Author's note: I just had this plot bunny hoping around in my head. Tell me, what you think cause in all honesty I probably won't continue it, unless anyone is really interested. Thanks for reading! Oh by the way it is set before Iron Man starts and would eventually go into the movie if continued.
Dolly-Luisa was really beginning to hate life. Between trying to survive in a family of seven and at work, Dolly was starting to feel as if her days were numbered. First she woke up to what was considered an ordinary morning in the Messer household, which involved Dolly fighting with all seven of her siblings for anything and everything. Then like always, there was some reason why her mother couldn't take Molly, Theodore, Amelia, and George to school. Thus making Dolly late for her job at Stark Industries again, despite the fact Dolly's boss told her not to be late anymore. Lastly, the thing that annoyed Dolly the most….there was a fucking protest going on in front of her work. Once again, people were deciding to have a conscious and protest Stark Industries' manufacturing of weapons…for the third time in five months.
Thankfully it only took Dolly twenty minutes to push to the head of the crowd this time. Flashing her badge at the security enforcing the protest's boundary lines, she slipped passed the wooden blockades and took her first step on official Stark Industries' property. Taking a quick moment to straighten herself up, Dolly prepped her excuse as to why she was late again. However all thoughts were paused as she caught sight of a familiar looking man in a blue suite. Tony Stark. Her jaw nearly dropped if it weren't for her mind telling not to be stupid. While Mr. Stark rarely ever showed up to headquarters, it was no excuse for Dolly to act like an idiot. Awe pushed back Dolly continued her way up the stairs.
She was there for a job, not to gawk at her admittedly hot boss. Job first, crush never- "Don't they have something better to do than picket and throw eggs at me? I mean, seriously, do they think I'm going to stop just because they're here?" Mr. Stark's deep voiced questioned incredulous.
Once again Dolly pushed back her attraction, this time also forcing back the fact that he was close by. All it took was one step and she would bump right into him. "I don't know, Mr. Stark." The calm voice of Pepper Potts remarked.
Dolly took another step ignoring the hurt of her invisibility as well as a small pang of jealousy. What had she expected? She was just another faceless employee. Worse yet, she was a faceless employee who could be easily replaced in a heartbeat. The shouts of the protestors grew significantly loud suddenly, and the next thing Dolly knew something wet hit her shoulder. Only a half a glance revealed what had hit her…an egg. Someone had thrown an egg at Mr. Stark only for it to land on her suit…her three hundred dollar suit. Fury built up within Dolly. With the amount of money that went into taking care of her family, it took Dolly months to save up for the suit.
Someone was going to pay….and they were going to pay big time. Spinning on the heel of her shoes, Dolly faced the crowd. Her dark brown eyes searching angrily for the perpetrator. Unfortunately she never found the perpetrator of ruined suit. What she did find though…would change her life in ways, no one could ever foresee. There deep within the crowd unseen to anyone not looking, was a man with what appeared to an assault rifle pointed at Mr. Stark himself. Dolly reacted first leaping from where she stood just a few steps above Mr. Stark. Her body collided into his and just in time too. For as soon Dolly's body met his, the gun went off.
Chaos broke loose as the protestors ran and security did their job. Not far from where Dolly and Tony laid, Pepper Potts was being covered by Happy Hogan-the man who normally was Tony's bodyguard. A few seconds passed before Dolly shifted her weight off Tony's. Her dark eyes met his and instantly her face heated up. "I-um..sorry, I just kind of reacted when I saw the gun and I totally forgot you had a bodyguard- and-" her eyes landed on the watch Tony wore, time coming at her bold. "Shit, I'm late!"
Tony blinked as the dark haired woman leaped off him and rushed up the stairs. His brain worked hard to try and comprehended everything that just happened. From what he could remember the order of events went complaining to Pepper -having some strange woman jump on top of him - a gunshot-and having strange girl run away upon seeing the time. Life was really starting to become too complicated for his liking. "Tony! Are you alright?!" Pepper cried rushing over with Happy in tow.
"I'm fine, Pep. Not even a bruise on me-speaking of which, you better start paying more attention there Hogan or I'll replace you with whoever that girl was." Tony joked, running a hand through his hair. He would rather be dead than admit he was actually scared for a second.
"Sorry boss." Happy apologized, truly regretful. He had been keeping an eye on the crowd, but was for the normal things such as flying food products. Not for someone trying to so blatantly assassinate Tony in broad daylight. A deed that was surprisingly uncommon for someone so famous as Tony.
"It's no problem. There was bunch of them out there, I don't even know how that girl caught sight of him. Plus this was the first time someone ever brought a gun to the knife fight." Tony assured, patting his friend on the shoulder. It was the first time Happy screwed up at his job. While Tony should be angry and he normally was angry, he couldn't get over that weird girl. Then again why should he? She practically risked her life for him and for what? She hadn't asked for anything in return, she simply ran off like nothing happened. It was unusual to say the least.
"You're bleeding!" Pepper's shrill cry interrupted his thoughts.
