Longest chapter yet guys! Whoo hoo!
Abigail (yes another fic with her, I'm sorry) is 14. In late eighth grade.
"Oh, how I love this game." Abby hummed sarcastically. She and Tony were just trying to get ice cream, not go to a freakin photo shoot for any douche with a camera. Shouldn't the Stark's be old news by now? Seriously, you would think most people would get used to seeing Iron Man on the street after all these years. He tried, oh lord knows that man tried to keep Abby and Peter out of the press' way. But the damn pushers prevailed with their efforts to get annoying pictures of them whenever they had anything to do. Getting a Starbucks, they were there, shopping for anything really in a public place, someone was always there with a camera ready.
All she wanted was to get a fucking Frosty from Wendy's with her dad! Was that too much to ask?
So now the two were forced to escape a Wendy's through the back exit from the kitchen (slip the bus boy a fifty and he'll do anything for ya), all to escape to invading paparazzi. Well, it's not really invading, public restaurant and all, but it was still annoying.
"Ah yes, sneaking through some dump alleyway, blocks away from the car."
"You're the one who wanted to go to this Wendy's." Tony hummed along, not really understanding his daughter's peculiar liking for out of the way fast food chains. "And really, at ten pm?"
"You didn't necessarily have to come with me. I could've walked here myself and avoided all of this anyway." It wasn't being snotty, more like banter. Banter was one thing that Tony and Abigail were really good at. It was surprising to most people how they had no blood relation at all.
"Again I say, at ten o'clock in the middle of the ghetto? I don't think so. There's barely any street lights."
"You would've let Peter go." She crossed her arms on her chest. "And it's not a ghetto, it's the poorer side of Manhattan."
"You're more important to me." He turned around to face her, a smirk on his face. "And Peter's older."
"Only by six months."
"And I don't care what this 'side of Manhattan' is called."
"Picking favorites dad?"
Tony opened his mouth to counter, cut short by the unmistakable sound of a clicking revolver behind him. His smirk faded away as he quickly turned around to shove Abby behind him. Their attacker was no more than seventeen, scared out of his mind. The weapon shook along with his hands and breath.
Tony wanted to reason with him. "Look kid-"
"Wallet, watch now." He cut Tony off, nervousness obvious in his voice.
"Okay." Tony slowly started to reach for his pockets. Normally he would've tried to find a way out of this, or just told this kid how stupid he was being. But this time was different, his daughter was only right behind him, he wouldn't risk anything, not with her.
"Now!" The teen demanded. Tony got out of his wallet and took off his watch. He held it out to the mugger. "Put it on the ground."
Tony hesitated. He wrapped an arm behind himself and Abby, pushing her towards the edge of the alley. He put the items on the dirt ground and stood back up. The attacker kept the gun trained on them, leaning down to retrieve the money.
Tony motioned for Abby to get against the side wall and stepped towards the boy a bit. "Okay, now just-"
"Stop!" The kid panicked and stood again. His finger twitching over the trigger. Tony kept moving forward, hands held up trying to get him to just walk away now. "I will shoot!"
Tony stopped. "You don't want to do anything stupid."
He took another step. The boy started to panic once again and jumped backwards.
Pulling the trigger of the small revolver.
The two bullets zipped past Tony, he flung himself around to see them plant themselves into his daughter.
"ABBY!" He screamed almost involuntarily as he ran to the wall where she was silently sliding down the side. Her breathing was already heavy and getting more labored. Tony glanced back to where the shooter was standing, the boy and his wallet and watch were gone. The billionaire turned his attention back to Abigail, who was clutching the side of her chest and abdomen as blood poured out of the bullet hole. The girl clenched her teeth and tried to breathe through the burning pain, every time her chest moved a shot of fire surged through her body again. Man, that hurt way more than Clint let on.
"Hey, Abby, it's ok, it's not even that bad." Tony lied to her through his teeth. "You're going to be ok, alright? It's ok." He took a breath before pressing his hand against both the bullet holes.
For a moment he was back in Afghanistan watching Yinsen lay on those sacks, bleeding to death. The father shook his head because now was not the time for flashbacks.
