she said.

Hammer scowled and she shook her head.

“Hydra would eat you alive. You think they’d be gentle or accommodating? No matter how much stuff you made for them, they’d always want more. They’d work you to the bone the condition you’re in.”

Hammer plucked at the sheets in agitation. He looked away, towards the window, though he didn’t seem to be seeing what was outside. He sat like that for a few minutes, long enough for Pepper to become seriously anxious about the guard coming back.

Happy appeared at the door. His arrival startled them both, and Pepper didn’t miss Hammer’s flinch. Happy jerked his thumb urgently at her and Pepper stood. She looked back to Hammer before she left, and he met her gaze steadily.

“Come back tomorrow,” he said.

Pepper nodded once, before having to hurry out.

Back in the car, Happy only said, “I hope you know what you’re doing, boss.”

Chapter Text

After that Potts had left, Justin was almost rushed back to intensive care because he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Eventually the nurses determined that he was just having a panic attack, and he was given a sedative that seeped all colour from the world. The mental gymnastics that it had taken to keep up with Potts had sapped him, and he saw Lee the prison guard watching him from the door as he dropped off.

-

The meeting with Natasha’s informant wasn’t until the next day, so Pepper had an entire afternoon to stew in what she had learned from Hammer.

She should really be calling Tony to keep him up to date, but instead she found herself pulling her tablet out. She was in her hotel room, and she could hear Happy moving about in the next room, providing a comforting backdrop to her restless panicking.

She tried to open up some of the work she should be doing for Stark Industries, but she couldn’t shake the nervous energy that had slowly been consuming her since landing. Her stomach was trying to tell her that she was in over her head.

Pepper put the tablet down with a sigh, walking over to the window. She hugged herself, scanning the street below for anything suspicious. Two men in suits walked past the hotel.

Brokering a deal with Hammer had not been part of the plan. At least, not this kind of deal. It sounded dangerously close to them working together; her resources in exchange for Hammer’s cooperation.

Why did he not run to his own employees? She should tell Tony to look into Hammer’s board of directors.

What she had done was stupid and risky. She liked to pretend that she had all this experience being a CEO, just because she had supervised Tony all those years, but times like this she was reminded how new she still was. Tony would never have fallen into bed with Hammer.

Then again, that meant he never would have found out what she had either.

Her phone rang, and she jumped. Her breath rushed out of her, and she almost laughed at herself except she was too on edge to laugh right now.

It was Tony, as if he had been summoned.

Pepper took a deep breath before she answered.

“Have you been to see Hammer yet?” he asked before she could say anything.

“Yes,” Pepper answered steadily. “It was informative.”

“Jarvis found something on this end as well. You first.”

Tony’s voice was distracted. He was probably fiddling with some gadget - probably not doing his actual job. Pepper took a moment to strain to listen to the sounds of his workshop in the background before she answered.

“He’s definitely not working with Hydra. I think his board of directors might be, though. He’s suspicious of them, at least,” she said clinically. She hesitated. “There was no collapse in the prison. He and… Connor were attacked by somebody. By the guards, but maybe also by Hydra? If they paid them off…”

Tony hummed in agreement. There was a moment of silence as he digested that.

“J, you got that?” he asked, voice far off. He came back and said, “Thanks. And speaking of; Connor King, born in Missouri. Was twenty four when he died last month. He was Hammer’s roommate. Er, cellmate.”

Pepper frowned. Cellmates… That was certainly a bit more than just friends. Spending so much time together, they must have been close. And so young… She only realised right then that she had never seen so much as picture of the boy.

“Anyway,” Tony continued, jarring her. “You’ll never guess what he was in for.”

Pepper had quickly pulled up Connor’s picture on her tablet. It was his most recent mug shot, and she stared at his boyishly round face and wondered what he did. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a slyness to him that made it seem like he was laughing at you anyway. He had curly black hair and big eyes, and an element of guilelessness that was hard to fake.

He looked like the troublemaker in an elementary school class.

“Second degree murder,” Tony said.

Pepper blinked at the photo. Connor’s image didn’t change.

“Oh,” she said, lacking anything else.

“Yeah, apparently he killed his stepfather, tried to cover it up. But get this, he was only fifteen at the time, so he got a reduced sentence,” Tony said. “Spent a few years in juvie before getting transferred. He was supposed to be getting out next year.”

Tony’s voice dipped towards the end, and Pepper knew he was sad at the thought of someone so young and so close to freedom being stuck down. She herself couldn’t identify what she felt.

“Does this change anything?” she heard herself asking. “Hammer wants to avenge Connor’s death. He’s willing to cooperate if we help him with that.”

“Huh,” Tony said.

He didn’t say anything else. Eventually, Pepper closed Connor’s picture with a sigh.

“I’m going to see him tomorrow again,” she said into the silence.

“No,” Tony protested immediately. “We have what we need from him. We’ll pay him off just like we planned and he can use that to fund his little revenge quest. Don’t put yourself out there for no reason.”

Pepper was shaking her head before he had finished, even though she knew he couldn’t see.

“It’s not that simple,” she said. “Hammer clearly doesn’t trust his own company, and that means I don’t either. If I leave him, we- we might never see him again.”

She heard Tony’s heavy sigh over the phone. She watched some kids run down the street, sweaty in the Georgia sun, and did wish that she was back in New York. In her own apartment.

“What if I came out there?” Tony tried. “I could be there by dinner.”

That made Pepper smile, and she finally turned away from the window.

“Have you finished your homework?” she asked, knowing he hadn’t.

“Well…” She could hear the smile in his voice. “If you want me, just let me know.”

He let it hang in the air for a moment, before he awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Be careful out there, Pep,” he said quietly.

“You be careful,” she answered. “I don’t like those new kids you hang out with.”

She couldn’t quite keep her joking tone until the end. When Tony didn’t immediately reply, she knew they were both remembering New York. Her hand tightened around her phone.

“Call me tomorrow,” Tony finished awkwardly. “If I don’t hear from you I’m coming out there.”

“Bye, Tony,” Pepper said and hung up.

She took the phone away from her ear and happened to glance down at it. The screen was cracked.

-

Justin kicked at the dirt, sighing. His shoulders slumped, his hands in his pockets, that standard issue, loose sweatshirt. He was sure he looked like a delinquent. He had never dressed this way even as a teen.

It was kind of freeing. Moreso because everyone else was dressed the same.

It did nothing to help with the boredom, though. Seagate did not exactly have a scintillating outdoor program. There was really just a small grassy field and a ‘sports square’ - a slab of bare dirt that had various markings for different sports drawn on it.

He and Connor were walking round the edge. Justin made sure to keep a careful distance between them, in case anyone looked over. They weren’t alone out here; several other prisoners were milling about, and of course the guards from the tops of the walls and guardposts. But even if they were, it would be too risky.

Connor had tried to hold his hand earlier, and Justin had pushed him away.

Now they walked in silence. Justin wasn’t going to apologise. Didn’t Connor understand how dangerous it was? Perhaps not. He’d not had much experience with the world after all. But he had had a lot of experience with the prison system.

Justin was angry. He was impatient.

He and Connor deserved to be together, without all this. They deserved a relationship.

One day all this waiting would be nothing more than a memory. Maybe they would even laugh about it. ‘Hey, remember when we had a secret gay relationship in prison?’ It would make an interesting story to tell the grandkids at least.

He glanced at Connor out of the corner of his eye. Connor was watching some guys kicking a ball around at the other side of the yard. He had his usual contemplative expression on. He always seemed so thoughtful, but Justin knew most of the time he was just thinking about his hair or his nails. He just had that kind of face.

Justin wasn’t going to apologise. But he did bump his shoulder against Connor’s, accidentally, and then didn’t move away so they were almost touching.

Connor turned a bright, sweet smile on him, but Justin pretended not to notice.

-

When he next woke, it was night. It was quiet on the ward, and Justin had just had a nightmare. He only had the vaguest impression of violence and blood, but it was flitting out of his head, fast.

He wiped his cheeks dry and groaned. The lights were off, the TV was off. He looked towards the door and saw Lee’s silhouette propped outside the door. Not that late, then, if his relief hadn’t arrived yet.

Had Lee been involved in the attack? Justin was still having trouble remembering the event. Faces were fuzzy in his memory. The sequence seemed out of order. He squinted but couldn't tell if he was only picturing Lee’s face standing over him because he was trying to or if it was a real memory.

That Pepper Potts… Was she serious about helping him? She must be, if she had come all the way out here. Working with her would mean abandoning his own company once and for all, but he didn’t see he had a choice. Ironically enough, cultivating a ruthless business model had backfired on him. Who would have thought?

He smiled at himself, but it quickly slid off his face.

He didn’t know exactly what Hydra wanted him for, but he imagined it was something bad. Something he didn’t want to do.

Because the truth was, even if Hydra’s name had never been brought up, Justin wasn’t sure if he was ready to go back to work. Emotionally, that is.

He might act tough, but that incident at the Expo still haunted him. He’d had nightmares on and off during his sentence. Connor had always been there to cuddle him though. Now, he was alone, and although the dreams were centred around Connor at the moment, he had a feeling that the Expo would return some day.

He’d messed up. He knew that. He was prepared to take some responsibility for it.

But still. His confidence was shot. He wasn’t sure he could just jump back into the game.

The bigger problem, he thought, was that they - either the board, or Hydra, or both - were not going to let him go that easily. It wasn’t arrogance to say that he was a big money maker for them. They would do everything in their power to keep him, and he wasn’t sure exactly what was in their power anymore.

If he could get access to a phone or something… But he was still technically a prisoner. He didn’t get internet privileges.

He huffed. Lying on his back was beginning to be a problem - he had never slept well on his back - but he wasn’t allowed to turn because of his hips. He closed his eyes, but even the ever present tiredness from his injuries wasn’t enough to let him drift off again so quickly.

It was going to be a long night.

-

Pepper woke early, unable to sleep any longer in an unfamiliar place. She lay in bed, watching the grey light crawl across the room until her alarm went off. She groaned and threw her arm over her face. One of these days she would become a morning person.

She rolled out of bed, nervously checking her phone to see if there were any updates from Tony or Natasha. About a thousand emails from work. But nothing from the Avengers.

Her meeting with Natasha’s mysterious informant was that morning, and then she would go and see Hammer again. They would have to think of a more permanent solution for getting that guard out of the way if she and Hammer were going to continue these clandestine meetings.

Happy let his displeasure be known on the drive over. Something about meeting a stranger in an insecure location. Pepper shared his anxiety, though not for the same reasons. If something did happen, she didn’t want to have to hurt anybody.

They pulled up outside a run down bar, which was both good and bad. Pepper had been expecting an abandoned warehouse or something.

They just sat for a minute in the car, listening to the sounds of normal life going about them. It was in moments like these that Pepper realised that her life had not been normal for a long time. Since before the Avengers. She had been caught up in ‘hurricane Tony’ for so long that she wasn’t sure her adult life had ever been normal.

Eventually, Happy took a fortifying breath and pushed the door open, coming around to help Pepper out. People glanced at them as she climbed out, and even though she had just been thinking about how abnormal she was, she was still surprised to remember that normal people didn’t have chauffeurs.

Perhaps they should have tried to be more subtle.

She nodded to Happy in thanks and went ahead inside. The bar was dark, obviously not an up and coming establishment. There were a few patrons, even at 10am. They were all men. Pepper, in her business skirt and blouse, felt distinctly out of place. This time, she was glad to have Happy in his shades at her back.

As per instructions, they went to a booth at the back and sat down. Happy made sure to sit facing the rest of the bar, crossing his arms, and Pepper sat opposite him, facing the wall. They couldn’t more obviously be here for a secret meeting, and Pepper wondered what Natasha would say if she saw them. She had to resist the urge to scroll through her phone or see if the bar had any coffee.

They weren’t there long. Soon after they sat, she heard the door open and saw Happy stiffen up. Pepper looked around and saw someone familiar.

The prison guard from the hospital came over to them, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. He was in his uniform, including name tag, and Pepper wondered crazily if all spies were as bad as they were at this.

After a slight hesitation, the man slid in next to Happy, lacing his fingers together. He considered them seriously, and Pepper was able to read from his nametag that his name was E. Lee.

“Mr Lee,” she said.

She crossed her arms to match Happy. Maybe if she pretended this was a business meeting like any other, she could remain in control of the situation.

“Ma’am,” Lee said.

He had a slight southern accent, probably born and raised right here in Georgia. He looked like the type of man who frequented bars like this, with his hunched posture and suspicious eyes. He glanced resentfully at Happy, probably remembering their encounter in the hospital yesterday.

Happy said nothing, and Pepper couldn’t tell if his air of mystique was working or not.

“Heard you had something for me,” she said coolly.

Lee hummed in agreement, eyes shifting around the bar one last time before he leaned in.

“It’s about Justin Hammer,” he whispered. “About what happened at the prison last month.”

Pepper nodded.

“It weren’t no accident. A bunch of the guys - that is, the other officers - saw him and that kid hanging around together. Got it in their heads they was more than friends.”

Pepper worked hard not to flinch. She felt a thrill of shock go down het spine, but she could see it how it could be true. The way Hammer had been acting… She mentally adjusted her worldview to incorporate this new information.

“They ambushed them down in the basement laundry room,” Lee continued. “Started beating on them. You know can guess what happened from there.”

She could more than guess. She’d seen it. But then she realised Lee was just playing with her. He knew she’d been there at the hospital yesterday. She didn’t rise to the bait.

“Is that all?” she asked.

It wasn’t much, but it was good to get confirmation that Hammer wasn’t lying at least.

But Lee shook his head. He looked around again, before leaning in even closer. Pepper matched him, hearing Happy huff, until he was almost whispering in her ear.

“I ain’t got no proof,” he muttered, “but I think some of the guys were paid off. Don’t know if it was before or after, but a number of them have had rich relatives die recently, if ya get my drift.”

Pepper nodded, frowning to herself. Certainly sounded like a payoff, but something was niggling at her.

“How do you know all this?” she whispered back.

Lee shifted in place, leaning back. He glanced sideways at Happy.

“People talk,” he said. “‘Specially in the locker room, where they think no one will repeat it.”

“What?” Pepper asked, interrupting him.

“You know, guy code,” Lee said uncomfortably. “What happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room.”

Pepper looked to Happy and he nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “Please continue.”

“Well, that’s really all there is to it,” Lee said awkwardly.

Pepper hummed. She glanced at Happy again, and his eyes flicked to Lee and back. Pepper agreed. Something wasn’t right here, and she thought she knew what it was.

“This is all very interesting, Mr Lee,” she said, “but I’m still left wondering how you know all this. Unless your colleagues are talking about murder in the locker room?”

She could see him chewing over something. He looked like he wanted to spit or something. She gave him a moment before she dealt the blow.

“I think you were there,” she said. She leaned in, speaking intensely. “Am I right? You participated in the attack. You killed Connor King. Because he was gay? Did you feel bad after? Is that why you’re here? I bet you got paid off too.”

She threw herself backwards in disgust. It wasn’t even satisfying seeing Lee get all pale. If they were in the boardroom, she would be having an extra glass of champagne that night. But here, in this horrible town, it was too real. It was a young man’s life.

“Listen,” Lee said urgently. “I didn’t realise we were gonna go that far. I thought we was just gonna beat on ‘em a bit.”

“Maybe I should beat on you a little bit, huh?” Happy rumbled, breaking his silence. “See how you like it.”

Lee’s lip curled, and Pepper quickly grabbed his arm to distract him. Lee jerked but subsided, and Pepper snatched her hand back.

“Anyway,” he said reluctantly, “don’t matter if you don’t have proof. I helped you, and that’s my duty done. Good day.”

With one last scathing look at Happy, he began to get up from the table. As he was walking past her, Pepper stopped him.

“One more thing,” she said. “I’m going to need to get in to see Mr Hammer, and I don’t want anyone to know about it.” She looked into his eyes. “I hope that won’t be a problem.”

Lee smiled tightly.

“No problem, ma’am.”

He tipped his hat and left, striding quickly to the entrance.

After a second of silence, Pepper said, “You know, Tony didn’t find any evidence of a payoff in the prison employees’ records.”

“He probably only looked at their bank records,” Happy replied, rolling his shoulders. “Might have been cash.”

“Who pays someone off in cash?” she wondered.

“Someone who expects Tony Stark to get involved,” Happy said grimly.

-

Justin had gotten news that morning. Good news apparently.

The doctor had come in and proudly told him that he would be able to have the pins in his hips removed soon, and then after that it would only be months of gruelling physical therapy and he might be able to walk unassisted! Justin could hardly wait.

