Time passed and Tony started adjusting to his new world even if Pepper thought differently. Long working hours still stood and agonizing nights waiting for Tony to return from the battlefield still remained.
Tony hadn't changed as much as he claimed. He was the same annoying, super charming, big boy he always was.
However long night parties were gone and his need of showing off had been reduced to a level. He looked happy, having her on his side, fighting villains and having a world changing plan that troubled him like hell.
An almost perfect life
Almost
Mildred was not in it.
The Lost Children's Home had been finished under Tony's constant pressure and as she had promised the A. I had been complete in time. She hadn't appeared in the construction lot; Tony had had to install the computer in the house all by himself.
She had named the computer Marvis which reminded him a lot of Jarvis. The thought of using something of his made him smile.
Marvis was a magnificent and powerful house manager doing everything, from cooking to cleaning and from helping kids study to creating virtual playgrounds.
Tony was full of pride even if she hadn't been there to see it his goofy grin. He didn't expect to see her, not there or ever again. Maybe someday but for now she did exactly what she had told him; she had given Pepper the A. I and pretended he didn't exist.
Pepper was the one to give Tony Marvis that was true but she never actually told him how she got it. She had let him believe in stories where Mild calls her and the two of them go for a coffee ending up discussing about him.
She didn't want to spoil his dreams for the truth was very different.
…
It had been early afternoon and it was the first time Pepper thought of leaving in the middle of a meeting. She hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days, she was constantly tired and had a headache she couldn't get rid of.
Fortunately the meeting didn't last long and she decided to reschedule her appointments in order to see a doctor. She thought of asking Happy to drive her but she didn't want Tony to find out. He overreacted every time he heard the word 'doctor'. She thought of driving there herself but due to the splitting headache she got a taxi instead. She told the taxi driver the address of the doctor and dozed off in the back seat without realizing it. When she woke up she was outside a hospital.
Apparently the driver was a foreigner and had taken her where he thought she wanted; to the doctors.
If there was someone in there that could make her well she would handle every reporter and stupid paparazzi that wanted to spoil her life.
She entered the clinic and gave her name making the nurse look at her with huge eyes. Of course she didn't have to wait long to be examined. Even though she hated using hers or Tony's name to get pass guest lists and such things she was grateful she got to do it just that one time.
The doctor said it was nothing to worry about, probably just long working hours and bad diet. They took her blood to do a few exams and they would contact her in a couple of days.
On her way out she stopped by the reception to leave her phone number and noticed something really strange. There was a doctor going through patients files and one of them had Mild's photo on.
At first she thought that maybe her eyes tricked her but a little voice in her head told her something had happened.
"Excuse me? May I ask you a question?" she asked the doctor.
"Of course." He said and closed the file.
"Sorry for being curious but the girl in the file…"
"Do you know her?" the doctor asked her surprised.
"I think, I don't know she looks like someone I know." Pepper answered taken aback by the doctor's response.
"Would you a spare a minute to come with me?" he asked her and she nodded.
Something was not ok. That girl in the photo that looked like Mildred seemed pretty bad and the fact that the doctor was taking her to her room spoke louder than words.
Something pretty bad had happened.
They entered a room at the fourth floor where four patients were sleeping. The doctor led her to the last bed and showed her the patient. She looked pretty bad with all those bruises and the bandages rapped around her but there was no doubt she was Mildred.
"What happened to her?" she asked taking the empty chair next to the bed shocked.
"So you do know her?" the doctor asked again.
"Yes, I do, why?" Pepper asked not understanding.
"She had no identity when she was brought over, no cell- phone or card, Nothing we could use to inform a relative. She is here for almost two months and no one came looking for her…" the doctor said making Pepper's eyes pop out.
"Two months?" she could barely say it out aloud. Two months?
"She was in a comma." The doctor explained and Pepper grabbed the bed to stabilize her self. Suddenly she was dizzy and feeling nauseous.
"Are you alright?" the doctor asked her.
"Not lately." She answered honestly and the doctor called for a nurse to bring some water.
Mild had been in a comma for nearly two months. Almost since the day she and Tony had had that fight. They had thought she just didn't want to see them and that she had been very good at hiding. At some point Tony thought she might even have moved away but she was there, right next to them in a hospital bed all by her own with a 'Jane doe' label on her bed.
She could have died and they would never find out, no one would ever find out, she would just be another "Jane Doe".
The thought gave her the creeps. What twisted game was fate playing on them?
Abductions, terrorists, murder attempts, secret super hero agents, super villains, lost children and now that?
What kind of twisted mind had written their story?
"Are you ok now, Ms. Potts?" the doctor asked her snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Yes, thank you very much. You said she was in a comma, does it mean she no longer is?" Pepper asked him.
"Not exactly; she woke up a couple of weeks ago, that is true, but it was for merely a second and she didn't respond to her environment. There hasn't been another incident since but we put her in a room with other patients thinking that maybe coming closer to everyday life would help her." The doctor explained.
"How did she get here?" Pepper asked the doctor not able to take her eyes away from Mild's hurt face.
