A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter is a little late. I hope you like it.
Ruby was standing there, tugging at the smart dress that both Tony and Pepper had forced her to wear. She had been as stubborn as she could to try and get out of wearing it, pleading with Pepper to let her wear suit pants rather than a dress, but her efforts had been in vain. Now she was sulking a little, it was almost 11am, the time ticking past quicker than she would have liked.
"Everything will be fine, Ruby." Pepper assured her as they walked through the building and to where the press conference was being held.
"Oh, I really feel sick." Ruby moaned, holding onto her aching side. She kept getting sharp pains, and it was making her feel even worse. She could feel her cheeks burning, and her head just kept spinning.
Pepper placed a hand on her arm. "It's just nerves. You'll be fine, and Tony is going to be out there with you the whole time." Ruby just nodded at her and continued to hold onto her stomach. She didn't know where the pains were coming from, but she was putting it down to the anxiousness that she was feeling.
"Stark Industries has recently gained a new member to our family. Last week, a smart young lady joined our team, taking lead on the research and development of the arc reactor." Tony called from in front of all the press. "Today, I would like to introduce you all to this very special young woman. So please welcome, Ruby Matthews-Stark."
That was Ruby's cue, and she took a deep breath before walking out and over to the podium where her father was standing. She had her hands clasped tightly in front of her as she walked, trying her best to control the nerves that were threatening to make an appearance.
Tony could only smile as his daughter walked out to join him, but he couldn't help thinking that something was wrong. She had been acting strange all morning, and he was pretty sure it wasn't just because she didn't want to be in that dress. "Give them a smile." He whispered to her as she finally stood beside him.
Ruby done as she was told and smiled at the hoard of press and reporters before her, even thought she would much rather glare at the lot of them. "Miss Matthews-Stark will bring something new to the company, and we hope that she will help to lead the company forward with her work." Tony said, still grinning madly. "We will now be taking questions."
Straight away there were hands up and shouts coming from the crowd. Ruby managed to roll her eyes as she clutched onto her side tightly as another sharp stab almost made her bend over in pain.
"Miss Matthews-Stark?" One of the men in the crowd called. "Are you and Mr Stark related?"
Ruby just looked over at the man and smiled at him as best she could. She wanted to have a little fun, and not give those idiots a clear-cut answer. "Yes." She said simply, making Tony smirk at her.
"How?" Several people shouted at her.
She let out a sigh as she looked over the people there. "You're meant to be the reporters. You get paid to dig up the dirt on people. Why don't you figure it out and let me know."
"Uh, yeah, maybe you shouldn't say anything else." Her father whispered to her.
Ruby just shrugged her shoulders at him. She couldn't really care whether she spoke to them or not, it had all been his idea, not hers. "Whatever. Can I go now?" She asked, before hissing from yet another stabbing pain in her side.
Tony frowned at her. "Ruby, you okay?" He asked, concern flooding his voice.
"I'm fine, just… stomach ache." She said, before her head began to spin wildly.
The next thing anyone knew, she was lying on the floor, completely unconscious. "Ruby!" Tony cried, kneeling down beside her. "Ruby, can you hear me?" He asked, panic filling up inside of him. "Come on, honey, don't do this to me." He whispered, placing a hand on her cheek. That was when he noticed that she had a fever.
A minute later, Pepper Potts was there with him. "An ambulance is on the way, Tony. I'm sure she is going to be fine." She whispered to him, before getting up and addressing the press who were flashing away with their cameras. "If you could all please make your way outside, thank you." She called, nodding to the security to start forcing them out of the room.
Tony was paying no attention to anything that was going on around him, he was busy trying to work out what was wrong with his daughter. "JARVIS, what's wrong with her?" He asked his AI.
"Sir, I believe Miss Matthews-Stark is suffering from appendicitis." JARVIS informed him. "She has been suffering from stomach pains since the early hours of this morning and has also been feeling sick."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Tony asked, feeling his frustration growing. "How serious is it?"
"She needs immediate medical attention, sir."
"Hey, Ruby?" Tony called again softly. The room was now empty of all press, the security had managed to get them all out pretty quickly. "It's going to be okay, Ruby, you're going to be fine." He assured her, grasping her hand tightly.
