NicoleR85: thanks

The next day saw, Kaitlyn sitting on her bed, pillow clutched to her stomach, eyes trained on the person sitting on her desk chair. "Do you know why I'm here, Kaitlyn?" the black man asked.

"Yes", Kaitlyn replied "you're here because I had an…incident yesterday in the pool".

"That's right", the man, Dr Andrew Garner, confirmed "now you don't have to tell me absolutely everything. Just whatever you feel comfortable with".

"I thought psychologists were supposed to want to know every little detail. And give some answer filled with psychobabble that'll just make me even more confused", Kaitlyn said earning her a small laugh from Andrew.

"Usually that's what we do but in your case, I don't think it's a good idea", Andrew said "So tell me what happened".

"My boyfriend, Josh and two of our friends Camille and Ryan came over yesterday. I wasn't expecting them because Josh and I had planned to take a walk on the beach", Kaitlyn explained.

"Your father mentioned that you weren't too happy about the change in plans", Andrew said.

"Kind of an understatement. And instead of making them leave, I decided it was better if they stayed. It would help keep my mind off of things", Kaitlyn said "so we had a sort of pool party. They wanted me to get in but I couldn't. Ryan thought it would be funny to throw me in. The second I hit the water everything came rushing back…" Kaitlyn's breath hitched and she held the pillow tighter "how those people held me under…how I tried to break free as I struggled for breath…" a tear rolled down her cheek "I felt so helpless and I hated it! I'm half angel for god's sake! I should've been able to throw them off, easily but I couldn't because Yinsen had drugged me!"

Kaitlyn angrily threw her pillow across the room. "I'm sorry Dr Garner. I shouldn't have done that", the ginger said, quickly apologising.

"That's quite alright Kaitlyn", Andrew said gently "I've had plenty of patients do something similar. Though they hardly ever apologised".

"It's just…not like me to just lash out like that", Kaitlyn admitted.

"It an understandable reaction. For someone so strong, it's rare for you to feel helpless…vulnerable. So when it happens, it's quite a bit of a shock and you'll need time to bounce back", Andrew told her.

"And how long will it take for me to 'bounce back'?" the teen questioned.

"I'm afraid I can't give you an exact time period. It could be weeks or even months", Andrew replied "and having setbacks like the incident at the pool will make it take even longer".

"How do I avoid having set-backs?" Kaitlyn asked, ready to do anything if it meant she would be able to recover sooner.

"It won't be easy. The pool is just one thing that triggered an incident. There could be many more that may possibly affect you. So I would recommend you keep a record of when and where these happen", Andrew suggested.

"What, like a diary or something?" Kaitlyn asked.

"A diary is one way you could do it, yes", Andrew agreed "I also believe that just this one talk isn't going to be enough to help you. Therefore I am going to schedule you in for weekly sessions".

Outside Kaitlyn's door, Tony had his ear pressed against the wood trying to listen to the conversation going on inside. JARVIS refused to let him eavesdrop on the meeting so he resorted to the old fashioned way. "What do you think you're doing?" Pepper hissed at him, pulling him away from the door "you shouldn't be eavesdropping on them".

"But…" Tony started.

"No buts", Pepper interrupted "What is said between Dr Garner and Kait, stays between them. So don't try to get anything out of your daughter. She'll tell you if or when she's ready, is that understood?"

Tony nodded, a little afraid of the protective tone in her voice. Admittedly it was one of the reasons that he kept Pepper on as his assistant for so long. She was so good with Kaitlyn, taking on the role of protective mother without any hesitation. "So come on, let's leave them to it", Pepper said taking his arm and leading him away "perhaps you can go finish that new chest piece of yours. Just don't ask me to help you install it because I won't do it".

A few hours later, Kaitlyn headed down to the workshop to see how her dad was doing with the new chest piece. What she found was him sitting in a chair much like you'd have at the Doctor's office, several wires stuck to him which were attached to machines to monitor your vitals.

"Good timing Kait! I was about to ask you for help", Tony said.

"Help with…what?" Kaitlyn asked cautiously approaching him.

"I was trying to install this" Tony held up his new chest piece "but there's a copper wire I need to shift first…and my uh hands are too big".

"You want me to reach into your chest and pull out a wire?" Kaitlyn questioned making sure she hadn't misheard him.

"Yeah", Tony replied.

"And Pepper wasn't available to help you out with this?" Kaitlyn queried.

"Well, she basically told me she wasn't going to help which leaves my very smart and beautiful daughter", Tony said.

"You don't have to butter me up dad, I'll do it", Kaitlyn said. She took a breath and moved her hand to the circular opening in his chest.

"Don't let it touch the metal", Tony warned.

"I won't", Kaitlyn promised. She cringed when she reached inside, her fingers came into contact with something rather gross. She pushed aside the feeling of wanting to puke and continued on until she felt the wire.