Oh, and also his request for compassionate release had been approved.

His lawyers had told him over the phone. It wasn’t official yet, they said. But whoever they had in their pocket had confirmed it. They also said to expect a visit from some members of the board once it had gone through.

Justin planned to be out of here before that could happen.

He pushed away the remains of his lunch. Finally he had returned to solid food, only for it to be this slop.

What a mess.

He wanted to just cover his eyes and hide from the world. Didn’t he deserve to do that? Didn’t Connor deserve to have a life?

Justin looked out the window as the nurse came to take his tray. He thought of how many things Connor had not gotten to experience. He didn’t think the boy had ever been in a hospital in his life. Had never been on a date. Driven a car. Travelled anywhere except to prison.

I can show you the world…

Justin laughed wetly, before it turned into a sigh. One thing no one told you was how exhausting grief was. It seemed like crying took more out of him than the injuries themselves. Speaking of…

His thigh twinged, and he writhed, rubbing it to try and convince it to calm down. They were slowly starting to wean him off the good stuff, but apparently his legs and hips might always bother him. Oh, well. Becoming addicted to pain pills was pretty common for rich folk later in life anyway.

He collapsed back once the pain had passed, breathing heavily. He couldn't go back to sleep; he was expecting Potts to show up again. Though, Lee had arrived for his shift in a foul mood, so how she was going to get around him again he didn’t know.

He saw movement at the door, expecting it to be Potts, but it was a nurse with a telephone. She gave him a small smile as she handed it over, and Justin took it with trepidation.

“Hello?” he said.

“Ah, Justin.”

It was Mr John Carpenter, a member of his board from his father’s day. The old man’s kindly voice filled his ear, making Justin ache with nostalgia. He gripped the plastic phone tightly. He could hear a low buzz of conversation in the background and wondered where John was.

“My boy, how are you?”

You wouldn’t know, would you? Justin thought. Considering you haven’t visited or called since I went away.

“Great,” he said. “Got the good news this morning. Can’t wait to be back in the saddle.”

John started chuckling and Justin laughed along. He heard John murmur a thank you to someone on the other end and glasses clinking.

“We’re excited for you to come back,” John rumbled. “We’ve got some great new opportunities we’ll think you’ll love.”

Justin felt an icy finger run down his spine, in complete contrast to the warm Georgia sun that was streaming in through the window.

“Oh, yeah?” he said. “Like what?”

“Oh, it’s top secret,” John said distractedly. “We’ll talk after they release you to us. Listen, I’m actually at a work thing right now. I just wanted to call to check in.”

“Wait,” Justin cut him off. “‘Release you to us.’ What does that mean? What’s going on?”

There was silence on the other end, apart from the sounds of the party. Someone there had an annoying laugh.

“Ah, nothing, son,” said John. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

Before Justin could say anything else, he had hung up. He sat there for a moment, just feeling his heart beating in overtime.

He slowly took the phone away from his ear and stared at it.

Fuck. They were up to something. His board of directors was going to- to do something to screw him, he was sure.

He threw the phone down and groaned.

Chapter Text

Her phone rang before she could exit the car. Pepper gestured to Happy to wait and fished it out of her purse. It was Tony, and she answered quickly, fearing the worst.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yes,” came his voice. “Well, no, but no one’s been hurt.”

Pepper took a deep breath. She relaxed back against the car seats, nodding to Happy in the mirror.

“What’s up, then?” she said.

She watched the entrance of the hospital out of the corner of her eye. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary; patients and visitors ambling at a leisurely pace, some nurses escorting elderly or more severely injured patients.

“I did some digging into Hammer Industries’ board of directors like you asked,” Tony said. “I didn’t find any evidence of them being in bed with Hydra. If they are, they must be doing it old school.”

“Natasha’s informant said the same thing,” said Pepper. “Said that the guards had been paid off, and we realised it must have been cash since you didn’t find anything.”

Tony clicked his tongue. She heard him talking to someone, probably Jarvis, for a minute before his voice came back.

“Now that we know what to look for, we’ll take another look at their purchase histories,” he said. “But that’s not what I called for. See, I found something else, something that is very much on the record.”

Tony paused for dramatic effect. Pepper rolled her eyes, but didn’t try to keep the smile off her face.

“Yes?” she asked, playing along.

“I didn’t just do digging into their professional lives,” Tony revealed. “I also looked into personal, and one of the members - a Mr J. Carpenter - just filed for a conservatorship for the protection and well being of one Justin Hammer.”

Pepper had to take a second to understand what he was saying. She almost couldn’t believe the audacity.

“A conservatorship?” she asked, just to be sure. “Like for dementia patients? Like for Britney Spears? There’s no way this guy is going to get that, right?”

Tony hummed doubtfully. Happy turned to look over the shoulder of the seat with a frown. Pepper met his eyes and let her worry and confusion show.

“He might,” Tony said disapprovingly. “He’s making the case for mental illness and physical disability. And you know how the justice system is about mental illness. Pepper, if this guy gets granted it, we’ll lose Hammer. And Hydra will gain someone to make them as many War Machines as they want.”

Pepper nodded faintly. If they allowed this to happen, Hammer would not be able to resist whatever methods of persuasion Hydra and his own board would decide to use. If indeed they had to use any at all.

“Okay. What can we do?”

She heard Tony sucking in a breath.

“Not much, legally,” he said. “I could try to use my pull as Iron Man. Could try to pay someone off. But there’s no telling who Carpenter already has in his pocket.” Tony sighed. “You’ve met Hammer. Do you think Carpenter has a chance with the mental illness case?”

She shook her head, but not in denial. Aside from this thing with Hydra, it was just an awful thing to do to someone. Even someone she didn’t like, and she thought Hammer was the scum of the Earth.

“He’s-” She cleared her throat. “He’s badly hurt. Physically. He’s - yeah, he’s definitely disabled. Um, he’s really upset about his… friend dying. He’s grieving, but he’s still in his right mind. Anyone can see that.”

“Pep…” Tony sighed again. “You’re such a good person. If there’s even the slightest chance of making Hammer seem incapable, they’re going to exploit it and magnify it. And you and I both know just how capable that man actually is.”

Pepper managed a laugh. Happy raised his eyebrows at her, and she tried to look reassuring.

“Maybe we should just kidnap Hammer,” Tony continued. “Before Hydra gets a chance to.”

It was probably a joke, but it was looking like their only option at the moment.

“I should go,” she said. “We’re sitting outside the hospital, and Happy is getting antsy.”

“Yeah, sure,” Tony said quickly. “Call me later. Bye.”

He hung up, and Pepper put the phone down with a sigh. She looked at Happy.

“You’re not gonna believe this,” she said.

-

Justin had managed to wrangle a notebook from one of the nurses.

Why? Well, he had originally intended to make notes about his situation. Facts, suspects, motives, ect. He still had to figure out who exactly had murdered Connor; part of him hoped his memories of the incident would never come back. Part of him felt like he deserved to have to remember.

He had written a bit, large letters because his glasses had still not been replaced, but then he had started doodling in the corner and had come to the Earth shattering realisation that he didn’t have a picture of Connor.

So now he was desperately trying to recreate his lover’s face from memory, and it was not going as well as he would’ve liked. Justin was a pretty good artist, if he did say so himself, but he just couldn’t seem to get Connor’s face quite right. He couldn’t seem to capture the look in his eyes, or the way his hair fell just so, or his smile after they had fucked.

Justin was getting a bit frantic. He had pages and pages of half finished, shitty pen sketches, and none of them were Connor. He tried to tell himself that it was only because he couldn’t see, but even Connor’s image in his mind was going fuzzy with panic.

What if he started to forget? He had no idea where to get a photo of him. Connor did not have a good relationship with his family, and he was pretty sure showing up unannounced and asking for childhood pictures would not go over well.

Besides, that wouldn’t be his Connor.

He was just flipping to a new page when his eye caught movement at the door.

Potts walked right in, nodding to Lee, and for some reason, Justin scrambled to hide the notebook under the sheets. Her bodyguard came in with her and settled himself by the door. Justin vaguely recognised him, but the man seemed to have no problem remembering who he was if his glower was anything to go by.

The door closed, cutting off the sounds of the hospital, and then they three were alone. Potts took the same seat as yesterday.

“Taking the low road?” Justin asked.

His eyes flicked between the door, where Lee was seated outside, and Potts. She gave a look that clearly asked, ‘what do you think?’.

“I’ve been having some very interesting conversations since yesterday,” she said.

Justin narrowed his eyes and looked again towards the door. If she hadn’t paid him off, that could only mean blackmail. And she tried to pretend she was all goody goody. He smirked and settled himself into bed.

“We’ve got other things to discuss first,” she said before he could ask.

Justin rolled his eyes but conceded.

“I’ve also learned some things since yesterday,” he said. “But ladies first.”

He could tell she wanted to make a face. He felt a flush of anger when she resisted, and it surprised him for a second. He had been less combative with her than he imagined he would be, but Connor’s death had knocked most of the fight out of him. But now it seemed she had managed to ignite something within him.

Potts couldn’t know what exactly was going through his head, but she did know she had vexed him. She gave a small smile before she began, but it quickly slipped off her face.

“I just had a call from Tony,” she said. “He told me something very interesting about a Mr Carpenter.”

Justin couldn’t help the jerk that came at her words. Could it be a coincidence that he had just had a phone call from him? Potts obviously clocked his reaction, but her speech only hitched slightly.

“He’s a member of your board, correct? As such, he has responsibilities to take care of the company, and that sometimes extends to its CEO.”

And here she did hesitate. She was watching him carefully for his reaction, but Justin had no idea what she was getting at. Release you to us…

“He’s filed for a conservatorship,” Potts said bluntly. “You know what that is?”

The breath rushed out of Justin as if he had been punched. He couldn’t speak. He remembered making pitying noises about poor Britney Spears back in the day, but of course he hadn’t been sincere. He was beginning to wonder if this whole thing - prison, the attack, Connor’s death, and now this - wasn’t some form of divine karma.

Potts leaned closer.

“Apparently he’s got a pretty good case,” she said. “Is there anything you can think of to avoid this? Don’t you have any family? The court usually appoints the closest living relative to be the conservator.”

Justin closed his eyes, trying to drown out the world, just for a moment. Family… Yes, he did have family. His parents were still alive - but they were idiots. All they cared about was getting their monthly cheque from him; like Mr Carpenter, they had never visited or called. And they’d do whatever dear old John said to do, as long as they were still getting paid.

Justin doubled over, covering his face. He tried to breathe deeply - he couldn’t lose it in front of these two. But he couldn’t stop the horrible thoughts that had taken over.

Carpenter was going to bleed him dry. He and Hydra both. And then, when they had gotten all their War Machine prototypes, they were going to toss him out like garbage.

Why would John do this? he thought.

Someone took hold of his wrist. Gently, a woman’s hands. She pried it away from his face with surprising strength. He blinked into the light. Get it together.

“Mr Carpenter is an old family friend,” he said roughly. “He and dad started the company way back when. Dad’ll do whatever he says.”

He hung his head in defeat. Potts’ hand disappeared. He felt a shift in the room, and he looked up to see her and the bodyguard having some sort of silent conversation.

His hands dropped to his lap. He doubted there was anything they could think of to get him out of this. Part of him thought they might have been mistaken about Mr Carpenter’s intentions, but it was probably a testament to the kind of company he had kept pre-prison that he didn’t find himself shocked by John’s betrayal. By the depth of it, yes, but he had always known - and admired - that John was a cold hearted bastard.

Potts sighed delicately.

“We’ll think of something,” she said, turning back to him.

Justin smirked.

“Maybe we could fake a long lost twin or something,” he said.

Potts barely reacted to the joke - but he saw a ghost of a smile on the bodyguard's lips, at least.

“Let’s circle back,” she suggested after a moment.

Justin shook his head.

“Okay. You got anything else for me?” he said.

She and the bodyguard shared another look. This time, Justin was mentally present enough to pick up on the warning in it.

“We spoke to someone from inside the prison,” Potts said slowly. “They confirmed that a number of officers were paid off before the incident.”

It was a relief, in a way. At least Justin knew he wasn’t crazy.

“Who was it?”

She didn’t answer.

“Who was it?” he asked again.

Except he didn’t have to, because he suddenly understood her reluctance. The thing she had over Lee.

His head whipped towards the door, and he was pushing himself up even though there was no way he was realistically going anywhere. Even so, Potts still stood and forced him gently but firmly back down. He slapped at her, but she didn’t even flinch. He tried desperately to claw her hands away, tried to twist out of her grip, but he was severely impaired by the huge cast around his waist.

“Calm down,” Potts hissed in his ear. “Do you want us to be discovered?”

It wasn’t her words but rather the searing ache in his middle that made Justin give in. He collapsed with a groan, longing for the days of his drugged out haze. Potts hovered over him until she was convinced that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Justin couldn’t tear his eyes away from the door. Lee was right there. His memories had been correct, and now Justin couldn’t stop seeing his face standing over Connor.

He became aware that he was gasping and trembling at the same time that Potts asked her bodyguard if they should call for the nurse. He grabbed her wrist and shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he managed.

He wasn’t. He felt light headed and his heart was still thundering. But he was able to breathe properly again after a few minutes. His gaze kept returning to the door, though.

“I promised I’d help you bring them to justice, remember?” said Potts, her voice low. “But we need to be low key right now. At least until we can get you out of here, and then we’ll help you get all these guys, okay?”

“And what if my sense of justice is different from yours?” he asked hoarsely.

Potts gave him a searching look.

“I’ll stop you doing something you’ll regret,” she said archly.

Justin swallowed heavily.

“Why do you even care?” He closed his eyes. “Smart thing to do would be to screw me over as soon as you get what you want. You know I don’t have any money, right? I can’t do anything to you.”

“Well, I’m not that kind of person,” came her hard, sarcastic voice. “Just trust me.”

Justin couldn’t help the grimace at her words. He opened his eyes with a sigh. Her face was so earnest, and he almost felt pity for her. That, and an overwhelming need to teach her.

“You know that I also swore revenge on you, right?” he said. “You remember that?”

Potts actually rolled her eyes!

“I haven’t forgotten,” she said.

Her bodyguard laughed at Justin’s sour expression. He scowled and looked away from them, towards the window. It was cracked open, letting in a light breeze, and Justin’s skin actually ached from how long it had been since he’d been outside.

These injuries might have crippled him, but they would not kill him. He’d survive this. He always did.

“Doc said I could be out of here soon,” he eventually said. “They’re going to remove the pins, and then I can be moved to a physical therapy centre. Or something. Wherever the board wants to put me, I guess.”

He almost laughed, but it really wasn’t funny. He was frightened of what Carpenter could do to him.

Once, when he was young, Justin had hidden behind his father’s legs as John had beaten one of the hunting dogs. Stupid thing had taken a bite out of the bird. He remembered holding his father’s coat tails tightly to keep his hands from trembling. He didn’t think that dog had ever hunted again.

Now Justin was the dog, ready to be whipped and spurred.

It was quiet after he’d spoken. No one knew what to do. They were basically screwed. Their opponents had all the advantages they had and more. Potts slumped in her chair. The bodyguard stood in thought.

On some level, Justin appreciated how far Potts had gone to help him. She would have done the same for anyone, he knew. She was just that kind of person. Hell, she probably enjoyed not being the damsel for once.

Justin supposed this made them even. Might as well swear off the grudge, since he was going to be killed before he could act on it. One less failure to die with.

His eyes prickled. It wasn’t just Connor, his whole life was full of regrets; his marriage, his family, his career. Did he have anything to show for his life at the end? He couldn’t even avenge his lover.

“You’d better get out of here,” he finally said. “I might get some visitors other than you.”

Really he just wanted to cry in peace.

“We’ll think of something,” Potts insisted.

“Maybe we could stall them somehow?” the bodyguard said.

Justin’s head lolled to the side. He was too tired to hold it up any longer. His hips still ached from his thrashing earlier. He was just about to suggest the secret sibling thing again when his brain had a moment of complete and utter clarity, the likes of which had only happened to him a couple of times over the course of his entire life.

It was like being struck by lightning.

“Marry me,” he blurted out.

Neither of them said anything for a few tense moments. Potts blinked in surprise, mouth falling open slightly at the absurdity of it.

“Excuse me?”

“Listen,” Justin said eagerly, sitting up. “You and I get married. That makes you my closest living relative. That way, even if Carpenter files for a conservatorship, you can protest it. Or even if it does go through, there’s no way they could appoint John over you. Boom. Problem solved, we can focus on nailing these bastards to the wall.”

