chapter iii.
( pre-iron man )

mama,   come here
approach,   appear
daddy,   i'm alone
'cause this house
don't feel like home
unsteady ─── x-ambassadors

new york presybterian
1998

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw a woman sitting in the chair beside my hospital bed. She had long, pretty gray-blonde hair was tied up off of her shoulders. She had a nice face, but it was pulled into a deeply concerned expression even though she was sleeping. A white-haired and mustached man stood beside the woman's sleeping form and he was reading through a few crisp white papers that were stuffed in a folder. My eyes flitted to the other side of the room where another, much younger looking man stood in front of a big window. He was not overly tall, but he was certainly not short. His head that was covered in dark brown hair was ducked slightly. His shoulders were lower than I believed they usually were. It wasn't hard to place their bodies to their voices.

Then he must be him, right?

The man I've wondered about my entire life. The one I would dream about when I slept under the sink. Then one I prayed would come save me, like the glittering knights I would read about in the fairytale books our aunt gave me. But he never came. He never opened the front door and picked me off of the ground. He never made the screaming or crying stop. It was all a dream, a fairytale in of itself. But he was here now. Wasn't he?

I opened my mouth before remembering that there was no point. Tears rushed down my face the moment they appeared in my eyes. I wanted to speak. I wanted to sing. I wanted to scream. It was not fair! None of it was fair! Mama never liked it when I spoke, but I never thought that would mean that she would steal my voice. lt wasn't fair.

A sudden movement to my left caused me to nearly jump out of the bed. The man to the right hurriedly jolted to attention and he caught me just before I hit the cold tiles. His rough hands gently lifted me back onto the bed and I slouched away from him, the woman who was now awake, and the gaze of who must be him. He must have turned to look at me and that was what scared me. I moved to raise my hands to wipe my face of the tears, but they are covered in thick bandages that are preventing me from doing much good. Eventually I tore my eyes away from the bandages to look up at the three people surrounding me. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth, only to remember once more that no words were going to come out. The tears began to flow down again and my chest was ravaged with pain when it began to shake with my sobs. The two men looked at each other in horror, clearly unsure of how to calm a crying child.

"Uh, there, there," the young man awkwardly stretched out a hand to touch my head.

I drew back as the thought of anyone touching me was terrifying.

The man dropped his arm to his side and bit his lip so hard that it looked painful.

"Hello Sweetie," the woman knelt on the tiles beside me, "my name is Maria. I am so sorry about all of this. Are you hungry?" I shook my head, lying, "Are you thirsty?" I once again lied, and the woman glanced up at the younger man, "Tony, why don't your father and I go fetch some things from the cafeteria and she can just munch on it if she wants to?"

The young man rushed over to the man and woman as they moved towards the door, "No, no, Mom, don't leave. Come on, don't you want to be here for all of the, uh, you know, emotional trauma?"

"I'll be right back," the woman, his mother, told him, "Sweetheart, this is your time to be there for her. You don't need us here for that."

The man, who was probably his father, spoke harshly, "It's your daughter, your responsibility. Grow a spine and deal with your problem."

Problem?

The young man scowled at his father's words. He gritted his teeth and his mother rubbed his arm, comfortingly. He sadly acknowledged her, but once again glared at the white haired man's back as they left the room. The young man's name was Tony. That was a nice name. I liked it. I liked his face too. It was a good face. One that didn't seem mean or scary. I heard him kind of groan before slowly turning to me. What looked like dread suddenly turned to pity and pain on his face. His brows furrowed and his lips turned into a grimace. Slowly, again, he made his way over to me. He knelt down like Maria did and gave me a small, sad smile.

Why was he sad?

He slowly reached up a hand and I wanted to move away, but something stopped me. He gently wiped the tears from my cheeks and my panicked breathing slowed. His fingers lingered on my bruised cheeks and his lips turned to a thin line.

"Hey Sweetheart, uh," he blinked back what I thought were tears and then he rubbed his own face with his hands, "I'm sorry, I'm not good at this whole, uh, touchy-feely kind of thing."

