As the sun rose, the storm clouds burned off considerably, leaving the air with a light foggy mist. The dark, ominous clouds from the last few days were replaced by a soft gray overcast. But this didn't soften the picture of the surroundings in the least. It only made them more gruesome to look at now, in the light of day. The scene was gut-wrenching as remnants of the grand mansion once thought to be so strong and regal had been thrown down to the water so ruthlessly. People's personal belongings had been flung into the ocean, and were now being washed out to sea, only to be brought back in again with the waves.
Under piles of timber, rocks, and mud you could occasionally spot a limp limb of someone, or make out a human form that had been buried under. To Tony, it felt like he was in an all-too-familiar-looking war zone. He'd seen this same scene so many times in so many places throughout the years, both as the one providing the weapons causing all of the destruction, and as someone trying to stop it. The only difference now was the fact that, here, he was just a man. And the enemy was nature. There would be no game plan to retaliate, no bad guys to apprehend. And, truthfully, he was having a hard time coming to grips with that. If Pepper was dead, somewhere in this pile of rubble, he'd have no way to atone for it. There would be no closure, no justice, no final victory over evil. There would only be this gaping, raw sore festering in his soul. And he knew what the only cure for that would be. I meant what I said, he thought. I CAN'T live without her. And I'm not going to try.
Tony's train of thought was broken by a set of rescuers coming up the hill, this time with another person on a stretcher wrapped in a white sheet. Tony sighed in defeat. "Damn it," he said, frowning. He slowly left his post again at the edge of the cliff and walked to where they were. The men set the stretcher down and Tony bent down on one knee as they removed the sheet from the face.
His heart stopped as he gasped and drew back, his eyes desperately searching for anything to tell him that this couldn't be who he thought it was. This couldn't be...
"Pepper?" he whispered weakly, bending over her, and brushing her hair back from her face. Her eyes were both swollen shut, her nose broken, and she had large patches of purple bruising over both cheeks and under her eyes. Her hair was matted with blood and there was a large, swollen lump on the back of her head, which could only mean a skull fracture. Her dress was soaked in blood, her body covered in bruises. She didn't seem real to him, as she was barely recognizable. But he knew it was her. There was no doubt about it.
He was frozen, looking at her helplessly as tears stung his eyes. He gritted his teeth, and swiped at them hastily. He grabbed her hand and kissed it tenderly before bending down to her ear."You are the love of my life," he whispered to her. "I told you I can't live without you. So, see you soon, huh?" He kissed her temple and slowly pulled back, allowing the medical staff to examine her so they could confirm her death. He watched, completely shattered, as they looked her over. An EMT put a stethoscope to Pepper's chest and listened intently. Tony watched her hopelessly, simply dismissing her efforts automatically as a mere formality. But something made her furrow her brow, and Tony looked at her cautiously.
"Can I get an EKG, please?" she called out to her colleague. Soon, she was brought a portable EKG machine, and the EMT attached the pulse oximeter to one of Pepper's index fingers. Tony flicked his eyes to the little green screen, watching it intently, a spark of hope suddenly lighting itself in the deep, dark crevasses of his mind.
For several seconds, only a flat line appeared on the screen. But Tony couldn't tear his eyes away from it. "Come on, I know I heard something," the EMT muttered anxiously. They waited silently for what seemed like an eon. Then, out of the blue, a blip appeared on the screen. And several seconds later, another appeared. The EMT grinned. "There we go," she said.
Tony gasped in shock. "She's alive?!" he asked breathlessly in disbelief.
"Yes. Barely. But yes," the EMT affirmed. She called out some instructions to her partner, and they began prepping Pepper to be transferred to a gurney and taken to the hospital. "She's extremely critical," she explained to Tony. "We need to try to stabilize her on the way."
Tony nodded, totally speechless. He stepped out of the way, as Pepper was carefully moved to a gurney and strapped down for the ride. The EMT put an oxygen mask over her mouth and they loaded her into the ambulance.
"You okay to drive?" she asked him.
Tony nodded anxiously.
"Good. Then meet us at St. Augustine's," she told him.
Tony suddenly came out of his shock, and nodded in the affirmative. "St. Augustine's! Got it!" he yelled, throwing off the survivor blanket and sprinting to his car. The ambulance driver closed the doors, threw on the lights and the siren, and quickly pulled out of the parking area and into traffic.