He blinked looking down to see a dark red liquid staining his suit. Pepper rushed over to him, tugging insistently at his jacket. Vaguely Tony could comprehend hearing her tell Happy to call an ambulance, but his mind was elsewhere. There was a lot of blood on him, but it definitely wasn't his. Meaning it could only be one person's. "That's impossible." Tony muttered, brushing off Pepper.
The red headed opened her mouth to protest, but it was too late. Tony was already halfway inside Stark Industries. She sighed going after him wondering what the hell her boss was up to this time.
"Did you see what happened out there? Who fired the gun? Was anyone hurt?" Cecilia, Dolly's co-worker questioned. The tall blonde was leaning over of the front desk trying to get a better look out the front door. Although assassination attempts weren't common, Tony Stark had instilled procedures on what to do just in case. If the shooter was outside than everyone was to stay where they were and not move. Something that obviously didn't happen seeing how Dolly had push past crowd of co-workers surrounding the doors.
Dropping her briefcase in the corner like she always did, Dolly wasted no time in answering her co-worker's questions. Instead she went straight to work hoping that her tardiness would be overlooked by today's commotion. Besides her, Cecilia continued to babble on with questions. As nice as the blonde was, Cecilia had a tendency of not knowing when to shut up-let alone the definition of quiet. Another reason why Dolly disliked her life so much, because outside of the few glimpses of Tony Stark, there was nothing about being a receptionist Dolly liked.
And why should she? Dolly may not have been a genius like Tony was, but she certainly was smarter than a receptionist position. If it weren't for her deadbeat mother, she would be in university following her passion for foreign languages. Instead though, she was stuck trying to sneak in online classes Dolly could barely afford, let alone had time to do. She forced back the anger burning within her. There were people out there with worse lives. So there was no sense in Dolly pitying herself. At least she had a roof over her head, food and a job, it was more than some people had nowadays. "Come on Doll, spill! What happened out there?" Cecilia pressed, ignoring the ringing phone next to her.
"I don't know, Cecilia. Honestly." Dolly lied, picking up the phone. No doubt after all that happened today, the phones would be ringing off the hook. Without another thought Dolly went into action, giving the appropriate greetings to the caller before redirecting them to the correct line. All the while secretly looking over the Spanish notes from her online class. Only a few more credits and she would officially finished every online course there was in Spanish. Meaning she could focus on finishing her French or Portuguese next.
Besides her, Cecilia continued to try and see past the crowd by the door. For the most part Dolly ignored her; having already been late, the last thing she needed was for Mrs. Dubois to think her lazy. Plus drawing Mrs. Dubois's attention was another thing Dolly didn't want to do, with Spanish notes so out in the open. The woman had a strict policy about of the front desk should be run. However a sudden gasp from the blonde caught Dolly's attention. "What?" Dolly asked, as she transferred another phone call.
The blonde didn't answer. She merely waved her hands and began to practically jump in place with an excited expression. It vaguely reminded Dolly of her siblings during Christmas or their birthdays…that excited look of disbelief yet hope. Sighing Dolly pressed the answer button and turned back to her notes, deciding to ignore whatever it was that had Cecilia so giddy. The word 'hello' left her mouth, but call suddenly disconnected . Reflexively she reached over to the keypad to press redial. However instead of meeting the cold smooth buttons of keypad, Dolly was met with the touch of someone's hand. Her eyes flickered upward to see the one and only Tony Stark. She froze, eyes wide in shock. "Mr. Stark…" she could barely force out.
"You." He stated calmly, hesitating for a moment as if trying to pull together his thoughts. From behind, Dolly could vaguely make out Cecilia's gasp of 'her,' over the pounding of her heart. He was looking at her with such an intensity, it made her want to die of pure happiness. "You…what the hell are you doing?!"
Dolly blinked her love filled daze breaking. Instantly she was on her feet glaring at him. "What do you mean what am I doing?! I'm working here!"
The whole building became quiet as her words echoed throughout it. Mr. Stark's suddenly looked as if he had been slapped. His eyes were wide with surprise. Yup….Dolly knew today was only going to get worse. "Did-did you just yell at me?" he stammered in disbelief.
"You yelled at me first." Dolly retorted folding her arms.
"Yeah-because you're shot idiot! You're bleeding all over my floor." Tony replied, regaining his normal persona. Nothing shocked Tony Stark, not even some girl too stupid to notice she was shot, yelling at him. Dolly looked over to where he was eyeing her and sure enough there was an increasing dark red stain on her suit-on her three hundred dollar suit!
"Shit! This will never come out!" Dolly cried, pulling off her jacket. Her hands ran of the fine material worriedly. Tony gapped at the dark haired woman in disbelief. She was bleeding all over the floor and all she cared about was her clothes. There had to be something wrong with this woman. That was the only explanation. No one could function like that with a bullet hole and be normal.
"You're bleeding out!" he repeated incredulous.
"I heard you the first time. Oh my god, this is never going to come out." She replied, frowning at the suit.