In his excitement, of course, Justin had not thought about what would happen if Potts did become his conservator. He realised as soon as he stopped speaking that perhaps he should have thought it through before he began babbling. But he curiously found himself a lot less scared by the thought of her being in charge of him than he was of his so-called family friend.

For her part, she sat there in shock. Possibly this tactic was too underhanded for her. Or perhaps she would object for another reason - a reason that had a stupid beard and a flying suit.

But after a second she closed her mouth and seemed to actually be considering it.

“No way,” the bodyguard said. “Boss, you can’t be serious.”

“It wouldn’t be forever,” she said.

She glanced at Justin as she did so and seemed to be sizing him up. He spread his hands, trying to indicate that he was harmless and trustworthy. It made her purse her lips, but something in her face softened at the same time.

“Look,” she said, speaking to the bodyguard, “it’ll be fine. We’ll get married now, divorce once the danger has passed. It’ll keep this idiot out of Hydra’s hands.”

“Hey, who was it that thought of the idea, huh?”

The bodyguard rolled his eyes.

“The others aren’t gonna be happy about this,” he said.

“I’m a big girl,” Potts said sardonically. “I’ll be fine. But we’d better not stay much longer.”

She looked at Justin and took a deep breath, probably just dawning on her that she had agreed to marry him. Justin couldn’t quite believe it either.

“I’ll be back,” she said. “With the papers. Try not to get kidnapped before tomorrow.”

With that, she stood and nodded to him. Her bodyguard glared at him from behind her back, and Justin smirked in return. The guy didn’t seem too bright; messing with him would be fun.

“Bye!” he called after their retreating backs.

And then he was alone, and the reality of what he had just done started to hit him.

Marriage. To Potts. It probably wasn’t a big deal. It was a convenience thing. Should he call his lawyers for a decent prenup? As if. They would rat him out immediately.

At least this time around, he didn’t have anything for her to take in the divorce, unlike his ex wife who seemed to delight in bleeding him dry. The proposal had gone better this time too. He hadn’t had time to get himself worked up before it.

He laughed at that, and was surprised by how wet it sounded. He lifted his hands to his face and felt the tears there.

Why was it so easy for him to say, ‘hey, let’s get married’ to Potts, when he couldn’t even hold Connor’s hand? When they had to lay awake at night making plans to run away to California, just so they could have a chance at living in peace?

Connor… His next marriage should have been to him, although to Justin marriage was synonymous with divorce. Connor could have made him an honest man, though. He was sure of it.

-

Justin felt completely numb. He couldn’t feel his fingers, his toes, his legs.

The cuffs on his wrists and ankles clinked delicately with every bump. Someone a couple of rows back was snoring. The prison van was a rickety old thing with hard seats, the padding thinned down through countless unlucky bottoms.

They slowed, and Justin got his fist glimpse of Seagate.

It looked basically like any other prison; plain, unadorned concrete. Thick walls. Barbed wire. And completely devoid of personality.

Justin was going to die in there.

The thought came to him as they were driving through the gate. He wasn’t the kind of person who survived in prison. Just the thought of the hard beds and mediocre food made him shudder. He was going to be shanked within a week.

Oh, God. What if he had to join a gang for protection?

Get it together, he thought firmly. You’re not some kind of pussy.

True. Maybe he would be the one starting a gang. Or at least, he would probably be able to become someone’s second in command. As distasteful as he personally found it, the havoc he had caused at the Expo might earn him some street cred.

They were pulled off the bus by a burly prison officer, who swaggered around them with his hand by his baton, as if hoping one of them would be stupid enough. He seemed to relish the thought of all the torment he had in store for them.

Justin avoided his gaze as they were marched inside to booking, knowing that he would only see it as a challenge but figuring it was worse than a beating on his first day.

And then he was in.

Prison.

If this was how federal prison looked, he thought as he was led down halls in a general state of disrepair and dirtiness, then he didn’t want to know what the privately run places looked like. It reminded him of how he imagined a public school would be like, just without the shitty class projects lining the walls.

A different guard was asked to show him to cell, to Justin’s relief, and the inmates glanced curiously at him as he passed. He could tell that some of them recognised him. Justin recognised some of them as well, and he was relieved that most of the people here seemed to be like him. Prison camp indeed.

The man leading him stopped abruptly, and Justin almost walked into him. He flinched back from the man’s glare, and saw that his nametag read ‘Lee’.

Then Lee turned back to the cell door, and Justin was kind of glad he hadn't had time to work himself up. As it was, he thought he was trembling, but he had never fully regained feeling in his extremities to be able to tell.

“This is you,” Lee grunted and shoved Justin toward the cell.

Justin stumbled in and vaguely sensed Lee walking away. The cell wasn’t the typical kind with bars; it was actually a decent sized room with two single beds. One side had candy wrappers and magazines strewn all over it.

Justin felt like he was going to faint. The kid on the bed looked up nonchalantly from his Vanity Fair.

Chapter Text

The kid on the bed looked up nonchalantly from his Vanity Fair. Justin was momentarily speechless at the image this kid made. He must have been in his early twenties, with curly black hair and a roundness in his cheeks still that made him look younger than he was.

Once Justin had gotten over the incongruity of his appearance, he felt a sharp rush of relief. He had been expecting some hardened criminal for a cellmate, but the boy looked harmless.

The kid threw down his magazine, and Justin realised that he was just standing there. There was still time to make a good impression, establish dominance.

“Hey, kid,” he said. “Hammer. Justin Hammer.”

He quickly stepped over to shake the boy’s hand, and the kid looked up at him with large eyes and upturned lips. There was something permanently mocking in his countenance, an innate mischief that sharpened his childlike features.

“I’m Connor King,” he said with a slight accent.

The simpleness and pliancy of the reply threw Justin off. He ended up standing there for an awkwardly long moment, before retreating to the other side of the room in silence.

He sat on the bed, feeling the metal frame through the thin mattress, and looked around at the bare concrete. Connor didn’t have any posters up - were they even allowed them? - and surprisingly little personal items on display aside from the garbage.

Justin wanted to cry, but he remembered that part from the Shawshank Redemption, and he didn’t want to look weak in front of the other inmates. Connor seemed to know what was going through his mind anyway.

“First time?” he asked.

“What?”

“First time behind bars?”

Justin stared at him for a moment, but Connor just looked blandly back. Astonishing that the boy’s face could be so sly and so unassuming at the same time. Justin gave a quick dip of his head. Connor hummed in sympathy, rolling onto his side like they were about to share secrets.

“What did you do?” he boldly asked. “Tax evasion? Money laundering?”

Justin felt his mouth pulling up and was powerless to stop it, though it really wasn’t funny.

“You heard about the attack on the Stark Expo?”

Recognition lit up on Connor’s face. He was eyeing Justin differently now.

“We don’t get a lot of access to the news around here,” he said, almost in apology.

Justin wanted to return the question, but wasn’t sure if he should. Wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer really, because this prison catered to the high status, and although most of the time that meant white collor crime, he knew there were some dangerous people here. And Connor had clearly not come from money. Justin could tell.

Connor must have picked up on his curiosity, though, because he smiled. The first smile Justin had seen from him, the first real expression, but it was a pathetic, nervous thing. Connor looked down and fiddled with his pillow, trying to appear aloof.

“I uh… killed my stepfather,” he said.

His voice almost sounded like he was making fun of himself. Like it was funny.

Justin sat there floored. He instinctively drew his legs up onto the bed, curling around them. They put him in here with a murderer? Connor seemed so… normal, though Justin supposed his only other experience with a killer had been Ivan Vanko. And those guys he’d paid to break him out of prison.

Connor glanced up out of the corner of his eye and saw Justin’s expression.

“Yeah,” he said. “Second degree. They only gave me ten years because I was a minor, even though I tried to cover it up.”

Justin nodded slowly.

“How’d you end up here?” he asked, figuring it was a safe question.

Connor shrugged, almost bashful.

“They sent me here for good behaviour after juvie.”

“Huh.”

Then they were silent. After a minute, Connor rolled over and picked his magazine back up. Justin sat quietly, listening to the sounds of prison all around him and trying not to have a panic attack.

Oh, God. He had to get out of here.

-

They put Justin under for the procedure, and when he woke, his body felt considerably lighter than before.

He blinked against the harsh light, and tentatively flexed his fingers and wiggled his toes. Then, he looked down and saw that the cast around his hips had been removed. A sharp lance of pain shot through his leg when he tried to move it, and he groaned aloud.

The nurse who was supervising him fussed with something out of his line of sight, and he felt better. He swallowed heavily and looked down at himself. Really looked.

He was too thin. He’d lost a lot of weight and muscle mass being in the hospital. The bruising on his skin was starting to fade, though. He hadn’t been offered a mirror to see what his face looked like and hadn’t asked for one, not wanting to see himself disfigured, but if he had to guess, he’d say that he probably still had some discolouration.

He tried to move his leg again and his knee jerked. This time, the pain was severely dulled. The nurse patted his hand.

Then, as he was lying there trying to work up the nerve to do more, Lee entered, causing the nurse to scurry away.

It was the first time he had actually come into the room, and Justin stared at him.

He had a sudden flash, a vision of Lee’s boot coming towards him and Lee’s voice saying, ‘Now what are y’all doing in here?’.

Justin was frozen as Lee approached the bed. All his bravado from earlier was gone. He looked at the gun on the man’s hip and looked into his eyes and saw that Lee knew that he knew. The prison guard was chewing on something, and even the way that his jaw was moving was intimidating.

“Well, that’s it,” Lee drawled.

Justin had no idea what he was talking about. He tried desperately to speak but could only manage a pathetic sounding squeak. Lee didn’t smile, but his eyes laughed and it was so different from Connor’s sly mischief that Justin felt sick.

“Got a notice this morning that your sentence has been revoked,” Lee said. “You’re a free man.”

“Oh.”

Lee tipped his hat sardonically. He didn’t leave right away, lingering in the door and watching Justin sweat. His gaze felt like a promise. Surely he wasn’t expecting to get away with this?

After a minute, he sauntered away without further ado, waving a lazy hand in parting.

Justin suddenly felt very alone. At least with a witness outside, an armed witness no less, Hydra and the board might have hesitated to pull something. Still, he couldn’t say he wasn’t glad to have Lee gone. If Justin hadn’t been so knocked out on medication, he wouldn’t have been able to sleep for fear of Lee assassinating him while he slept.

Now he only had to focus on getting out of here.

-

Pepper had been to the town hall. She had collected the necessary forms and called her lawyers in a daze.

Now she was stirring a cup of coffee in the hotel restaurant, wondering what the hell she was doing.

Marrying Justin Hammer? She shuddered at the very thought.

Of course, it would only be a marriage on paper, but the implication would still be there. Plus, her lawyers had advised her that they would have to try to make it look genuine, otherwise Carpenter could claim that she had coerced Hammer while he wasn’t in his right mind.

She hadn’t called Tony yet.

She kind of wanted to call Natasha, but she wasn’t sure they were real friends. She had a feeling that Natasha’s real loyalties lay somewhere outside Pepper and even the Avengers.

Happy had been giving her looks ever since the hospital yesterday. He didn’t understand. Or, he did understand the need for the charade, but what he didn’t get was why she’d agree to it. Let Hammer fend for himself, he said.

Pepper could do that. Well, she would be well within her rights to anyway. Hammer was a bad guy, and this was asking too much. It would be the end of whatever thing might be starting with Tony, regardless of how real the marriage was.

And yet she also couldn’t. It didn’t, like Hammer seemed to think, have anything to do with being a good person. It was for entirely selfish reasons.

As hurt as he would be by her actions, Tony would be destroyed if Hydra started terrorising people with copies of his suit. And she couldn’t lose him again. Those three months had been the worst of her life, when she had only thought he was dead. She wouldn’t be able to sit and watch him fall apart right in real time.

So although she knew that no one would understand, she was going through with it.

“You ready, boss?”

Happy appeared at her side. She knew by his face what he was feeling, but she couldn’t acknowledge it. She checked her phone before she got up; because Hammer couldn’t travel, a clerk from the county office was going to meet them at the hospital.

“Did you make the arrangements?” Pepper asked, putting her phone away.

“Everything’s sorted.”

She nodded, glad that his sunglasses protected her from the full force of his glare.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

People looked at her as she exited the building, and she knew that her time here before she was recognised was rapidly running out. She and Hammer would likely have to flee like fugitives that day or the next.

The drive to the hospital happened in stony silence. Happy, she knew, would never betray her by calling Tony before she was ready, but she could tell he disagreed with her about not informing him.

Pepper also disagreed with herself, but couldn’t force herself to have that conversation. ‘Hey, I know we’ve been dancing around each other for a while now, but I’ve just decided to marry the person you probably hate most in the world. Hope that won’t impact our relationship.’ Yeah, right. Leaving it to be a surprise would at least allow Tony some righteous anger.

Arriving at the hospital once again, and Pepper really understood how people could get sick of these places. They were so drab; she felt the neutral beiges and greys bleeding all the joy from her. It probably hadn’t helped with the depression Hammer must be feeling. She’d make sure that whatever physical therapy place he ended up in at least had a colour scheme.

Lee was gone from outside Hammer’s room, but there was a woman in a modest brown suit carrying a briefcase. Peppe shook her hand, trying to look like she was about to marry the love of her life - or at least someone whom she vaguely liked.

They entered the room and Hammer was lying in bed as usual, except now the brace and cast had been removed. He looked better without them, though he was still pale and thin and bruised. His eyes flicked between her and the clerk.

“It’s not too late,” Pepper muttered to him while the clerk fiddled with her briefcase.

“I just hope I got a decent prenup,” he whispered, smirking.

“You didn’t,” Pepper told him.

Well, by anyone else’s standards it would have been a generous monthly allowance in case of divorce - more than generous actually. But by Pepper’s standards it was a pittance. More than he deserved probably, and definitely not half of what she owned.

He rolled his eyes at her.

“Are you guys ready to begin?” the clerk asked.

She smiled at them, believing that they were a real couple. Pepper sat in the chair beside Hammer’s bed, and Happy stood behind her as a witness.

“We have to convince people it’s real,” she whispered at Hammer. “Otherwise Carpenter could challenge it.”

“No problem, darling,” he said loudly. “She tell you how we met? Just a little star crossed lovers thing,” he told the clerk. “You know, rival CEOs, rival companies. Very romantic.”

The clerk smiled awkwardly. Pepper got the impression she was used to listening to couples’ meet cute stories (and probably hated her job), and she elbowed Hammer to shut up.

“Let’s begin,” the clerk said.

It didn’t take long to go over the paperwork. Pepper’s lawyers deserved a raise for drafting something so quickly. Hammer signed without issue, even though Pepper had half thought he was going to raise an issue about something just to be difficult. She thought she had been pretty fair in the terms, agreeing to shared resources because she knew he was about to be cut off, but it wouldn’t have surprised her if he had asked for more.

When it came time to sign the actual marriage application, she noticed Hammer’s hand trembling a little as he signed his name. Effectively signing away his rights, if the conservatorship situation got out of control. Pepper herself was nervous; her stomach felt like it might explode. She almost excused herself to puke several times, but she had a lot of practise in high pressure situations, and this couldn’t be worse than watching Tony fly through that wormhole. Right?

Happy was their witness, and he shot her a look when he was asked to sign, as if to say ‘you can still run’. Pepper managed a smile for him, and then the paperwork was done and she and Justin Hammer were officially married.

Despite her earlier words, she couldn’t bring herself to pretend to celebrate. Hammer made no effort either, beyond a half hearted comment about kissing the bride. She hoped the clerk just thought they were a reserved couple.

Happy showed her to the door and Pepper caught his eye, trying to ask for a moment alone without saying it. Happy understood her, as always, and she was so grateful to him for being here.

When the door clicked shut behind him, she was alone with her new husband. She turned to him, and he was staring at her through shadowed eyes.

“Are you able to be moved?” Pepper asked him before he could speak.

Justin shrugged.

“Probably,” he said. “Are we running away to New York together?”

He was smirking, but Pepper chose to believe the question was genuine.

“I want to keep you close,” she said. “For security reasons. Happy has been looking into outpatient therapy clinics in the city and has arranged for accommodations to be made when we’re ready to go.”

Justin looked away, sighing.

“You know,” he began and then stopped. “You know, I have nothing. No money, no property. And I mean nothing.”

