Who is my father?
Chapter Twenty Five
ALISA'S POV
Once dad gets in and flies off before I have even strapped myself in, we get back to the Tower pretty fast. Stark calls Pepper and gets her to give the phone to the hospital staff. For some reason, he doesn't want to tell her. We can all tell each time Skye has a contraction, her knuckles go white and a few times she groans, the others she screams, to which Ward tenses, if it's even possible for him to get more tense. I see the New York skyline as we begin our descent.
No one's in when we get back, in the personal floors at least. Tony says that he asked Pepper to go out with all the others, to give Skye some privacy, and to help Pepper not make me faint again. Skye is taken to the hospital bit, (This Tower has everything) and though I try to follow, dad takes me to another room. There's no one else, just him and me. Before I can react, he pulls me in to a hug and kisses my forehead.
"Ali I missed you so much." He whispers. I feel something wet slip on to my head and realise that he must be crying.
"I missed you too, dad." I say and look up in to his tired eyes. Letting go, he sits down on the empty bed, though I remain standing. "Go sleep, I'll still be here when you wake up." I say, knowing that he is tired and probably hasn't slept a full night for longer than me. And that's been a long time.
"No, Skye." He says standing up. I'm about to tell him that I'm not Skye, that she's in the other room. "We need to see Skye." Leaving the room, he sighs. I follow him.
No one is waiting outside, though only Bruce and Ward are in. And Skye. I hesitate, whilst resting my hand on the door handle. "I can't do it," I whisper, "I'm going to have a shower. Tell me when- when Skye's ok." I feel so bad for leaving her, after everything we've been through together, after everything she's done for me, I can't be there for this. At least she's got Ward.
GRANT'S POV
The pain Skye's going through, it's torturing me. She's already screamed so much, I don't know how she can scream anymore. And to think that she had probably been doing that for hours before we got in, the pain for me is unbearable.
"Skye, I think you need to start to push." Dr Banner says. He's been great, not pushy, giving Skye and I privacy from time to time. The next time a contraction comes, I can physically see all the effort she's putting in to pushing. And she really does need to cut her fingernails, I don't think my hands will ever be the same again.
A WHILE LATER
The baby in Skye's arms cannot be mine. She's too pretty, much too innocent. I don't think that I will ever believe that she is. And yes it is a she, our beautiful baby girl. "We need a name," Skye tells me, her voice still not too great from screaming that much.
"That you do." Alisa says. I didn't even know that she was in the room. She wasn't in the room. I'm sure the door didn't open though. I must have been too busy with Skye.
"Alisa..." Skye breathes, "Is your back ok?" What happened to her back? I guess my eyes must have asked this question because I get an answer. And I'm pretty sure I didn't say it.
"I was whipped, forty two, was it? Times. I'll survive." I seem to have lost the ability to close my mouth.
"Why?" I ask, trying not to push her. She shifts uneasily on the spot, seeming to think that what she is going to say will either hurt me or Skye.
"It doesn't matter. What are you going to name her?" She shakes it off, and I notice a brief contact between her and Skye's eyes.
The door opens again but this time it's Stark. He smiles, seeing the little girl. "So you haven't given her a name yet? How about For?" He is silenced by a deathly glare from Alisa before I even get it. ForWard. "Just joking. Came to say that Peps said that she would be back in about ten." He leaves again, but an idea pops in to my head.
"How about Hope?" I ask and Alisa nods in agreement, murmuring about her being one last hope in that hell hole.
"It's perfect." Skye tells me. "How about Louise as her middle name. It means 'fighter'"
"Sounds great, but how do you know?" I wonder, wasn't she supposed to be stuck in a cell, for the last seven months? With no books or internet access to research names.
"It was my real sister's name. They split us up when I was ten and she was six." That was when she went to her first family then, having been in an orphanage for two years. "I never saw her again." She doesn't cry, but looks on the way to.
"Hope Louise Ward." Alisa says, totally mesmerized. "I like it." I don't think that she heard a word of what Skye and I said, despite being in the same room.
