When You Saved Me

Chapter 21

Tony P.O.V

I'm feeling fairly confident in our move after talking to Cap, maybe it's the overwhelming silence and rejection from Pepper, or perhaps it's simply because I am completely and utterly exhausted; but the thought of actually being able to sleep through the night every once and awhile, get work done, and not be starving for adult interaction sounds like a pretty good trade-off.

I make my way to the dining room where everyone is already seated, Callie is propped up on a few pillows and her eyes light up when she sees me. She grins and waves at me saying, "Daddy look, I'm sitting on two pillows!" She holds her hand up with two fingers excitedly.

"I can see that," I chuckle taking my seat beside her and rubbing the top of her head with my palm. She finally has some curly little whips of hair coming in that seem to be more red than I'd remembered her hair being when we'd shaved it in the first place, but it explains the freckles. Her eyes are drawn away from mine as our meal is placed on the table, the aroma makes my mouth water and I realize I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning.

It's a turkey dinner with all the fixings, Callie's eyes widen as she sees the bird, "Holy shit! That's huge!" she exclaims.

Cap sprays a mouthful of water across the table, "what did you just say?" he chokes.

"I said, holy shit, that's huge." she states piling her plate with mashed potatoes. "About that thing," she clarifies, motioning towards the turkey.

I snicker into my fist; I mean I'm surprised she said it but it's kind of hilarious. And I'm not the only one that thinks so. Thor erupts with laughter, Bruce's shoulders are shaking holding his in, and Natasha's holding a napkin hiding her grin.

"This isn't funny!" Steve looks around horrified. "Tony you literally used that phrase this morning, how can you possibly think it's funny? A 5 year old should not be using that kind of language!" he huffs.

"I'm sorry Steve," I say with the most serious face I can muster, "you're right, she definitely picked that one up from me."

"Well, are you going to get her in trouble?" He pushes, making my smile drop in annoyance.

"Come on Steve," Bruce finally looks up from the table, his smirk breaking through, "it was funny."

Steve looks back and forth between Bruce and I, and then down at Callie who has already forgotten the moment and is proceeding to stuff her face with turkey. She seems to sense everyone's eyes on her so she slowly looks up from her plate, "What?" Callie's mouth is full so the word is slightly muffled.

Cap finally smiles, "nothing pumpkin, you're good." he laughs and winks at her, "but don't talk with your mouth full." he adds, trying to sound parental. Callie just shrugs and continues devouring her plate.

Everyone moves on from the moment and begins filling their plates, talking amongst themselves. As I start digging into my food I feel a vibrating in my pocket, I shift slightly to pull my phone out of my tight black jeans. The screen is lit up with a message from Pepper causing my stomach to do a flip.

I quickly excuse myself and make my way to the bathroom where I lock the door behind me and open my phone to read the message.

'I'm doing okay. How are you?'

'I'm pretty good, tired though.' I text back, not sure what else to say.

'Oh...why are you texting me Tony?' She replies.

Ah shit... I tug at my hair with my free hand, I hadn't thought this far. I decide to go with honesty, 'I miss you.' I quickly press send and proceed to pace around the bathroom. I'm still not sure if this is the right decision but I want to try and make it work, I never imagined Pepper would have such an aversion to Callie.

'I miss you too, but that doesn't really change anything.' Is her response after a minute or two of me pacing around the black tile of the bathroom.

My heart drops, I give it one last effort because I can't imagine my life without this woman, 'I know but... could you just think about it? You haven't even met Callie. I'm not saying you have to pretend to be her mom or something... but I really want to try and make this work.' After about of minute of zero response I add a 'Please' and stare at the screen holding my breath. I'm about to give up when I hear someone frantically yelling for me. I quickly shove my phone back into my pocket and race back into the dining room.

I'm confused by the scene before me. No one is sitting at the table, both Thor and Natasha are standing at their seats and Cap has moved away from his and is standing over Bruce who is crouched on the ground. Beneath Bruce is Callie curled into a ball gripping her head whimpering.

"She was screaming a minute ago, how did you not hear it?" Cap asks pointedly, the stress thick in his voice.

"I'm sorry I don't know, I was in the bathroom." I avoid answering directly, "what happened?"

"She looked really pale and got up from the table and collapsed and then she started shrieking." Bruce answers for Steve. He's stroking her hair lightly, "she seems to have calmed down now but she still hasn't spoken. She's just laid here whimpering for the last few minutes."

I take my place beside Bruce, kneeling down beside Callie. "Hey Cal, it's Daddy. You're okay."

At the sound of my voice Callie opens her eyes and my heart stops at the sight of those ice blue irises, they are practically glowing, I'd forgotten what they looked like. She looks directly into my eyes and hers are laced with fear, she whispers with a shaky voice, "he is trying to find me."