Pepper frowned. She had known, of course, that he had no stream of income now and that a lot of his things had been seized, but she had assumed that he still had a reserve of savings to draw from.

“Yeah,” he said. “I used to have it all, huh? But, you know, my parents are accustomed to being kept in a certain manner, and I suppose it would be too much to ask for them to resist spending my money.”

Pepper didn’t know quite how to respond to that. In the end, she didn’t say anything. It only occurred to her much later that perhaps Justin had been looking for some reassurance that she wasn’t going to hang him out to dry.

“I want to get back to New York as soon as possible,” she said instead. “I’ve left things for too long already.”

Justin sighed, long and hard, before pushing himself up onto his elbows.

“Mr Carpenter told me to expect a visit from the board once the release had gone through,” he said in agreement.

“Okay,” Pepper said. “I’ll find a doctor.”

-

“You should really hire a home nurse,” said the doctor, handing her yet another leaflet.

Pepper nodded, trying not to look too overwhelmed. She had cornered the doctor in his office, where was leant over a clipboard on his desk.

“He’ll likely be in a lot of pain for a while yet,” he continued. He wasn’t even looking at her. “Don’t expect him to be able to do much, either, even with the wheelchair. You don’t have any kids, do you?”

“No.”

“Probably for the best,” the doctor said. “Don’t underestimate the healing abilities of good old fashioned peace and quiet.”

Pepper gave him a strained smile.

“Are we free to go now, doctor?”

“I wish I were just transferring him to another hospital.” He looked sideways at her now. “But I suppose, yes.”

She started to leave, brain hurting from the flood of information and hands aching from the stack of papers.

“Oh, one more thing,” she heard just before she reached the door.

She turned to see that the doctor had straightened up.

“Be careful about mixing medication. Make sure that whatever you get doesn’t interfere with his usual prescription. You might have to try several different painkillers before you find one that works. I’m sure your doctor will be able to advise you.”

“Oh,” Pepper said. “Sure. Yes, we’ll do that.”

The doctor had already turned back to his clipboard. She let herself out of the office and just stood for a moment against the closed door.

She felt like she had just invaded Justin’s privacy, even though as his wife (and she wasn’t used to thinking that) she would normally be privy to his medical information. She was sure he didn’t want her to know any sensitive information - and she wasn’t interested in learning it - just like she did not want him to pry into her medical records.

Well, she thought to herself, she hadn’t been told anything specific. Nothing new either, apart from the fact that he had a usual prescription for something. She’d just act like everything was normal and not mention it. No need to panic.

You can do this, she thought.

Justin seemed like he was ready to go when she got back to his room. Someone had brought over his things that were being stored at the prison, which only consisted of the outfit he’d been wearing in court and whatever he’d had in his pockets, and that was all he had in the world. A nurse had obviously helped him get dressed, because she was still there adjusting the wheelchair.

Hammer looked exhausted, even though Pepper had probably only been gone half an hour, and she realised with a sinking feeling that this was absolutely going to be extremely difficult. He was slumped in the wheelchair, head lolling to the side, wearing a light, mostly buttoned shirt and pants, and dress shoes. His jacket and tie were in a clear plastic bag in Happy’s arms.

Pepper almost called the whole thing off right then and there, but she figured getting him back into bed would be just as hard as getting him out of it.

She shook her head when the nurse asked her if they needed help getting the wheelchair downstairs.

“Can you bring the car around, Happy?” she asked.

For some reason, she felt like she had to bear the brunt of Justin Hammer alone, like because this was her choice no one else should have to deal with him. Happy rolled his eyes but left, submitting to the practicality of the idea.

Pepper started pushing Justin, hoping he wouldn’t notice how easy she found it.

“Not going to carry me?” he mumbled as they crossed into the corridor.

It took her a second to realise he was making a joke about carrying the bride across the threshold and not about her unusual strength.

“It’s supposed to be into the new house, not out of it,” she muttered. “And you’re supposed to be carrying me.”

She thought Justin might have laughed, but it was so quiet she couldn’t be sure over the sounds of the hospital and the fact that she was concentrating on navigating around nurses and patients and equipment.

As they turned a corner at the end of hall, she happened to glance over her shoulder back in the direction of the room, perhaps out of some kind of weird nostalgia. What she saw were two men in suits at the other end, just coming in through the double doors. They were speaking to each other and didn’t see her - hopefully.

“Oh my god,” she gasped, pushing Hammer quickly around the corner.

“What?” he asked, sounding more alert.

“I don’t know.” Pepper hurriedly pressed the button for the elevator. “There were two businessmen back there.”

“What?” Hammer tried to look around, but obviously couldn’t see anything. “Did you recognise them?”

Pepper also looked behind her, as if they were going to come barrelling around the corner any second when they realised Hammer wasn’t in his room.

“I don’t know,” she said, flustered.

“Well, what did they look like?” he asked.

“One was bald,” Pepper said, watching the numbers on the elevator rise slowly. “The other had was blond. With a beard.”

“Might be Johnson and Peters from my board,” Justin said. “Classic suck-ups. If anyone was going to come, it would be those two.”

Pepper courageously did not make a remark about Hammer calling someone else a suck-up, and practically threw him into the elevator when it finally opened. The couple already inside gave her a strange look, and she did her best to seem not insane.

The doors closed without further incident.

She and Justin didn’t speak on the way down, mindful of the couple, but he seemed to have fully awoken from earlier, sitting up in the chair and fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt. Pepper almost expected the elevator to be stopped, and for them to be forcibly removed from it. It only occurred to her right then that there might have been Hydra agents hanging around the hospital. She eyed the couple next to them.

Well, if push came to shove, she could handle some Hydra goons. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to - how did Bruce put it? Make a mess.

The elevator reached the bottom level and the couple hurried off. Pepper pushed Justin at a more normal pace, hoping no one was looking at them. She kept her head down as they crossed the foyer, and it was not quite as nerve wracking as feeling Obadiah Stane’s eyes on the back of her neck, but it was close.

They were both relieved to see Happy waiting outside the entrance, probably parked illegally.

“We gotta go,” he said as soon as they were in earshot. “I saw a bunch of official looking guys in the parking lot. Seemed like they were up to no good.”

Normally Pepper would make fun of Happy’s overinflated sense of wariness, but this time she felt like he might be spot on.

“We saw two heading to Hammer’s room,” she told him as she manoeuvred the wheelchair next to the car.

“Yeah, but where are the others?” Hammer muttered.

Happy grabbed his arm to help him into the car. Justin was able to lift himself enough to collapse into the back seat, but it was obviously a very painful process if his expression and the way he twisted his back were anything to go by. Happy shut the door to give him some privacy and came around to help Pepper with the chair. If they weren’t in such a hurry…

Pepper was pretty sure she bent something on the wheelchair in her haste to shove it in the trunk, and Happy sent her a piercing look. She avoided his eyes, not wanting to face either his judgement of her emotional state or his suspicions about her strength.

And then they were off, and Pepper couldn’t get her heart to stop racing. In the back seat, Justin was panting and holding on for dear life. He groaned as he adjusted himself, and when Pepper looked back she saw that he was pale and sweating.

“Slow down,” she murmured to Happy, and he braked to a less frenzied pace.

Justin eased back against the seat, closing his eyes. Pepper couldn’t help but observe the traffic around them in paranoia, but it just seemed to be normal commuters and families. She saw no dark SUVs or trucks, no mysterious men in sunglasses. Well, except for Happy.

She finally relaxed, feeling like they might actually get away with this after all.

They were all startled by a shrill beeping.

Pepper jumped, Happy almost jerked the wheel, and she heard Justin’s pained gasp. After the momentary shock, she realised that it was her cell phone. Pepper fumbled it out of her bag, almost dropping it onto the floor, sending apologetic looks to the men.

She was halfway through breathing a sigh of relief, when it got caught in her throat. The caller ID made her freeze guiltily.

Tony was calling.

Chapter Text

Justin listened blearily as Potts spoke on the phone. Whoever was on the other end was clearly not happy, judging by her clipped responses. She sat mostly in silence, though, listening to them with tense shoulders.

Justin wilted against the car window. Not even the uncomfortable vibrations were enough to keep him upright. Potts’ driver slash bodyguard was good though, gliding smoothly around corners so that Justin at least never felt the swing of the vehicle.

“No,” Potts said. “I understand your positon, but this is what I’ve decided to do.”

Probably talking about the marriage. But how had whoever it was found out so quickly? It couldn’t have gone through yet. Hell, that clerk might not have even made it back from lunch yet.

Potts lapsed into silence one more. The driver’s hands were tight on the wheel, and he cut through traffic like it was nothing. Compared to New York, it probably was.

Justin had no idea sitting up could be so exhausting. He had been a little embarrassed getting pushed by Potts earlier, but now he was so grateful for the wheelchair. He was boneless in the back seat, trying desperately to ignore the pounding from his hips. His shirt was wet from sweat.

His eyes slipped closed, and he felt like he could sleep despite the pain. He fought to keep them open, though, because he wanted to be able to look outside. For the first time in months - well, in years, really, he had a different view out the window.

He watched people and cars slipping by, strangely self conscious about the normal people going about their normal lives. He was reminded that he was a criminal, no longer welcome in society. Even though he had been released, prison was a stain that would follow him forever.

Or at least, that was how the other guys had described it, the ones who had been in and out their whole lives. Justin had always watched Connor’s face when those guys talked, and he saw dread there. Connor had been almost certain he would be one of those men, that he would never truly be free.

Justin would have done anything, paid any amount of money, to prevent that from happening.

“Tony, listen,” Pepper said, and Justin perked up. “It’s done, okay? We’ll be getting on the plane soon. Yes, ‘we’. Don’t worry, he’ll be coming to my apartment. Well, why would you want to? It’ll be fine.”

She listened for another moment, before saying a firm goodbye and hanging up. She shook her head at her friend and turned towards the window. Justin figured he owed her, though, so he wouldn’t press her, just this once.

Tony, huh? That might explain how he heard about it so quickly. Was he pissed? He had to be. Justin had basically stolen his girl - and wow, he had never thought of it that way. This whole situation might not be so bad after all.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Potts spoke quietly to the driver.

“Hammer’s disappearance is causing quite a stir in Hydra. Apparently their channels are all lit up, whatever that means. And someone let slip that he just got married to a redhead this morning. It’s only a matter of time before they realise it’s me, if they haven’t already.”

The man sighed.

“How was he?” he asked after a minute.

Potts didn’t answer.

Justin was intrigued. Anthony must be really upset then, if she didn’t even want to talk about it. He tried not to smile too obviously, easier with the amount of pain he was in, in case either of those two looked back.

Did he feel even the slightest bit bad? He thought for a moment.

No, he did not.

For some reason, the drive to the airport seemed a lot shorter than it really was after that.

-

They shouldn’t be doing this.

Justin couldn’t stop thinking it, even as Connor grabbed his dick through the thin prison overalls. They were in the laundry room, because Justin had been put on laundry duty even though he had never done a load in his life. The mechanical rumbling served to hide the sounds of their hooking up, though.

They had to be extremely careful, however, because they weren’t alone. There were a couple of other guys on the other side of the room - and it was a big room. Still, Justin couldn’t relax, and he sensed that Connor knew it.

“I thought you wanted me to visit you at work,” Connor whispered, trailing a hand over Justin’s quivering stomach.

Justin huffed, nosing along Connor’s jaw, unwilling to let go.

“I meant when we get out of here,” he said.

Connor hummed in that weird way he did sometimes, when he knew that Justin would disagree with anything he said. But when Justin raised his head, he distracted him with a kiss. Justin sighed into the kiss when Connor finally got his hand inside the overalls, palming Connor through his.

He wouldn’t object to a handy at work, even though he really, really should. He just wasn’t strong enough to resist. Who could be, with a lover like Connor?

Justin sometimes had the feeling he should be more romantic. He told himself he would be once he could do it safely. It rang kind of hollow, though, when Connor could think of doing stuff like this, and Justin sometimes could barely look at him in public.

-

Getting Hammer onto the plane was kind of a nightmare. Luckily at least the flight attendants seemed like they knew what to do, even if it still took a lot of time and effort. Getting him out of the car was the worst part, though, and once he was in the wheelchair, all they had to do was wheel him over the ramp.

The plane had been parked at one of the terminals for once, instead of just out on the tarmac, because Happy had called ahead and told them that there was going to be a disabled person flying out with them. Unfortunately that also meant that it took longer to take off, and Pepper spent that whole time trying not to look anxiously out the windows.

Instead, she got out her tablet and tried to work a little. She couldn’t quite seem to focus, though, gaze darting all over the cabin while they waited for takeoff clearance. Every time the flight attendant came through, she flinched and looked over her shoulder. Happy wasn’t helping, walking up and down the cabin and speaking to the pilots and bending over to check the tarmac for suspicious vehicles.

Hammer was sitting across from her, blinking listlessly as he clearly struggled to stay awake. Pepper wanted to tell him it was fine if he slept, but something held her back. Besides, he probably knew already.

Eventually, they did manage to take off, and Pepper was finally able to relax as they left the airport behind. In all, they had probably only been stuck on the ground an extra thirty minutes, but every second of that was a second where Hydra operatives could appear and attack the plane.

Once in the air, Justin finally dropped off, and Pepper was able to get some work done. She kept glancing up and seeing Happy texting someone, but didn’t ask who. It was probably Tony, now that the cat was out of the bag. Maybe Happy could calm him down.

I hope you know what you’re doing, Pep.

I hope so too, she thought.

The flight was only a couple of hours. Justin slept the whole time, and Pepper was honestly glad of the break. She could imagine the questions he would want to ask her.

They arrived back in New York around 4pm, landing at La Guardia. It was a much bigger airport than the one they’d taken off from, so they were a lot more delayed getting off the plane. At least they weren’t flying commercial.

When the airplane finally rolled to a stop next to the terminal, Pepper was so eager to get off that she didn’t check her surroundings. It took Happy nudging her before she finally looked outside and saw Tony leaning casually against a dark limousine.

Pepper sighed and shared a look with Happy. He nodded and went to get off first and run interference.

She was now alone with a sleeping Hammer. He must have been really knocked out to have slept through landing, and Pepper did feel bad about waking him. She was sure this trip couldn’t have been easy on him, and it wasn’t over yet.

But then the flight attendants showed up with the wheelchair, and there wasn’t really any choice. She leaned over and shook his shoulder. He let out a quiet moan and his eyes fluttered open, squinting in the late afternoon light. He groaned when he saw the chair.

“I’m afraid so,” Pepper said.

She got up and allowed the flight attendants to do their thing. She was too jittery to wait for him, and besides, it would probably be better if she spoke to Tony first.

She got momentarily lost when she exited the plane, because they had had to park at a terminal again and she didn’t know how to get outside. She wandered around blank white corridors for a minute, the movement clearing her head, before she was calm enough to think rationally. She pushed open an access door, and the first thing she felt was the difference between New York and Georgia weather.

It was cooler, less humid. She almost wished she had a sweater. It was a relief. What wasn’t a relief, though, was seeing Tony and Happy only a few feet away.

They turned to look at her when they heard the door, and the second before she caught Tony’s eye seemed to defy the bounds of time.

He was upset, that much was obvious. He was wearing a suit and sunglasses, looking like he had taken fashion tips from Happy. He was angry and confused, but he was trying to hold it together. Pepper hated to hurt him. Always had, which was probably why she had put up with so much as his assistant all those years. Well, maybe it was time for him to put up with her for a bit.

It wasn’t fair for her to think like that. Tony had never hurt her feelings. Or, he had never hurt them this badly. She had enjoyed their relationship as it was then.

She had thought, perhaps, they might have been heading for more after - well, after the Expo, after the kiss. It didn’t quite happen, and now it never would.

She thought it would be salt in the wound to smile now, so she just walked over and let Tony take a good look at her. There wasn’t really anything to be said that hadn’t been said on the phone, so they just regarded each other in silence. Looking into his soft brown eyes, Pepper wished they had been able to make it work.

After a minute, she put her hand on his arm and lightly squeezed. He looked at it for a moment, before nodding to himself. He took her hand, drawing it away from himself, but before he could speak, a different set of doors were opened and Hammer was being pushed out.

Pepper supposed his appearance must have been quite shocking, though God knows he had looked a lot worse just a few days before. Shadows of bruises still covered his face and what was exposed of his arms. He looked almost like a wraith in that chair, he was so thin, and he was sweating conspicuously. He was still squinting in the light; it didn’t even seem as if he had seen them.

Pepper watched Tony looking at him for a long moment. She hoped he could understand a bit more now why she had decided to go so far in helping him.