"Dad." She let out a small, pathetic whimper of pain from the pressure and gripped her father's wrist.
Tony came out of the fog. "I know it hurts, but I need to do it. It's ok." The genius took his phone-thankfully that idiot kid didn't ask for that-out of his pocket and had 911 on the line in seconds. "It's going to be ok."
"I swear to god if you say ok one more time I will let myself bleed out." Abby hissed at him. There was already a small puddle of blood around the two. The blonde could barely keep her eyes open, it was becoming harder to breathe, having every so often to cough up blood and her vision was fading anyway.
Tony had given the information needed by the police and an ambulance was on it's way. All he had to was keep her awake, and of course her eyes just slid closed and her grip over his wrists started to go slack.
"Abby? Abby c'mon, try to stay with me right now." The billionaire was begging her, the sirens could be faintly heard. "Abigail!" The teen remained unmoving and her head even rolled to the side.
The medical crew jumped out of the now parked ambulance and dragged Tony away from her. The team got her in the truck with a very nervous genius on the side of the gurney. They strapped an oxygen mask around her head and applied white cloth to the holes. Words like 'losing too much blood,' 'stomach's filling up,' or 'lung failing' haunted the father as he waited in the truck and even outside the operating room at the hospital.
Steve and Peter got there a half an hour after them.
"Oh, Tony." Steve gasped when he saw his husband. Sitting in a hard chair out side the operating room, elbows on his knees and head held in his hands. They still had blood on them from when he tried to stop the flow. He looked up at his family with obvious despair and guilt in his eyes. Steve pulled up a chair next to his husband and whispered in his ear. "This is not your fault."
Tony sighed before clearing his throat, ignoring the captain's claim. "C'mere Pete." He motioned for his son to sit next to him. He obeyed without a word.
Tony sat there for another hour before pacing in front of the doors.
It took two security guards and Steve have him sit back down when he started yelling at the staff after two hours.
The clock was at one in the morning when the rest of the residents at the Tower filed in.
It took another twenty minutes before a surgeon finally came out.
"She's stable." A collective sigh of relief passed through the family. "The first bullet managed to squeeze between her ribs, nicked an artery and tore some of the lung tissue and a lot of muscle. The second tore through the side muscle on the abdomen and ripped open her stomach. We got her patched up, bleeding is controlled, now all you have to do is wait." The surgeon gave them a small, sympathetic smile before continuing. "We're going to move her in the ICU soon. Immediate family only I'm afraid." The series of glares sent towards the woman had her sincerely regretting telling the group so soon. "I apologize, hospital rules. We'll have Abigail ready for you in a bit."
It took days for Abby to stay conscious for a considerable amount of time. The pounding in her head got increasingly obvious each awakening, and that annoying beeping did not help at all. Her side still ached, but the burning was gone, she could tell she was positioned on her side, wound elevated. The oxygen mask she felt around her mouth and nose, however uncomfortable, helped considerably.
The first few times she could only hear the piercing sound of the heart monitor along with muffled voices. The select times her eyes decided to open were the only times the teen could get glimpses of the figures in the room. The outlines of possibly her dads, a man with an eye patch, other suits.
When the time finally came for her to stay awake long enough to remember it, the blonde's eyes refused to open, but Abby was just fine with listening to the voices.
"No, Steve because I didn't keep her behind me. I sent her to the wall, out in the open." She could tell the angry whisper was Tony. "God, I'm such a dumb ass. I should've known the kid would never be a good shot."
"Hey," Now that had to be Steve. "Don't you put this on yourself... Look at me...Tony, look at me, you did not put that gun to her side and pull the trigger yourself hmm?...Yeah, this will never be your fault, she would never blame you, and if it was you who was hit, you would never in your life blame her."
Abby smiled slightly and shifted. The movement instantly fired up the pain for a moment, causing her to squeak out a whine. "Abby?" The teen finally forced her eyelids to withdraw, seeing both her dads hovering over her, Steve with a reassuring hand on her forearm. Peter was spread out asleep on the chairs by the wall, the clock above him read seven thirty in the morning. Tony bent down to eye level and ran a hand through her hair. "Hey sweetie, it's ok, you're in the hospital remember?"