"You got it?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I got it", Kaitlyn confirmed. She lightly gripped it and then slowly proceeded to extract it. "Ok, now what?" she asked.

"Now, cut it", Tony answered "there's some pl-" he broke off when he saw Kaitlyn holding the wire, the tip glowing a little bit, indicating that she'd just used her power to break the wire "or you could do that".

"I'm guessing we put this thing in now", Kaitlyn stated plucking the new chest piece from him.

"Yes that's now going to go in. Attach it to the base plate and I'll do the rest", Tony said.

Kaitlyn nodded "ok" she reached in and connected the new chest piece to the baseplate as Tony had instructed. Once she'd done that, Tony took over and secured it into the metal housing that was planted in his chest.

"Ugh I'm gonna have to wash my hands at least 20 times", Kaitlyn said wrinkling her nose at the smell of the gunk on her fingers as she frantically wiped them onto a towel that was on the table next to Tony's old chest piece. "What do you want to do with this?" she asked, nodding to it.

"Destroy it", Tony replied pulling the wires off of himself and getting up from the chair.

"You don't want to keep it?" Kaitlyn questioned "Circumstances aside, this is your first mini arc reactor. That's ground breaking stuff".

"No, I don't", Tony answered.

"Alright then. Just thought I'd ask", Kaitlyn said, dropping the towel onto the table and picked up the old chest piece. She started to head back to the door of the work shop when Tony spoke up.

"How did the session go with Dr Garner go?"

Kaitlyn turned back "It went well. He's a really cool guy. He doesn't make you talk about anything you're not ready for. And I've scheduled another session with him next week", the ginger explained.

"That's good", Tony said "say…are you busy for the next few hours?"

"Uh, no I'm not", Kaitlyn answered "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I thought that we could do something together. A father-daughter thing", Tony suggested.

"What did you have in mind?" the teenager questioned setting the chest piece down.

"I haven't got a particular thing in mind. Just figured we take a drive and see what takes our fancy", Tony said.

"Something spontaneous", Kaitlyn stated "sounds good to me. We gonna go now?"

"Yep", Tony replied popping the p. He walked over to his long line of cars "So which will it be?"

Kaitlyn joined him and studied the vehicles "the red Ferrari", she replied.

"The red Ferrari it is"

The pair hopped into the car and Tony started it up. They drove off, up the ramp to reach the street above.

"Oh! Another strike for me!" Kaitlyn cheered, doing a little dance on the spot. Tony chuckled at her antics. It was nice to see her laughing and having a good time, especially after their ordeal. He watched her bowl two more times, whooping in victory as she won.

"Congrats Kait", he said standing up.

"Thanks. But I have the feeling you didn't try very hard", Kaitlyn said, turning to him.

"I played to the best of my ability", Tony said, defending himself.

Kaitlyn laughed "Yeah, ok dad", she said, patting him on the shoulder, not believing him "so where's our next stop on this tour of spontaneity?"

"I don't know about you but I'm starving", Tony replied.

"Food it is", Kaitlyn agreed. This decision brought them to the nearest restaurant where they spent a good couple of hours laughing and joking over a large pizza. "You know, I think that waitress is checking you out", the ginger said to her father quietly, nodding to the blonde who was trying but failing to look at them discretely.

"Is she?" Tony asked, not even bothering to look around.

"Yep", Kaitlyn confirmed "wanna get her number?"

"Nope", Tony said, surprising his daughter "there's only one young lady I want to pay attention right now and she's sitting across from me". Kaitlyn who was taking a sip of her drink at the time, smiled around her straw.

After the bill was paid, Tony leaving a generous tip as well, the pair left the restaurant. As they walked to the car, Kaitlyn jumped onto her father's back. He stumbled a little before managing to regain his balance and carrying her piggyback style toward the red Ferrari, neither of them paying any attention to the numerous photographs that were being taken.

"I had a lot of fun today", Kaitlyn said as Tony drove the car down the ramp and parked it next to the others.

"Me too", Tony agreed. Admittedly it had been a while since they'd done anything together so this was pretty enjoyable.

"We should do something spontaneous more often", the ginger said.

"I wouldn't be opposed to that", Tony remarked. Kaitlyn hopped out of the Ferrari and headed toward the door of the workshop, picking up Tony's old chest piece on the way. She had an idea of what to do with it. Yes, her dad said he didn't want to keep it but she couldn't throw it away. She took it up to her room, powered up her laptop and started her search for the perfect container for it.

It took about a couple of hours before she found the right display case which included a holder that you can engrave a message onto it. Kaitlyn's fingers poised over the keyboard as she deliberated what to write. She smiled when she thought up of the perfect thing. Kaitlyn typed in the message and hit the 'buy' icon. She sat back, happy that she'd gotten the perfect thing for his chest piece to go into.