I studied him. I liked his face even more now that I could see it up close. He had funny eyes as if he was used to smiling or laughing a lot, but somehow I could already see a strange loneliness within them. I wondered if he knew that he was lonely. I was lonely too.

"I wish I knew what to say to you. I," his brown eyes finally met my blue ones and then he fell silent.

We stared at each other for a long moment; neither of us speaking. Only when Maria and the other man reentered the room with a tray full of food did we break our gaze. Tony quickly set his sights down at the floor and his eyes looked almost, I thought, confused. Maria smiled and gently set the tray onto the table beside me. The man stood behind her, looking at me as if he was searching for something. Suddenly Tony stood and motioned his parents over to the wall where they talked quietly for a few moments. My fingers struggled against the bandages to get some of the food off of the tray. As I placed some carrots into my mouth, Tony and Maria kneeled together beside me again. The man stood slightly uncomfortably behind them. I didn't look up at them.

"Lisa,"

I never did like my name, not until I heard Tony use it.

I carefully looked up at him, waiting with a trembling lip.

"My name is Tony, Tony Stark. I-I'm your father, do you know what that means?" he waited until I nodded in understanding before he continued, "I know that your mother wasn't, well, she wasn't very nice to you," I looked back down at my bandaged hands, "But I'm going to protect you. I'm going to keep you safe from her, from everyone. Would you like that?"

There was nothing awkward on his face then. It was pure and honest and true. It held concern and determination. All things that had seemed so unfamiliar to me in my two years of life. When I nodded again, he actually smiled. He looked like he wanted to do something. He leaned close, but, when he saw how I shrinked back just a bit, he thought against whatever it was he wanted to do.

He nodded, "Good. Tomorrow we'll go home."

When the nurses tried to put me in a wheelchair bassinet the next morning, I started crying. I did not want to be in a wheelchair. Wheelchairs were for people who couldn't walk and I wanted to feel the grass in between my toes. I believed I could walk. When the nurses moved towards me to pick me up instead, I started thrashing and dragging myself away. It hurt, but being touched by them would surely lead to worse. My mouth was open in a silent scream and I was trembling with fear. Tony, who had been trying to stay out of the way with his parents, leapt for us and shoved the nurses away from me, much harder than was probably necessary.

"She doesn't want you to carry her! How can you not understand that?!" he barked at them.

He then turned to me and knelt down, watching me where I stayed curled up in the farthest part of the bed there was. Howard, as I learnt the white haired man was called, ushered the nurses out the door with a hard glare before Maria closed the door softly behind them. Tony gave me another one of his strange, sad smiles. I still breathed heavily and tears still flowed down my cheeks.

"It's okay, Lisa. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe," his eyes reflected exactly what he said and, for some reason, I believed him, "I'm never going to hurt you."

I carefully stretched my bandaged arms out to him. Tony's eyebrows rose in surprise as he eagerly stood. He slowed his actions, probably trying not to scare me as he sat down on the bed. Gingerly, he tucked his hands underneath my arms before lifting me up and holding me to his muscular chest. My arms wrapped around his neck as he stood again. We didn't move for a long moment. We were both just taking in the feeling of having the most important person in the world being within our grasp. His arms tightened around my thin body, securing me in place even as my short legs hung uselessly below me.

I knew in that moment that I had found my glittering knight.

Tony carried me out of the room, kicking the wheelchair out of the way. He didn't even look at the nurses as we passed by them. He just had this slightly smug expression on his face. I rested my chin on his shoulder, watching as Maria and Howard moved along behind us and Maria smiled at me. Tony's quick pace slowed when we reached the lobby.

"Happy?" Tony spoke.

I slightly pulled back to look at his face. Was he asking if I was happy? But he wasn't looking at me, he was staring at a somewhat stocky man with dark hair, dark sunglasses, and a dark suit. The stocky man moved closer to us and I tightened my grip around Tony's neck, unsure of this new person.

"There isn't a back entrance that is available and all emergency exits have been swarmed as well," the stocky man, Happy, told the adults.

