Iron Skye

Have you ever had a panic attack? Where you're suddenly staring down a tunnel and you feel as if you just got punched in the stomach? Well, that's what I was feeling right about now.

"You're not my mother."

'Oh but I am. I gave birth to you, I nurtured you until that wretched man took you from me. We could have been so happy together.'

"You're insane." The waterworks started. "You're locked up because you're a psychopath!" I was sobbing by now.

She tsked at me. 'It's not nice to say those things about mommy.'

"You're not my mom!" I screamed at her.

'And you're calling me the insane one.' She chucked darkly, the calmness of her voice scaring the hell out of me. 'It'll be okay sweetheart. Mommy will come and get you and we'll be happy together.'

"Stay away from me."

'Well get rid of that rich, selfish, asshole who dares call you his daughter.'

"He's more of a parent than you've ever been!"

'We'll live happily ever after in a far away kingdom, just you and me. We'll be happy, Skye."

"You're crazy!" I screamed at her before blindly throwing my phone. I heard a crash and suddenly glass was raining down on the floor.

I fell to my knees still screaming, shards of glass cutting into my hands and knees, but I didn't care.

The door handle jiggled and I knew JARVIS had alerted my dad as to what was going on. The door flew open and an arm looped around my waist, pulling me from the floor.

"Skye, look at me." I heard my father's voice somewhere off in the distance.

"She's so evil." I sobbed out.

"Who's so evil?" He asked me.

I couldn't even get an answer out I was sobbing so hard.

"Okay." He said, sitting me down on my bed. "Just take some deep breathes. In and out." I did what he told me. "Good girl."

"Now, who is evil?" He asked me when my breathing had evened out.

"That woman."

He must have realized what I was talking about because he pulled me into a hug. I didn't wrap my arms around him though, because now that I had normal blood circulation I became aware of the pain in my hands and knees and the feeling of something warm sliding down my arms and legs.

My dad pulled away and looked at my hands before standing up.

"We need to get this glass out." He pulled me to my feet. "Can you walk?" He looked down at my jeans which were now turning red from the blood. "Nope." He said, popping the 'p'.

He scooped me into his arms, carrying me down the hall.

"What-" Pepper jumped to her feet when she saw us.

"Pepper, I need you to call someone to come and clean up some glass and replace a window." He turned to go down the stairs but turned back to Pepper. "And I need you to get a new phone."

He walked down the stairs, JARVIS opening the door for him.

He cleared one of his work tables before setting me down on top of it.

"You stay." He said pointing to me. "Dummy." He motioned the robot over before going over to one of his many first aid kits Pepper had insisted he have down here.

Dummy wheeled over to me and my dad sat in his chair in front of me. "Hands." He said holding his out, a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers in his fingers. I held them out and he cringed at the sight of them.

"We can always go to a hospital." I said.

"No, we don't need the press labeling me as an abusive father now."

He gave the magnifying glass to Dummy before taking one of my hands in his. He started removing pieces of glass from my hand, having to shift his angle every so often. Once he hit the tweezers against the magnifying glass.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I in your way?" He said to Dummy.

Once my hands were done and wrapped he rolled his chair back from me.

"The jeans need to come off." He said, pulling my feet onto his lap.

I unbuttoned them, wiggling them off, my hands shaking a little. 'Oh come on. It's no different than him seeing you in a bikini.' I reasoned with myself. Once the jeans were down towards me knees, my dad took over, pulling them off my legs completely.

He started to work on my knees immediately, his eyes never looking up to my face.

Once my knees were clean and bandaged, my dad excused Dummy before rolling closer to me.

"What did she say that sparked such a...reaction from you?"

I told him about the phone conversation, fresh tears rolling down my face.

"Hey, it's okay, she's not going to get you. She's locked up for good and I'm not even sure how she was able to call you. But you're safe, okay?" I nodded, wiping the tears from my face. "Why don't you go get cleaned up. It's late and you need some rest."

"I can't sleep in my room though."

Realization crossed his face. "Then sleep in mine." He shrugged.

"And daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around me. Little did I know that would be the last time I'd hug him in a while.