"J! St. Augustine's!" Tony barked, punching the ignition button and gunning the engine. He peeled out of the parking area, and JARVIS brought the GPS up on the display
"Am I to understand Ms. Potts has survived, Sir?" JARVIS asked.
"Her pulse is weak, J. And she's pretty badly injured. But yes," he said, daring to crack a small, relieved smiled. "She's alive."
XxXxXxXxXx
Tony arrived at the hospital, just a few minutes behind the ambulance. Pepper had already been wheeled inside and taken into emergency surgery. He was assured by the ER staff that they'd do all they could, and that he'd be kept in the know as much as possible.
"Are there any allergies or medical conditions we should know about?" he was asked by the nurse at reception.
Tony swallowed hard and nodded. "She's allergic to strawberries," he replied.
"Strawberries," the nurse said, typing it in. "Anything else? Allergies or otherwise?"
"Y-yes" he stammered. He cleared his throat. "And she's 12 weeks pregnant," he said, trying to keep his emotions at bay, as he was struck by the reality that this was quite possibly no longer the case, and his breath caught in his chest. That's when he made the conscious decision to believe she still was, until he heard otherwise.
The nurse smiled awkwardly at him, and flicked her eyes quickly back to the screen, Tony sensing that she'd thought something along the lines of what had just crossed his mind.
The nurse finished gathering her information from him, and showed him to a waiting area. He took a seat, though he doubted he'd be able to stay seated for long. His body buzzed with adrenaline and nervous energy, though he was sure he was completely exhausted. All he wanted was to know Pepper would be okay.
XxXxXxXxXx
Several hours had passed, and still there was no word on Pepper's condition. Tony had gone back and forth to the nurses station to check numerous times, but they'd all replied with the same thing- as soon as one of the doctors or a surgical nurses was free, they'd come update him. The only consolation was that so far, no one had come to tell him she'd died on the operating table. In a strange way, their long absence was kind of reassuring. If they were still working to keep her alive, then that meant she was still fighting to stay alive. Tony smiled glumly to himself. If ever there was a time I was grateful for Pepper's stubbornness, it would be now, he thought.
Finally, Tony spotted a surgeon in OR scrubs come through the double doors of the corridor that lead to the operating rooms, and start walking his way. He stood up, his heart leaping into his throat over the thought that this man held Pepper life, and Tony's for that matter, in his hands. Tony shifted anxiously from foot to foot, as the doctor approached, trying to brace for the worst.
"Mr. Stark?" the surgeon said, holding out his hand. Tony extended his as well and they shook hands. "I'm Doctor Preator. I'm the surgeon who's been operating on your wife? Can we go somewhere privately and talk?" he asked softly.
Tony swallowed hard. "S-sure," Tony stammered, his stomach dropping to the floor. Whatever he has to say must be pretty bad, he thought.
The doctor nodded and lead Tony to a private consultation room just off the emergency room. Tony slowly sat in one of the chairs and watched the doctor silently as he sat down across from him. He just wanted to make sure Pepper was still alive, but he couldn't will his lips to move to ask the question, as his heart was thundering in his chest. So he waited for the doctor to begin.
"Let me first tell you she's now out of surgery, and in recovery in the ICU, which is where we'll keep her until her condition improves vastly," the doctor said. Tony breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She's in intensive care, yes, but still alive, he thought.
The doctor continued. "Her condition is still critical however, based on the types of injuries she's sustained, but I have changed her condition to critical but stable. Mr. Stark, your wife is nothing short of a miracle, having stayed alive through this ordeal."
Tony smiled weakly. "I thought she was before all of this happened," he said sadly.
The doctor smiled sympathetically. "I need to tell you that she's sustained massive head trauma. The first order of business was to do emergency surgery to relieve the pressure of her brain swelling from a hemorrhage and pressing against her skull, which was also fractured. Both orbital bones around her eyes were broken, as well as her nose. We've corrected the break in the nose, and splinted it. But the fractures around her eyes will need some close observation for the next few weeks, as I'm not sure yet if they'll need surgery. To be honest, I'm more concerned about the damage to the Occipital nerve, the nerve that attaches to both eyeballs, that may have been caused in all of this. To be as forthright as I can, she may later be blind, Mr. Stark."
Tony frowned. "Blind?" he murmured.
The doctor nodded gravely. "I wish the bad news ended there," he stated. "She fractured her left radius," the doctor said, pointing to his forearm. "That's this bone, here," he said. "She also broke several bones in both hands. She has some broken ribs, and we re-inflated a collapse lung. Her pelvis was also severely broken. Which brings me to a very tough question I have to ask you," he said.