"Accident, motorcycle, they hit a car. There was a family in the car, they are all ok now, the man with her is too but he didn't have a name to give us. She was very bad when she came, she had two broken limbs, a head injury and internal bleeding but she's healthy now, physically. We are just waiting for her to wake up." The doctor said.
Pepper nodded not really listening. She was so strong and bossy when she was awake and she looked so fragile now, just lying there, helpless, trapped in her own mind.
"We were a bit pessimistic when she fell back to her comma but now that you are here, our hopes have risen." The doctor said smiling.
"Why?" Pepper asked him.
"Patients in comma have more chances of waking up when their family is near them. They feel like they have a reason to come back." The doctor answered and Pepper brought Tony's words in her mind. He had needed a reason to escape from that cave, a purpose to keep him going.
She gave Mild's sleeping figure a sad smile. They were more alike than they would ever know.
"Please, inform me about her status on this phone number. Don't call the one I gave the reception." She told the doctor and left.
She would take care of Mildred making sure she would come back but Tony couldn't find out about it. He would go crazy and would probably melt in a chair next to Mild's bed waiting for her to wake up.
Pepper made sure to get her transferred in a more quite room, away from any potential reporters that were looking for their next story and Pepper Potts taking care of a comma patient was a pretty good one.
…
Pepper's visits at the hospital were not as long as she would like, in fact they were getting shorter and shorter. It was the price to pay in order to keep the truth from Tony who had been really suspicious lately. One day he had called her in the office where she was supposed to be working until late and Natalie had told him she was not there.
When she returned home and he asked her where she had been she innocently answered she was at work. Lies get Tony suspicious and a suspicious Tony always finds out what is going on.
That's why she had to reduce her visits but fortunately it didn't last long.
Mildred woke up two weeks later.
…
She was there when it happened. She was sitting in a chair next to her telling her humiliating stories about Tony. She had thought that if she had been awake she would enjoy them very much.
She was telling the story about the time Tony had put strawberry marmalade in her sandwich sending her to the hospital and what he did next to make it up to her. She was talking, reliving the scene, looking outside the window when she felt Mild's hand moving trapped in her palm.
She stopped talking and looked at her hoping it wasn't just her imagination.
"Mildred? Mild?" she whispered afraid not to scare her away into her mind again.
"Millie?" she tried Tony's new pet name for her. One she hadn't taken the chance to hear.
Mild grabbed Pepper's hand and squeezed it. It hurt her but it was a sign Mild was there and had life within her.
Her eyes flattered and she tried to open them more than once. Pepper felt excited, yelling silently, 'Come on, Millie, wake up."
Finally, Mild's eyes opened and the dim light in the room made them shine. She looked around for a while, full of wonder, trying to understand where she was and what had happened.
She reminded Pepper of a baby that sees the world for the first time.
Mild's eyes rested on Pepper's figure and tried to focus.
"Hey, Potts." Mild said in a hoarse voice.
Pepper laughed until tears got out of her eyes.
It was exactly what Tony had told her when he had been found after his escape.
Things had changed after that and everything was better now.
Things were going to get better this time too.
"Millie!" she said and squeezed the girl's hand.
…
"I really don't understand why you didn't want to go to the mansion." Pepper said as she and Mild entered her old apartment. It had been a week since the girl had risen from the dead and she had been released from the hospital just that morning. Pepper had proposed they went to the mansion but Mild had refused repeatedly.
"I am not ready to face him, yet." Mild answered helping Pepper with the suitcase and closed the door behind them.
"I thought you had changed your mind." Pepper said heading to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
"I have but I can't walk in and suddenly say, 'Hi, Tony, I love you and I want us to be a big loving family."
"Of course, not, he'll like it better if you say, hi, daddy." Pepper said getting out of the kitchen and taking a seat on the couch.
"Look, Pepper, I appreciate what you did for me and now I understand what Tony meant about life changing experiences but…"
"You're afraid." Pepper said earning a glare from Mild.
"I am not afraid of anything." Mildred said dead serious.
"Then what stops you?" Pepper asked her.
Mild looked at the floor thinking making Pepper smirk. How could she keep herself from doing so when every little thing that girl did was pure Tony?
How was she going to help herself when she and Tony would have kids of their own?
"Tomorrow night we have the fundraising ball for the new Lost Children's Home, will you come?" Pepper asked her.
"I don't know, I don't think so." She answered.
"I thought that was why you got yourself in the story in the first place; to get them a new home. You have worked on it; don't you want to see what happened?" Pepper asked her trying to make her go to the ball.
"I know everything went as planned." Mild answered.
Pepper sighed.
"Mildred, listen to me. Tony is your father and he is a wonderful man. Yes, once he was an arrogant ass but he was always good and sensitive and now he is just amazing. He is trying to make things right so hard but he can't do everything by himself. He is the only family you have and you are the only family he has."
"He has you." Mild answered.
"You have me too and I have two stubborn, pain in the neck and brilliant Starks I wouldn't change for the world. What has been done cannot be undone but give the future a chance. He is waiting, patiently and Tony Stark is not known for his patience. He is really trying and he wants you in our family. You don't have to be alone." Pepper told her.
"The ball is tonight at nine. We will be there." Pepper said and left.
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