Close Your Eyes

After spending that horrific day with Tony and much to Dasha's dismay it was the coolest day ever for Willow. The young girl absolutely adored Tony after spending such little time with him; Dasha had to take it to consideration that now she had to monitor the two like children because Tony didn't know the first thing about responsibility with kids.

Willow did pout and complain when the day was over; practically begging to sleep over. Tony looked uncomfortable when the small girl latched her arms around his legs as she hoped to stay a little longer. When Dasha told her no, a million more times, she turned her attention to the older man, pouting, she shyly asked if she could stay over. Just the thought of having a six year old over at his house, at night was something he never looked forward to.

He didn't want to hurt the little girl's feelings so he just patted her head before he tried to pry his legs away from Willow. For Dasha to completely take Willow off of Tony, it took about forty-five minutes with her excessive crying and sobbing.

Dasha wanted to refrain from the smirk that was growing on her lips seeing the disgust etched on Tony's face when he saw Willow rub her snotty nose on his pant leg. Just seeing that made her day a little bit brighter and now that they are at her own house, Willow was giving Dasha the silent treatment.

She was taking the absence of Tony pretty hard, playing with her cereal as she mumbled how it tasted better over at Tony's house. How can she feel like Tony up one on her niece? It didn't make sense, Tony didn't do anything special. He wasn't extra sweet to her, or gave her any kind of special treatment. He treated her like an adult, a small adult to be exact.

Maybe she favored him because he handed her a gun.

Stupid Tony.

Dasha glanced at her niece seeing that she didn't touch her breakfast, she tried to coax her into eating it, but she just shook her head, "I'm not very hungry." Going sliding off of the chair and putting her bowl in the sink with a heavy sigh. The older woman didn't have time to deal with Willow and her dramatic nature at the moment; she was going to be late for work.

The past few days, Dasha hasn't heard or seen Tony and it was been wonderful. She didn't know why he wasn't around her, but all she knew was that she was getting more of her work done now that her head was clear from all the crap he shoved in her brain. There was no more pestering and her blood pressure was now normal.

Dasha could finally breathe again.

Dropping Willow off at daycare, she told one of the daycare supervisors to make sure Willow eats since she skipped breakfast. She still cared for Willow even if she was acting a little like her mother at the moment for not getting her way; she knew that Willow as acting out because she finally found someone that she felt connected to and now that he was taken away from her, she tried to do anything she could to so Dasha could take her back to Tony's house.

There was no way in hell she was going to drive to Tony's house voluntarily and randomly. She already had multiple headaches from him popping out of nowhere like a freaking magician. Now that he was MIA, she can focus on her work load.

Dasha has been thinking of Scott a lot more lately, he has been acting weird. He refuses to eat, he has grown pale and for some apparent reason he has grown frail. The doctor was shocked to see such drastic drops on his health; it was a mystery as to why his health has dropped so drastically. Dasha made her way towards Scott's room, popping her head in with a smile.

"How's my favorite patient doing?"

Scott's fragile face turned towards the door as the blank expression that was on his face turned into a tiny smile, "Okay." he muttered. His innocent eyes followed Dasha as she walked into his room and did a check-up. She hoped to see improvements on his health, Dasha didn't want to perform surgery on him that was the last thing she wanted to do.

As she checked on his heart, she furrowed her brows at the irregularity of his heartbeat, she soon got distracted when she heard Scott whisper, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in the last couple of days."

Dasha gave him an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry. I had to have someone take over my cases for a bit since I had my niece over." She could see the disappointment in his eyes as he nodded his head grimly, Dasha felt horrible as he cast his gaze aside. The young doctor knew that there was nothing can she say to make him feel better, so she turned to one of the nurses and asked them, "Can you page Dr. Wallace to this room?"

"Of course, Dr. Swan." The nurse nodded as she gave a wary eye towards Scott.

The young boy gave the nurse a menacing glare as she exited out of the room, Dasha looked at Scott in shock. The look he was giving her wasn't just an ordinary glare, it wasn't childlike at all. It was…murderous. Getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, she glanced down at her pager as it went off, flashing 911 Sometimes.

"Amy?" Dasha murmured in question.

Furrowing her brow, she excused herself, patting Scott lovingly on the head, "I'll be right back, okay?" without a second glance; she rushed out of the room and towards the room where Amy was situated in.