"There isn't anything we can do to make them leave?" Maria asked worriedly.

What was going on?

"I doubt it," Howard said, "Reporters aren't ever satisfied. The only thing that would make them actually leave would to be hand the child herself over to them."

I didn't want want to be given to anyone else. No, I liked Tony. I only wanted Tony. My grip around his neck tightened fearfully before he sent a dark glare at his father. Even Maria gave him a scolding look, but Howard didn't look fazed.

Tony sighed in frustration, "Sue them. I want all of them to be sued for everything they own. Get it done! They're invading my privacy. I want them sued."

"They're paparazzi, Mr. Stark. That's pretty much what they do," Happy came up beside us.

I wasn't sure what that big 'P' word meant, but I was definitely going to find out.

"I don't care if it's 'what they do'. I'm carrying a two year old little girl in my arms. We can all try something new today."

No one else said anything so Tony just groaned and then demanded, "I want Happy in front of us and, Mom and Dad, you block her face from behind. I don't want them to get to her, alright?"

He carefully adjusted me so he could look into my eyes.

"Lees," I had never heard that nickname before, "there are going to be some nosey men and women outside. Just keep your head down and ignore them, okay?"

I nodded and rested my chin back on top of his shoulder. We were like a train moving of its station as the four of them marched out the glass front doors. Suddenly people were all over us and Happy tried to push them away. Bright lights flashed and it hurt so badly that I squeezed my eyes closed. They yelled and screamed at us, making me shake in fear of them. Tony kept his arms securely around me, ignoring the people around us. Trying to do the same, I nestled my face in his neck.

"Mr. Stark! Tony! Who is the little girl?!"

"What's her name? Is she your long lost daughter?!"

"Howard! Maria! What do you think of this?! Are you disappointed about there being an illegitimate grandchild?"

"Why was she in the hospital?! Was she abused?!"

"Where did she come from? Who is her mother? Did you know about her before now?"

"Have you taken custody of her, Tony? Will she be living with your family from now on?"

Then the voices stopped yelling and I was met with a soothing silence. My eyes broke apart and I was met with a face-full of black leather seat. Tony carefully adjusted my aching body so that I was sitting on his lap and facing him. When my eyes searched around, I found that we were in a car that Happy was driving while Howard and Maria were sitting beside us. The wounds on my back stung and tears fell from my eyes. Tony's eyes widened in shock and worry.

"Hey, hey, Lees, are you okay?" he wiped the tears from my bruised face, "Are you alright? I'm sorry about that."

I shook my head, not thinking of those scary people outside the hospital just then. Then I moaned a little, trying to look over my shoulder down to my back. Tony glanced at Maria who looked just as confused at my actions. Maria leaned forward a little, going to see what I was so desperately looking for. Her eyes then widened in horror.

"Oh, Anthony,"

"What?" he asked, strained.

Maria didn't respond so Tony turned me around to see what she was looking at. The entire back of my too big of a nightgown was spotted blood red from my stitches. It was still hurting and I moaned again.

"Uh, uh, what do we do?" Tony looked at his parents quickly.

His mother's eyes focused as she pulled out a large binder with papers full of how to take care of me. She began leafing through it, skimming and nodding. Howard peered over her shoulder, trying to look. Tony was anything but patient as I continued to moan and whimper.

"Mom," he complained as more tears fell from my eyes.

"I'm looking for it, Anthony, I'm looking. Please, just hold on," she sighed before nodding at the binder, "Apparently, it is decently normal for stitches to bleed."

Howard continued, "We need to apply continual pressure for twenty minutes. If it doesn't stop by then, then we should worry,"

Maria cringed at his words.

Tony frowned at him before he looked at me, "Lees, we have to make the bleeding go away. So it might hurt, uh, 'kay?"

I nodded slowly, sniffling.

He carefully laid me down, resting my body on top of his knees and then Maria's. Applying pressure hurt more than it sounded like it was going to, but I kept my eyes closed and my face buried in the bandages on my hands. Eventually, the bleeding stopped and they let me just lay there for the rest of the trip to their house. When we finally arrived, Tony picked me up and tried to avoid hurting my back as much as possible.

