"You'll see in a few hours." Tony grinned at that. Ha! She would never guess that she actually would be seeing in a few hours.

"If it's a few hours, why do I have to get up now?" Elaine asked. "It's to early, Tony, you're not making sense."

Tony heaved a sigh. "Just get up and dressed," he groused. "Seriously, Elaine. You'll thank me later."

"Alright, Tony, I'm up," Elaine said as she got out of bed. "Go away and let me get dressed."

Tony snickered but left to give her some privacy. But as soon as she was ready to go he whisked her off to a car with Bruce so they could get going.

Elaine was a little surprised it was Bruce in the car.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked him.

"When we get there," Bruce replied. Elaine sighed, but settled in for the ride.

"By the way, it was Kae's idea for us to do this," Tony said. "So you can thank her later. And you can thank us sooner. Because we're really geniuses and we've outdone ourselves this time." He grinned as he drove over to the appropriate hospital, then parked and started herding Elaine inside.

"I can thanks people sooner if I knew what was going on," Elaine said as she was herded out of the car.

"Just another few minutes," Tony assured her as he led the way down to a private suite of rooms, a few doctors already waiting.

"So today's your lucky day. Bruce and I figured out how to get your sight back."

That made Elaine freeze.

"Say that again?" she asked, sounding a little hopeful, a little desperate, and a little disbelieving.

"I know, we're geniuses," Tony said with a grin. "But we figured it out. That's why you had to get up so early. We're at the hospital at the moment. We're going to have to do a little minor surgery to make it work, but it'll work. And we won't actually be doing the surgery, we did splurge and get medical doctors for that stuff, but we'll still be here the whole time."

"Tony..." Elaine could feel her eyes prickle with tears, although she was able to hold them back. "You didn't have to do this..."

Tony sighed quietly. "I know I didn't have to," he said quietly. "Really, Elaine, it's fine. I wanted to. Besides, I think we can agree this is the best Christmas present this year."

"Say that again when you open what Kae and I bought," Elaine muttered. Then she bit her lip a little and unconsciously tightened her hold on her cane. "They told me I'd never be able to see again," she said softly. "What did you...?"

Tony snorted and steered her carefully into the waiting chair. "We made new eyes," he said with a shrug. "Modified from the plastic ones some people have. We hooked them up to a modified computer chip with a mini camera, and then it was just as simple as figuring out how to get the chip to send electrical signals through your optic nerves in such a way that your brain can understand them." He shrugged. "Not too hard. After the first week of experimenting."

"...I'm going to pretend I know what you're talking about," Elaine said. She was quiet for a moment. "And you're sure it'll... it'll work?"

Tony paused. "Well, now that you ask, there is a very slight chance it won't. Less than 1%, really. I'm almost completely positive it will, though."

"Not as reassuring as you think it is, Tony," Elaine said. She considered it for a moment, and then collapsed her cane. She put her cane into her purse. "Alright."

"Don't worry, Bruce and I will be here the whole time," Tony reassured her. "Just relax. The nice doctor, not the green one, is going to put a mask on you. It'll help you relax, but you won't sleep. You won't feel any pain either, okay? You've got nothing to worry about."

Even he was slightly surprised at the reassuring stuff he was spouting, but he figured it made sense. He didn't want her to worry, and he wanted this to work.

"I have actually had surgery before, Tony," Elaine said with a slight grin. "As it happens, I don't have an appendix anymore."

"Yeah, but they knock you out for that," Tony said with a snort. "This is a little different. Besides, I thought you liked having the world narrated to you. I could just shut up, you know."

"I know an empty threat when I hear one," Elaine replied with a bit of a grin. "I don't think you know how to shut up."

Tony spluttered indignantly. But he didn't get a chance to reply as one of the nurses slipped the mask on Elaine and the operation started.

Elaine was right, Tony didn't stop talking. Of course, he'd gone from bantering to talking quietly to Bruce, but it was still something for her to focus on instead of the slightly-unnerving sensations she was feeling.

The operation took an hour and a half total, with everything running smoothly. Tony grinned as he stepped back.

"Alright. Last step is to activate the chips and patch you in, and you'll be good to go." He paused for a moment, pulling out his phone. "Ready?"