The minutes it took the paramedics to get there felt like hours to Tony as he sat there with his unconscious daughter. He had no clue about what to do, all he knew was that his only child needed help.
Everything after that passed by in a blur and he found himself waiting at the hospital with Pepper by his side while Ruby was being operated on. "She's in good hands, Tony." Pepper told him, trying to get him to calm down a little. "Ruby will be fine."
The man let out a sigh as he stopped pacing and sat back down once more. "How could I have not noticed that something was wrong, Pepper?"
"She didn't tell anyone, Tony. How is anyone meant to know something was wrong when she didn't bother to tell anyone?" She asked him, trying to make him see that it hadn't been his fault. Pepper knew that he was starting to blame himself.
"I'm her father, Pepper, I should have seen that something was wrong." He said, before resting his head in his hands.
It was a little while later when the doctor came into the room where they pair of them were waiting for news. In an instant, Tony was up on his feet and looking at the men with pleading eyes.
"The operation was a success, she's going to be just fine." The doctor told them, making Tony let out a breath that he didn't even know he had been holding. "She got here just in time, a few minutes longer, and it could have been a lot worse. Her appendix was ready to burst, she was very lucky."
"Thank you, doctor." Tony said, grasping the man's hand and shaking it fiercely.
The man just smiled back at him. "I'll send one of the nurses to get you when she is in her room. She's going to need plenty of rest and no stress over the next few weeks." He told him, before leaving the room.
Tony slumped himself back down in the chair again, relief washing over him. He had been so worried that something was going to go wrong, that he was about to lose the daughter he had only just found.
"I told you she would be fine, Tony." Pepper said, gently placing a hand on his back. "She'd be laughing at you right now if she knew how much you were worrying."
"I was so worried, Pepper. What if we hadn't got her here on time? What if her appendix had burst sooner?" All the thoughts of what could have happened still wouldn't leave his mind, even though he had been told she was fine.
"But we did, Tony. We got here in time and she is going to be just fine." She had never seen him so worried before, not even about the company. "She's a Stark after all, she doesn't give up that easily. Ruby is just a stubborn as you are."
They waited in silence for a little longer until a nurse came into the waiting room and led them out. Tony had his hands in his pockets as he followed the nurse to the private room that his daughter was in.
"She's still sleeping at the moment." The nurse told him, her hand on the door handle. "The machines there are to keep a check on her vitals. She really was very lucky to have made it here in time."
"But she's going to be okay?" Tony asked, needing to have that reassurance.
The woman smiled at him. "She may be a little groggy, and have trouble walking around without being in pain, but Miss Matthews-Stark will be absolutely fine."
"Thank you so much." Pepper said to the woman, as the door was opened and Tony slowly walked in.
He saw his daughter lying in the hospital bed, a few wires hooked up to some machines around her and a needle in her hand, keeping her hydrated. He let out a sigh as he walked over to the bed. "Oh, Ruby."
She was definitely looking pale, and Tony was struggling to deal with what he was seeing. He was so used to her giving him attitude, and trying to cause him as much hell as possible. But now she was unconscious, after having an operation to take out her appendix. It didn't feel right to him, he enjoyed the banter with her, her snarky remarks and her smile.
Since taking her to Stark Industries, giving her full access over the arc reactor and letting her do what she wanted, they had actually grown a little closer. Ruby had actually been keeping him involved in what she was doing, and she had still taken an interest in everything else he was doing.
Ruby had also grown closer to Pepper, the woman who had just crept into the room after speaking some more with the nurse. She had taken Ruby shopping, making sure she had clothes that were more appropriate for her to go to work in. They had spent a lot of time talking that day at the mall, and Pepper had managed to find out a lot of what Ruby liked and didn't like. It was astounding how like Tony she really was.
"You know, after Jasmine left, I honestly never thought I would care about anyone like that ever again." He said, playing with Ruby's hand. "I didn't want to. She was everything to me, but now I have Ruby. And she is my everything now."
Pepper couldn't help but smile at his words. Ruby really had started to change him, to show that he was human and did have feelings. "You know, you're everything to her as well. Even if she doesn't say it, you are." She told him, watching him with the young woman in the bed.
