Ghost of You

t h i r t y - f i v e

"I know it hasn't been easy (Y/n), it may not even feel like it but you're making good progress."

I nodded, giving Brian a small smile as we stood outside the entrance to the compound. Brian said it could be productive to walk around while we talk, to change locations and prevent any sort of monotonocity. Life could be unpredictable and as such, so were our sessions. That was sort of his thing, making our sessions resemble life in any way he could. To learn how to handle instability. It would help people like me, take what we talked about and make it easier to apply and associate with our daily lives. He's always going on about how staying in the same stuffy room makes it to easy to separate whatever we've learned with whatever it is we're trying to be.

In today's session, he had us walking around the entirety of the compound. The end of our walking found us outside the main entrance. I bid Brian goodbye by the front doors to the lobby and watched as he made his way towards his car, sending him off with a quick wave. He responded by throwing me a peace sign out the window as he drove off. I had to hold in a laugh. Of all the therapists Tony could have picked...

I turned back around, pushing through the heavy doors leading into the lobby. This space was normally decently empty other than maybe a few agents walking through on their way to somewhere else. It was a flyover state, nothing more, nothing less. That was why I was surprised when I saw two figures standing towards the back of the atrium waiting for me as I walked back inside.

I very poorly held in a squel, immediately jogging over to the two men, wrapping my arms around the one who it felt like I hadn't seen in years. It had only been a few months at most, but those months hadn't been the kindest to either of us. Seeing him was like a little piece of home, a feeling that I thought I might never get to experience again.

"Nice to see you too (Y/n)." I heard Rhodes chuckle as his arms wrapped around me, giving me a tight squeeze.

"I still don't know how you do that." Tony, who was standing beside Rhodes was watching the exchange, shaking his head with a small smile. "She's dead quiet and then you show up and it's like she's a five-year-old on Christmas morning."

"You're just jealous." Rhodes teased, giving me one more quick squeeze before I pulled back.

"Entirely." Tony deadpanned.

I ignored Tony, trying to keep my attention on one of my oldest friends. I still couldn't believe he was actually here. It had been so long since I had seen a member of the original team other than Tony that the entire group was starting to seem extinct, which I guess in a way, it was.

"Nobody told me you were coming today! What are you doing here?"

"Just coming to check in on things." Rhodes smiled. "Do you have some time to catch up?"

"Of course, I do."

Out of the corner of my vision I saw and unmistakable eye roll from Tony's direction.

"I've already got plans. Not that anyone asked." He waved his hand in the air dismissively as he began to walk off. "You two have fun without me talking about uh- the military, circuit breakers, power sources or whatever the hell it is you two robots like to talk about. I'll be at the bar."

Once Tony left, I was able to turn my full attention back to Rhodes. He quickly pulled me into another hug.

"It really is good to see you." He said again, but I was only partially listening then. I had become quickly distracted by what I had been too preoccupied with my excitement to notice last time.

"Oh my god, Rhodes, what happened to you?"

I quickly pulled away from him, watching in horror as he lifted up the hem of his pants, revealing a large metal contraption, some kind of brace I guessed. It was attached to his leg and it looked like it went all the way up to his hip.