"Mr. Stark, you have a call on line three that you should take," Pepper says as she walks over to Tony, who is sitting at his desk and going over paperwork for Stark Industries.
"Take a message, Pep I am busy at the moment," Tony says, not even bothering to look up at her as she stops in front of his desk.
"You should take the call, sir," Pepper says in a tone that instantly gets Tony's attention. When Tony looks up at Pepper, he is shocked to see the amount of concern and sadness she has in her eyes though she tries to keep her expression professional.
"I will take the call right now. Thank you, Pepper," Tony says, saving what he was working on and then reaching for the landline.
"I will be at my desk if you need me, Mr. Stark," Pepper says after a moment of hesitation. Tony watches her leave before he picks up the phone and selects line three.
"Tony Stark?" a female voice asks from the other end of the line.
"Yes. Who is this?" Tony asks, not recognizing the voice on the line.
"This is Doctor Johnson from Malibu Urgent Care. I am so relieved that I finally got ahold of you," the female says, which instantly puts Tony on edge.
Why would urgent care be getting a hold of me? Tony thinks to himself as he tries to rack his brain to think of why they might be calling him, but he keeps coming up blank.
"Are you still there, Mr. Stark?" Doctor Johnson asks when Tony stays quiet.
"Oh, yes. Sorry. What can I do for you, Doctor?" Tony asks, turning so that he can look out the wall of windows in his office.
"I have some things I need to talk to you about. Would it be possible for you to come to the hospital?" Doctor Johnson says, which instantly makes Tony feel like his blood turned to ice.
"What is so dire that I would need to come down to the hospital?" Tony asks, grabbing his cell phone and sending a text to Pepper to have the car ready in five minutes.
"I would much rather not say over the phone, Mr. Stark," Doctor Johnson says, which makes Tony even more worried as he starts racking his brain even more to try and figure out who might be injured and at the hospital.
"I am on my way," Tony says, hanging up the phone without bothering to say goodbye. He quickly slides his laptop into his shoulder bag and grabs his phone before walking out of his office to find Pepper standing by the door leading out of the office with her coat on and holding her purse.
"Happy has the car waiting out front, and the address to the hospital is already programmed into the GPS," Pepper says as she starts walking and Tony has to rush to catch up to her.
"You do not need to come with me, Pep," Tony says as they get on the elevator.
"You know I am always here for you, and I have a feeling you are going to need someone with you," Pepper says, typing away on her phone. Tony smiles and shakes his head when she does not stop even when they get off the elevator and start walking to the front doors. Once they get outside, Tony looks up at the clear blue sky.
How can there be something wrong on such a beautiful day? Tony thinks to himself before looking back forward and seeing Happy standing by the back door of the car. As he gets closer to the car, he can see the worry as clear as day in Happy's expression and body.
"Is everything alright, Mr. Stark?" Happy asks as he opens the back door of the car.
"I am not sure, Happy," Tony says, getting into the car after Pepper gets in. Tony sits and stares out the window of the car as Happy gets into the driver's seat and heads towards the hospital.
"Did the doctor not tell you why she wants to see you?" Pepper asks, and the tone of her voice makes Tony look over at her. He is shocked to see that she is so worried that her expression is no longer schooled.
"No, she did not, Pepper," Tony says, looking back out the window. Tony jumps when he suddenly feels a hand on his arm. He looks over to see Pepper staring at him with a rather intense expression.
"No matter what it is, just know that I am here to help in any way that I can," Pepper says, giving Tony a small and reassuring smile.
"The same goes for me, boss," Happy says from the driver's seat of the car. Tony smiles a small smile at the both of them.
"I know you guys are. Thank you very much," Tony says, sitting up straighter when he sees that hospital getting closer. Once they pull into the hospital parking lot, Happy drives up to the pickup and drop-off doors. Instead of waiting for Happy to get out and open the door, Tony opens the door and gets out himself. Pepper follows him out, and Happy steps out as well.
"I will park the car and be waiting in the waiting room," Happy says before climbing back into the car and driving off towards the parking spots. Tony watches him go for a second before he finally heads into the hospital, Pepper right beside him. Tony walks right up to the front desk, where a young woman instantly perks up after she sees him.
"You are Tony Stark," the young woman says, which causes Tony to roll his eyes. Tony is surprised when Pepper suddenly pushes him back a little and takes his place in front of the woman.
"Mr. Stark is here to see a doctor…," Pepper says, turning towards him when she realizes she does not know the name of the doctor.
"Johnson," Tony says quickly, looking around as if she would just suddenly appear in front of him.
"You can go wait in the waiting room, and she will be out to see you as soon as possible," the woman says, glaring at Pepper before picking up the desk phone. Tony frowns as Pepper and he walks over and sits in the waiting room.
