Swallowed in Flame

Chapter 4

Dad didn't allow me to go to the prison to see the man. He went by himself. I didn't quite understand why he wanted to talk to the man but he can do whatever he wants to do. I was waiting in the jet with Pepper. "Hey I'm going to take a nap," I tell Pepper. "I don't think that's such a good idea," Pepper tells me, "I mean you've been sleeping 16 hours every night. So why don't you call your friend Josh." "Ok. I guess" I agree. The truth is I had a huge crush on Josh. He seemed to also like me too. He would always compliment me and he kissed me on the cheek once. 

I grab my phone and sit at the chair to the right from the one Pepper was sitting in and call Josh. Dad walks in as Josh picks up. I feel a smile immediately fall on my face. "Hey Josh do you have a minute to talk?" I ask Josh. Dad looks at me funny. I just stick my tongue out at him. "Uh... yeah, sorry I can't talk at the moment," Josh responds awkwardly. "Ok, that's fine. Do you mind me asking why?" I ask politely. "Yeah. I'm just hanging out with my girlfriend," he responds. My smile drops. "Oh sorry. I didn't mean to be a bother," I say with sadness imbedded in my voice. I hear Josh start to say something but I hang up before I can hear it.

I put my head on the small table. "I'm so stupid," I groan out. Dad had gone into the kitchen to do something but Pepper was still out her working on her laptop. "Why are you so stupid?" Pepper asks. "Because I finally trusted someone and made friends with them. Then I got a crush on them and they seemed to like me back but I just found out he has a girlfriend," I explain to Pepper. "That sucks," Pepper says. "Yeah that sucks," I rephrase. I sigh deeply. Why does the world literally hate me?

I pick my phone back up after a while and see a bunch of texts from Josh. I block his number. I don't need to talk to him anymore. He is a giant asshole for leading me on like that. He knew I had trust issues. I close my texts and go play a game on my phone since I have nothing else to do. About three hours pass of me just sitting  on my phone doing random crap or at least I think it was three hours.

Dad walks out of the kitchen with two plates. "Mute," dad says as he walks in muting the Tv that was playing the news. I put my phone down. Dad places a plate in front of me and then Pepper. "He should be giving me a medal. That's the truth," dad says sitting down in front of Pepper. He places forks and knives for the both of us. "What is this?" I ask since the plate was covered. 

"This is your in-flight meal," dad responds taking of the top of both of our plates. "Did you just make that?" Pepper asks. "Yeah," dad starts, "Where do you think I've been for three hours?" "It took you three hours to cook some burnt eggs?" I ask. Pepper gives me a look and I clamp my mouth shut. "Tony, what are you not telling us?" Pepper asks. Dad's eyes seem to get a little watery. He just stares at Pepper and I for a little bit before saying, "I don't want to go home. At all." "Let's cancel my birthday party and... and.. We're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?" dad suggest quickly. "Oh yes," Pepper replies quietly.

"It's, it's a great place to," dad pauses for a minute, "be healthy." That was an odd remark. "I don't think this is the right time. We're in kind of a mess and Hailey is obviously sick," Pepper responds. I raise my eyebrow at the sick part. I was doing great. Maybe I was sleeping to much but that's ok, right? Sleep can't kill you, can it? "Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time. 'Cause then we," dad starts. "Well, I think as the CEO, I need to show up," Pepper says. "As CEO, you are entitled to a leave," dad argues. "A leave?" Pepper questions. "A company retreat," dad tries again. "A retreat? During a time like this?" Pepper asks. "Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out," dad argues. "Not everybody runs on batteries, Tony," Pepper says.

I grab my fork and try a bite of the omelet dad had made Pepper and I. I immediately regretted doing that as soon as it hit my tongue. I gagged and coughed. "Hey you okay there?" dad asks worriedly. "Yeah. Your omelet was just trying to kill me," I cough out. "You tried the eggs?" dad asked. "Uh, yeah, I wanted to be nice and see if you could actually cook anything. Which turns out to be no," I say still trying not to puke. Dad laughs smiling at me. I smile back at him. Then gag again.

Dad and I were sitting in one of his cars looking at stuff on Ivan and Anton Vanko. Ivan Vanko was the man who attacked dad on the racetrack. I was honestly just down there so I wouldn't end up falling asleep. Jarvis was saying a bunch of stuff on the Vanko's but wasn't listening. I was just trying to keep my eyes open. Thankfully dad had forgotten to have Jarvis do a scan of my body to see if something was wrong. I was pretty sure I had cancer but that's fine. 

"Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now," Rhodey says from the door. "Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day," Rhodey says I don't get the rest because my body just starts zoning out. I'm so tired but I probably shouldn't be sleeping. Dad pushes me a little. "Hm," I say my body still zoning out of everything. "Come on were getting out of the car," dad says. "Oh," comes my response I step out of the car and start walking but stop when I see Rhodey run over to dad. My body still won't function and my hearing is going in and out. Let's go cancer. Cancer is a freaking party. Party!!!!

Rhodey helps dad to his desk. My body seems to be frozen in place. My brain was fuzzy and numb. I didn't quite know what was happening to my body but it obviously wasn't good. My legs start shaking. I tense the muscles in my legs to keep them from collapsing. "Hey, Hailey, you doing okay? You've been standing there for awhile?" Rhodey asks me. I don't know where he is since my eyes went out of focus. "Yep," I get out barely above a whisper. I squint my eyes and try to focus on anything. Eyesight would be great right now but hey my body is just doing great right now. I feel a hand on my shoulder and my legs collapse. Thankfully whoever touched my shoulder caught me or else I would probably be on the ground in pain. I hear muffled voices. My eyes keep rolling back into my head and I can't focus on anything. "Jarvis do a scan on her now!" I hear dad yell. Oooo time to find out I have cancer. Pary time!!!!!!

I shut my eyes tight as the pounding in my skull comes back from a few days ago. Yay! Another headache. I feel soft padding underneath me. Am I on the couch? I force my eyes open and look up at the ceiling. I look over to my left to see Rhodey and dad looking at me with worried expressions. I squint at them for a minute before closing my eyes again. The pounding of my headache is all I can really focus on.

A hand touches my shoulder and there is a muffled voice. Why can't I hear anything? That will forever be a mystery to me. There was suddenly a violent ringing in my ears and then sound came rushing back to me. "Hey, hey, Hailey can you hear me?" Rhodey says slowly. "Yep," I respond. "Oh thank goodness. Jarvis have you found anything?" dad says. "The symptoms she has been having like headaches, sleepiness, and other things are from sudden temperature change in the body," Jarvis responds. "Why have you been having sudden temperature change in your body?" dad asks me. "Uh, so I can shower," I respond. "What that makes no sense," Rhodey says. "Yeah well when you are a living fire it's concerning about what would happen if I went in water without being cooled down," I say. "I'll make you something to cool you down slowly," dad tells me. "Thank you," I say with so much meaning behind it. I open my eyes and look at dad. We both just start laughing. 

I sit up slowly since I still had a headache and we all head upstairs to handle the press. 

A/n I was actually going to post this chapter yesterday but my dad decided to watch tv downstairs all day long so I couldn't use the tv until today. I will also be posting a new story today called 'Saving Heroes'. It's a story about Bucky Barnes' sister. Anyway hope you enjoyed. Have a wonderful day or night. Love you all.

Goodbye for now.

*Edited*