Justin was rubbing his forehead by the time he was in front of them, and Pepper could tell he was eager to get into the shade of the car. He was able to peer up at them blearily, where he and Tony entered some sort of stand off.

They glared at each other silently. Pepper rolled her eyes and shared a look with Happy.

Well, at least they weren’t talking to each other.

She got into the car once it became unbearable, settling herself in the back seat. She left the door open though, so she could keep an eye on them. As soon as she was in, Tony shifted. Not quite giving in, more like moving to the next stage of the face off. Pepper saw him bend over.

He said something lowly, and Justin smirked. Pepper rolled her eyes again and sighed loudly. She leaned out of the car before Justin had a chance to respond, raising her eyebrows.

“Are you two done?” she asked, looking between them.

Justin raised his hands innocently. Tony scowled and looked away.

“Come on,” Pepper continued. “It’s been a long day for all of us.”

She almost couldn’t believe they had only been married earlier that day. It felt like it had been at least a week since then. She watched Hammer as he was helped awkwardly into the limo and tried to think of him as her husband but couldn’t. He was just… A guy she was helping out. One that she didn’t even particularly like.

She’d done it before. Stark Industries had programs to give employment to underprivileged groups, and one of those were felons. She didn’t oversee the program personally, but she did meet with participants occasionally, and she had to admit that she had doubts about how deserving most of them were. They tended to leer as she went by. But, being a philanthropist meant you didn’t get to make those judgements calls, so she just bore it and tried to send Tony to those meetings as much as possible.

Anyway, Justin was in some ways worse than those guys and in some ways better. He was certainly capable of, and had done, more harm than most of them. He also wasn’t exactly Mr Feminist. She’d noticed him watching her and other female employees in the past, though not outright leering. But she did pity him, and he seemed to be capable of at least some emotional depth. Plus, well… Tony had not been so different, once upon a time, though much less annoying than Hammer.

Once Justin was seated, Tony slid in next to him, pointedly not looking in his direction. Justin made sure to lean against him, letting out a pained groan that was only partially dramatised. Tony kept his sunglasses on, even though the limo had tinted windows, but he didn’t shove Hammer off.

Pepper wondered why, as he wouldn’t have hesitated before.

Justin caught her eye from where he was resting against Tony’s shoulder as the vehicle started moving, blinking at her almost guiltily. Pepper looked away with slight shake of her head. She really didn’t care that he was cuddling with Tony; she wasn’t so insecure that she needed Tony to pine after her. Not that she thought Hammer was in any danger of ‘stealing’ him anyway.

She often felt Tony’s gaze on her throughout the journey, but she refused to look up from her tablet. Not least because genuinely had a lot of work to catch up on. She kind of missed the days when Natasha had been her assistant, brief as they had been; Natasha had actually been competent.

Why had Tony even come? To see if she was serious? To threaten Hammer?

To say goodbye?

Pepper didn’t want to look at his face and find the answer. Instead, she found an email Jarvis had sent her about their progress on the bribery of the guards issue. Apparently they had found evidence of extravagant purchases, made in cash, by several of them. Including Lee. The question was, was it Hydra who had paid them? Or Hammer’s board of directors? Did it even matter?

It probably did. If it was the board, then they had a legal recourse they could take. Hydra was too evil and too slippery for the law to be much use, but Hammer Industries was an American company; they could be shut down.

She didn’t discuss this with Tony. For some reason, she didn’t want do to so in front of Hammer, even though he was technically on their side now. She’d call Tony later.

Happy pulled up outside of her apartment building, forcing Pepper to look up. She saw Tony quickly looking away.

Hammer had managed not to fall asleep on the way there, but she had a feeling it was a close thing. She remembered from when Tony had just gotten back from Afghanistan that pain made people tired. Justin had a similar kind of fraying around the edges that had been apparent on Tony back in those days.

Happy came around the side with the wheelchair and opened the door for her.

“I’m going to go check the place out,” he said before she could get out.

Pepper sighed but nodded. She could appreciate his concerns, and she would rather not have Hydra assassins jumping out at her from behind the shower curtain.

She followed him out onto the pavement, with Tony coming close behind her, and turned to pull Justin out after her. She gripped his hands tightly and caught his wide eyed look, before she was practically lifting him out of the car and depositing him in the chair.

He made an undignified ‘oof’ as he hit the seat, and Tony twitched by Pepper’s side. Justin blinked as if he couldn’t quite understand how he had gotten there. He rubbed his back, trying to stretch out the pain in vain, and looked around in bewilderment at the apartments and storefronts that dominated the area.

Pepper didn’t look at Tony, just began pushing Hammer’s chair quickly towards her building. She knew that had been stupid, okay? Stupid, unnecessary risk, but she was just so tired. It was her wedding day, dammit. Tony could cut her some slack.

And besides, sometimes she accidentally pulled the handle off her bedroom door when she was spent in the morning, so she figured it was only a matter of time before Justin figured it out.

Her building was in Manhattan. Pepper had no idea how much it cost, because Tony had bought it for her, way back when. Actually bought if for her too, it wasn’t just something she had purchased for herself through him.

Hammer had enough presence of mind to roll his eyes at it, though, so she figured it was sufficiently ostentatious enough. As if he had ever bought a gift for an employee.

She nodded to the doorman as they entered the spacious foyer. It was the kind of place that had real plants next to the elevators, not plastic. And the kind of place where the walls gleamed so much that you could see your own tired reflection looking back at you, forcing you to acknowledge the choices that had led you here.

It was silent in the elevator as they all stared at their reflections.

The doors dinged open on the penthouse, and Pepper felt herself relax a bit. She didn’t live here all the time; there were periods where she lived full time at Avengers Tower for example, among other places when she had to travel for work, but this was the apartment that she considered her home. The place where she only had to be herself.

Of course, with Hammer living here now, that wasn’t exactly true anymore.

The door unlocked with a thumbprint and eye scan, at Tony’s insistence, and then she was home. The apartment was mostly open plan, modern decor - including some very expensive art from ‘their’ collection - and deceptively high tech. Jarvis had moved into the apartment some time in the last year or so, though they both pretended he wasn’t there.

Happy emerged from the bedroom when they arrived, signalling that the place was all clear. There weren’t exactly a lot of areas an assassin could hide in here, and anyway, Hydra might have been good, but they surely weren't that good. They’d only been fugitives for three hours.

“You know,” Justin muttered to her as she pushed him farther into the apartment, “my company is based in Queens. We might have just delivered ourselves into the lion’s den.”

“Well, I’m sure we can take anything they throw at us,” she said. “Plus, the Avengers are on our side, and they’re based here.”

They both looked over at where Tony was awkwardly hovering by the door. Pepper remembered then that he had only ever actually been in her apartment a handful of times, this place that was supposed to be a haven from work. He looked out of place somehow, as if the sunglasses shielded him even from her.

It made her sad to look at him that way, so she busied herself clearing away some magazines she’d left on the coffee table. They were mostly industry journals, but there was one Vanity Fair to keep on top of the gossip. They were all several months old, and she realised that the last time she had lived here permanently was before New York. She had just ended up staying at the Tower after, telling herself that it was only until things had calmed down…

Well, that vacation was over. Now it was time to get back to business.

She felt a presence by her side. Tony’s hand was hesitant as he touched her elbow, and she straightened abruptly, startling him. She heard Hammer’s low laugh behind her.

Tony didn’t try to talk her out of it. He had said his piece on the phone, and he knew she was quite serious. Still, he was pleading with his eyes. Pepper held his gaze, but couldn’t acknowledge what was there. His hand dropped from her arm.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll let you two lovebirds get settled.”

It was biting. She deserved it.

Tony spun away from them and strode towards the door. Pepper wanted to call him back, do their ritual where she called him Mr Stark and he called her Miss Potts, just to check in to see if everything was okay. But everything wasn’t okay, and she couldn’t do that kind of thing with Hammer right there anyway.

She let him go without protest, and then Happy was there giving her a sympathetic look and asking if she wanted him to stay.

“We’ll be fine,” Pepper said, glancing over to where Hammer was parked by the couch, watching them with dark eyes. “I’ll need to go to the office tomorrow. I should act as normal as possible. Can you… send someone over to watch him?”

Justin obviously heard her, because he made a face and crossed his arms in a childish sulk. Happy didn’t look… well, happy either. He gave a doubtful hum.

“Are you sure you should be going in? You’ve worked from home before, and you’ve kind of got a lot on your plate right now.”

Pepper hesitated. It was true that there was a lot she had to do both at work and to do with Hammer, and it would be easier if she was here to coordinate with him. The only reason she had wanted to go in was to show Hydra that she wasn’t afraid of them, but maybe there was no point in making a point if it cost you precious time.

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

Happy gave her a fortifying pat on the shoulder, and she tried to smile back. Then he was leaving, doing that embarrassing gesture from his eyes to Hammer’s to show that he was watching him.

Then Pepper was alone with Justin in her apartment. On their wedding night.

She sat heavily on the couch, burying her head in her hands.

Chapter Text

Justin let out a long groan. Pepper heard a rustling, and for a moment hoped he was leaving, but no sounds of wheels on tile followed. She raised her head, and they met each others’ gaze.

Justin was parked at the other end of the couch, arms hanging limply by his side and a certain glaze over his eyes. He had flown across the country today, she reminded herself. He was probably too exhausted to move.

“I hope you’re not planning to have your wicked way with me tonight,” he said, smirking tiredly. “The doctors gave me some meds that should knock me out, and I’m definitely taking them. In fact, you’d better not plan on having your way with me at all until I see some serious effort on your part.”

He was looking around the apartment as he said that, and Pepper did not care for his implication.

“Would you like me to buy you dinner along with your muder investigation and private nurse?” she asked.

Hammer’s face immediately dropped into a scowl, and Pepper pushed herself up from the couch in triumph, thinking that actually dinner sounded nice right about then. Justin didn’t reply as she went rooting for the takeout menus in the kitchen.

She looked over from the kitchen island to where he was silhouetted against the big windows, shoulders slumped and head lolling against the backrest of the chair. It was hard to remember when he was being an asshole that he had just put his life in her hands. Pepper looked down at the menus and sighed.

“What are you in the mood for?” she asked, rounding the couch.

Even Hammer must have found that potential sex joke to be low hanging fruit, because he didn’t say anything. She held out the menus to him, a kind of peace offering, and he looked at her suspiciously for a minute before taking them in trembling hands.

Pepper noticed and frowned. She got up again, quietly going over to where Happy had left their luggage in the hall and rooting around for the medication bag. It would be around time for another dose, right? She’d been so frazzled today she didn’t even know.

She found the bag in with her luggage, tucked in between her pjs and her laptop. She took it to the kitchen, where she spilled the bottles over the counter until she found the pain medication. She honestly wasn’t sure what most of the various pills were for, and she wasn’t about to snoop, but she did know this one was for emergencies. She also poured a glass of water and returned to the living room.

Her apartment was, as she said, open plan, so Hammer must have heard her wandering around, but he still looked surprised when she reappeared and handed him the glass and pill bottle. He squinted at it, before clearly deciding that it was probably the right one and shaking two pills out.

The menus were abandoned in his lap, and Pepper remember guiltily that he needed glasses. She couldn’t believe he hadn’t asked for a new pair before now.

“I’m not sure I’m even allowed to eat any of this stuff,” Hammer said after a second.

“You were eating solid food before,” Pepper pointed out.

Hammer grunted, throwing the menus onto the coffee table.

“Yeah, but I mostly stuck to jelly and pudding.”

Pepper sighed. She had never felt the urge to pray before that night. Not that she thought God would listen, since she did this to herself.

“Okay,” she said in defeat.

They lapsed into silence. She kicked off her shoes and slumped on the couch, not even caring that Justin was watching her. She kind of wanted to go to bed.

This was the most awkward first date of her entire life.

Pepper couldn’t help snorting to herself, turning her face into a cushion to try and hide it. It failed, of course, because then she started giggling silently, body shaking. She saw Hammer’s face through her tears, looking completely bewildered, and she collapsed sideways, laughing and crying into the couch cushions.

Being stuck with Justin Hammer indefinitely. What hell.

He didn’t say anything. She was pretty sure he’d have left if he could, as she spasmed on the couch.

She had just kidnapped him.

She lay face down for a while, basking in the darkness and the silence, until her stomach rumbled and she remembered she was human.

She turned her head towards the coffee table, wondering how she was going to feed them both, when something caught her eye. A flash of purple amongst greens and reds and blues, like the eye of a storm. Pepper tugged it towards her and discovered a flyer for some new dessert place. It must have been a few months old, but surely the place was still open.

“Ice cream?” she suggested, flipping through it. Throwing a life line. “They have fancy sundaes.”

She remembered that Hammer had a sweet tooth. She had a distinct memory of sitting opposite him at some conference and watching in horror as he devoured a bowl of only warm custard. Truly, he was a detestable human being.

“Okay,” he said excitedly, perking up.

And that was how Pepper Potts ended up spending her wedding night eating ice cream on her couch, eyes glazed over as she and Justin Hammer watched reruns of The Simpsons.

They weren’t even the good seasons.

-

Justin felt like he was floating on a cloud, high above the rest of the world, completely detached from reality.

It wasn’t a good feeling. Everything felt like it was coming at him through about five layers of cotton wool. He couldn’t think about anything. He couldn’t feel. Why couldn’t he just focus?

He drifted down the hall, following the other inmates silently. Some looked at him curiously since they’d never seen him before. Most ignored him. His cellmate, Connor, walked behind him.

Justin shuffled forward when he was shoved, but otherwise was content to go with the flow of the crowd. He most likely wouldn’t be able to eat dinner anyway. Normally he had no appetite for things that weren’t sweet, and now his stomach was tossing the remnants of his last free meal around. He wasn’t hungry anyway.

He stood in line in the cafeteria. Might as well. He was kind of curious what the food would be like, so he would have time to prepare himself before he actually had to eat it.

No one tried to talk to him, and he didn’t try to speak. He took his tray without a word and then just stood to the side, looking out at the room.

God, it was just like middle school. The thought actually pierced Justin’s mind fog for a second, and he had a clear picture of himself on the first day of school in this exact same position, not knowing where to go and having no one to sit with.

He was supposed to be better than that now. He was an adult; he shouldn’t be able to fall victim to this kind of social hierarchy. He wondered, with a detached sense of panic, where he fell on the crime scale in this prison. If most of the guys were white collar crime, did that make the real criminals more or less threatening?

And what about Connor? Justin was rooming with a murderer.

It was true that the kid seemed harmless, but that must be an illusion. What if Connor ran a gang? Would Justin have to cosy up to his new roommate?

Unfortunately, his moments of lucidity didn’t last long, and he walked to a random table in a daze. He could start making connections tomorrow, right?

As expected, the food didn’t look good. It looked like those frozen dinners Justin tried to pretend he wasn’t sad enough to eat. So, not as bad as he was expecting.

He pushed some rubbery peas around with his fork, trying to see if they were actually cooked or not. Even when he wasn’t in prison, he didn’t like peas. Or mashed potatoes. Or meat, really.

He sighed and dropped his fork. He was too scared to lay down and bury his head in his hands though. Someone could sneak up on him, and then who knew what would happen?

Justin glanced around in paranoia. A few people looked his way, but none lingered. He could make out cliques already, groups of men huddled together, watching the others with suspicion.

Which one would he have to join? Hopefully not one that started too much drama. He didn’t want to get involved in anything while he was here. He just wanted to pass a quiet few years, and hopefully get out early on good behaviour.

He twitched as he felt someone enter his vicinity, but it was just Connor. The boy raised his eyebrows at Justin’s reaction, sitting slowly opposite. Justin stared at him. Were they doing this now? Sitting together?

Connor began eating, clearly trying not to smile. Justin wondered what his game was, if this was some kind of setup. He just sat and watched, feeling more and more like the awkward middle schooler he used to be.

After a minute, Connor glanced up at him from beneath his eyelashes, and Justin felt something unexpected, a lightning bolt straight to his stomach. The sensation was so astonishing that he couldn’t speak.

It was almost as if Connor knew that he had just sent Justin into a tailspin, because his amusement seemed to increase with every passing second that they spent in silence.

And that was Justin’s first meal in prison, and also what Connor would come to consider their first date. Not a single word was exchanged between them.

-

Justin was feeling better after dinner. He hadn’t realised how long it had been since he’d had proper ice cream. They did occasionally get stuff like that in the prison, but it had been shitty brand ice cream. This stuff was at least fancy, even if it wasn’t as good as the kind he used to get imported, back when he could.