As she bolted into the room, she saw the small child's eyes rolled in the back of her head and Amy working on her, "Dasha! Oh thank God! A little help here." Amy gave her a worried glance as she continued to resuscitate the child. Dasha quickly went to her aid as she checked her pulse, "Her heart rate is declining. Get me a crash cart! Now!" she demanded. Amy kept pumping the girl's chest as one of the nurses pulled in the crash cart, and prepping the machine for use.

"Set it to 200." Dasha responded.

The nurse followed her command before squirting the conductive gel on the paddles before handing it to Dasha. Rubbing the paddles together, she pressed the paddles on the child as she shouted, "Clear!" all hands let go of the child as she pressed the buttons to send shock waves through the girl's system. The girl jolted up, but her body continued to stay limp, her heart rate was still flat.

"Set it to 300." Dasha commanded. As the same process went over again, Dasha became frustrated seeing there was no progress. "Set it to 300 again."

"Dasha."

"I said set it to 300!" Dasha shouted in anger. This wasn't going to happen, not again. Amy gave her a sympathetic look as she put a hand on her friend, "Call it." She muttered. Dasha gritted her teeth, hating how she couldn't save this child. Setting the paddles down, she exhaled angrily as she murmured, "Time of death 8:15 pm."

Frustrated, she walked outside of the room as she leaned on the wall; she inhaled and exhaled slowly, covering her eyes with her hands. How could this happen again? Why was this becoming an epidemic around here? "Dasha." She heard Amy say, "There was nothing you could have done differently."

Dasha scoffed, putting her hands down, "The child was in here for a simple knee replacement and she died of heart failure. How does that happen?"

Amy sighed as she too leaned on the wall, "I don't know."

"Seven of my patients died this week. Seven. Someone might say that I am doing a horrible job at keeping my kids alive." Dasha said darkly, "And whatever they are in here for, they die of something else entirely different."

"I know how you feel. A lot of my patients passed away this week too, the oddest case I had was I had to pop a shoulder back in and just when I was about to reach the room, the guy went into cardiac arrest." Amy rubbed her chin, "I have no idea what is going on, but something is happening around here."

Dasha couldn't agree more.

Feeling uneasy, she told Amy she was going to check on her patients to make sure they were alright. Whatever was going on might happen to any one of them. Going to each one of her patients, they were all fine at the moment. As she went to Scott's, he was the only one not feeling well. He threw up the minute she walked into his room and she consoled him as she got him ginger ale to settle his stomach.

"Am I dying?" Scott murmured.

Dasha looked at the scared boy; he could feel death creeping up on him. It was colder than what he has expected. Shaking her head, she brushed parts of his hair back from his face, "I'm going to figure out what's wrong with you, okay? So don't worry."

While she ordered tests for him to take, she bumped into Jak. "Can you run an MRI on Scott for me please? I want to rule out any tumors in his brain that might be causing his fatigue and vomiting." When she saw the uneasy look he was giving her as she uttered Scott's name, she asked him what was wrong.

Jak fidgeted as she narrowed her eyes at him, "Spit it out."

"Uh, well, Scott…he's…terrifying." Dasha stifled a laugh as she shook her head at her friend, Jak was completely offended as he whispered, "He gives these scary looks when you walk in his room! It's like he cast some voo doo spell on you or something like some final destination crap that has been going on around here."

Dasha raised a brow, "I doubt any final destination crap has been going around here and besides doesn't that stuff include explosive oxygen tanks and wires randomly slicing someone open?"

Jak pursed his lips, "I just don't have a good feeling about Scott. You be careful around him."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever." Shooing him away with her hand; Dasha had enough on her plate already and adding this to her plate was more than enough. As the test results came back hours later, she cursed seeing there was indeed a tumor that was growing in Scott's brain. There were some abnormalities in his scans that might have cause his change in mood, so she paged Dr. Wilder to perform the surgery and she will assist.

When she bumped into Dr. Wallace during those few hours running around, he was confused as to why she paged him to Scott. As she described the heart murmur she heard on Scott, he persistently told her that his heart was fine, there was no indication he has any heart defects. That confused her even more, knowing she heard the irregular heartbeats herself.

Whatever was going on with Scott, she was going to figure it out. When she scrubbed in, with Scott lying on the table, she gave him a comforting hand squeeze, "It's going to be alright, Scott." He gave her a weak smile as they put him to sleep.

When Dr. Wilder walked in with her hands raised, she quickly was assisted on putting her scrubs and gloves on before she turned to Dasha, "Ready to do this." Dasha nodded, as she watched her fellow surgeon cut open Scott's head in a calm fashion. Hours into the surgery, Dasha assisted in every way she could, until one of the nurses cut her concentration, "Dr. Swan…there is someone on the line for you."