"No, she still has Liam." That was when Tony remembered, he really needed to let him know what had happened, otherwise Ruby would get moaned at by Liam, and then he would get moaned at by Ruby. He pulled Ruby's earpiece out of his pocket and put it in his ear. "SWAIN?"
"How can I help you, Mr Stark?" SWAIN replied. They were both used to each other now, Tony was secretly doing his best to install SWAIN in the house without Ruby finding out, it was a surprise for her.
"I need you to call Liam. I need to tell him what has happened." Tony said, trying to work out exactly what he was going to say in his head.
"Of course, Mr Stark. Calling Mr Roberts." SWAIN called, before Tony heard the ringing at the other end of the line.
"Hey, Ruby. How did it all go today?" Liam asked cheerfully.
Tony cleared his throat. "This is Tony Stark, Ruby's father."
"Oh, sorry Mr Stark. SWAIN didn't tell me that it wasn't Ruby. I just assumed…" He trailed off, not really knowing what to say to the man.
"Uh, it's fine. Look, uh, there's a reason why I was calling. It's Ruby, she's in hospital." Tony told him, trying to keep it together. "She's okay, they had to take her appendix out before it exploded, but the doctor said that she is going to be just fine."
He heard Liam let out a sigh on the other end of the line. "She told me this morning that she wasn't feeling all that great, that she kept getting sharp pains." He admitted. "But she's stubborn, she wouldn't make a fuss of it."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Tony said, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in beside the bed and rubbing his head a little. "She should have just told me, and we could have cancelled the press conference and got her to the hospital soon."
"Knowing Rubes, she wasn't thinking about herself. I know she was worried about the press conference when I spoke with her this morning." When Liam had talked to her, she kept running through everything that could go wrong, how she could mess everything up. She really had been stressing.
"Well, she certainly got everyone's attention at the press conference. Oh, I am really looking forward to tomorrows headlines." Tony moaned, just now remembering that the press had been in the room when she had fallen unconscious. "Liam, I know you're her best friend, so if you want to come and see her, then I will get you on the next flight."
"That's really nice of you, Mr Stark, but I can make my own way there." Liam said, getting over the shock of having Tony Stark offer to pay for his flights.
"No, Ruby is going to need you here as well. Like I said, you're her best friend, I think she'd appreciate seeing you." Tony told him, glancing over at Pepper and giving her a nod. She was all ready to set everything up and get Liam on the next plane. He would be there in a few hours, and hopefully arrive at the hospital before Ruby woke up.
"Uh, yeah, sure. Okay, I'll just pack a bag and I'll head to the airport." Liam told him, finding his voice once more.
"Great, Miss Potts will be in touch with all the details before you get to the airport." Tony said, before ending the call. He knew he probably should have said goodbye, and been a little less rude to his daughters best friend, but he just wasn't in the mood.
He stayed sitting there, just gazing at Ruby. She had not moved once, there had been no sign of her even ready to wake up. Pepper had once again picked up on his anxiousness. "It's going to take time for her to wake up, Tony. They had to give her a strong dose to keep her asleep."
The man let out yet another sigh. It was all he seemed to be doing. "I just want her to wake up, Pepper. I need to know that she really is okay. I hate hospitals and I want to get her home as soon as possible."
"And she will wake up, Tony." Pepper told him, moving over to where he was seated. "You're worrying too much."
As if on cue, Ruby began to stir a little. Tony was quickly reaching over the bed and grasping hold of her hand tightly. She began to mumble a little, before her eyes decided to flutter open. "Hey, how you feeling, Ruby?" Tony asked, gently brushing her hair away from her face.
"Awful. What happened?" Her throat was dry and she actually found it difficult to speak.
"You've just had an operation, they had to remove your appendix." Tony told her softly. "The doctor said you were lucky, if we hadn't have gotten you here so quickly it could have burst."
"When can I go home?" She asked, closing her eyes once more. The light was hurting her eyes slightly, and she really did feel a little groggy. Whatever drugs were in her system, she couldn't wait for them to be gone, even if it did mean she was in pain.
Tony looked over at Pepper, who shook her head at him before creeping out of the room. Now that she was awake, she was going to get the doctor to come and check her over, just to ease Tony's mind.