ALISA'S POV
I leave pretty quickly after that. I get in to the lift, head bowed, not looking at where I am going. Skye has a sister? I don't notice when I walk straight in to someone. I mutter an apology and continue on.
"Alisa?" She asks as I look up. It's Pepper. "When did you get back?" Great, her interrogating me is all I need.
"This afternoon, I guess." I reply, trying to make it sound like I want to be talking to her. I don't.
"I know you were taken. Clint, he was really worried about you. Didn't see him for days, at times. For at least the first few months, the only person he could hold a conversation with was Grant. Don't know why though." Ward didn't tell her about Skye. Now she wants me to tell her.
"His girlfriend was in there with me. And she- she was pregnant." The shock on her face is almost comical. "Look I'll show you." I set the course of the lift to the hospital floor, and when it dings, we get out. I point to the room that they were in, though Pepper is unsure whether to go in. I leave her to make the choice for herself.
I walk back in to the lift, go up to the main floor, walk out, straight in to Isabella. I say I'm sorry but she hugs me. "I missed you, Alisa. Uncle Clint missed you too. He said that he'd given up and you were never coming back." Seriously? Dad was that bad. He didn't give up for those eight years but when it's seven months he does. I suppose this time I didn't leave of my own free will.
"I came back, Iz. And I don't think I'm leaving any time soon."
A WEEK LATER
"Hey Skye." I say, sitting down next to her on the sofa. I haven't really spoken to her since we got out of there. Hope is cradled in her arms, sleeping at the moment.
"Hey Alisa," She pauses for a moment before asking the question that is burning in her mind. "Is your back ok?" It still hurts a lot but I smile and nod, not wanting anyone to feel bad. "You shouldn't have done it."
"Did you want everyone here to be hurt? He would have gone after them, killed them. I couldn't let that happen. Besides, it didn't hurt much." That's a lie and she knows it.
"You were screaming in pain for days sometimes. Look me in the eye and tell me that it didn't hurt." She knows I won't be able to. I sit still for a moment before raising my head and looking her in the eye.
"It hurt. A lot. But is nothing to the pain I would have felt if any of these people got killed." Skye drops the topic saying what's done is done. "What are you going to do now?" I ask her. As far as I can see, Coulson's moved on and she couldn't go on missions with a baby anyway.
"Pepper said we could stay here until we've sorted everything out. I think we're going to do that." I nod, knowing that Pepper would probably initiate them in to the Avengers family if she had the chance. "What about you?"
"Stay here with dad. We haven't really been a family all that long." She nods and starts cuddling Hope as she wakes up and begins to cry. Skye is really good with her, despite never having any proper parents.
GRANT'S POV
I'm about to walk in to the living room, I guess, when I hear voices. Quickly I identify them as Skye and Alisa. I stay just outside, listening. Skye's been with me practically every minute of the week, so she hasn't been able to talk to Alisa, alone at least. They're talking about Alisa's back and even though I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, I do. I want to know what happened and why she didn't want to tell me. I tried talking to Skye about it, but she said it wasn't her secret to tell.
"Did you want everyone here to be hurt? He would have gone after them, killed them. I couldn't let that happen. Besides, it didn't hurt much." That was Alisa. If she's talking about whipping, she's definitely lying. I've been whipped. It hurts like hell. By everyone being hurt, is she talking about us, the Tower's residents? Because if she took them for us, I am truly grateful. But she shouldn't have had to. Little girls shouldn't have to protect the Avengers and believe me, she is little. Apparently she's twenty one now but she still looks fifteen.
"You were screaming in pain for days sometimes. Look me in the eye and tell me that it didn't hurt." Skye is mean. She knows it hurt, why does she need Alisa to admit it?
"It hurt. A lot. But is nothing to the pain I would have felt if any of these people got killed." So she cares about us. I'm glad she does. She seems like a good ally. Then I look up as they drop the subject. Clint sitting in the vents, and I think that he's crying. I quietly make my my way up and sit next to him. After a few moments he says,
"She was whipped to keep us safe."
"I owe her my life." I tell him. And I mean my life, the love of my life, Skye, and the light of my life, Hope. I hear my daughter begin to cry and make my way back down to comfort her.