The house was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The floors were covered in intricate tiles and the ceiling seemed to stretch miles above me. There were waterfalls and big glass doors that led out onto a terrace that overlooked their wide open property. Mirrors hung all over the place and soon I found myself staring into one. I was worse looking than I thought I was. My face was not its usual peach color, but it was an assortment of purples, deep blues, and a tinge of green. My brown hair was messy and it stuck up at weird places. My legs were hanging below me and they were covered in cuts and gashes. My neck was an even deeper blue than my face was and it was easy to count the different fingers from where they were imprinted on my neck.

"Well, whaddya think? Think it'll do?" Tony spun in a small circle, making sure I saw everything.

"It better," Howard spoke, sliding his hands into his suit pockets, "Otherwise she is as unsatisfied as her father."

I felt Tony's shoulders tense and his jaw clench. He was angry and I could understand why. What I didn't understand was why Howard wasn't being nice to Tony. When I was old enough to actually think back to this, I finally realized why he kept treating Tony as if he had made some great mistake. Me. I was the mistake that Tony made. Tony held me slightly tighter and I snuggled closer into his neck, trying to hide myself away from everyone in the room.

"Ah, who is this pretty Miss?"

I jumped at the sudden and strange accented man who spoke up from behind me. Nervously, I peeked back to see a tall old man standing near Howard and Maria. Tony shifted me to his hip and then nodded with his chin towards the man.

"That's our butler, Edwin Jarvis," Tony informed me, "Jarvis, this is Lisa Stark."

Stark? Lisa Stark?

I blinked and pulled back so that I could look up at Tony's face. Everyone else was looking at him too. Maria had a faint smile on her face, Jarvis was nodding happily, and Howard just stared.

I liked that.

Lisa May Stark.

My heavily bandaged hand slowly waved to the kind looking man called Jarvis. He gave another nod and then carefully took my hand. I pressed my body against Tony, terrified at someone I didn't know touching me. Tony hummed reassurances before Jarvis planted a soft kiss down onto my hand, completely disregarding the gauze.

"It is truly a pleasure to meet you, Miss Stark. If I may say, I do believe you are prettiest girl I have ever seen."

I blushed and buried my face back into Tony who smiled at the butler, gratefully.

I decided to like Jarvis.

Suddenly my eyelids just then felt very heavy and I gave a tiny moan. Tony pulled back to see my face. Slowly, I blinked at him and struggled to even reopen my eyes. His face showed confusion as he studied me. He was pursing his lips, thoughtfully. Suddenly he looked away from my face over to his mother.

He shrugged, "Nope. I've got no clue what she wants."

Maria smiled and walked over to us, "Oh, I think Lisa's tired, Tony. She's had an exhausting day," she directed her smile down to me, "haven't you, Sweetie?"

I gave a half-nod, settling into Tony's arms once more. Our group then began going up a long wooden staircase, apparently taking me somewhere safe where I could sleep. When we came across a big wooden door, Jarvis gave a small bow and then twisted the doorknob. My eyes widened at the sight of the big room stretching out before me. It was covered in pink. The walls were painted with an array of soft pinks and white stripes and the curtains were rosey. The pretty, fluffy blanketed bed had big stuffed toys all over it. In question if all of this was for me, I looked up at Tony. He was grinning in what I thought was pride.

"It's all yours, Lees. I got Jarvis to go out and get anything he could think of for you. So blame him if you hate pink like I do,"

Jarvis rolled his eyes and Tony laughed. Then he gently laid me down among the fluffy blankets and I seemed to sink into them. My bandaged hands patted at the big fluffy bear sitting beside me.

Suddenly Tony's face flashed with worry, "I'm an idiot."

"What, Sweetheart? What's wrong?" Maria asked, looking from me to him with raised eyebrows.

"She can't walk, Mom," his voice lowered, but I could still hear him clearly, "What if she needs something? What if she has to go to the bathroom?"