"Would you forget about the suit for a second?! Not even I get that worried about clothes and mine cost more than yours." Tony snapped.
She glared at him, dark brown eyes narrowing dangerously. For the first time ever Tony felt cold shivers run down his spine. Even Pepper with her who had a whole arsenal of glare made just for him could elicit such a reaction from him. "That's because you're a billionaire. You probably have a whole closest full of suits-"
"Two actually." Tony smirked, earning an eye roll.
"Whatever." She muttered, stuffing her notes into desk. There was no time to stuff them back into her briefcase. Especially with the sudden numbness Dolly was beginning to feel. Yup, she definitely had some damaged done to herself this time, and like always Dolly never noticed. Now her suit was probably completely destroyed. "If you excuse me, I have an emergency to take care of."
"Wait! Where are you going? You aren't actually going to drive to the hospital like that-you'll pass out before you get there." Tony disapproved, blocking her way. He snapped his fingers, before pointing at Cecilia, who would have squealed if not in shocked by what was occurring. "You call an ambulance, tell them to come over here quick. We have an idiot who's been shot."
"That's not necessary. I can make it to the clinic on my own." Dolly said, moving around the billionaire. The man was really starting to give her a headache or maybe, that was just the blood loss starting to set in. Then again, it could always be both. Really she couldn't tell seeing with her condition.
Tony blinked upon hearing the word 'clinic.' Why the hell would she go to some clinic, when she's clearly been shot? Why the hell would she go to a clinic, period? Whether people wanted to believe or not, Tony Stark did give his employees great healthcare benefits. So there was no reason for any one of his employees to ever step foot into a free health clinic. He jumped in front of her again, as she made it towards the door. Her dark eyes narrowed at him angrily, but he simply smiled at her. "I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you're going to the hospital on an ambulance-freaky super power or not." He stated firmly.
"It's not a superpower, it's a condition. A condition that's going to get me killed one day, if today is not the day-" Dolly replied angrily.
"Congenital insensitivity to pain!" Tony announced suddenly. A bright smile spreading across his face as if he were a kid who just got an answer correct. "That's why you couldn't tell you've been such. You can't feel pain and you most likely can't feel certain temperatures! I knew there had to be something wrong with you."
"Same could be said to you. Now if you would please kindly move, I need to get this suit to a cleaners and fast." Dolly muttered.
He gave her yet another incredulous look. "Please don't tell your emergency is getting your suit dry-cleaned."
"So what if it is? This suit cost me three hundred dollars and it's the only one I have. Now I just lost my job and I need this suit in perfect shape if I hope to ever get another one." Dolly snapped impatiently.
For the millionth time that day, Tony blinked. "Who said you lost your job?"
Dolly rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I just yelled at my boss in front of everyone in the building. Plus I probably owe you a huge chunk of money for the stains on the floor."
"Those stains on the floor is blood from your wound-you got saving me. So why on Earth would I make you pay for cleaning them-let alone fire you? If anything I should promote you or something for saving me." Tony argued.
"Which you aren't going to do, are you?" Dolly accused.
Tony frowned, returning the challenging look she gave him. He snapped his finger pointing towards Pepper who finally arrived, making a mental note to ask her what took so long later. "Ms. Potts, please arrange it for Ms….Joseph." he said, spotting the name tag. "To have a raise and promotion."
Pepper opened her mouth to protest, but Tony shot her a 'don't question me, I'm Tony Stark,' look. Reluctantly she nodded muttering a 'yes sir,' before marking it down on her Stark Pad. A smug look crossed his face as he glanced over at Dolly who simply cocked an eyebrow. "Let me, get this straight…I save your life and you give a promotion and raise to Cecilia?" Dolly smirked, gesturing with her head towards the ecstatic ditsy looking blonde.
The smug look on his face instantly dropped. He looked over to Pepper who was trying to contain her laughter. If he were a more humble man then he would've been embarrassed. However Tony was anything but humble. Why should he being who he was? "Fine, Potts arrange for Wayne, Clark or whoever this fine woman is, to get a promotion and raise." He waved his arm carelessly about. "Under the condition that she goes to the hospital, of course, instead of the dryer cleaners. Since the last thing I need is some claim about an employee dying, cause of my negligence-when it's all your fault."
"Right. My fault." Dolly muttered. "It was only a bullet meant for you."
"Hey, I never asked you to jump in front of-or on me." Tony retorted.
"I'll keep that in mind for next time."
"Please do, it would spare me from all this inconvenience."
"Oh, I'm so sorry for inconveniencing you Mr. Stark."
"I guess I can forgive you just this once. Don't do it again though-" Tony started, only to be cut off with two medics rushing in. He smirked, catching the frown on his employee's face. The woman was definitely anything, but happy. Unfortunately for her though, Tony wasn't going to let her get away with this one. With amount of blood she lost, the woman shouldn't be standing, let alone arguing with him. Even if she was congenitally insensitive to pain. Silently he made a mental note to check out the fact later on. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't his average-Joe employee that's for sure.