little piece of heaven (tony stark's daughter)

6

rosie's p.o.v

before we've even managed to get into the bar dad walks into someone. usually, i'd apologise on his behalf, but as soon as i see her face my stomach twists into a knot. there's a burn on the right side, scarred and patterned, and i see that orange flash again, the one that killed those six people. dad picks up something she dropped and calls after her, causing her to turn around and they exchange a few words but i'm not really listening. it's too painful, her words hurt my head.

"roo? rooster?"

i snap my head towards dad, the realisation that i was fully staring at the woman who's now long gone causing my cheeks to flush "did you just refer to me as a male chicken?".

"yeah i think it's cute, it's sticking" he decides with a nod.

i pout "do i get a say?".

"no" he replies quickly and changes the subject "you zoned out, what were you thinking?".

i look over my shoulder to where the woman disappeared around a corner "i saw the flash thing again, and like, it sounds stupid but when she spoke it hurt.. every time she spoke i got this kind of burning in my stomach". i frown whilst i recall it, a slight numbness where the burning was before.

dad's eyes search me for a moment before he pulls me into a side-hug "i'm not sure what's going on but we're going to find out and put an end to it".

"then we'll go home?" i look up at him, suddenly feeling very small. i never asked for any of this, i just want to be with dad and pepper, back on the couch with pizza and mulan. i want to go back to having a dance-off with rhodey or playing piano by myself, just me and the music.

"then we'll go home, i promise" we stand quietly for a while, my body still tucked under his arm and pressed against him. i don't want to move, i don't want anything to happen. i know, i can just feel that something horrible is going to occur and there's absolutely nothing that anyone can do to stop it. we're just going to have to go through it.

"dad" i say quietly "i'm really scared".

"i know roos, i know" his hand finds my hair and runs through it, separating my river of curls with careful movements "but we'll be okay, i'll keep you safe. you don't need to be afraid as long as we're together" there's a pause "on that note we need to split up".

i look up at him in surprise, i knew we couldn't stick like glue forever but i thought he'd at least take ten minutes before abandoning me.

he cocks his head before explaining "i can tell that you know something's going to happen, you'll work it out before i do".

i take a deep breath before nodding "okay".

"i love you rooster"

"not feeling the chicken thing"

"it'll grow on you".

"we'll see".

and with that he enters the dimly lit building. i watch his back as he steps through the doorway and disappears, so then it's down to me. he's right, something is going to happen and i need to do something about it. it only takes a few moments for the twisting sensation to return and i have to act fast. i duck behind a bin and watch uselessly as the woman from before returns, striding with a purpose, right into the bar. 

a sour taste rises in my throat which i swallow down. now isn't the time to panic or have a meltdown. keeping my cool should be my focus right now, keeping my cool and stopping dad from getting killed. i can't just walk straight in there because i'll probably get shot. my legs are aching as i stand up from my crouched position, but that's not something i can really spend time worrying about right now.