The Sparrow (Soul Mate)

9.

Tony finds Jack sitting at the counter with her coffee, he rubs at his eyes a little and moves towards her. She looks better, like she's actually slept, perhaps he and Pietro being in the same bed as her helped, yeah, he's choosing to believe that.

"Morning" he greets, she looks to him and nods.

"Tony" she greets brushing her hair over her shoulder.

"So...." he starts softly. "Pietro thinks you might enjoy a party" Tony offers as Jack yawns around her mug. She hums listening to him. "He's just trying to cheer you up" he whispers and kisses her cheek before pulling back to sit at her side.

"If I had proper rum, I'd be plenty happy" she teases looking to him, he smirks and leans closer, she closes the distance to kiss him, he hums against her lips and then pulls back.

"Sorry, modern rum is all we got" he offers, she snorts and turns back to her coffee.

"I like coffee though," she tells him lifting her mug. "Coffee is gooooood" he chuckles watching her take a drink and then set it down again, she leans on the table, her attention drawn back to the tv on the wall, he watches her eyes shift, the news never good and she's digging herself deeper by watching it. Tony sighs.

"Friday, turn off the tv" he commands and the tv turns off, Jack wrinkles her nose. "You've been a bit....distant and distracted, we're worried about you" he admits, she takes a deep breath.

"Catching up on this world, this time...." she mumbles looking to him. "I don't know how to feel, what to think....how am I supposed to return knowing this is our future? That this is what will become of the human race....it's terrible"

"What?" he asks.

"Bad things happen everywhere, all the time, bad people are in charge, everything is so expensive...."

"Not everything is bad" he argues slightly.

"I do not see anything good" she counters, he stares at her a moment and then sighs.

"You know what" he starts and then pulls the coffee mug from her hand. "I'll show you good" he sets it down and then takes her hand. "Come on" he stands pulling her up with him.

"Tony" she scolds.

"Just...come on" he offers softer. She stares at him before sighing and nodding.

...................

"That's Jenny Deirs" Tony points to the young woman reading to children in the video on the screen in front of them. "She is there every Sunday without fail, to read to the children of the burns ward. And...This is Tobias Strain" he shows another video. "He and his brother fund, design and create prosthetic limbs for war veterans, free of charge" he adds and then sweeps onto another video. "Darlene Francis" he offers. "She opens her stables up for a weekend once a month for those that can't afford her lessons along with free bed and food" he glances to Jack as she watches the videos. "Then there is" he swipes the screen. "These guys" she looks to him and then back to the screen where a video of the Avengers plays. "We don't get paid for what we do, Jack" he offers. "We go out there and protect the innocent, we defend our world because it's right, not because we are paid to, or because we have too.....And this" he motions to the screen. "This isn't all we do"

"No?" she asks, he shakes his head.

"Pietro volunteers at the diner down the street, because the waitress has just had a baby but can't afford to take time off, so he does it for her, and she gets paid" She looks to him. "Wanda teaches children to read at the library, Steve did a load of promotional health and fitness videos for the high schools and goes in a takes them through a Cap approved obstacle course once a month, Thor goes out a 5 am every morning to walk the dogs that live in the apartment block across the street, Loki volunteers at the local cat shelter, he also happens to bring a lot of them home..." she smirks a little. "I'm serious, his apartment is all fur" he strokes her arm. "Bruce and Jane offer free science courses, Darcy teaches a self-defense class for free, all she asks is that they bring her cake" she sniffles a little. "The world is an awful place, Jack" he agrees with her. "But there are good people in it, people trying to make it better....." she steps closer to him and leans into his side, he wraps an arm around her and kisses her head. "The news rarely shows the good" he admits. "It focuses on the worst to feed fear and hatred....and look" he lifts her chin. "It worked....I've got a hundred more videos I could show you of the good, thousands probably, from across the decades...." she shakes her head.

"I keep thinking that something will settle" she admits. "That I will know what I want to do, but I don't know" he nudges her nose. "I miss my ship" she admits. "I miss the sea...." he watches her sadly. "I don't know who I am here" he strokes her cheek.

"You can go home if that's what you want" he assures her.

"But you and Pietro are here" she reminds him. "How am I supposed to go back and leave you here? You should never have told me...." he nods.

"I told him not to" Tony points out, she sighs and rests her head against his chest, he wraps her up in his arms.

A/N - WITH ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT, IT'S TIME TO VOTE FOR THE NEXT ONE:

LADY LOKI X GABRIEL (SPN)

or

ESMERALDA X CHARLIE SWAN (TWILIGHT)