Tony stayed silent, only raising his eyebrows in acknowledgment.
The doctor exhaled and pursed his lips. "Were you aware that your wife was pregnant?" he asked.
Tony swallowed hard. Was?,he thought, grimly. He nodded affirmatively. "12 weeks," was all he could manage to say in a hoarse murmur.
The doctor put a hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed it gently as he tried to break the news. "I'm afraid, in everything your wife has already been through, she also suffered a miscarriage," he explained.
Tony's heart sank. In truth, he hadn't realistically believed that Pepper wouldn't lose the baby after all of this. But now, hearing it in plain English, it broke his heart even more than it already was. All he could do was stare at the doctor numbly.
Dr. Preator continued. "It was a total miscarriage, so, thankfully, there isn't any more to be done for it. We just have to let it run its course. But I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I can only imagine, on top of everything else, how hard that is to hear."
Tony flicked his eyes away, and his nostrils flared, the anger and guilt he felt over the whole situation rising in his gut. He glanced back to the doctor and waited for him to continue, staying silent.
"I've put in some surgical hardware to set her pelvis, and we've immobilized it with a hard cast. She has drainage tubes coming from some incisions under the cast that will help to keep a build up of fluid from happening. She's got some severe internal bruising, but luckily no internal bleeding, which was quite fortunate considering the course of events," he said. The doctor paused for a few moments. "Is there anything I've told you so far that you don't understand, or have questions about?" he asked.
Tony took a few moments to respond, as he was trying to take in everything the doctor had said. "When can I see her?" he asked, his voice very quiet.
The doctor looked at his watch. "They may still be getting her settled in," he said. He looked at Tony. "But I'll take you to the room she's in, anyway. I should tell you, Mr. Stark, that we're keeping her medically sedated currently, as the trauma she's endured would put her instantly into shock if she were conscious. And she's also on a ventilator, until that lung shows us it can function on its own."
The doctor stood up. " And, now, if you're ready," he said. Tony nodded and followed him out of the room. They walked down a hallway and over to a bank of elevators. The doctor pushed the button for the fourth floor, and Tony entered first, then the doctor. The two men rode in silence for a few moments. "Doc, I just need to know," Tony said, turning his head to look at the doctor. "Is there still any chance she'll die?" he asked.
The doctor pursed his lips. "I wish I could say no ," he replied. "But all I can really tell you is that we should just take it one day at a time," he said.
The elevator doors dinged and Tony glumly followed behind the doctor. The nurses smiled politely and greeted the doctor as he stopped by the nurses station. Tony just stood at a short distance behind him, their words running in and out of his ears like unintelligible babble. His insides burned with grief and shock, and the feeling of deja vu of all those years ago, being in a hospital, having to wait to hear that his parents had died as a result of a car accident. He would have given anything to be able to go back in time and stop Pepper from going to San Francisco, and for the both of them to be able to avoid this horrible nightmare all together.
The doctor turned around, and pursed his lips. "I'm afraid they're waiting on the nurse who's on the day shift today to do her final vitals check before we allow any visitors in the room. She's helping in other wards, since there has been so many people admitted since the landslides began and we're a little short handed. But she'll be along shortly to talk with you. Irene, I think her name is," the doctor said. The doctor pulled Tony off to the side, away from the nurses.
"Now, your wife won't look like the person you know and love. Keep in mind, there is a lot of bruising and swelling still, especially on her face. I just want to warn you, so that if you want to take it slow, no one will slight you for it."
Tony nodded in understanding. The doctor smiled warmly, and turned to the nurses. "When Mr. Stark is ready, feel free to open the blinds to the room, until Irene gets here, so he can at least see his wife, huh? Then, once I get her report, he's free to go in." The doctor nodded at Tony and bid him goodbye. Tony shook his hand once more and watch him leave.
Tony turned back to the nurses and followed one of them to a room just down the hall from the nurses station. The nurse slipped in the door, and pulled the cord on the vertical blind, slowly opening the blades to reveal Pepper to him. Tony gasped and brought a hand to his mouth. He gazed at Pepper in horror. "Oh God!" he gasped, gripping the window sill with the other hand to keep from collapsing at the sight of her, so broken and battered, before his eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks, as he looked on, paralyzed, at the woman he loved, clinging to life.
Just then, his phone buzzed, and Tony jerked it out of his pocket hastily. It was a text from Rhodey. It read:
Did you hear about what happened in San Fran?