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Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! went his foot against the floor, and Tony sucked in an anxious breath, crossing his arms. He wasn't quite sure why he was so nervous, why his breath seemed shorter and his nerves alight as he paced up and down the hallway. He didn't understand how May was so calm either, sitting in a chair, her legs crossed neatly as she read a book. She glanced at him every so often, clearly a little amused by his worry, though he could tell she was nervous too by the slight tremble in her hand. But he had a right to worry, and he didn't understand why May wasn't nervous like he was. Nervous. He wasn't freaking out, because Tony Stark didn't freak out.
But Penny was having surgery today.
It had happened on May's mandated lab day. Her first one since the plane and since May had found out her niece was Spider-Woman and since he'd finally started to really take this mentor thing seriously. Her first day.
She'd been off when she'd come into the lab, and he'd bugged her about it a few times only for her to mumble it off as period pain, her face alight with a flushed red, and he'd backed off. Had assured her that it was fine, gotten her a hotpack, and tried to go over her suit with her. Tried. Within an hour she'd stumbled, tripping over her own feet, and he'd barely managed to catch her.
"Shit, kid. Come on, sit down for a second," he'd mumbled, trying to sit her down on the floor. And then she'd passed out. Well, thrown up and passed out. He'd rushed her to the Medbay to find out--Wow, amazing! Her appendix had ruptured and she needed surgery. Pretty immediately.
His doctors on staff had been informed of her enhancements and had wheeled the girl into the ER equipped with as much as Steve's extremely heavy and extremely lethal on anybody else drugs. He'd called May and had Happy pick her up, along with sending out an intern for a buttload of coffee and anything sweet that you might be able to eat after an appendix surgery. The options were pretty limited, but he wanted Penny to have something.
Appendix surgeries were supposed to be relatively short, but this felt like forever. Friday said it had barely been an hour and a half though, but that seemed long for an appendix surgeries. Maybe her enhancements were causing troubles, or she had woken up during surgery, or he'd gotten her to the Medbay too late because he hadn't noticed and--
The door swung open. He turned and May immediately stood up with him, clasping her hands together and twiddling her thumbs nervously while he had to grip his left arm to keep it from shaking. The doctor just smiled assuredly.
"She's out of surgery, and she'll be fine. She shouldn't wake up for a while, but if she does, she'll be pretty loopy. But you can go and see her if you want," the woman offered. Tony and May both thanked her before rushing through the door.
Penny was laying in the thin bed, an oxygen mask strapped over her face and her hair splayed out behind her. She was asleep, looking rather peaceful, a stark contrast to her painfully contorted face from earlier. He sighed looking the girl over. He should've known something was wrong, that taking a plane down out of midair would cause health problems. He should've made her go to the Medbay first thing! Not let her run around for a few days without checking her over, allowing her to live in pain the past hours.
May pulled up a chair behind the girl, grasping her small hand into her own and stroking it gently, "You seem worried, Tony."
"I'm not. I've got the best doctors in the world. I knew she'd be fine."
"So, all that pacing?"
"I had too much coffee."
She hummed placatingly, like she knew he was lying. She probably did. Lying about an internship when the kid wasn't even in the room was one thing, lying about his feelings when the kid was fresh out of surgery and asleep in front of him was another. She just looked so...young. So young and innocent and he'd dragged her into all of this and hadn't even taken care of her. And now, now she was hurt.
It was a wonder she had talked to him at all after the ferry and after she'd saved his ass with the plane. And it would be a wonder if she talked to him after this too. He should've noticed sooner that she was in pain, that she was hurting, had been hurt. She'd taken down a state of the art jet for Heaven's sake! And he'd done...nothing.
Tony didn't know if May Parker was magical or not, but she must be, because she stood up, stretching much too animatedly, "I'm gonna take a lap. Get something to drink, maybe get Penny some juice. Do you want anything?" He shook his head, "Okay, be back in ten."
The woman walked out the door, and then it was just him and the kid. Which wasn't ideal. The first two minutes were quiet save for the steady beat of the heart monitor, but then Penny's eyes flickered open.
He sat up straighter immediately, watching as her eyes, wide and blown, took in the world around her. Her heartbeat sped up, but then calmed down when she caught sight of him, her body tensing then relaxing as she smiled widely and sleepily. Definitely loopy.
"Oh, hey, Mr. Stark," she greeted, worming around in the bed as she tugged at her IV.
"Hey, kid, uh, don't pull at that, please. It's kinda important."
"Oh, okay," she agreed, and then she held her hand out. A little confused, he held his out too. He might as well humor her, this was his fault after all. But strangely, she just grabbed his hand and began playing with his fingers, bouncing them up and down gently, mumbling adorably, "Beep. Boop. Beep. Boop."
That tore a smile out of him, and she continued to mumble nonsensically. But then her words starting making more sense, not to his ears though.
"I love you, Mr. Star'," she mumbled, breaking away from her 'beep boops.' He froze, his smile dropping as he stared at the kid who was staring intensely back.
"What?"
"I love you!" she repeated, her words drawling a little, "You're so cool and smar' and--and I'm sorry abou' the ferry. I didn' mean 'to disa--disa--disappoin' you, that' was my bad. I'm sorry."
He sucked in a breath, "You didn't disappoint me, kiddo. You just...you just scared me."
Her face scrunched up, "Wha'? How?"
With his free hand he brushed the hair that was starting to get stuck in her mouth out of the way, "You could have died, kid. And you could have had a lot on your conscience. That scares me. I don't want that for you."
"I already go' a lo' on my...my conscience," she mumbled, "I miss Ben."
"Yeah, yeah I bet you do, kid. I miss my parents too."
"It was my faul'. I killed him."
He winced, brushing her hair aside again, and figuring she wouldn't remember this anyway, he didn't mind, "No, no you didn't. He protected you, because he loved you. And...and I'll protect you too. I want to know if you're hurting, kid. I want to help."
Suddenly he was pulled forward, and Penny was no longer playing with his fingers but instead pulling him into a hug. Her super strength evaded any attempt to pull away, not that he tried. He flinched a little at first, startled by the sudden touch, but Penny's hug was gentle despite her ability to crush him with her pinkie finger. So, he wrapped his own arms around her, sinking into the bed she'd practically forced him into with little reluctance.
"I love you, Mr. Star'," she said again, burying her face into his arm, "You li'e, li'e my dad. I don' have a dad, bu' you're li'e him."
Like her dad. She thought of him as her dad. Well, probably more as a father figure, but it still washed away some nerves. They were really just replaced with 'How the fuck am I going to be a parent' nerves, but they were slightly nicer. No less overwhelming but, not awful. Not awful.
"And you're like my kid."