She nodded slowly, not wanting to talk.
"You wanna sleep?" Steve asked her from where he stood. Another shake of the head yes. The soldier reached for the morphine button. Already she could feel herself fading away.
"Night Ab."
Peter was the one waiting the next time Abigail came out of the wonderful drug-induced mini-coma. She was in the same position as before, some extra weight was put on her side and belly and a cannula replaced the oxygen mask, but everything was the same. Her eyes opened much more easily to see her brother on the edge of the bed.
"Hi Abby." Pete said worryingly. "You've been out for days, is anything hurting? Do you need anything?" She almost rolled her eyes. "That was, the wrong thing to say. Wasn't it?"
Abigail took a few breaths before speaking. "Yeah. Where's papa and dad?"
"Downstairs to get food. Dad hadn't eaten, in a while, so Pop dragged him off. But they'll be back soon. Everyone went home to get some sleep after seeing you, but they'll come and go."
"Ok." She let her eyes fall closed. "One question, why the hell is there a tube in my vagina?" Only Abby.
Peter cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Um, that is the." He coughed again. "Catheter. You're gonna be here for a while."
"Great." The girl groaned. She started to lift up her arm, dropping it when just the little movement caused the fiery pain to rekindle. Abby clenched her jaw and Peter immediately stood up and gently laid her arm back to where it was on the mattress.
"Don't move too much, please." The obvious panic was clear in voice. Abby looked up to her older brother, like she really saw him this time. His eyes were red around edges.
"Have you been crying?"
Peter hesitated before answering. It took him a while to let it sink in that his sister, his pain in the ass little sister, could've died. For probably only a few hundred bucks and an old watch. That scared him to no end, and seeing her after didn't help either. Abby looked small, and fragile and almost sickly in the palest hospital gown he'd ever seen. She was hooked up to machines that were keeping her alive, she could barely breathe on her own until a few hours ago. Peter would've never described her like that before, so yeah, a few tears had been shed when he was waiting. "Maybe." Not that he'd ever admit it to her.
"Few tears for your long lost sis?" She smiled at him, he returned one.
"Tears of joy, you're a pain."
"Hey," she pouted. "Be nice, I got shot." Her eyes closed once more. Peter could tell she was drifting off again and pulled the thin sheets over her.
"Papa." Abby caught Steve's attention, voice tired and soft. The soldier turned away from the monitor he was looking at to squat down to face the teenager.
"Hey my girl. You feeling alright?"
"Yeah. Tired of laying here already."
He gave her a little sympathetic smile and patted her arm. "Sorry kid, doc wants to make sure nothing gets teared." He ran a thumb lightly over the hospital gown hiding the healing scar over her chest. "Lots of stitches in there."
"Do you know how long?"
Steve sighed and ran a hand down his face. "A month and a half, at least." He didn't tell his daughter that she'd be on the liquid only diet until the stomach tissue healed properly. He didn't tell her that it'd be almost a month before she could sit up on her own. No, he left that for doctors to say.
"Are you guys gonna stay here?"
Steve shifted the weight on his feet. "Um, Peters going to go back and finish the last week of school tomorrow, he said nothing's going on so you're okay to miss it, Dad has to work but he'll be here every second he can be. And I'm gonna stay here full time with you."
Abby smiled at him. "Professional hoverer with much experience of worrying. Eh pop?"
"Pretty much." The captain shrugged with a grin. "Amelia brought your IPod in last night when she heard you woke up, you want it?"
"Yeah." If she was going to sit there might as well have something to listen to. "Are they gonna alternate shifts or something?"
Steve laid the device by her hands-arms were to stay where they were to avoid any unnecessary tension in the torn muscles-and frowned. "ICU only lets immediate family in for the first week or so. You'll see them in a few days."
Abby sighed before muttering an 'ok.'