"Then I guess you're camping in here for tonight," Howard shrugged.

"What?!" Tony's brows raised.

I yawned.

"Anthony, I'm sorry, but you just said it yourself," Maria touched his arm, "What if she needs something?"

"Yeah, but this is not what I meant," he gave her this desperate, kind of irritated look, "Oh, hey, I got an idea. Why don't you stay here for tonight?"

"Tony," Howard said, warningly.

"Fine!" he threw up his hands, "But if I accidently kill her, then let it be on your head."

My eyes widened and I looked at him with fear as they all realized what he had just said and how it would naturally affect any abused child.

"Oh, Smalls," oh, another nickname? "I'm sorry, that-that was a bad choice of words. You know what I said didn't mean," his voice sounded panicked as he continued to fumble.

Suddenly I showed him my best smile; one I hadn't displayed in a very long time. He looked confused before Howard started laughing. Tony looked between me and him with that same confused expression; one raised eyebrow and lips pressed together in a thin line.

"Mr. Stark, she was teasing you," Jarvis smiled at me widely, "She knew what you meant."

I settled back into my blankets, burying myself amidst the comfiness with a small smile still on my bruised features.

"Teasing? She was teasing me?" Tony questioned in disbelief, "Listen, you guys, this isn't funny. I seriously thought I had screwed up there."

Maria was trying to stifle her laughter and Howard was still chuckling without any intention of stopping.

When Tony frowned at his mother, she smiled and covered her mouth with her hand, "I'm sorry, Anthony, but it's just, she's just," she laughed a little again, "I mean, doesn't she remind you of anyone?"

Tony then turned his frown upon me. I blushed again and wiggled myself further into my covers. His frown dissipated as he watched me. Then he let out a long sigh and his shoulders shrugged. He mumbled incoherently, plopping down on the floor beside the bed. Howard, Maria, and Jarvis said their goodbyes and promised me they would see me the next day. When they had gone, Tony didn't say anything for a long while. That funny awkward look on his face was back, but I was too tired to to really mind.

As I drifted off to sleep, nightmares overcame me. It was as if Mama was in the very same room as me. I saw her on our last day together. She was wearing ragged clothes and her red hair was as wild as a fire. Her blue eyes were angry as they stared down at me, making me feel even smaller than I was.

My stomach and back still stung from the big wounds that were inflicted upon them yesterday. For some reason, this time was so much more severe than it had ever been in the past. It was always awful, but he had hurt me with so much more passion than he had ever before. I was still cowering in the bathroom from the night before, too much in fear to come out. I had snuck a few of my favorite fairytale books in there with me so they could keep me company and help me forget the pain in my body. Suddenly the door was thrown open and her angry face was all that I could see.

Her long fingers snatched at my book; her nails shredding the flesh on my hands as she took it away. I drew back in shock and horror as she began ripping the pages of the book. She was screaming something that I couldn't quite understand.

"Mama! No," I shrieked, "Mama, please, mine! No! Stop it!"

I lifted a bleeding hand to try and stop her. She scowled at this action and kicked at me, hard. Her barefoot hit me in the stomach and I cried out. She sent another kick and then another as I continued to cry.

"You stupid, ugly pig! I wish I had never had you!" she screamed, "I wish I never had to take care of you! I wish you were dead!"

Suddenly her hand slapped me across the face. I fell back and smacked the side of my face off of the bathtub. Tears blurred my vision as she sat down on top of me. Knuckles were thrown down into my screaming face. Then I felt her hands encircle my throat and I couldn't breathe. I stared up at her with wide eyes as my legs tossed around beneath her weight. Her brows were furrowed so deep and her eyes were so narrow. Her teeth were bared and she was yelling. There weren't any words. There were just long shrieks of anger. The fogginess entered my mind and I felt myself give way to the darkness that Mama push me into.

"Hey, hey, hey!" gentle hands shook my shoulders.

I wasn't able to release a scream, but I tried to. Wildly, I attempted to throw my body around, but the hands kept me in place and it terrified me. It reminded me of the times I was held down and beaten. I didn't want to be hit. I didn't want to be cut. I didn't want to be burnt.