He’d eaten in the wheelchair, because he didn’t have the courage to try and figure out how to move to the couch. He would have to learn eventually, he knew, because he was pretty sure he was going to be using it for a while. He was dreading it though. He couldn’t imagine having the arm strength to be able to do stuff like that.

Those pain pills had really kicked in, too. He almost felt like he was floating. A relief after a day of travelling and getting jostled about. His entire body had been aching something fierce.

And even though it was only about 7pm, he was dropping off to sleep. His head was actually nodding, falling and rising as he tried to stay awake. Justin was pretty sure that sleeping sitting up would be bad for his back.

Potts - Pepper - had gotten up from the couch some time ago. He could hear her somewhere behind him, but couldn’t twist around to see her. God, it was so weird to be here with her like this. She was padding softly around in tights, and there was something intimate about not hearing the sharp clacks of her heels, as if they were actually blades that kept people at bay.

This wasn’t how he had ever imagined a second honeymoon, but it honestly wasn’t as bad as his last one, even if he was a loser who couldn’t stay up past seven.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and it was Pepper coming back to the living area. She crossed his field of vision, not looking at him, bending over and clearing the takeout menus from the table. Justin was too tired and sick to even admire the view.

…Well, maybe not that tired. She did look good in that pencil skirt.

He didn’t even try and look repentant when she caught him, scowling and jostling the chair as she stalked past. He even laughed a little, the sound surprising him.

He tried to rally himself to move the wheelchair on his own, but his arms could barely push him up straight. He was pretty sure sitting, even awake, was bad for his hips. He was actually starting to fantasise about lying down. How the hell was he going to manage months of this?

Justin shifted, as if he could physically dislodge the rock that had settled in his stomach at the thought of the yawning period of pain and discomfort that was stretched out before him.

He looked up as Pepper returned once again, and she must have understood whatever expression he was making, because she made that pinched face she sometimes got when Justin was being particularly pathetic. He got the impression that she felt guilty for pitying him, which he was both grateful and ungrateful for.

Her pity was useful to him, but it made his skin crawl.

“Do you want to…?”

She trailed off, probably at the awkwardness of asking if he wanted her to help him to bed.

“...Yes.”

He allowed her to take the handles of the chair, clumsily turning him around and hitting one of the wheels off the corner of the couch. The strike at least made Justin wake up enough to take in the rest of the apartment.

She pushed him into a plain, dark hallway. There were no windows, as was usual in these kinds of apartments. Justin craned his neck to look at the family photos on the walls, all variations on the same theme; Pepper with an older couple, posed between them as they all smiled. It reminded Justin of his own home.

There were a couple of others that featured what must have been the extended family. No childhood pictures.

Pepper obviously saw him looking, but other than a pointed sigh, said nothing.

All the doors along the hall were closed. She opened one to reveal a guest bedroom, evident by the sparse decor and chill of the room. She had some difficulty with the thick carpet that covered the floor, the wheels of the chair not cooperating, but she somehow managed to power through, creating a somewhat smooth ride. Justin was not looking forward to having to traverse it himself.

“Oh,” she said, parking him by the bed. “I forgot your luggage.”

Justin grunted in response, but she was already hurrying from the room, no doubt wanting to be rid of him quickly. He took the time to look around curiously.

Not much to see, really. There was an open door that lead to an en suite, because of course her guest room had an en suite, but other than that it was just a pretty spacious New York apartment bedroom. He idly wondered what the view from the window was like, but it was night and he couldn’t be bothered trying to get himself over there. There would be plenty of time for that later, he supposed.

Pepper returned in record time. Justin didn’t have much, just a small carry on that contained the things he’d had on him when he was arrested and his bag of meds. He wondered what had happened to all his stuff, but his parents had probably auctioned it.

And then Pepper was hovering awkwardly by the door, and Justin was really tired now, thanks.

But the distance from the chair to the bed looked intimidating, a chasm that seemed vaster than it was.

“Could you…?”

He couldn’t even feel embarrassed about asking. He was more than ready to be horizontal.

“Oh!”

Pepper came over, and Justin gripped her arm for leverage as he painstakingly pushed himself up. He was only standing for a brief second before he was practically falling onto the bed, but that one second reminded him of all he had lost; the simple luxury of movement.

He lay winded on the bed, waving Pepper away when her hands hovered above him. She was much more attentive than he’d been expecting.

“Goodnight,” he said pointedly.

She scowled at him.

“Goodnight, loving husband.”

She left without further ceremony, shutting the door softly behind her. On the bed, Justin was having a mini breakdown over her words. He was a husband again… What a weird part of his identity. Ex-con, husband, handicapped. Nothing he had ever expected to be, especially after his first divorce.

He stared at the ceiling, and he might as well have been back at the hospital for how much his view had changed.

Where was Connor buried?

The thought hit Justin like a lightning bolt. He didn’t know. He might have just flown across the country, farther away from him. Did he go home? Justin wasn’t even sure that’s what he would have wanted. But then, he probably didn’t want to be buried in a pauper’s grave either.

Oh, god. Oh, god.

He couldn’t do this right now. He was too tired. He’d save this breakdown for later, when he had enough energy to do it properly.

Fuck.

He rolled over onto his front, toeing off his shoes and hearing them drop on the floor. His head hit the pillow, and okay, this was better than the hospital. More range of motion too.

His brain went completely blank, spacing out of his body. Justin didn’t even undressed or get under the sheets before he was out.

On his second wedding night, Justin dreamt he was digging.

-

He woke in the middle of the night. His back ached. His neck ached. His shoulders ached. He had to piss.

Fuck.

Justin moaned pitifully. It took him several minutes to roll onto his back, including some where thought he might suffocate against the pillow, and his body immediately thanked him for it. He blinked into the dark, trying to remember his half-forgotten impression of the room. He thought the bathroom was somewhere off to his right, but couldn’t be sure.

His dream hovered around the edges of his mind. He only had the vaguest impression of it, but he thought there had been a lot of dirt for some reason. What really stuck with him was the panic that had been clawing at him in the dream. It made his heart pound in the real world and his stomach feel funny.

Or maybe that was just the sugary dessert he’d had for dinner.

“Why?” he groaned aloud.

He fumbled around on the nightstand and eventually managed to turn the side lamp on. The room came into view dimly, and Justin eyed the distance between the bed and the en suite despairingly.

First things first, though. He weakly pushed himself up so he was propped against the headboard, then grabbed his bag of meds. He couldn’t really read the labels, but he knew what most of them were through experience. His anxiety meds were worryingly empty.

After dry swallowing five different tablets, he took a deep breath, hoping to feel them working right away. They didn’t, of course, but the bathroom situation was getting too urgent to ignore.

Okay, whatever. You’ve done harder things than this before, he told himself.

He tried, slowly, to sit up, but ended up collapsing backwards after a second. He was simply spent. That day’s travel had used up all his energy and his reserves. He tried a different tactic then; reaching and straining for the handles of the wheelchair. It was parked right next to the bed, but almost too far down for him to reach without moving.

His fingers slipped off the arm, and he let out all his air before trying again, compressing his stomach to get that bit of extra distance.

His hand did eventually close around the handle, and he was able to use his weight to drag the chair slightly closer as he fell back. The thick carpet prevented it from going smoothly however or getting as much distance as he’d like. What were the odds that Pepper would agree to have the thing torn up?

Then, all that was left was figuring out how to get into the damn chair. It was facing away from where Justin was, so first he’d have to turn it. To do that, he’d have to drag it a bit closer, then painstakingly swing it around so the seat part was facing him.

Fuck, it would probably be easier to just crawl. Or piss himself.

Justin lay on his side, exhausted, and didn’t even try to fight the tears as they came.

It wouldn’t be this bad forever, he tried to tell himself. It couldn’t be. Eventually, he’d be able to do wheelies on this stupid thing. Ask him to do a thousand push ups? No problem.

That didn’t help him right now, though.

Right now, he was about to fall out of bed because he’d foolishly tried to pull himself over to the seat and overbalanced.

He teetered on the edge for a moment, almost thinking that he could pull himself back, before his arms gave out and he fell face first onto the floor.

He blacked out, except he didn’t, really, because he was conscious the whole time. Conscious enough to experience every jolt and second of pain. And also to feel the warmth and realise that he’d actually pissed himself. He thought he might have screamed while he was out but couldn’t remember.

It could be worse, he supposed. He’d fallen top down, his face and his shoulder taking most of the impact and his hips only falling after. He’d rolled onto his back from the momentum, sprawled out beside that cursed wheelchair. His nose was a bright spot of pain, but hopefully not broken.

It couldn’t have been more than a couple of extremely long seconds before he heard running footsteps in the hallway.

Oh, yeah. Her.

-

Pepper had actually been asleep. It was just gone midnight when the scream tore through the apartment, and it wasn’t usual for her to be in bed so early, but the day had just been so much and the next was probably going to be even more.

She shot upright, being dimly thankful that she was wearing pyjamas, and was sprinting out of the bed before she even fully knew what had happened.

The memory of the scream was already fading like a dream, but one thing clearly stuck out in her mind; the raw note of pain. It had been more like an animal’s howl than a human scream - or perhaps her memory was just playing tricks on her. For all she knew, there had never been a sound at all.

But when she threw open the door to the guest room, everything came into sharp focus. Justin was on the ground between the wheelchair and the bed, face screwed up in pain and a puddle slowly spreading out beneath him.

“Fuck,” Pepper said, with feeling.

She quickly knelt down next to him, and Justin stared back up at her in a daze. His face was red on top of the old bruises. Shit. Fuck. She’d really fucked up.

Don’t panic.

She hesitated before roughly pushing the stupid wheelchair away and running her hands under his back. Justin grunted and tried to move, legs spasming, and she was satisfied that he hadn’t broken anything.

“Fuck,” he said wetly.

Pepper heaved a deep sigh and held him by the armpits and sat him up. He was pressing trembling fingers to his nose, but it wasn’t even bleeding. He had kind of a lost expression on his face, like he couldn’t quite believe he was here. Or he desperately didn’t want to be.

You and me both, she thought.

“Okay?” she asked.

She had to hold him up, otherwise he would fall again. He was leaning against her shoulder with his full weight, which really wasn’t much anymore. She was getting kind of concerned at this point. All her adrenaline had nowhere to go, and it was giving her the shakes like she was coming down from something.

Then the tears started to fall. She wasn’t sure if Justin was even aware he was crying; at first it seemed more of a reflex born of shock and pain. He was very pale, and the fall had obviously hurt a lot. He was taking these gasping breaths like it was all he could do, and Pepper had no idea how to help him.

She just held him up while he breathed through the pain. If it had been Tony in her arms, she would have held him and stroked his sides and he would have leaned into her sweetly and they both would have felt better after. But this was Justin Hammer, and she had never seen him smile nevermind cry, and so she was completely useless. She occupied herself with planning what to do when he calmed down. Bath, definitely. She’d probably have to replace the carpet. Well, who gave a shit?

Eventually she got the idea to reach for the bag of meds on the nightstand to see if there was anything to help. Her hands were shaking so badly the whole thing ended up spilled all over the floor. Justin stirred against her shoulder but didn’t stop.

Pepper began picking through the bottles to find the stuff she’d given him earlier. Christ, she hadn’t even left him a glass of water. What was wrong with her? She was supposed to be the person making things happen, the one who could be depended upon to always get things right. She ran a massive fucking company, how hard could managing one person be?

She was still flipping bottles over when Justin lifted his head from her shoulder. His hair was plastered to his forehead, and the redness around his face had faded into what was sure to become some nice, fresh bruising, but he was breathing easier. It didn’t seem that he’d calmed down any though.

“That one,” he rasped, reaching for a bottle.

It wasn’t the pain meds, but she gave it to him anyway and watched silently as he shook out two pills and put them in his mouth dry.

He took a deep breath as soon as he’d swallowed them, but he was still trembling and crying. His head hung low, cradled in his hands.

“I need more,” he said into his palms.

It took her a second to parse what he meant. Right, he was no longer on the prison’s health insurance. Okay. She’d need to switch him over then, so he could order… whatever the hell he needed to order.

“First thing in the morning,” she promised.

Pepper pointedly did not look at the label as she tossed the bottle back onto the pile, no matter how much she was wishing she knew what she signed up for.

“I’m sorry,” she said then.

Justin raised his head to look at her strangely. His eyes without his glasses were a watery blue, and they squinted at her in confusion.

“What are you sorry for?” he said weakly.

“I should’ve…” She took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have left you alone. I should’ve made sure you had everything you needed.”

Justin sniffled loudly. He wiped his eyes with his sleeves. He was still wearing the shirt and trousers he’d left the hospital in. And what would have happened if they’d been attacked tonight? If Hydra had decided to strike while they were still reeling from their rushed marriage?

Justin would not have been able to defend himself, and Pepper probably wouldn’t have arrived until it was too late. One thing she had never had to worry about with Tony was his safety. Oh, she did, sure, and she had cause to. But it was always a worry that he would get himself hurt doing something dangerous. It wasn’t the same as this, when Pepper suddenly felt like Justin could die if she left him alone for even a minute.

Justin gave a dry and tired chuckle. The tears and shaking were starting to slow now.

“Come on,” he said. “Even I know you can’t be everywhere at once. And I could have said something too.”

Why was he being so decent about this? Embarrassment, probably, she realised. Perhaps if he’d only fallen out of bed, he would have kicked up a big fuss about it. Or maybe he was just too exhausted for the kind of emotional resilience something like that required.

“Let’s just chalk this one up to growing pains, okay?”

Pepper disagreed, but she thought she would spare him the embarrassment of arguing further.

“Sure,” she said. Then, taking a deep breath, “Do you think you’re up for a bath?”

Chapter Text

The bath was the stuff of nightmares.

Oh, not the actual bathtub itself. That was a nice, large thing with water jets and a bench under the water to stop Justin from slipping in and drowning - and seriously, this was only the guest room. No, it was the actual bathing part that was threatening to send him into another panic attack.

Justin lay floating in the water, head lolling against the side of the bath and his arms flopped over the edge, dripping water onto the tiles. He could hear Pepper in the bedroom, doing who knew what. Maybe nothing. Maybe she just wanted to give him some ‘privacy’. As if he could even wash his own hair right now. Would it be more or less awkward with a nurse?

For some reason, Justin couldn’t stop thinking about the attack.

He still couldn’t really remember it, but being here in the water… It was reminding him of it in ways that he couldn’t quite grasp. He couldn’t stop recalling the way it felt to lie on the cold floor, the way his consciousness faded in and out like waves lapping at the shore, the way the blood felt sticky and smooth against his skin.

Maybe it was that, the feeling of liquid against bare skin that was doing it. Either way, all Justin could do was hold on through the swell and retreat of vague impressions and isolated sensations. Was he still crying? He couldn’t even tell. All that was stopping from actually having another attack was the pills he had swallowed earlier. Anti-anxiety, basically a sedative. He’d probably be able to sleep again later.

God, what a night. He almost regretted leaving the hospital. Almost.

Anything was better than waiting to be betrayed, he supposed.

Eventually, after a long period of silence, Pepper entered the room again. Justin barely lifted his head to grunt at her. He heard her sigh, and wanted her to know that he empathised completely. It was a strange enough notion that he kept quiet about it, though.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

He just raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes.

“Do you…?” She gestured to all of him, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.

It was his turn to sigh. It was true that he hadn’t been properly clean in so long; sponge baths were only good for so much. He did desperately want to be scrubbed so long and so hard that he forgot who he was, but having Potts be the one to do it, even if she was his wife, would probably not have the desired effect. Besides, he was clean enough he supposed, and better than before anyway.

“I’m fine,” he grumbled reluctantly.

And then came the awkwardness of getting out of the bath. The flashbacks that occurred due to all the splashing and whatnot were almost a welcome relief from that part of it. Lessened because he was still confused as to exactly where they were coming from.

And Pepper was suspiciously strong, especially for a woman.

The thought came to him as she was lifting him out of the bath by herself and wrapping him in a towel. It provided a welcome distraction as he was getting dried and dressed.

Because it was strange, wasn’t it? Normal people couldn’t do what she was doing. Justin watched her as she helped him, but now she seemed completely normal. There was nothing special about the way her eyelids kept drooping, or the way she was muffling her yawns.

He would have thought he’d imagined it, if not for the way that she cut cleanly across that ridiculous carpet with the wheelchair - and him in it.

They were already in the hall before he thought to ask where they were going.

