I was back in that alleyway. My back was against the cold, hard, brick wall. I looked all over, desperately looking for a way out. This time there was no one here to save me. He came at me, and I screamed and sat straight up in bed. Pain shot through me and Tony sprung from a nearby chair and had his hands on my shoulders trying to hold me together instantly..
"Easy Ruby, easy." He cooed.
Doctors came running in, one doctor grabbing my arm, trying to stick me with a syringe as I tried to get them all to let go of me, flailing my arms. "Mr. Stark, you should leave." One of them said as they pulled him away from me. Our eyes met and I stopped struggling for a brief second, too long of a second. The doctor shoved the syringe into my arm, and it wasn't but a few moments and my head began to spin and I couldn't seem to keep myself sitting up. They pushed me back into the bed. My body screamed in agony as my eyes closed again, sending me into a cold darkness.
I don't know how long I had been there, it felt like a timeless place. Like a lifetime and only a second al at the same time. I pried my eyes open and stared at the white ceiling. After a few moments, I sat up. This time the pain wasn't as bad, it still made my breath catch in my throat, but this time I didn't instantly scream. As my eyes adjusted I looked over at the chair, no sign of Tony. Movement in the doorway caught my eyes, I quickly focused in, and there, in the doorway, sat Peter in a wheelchair. I sucked in a breath as our eyes met. I grabbed for my pocket only to find I was in a hospital gown, my clothes were gone. I stared at him for a few moments longer, trying to find words.
"Hi" I said, my voice breathless.
He blinked at me a few times, just staring in, "Your dad, Tony, he uh, they told him to leave. He went to his office, just to get some sleep or something."
I nodded my head, unsure of what to really answer. "My name's Ruby." I blurted. "We uh- we met the other night, but I don't think I told you my name." I said.
"There was a lot going on the other night." He said, "That's actually why I came over here. To thank you for saving my life."
He grabbed his wheels to his wheelchair as if he was going to leave. "I have your mask." I blurted out again. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He stopped, meeting my eyes again.
"They gave it back to me last night. They uh, cut your clothes off to help you last night. They did the same to me." He said.
"Oh, good, I'm glad you got it back." I quickly replied.
He grabbed his chair again and started to leave, then quickly turned back, "Hey, did you come to my room yesterday, early in the morning?"
My face got red and hot. I felt beads of sweat line my forehead. "Um… Yeah. I… I was with you almost that whole night. Tony came and got me and I was coming back from him, that's when you saw me and I ran."
"Why'd you stay?" He asked.
"I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up. No one should wake up alone in the hospital." I said, "Not that that really prevented it."
His lips twitched upwards as he looked down at his lap. "I'll see you later." He said, then grabbed his wheels and wheeled away.
I almost yelled for him to stay, but I didn't, I closed my mouth as soon as I opened it. I couldn't call after him, what did I have to say? Before I could even get my thoughts in order, a female doctor walked in. "You're awake." She stated as she walked straight to my IV bag.
"Yeah, I'm awake." I said, trying to hide the annoyance of her stating the obvious in my voice. "Can I go?"
She laughed a little, then met my eyes, "No, you can't go. Actually, you're going to be taken in for a CT scan on your brain. They'll just take some pictures."
"And then I can leave?" I asked.
She sighed as she met my eyes, not at all hiding her annoyance. "No. You have a concussion, which is why we are going to do a CT scan, and maybe an EGG. After that, we will take a look at the results, decide if we need to intervene, and we will also get an xray of your ribs and decide what you're best plan for healing those are. We reset your nose last night, so don't be surprised if you have some stiffness. You do have swelling and bruising still but it should go away on its own over the next week or so, but if you have any draining, please let us know."
I rolled my eyes. I just wanted to go. "Alright." I mumbled.
"If you'd like, we can call your father, you can see him before we do the procedures." She said.
"Did he ask you to call him?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
She looked me directly into my eyes, searching for the answer I wanted. "No, we just sent him home for the night, there was nothing for him to do here, and he was exhausted. You were going to be out for the rest of the night at the very least."
"Then don't call him." I said quickly, then tried to shrug it off, "If he was exhausted then, he needs to sleep. I'm sure he'll come back when he wakes up." I wasn't going to force the relationship. I refused to.
She nodded and then got me ready for the tests. They didn't take very long, not like a normal hospital. The CT scan and xray were done and I was back in my room within the hour. Tony hadn't called, and he wasn't there. No one was. I laid there for a few minutes then decided that enough was enough. I slowly made my way out of the bed, pushing through the pain that shot through my body. Although it had dulled, it was still very present. I ripped the IV out of my arm, and I wrapped the sheet from the bed around me, every movement I made tried to bring me to my knees in pain, but I breathed through it. I walked across the cold tile floor out into the hallway after making sure that the ghost was clear.
I had just touched the door knob to my bedroom door when Tonys voice made me jump. "What exactly are you doing?"
I turned to face him, his one brow was raised as leaded his shoulder against the wall, arms crossed waiting for an answer. "I couldn't stay there. I let them run their tests, but I just had to leave."
"Do you know what could happen if you fall asleep alone with a concussion?" Tony asked.
"You can die." I quickly answered, "But I really feel okay."
"Yeah, that's what people usually say before they die." He said as he pushed himself off the wall. "I'll walk you back." He gestured for me to follow him.
"Why did you come for me?" The words just fell out of my mouth.
He looked up at me, and he dropped his arms. He sucked in a deep breath as he rubbed his forehead. "I'm trying. I'm trying here, Ruby. I didn't even know that you existed until three days ago. No clue about you. I needed time to adjust, I still need to, but I am your father. I am doing my best to step up here, and part of that is making sure you don't, like, die."
"You don't have to." I said, the words coming out breathless, barely above a whisper.
He came close to me, gently touching my cheek, and then my shoulder, "I want to, Ruby." He said, "Now, come on, we need to go back to the infirmary."
Tony walked me back down to the infirmary, not saying a word the whole way, but looking over at me every time I took a step that sent pain shooting through my body to make sure I was okay. He helped me get settled back into bed, my mind began to go foggy, exhaustion was settling back in when a couple of doctors walked in.
"Good, Mr. Stark, you're here. We need to talk about Ruby's results. Why don't we go to the conference room." One of the doctors, a tall doctor with jet black hair and tanned skin, said.
"I wanna hear too." I quickly said as I tried to push myself forward, but the other doctor caught my arm.
"No, Ruby, you need to rest." The first doctor said as the other doctor stuck a syringe in my arm.
I saw Tony lunge towards me, but I couldn't keep my eyes open.