Broken • Iron Man's Daughter [ 2 ]

5

sorry it's been so long since I updated! to make up for being gone for so long, here is an extra long chapter! I hope you all like it!

- - -

Maya was silent as she sat by Happy's side. She held onto his arm gently with tears in her eyes as she stared at him lying in the hospital bed before her. Apparently, last night, while they had all been asleep, he had been in some kind of accident where a whole Chinese Theater had just blown up out of the blue.

Happy was the only survivor that they knew about, everyone else having been burned so badly that all that was left were their shadows on the walls. Maya sniffed and wiped at her nose with her sleeve as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

Happy was like her second dad. . .one of her best friends. She couldn't lose him.

The door to the room opened up and a nurse walked in. She paused at the sight of Maya and gave her a small smile to which Maya returned with a weak one. The nurse walked over and checked on a few things before grabbing the tv remote. She was about to turn it off and Maya turned to look at her.

"Hi," Tony said from the corner of the room and the nurse jumped in surprise. "Oh," she said. "Uh. . .mind leaving that on?" Tony asked. "Sure," the nurse said and Tony smiled slightly as he got up out of his seat.

"Sunday night's PBS 'Downtown Abbey'," Maya whispered and the nurse turned to her confused. "That's his show," Tony clarified, "He thinks it's elegant." Tony paused for a moment and looked over at Happy and Maya. He looked back to the nurse. "One more thing...make sure everyone wears their badges. He's a stickler for that sort of thing, plus my guys won't let anyone in without them."

Tony then glanced at Maya and sighed before holding an arm out. "Come on, kid," he said. Maya was hesitant and she looked over at Happy before squeezing his hand gently with tears eyes and quivering lips.

"You're going to be okay, Happy. You-you have to be. Who else will I watch Downtown Abbey with?" She chuckled softly as a few tears escaped her eyes. "I love you, Happy. Keep fighting, okay?"

She then squeezed his hand one more time before getting up and walking over to her father. Tony went to wrap an arm around her, but she shoved past him and hurried out the room. Tony sighed and he could already hear what Happy would be telling him if he were awake. He glanced at his friend and smiled sadly, "You're gonna be okay, Hap. And I promise I will fix this."

- - -

The two Starks walked out of the hospital with their heads down and sunglasses on. They were hoping the reporters wouldn't notice them, but who wouldn't recognize the two?

"Mr. Stark! Miss Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?" a reporter asked, but neither of them were paying attention.

Maya was too busy trying to hide her tears while Tony was watching his daughter sadly. He didn't even hesitate before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close to his body to shield her from the reporters and photographers. They continued their way to the car, but the reporters kept calling after them.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy? Just sayin'," someone said as they held a phone up to his face. Tony froze and turned to face the reporter angrily. Maya quickly wiped her tears away before grabbing ahold of her father's hand to keep him calm which helped. . .sort of.