“I can’t leave you in there,” Pepper said in a monotone.

Oh.

Well, Justin wasn’t quite sure what to do with this development, really. It made sense, he supposed, and hopefully her room had wooden flooring. He should probably make a joke or lecherous comment, but his brain had fled the apartment, the city, the state. It was back in Georgia, in a too hot little cell.

“Here we are,” Pepper said from a distance.

Her bedroom was not unlike the rest of the apartment; light, modern, comfortable. It did indeed have a wooden floor, covered partially by a large blue rug. The bed looked lush, the rest of the room hardly lived in. The only signs of life that Justin spotted were the photographs; several frames around the room showed Pepper as a tall, gangly teenager with acne and visible braces. No wonder she chose to display them privately.

Justin was only vaguely aware of the look she was giving him, as if waiting for a reaction. He didn’t have one. Or at least, not for her.

Instead he was thinking about photographs and family and Connor, going back to the hospital when he’d realised he didn’t have a picture of him and now also realising that he didn’t have any of himself either. He should get in touch with his parents before it was too late. Add it to the list of a thousand other things he had to do.

Well, not like he liked to look at himself much now anyway.

The floor gave much less resistance in here, even the rug was thin enough to be easily traversed with the chair. Justin could almost do it himself.

When he had been lifted (again) into the bed - and he had not forgotten his previous realisation about her strength - Pepper left to get a glass of water from the kitchen, and Justin had his first opportunity to reflect on what had happened.

It would probably be weirder, he thought, if the meds weren’t keeping him somewhat drowsy. He hadn’t recognised just how much until he was horizontal again, but he could feel himself drifting off in sheets that smelled like Pepper Potts.

-

Pepper, for her part, was leaning over the sink, taking deep breaths. It wasn’t even that she was panicking; she had worked out the useless adrenaline when Justin was in the bath.

It was just that she felt… untethered in some way. Like this wasn’t reality. And really, she had just put Justin Hammer to sleep in her bed, she was allowed to feel a little disconnected from it all.

She looked at the clock on the oven and saw that it was only quarter past one. It wasn’t even as late as she usually slept, and she debated staying up for a while, giving them both time to acclimatise.

She wondered what Jarvis was thinking about it all. To be honest, she had never gotten used to him. Whether it was because she wasn’t a tech person or for some other reason, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t even really know how connected he was to the apartment, if he had speakers in the ceiling or cameras in the corners. All she knew was that she trusted Tony implicitly.

Still, it was hard not to be paranoid about whether Jarvis was reporting her failures to Tony or not. Would either of them even care? Probably not.

Pepper sighed and straightened up, looking at her distorted reflection in the metal sink.

She’d been a theatre kid, in college. Nothing serious, just a few stage plays with friends. She had never played the lead, but it had been fun. Something to do on weekends, anyway, because she wasn’t the type to go out and get drunk for no reason.

She felt a little like she’d been cast in a play without knowing it and forced to stumble her way through without a script.

She grabbed two glasses of water and made her back to her room. Their room, now.

When she arrived, she discovered that Hammer had fallen asleep, his face turned towards the empty side of the bed.

It helped, she thought as she placed one glass on his nightstand, that he didn’t really look like himself anymore.

Too thin, too pale. Beat up. Defeated. Bitter.
He was wearing some ill fitting pjs she’d found on a pile on her bed. They were kind of ugly, and made for someone taller and broader than Justin had been even on his best days. Happy must have left them for him - or had arranged for someone else to leave them, as well as a couple of shirts and pants. What would she do without him? He was making her look bad.

She found it awkward to look at Justin for too long while he was sleeping, so she left his glass and hurried to her side. He didn’t stir as she got herself ready for bed again. It occurred to her that perhaps she could sleep in the guest bed - but then what would happen if Justin woke up again?

It would hopefully only be for a couple of nights. Maybe even just this one, if she could throw enough money at the problem tomorrow and get a nurse in quick.

She glanced over at him before she turned out the light. He was a dead weight on the other side of her usually empty bed. Pepper sighed, hunkered down, and tried not to touch him.

-

Connor smelled like prison.

Probably not shocking to most people, but it made Justin inexplicably sad. Connor was so bound to this place. He had entered the system so young. There were so many things he hadn’t had a chance to do. Some things it was too late for, but Justin harboured a secret fantasy of taking him on a tour around the world, showing him all the places and all the experiences this world had to offer.

He nosed along Connor’s bare shoulder, kissing over the freckles that spotted the back of his neck. Connor shifted slightly in his arms, not quite asleep, just dozing. He’d have to go back to his own bed soon; they couldn’t be caught cuddling together.

But for now, Justin just closed his eyes and pretended things were different. Pretended they were at home, after having spent a perfectly normal day together. Maybe they’d eaten out, maybe they had ordered something fancy flown in. Maybe Connor had even cooked, as he’d threatened to do more than once. In the morning, they would wake beside each other and go about their day, perfectly secure in the knowledge that they would get to spend the rest of their nights together too.

His thumb stroked over Connor’s soft palm. Down the hall, someone was screaming.

-

Pepper let Justin sleep in.

He had woken briefly when her alarm went off at 8AM, taking his dose of pain meds and whatever else, but he had fallen back asleep by the time she stepped out of the shower. She’d decided not to disturb him.

She’d had a quick breakfast while watching the news reports. Nothing about Hammer going missing from the hospital, which she took to mean that their enemies were aware of the marriage, and aware that they now had no legal recourse to keep him.

Then Happy called, wondering if she would need a ride into the office, and Pepper had given in and said she would stay home today. Happy had seemed pleased. He’d even said he would get groceries and bring them by later.

And then her assistant had called, and Pepper was able to sink blissfully into the uncomplicated troubles of running a Fortune 500 company. For a couple of hours at least.

Around 10AM, Justin called to her from the bedroom, and she’d had to reluctantly hang up on her assistant to go through and help him into the wheelchair.

He was looking better, however, and he even managed to wheel himself down the hall, though he had to stop and rest once he’d parked himself by the couches. Pepper graciously made him some breakfast - less graciously when he demanded an omelette. He got cereal.

And now they were sitting in awkward silence in the living room while he picked at dry corn flakes because there was no milk in the apartment. Pepper had her laptop on her knees, legs curled under her. She was just in yoga pants and a t-shirt; emotional exhaustion had followed her into the daylight hours.

Justin was similarly dressed. The shirts Happy had provided were so big on him, they practically fell down his shoulders. On anyone else it might have looked cute, but it just showed off his prominent collar bones and even more bruising.

Pepper idly scrolled through her email. No new updates since last night. She should probably tell Justin that they had been looking into his (previous?) board of directors. She was sure he already knew, though. And she should also call Tony and see if he had any more dirt on the prison guards. It was about time they all got on the same page about this investigation.

Instead, she logged onto her health insurance portal to see about getting Justin onto her plan. Stark Industries provided health insurance to all employees and dependants, including herself, so it was no problem to add him. He was, after all, completely dependant on her.

She glanced up for a second to watch as he stifled a yawn. It would probably take a few days for the policy to be updated, unfortunately. Pepper was rich enough to pay out of pocket for glasses, though. Hell, she could just pay for anything he needed in the meantime. She hummed to herself and went to email details of the health plan to Justin, when she realised that he didn’t have a way to access anything digital.

“What happened to your phone?” she asked with a frown.

Justin should have gotten it back when he received his other things from the prison. He jerked a little at her abrupt question, broken out of a reverie. He cleared his throat and pushed his half empty bowl away.

“I gave it to Mr Carpenter before I went inside,” he muttered, chagrined. “I didn’t trust the prison to be careful with it. It had some sensitive stuff on it - nothing important, I guess. Just people’s private numbers and stuff.”

Pepper sighed, but she supposed she would do the same if she were to go to prison. Although that did mean that Carpenter potentially had access to Justin’s contacts if he had been able to crack the phone - and she was sure he had. Whether that meant anything or not, she didn’t know.

“We’d have had to get you a new one anyway,” she said. “What’s your glasses prescription?”

Justin hesitated over the non-sequitur before he told her, and Pepper sent a text off to Happy with the details, telling him to charge it to her private account.

“Alright,” she said aloud. “Let’s have a look at the nurses then.”

Justin perked up a bit as she reached over for the pamphlet the doctor in Georgia had given her. She wavered only a second before she got up and crossed the room to sit on the other couch. Justin surprised her by angling the chair just right and pulling himself onto the couch with her. She had to grab his elbow to steady him, but he made it mostly under his own power.

He seemed a bit surprised that he did. He sank down into the cushions with a bemused expression.

“I have people contacting outpatient physical therapy centres,” Pepper began. “I assume you don’t know anything more about PT than I do, in which case I’ll leave it up to them to make a decision.”

She flipped quickly through the pamphlet, but it was mostly just explaining the role and limits of home nurses. There were a few helpful-looking links though.

“Can’t we just get someone to come here?” Justin whined.

“Maybe later,” Pepper said absently, typing on her laptop. “You need a more intensive regime than we could comfortably do in the apartment.”

Justin sighed loudly. Pepper fought hard not to react. It was just like having a toddler sometimes. She had to remind herself that trekking all the way to a PT clinic and back again was going to be hell on his body.

She navigated to the website of a reputable agency. She figured going private for this would just be easier than trying to go through the insurance.

The website seemed nice enough, even if most of the services were geared towards old people. She heard Justin huffing as he read over her shoulder. Pepper was reading the section about full time nurses when she got to the part that stated that the nurse would have to live with them.

That brought her up short. She froze with Justin’s head practically on her shoulder.

The apartment only had two bedrooms. It was not a small place by any means, but the fact remained; where would they put the nurse? God dammit. They should have thought of this before.

Maybe Happy had thought of it. Why else would he have left the clothing in her bedroom instead of in the guest room?

But that was ridiculous, of course, because that would mean he had expected her and Justin to end up in the same bed.

We have to convince people it’s real. Otherwise Carpenter could challenge it.

Her own words echoed in her head. A trap of her own making.

Surely that would not extend to their own home, though. They couldn’t be expected to be ‘on’ all the time, right?

Although…

Although, if there was going to be someone coming in and out all the time, living with them even, then perhaps they would have to be.

Because no matter how thorough a background check, how rigorous a vetting process, there was always the chance that someone would gossip, or hint at the wrong thing to the wrong person, or just straight up sell them out to the media.

“Do I get to look at profiles and choose my own nurse?” Justin asked suddenly, right by her ear.

Pepper elbowed him away from her. He was squinting at the screen; probably he couldn’t read the fine print and didn’t yet realise the predicament they were in.

“No,” she said firmly, head spinning. “Not that you would go by any useful criteria, anyway.”

The last thing they needed were accusations of cheating when he chose a pretty one and tried to flirt with her - or him, which reminded Pepper uncomfortably of Connor King. Was Justin just trying to distract himself? Perhaps the nurse would be safer than she thought, but it was a moot point anyway.

Justin just smirked and sat back, waving at her to continue. Pepper turned back to the screen in dread. How was she going to bring this up?

Justin might not even have a problem with it. She was aware of the way he looked at her. Hell, once he figured out that people already thought they were fucking, being married and all, he would become unbreakable, she was sure. But that was almost worse than them having to suffer together. At least if neither of them was enjoying it, they might be able to find a weird solace in each other.

Maybe they didn’t need them to come every day? But no, it wouldn’t be fair to Justin to deprive him of help just because Pepper had gotten in over her head. She would just have to deal, she supposed. At least being CEO gave her an excuse to always stay late at the office.

What have you gotten yourself into? she thought to herself.

-

Justin was almost napping, listening to Pepper typing on her laptop. He didn’t really know what she was doing anymore; he’d lost interest after she said he couldn’t pick his own nurse.

Not that he would have wanted to do anything with them, but c’mon. Maybe a little eye candy would have helped him feel better. He and Connor used to talk about the other inmates, trying to guess which ones were secretly queer and which ones would be down to fuck. He could only imagine what they would have gotten up to if-

If.

He sighed to himself, blinking away moisture. Probably for the best that the nurse was likely going to be old and ugly; he couldn’t exactly, uh… ‘perform’ right now, and that would’ve just been embarrassing.

Anyway, something was clearly up with Pepper, and he wanted to find out what. She’d been strangely quiet and tense ever since she started looking at that agency’s website.

She was sitting at the other end of the couch from him, curled up defensively. It was possible she’d just been annoyed by how close he’d been sitting, but then, they had shared a bed last night.

The situations might have been different, though, he conceded. He’d been doing his best not to think about the night before, for obvious reasons. Too embarrassing. In the light of day, it was even more so. It left him craving a sedative so he could sink into blissful ignorance once again.

Anyway the point was, they had only been so close out of necessity. Pepper probably didn’t want to cuddle on the couch now. Fine. Whatever. Justin was not that invested in annoying her.

Didn’t mean that that was what was bothering her, though.

She seemed cagey. Almost guilty.

If only Justin could bring himself to actually care. Ever since waking in the hospital, it felt like his emotions were either out of control or nonexistent. If it wasn’t about Connor, he just couldn't force himself to muster up anything more than a dull echo of his previous emotional range.

He closed his eyes, knowing if he kept them closed he’d fall asleep but not really caring. Sleeping was supposed to be healing, right?

He sighed lightly to himself. The pain meds he’d got were pretty good, but he still felt a residual ache from the fall last night. Knowing his luck he’d damaged something irreparably and wouldn’t find out until his first PT appointment.

Maybe Pepper’s mood had something to do with her suspicious upper body strength? He forced his eyes open to peer at her. She looked just like she always had; tall, thin, not especially bulky. Perhaps he’d just imagined it, after all.

Ugh. His head span. He couldn’t follow all these different threads through the pain and the medication. Another reason he needed Pepper’s help.

It was starting to make him a little nervous, as he realised just how much trust he’d put in her. Knowing that she had motive and opportunity to betray him at any moment.

She looked over just then and caught his eye. Something must have shown on his face, because she frowned and opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, however, they were interrupted by the doorbell.

Chapter Text

The doorbell rang, and Pepper abandoned what she had been about to say. She hurriedly closed down the tabs on her laptop and got up to answer it.

Looking at the security cam footage, she saw that it was Happy, laden down with bags and looking very annoyed in the almost-midday heat. She buzzed him up.

He appeared at her door a few minutes later, handing over some bags with a groan and shuffling into the apartment. Pepper followed him into the kitchen, having a much easier time with the bulky carrier bags than he was. She glanced into the living room as she went, where Justin had his head tipped over the back of the couch.

“Everything go smoothly?” she asked.

“Sure,” Happy said. “It was practically highway robbery at the glasses place, but other than that. No one tried to shoot at me, anyway.”

Pepper hummed, beginning to open the bags. Happy had also brought them groceries. She almost wanted to cry. She should have married him instead.

“Good,” she said. “Though I think, given the lack of a manhunt, that Hammer’s executives know where he is and that we’re married.”

She looked over the countertop at Justin as she said so, seeing a frown mar his features. So he was awake after all.

“Agreed,” said Happy. He was putting some eggs in the fridge. “What’s our next move, boss?”

Pepper didn’t know. Probably Tony should be here with them when they discussed it though. This wasn’t exactly Avengers business, since there was nothing for them to punch yet, but it was Avengers related. It would almost definitely become Avengers business once they uncovered the whole truth about Connor’s murder.

She focused on unpacking several cans, staring down into the bag like it required her full attention.

“Can you give Tony a call, please?” she asked, cowardly.

“Sure,” came Happy’s voice, pityingly soft.

Pepper unearthed a rather large box with an optician’s logo on it. She put it aside and also found the box for a new phone underneath it. A Starkphone, unlike Justin’s old model she was sure. Did Hammer Industries have a tech division that made cell phones? She couldn’t remember.

Justin was still dozing on the couch. She didn’t think she was prepared for how exhausted he seemed to be all the time. It was the pain, she figured. It took a lot out of someone to be suffering constantly. Plus the medication he was on wasn’t helping. She’d have to keep in mind that he only had so many active hours a day.

“How has it been?” Happy asked quietly.

Pepper turned to look at him, mindful that Justin may not be asleep.

“Not great,” she admitted in a whisper. “He fell out of bed last night. I had to bring him through to my room because I couldn’t leave him alone.”

“Huh,” Happy said, considering.

He grimaced in sympathy with her. Pepper managed a smile back.

“And what about when the nurse comes?” he asked pointedly.

“You should have warned me,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

Happy looked away guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It only occurred to me later,” he admitted. “I remembered my grandma used to have this woman living with her. I was just a kid so I didn’t really understand who she was until I was older and grandma had already passed away. And by the time I remembered it, it was too late.”

