[hero, the hard way]↣ p. parker | t.s daughter

|one| - edited

I had a pain in my left knee for weeks. That's how it started. We tried massage therapy, acupuncture, but noting seemed to help. So I went to the doctor. Or rather, my father forced me to go to the doctor.

"I'm fine, Dad. I don't need to go to the doctor! I probably just pulled something," Dad shook his head and pushed me into the Med Bay. I was led into a room by a nurse who seemed nice enough. I didn't give her much thought.

"Why are you here today, Aurora?" The doctor asked. I gave him a once over and my eyes found his key card. Dr. Michael. I sighed and looked at my dad, unwilling to answer for myself.

"Ari's been mentioning a pain in her knee for a couple weeks. It seems like it's getting worse, no matter what she says," My father explained, giving me a side eye on the last part. I nudged him playfully with my elbow, rolling my eyes. But he was right. It was getting worse.

Dr. Michael worked his hand around my knee, over my leggings. His face turned into one of confusion, and then worry. He pulled away.

"I'm going to call and order you an X-RAY, just to be on the safe side." Dr. Michael left the room, almost too stiffly. I shrugged it off. It was probably nothing. The X-RAY was ready immediately. Usually it takes a while for the machine to be open, right?

They took multiple X-RAYs of my knee from different angles and viewpoints. The same nurse from earlier returned me to my room after that, not allowing me to walk on my leg. If I was being honest, I was thankful for that. Even walking had been painful, lately. When the nurse left the room, my dad stood up and ran a hand though his hair.

"Did you hear anything?" He questioned exasperatedly. I shook my head no. His forehead creased in worry.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine," I said as cooly as I could. I'm fine. I'm fine. A knock at the door caught both of our attentions. The nurse poked her head in and gave us a small smile.

"Aurora, Mr. Stark, please go home and pack an overnight bag. We need to have her stay at the hospital so we can run some more tests." The nurse said quickly. She backed out of the room after that. Dad looked at me, and I shrugged.

"It's probably just a protocol," I told him.

God, I was wrong.

[TWO MONTHS LATER]

It turned out I had cancer. Osteosarcoma. It was in my left knee and, however slowly, traveling down my leg. Chemotherapy was starting today.

My best friend, Peter Parker, is supposed to be here soon with sub sandwiches from Delmars. Sandwiches that I would probably end up tossing up because of the chemo.

"Ariiiiii!" Peter slammed himself into my room, getting a dirty look from the woman who was taking my blood. My actual name was Aurora, but in my own personal opinion, it was awful. It's too soft, too Disney Princess. Ari suited me just fine.

"Shush." She snapped at him. Nurse Yang snapped another tube onto my IV and I watched as it filled with blood. I looked up at Peter and saw him grimace. He hated needles almost as much as I did. The nurse finished taking her, or rather, my blood, and left us alone. Peter came over and sat next to me. He lifted a bag of sandwiches.

"You're actually my hero," I said sarcastically as I unwrapped mine. He let out an awkward laugh. Then he dramatically gasped. Like, woman from a soap opera that just found out her husband was dating her sister kind of gasp.

"Ok dude get this! Mr. Stark brought me up into the new Avengers building and showed me the lab and everything!" He said, visibly shaking from excitement. And then he suddenly calmed down again. "Or, it was cool, I guess."