Chapter 2
Each night that Penny wasn’t allowed to leave the med-bay, both Tony and Pepper were by her side. She’d insisted that they didn’t need to sleep there with her. She’d gotten two looks of absolute bewilderment from the two of them and had nearly laughed.
Pepper normally started the night on the cot next to Penny’s bed, but she would end up curled around Penny in the middle of the night when the girl started to show signs of distress. Normally, if one of them caught the whimpers and labored breathing early enough, they could soothe her back out of her nightmare without waking her up.
Tony had a cot as well, though he rarely used it. He would take up residence in a chair pulled close enough that Penny’s hand stayed in his throughout the night and would work on blueprints, or ideas, or anything he could to keep his mind busy. Knowing that his wife and daughter were there and safe, brought him more comfort than he could have imagined.
When Penny was finally allowed to leave the med-bay three days later, her senses seemed to be functioning normally once again and she was hydrated and fed well enough for Dr. Cho to deem her healthy. She’d been told to take it easy for a few days still, nonetheless. She didn’t mind. She didn’t think she could stomach leaving the tower by herself right now anyway.
Her first night out of the med-bay, she fell asleep on the couch and woke up between Tony and Pepper in their bed the next morning. She merely shrugged and snuggled further into Pepper’s arms before falling asleep once again.
The second night, she woke up gasping for air and within moments Tony was coming through her door. She’d scrambled into his arms when he’d sat down beside her, and she’d sobbed against his shoulder as he rocked her soothingly and told her that she was okay and safe over and over again until she fell asleep once again. He’d sat next to her for the rest of the night, holding her hand, and ensuring that she was okay.
The third night, she’d thought was going to be better. She still jerked awake suddenly but was quickly telling FRIDAY not to tell Tony. She was fast enough and breathed out a sigh. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do this. She didn’t want to feel weak. She hated that she couldn’t sleep alone anymore. She’d laid back down, but each time she closed her eyes, she saw that place and that man. She panicked and was out of the bed and racing down the hallway in moments.
She didn’t think twice about crawling into their bed and neither of them said anything more than whispered reassurances as they snuggled up to either side of her and held her close. She fell asleep surrounded by the both of them.
0~0~0
“Daddy!” Penny thrashed. Natasha’s eyes widened as she looked up and was on her feet and kneeling on the bed next to the girl in moments. Pepper and Tony had needed to step out for a brief meeting that morning. They’d called down to ask if she would be willing to come sit with Penny. They didn’t want to leave her at all but knowing that she was there was enough to get them out of the penthouse for the, at max, hour long meeting.
“Penny,” Natasha called to her as the girl thrashed violently around on the bed in obvious distress.
“Daddy, please,” Penny pleaded with whoever she was dreaming of, “Please help me,” She cried and Natasha watched tears stream down her face.
“Penny, come on, you’ve got to wake up, babe,” Natasha pled with her and reached out to brush her hair off of her sweaty forehead, “Come on, little spider, your parents are right downstairs. You’re safe. I promise.”
“Daddy,” Penny cried brokenly and her thrashing gave way to broken sobs. Natasha took her chance and slid closer. She sat Penny up and watched as the girl jerked and woke up suddenly. She looked at Natasha with wide eyes and looked around the room frantically. “Daddy?” She asked as her breathing started to get erratic and Natasha saw her start to panic, “Where-” She couldn’t finish her sentence as her panic attack took over.
“FRIDAY! Get Stark up here. Now!” She called for the AI as she continued to try and comfort Penny any way that she could. “Come on, Penny. He’s right downstairs. I’m sure he’ll be here any minute now, sweetheart. You’re okay,” She told her soothingly and Penny shook her head but tried her hardest to get her breathing under control.
Penny heard the elevator stop on the penthouse floor and was out of Natasha’s arms and flying through the apartment in an instant. She saw the doors open and Tony stepped out, worry clear on his face. “Daddy,” Penny sobbed as she made her way to him. He bent slightly and held his arms out to her. She crashed into him sobbing and suddenly felt like she could breathe once again. Tony stood with her in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his torso.
Pepper was there in a moment, shushing Penny and comfortingly rubbing her hand over the girl’s back and through her hair. Natasha watched on, wide eyed and slightly amazed at how naturally the two had become Penny’s parents.
Penny’s sobs gave way to muffled sniffles and hiccups as she clung to Tony and cried into his shoulder, “I’m s-sorry,” She gasped out.
“No, Roos, don’t apologize,” Tony told her as he subconsciously swayed back and forth effectively rocking her, “There’s not a thing to apologize for,” He assured her.
“But I-I w-wanna get b-better,” Penny told him through her broken breathing, “I w-want to sleep-p n-normally ag-ain,” She continued, “I d-don’t want t-to p-panic just b-because you’re not h-here,” Her cries gave way to pathetic hiccups, “I-I’m tired of s-seeing that p-place when I close my-y eyes,” She mumbled quietly.
Tony met Pepper’s eyes over the girl’s shoulder and she took a deep breath, “We’re going to work on it, darling. We’re going to figure this out.”