Worth A Million⇝Tony Starks Daughter

twenty-four

The world went still.

Not a single person moved, except for Tony himself.

Contorted faces etched themselves on the faces of the people he'd once called his teammates. This was absolutely not happening on his watch. But still it was, and hadn't he told her before to just stay in the car.

Nothing was working, no matter how many times he breathed air for his daughter because she couldn't. J.A.R.V.I.S wasn't able to find a heartbeat, not a single one.

Tilt the head back. Breathe. Compression.

"Tony..." There was Steve and the unwanted sympathy. Tony didn't need his sympathy, why would Steve even need to feel that way? Winter was going to wake up. She had to.

Tony flipped when Clint put his hand on his shoulder, the touch enough to send him into a fit of rage. Tony pushed. Clint stumbled back, he wouldn't dare to try that again.

"Please...just, breathe. Come on." Tony pleaded, his hands so shaky that they immobilized him.

Breathe. Please. ComeOnComeOnComeOn.

In the distance somewhere he heard Natasha tell someone to back away from him. The person didn't listen when he felt a hand squeezing his shoulder. Not a mans, but a kids.

Turning to the boy, Tony broke.

He knew the look in his eye. Peter thought this was his fault. It wasn't, it was Tony's. It always was.

"Not your fault...kid." His voice echoed.

"It's not yours either Mr. Stark." Peter concluded.

Wasn't this the plan all along? Obadiah wanted Tony to feel this pain. That sadistic man wanted him to have something to call his own, something of his own doing, someone who he'd kept from his for far too long and taken back after such little time. In a fight there was always someone hurt, no one expected it to ever be a kid.

"Sir..." J.A.R.V.I.S spoke almost hesitantly.

Tony couldn't handle it anymore, he couldn't even take a glance down. He didn't want reality to set in just yet. Have it crash and burn his already hellish world.

He looked down when he heard a cough.

"...Miss Winter seems to be able to breathe on her own once more." J.A.R.V.I.S finished.

"Oh thank jesus." He muttered and put his hand over his heart.

———

Sitting in a hospital bed was almost ironic now. It was hysterical to Winter, honestly. The first time she met Tony was in one of these, he'd been awkward and weird and to think mere months later that she'd wake up with him at her bedside. Snoring of all things.

A dry chuckled escaped her.

"What's so funny, now?" Out of the darkness Pepper emerged.

"Nothing," she chuckled. Clasped her hands and repeated, "Nothing."

The woman smiled at her, and quiet as a mouse she sat on Winter's left side which was unoccupied.

She looked at her expectantly.

"Is there something you need to tell me, Winter?" Pepper waited.

Confusion stirred. "No?"

"You jumped out of a building." A statement. Not a question. Okay.

"That I did." Winter smiled thinking back to the girl.

"You could've died." Pepper sounded sad.

"The building was on fire." Winter defended.

"Tony said he told you to wait in the car." Pepper gave her a pointed look.

"There was a little girl in there, Pepper."

The woman sighed with a heavy realization.

Tony stirred, snorted once but didn't wake up.

"Next time just stay in the car please." The woman tried again.

Thinking back on it. Winter could've sworn she saw the car get blown up or something crazy like that.

"Where's the car now Pepper?" Winter tested.

Pepper hesitated, "Destroyed."

"See! If I had stayed there I would've been as dead as Obadiah."

Silence.

Pepper gave a half smile, stood up, told her she was going to grab a coffee and would be back in a few.

Tony woke up immediately after the lady left.

"Is she gone?" He whispered, one eye open.

"Yeah shes gone." Winter smiled.

Tony sat up and stretched, yawning once and then looking back to her.

"Good to see the little one is awake for once." He patted her head.

"Yep, Yep—would you stop petting me!"

He stopped after she swatted him away playfully. She didn't know what to say. Neither did he, so Winter started first.

"Sorry about your car, and for not staying inside of it." Winter said.

Tony waved her off. "I'm actually glad you did, for once a teenager rebelling against an adult saved a life. Who would've guessed. It wasn't anything special."

"Who would've guessed." She rolled her eyes. "But...didn't it cost a lot of money or something?"

"Pff, that thing wasn't worth much anyways. You're far more valuable don't worry about it."

"Now how much are we talking here?" Winter teased.

"To me, I'd say that you're Worth A Million."

The two Starks smiled at each other for a while. It was a rare thing that no one would have ever expected Tony Stark to do at the moment, let starting the action. He stood up and slowly, and also awkwardly he wrapped his daughter into an embrace.

Winter squeezed him as tightly as she could back, it was comforting and nice, his jacket was soft and he didn't stink like oil like he usually did. It was a soft comfort, a growing feeling in her chest. For the first time she felt what being loved was like.

"...Sorry to break it to you, Dad, but I think I'm worth a million and one dollar. At least."

THE END.