~One Week Later~
"Well that certainly looks like a fun job." Abby joked to her nurse as she collected the urine bag on the side of the bed. She loved Elizabeth. The plump African-American nurse was soft spoken woman, gentle and kind with Abigail. The kind of person who would call everyone 'darling.' But she will take none of anyone's shit if it comes to it. One different nurse pushed down a bit too hard when reapplying Abby's bandages around her stomach and chest, and boy did she get a mouthful from Elizabeth, and was even before the wrath of Captain America and Iron Man came down on her.
"Oh honey you do not want to know what I have seen floatin around in some of the actually sick folks 'waste bags.'" Elizabeth said, shaking her head and replacing the bag.
"I'm sure I don't." Abby huffed a laugh, she'd heard the other nurse's horror stories of what comes out of the chemo patients.
Elizabeth started to head out. "Well, give me a buzz if you need anything else girly." She glanced down the hallway to see Peter walking towards her room with a to go bag. "And it looks like your brother's breaking the rules again." She winked at the blonde. Peter had been bringing her small Frosty's ever since Abby was aloud to go from being fed through an IV to liquids. Technically Wendy's wasn't on the list, but no one has stopped he siblings yet. Solids still weren't working out, she could never finish the frozen drink, but it was sort of routine for them now.
"Special delivery." The boy hummed in the doorway, holding up the bag. He pulled up a chair next to her bed and plopped down, getting out the small milk shake and the spoon. "Open." He said, holding out the spoon by her mouth.
"I can feed myself." She grumbled, taking the spoon.
"Barely, excuse me for trying to help." He took out his camera and pointed it at his sister, spoon hanging out of her mouth. "Say cheese."
"We do this every day. You don't need a picture every time." She said, slowly slurping on the ice cream. "Ah, frozen irony."
"And I will keep doing it," Peter held out the cup when she reached for another spoonful, stretching the healing muscle in her side and causing her jaw to clench. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back upright. "until you can bend without almost passing out."
"Man you're worse than pops." Abby grumbled.
"Thanks, I try. Where is he anyway?"
"I don't know, I just told him to leave after the fifth time he asked if I needed anything."
"Do you need anything?" Peter smiled at her.
"Only your head on a platter." She eyed him.
"Now that was rude." He pulled out one of Abby's favorite movie from her shelf back home out of his backpack. "Now I might not let you watch this."
"Gimme."
"It was supposed to be a reward for the two week anniversary." The brunette fake pondered on whether to let his sister watch it.
"Gimme."
He set up his laptop on his lap and positioned it to face her. "Gimme died in a ship wreck." He teased.
"Just play it."
"Please was the only survivor."
"Peeete." She whined. "C'mon. Nick looks like Pop in this. It makes me laugh. Just play iiit."
"Hmmm. Okay." He smirked before pressing play on the screen
~Two Months Later~
"Welcome home miss Abigail." The British voice sounded through the family of four's home on the day the doctors finally released Abby from the hospital.
"Oh, how I missed you Jarvis." She look up lovingly at the apartment, walking to different corners of the floor. "How I missed the glass wall that I'm quite terrified will break one day. How I missed the spot on the carpet where that dog we brought in one time peed on the floor. How I missed this leather couch and the granite counter top and the fancy waterfall and everything." She sat herself down in the middle of the floor and looked up to her family. "I love our house. I love you guys."
Tony and Steve plopped down on either side of her. They couldn't help but to eventually wrap their arms around Abby and nearly crush her.
"And we love you so much Abigail."
I know, cheesy ending. but hey, I actually finished a 3K+ word chapter. For my level of laziness, that's pretty awesome.
I actually just made an educated guess on the time span it takes for wounds like that to heal, if it was too long, than let's just say Abby's got some paranoid doctors. If it's too short, than she's a remarkable healer.
If you might have noticed, the actual part leading up to the shooting was written around 3 AM when I was completely set on writing this, than when it came down to the whole stand off part my creative side completely shut down, so I apologize.
I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the chemo part, I just have a friend of friend who's going through it, and he literally pukes green slime.
OK, so long authors note, but review if you like it!