Pepper huffed but accepted the excuse.

“You could always move,” he joked.

“Don’t tempt me,” she said. “But I think it would be the same no matter where we went. It has to look real, otherwise Carpenter could claim Justin’s not in his right mind and that I took advantage of him.”

“He could do that anyway,” Happy pointed out, but not as if to argue with her.

“I’ve really gotten myself into a situation, haven’t I?” Pepper groaned.

Happy could do nothing except be there as a silent witness to her misery. He patted her shoulder, and she sighed deeply.

“I texted Tony. He’ll be here soon,” Happy said bracingly.

Pepper kicked him lightly in the shin and he laughed. He gave her shoulder a final squeeze and turned to finish unpacking the groceries. Pepper blew out a breath before grabbing the glasses and the phone and leaving the kitchen. She padded lightly over to the living area.

Justin peeked one eye open as she approached, revealing he had not been asleep as suspected. He raised an eyebrow at her, glancing significantly towards the kitchen, but Pepper had no idea what he was referring to. She placed the boxes on the coffee table, ignoring him.

She sat lightly on the couch as Justin made an effort to sit up. Once he’d propped himself up, she reached for the glasses box. Inside were three pairs of glasses, one in his usual style and the other two in the more modern, smaller style. Pepper smirked a bit at the obvious hint but took out the bigger frames and handed them over.

Justin seized them eagerly and put them on, blinking rapidly. He looked different with them. More like the man he used to be. Though to an extent they also magnified the bruising around his eyes, a reminder of what happened.

“Whoah,” he said.

He craned his neck to look around the apartment, boggling at all the details he seemingly hadn’t been able to see before. Pepper let him do it for a minute.

“Better?” she asked, reclining into the soft cushions with the phone box.

“I’d forgotten what it was like to see,” he answered, flopping back. “Is that for me?”

Pepper slipped the phone out of the box. It was the newest model. In fact, she wasn’t sure it was even out yet. She narrowed her eyes at Happy, who conspicuously had his back to her. Traitor.

She gave the phone to Justin, who had obviously picked up on that interaction. She didn’t think his eyebrows could climb any higher. Fortunately he was soon distracted by the phone like a kid with a new toy.

At least she had managed to do something useful today. She couldn’t wait to go back to work; she was never going to try espionage again.

Happy brought coffee when he came over, like the good friend that he was, and Pepper smiled gratefully. Justin barely glanced up when Happy handed him the steaming cup. Happy rolled his eyes, sending Pepper a look like ‘can you believe this guy?’, and Pepper laughed. Having Happy as a buffer made Justin so much easier to bear.

Then Happy started talking about work, and Pepper was able to forget about everything for a short while, eventually moving over to the other couch so they could read together more efficiently. Initially, she had reservations about speaking so openly about the inner workings of Stark Industries right in front of Justin, but she figured he was never going back to Hammer Industries, and they were married after all.

And Happy was easy to talk to. His advice never sounded condescending, and he was one of the few men in her life that actually did as he was asked. Pepper found herself forgetting, for a moment, about her unfortunate living situation.

“Should I call Carpenter?” Justin asked suddenly, as they were reading a budget request over each other’s shoulders.

Justin looked up from his phone and did a double take at the coffee in his hand, as if he had genuinely not noticed it before. He took a sip, making a frankly embarrassing noise, as it had clearly been a while.

It was such a Tony thing to do that it took Pepper’s breath away.

“Why would you do that?” Happy asked.

“Well,” Justin said. “I don’t know. Shouldn’t we be acting like everything’s normal? If I had gotten surprise married before, I’d be calling him.”

Happy sighed but looked to Pepper for a verdict.

“Not yet,” she said. “Let’s all decide on a course of action together. And stick to it.”

She gave them a hard look at that last bit, although she was fairly certain they were not the ones she had to worry about going off script.

As if summoned, the doorbell rang again. Pepper gestured to Happy to stay when he made to get up and went herself. For some reason, she felt the need to present a tough face for Tony.

When Tony arrived, however, he wasn’t alone. Natasha was standing unrepentantly behind him, and Pepper waved them both into the apartment. Tony was back to avoiding eye contact, but Natasha looked her over obviously, raising an eyebrow in silent question. Pepper just shrugged. Honestly, she had no idea how to describe what had happened.

As she was closing the door, she heard Justin scoff loudly and then Natasha’s low, silky voice. Pepper pressed her forehead against the door and took a deep breath, wondering what on Earth she was thinking having these people crammed into her apartment.

She turned, and saw Natasha sitting on the opposite couch from Justin, daintily ignoring him. Tony was back to hovering awkwardly by the windows. Pepper came and sat next to Justin again.

“So,” Tony said, “who’s taking who’s name again? It’s just, Justin Potts doesn’t really have a ring to it. And Pepper Hammer sounds like a cartoon character. Or a weird foreign candy.”

“Tony,” Pepper said, rolling her eyes. “Neither of us are changing our name.”

The paperwork that would be involved alone would be enough to make her think twice, even if they weren’t going to get divorced at the end of this anyway.

“Good,” Tony muttered.

“But if either of us were going to,” said Justin, because he couldn’t resist twisting the knife, “we would hyphenate. Obviously.”

Pepper sighed as Tony puffed himself up. She shot a sharp look at Justin, who only seemed to take this as encouragement that he had struck a sore spot if his smirk was anything to go by.

“You’re both pretty, boys,” Natasha said.

Pepper gave her a grateful look. Whatever reservations she had about Natasha’s loyalties, she put them aside. The only two women in a room should stick together.

Tony did come and sit down reluctantly then, plopping himself next to Happy. Happy gave her a nod, saying without words that he would keep him reigned in.

“Anyway,” Pepper said firmly, “let’s all get on the same page here.”

The mood abruptly flattened. Justin fiddled with his glasses, not meeting anyone’s eyes. No one looked at him either, which left Pepper to be the one who fielded their prying gazes.

“Fine,” said Tony. “I’ll start. We,” he indicated with his head to Natasha, “have been looking into the money trail of this thing. Your tip about the cash was right, I think. Several guards at the prison seem to have ‘inherited’ large amounts of money recently.”

“Not that anyone in their families has actually died,” Natasha added. “And not that we have any proof that they did indeed receive any cash. All we have is a list of unusual purchases.”

“A good place to start, though,” Pepper noted.

Beside her, Justin flinched. If they weren’t sitting so close, she wouldn’t have noticed it, or the way he went rigid. Pepper didn’t acknowledge it, feeling weirdly protective of his privacy.

“We’ll send you the list of names,” Natasha said.

Her eyes never strayed from Pepper, but she got the impression that Natasha had clocked Justin’s behavior anyway. It must be hard for him to know the identities of the people who had attacked him and killed his… what, friend? They had yet to discuss it, and she didn’t want to presume. Someone who had obviously been extremely important to him, anyway.

“And Hammer Industries?” Happy asked.

It was Tony’s turn to sigh deeply.

Justin looked up sharply at this. Pepper had the alien urge to place a calming hand on his thigh, but it was so shocking that she was able to catch herself in time.

“What about it?” Justin asked.

Tony side eyed him.

“We’ve been looking into the Board of Directors,” he said. “Same as with the prison guards.”

Justin was very stiff next to her. If Pepper found out her own Board had plotted to murder and kill Tony… Well, that had basically already happened to her, actually. And she still remembered how much it had hurt Tony to have Obadiah turn against him. He had, quietly, rescued that old piano from the house in California and squirreled it away somewhere.

How big of a betrayal was Justin in for?

“Haven’t discovered much,” Tony continued nonchalantly. “They spend their money on so much fancy crap, its impossible to tell if they’ve been bribed.”

Justin rolled his eyes. Pepper spoke before he had a chance.

“And you couldn’t find any other ties to Hydra?”

Here, Tony looked chagrined. He twitched, before reluctantly speaking.

“However they’re communicating, it’s not through email or whatever,” he said. “And we haven’t had any luck yet on finding out where the bribe money for the prison guards came from.”

“But that does mean someone on the Board has a contact in Hydra,” Natasha said, and Pepper detected a hint of excitement in her voice. “At least one. Which means that they must have a physical meeting location, which means that there will be something that leads us to Hydra if we find it.”

Pepper smiled. Spy work was certainly Natasha’s speciality, and she would leave it to her to ferret out the exact mode of contact between Hammer and Hydra.

“You should look into our lawyers,” Justin blurted out.

They all turned to look at him.

“The lawyers know all our secrets,” he said with a weak smirk. “You might want to check their financials for the bribe money.”

No one was quite sure what to say to that. Pepper got the feeling they hadn’t expected Justin to be forthcoming with help on this case. She could see where they were coming from; she would be reluctant to dismantle Stark Industries, even if it did betray her. But somehow, getting a glimpse of his private self these past several days, she wasn’t surprised.

“Sure,” Tony muttered uncomfortably. Then louder, “The Avengers are raiding another Hydra base in a few days. We think someone from this one was in close contact with someone at the first base where we found mentions of Hammer.”

“We’ll start our end of the investigation when we come back,” Natasha added.

“Is there anything we can do in the meantime?” Pepper asked.

A little crease appeared between Natasha’s eyebrows. Tony also seemed reluctant to ask them for anything, and Pepper glared. Hadn’t she proven she was more than capable of keeping up with their shenanigans? They didn’t need to baby her, and she intended to see this through to the end, one way or another.

“Come on, guys,” Happy groaned. “We just want to help. You have to give us something to do, otherwise we’ll go stir crazy.”

Yes, they would. And it would be good for Justin to feel like he was helping, Pepper thought.

Tony sighed through his nose but relented.

“Fine. You guys can start on the lawyers, I guess. Hammer might be able to give you a head start.”

Pepper nodded, glancing at Happy and Justin. The boys seemed pleased enough with that, even if Justin was looking extremely grim.

“Great,” Tony announced. “Good meeting, everyone. Same time next week?”

He was standing as he spoke, doing that thing where he used humor and quips to cover up his feelings, and Pepper wished there was anything she could do to make him feel better about this whole thing.

“Do you think…” came Justin’s voice suddenly. “Do you think they meant to kill Connor?”

He wasn’t looking at any of them, staring out the window as if he could possibly be nonchalant about this.

Pepper’s eyes widened and she looked round at the others. No one seemed to know what to say to that. Tony was frozen halfway up. It was likely that if Connor hadn’t been with Justin that day, he would still be alive. Did Justin really not realize this, or did he just want to hear it out loud for some reason?

“What happened to you wasn’t an accident,” Natasha said, silky smooth yet deceptively sympathetic. “That’s the thing to focus on right now. Somebody did this, and we’re going to find them.”

After a minute of tense silence, Justin finally nodded. He didn’t look particularly comforted, but Pepper breathed a sigh of relief all the same. Tony continued rising, and she stood also to see them out.

“Watch him,” Natasha said at the door, eyes flicking to Justin. “Try not to let him spiral. We might need him later.”

Pepper managed a small smile, while Tony hovered uncomfortably in the hall.

“I’ll do my best,” she said. “I don’t really know… what to say to him.”

She hoped Natasha might have some advice about that, being that she was trained basically since birth to read people and become what they needed, but she just looked thoughtful.

“Ply him with cake?” she suggested.

Pepper groaned, but she was smiling a bit wider as she shut the door after them.

It fell off of her face quickly though, as she turned around and observed what she’d been left with. Justin was still sitting exactly where he’d been, shoulders hunched and looking out the window. Happy had moved into the kitchen again, ostensibly washing out their glasses.

She joined him in the kitchen, and they shared a wary look. It was only one thirty in the afternoon.

“Did you have a chance to look into any nurses?” Happy whispered.

At least it gave Pepper something logistical to think about.

“I found a service I want to use. I’ll contact them this afternoon and hopefully have a name to send to you by tonight.”

Happy nodded. Pepper glanced into the living room again. Justin hadn’t moved.

She took a deep breath for fortification, and then entered the room. Justin’s head twitched slightly at her approach, and he heaved a sigh when she sat next to him.

“Hey,” she said.

She stalled then, because she had no idea what to say. Thankfully, Happy came to her rescue with his arrival, and this finally drew Justin’s gaze from the window. He looked exhausted, the strain of keeping himself upright finally starting to wear on him. When he realized it was just them, he let out a breath like a deflating balloon and slumped back into the cushions.

Happy surprised them both by sitting on the other side of Justin, possibly to block his view of the windows.

“You know,” Happy began, settling back, “what you said earlier made me think of something.”

“Me?” Justin asked.

“Yeah,” said Happy. “What you said about Connor, it got me thinking. Maybe somebody did mess up somewhere.”

Pepper stared at Happy. Both because she wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but also because she hadn’t been aware he even knew Connor’s name.

“What do you mean?” Justin whispered.

“Think about it,” he said. “They had you attacked cos they wanted compassionate release, right, avoid the attention of a jailbreak. But they obviously needed you well enough to work after that, but you were… really hurt.”

“You think the guards went too far?” Pepper said, picking up the thread.

Justin looked between the two of them, taking it all in. He needed a shave, Pepper thought, suddenly seeing the patchy stubble on his chin, not thick enough or dark enough to be really noticeable yet.

“So what?” Justin asked, taking his glasses off to rub between his eyes. “The guards got a little overexcited and now Connor’s- gone. It’s not like anyone cares.”

Pepper’s hand was on his shoulder before she could register herself moving, and it somehow felt more intimate than sharing a bed the night before. Justin was so bony under her palm, and his sharp shoulder blade shuddered when she touched it.

“We care,” Pepper said earnestly.

Her eyes made contact with Happy over Justin’s bowed head, and he nodded to her.

“We care, and we’re going to get justice for what happened,” she continued. “And it is important. Hydra and Hammer probably aren’t very happy with the guards right now. They could be our weak link!”

Justin looked up. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking or feeling. For a second, all he did was stare at them. Then he scoffed, but it wasn’t in denial. It was a scoff of the weary, a laugh in the face of a hail mary.

“Sure,” Justin said. “You’re probably right. Anyway I need a nap, right now, or I’m gonna pass out.”

Pepper sat back to allow him to maneuver himself, feeling like she had lost this battle. She and Happy watched him wheel himself down the hall in silence.

-

Prison was so loud. Not something Justin had known to expect. Every time he felt himself drifting off, he was shocked awake by a bang, or a clatter, or a muffled voice. Every so often, he would hear guards’ boots walking by. Every so often, Connor would sigh in his sleep.

Don't cry. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

Justin stared ahead into the dark, obsessively tracing and retracing Connor’s shape, watching for movement, listening for noises.

The door was locked, he reminded himself. No one could get in. Unless one of the guards wanted something. But why would they? He hadn’t even been here a day. They couldn’t possibly be after him for anything yet. Unless Connor had pissed them off before he got here…

He flinched at the sound of a metallic clang, breathing hard as he waited for his heart to calm down. It was thundering so hard in his ears that at first he didn’t notice that Connor had woken up.

The boy rolled over, raising his head slightly. Justin couldn’t hope to see his expression like this, but his whole body froze, hoping the kid would think he was asleep. After a second, there was a deep sigh from the other bed, and Connor sat up. Justin held his breath and wished the kid was just going to the bathroom.

He wasn’t.

“I know you’re up,” he whispered.

He was right next to Justin’s bed now. Justin’s fingers were white where he was gripping his duvet close.

“Psst, hey.”

Justin said nothing, squeezing his eyes shut. Above him, Connor sighed again.

Then, suddenly, he felt the bed dip and his eyes snapped open.

“What are you doing?” he squeaked.

“So you are awake,” Connor said, not pausing in climbing onto the bed.

Justin was speechless as Connor clambered over him, collapsing with a thump between him and the wall. Justin had ended up on his back in the confusion, and now he and Connor’s head were so close together, they were breathing each others breath.

“Wh-what’s the meaning of this?” Justin demanded.

Connor sounded like he was smiling when he said: “I’ve had a lot of first timers. Not many as handsome as you, but I don’t pick ‘em, I guess. In a place like this, you white collars usually only stay a couple of months. But I know y'all ain’t experienced anything like this before, and it gets annoying hearing you cry at night, so.”

Justin stared upwards. He didn’t really have anything to say to that, shocked at hearing the kid speak for so long. He could protest that he wasn’t going to cry, but here in the dark, and with the knowledge that Connor had been through this before, it seemed childish.

Connor was warmth tucked up against him, and breath exhaled against his shoulder, and Justin discovered it was a bit easier to sleep with someone watching his back.