"Lisa, Lisa, Baby, it's okay, you're safe," the voice once again cut into my desperation.

My eyes focused on the face above me. The funny, lonely eyes and the dark hair instantly told me who the face belonged to. My father. And that meant I was safe. I stopped trying to thrash around. My chest hurt with my heavy breathing and my heart was thumping so hard that I could hear it in my ears. My mouth closed, not trying to scream anymore. The tears kept falling, but I wasn't sobbing anymore. I simply stared, distant and lost. His eyes were full of terror and his mouth was twisted up in concern. He was kneeling on the mattress beside me and his hands were still placed on my shoulders.

"It's okay," his voice was soothing and his thumbs wiped the tears from my face, "I've got you now. You're safe now, okay? Nod if you get it."

I nodded a little.

"Good," he sighed in relief and his shoulders relaxed, "Lord, for such a little thing, you sure do know how to terrify somebody."

I looked up at the ceiling, past his face.

He pursed his lips, "Were you dreaming about your mother?"

I blinked and he took that as a yes. Tony's face burnt with anger as he glared at the wall. He didn't say anything for a long moment. Slowly, my hand touched his shoulder. He peered down at me, mildly curious at what I was about to do next. I placed both of my bandaged hands on his face before trying to push his eyebrows out of their scowl and turn his lips upwards into a smile. He chuckled when he realized what I was trying to do. Smiling a little myself, I lowered my arms back down to my aching chest.

He paused before asking hesitantly, "Can I hold you again?"

I looked back at him, surprised.

He wanted to hold me? The only time I have ever been held by someone was when he took me from the hospital to the house and I thought it was only because he had to. But he was asking and I wanted him to. I nodded and lifted my arms up once more. Ever so carefully, he placed his hands under my arms and hoisted me out of the blankets. He rested me against his chest and my arms once again wrapped around his neck. I completely calmed in his embrace. He lightly rubbed my back in an effort to both soothe me and not hurt my wounded skin.

Suddenly he pulled back and gave me a funny look, "We need to find you something to wear. I mean, the hospital gown is fashionable and all, but it's not my favorite look."

I glanced down at myself and saw he was right. I was still wearing it. He stood up from the bed and glanced around the room. He kicked around the new boxes and piles of things for a while, trying to find clothes. We eventually discovered that Jarvis couldn't buy me any new clothes because he wasn't aware of my size and didn't want to buy anything too big. We looked at each other with a similar frown.

"Ah," he said, breaking into my sleepiness.

Tony marched us out of the pink room and directly across the hall to a bedroom that I guessed was his. He took me into his walk-in closet and dug a large t-shirt out of one of the drawers. He then held it up to me in question to which I nodded in approval. Soon I was properly dressed in the soft material. It was big and cool and I instantly loved it.

"That's better," he attempted to smooth my wild hair, but it didn't do much good, "So, what now?"

I was still exhausted, but the last thing I wanted to do was fall asleep to see Mama again. After Tony asked me about fifty questions to which I shook my head to, I finally nodded to the idea that we go downstairs and put on the TV. He told clicked a few buttons a remote and soon the screen was flashing. Reminded of the cameras from earlier, I turned my face away from it and his hand touched the back of my head. He sat down on the couch and then settled me down on his lap, putting my legs out on either side of him. His arms folded around my lower back, acting like a barrier to the outside world. I cuddled into his chest, resting the top of my head just below his chin as he rested his cheek against my hair. It was his calm breathing that lulled me back into a sleep empty of nightmares.

Now, why don't we all just go "awwwwww"? Wasn't that so cute? The fluff though.

Oh man. Okay, well, I don't really have anything fun or witty to say right now. Sorry. I know, I know, I'm disappointed too. But, hey, guess what? Chapter Four - coming soon to a computer screen near you! (what? too cheesy?)

Spoiler from ma story:

Tony is the most protective daddio ever. Like. Ever. I personally think it's adorable, but Lisa may not.