Dasha furrowed her brows as she peered up at the nervous nurse, "Tell them that I am busy at the moment." When the nurse replied to the caller, she looked anxious as she murmured quietly to the person, insisting that Dasha will get back to them as soon as they could. "No, I can't do that…like I told you before she is busy…she's in surgery that's why." Annoyance was laced in the nurse's voice before she exhaled deeply.

Putting a hand over the receiver she glanced at Dasha who was focused on the task at hand to hear whatever the nurse was fussing about. "My apologies in advance, Dr. Swan."

Dasha looked up in confusion and before she could respond, the one voice she thought she has gotten rid of has come back to haunt her, "Sunshine! It has been far too long since we have last spoken to one another."

Dasha breathed deeply as she handed the scalpel over to her colleague, "What do you want Stark?"

"Ouch, such intensity in your voice, Ms. Swan. What have I done to deserve such treatment?" Dasha's bloody gloved hand clenched as she heard Tony's voice echo around the operating room for everyone to hear their conversation. "I'm in the middle of saving a life, Tony. What do you want?"

"Wanna be my plus one for a charity event this evening? I know its last minute and you are probably worried about what dress you are going to wear and all that girly junk, but not to worry. Everything is already covered."

Dasha pursed her lips as she glared up at the ceiling, "You make it sound like I already agreed to your invitation."

"So, your answer is yes then? Good, pick you up in an hour." Then there was a dial tone that rang in the air. Dasha gritted her teeth as she glared at the brain that was in front of her, she could feel the stares of her employers. The murmurs have already started, wondering how Dasha knew someone like Tony Stark in the first place and if she was secretly dating him.

Tch, she wasn't secretly dating that asswipe.

"I assume your duties are finished here, Dr. Swan." Dr. Wilder responded calmly as she continued her job. Dasha glanced at the woman as she said, "No, they are not."

"Oh, I think they are." Dr. Wilder chuckled as her eyes sparkled, "You have a date waiting for you. Don't want to keep him waiting, do you?" Dasha bit the inside of her cheek, seeing the twinkle in her eye; she can tell that her fellow surgeon was getting a kick out of this. Clearly, she was the only one that saw the pure annoyance in her tone as she converse with Tony.

"I guess. You can finish up here then?" she asked, obviously wanting to stall and not wanting to go to this damn charity event with Tony. Dasha didn't know why he did it, maybe he wanted to drag someone down with him to some boring event and having her come along for kicks was something he truly enjoyed doing.

Backing away from Scott's body as Dr. Wilder nodded, "I'm almost done. Now go have fun with Mr. Stark." She winked at Dasha who grimaced.

Stripping off the scrubs, mask and gloves, she threw them in the bin before going into the scrub room and furiously washing her arms and hands for a few minutes. Drying her hands off, she walked out of the room to see Jak leaning across the hall with a smirk on his face. Dasha rolled her eyes as she murmured, "Why am I not surprised that your in the plan?"

"Oh hush you. You never made up that date you bailed out on and this is sort of making it up to him," Dasha glared at her friend as he dragged her into the elevator and pressed the floor where her office was located in. "Shut up. I don't owe him anything."

"You still owe him a date." He muttered.

_ _ _

"I look ridiculous." Dasha whispered under her breath as she fidgeted in her tight black dress that Tony oh so generously set aside for her. She felt like an idiot, standing in the cold, in front of the hospital waiting for her date to arrive.

"You look beautiful. Now stop fidgeting, you are making me nervous." Jak scolded, slapping her hands away from her dress.

Dasha narrowed her golden brown eyes at him as she felt naked in the dress she was wearing; the first thing she didn't like was the plunging neckline of her dress. The halter like top portion of her dress plunged a little below her breasts showing more skin than she would have liked while it was tightly fitted around her torso as it clasped with a silver brooch on her left hip before it flared out at the bottom. To add the cherry on top of what she called her life, Jak informed her that Tony also bought her accessories to go along with the dress.

An expensive looking diamond bracelet was placed neatly on her left wrist while diamond chandelier earrings sparkled in the light. Her light brown hair was styled in beautiful waves that flowed down one of her shoulders, as her make-up was done light, much to Jak's dismay. Dasha willingly put on the dress as long as she did her own make-up; she didn't want to look like a drag queen with the pounds of make-up Jak and Ivy loved to cake onto themselves from time to time.