"I don't know, honey. Probably not for a few days." She let out a small groan at his answer. "Hey, I want to get you out of here as well. You're not the only one who isn't overly fond of hospitals."
"What happened at the press conference?" Ruby mumbled, still keeping her eyes closed.
Tony couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. "Well, you certainly gave them a show. You couldn't even make it out of the room before Miss Potts had to call an ambulance and security had to clear the room."
"Oh, well isn't that fantastic." Ruby moaned. "At least I made it more spectacular than your announcement to Mr Stane."
The man smiled at her. "Yeah, but it's not over yet. You gave them a show, but now we have to wait to see who is clever enough to work out how we're related. You know, you were pretty harsh with those reporters."
"Yeah well, I don't care about reporters." She said, her voice getting fainter. Clearly she was falling back to sleep. "They're all stupid compared to us."
"And don't you forget it. Now get some rest, Ruby. I'm going to be here the whole time." Tony told her, leaning over and kissing the top of her head.
"Yeah, right. Of course you are. You snuck a bottle of scotch in with you? Maybe a few women as well?" She asked him. Tony was glad to see that she still had her sense of humour.
"I got all I need right here. I've got you. Now go to sleep."
"Why? What are you going to do if I don't? Ground me some more?" Tony was starting to wonder if she even knew what she was saying now, so he decided to stay quiet and not answer her, otherwise she might just carry on talking and not get the rest she so badly needed.
It was a few short minutes later when Pepper returned, the doctor right behind her. "I hear that she finally woke up?" The doctor asked, going over to the machines and checking the readings.
"Only for a few minutes, yeah." Tony replied, settling himself back down in the chair that he was determined to stay in.
"And how did she seem to you, Mr Stark?"
Tony couldn't help but grin a little. "Like she is going to be even more of a pain in the ass now." Pepper just shook her head at him, while the doctor chuckled a little.
"Well then, the nurse will be here in a little while to take some more blood and check the wound. Everything seems fine so far, so hopefully you will be able to take her home tomorrow." Tony's eyes lit up at the thought of taking her home so quickly. "But remember, no stress. She really does need to take it easy. And you need to keep a close on eye how much she is eating." The doctor warned him.
"Whatever you say, doc. I'm just glad she's okay." The doctor smiled at him and nodded, before exiting the room and leaving Tony and Pepper alone with Ruby once more.
"Liam is on his way." Pepper whispered to him. "Happy is picking him up from the airport and bringing him here."
"Good, Ruby is going to be surprised to see him. Thank you, Miss Potts." Tony said, still smiling away. He had never been so scared before when Ruby had fallen to the ground. He felt his heart tightening in his chest and he had struggled to breathe when she wouldn't wake up.
Tony Stark continued to sit there, his mind just turning everything over, the way his life had changed so quickly in such a short time. "Tony…" Pepper called quietly as she opened the door to the private room. "Mr Roberts is here."
He was quick to straighten himself up, to make himself a little more presentable for the man he was about to meet. The door opened and Liam stepped in, looking the same as Tony remembered from the funeral. "Mr Stark, thank you for getting me here." He said, holding his hand out to Tony.
The man took hold of his, gripping it tightly and shaking it. "Thank you for actually coming. I know that you and Ruby are close. Plus, I would never hear the end of it if I hadn't told you what had happened." Tony admitted.
Liam chuckled a little. "It's fine, Mr Stark. How's she doing?" He asked, glancing over at his best friend, who was more like his little sister, sleeping in the hospital bed.
Tony let out a sigh. "They say that she's going to be just fine. But I can't believe them until she wakes up and I can take her home."
"Not keen on hospitals?" Liam asked, taking a look at Ruby's charts.
Tony shook his head at him. "Not really, no."
"Neither is she. Can't blame her really, the amount of time she spent in hospital looking after her mom. That really took its toll on her." Liam told him, frowning at the charts. "And these drugs are going to take their toll on her as well."
"What do you mean?" Tony asked, walking around so that he could have a look at the charts.
"Well, the amount of crap they are giving her, she'd be lucky to wake up properly before the damn weekend." Liam growled. "Excuse me, Mr Stark, I'd like to have a word with her doctor, if that's okay?"
