The beauty -carrying her tray filled with apples- found him sitting in the exact same spot, totally not minding the part of the garage that was torn open and destroyed, nothing could deter this man from working.
"Good Morning, Tony..." She sat down on the chair beside him, he didn't even look her way and instead kept his gaze focused on the hologram in front.
After some seconds he moved the hologram to the side and placed his entire attention on her.
"Good Morning, Cassandra, did you sleep well?" He noticed that not only was she gorgeous as usual, but she was sitting a little too close and with a tray in her hands.
"Yes, I'm sorry for passing out like that." She hoped that it wouldn't happen constantly, the thought of trying to recover her memories was becoming weaker and weaker.
"It wasn't your fault, if you ever feel bad, just tell me." He assured her, placing a hand on her cheek that she leaned on.
"..."
Afterwards, there was once again silence as her lips moved as if trying to speak but no words would come out, thankfully, he pointed at the tray and she beamed in happiness, that's it, a topic!
"I b-brought you sliced apples..."
"Thank you." he took one and ate it, awaiting her words.
"..."
But they didn't come out, instead, she limited herself to looking at him eating with a smile.
'Do Japanese of other worlds enjoy looking at people?' He couldn't understand how a woman could look cute merely by looking at someone.
Seeing that she had nothing to say, he focused back on his research, this time having some of the apples that she sliced until eventually there was no more, not a problem.
Not a problem. Still beaming, she went to the kitchen to get more.
Tony continues to work on the reactor, not having much luck while Cassandra limited herself to sitting down beside him, staring straight at him for two hours without a single word or even a wisp of awkwardness, merely humming and waiting for him to give her an order or to tell her to carry something.
After two hours of checking his diagrams after having eaten all of his apples, Tony yawned only to realise that Cassandra was still sitting there, looking at him.
"I thought you had gone somewhere, sorry..."
"It is okay, could I know what you're doing?" For a while, she had tried to understand what she was doing, but she couldn't.
"I'm trying to create something, a new reactor... but I'm not having much luck." He said with dejection, one that she didn't like, he was supposed to be a happy man.
"I thought you'd like to study me..." Her words were said with apprehension, and he was surprised at them, did she just tell him to study her indirectly?
'If I start studying you... I don't think I will be able to stop.' He thought so with so many different meanings beneath, so many places to study...
"I am afraid my knowledge in biology and genetics are minimal, I am an engineer, not a doctor and I don't trust anyone enough to study you without eventually growing selfish so... also, I don't have your permission."
"If it will help you, you can do whatever you want with me, I trust you, Tony..." She took his arm and said, leaning too close for their own good.
'Please don't say it like that...' At some point he wondered if this seduction was deliberate but seeing the innocence in her eyes, it was impossible... this alien is not aware of how seductive she is.
"What do you want to do, Cassandra?" That's all he asked, she doesn't have memories and she seemingly doesn't want to recover them, he could only ask this question if they wanted a small hope of moving forward.
"I don't know... I try to remember, but my memories are painful, perhaps... it is better if I don't remember... all I know is that staying here with you is peaceful. Is staying with you, an option?" She asked with hope, it didn't matter what she had to do, she knew here there would be no pain.
"But I can't stay with you forever." He took her hand that had been grasping his arm and clutched it in between his two.
"Why? I-I can help with anything." When he said those words, it hurt, is it because of Pepper?
"It's not about that, nobody knows this but I might die soon, perhaps this year or next year, Cassandra, that's why I can't stay with you..."
"E-Eh?" Everything stopped as she looked at him in disbelief, die? why all of the sudden?!
"I'm suffering from blood poisoning, do you see this?" He unbuttoned his shirt to show the shining reactor, in the middle of his chest, the source of life corroded his being his grey poisoned veins could be seen beneath, expanding every so slightly all over his body. Cassandra gasped.
"Tony w-what is this?" She touched it, it was slightly lukewarm but emitted energy, she could feel it.
"This is my heart... it is what keeps me alive, and now it is killing me too, I'm trying to find a solution, but nothing is working out... Cassandra, I won't live more than two years." Despite the content of his words, he felt relaxed.... finally able to open up to someone, not even Pepper knew about this, or Rhodey.
"I'm sorry... please don't give up, is there anything I can do? If you study me? won't you find a solution, anything?" She didn't want him to die, he had become a small source of security, moreover, someone as good as him didn't deserve to die like this.
"I don't think so, but thank you for listening to me... I think the atmosphere is gloomy enough, do you want to go somewhere? you must be hungry." He tried to evade the topic, it was pointless to talk about a topic without a solution, Tony was unaware that he was closing his own exits.
"Hmn." Cassandra wanted to talk about it further, to try to get a solution, but clearly, he didn't want to, she even thought about contacting Pepper, she doesn't know anything about this world, about how to help him, but surely Pepper could think of something.
'I will speak to him later about it.'
[Should I make a reservation sir?]
"No, I'm taking her somewhere simple, come, Cassandra."
"Yes, w-wait, should I dress-"
"Don't bother you look perfect like that and it is Los Angeles' night, no one is going to pay much attention." Pulling her over they drove all the way to the city, he didn't want to go anywhere fancy and being who she is, she'd not appreciate that either.