Nearly Lost

The color is off.

That's what was running through the doctor's mind when the child was born. There was no beautiful peach color in the newborn's cheeks; only pale white. The mother was panting in the background, asking for her child, her little girl, as one of the nurses took her away. The doctor came back to reality, and called to the nurse. "Comfort her," gesturing to the distraught mother. "and let's get this baby to the emergency room, now!"

The child was handed off to the doctor, and he rushed down the hall accompanied by a team of nurses, all dressed in deep ocean blue. There was no screaming, no crying, no nothing.

The baby girl was laid in the crib, and the doctor hooked her up to an oxygen machine. Between the nurses rushing around him, and his franticness, he couldn't have seen the child's slight, raspy breath.

"Comfort her, and let's get this baby to the emergency room, now!" Alexa could see her precious baby being taken far from her, as well as the nurse with the brunette hair. She tried to sit up, only to be greeted by extensive pain throughout her back.

"Madame, don't strain yourself. Your baby will be okay."

She wouldn't believe a thing this woman said. "My phone. Bring it to me. Please." She reached over toward the nearby chairs, a black flip phone laying on its seat. The pressure on her lower back increased enough to make her jerk back to her original position.

The nurse speedily grabbed the old device and handed it to the bedridden mother. She watched carefully as she accessed the internet.

Alexa carefully pressed each key the appropriate amount of times, proofreading the message as she went.

Tony. Our daughter is either dead or nearly there. Please help. 8:08

She waited. Staring at the screen, listening for the notification, feeling for the buzz.

Our daughter? 8:12

Where are you? I'm bringing my stuff. 8:15

At the Emergency Health Center off I78. 8:17

K. Be there in a moment. 8:17

Just our child dying. Nothing to hurry for. 8:19

Alright alright. Dial it down. Be there in a few. No cheeseburgers? 8:20

Dying Tony! Dying! 8:21

Tony Stark practically jumped out of the car. The handle was smooth and cold, easy to grip. The pavement grasped out for the shiny black shoes of the billionaire, nearly making him trip. He quickly contemplated whether or not he should run in, or speed-walk. As he approached the entrance, he sped up, his black jacket flapping open near the bottom, revealing a tan shirt that was unusual for him. Nearly running, he pushed the rotating door out of his way, and yelled, out of breath, at the desk attendant. "What room is Alexa Carmichael staying in?" he gasped, giving her a fistful of air.

"Sir, I'm not allowed to give out that information."

"Ah, one, I'm Tony Stark. And two, I'm a genius." He flashed his teeth at her, and she gave in.

"372."

He gave her one of his sunglasses-up-and-smile looks. "Thanks doll." Then he went off down the hall, up the elevator, and onto the 4th floor. He briskly scanned the doors as he walked down the left side of the hall.

When he reached the correct door, he wasted no time. Tony brushed it aside with his adjacent shoulder, opening to Alexa lying on a bed covered in sweat. A brunette nurse was at the bedside, aweing over the flip phone Alexa texted him from.

Alexa sighed in relief. "The doctor took her to the emergency room. Please hurry, this is your kid whose dying!"

Tony sighed, and ran down the hall to the emergency room, pushing the doors aside like air around a plane. Inside was all the equipment he had had as a child. There were nurses and doctors rushing about, but as Tony walked in, they all paused, allowing Tony to see the child, his child, barely breathing inside an oxygen tube. He instantly took control, ordering everybody out but the doctor with the clipboard. No objections were made, and the doctor informed "Mr. Stark" of his kid's condition.

"Heartbeat is slow and irregular, and the breathing is heavy as well as short. Her lungs are getting air, but only enough to keep enough oxygen in her blood to keep her conscious. We believe something is wrong with her heart that is causing all of this. We are in the process of preparing x-rays that we took only 2 minutes earlier."

Tony just nodded, giving uh-huh's in the right spots, and staring at the little girl. The resemblance between them was uncanny. Dark brown fuzz dominated her itty-bitty head. He barely noted the beeping of the monitor, it started to slow, and the doctor rubbed his fingers along her lungs, ever so gentle. Her breathing slowed down enough to scare both the doctor and Tony. The billionaire breathed in slowly as the doctor ordered more medical assistants inside the now-cramped room.

"I'll get out of your way. Keep me updated on all occurring events."

"Yessir." A blue clad nurse spoke in a rushed manner.

He stepped out of the filled room and into the hall. The noise was distracting enough that he almost lost his footing, but recovered quickly. He sat quietly down at the old and worn hospital chairs, feeling the discomfort in his chest. He pondered the events. The woman, Alexa, was just some chick he had picked up off of one of the press conference a couple years ago. One thing led to another, and he moved on. She had kept his phone number, and he her's, because she was really hot. She, apparently, had been pregnant with his son.

"Oh gods." He sighed, knowing that he had made a serious mistake. He was a man with an ARC reactor as heart, a couple hundred billion dollars, and a superhero. How the hell am I supposed to take care of anything!?

The billionaire slammed his well-tanned fists into the armrests with a force that seemed to rattle the whole building.

Instantly regretting the move because of the nasty bump it gave him, he looked up to see the brunette that was with Alexa walking swiftly down the halls towards him. He stood up, brushed off his fancy black pants, and waited for the speed-walking nurse to reach him.

"Your girlfriend-"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"-Whatever. Is dead. She had a stress-induced heart attack, and she didn't make it."

Tony didn't really know what to say, since he didn't really know the girl. "That's disappointing."

(Author's Note: Guys, I don't know if this is accurate or not, but if it isn't, I'm sorry. I'm not a doctor, or anything, so some things are bound to be inaccurate. You can either choose to blame me for being uneducated in this part, or praise the book. Anyway, thanks for reading, I really hope you all enjoyed my fanfiction. I know I enjoyed writing it. :-) There might be a large gap between certain chapters, but if you follow the book, you'll get notified if something new comes up, I think. Still, thanks ever so much; all advice and critique is welcome. I enjoy seeing what people think I did wrong. If you have any ideas you would like to share with me, or Easter eggs that might be fun to include, please let me know. Every comment is welcome!)