Disclaimer in ch. 1.

The Awakening, Part 1

When Darcy woke, she was foremost surprised. She had no idea about how long she'd been lost in the black sea of blissful pain-free oblivion, but she hadn't really expected to return to wakefulness to be completely honest about it.

It was night-time and the moonlight cast a beautiful shimmering glow into what the girl soon realized was in fact her bedroom in the tower. It didn't look different from the last night she'd seen it when the kidnappers had burst in. A further inspection revealed two more things as she slowly moved her head.

One, she had no pains anymore; in fact she felt as if she'd just woken from a nice long normal nap and was ready to start the day. Two, and this was much more important to Darcy, she was alone.

Just as her heartbeat started to escalate, JARVIS' cultured voice rang out, "Welcome back, Miss Darcy, and may I say you have been greatly missed in your absence. All is well."

Darcy relaxed a little back into her pillows, but found she was unable to resist asking about Tony. "Where's my da…Where's Tony, JARVIS?"

There was slight pause and Darcy's imagination went haywire, causing the A.I. to once again attempt to soothe her. "He's asleep, Miss Darcy. We had to sedate him when it became a danger for his health to keep staying vigilant by your side. He had barely slept since discovering your capture and bringing you home."

"Oh." was all Darcy said as she sat up, silently marveling again about the lack of pain. She was dressed in a hospital gown, but it felt clean so she figured someone had been changing them whenever it was needed. She really hoped that Tony hadn't been the one to do that. Darcy knew they had some issues, but she also knew that her father seeing the new scars on her already pretty messed up body would hurt him almost as much as they hurt her. He didn't deserve that, he hadn't done anything wrong.

JARVIS sadly broke her hopes in his continued efforts to prove that Tony hadn't just left her side to catch some z's. "Sir has stayed ever vigilant by your side, allowing no one but Miss Potts and himself to go near you when you were in need of cleansing."

"Err…thanks for the update Jay," Darcy muttered. Her head was spinning with both mortification of having her parent wash her like a baby at the great age she was and reluctant joy that despite everything, Tony clearly still cared for her.

Lying back down in the bed to sleep proved impossible for the younger Stark. She tried listening for anyone approaching, but it was eerily silent and after a little while, Darcy began feeling uncomfortable all by herself. The memories of the kidnapping didn't really help matters much, and finally, Darcy all but jumped out of bed, ripping out the needle in her hand that she hadn't noticed until then.

She wanted her dad and more than anything, she wanted to tell him that she loved him and didn't blame him for wanting her out of his sight after she was a total brat. Maybe we can even get back some of what we lost, Darcy thought hopefully and slowly opened the door to the massive penthouse living room.

As implausible as it seemed, there was no one there guarding the door or whatever it was Darcy halfway expected. She looked around just to make sure that nothing was amiss, but everything seemed normal. Hard learned caution made her ask JARVIS about it, just to be safe.

"Colonel Rhodes, Dr. Banner and Mister Barton are in the tower as well, Miss Darcy. Currently all of them are sleeping. Colonel Rhodes is the only one also on this floor; he is using one of the guestrooms. I deemed it safe for all to rest while we waited for you to wake up. I apologize if I have erred in that decision."

"No no no, JARVIS," Darcy hastened to say as she made her way over to the door that would lead to her sleeping father's side. "It's all good, I was just surprised. I'm gonna go see Tony now."

ARVIS didn't reply so Darcy figured it was okay and slowly opened the door. The huge windows coupled with the clear moon illuminated the massive room, shining a guiding light toward the sleeping man in the huge bed. Darcy swallowed down her nerves and hoped that he would like her being there even though he was probably too drugged to notice her till he woke from the effects.

Inch by inch, the hesitant girl made her way over to her father and when she reached him a gasp escaped her lips at the sight of him. There was no doubt that JARVIS hadn't exaggerated the poor state staying by her side had gotten Tony in. Even in sleep, his face was furrowed with worry and full of lines that hadn't been there when they'd last been at home together. The purple and black bags of exhaustion under his eyes were almost people in themselves, they were so big.

To Darcy's shock there was even hints of grey in her father usually so dark hair. The evidence of her kidnapping and its aftermath was very clear to see on his drained face. Darcy proved her tendency to take more responsibility than was actually needed and instantly felt tears well up in her eyes when she realized what she'd caused. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she whispered.

The endearment leaving her lips as though it belonged out in the open and Darcy was too worried to care about being overheard. Instead, she decided to forego all her usual hesitancy and crawled into the bed to snuggle up as close to her father as was humanly possible. She spared a brief thought about where Pepper was before just enjoying the safe feeling of being near Tony again. His steady heartbeat soothed an ache Darcy hadn't really noticed was there until it disappeared. She allowed herself a tiny smile and burrowed her head closer into Tony's neck and just sighed contently.

She was safe.

TBC…