Tony had laid in that hospital bed for a long time, his baby sleeping on his chest, little cheek squished up against the clean t-shirt someone had brought him. He was such a tiny thing - little arms and little legs, little finger and little toes. He looked like a doll, fluffy brown hair curling up in a way that Tony knew boded for uncontrollable curly hair later in life and bright brown eyes that looked onto the world with a wonder that Tony had long since lost. Tony loved his son.

He loved him so much. More than he had ever loved any one person before - even Jarvis. Even Mary and Rhodey. It was unexplainable, perhaps even a little frightening considering how little time he had spent with the boy, but that was the truth of it. He loved his son more than life itself and he would go through Hell and back to protect him.

Tony had always felt lonely. Ever since he was a toddler, he was never given enough attention. Jarvis had an actual job outside taking care of Tony, Ana didn't go in the manor much, his mother was always right there but so far off at the same time and his father….

MIT had been like Tony's escape from the loneliness, while also placing him into an overwhelming prison, a constant pull of anxiety and loss at his heart strings. He'd been taken from his cold manor and sent to a school filled with kids much older than him. Kids who believed that his dad had just paid his way in, and that he would never amount to much. He'd tried to prove them wrong, day after day, but that only seemed to make the rumors worse.

Then he'd met Rhodey and Mary. And he hadn't felt so lonely anymore. They were always there, through thick or thin - Rhodey was his roommate after there was an error in the school's system and Tony's once private space was being shared by a boy two years his senior. Rhodey hadn't liked him that much at first - Rhodey came from a large family, and they never seemed to make enough money for simple pleasures, while Tony had come from the lap of luxury. But they'd made it work. One awkward, stilted conversation at a time.

Then Tony had met Mary, and it was like the girl was a God send. She was so kind, but stern enough to keep Tony in check. Funny enough to understand his odd sense of humor, but not so much that she could never be serious herself. Smart, so smart, and so incredibly talented. A beautiful soul trapped in a world that didn't deserve her.

She and Rhodey were Tony's family, in all things but blood. But blood didn't matter anyway.

He would be so lost, would feel so empty if she didn't make it through the surgery but… but maybe Peter, the baby he already loved more than life itself, could help fill the void she would leave behind.

He and Peter ended up being able to stay in the hospital longer, refusing to leave until Tony got some news on Mary. The surgery had been long and drawn out, and the wait was grueling and torturous. They'd stayed in the hospital room Tony had been given, Rhodey sitting in a chair by his bed, Peter snuggled up to his chest and Tony tapping an impatient pattern on his son's back - which Rhodey seemed to find amusing.

It was eight anxious hours later that they finally got news on their friend.

The doctor walked in, looking exhausted but his expression unreadable. Tony sat up carefully, trying not to jostle the baby as he gave the doctor his full attention. Rhodey was sitting on the edge of his seat, awaiting the news.

"The surgery was very complicated," the doctor said, and Tony felt his heart sink. "The medications, as you know, haven't been making a dent in the infection. It wasn't growing, but her lungs were essentially rotting. Wasting away. Had we not done the surgery and continued on with the medication, she more than likely would have been overcome by the infection in the next couple of days." Tony stared at him blankly. His best friend's lungs had been rotting?

Holy fuck.

"B-b-but how did the surgery go? Is she a-alive?" Tony asked, that familiar nervousness he felt after every one of Mary's procedures racking up again. There were so many risks. So many things Tony had to worry about. What if she died in surgery? Orr her infection comes back? Or her lungs collapsed again? There were so many possibilities, so many things that could go wrong-

"She managed to pull through," the doctor confirmed. "I'll be frank, I have no earthly idea how. The girl must have an angel looking after her. It's a miracle, nothing short of it." Tony's shoulders slumped, all his anxiety leaving him at once. Peter shifted slightly, head still using Tony's chest as a pillow and looking at everything lazily.

"Will she be alright? By the end of it all? How much of her lungs did you have to remove?"

"Whether she'll be alright is still unclear. There's no telling if the infection will come back or not. We had to remove half of both her lungs - there was no tissue to be spared, they were quite literally decomposing. Assuming the infection doesn't come back, and her lungs don't collapse again, and everything else goes well… I think it's a safe guess that she'll make it and live a semi healthy life. We may even be able to bring her out of the coma soon - say, one and a half weeks from now."

Tony felt like crying, but for a completely different reason this time. The relief, the happiness was insurmountable. Mary might be okay. Mary might live. It was better chances than she had ever had before in all her time in the coma - they'd all assumed that she was one small push away from falling over the edge, but now there was a chance, a very large chance, that Mary might actually live.

"I-I-I-" His eyes burned and his shoulders shook. Rhodey, sitting next to him, looked elated. "T-thank you. Thank you so much, I-I can't- Oh my God."

"There's no need to thank me," the doctor said. "It's just my job. I'll have a nurse send you some papers for Mary's treatment plan, following her release from the hospital in a couple weeks, as well as the treatment for your little boy." Tony nodded, hair - which he probably needed to get cut, it was getting too long to be easily manageable - flopping into his eyes. He pushed it to the side with a trembling hand.

"I'll be going now. I'll have someone come down with the baby's discharge papers. I trust you have somewhere to stay?"

Tony nodded, though he wasn't sure he did.

"Alright then! Have a good day, Mr. Stark." And with that he bid himself adieu, turning on his heel and leaving the hospital room, lab coat billowing out behind him.

Bit dramatic, that one, Tony thought.

Hypocrite.

"You do have somewhere to stay, right?" Rhodey asked, looking concerned. "Sue and David'll still take you?" Tony sighed. He really didn't know. Would they take him? When it's practically his fault their daughter is in the hospital? When he'd made them grandparents, when they hadn't even finished raising their daughter yet? Would they even want to be near the baby? He knew they'd said they'd let him stay, but that had been weeks ago, and people's minds change…

"They said they would," Tony said. "But that could be different now. I don't know. I'll just have to drive down there and find out." Rhodey nodded.

"You know you're always welcome at my house, right? Momma loves you, and so do my sisters..."

"Yeah, I know. I appreciate it, Rhodey," Tony said, smiling one of his first real smiles in days. And he did appreciate it, though he knew he could never impose on Rhodey or his family like that. Staying at Rhodey's house for spring break was one thing - living there for an entire summer, with a baby no less? There were certain lines Tony knew he could never cross, and that was one of them, no matter how much Rhodey and his family said they didn't mind.

Rhodey frowned at him, as if he could tell what he was thinking. He probably did.

"I'm serious," he insisted. "We'd all be happy to take you."

"Of course you would be," Tony joked. "I'm awesome." Rhodey rolled his eyes, though he didn't seem able to stop the smile from spreading across his face.

"Get some sleep, Tones," Rhodey said, standing up before Tony could protest. "I'll go call Sue and David." Tony nodded, head feeling heavier at the mention of sleep. He wasn't sure he was supposed to, what with the concussion, but Rhodey wouldn't have told him to go to sleep if it wasn't safe. His eyes slipped closed before he knew it and his arms tightened around his baby as he drifted away.