Dasha firmly believed in natural beauty and she didn't want to chisel her way out of all the make-up by the end of the night. Holding onto her clutch tightly, she pursed her glossed lips as her eyes caught sight of the sleek car that stop abruptly in front of her.

Tony popped his head out with a grin, "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. If I have any sense I would kidnap you and keep you to myself tonight."

Dasha frowned as she walked towards the car, "If you know what's best for you. Just keep your mouth shut." Tony mocked a hurt expression as he unlocked the car door for her, sliding in, she glanced at the overjoyed Jak as he waved at her with too much excited, mouthing to her to call him later for details.

Rolling her eyes, she settled into her seat as Tony drove over the speed limit towards their destination. "Mind telling me what charity event this is?"

Tony shrugged, "Aren't they all the same?" his dark eyes wandered over her figure as a lustful grin crept on his lips as he stared at her chest. "Have I told you that you look incredibly sexy tonight?" Dasha growled noticing the lecherous stare he was giving to her plunging neckline, grabbing his chin and forcefully turned it, "Eyes on the road."

The man couldn't obey for long as his eyes kept glancing at her body leaving her frustrated with the idiotic man. Tony didn't change as they arrived at the party, flashes blinding her as Tony wrapped an arm around her waist. Dasha frowned at the way he was touching her, but made no move to remove his hand, not knowing which way was up or down.

"Hey Tony, do you remember me?" she heard a woman flirtatiously say as she twirled her blonde hair.

Dasha glanced at Tony, who didn't look her way as he monotonously replied, "Sure don't." as they wandered down the red carpet, Tony patted who he presumed to be Hugh Hefner before they made their way towards Obadiah. As they both reached the older ass of a man, Tony said, "What has the world come to that I have to crash my own party?"

Obadiah laughed as he replied, "Look at you." His dark eyes glanced up and down at the playboy, "What a surprise and I see that you brought along arm candy." Dasha glared at the man as she outspokenly said, "And I see that you are still the same jackass I met weeks prior."

The bald man belted out a laugh as he put a hand on Tony's shoulder, "I see why you like her Tony. She's a keeper." Giving her a look before he shifted Tony's body away from hers, leaving her to deal with questions being fired at her left and right. She stayed silent as she waited for Tony, clearly feeling out of place. Once they were done, Tony nodded his head before he escorted Dasha inside.

As they stepped inside the beautiful gala, Tony brought her to the bar, finally letting go of her waist. Dasha felt like her skin was melting off at his touch and the sense of relief she had once he released her, she wasn't entirely fond of the stares she was getting as they walked in.

She was aware of what they thought of her, being here with Tony. Dasha hated it, but she stood in silence as he ordered a drink for her. "I don't drink." Bringing Tony's attention back to her, he raised a brow before he grinned, "Yes you do and if I remember clearly, I got lucky the last time you drank, so, bottoms up." Sliding the gin and tonic towards her.

Dasha was slightly disturbed that he knew her drink of preference, grabbing the drink to settle her uneasiness. She heard another female voice coming their way, and from the looks of things, it was another notch on Tony's bedpost that wanted revenge. Not wanting to hear or deal with any of it, Dasha escaped while Tony was debating with the brunette. As she wandered around with her drink, her eyes settled on a strawberry blonde woman that looked familiar.

Making her way over to the woman, she had to make sure it was her friend, calling out her name, "Pepper?" the woman spun around, apparently in shock as her eyes widened, "Dasha? What are you doing here?"

"There is only one reason why I would be here and that reason is over there." Pointing over her shoulder towards the bar; Pepper glanced over the woman's shoulder to see Tony now talking to a stranger, "What is he doing here?"

Dasha shrugged her shoulder, despite the fact that the question wasn't directed at her, as she glanced back at Tony seeing the confused look on Pepper's face she saw a mysterious man chatting with him. Looking back at Pepper, she saw recognition in her eyes, "Do you know that man?" her friend shook her head as she muttered that it was no one.

Not believing her, she jumped at the sudden pair of hands that settled around her waist, slapping them away, she hissed at Tony, "Don't touch me." Tony look at her innocently, "That's not what you said to me when we arrived here. Looked like you were enjoying my sensual touches as we walked down the red carpet."

Dasha growled in frustration as Pepper looked at the two incredulously, "Tony, what are you doing here?"

"Just avoiding government agents, you look fantastic where did you get that dress?"

"It was a birthday present."

"From whom?"

"From you actually." Tony glanced at the dress as he nodded his head in approval, "I have incredible taste. Did you see the dress I picked out for Dash?" Dasha twitched at the nickname as Pepper looked at the dress the doctor was wearing before she said, "That is a lovely dress. Did JARVIS help you pick it out?" giving Tony a look.

