Because He Loves Me

Chapter 17: Dead or Dying?

11 days until KCM (Kassidy comes home)

Natasha was standing outside a glass-surrounded room, holding her phone. Tony's contact was open, but she couldn't bring herself to call. His daughter had been shot, she was lying on a table inside the glass room, but she couldn't open her eyes. Instead, Natasha snapped the phone shut and walked in.

"Vy obyazany spasti yeye." ("You are obligated to save her") Natasha said to the doctor. 

"Ona begala, my yeye preduprezhdali, my strelyali." ("She was a running girl, we warned her, we shot") the official said from the corner. 

"Vy ne mogli byt' nastol'ko glupy, chtoby dumat', chto ona dystvitel'no poyment i vesnestsya syuda." ("You couldn't possibly be so stupid to think she would actually understand that you would shoot, that she would come back here.") Natasha said, glaring at the official.

"My nadeyalis'." ("We hoped") he replied.

"Yeye ottsu eto ne ponrayitsya." ("Her father will not be pleased.") Natasha said. 

"K chertu yeye otets, on podpisal kontrakt, on ne mozhet zasudit' nas." ("Damn her father, but he signed a contract, he can't sue us.") said the official. Natasha turned back to the doctor. 

"Chto s ney ne tak?" ("what's the problem with her?") she asked. 

"Ona umriyet, vot v chem problema." the doctor said. Natasha shook her head in disbelief. 

"No..." she said. 

"The problem," the doctor had said, "is that she is dying." 

10 days until KCM

New York

Kassidy's voicemail appeared for the umpteenth time. Peter sighed. Hearing her voice was nice, but it didn't say "Hey peter!". And Peter wanted to hear his sister's laugh. 

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadddddd!" Peter called.

"Yes, Peter, what do you want?" Tony asked, coming into the kitchen. Peter was sitting at the bar. He had several textbooks open, and a lot of papers spread out. His phone was shimmering in the center of everything, on top of a particularly thick textbook. 

"Kassidy isn't picking up." Peter whined. 

"That sounds like whining!" Tony said in his you-better-not-do-that-again-mister voice. 

"'Cause it is." Peter mumbled. Tony smirked. 

"You wanna repeat that?" he asked. Peter shook his head. 

"No sir." he said, looking at the floor with a little pout on his face. Tony sighed. 

"I know you want to talk to Kassidy, believe me I understand. But-"

"No, you don't understand!" Peter snapped, suddenly angry. "You couldn't possibly understand! She's not your sister! She isn't the only person in this entire world who will skip class for you when you just need her to help you! She doesn't screw up her own record so that you can have a clear one! She isn't the hardest person to disappoint! She didn't teach you how to slow dance! She doesn't help you without question! She isn't the one who is willing to pretend to be your girlfriend, and dye her hair so that she can fit the stupid description you made up!" Peter's voice cracked. "And I bet she's never been the only person who makes it seem like it's worth living sometimes!" he cried. Tony had been surprised through the entire rant, but the final sentence to leave Peter's lips hit him harder than brick. Peter didn't give Tony a second to open his mouth, instead he stormed out of the room in unexplained anger. Just as Peter flew up the stairs, Pepper ran into the room. 

"What's going on in here?" she asked. 

"Peter's upset." Tony said, still in slight shock. 

"No shit." Pepper replied, looking in the direction of her fleeing son. "What happened?" 

"Kassidy isn't picking up the phone." Tony considered mentioning the "only one worth living for" part, but he knew Pepper would go crazy. Finally, after about thirty seconds of silent debate, Tony figured Pepper would find out either way. "Peter got really angry. He said I couldn't understand, and a bunch of stuff about how much she means to him." Pepper made a soft noise, similar to the sound she made when she saw something sad happening to a cute dog. 

"Aw, the way he handled it was completely unacceptable, but it is sweet." Pepper said. 

"Yeah...and Pep, um...uh, Peter said that sometimes 'she was the only thing worth living for'." Tony said. Pepper looked at him, shocked. 

"H-he said that?"

"Quote unquote, honey." Tony replied. 

"He's depressed..what if he's suicidal? He could be upstairs right now, he could be-" she cut off, her face paling and she sprinted to the stairs. "Hang on Peter, mommy's coming!" 

Tony watched his wife skip three stairs at a time to get to their son. Tony ran after her, and when he got there he found a sobbing Peter sitting on the bed, his head on his mothers shoulder. Seeing Tony, he stood up and wiped his tears away. 

"I-I'm sorry Dad, I shouldn't have yelled at you. I just...I miss Kassidy. I wish she were home." Peter said. And nearly 6000 miles away in Russia, Kassidy wanted nothing more than to grant Peter's wish.