Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Chapter 44 ~ cheeseburgers

"Tony Stark."

"Yes, Doctor."He sprung to his feet to meet the woman in the white jacket who was marching towards him. "How is she?" He subconsciously began to wringing his hands. It had been six hours. Six hours since they had found her. Six hours since she had faded into unconsciousness. Six torture filled hours he had sat here not knowing.

He had only heard snippets of conversation about her condition. The furrowed brows of the numerous doctors and the anxious glances from the nurses had done nothing to calm his growing fears. And now he was about to know, and he was afraid to learn which was worse.

"She's alive." The doctor softly said.

Tony let out a sigh of relief. The rest of what she was saying was unimportant. She was alive. After months of not knowing, they had found her and she was going to be ok.

"When can we take her home?" He interrupted. He didn't care the Pepper has cleared her throat to remind him to be polite. He just wanted to take his girls home.

"She will to remain in intensive care for observation. When she is discharged, she will need to take it easy."

Tony let out a deep sigh of relief. That he could handle. He should tell F.R.I.D.A.Y. to book them a vacation that was someplace warm and relaxing. "Can I see her?"

"Mr. Stark , it is important for you to understand her condition before I allow you to see her." The doctor paused. "She has suffered from numerous first and second degree burns as well as several serious contusions.  She has a concussion, a broken wrist, several fractured ribs, a perforated lung, and a ruptured spleen."  The doctor paused as she slowly shook her head. "To be perfectly honest with you, it is a miracle she is still alive. I've never seen a child with such serious injuries that has survived."

She paused allowing him a minute to comprehend everything she was saying. "She was also extremely dehydrated and malnourished when she was brought in. You should also know that she's having difficultly remembering exactly what happened."

"How bad is the memory gap?" Barton questioned.

Tony glanced to his left to see that Clint had finally arrived. The agent politely nodded before adjusting his hearing aides.

"She remembers speaking with you on the phone." The doctor motioned towards Tony. "She believes the explosion happened twenty four hours later."

"So she's missing months." Barton frowned as he glanced over at Tony.

The doctor nodded in confirmation. "This may be a temporary reaction to the trauma she endured or it could be of a more permanent nature." She sighed. "I ran some more tests, but it will be several hours before we head anything substantial back."

"Ok. I get it. The kid went through something awful."Tony exasperatedly began to argue. "Now I want to see her." He glanced at Pepper only to see her raising her eyebrows at him. He knew this look. "Please." He half heartedly muttered.

"Five minutes and only one person may go in there." The doctor nodded. "But don't say anything that might excite her."

"Fantastic." Tony flatly said as he shoved past her to enter the room.

"If she seems over exerted, I want you out immediately."

"Yep." Tony haphazardly agreed as he shoved the door open. The moment of truth. Nothing could have prepared him for the overwhelming emotions he felt the second he saw her lying there in that hospital bed.

She opened her eyes at the sound of the door slamming shut behind him. Her face was accented with blue and purple bruises and one of her eyes was swollen shut. An oxygen mask was strapped around her head further emphasizing her injuries. Multiple other tubes from the IV could be seen poking into her free arm, while her other arm was held motionless in a bright purple caste.