Tony just nodded his head at him as he looked at what was written in front of him. As Liam left the room, clearly a man now on a mission, Tony continued to gaze at the list. They were giving her way too much morphine for the pain, and they were still trying to keep her sedated. He was not happy with that, and he was actually glad that Liam had spotted it.
A few minutes later, Liam returned to the room, the doctor right behind him. "Mr Stark, I apologise if you are unhappy with Miss Matthews-Starks treatment." He said, hanging his head.
"Yeah? Well maybe you should apologise to her. Oh wait, you can't, because you're keeping her sedated." Tony growled, as Liam sat on the edge of the bed and removed the needle that was in Ruby's hand, feeding her the morphine. "The moment she wakes, we're leaving." He told the doctor firmly.
"Mr Stark, I don't think…" The doctor started to protect.
Tony just glared at him, a very fearsome glare. "The moment she wakes up. Is that understood?" The doctor just nodded at him before slinking out of the room.
Liam had just finished with Ruby's hand when Tony looked at him. "Without all that crap being forced into her, she should wake up properly in a few hours. I very much doubt she is going to be happy, she's going to be in a lot of pain and pretty confused." Liam told him.
"Medical man, are you Mr Roberts?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He hadn't actually bothered to do much research on the man, and he really should have if he was his daughter's best friend.
Liam looked up and smiled at him. "First year residence, Mr Stark. I blame my career choice on your daughter. I was always having to patch her up after one thing or another." He told the man.
"So, Ruby's antics helped you decide to become a doctor?" Tony asked him, brushing some of Ruby's hair out of her face once more.
"Yeah, she was part of it. Always had a bit of a passion for it all really, but Ruby definitely helped to push me towards it. She helped me get through a lot of my exams, I swear she could be a doctor tomorrow if she wanted." Liam told him, setting Ruby's hand back down and looking at her pale face.
"How old are you, Liam?" Tony asked out of the blue.
The man let out a sigh as he got up from the side of the bed. "26, Mr Stark. And believe me, Ruby is nothing more than my little sister. I've known her all my life, we were brought up together." The look on Tony's face told him that he needed to explain some more. "My mother was her mothers midwife. They became pretty good friends, so Ruby and I were always spending time together." Liam explained. "The only time I could get away from her was at school, but that didn't last long, since she skipped a few years."
Tony nodded at him, seemingly accepting his explanation. "Well it's a good job you're here. I never thought to look at her charts." He said, running a hand through his hair and messing it up a little more.
"You've had other things on your mind, Mr Stark. It's totally understandable."
"Please stop calling me Mr Stark. Tony will be fine." He said, looking at the man with tired eyes. He was feeling so exhausted even though he had done absolutely nothing.
The pair of them sat there, occasionally making small talk. They both looked up when they heard a very faint voice. "Where's Ant?" Ruby mumbled, her hand trying to reach out for something. "I want Ant."
Liam got up from where he was sitting and over to where his luggage bag was sitting on the floor. He unzipped it and pulled out a very tattered looking teddy bear. Tony watched with wide eyes as Liam walked back over to the bed and put the bear near Ruby's reaching hand. "Here he is, Rube. Ant's here." He whispered to her, before she clawed at the bear with one hand, grabbing it tightly by the ear.
He sat back down and saw the strange expression on her father's face. "That's her favourite teddy." Liam told him. "Had him for as long as I can remember."
Tony just had his gaze fixed upon his daughter and the bear she was clutching onto. "I can't believe she kept it." He whispered to himself. "And she gave it to Ruby."
Liam couldn't help but frown. "Is everything okay?" He asked, getting Tony's attention.
"Uh, yeah, it's just… I gave that bear to Jas. Seems she kept a lot more stuff than I thought she would." He answered quietly, before drifting off into his own little world of thought.
It wasn't until something fell to the floor by his feet, breaking his trance and getting his attention, that he remembered where he was. Tony reached down at picked up the teddy bear that had slipped from his daughters grasp. He couldn't help but smile when he looked at it. It may be old and battered, having been a child's best friend, but it still meant a lot to him to see it again.
He looked at the paws of the bear, their initials were still there, AS and JM. Tony just couldn't believe that Jasmine had kept it, and given it to their daughter. He could still remember the day that he had given it to her.
