AN – I thought I would be mean and give you a glimpse into what I see as a future.

Disclaimer – As much as I frighten my other half with them, I do not own these characters. Except for Emily.

Chapter 3
Allegations

"Where do you think you're going?"

"How did you even see me?"

"I'm your father. It's my job to know where you are and what fiendish things you're planning."

"If I believe Mom, you can't say anything about fiendish plans."

"I would stop believing her."

"Can I go out tonight?"

"Not in my car, you can't."

Me, still arms deep in armor and a bit more grey at the corners – but with a beautiful 16 year old hounding me to take my Audi. And a gold wedding band on my left hand.

"Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark."

The doctor was what awoke me from my daydream of the possible future. I stood instinctively and took off my sunglasses. Thankfully, with the right name dropping and money promises, we were immediately rushed to a private suite in the ER and the door shut quickly. We were given a younger doctor – probably mid-thirties, attractive guy – but standing in front of me then he looked a little worse for wear. Emily still hadn't stopped crying, but she had at least toned it down.

"Mr. Stark…your daughter, correct?"

"Yes, but could you keep that to yourself, thanks."

"O…kay, well, Miss Stark is malnourished and seems to have a number of deficiencies – Vitamin D, especially. We'll prescribe children's vitamins and meals every 2 to 3 hours in decent portion to get to her gain weight. I'm required to ask about how this came about as well, for paperwork."

"The only answer I have is that she wasn't in my care until 30 minutes ago. She was recently adopted from Russia."

"Do you have the paperwork showing the recent adoption?"

"Yes, I do." Pepper chimed in. From the folio she had been carrying in the car she produced copies of Emily's birth certificate, the paperwork showing the change of guardianship from her grandmother to myself, and what little we did have of her medical records, which mostly was just her birth and what was noticed then. It had been badly translated from Russian.

The doctor took the necessary copies and went off to finish the paperwork and to return with the discharge.

Behind the curtain, Natashatalie had soothed the little girl into a calmish demeanor. She was still gasping for air from time to time, but it wasn't all out sobbing anymore. At least we had gotten somewhere. It was better than hearing her scream anymore. If she had kept doing that, I was going to have to get someone to sedate her or something.

As we stood and waited for the professionals return, I peeked my head in behind the curtain. She looked so small and frail laying on such a large bed. I wasn't sure if my presence would start the screaming again, so I kept quiet.

She was looking away from me at Natashatalie (she needs a new name. Maybe I should just start calling her 'you there') and they both were speaking quietly to each other. She seemed pretty calm given the circumstances. I knew better than to call Nata-that darkredheaded chick- over to ask her anything because who knew what her trigger was going to be.

The doctor came in shortly afterwards to hand Pepper all the necessary paperwork and vitamins. Without further ado, we went back to the car and off to the mansion. As curious as I was to talk to the miniature human before me, I didn't want to step too hard too quick.

"Did the doctor say he'd keep quiet?"

"He graciously thanked you for your…hospital donation." Pepper said quietly.

"How much."

"Enough."

I'm sure I'd see the check stub later, but the amount didn't matter.

"What happens now."

"We show her her room. Acclimate her to her new home. We shouldn't leave her alone much for the first few days. She might need to stay in Natalie's room or-"

"Why wouldn't she stay in my room?"

Pepper looked at me with a bit of a stern look. What? What's wrong with MY daughter staying in MY room? Other than her inability to understand me and my inability to understand her? I had put that translator into Jarvis' programming…

"Because she needs to stay with who she's comfortable with." Pepper moved her head towards the two sitting in the back of the limo. At least now Emily was sitting in the seat and looking around with her puffy cheeks and round red eyes. She was getting over the crying, but she still seemed so frightened. I guessed that would go away with time.

Nata-whoever noticed me looking over at the two of them, and so she tapped the girl to get her attention before saying something to her. With her words, the young girl turned her head and looked straight at me with her blue eyes that seemed to bore straight through me. She said something, sounding confused before Nata-chick seemed to assure her.

What the hell were they talking about? It was driving me insane. Pepper noticed my tension yet again and put her hand over mine on my leg, squeezing gently. I breathed out heavily before taking off my sunglasses and handing them to her to put in her purse. I was too hot. There was too much going on in my mind.

I unbuttoned my suit jacket and took it off to show the purple I had hidden underneath and sighed as I pulled off the tie. If I was relaxed, maybe she would relax some too.

I laid back in the comfortable seating of the limo and closed my eyes, thinking of how this could all play out. She could be so mentally damaged by all of this that she could go into the state's protection. Or, she could be just fine within days and learn English quickly. Two extremes – which one would be correct?

In one hand I held Pepper's small, thin hand in my own calloused palm, feeling each bone and how much feeding a 5 year old might help her gain some weight too. My other hand was over my face, massaging my forehead before falling to my side. This was going to be long, and I knew it.

But then, while I thought of everything that could go wrong in the span of the next hour, I felt something weird.

Something touching me.

Wait, no.

Someone touching me.

I felt small bony hands on my chest. Even with the heavy fabric and the dark color, the arc still shown through the shirt. What I saw in front of me was something I didn't expect.

The girl, my daughter, was standing in front of me touching my chest.

She had no problem looking straight into my face and talking to me, apparently asking me a question about the glowing thing under my shirt. She seemed entranced by it. I get it, it was odd for someone to see something glowing under someone's shirt.

She knocked on it, even, and it made an odd metal plastic sound to her. It only made her forehead furrow worse.

It only took me seconds to realize that this really had to be my child.

Without further to do, I touched her hands softly to move them away from the fabric so that I could unbutton my dress shirt. I did, and showed her my chest and the glowing reactor inside.

Immediately she had to touch every part of it. She mumbled to herself in Russian, and poked at certain things. The triangle inside was of interest to her, and she traced it on the plastic that held it in.

"She doesn't understand why it's attached to you, or what's inside," called the soft voice from the other side of the limo.

"Tell her…it's a battery that runs my heart." I said quietly, really more talking to the curious little girl in front of me than the translating woman across the way.

She called something after the girl, and the girl just cocked her head to the side and looked up at me, her two small hands framing the piece in my sternum.

"Pochemy…" I knew that word. I'd heard it before. Just like I had heard the word she screamed earlier on the tarmac before.

"Your father is…sick." I said quietly before starting to button my shirt again. I forgot that I had to bring another person into my tight world of almost constant death. What would she think of the red and gold robotic man taking care of her later?

Nata-chick gave some kind of explanation to the girl, and she quickly ran back over to the other woman. I guessed she had told her to come back or that it was rude to ask or something, but the girl still couldn't take her eyes off of me. I wanted to know what was going on behind them.

Not long after we pulled in the gates of the mansion, and there the acclimating would begin.

AN – I thought this would be a good place to stop for now. Do you know how hard it is to find Russian written in Romanization sometimes? I'm not even sure that that's translated from Cyrillic properly, but I thought it would be something good to throw in there every once and a while. I know I'm learning interesting new things. =)
It may be a few days before I update again, but I can promise multiple chapters when I do. Family vacation, woooo… _