Fandom:
Iron Man (movieverse)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Summary: It
will not be long, love...
Disclaimer: Most of the characters and situations in this story belong
to Marvel Comics, Fairview Entertainment, Dark Blades Films, NBC, and
other
entities, and I do not have permission to borrow them. No infringement
is intended in any way, and this story is not for profit. All others
belong to me, especially Cedric, and if you want to borrow them, you
have to ask me first.
Any errors are mine, all mine, no you can't have any.
Well, I'm back. Real life decided I had other things to do,
including dealing with some health issues (none truly serious, just distracting). After waiting
so long, you deserve to have the whole story, so I'm finishing it up
with three more chapters and an epilogue. Thank you for your
patience, your encouragement while I've been on hiatus, and your
feedback.
Especial thanks to Laura27md for last-minute reassurance, and Cincoflex, as ever, for editing,
support, and telling me that yes, getting my appendix removed did take
precedence over that last chapter. *snerk* Much, much love
to you both.
All that and I didn't even pop the rating. Huh.
Gorgeous banner by Cincoflex, of course!
*********
The grave marker was relatively new, flush with the bright green grass
of the sunlit cemetery. Virginia could read it without bending: Peter Lucado, 1939-2009, Loving Husband,
Loving Father.
There was another plaque next to it, older, bearing the name of the
wife whom he’d loved, but it was Peter whom Virginia had come to
see, and she looked down for a long moment before bending to lay the
bouquet of lilies athwart the textured brass. “Thank
you,” she murmured.
Tony’s private investigator had finally managed to trace the
belongings at the abandoned campsite that had saved her life. Sam
Lucado, a middle-aged businessman, had welcomed Virginia into his home
and told her how his father--a dedicated and hardy camper even at
seventy years--had nonetheless fallen and hurt himself while hiking six
months prior. He’d been found within a couple of days, but
a broken leg and pneumonia had overwhelmed him, and he had died before
he’d told his son where his tent had been pitched.
It had waited, patient through rain and wind, for Virginia. Without you, I might be dead.
Perhaps not; some more legitimate camper might have found her, or she
might somehow have made it to the road despite it all. But the
tent and its contents had been there, and she’d survived.
And though she couldn’t thank Peter Lucado in person, she could
honor him.
A hand touched hers where it hung by her side, and Virginia laced her
fingers with Tony’s warm ones, smiling a little as he stepped up
beside her. “You doing okay?” he asked quietly.
It was very good to be asked, and better still to squeeze his hand and
answer honestly. “Yes.”
Tony nodded, his usual exuberance reined in by their location, and she
appreciated the restraint. “Good.”
Virginia looked down once more, memorizing the shape of the plaque, and
bid her rescuer a silent farewell. Then she turned to the man
beside her, her lover, her friend, her hero…the man who needed
her, and said so. “Ready to go?”
He drew her hand through the crook of his arm.
“Yep.”
Side by side, they left the graves behind, walking in step.
Together.
End.
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