They had both been caught out in a heavy down pour, and Jasmine had ended up getting sick from it. Tony just wanted to get her something to make her smile, so he bought her the teddy bear, hoping it would make her feel better. It did, and she didn't just smile, but cried a little as well.
"Ow!" He heard someone moan several hours later.
Tony looked up and was relieved to see Ruby beginning to stir. "Hey, you okay, honey?" He asked her, getting out of the chair and perching on the edge of the bed.
"Why the hell does my side hurt to much?" She mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.
He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "You just had your appendix out, Ruby."
"Well, do they mind putting it back now?" She asked, groaning in pain as she tried to move. "It hurts like fu…"
"Language, missy." Tony warned her, not happy about her choice of words.
She finally forced her eyes opened and looked over at the man sitting beside her. She frowned when she saw what he was holding. "What are you doing with Ant?" She asked him curiously, suddenly forgetting all the pain she was in.
Tony just smiled at her as he placed him down carefully on the bed. "You dropped him. I was just making sure he wasn't seriously injured."
"Where did you even find him? I thought I had left him safely back in Denver?"
As if on cue, the door opened and Liam stepped into the room. Smiling the moment he saw that Ruby was awake. "Hey. Rubes. How you feeling?" He asked, going over to the free side of the bed.
"Liam? What are you doing here?" There was surprise in his tone, but she was so happy to see him.
He smirked at her. "What do you think? Looking after my favourite patient of course." Liam told her, taking her teddy bear from her. "Ant isn't looking too good these days."
Ruby was quick to snatch the bear back and hold onto him tightly. "Leave him alone. What has Anthony ever done to you?"
Tony just looked even more confused now than ever while Liam done nothing but chuckle away. "Come on, truth time. How are you feeling?" He asked her once more. Ruby just shrugged at him. "Okay, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much is it hurting?" Liam was going into full on doctor mode now.
"Ten." She whispered, wrapping her fingers tightly around Ant's ear.
He nodded at her. "I'll get you some pain relief, but you are not having any more morphine. Okay?" Ruby just nodded at him as he left the room.
Tony just let a smile of relief flood across his face, a smile that didn't go unnoticed. "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" Ruby asked, glaring at him a little. She was in pain and really not in the greatest of moods.
"I'm just relieved that you're okay. You gave us all a bit of a scare. Why didn't you tell me that you weren't feeling well?" He asked her, frowning at her.
The expression on her face suddenly changed, dropping her glare and looking at her father with weary eyes. "I… I didn't want to let you down." She whispered. "I knew that it meant a lot to you, I didn't want to mess things up."
Tony let out a sigh. "Ruby, you should have told me. Do you have any idea how worried I was? How serious it was? I had no idea what was going on or what to do, Ruby."
"Sorry." She mumbled, hugging her bear close to her chest.
"It's okay, you're okay. That's all I care about, Ruby." Tony told her, leaning over and planting a kiss on the top of her head. "Now, are you going to introduce me to Ant?" He asked her, nodding to the bear.
She let out a sigh a pulled the teddy away from her a little. "Tony, this is Anthony, my best and favourite teddy bear." There was a slight smirk on Tony's face as she spoke. "I was given him when I was born and he has hardly left my side since."
"So why didn't you bring him with you when you left Denver?" He asked her curiously.
Ruby just looked at him as if he was completely mad. "He was looking after the house. And… I didn't want to lose him." Her cheeks flushed pink a little. "I know, stupid isn't it? A 17 year old with a teddy bear still."
All her father could do was smile at her. "Not really. He clearly means a lot to you." "
She nodded at him. "He does. Ant meant a lot to mom as well."
There was something that Tony just had to ask her. "Why did you name him Anthony?"
Once again, her cheeks flushed pink. "Because of the initials on his paws." She admitted. "I started calling him Ant at first, but then when I was annoyed I called him Anthony." All Tony could do was smile at her, it was a strange feeling he kept getting recently, but he was starting to like it.
A/N: Okay, so what did you guys think? Was it too much? Not enough? Confusing? Let me know what you thought.
A big thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed, you guys are pretty awesome. And for those who have taken the time to review, you guys am majorly awesome!
Pippa.