Daughter of the Shield

Chapter 20

Tony paced back and forth in the hallways of the hospital. He didn't know what to do. He had said nothing to Steve when he met them at the compound, deciding it was neither the place nor time. And considering how things ended Tony had no clue how to contact Steve if things got even worse than they were.

It was not supposed to end like this.

Steve had already broken the others out of prison and was no doubt surprised to not find her there. Tony took the burner phone out of his pocket. Should he call? Why? All Tony had to say was bad news and it wasn't like Steve could come.

Tony sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. He faced the closed door and turned the handle. "What are you doing here?"

Natasha turned from the hospital bed to look at Tony, shoving her hands in her pocket.

"Shouldn't you be on the run or something?"

"I just wanted to check on her."

Tony nodded in understanding. This was not something he would turn Romanoff in for. He walked to the other side of the bed and looked down at the girl who laid on it. He took her scared covered hand in his.

Jo had been in a coma since Tony had found her trapped beneath the plane wreckage. If he had known that was where she had landed... Tony shook his head. What was done was done. Blaming himself would not wake Jo up. According to the doctor's nothing would. Even with Jo's healing ability they were not certain this was something she could recover from. They had suggested pulling the plug... Doing so caused Tony to shout more than he had during the whole accords argument with Steve.

That would be too far.

To take Jo away before Steve could say goodbye to her. Tony hated the guy, but Tony also knew what it was to not have closure. Steve would need that when Tony finally got the nerve to tell him what had happened to his daughter. He already had his lawyers working on clearing Steve's name, it was the least Tony could do since Jo was here because of him.

"Don't blame yourself," Natasha whispered as if she could read his thoughts. "Jo made her own choices and would slap you upside the head if she knew you blamed yourself."

"You make it sound like she's already gone."

Natasha looked Tony in the eyes with a sadness he had never seen before.

Before either could speak the machine beside Jo's bed began to beep frantically, drawing the attention of multiple doctors and nurses.

"She's crashing!" Someone shouted.

"What's happening?"

"Her heart just went from normal to nearly nothing and it's not going back up!"

"Well do something!" Tony shouted frantically as a nurse tried to usher him out of the room. "Don't you dare let her die! He's not here! She needs to be here when he gets here!

Natasha slipped out of the room without anyone noticing.

Tony sat at his desk, having ordered everyone to not disturb him until further notice. He looked at the small burner phone that now sat on his desk. That damn phone. That only had one number in it. Now there was no reason not to call, but still, Tony could not bring himself to do it.

This made him regret signing the accords.

Not the Avengers falling apart. Not losing Steve. Not locking up his friends. No, this was something he had not seen coming.

He never imagined the fight would go this far. Tony had never regretted something as much as he regretted signing those damn accords. He'd give anything to go back and change his decision, but he couldn't. Now, Tony had to live with the consequences of another mistake.