"You give me no credit. Don't listen to her, Dash. She has no idea what she is talking about."

Dasha rolled her eyes as she muttered darkly under her breath, "Now if you excuse us, Pep. I need to dance with my woman." Dasha spun her head towards Tony in shock and before she could say anything, he pulled her close, twirling her around before settling in a slow dance with the rest of the group.

The doctor glared at Tony as he looked at her, "I'm not your woman." She grumbled.

Tony scoffed, as he placed his hand on her lower back as he held her hand with the other, "Please. You have been my woman for quite some time now."

"Since when?" Dasha asked him menacingly, she didn't take this lightly. It wasn't a joke and there was no way in hell she was his woman or his anything. She was nothing to him; she held no title with him. Not friends, not lovers, not acquaintances. Nothing.

"I think when we kissed was when we started and then I think it became real when you brought your niece over to my house. Isn't that what boyfriends and girlfriends do? Let them meet their family?"

Dasha pursed her lips, "Meeting my niece isn't a step. None of this was a step because we aren't in a relationship." Tony hummed as he pressed her body to his as he leaned his face closer to hers; she can smell the hard liquor on his breath, "Whatever makes you sleep at night, sunshine." Dasha rolled her eyes as she tensed when Tony's hand on her lower back rubbed small soft circles.

"What's the matter, Dash? Can't handle being touched?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

Dasha scoffed as she looked away in irritation, she didn't know why she was dancing with Tony. All of the stares were focused right back on her, sensing her discomfort, Tony asked, "Why don't we get some fresh air?" she agreed without thinking about it as she followed the billionaire out towards the balcony feeling the crisp cool air.

Letting out a sigh, Dasha put her hands on the railing while she looked out into the streets of Los Angeles. Feeling Tony's hands on her back once again, she muttered, "Can you keep your hands off of me for one second?"

"Honestly?" Tony asked as he leaned on the railing with his hand still on her back, he closed the gap between them as he muttered, "I don't think I can." It made her curious as to why Tony was putting the moves on her more persistently than usual. It was odd, weird, and strange. Dasha never got used to his pestering and seeing this side of him only brought her memories of the first night she met him.

"Why not?" she whispered.

Dasha glanced up into Tony's eyes as the playful glint was still there held with something she rarely saw in him; there was one time she saw this look and that was when he came back from Afghanistan and he confessed that he truly missed her. "Because…" she waited for his answer, "You're my woman."

The trance she was in disappeared within seconds, as she pulled back, "Would you mind getting me another gin and tonic?" Tony stood there in question; he stared at her for a few seconds before he agreed, "Sure. I'll be right back." As soon as he left, she let out a sigh of relief. Dasha spun around leaning on the rail with her hands on her face, "What the hell was that?"

As Dasha waited for Tony to come back with her drink, her mind started to wander towards the mysterious man that was talking to Tony. Why did his face look so familiar to her? Has she seen him before? There were a few instances where she thought she could have mistaken him for being one of her patients fathers, but she ruled that out. He didn't look like a family man; maybe she crossed paths with him once?

That was more than likely, as the evening dragged on, she realized that Tony still hasn't returned. Walking inside to see what was holding him up, Dasha looked around to see that Tony was nowhere in sight. Luckily, she found Pepper, grabbing her arm; she got the woman's attention, "Have you seen Tony?"

Pepper shook her head, "Afraid not. I haven't seen him since he took you outside."

Dasha pursed her lips as she scanned the area once again having this feeling boiling in the pit of her stomach. Her anger started to rise, knowing exactly what might have occurred at the moment, Pepper soon realized as well as she cursed under her breath. Placing her hand on Dasha's shoulder, she offered, "Why don't I give you a ride home? You look a bit tired."

"Yeah...Thanks." Dasha muttered hating the feeling that was swirling in the pit of her stomach, along with anger was something that she hasn't felt in the longest time, disappointment. For some reason, unknown to her and for the first time in her life, she was left behind and all she could feel was disappointment, sadness, and rejection.

In spite of all that, she felt like a fool.

When has she become so soft to have someone like Tony leaving her in the dust affect her like this? Dasha felt like she was becoming some idiotic bimbo and she hated it. What was she going to do when she saw Tony? Wring his neck? Pretend like it didn't affect her? Or didn't care? All of those actions just didn't seem right. In the first time, in a long time Dasha didn't know how to react to a situation like this.