May 30, 12:00 pm
Y/N spots Peter’s chestnut curls from across the hall and heads over to meet him at his locker, sliding her arms around his waist and putting her head on his shoulder. “Guess who,” she says with a smile.
“Hey bear, what’s up?” Peter responds without needing to check who he’s talking to - he can’t think of a single person from school other than Y/N who would hug him from behind like this.
Y/N gives Peter a peck on the shoulder and responds cheerily, “Nothing, I’m just excited for summer. I can’t wait to be done with junior year. I feel like I haven’t properly slept in a thousand years.”
Peter puts the last notebook into his backpack and closes his locker before turning around and facing Y/N and laughing, “Ugh, me too, I am so ready to not see any of these people for two whole months. It’s so close I can taste it,” he says with a flourish.
Once Peter puts his backpack on, Y/N links arms with him as they walk towards lunch together. She is one exam away from being a senior and she can barely contain her excitement. She and Peter have made a whole list of things they’re going to do together this summer and she thought the day would never come when they could actually start crossing items off their list.
They sit down at their usual table and are soon joined by Ned and MJ, who are equally as excited for summer: Ned can’t stop talking about the new Star Wars Lego set he and Peter can work on, and MJ even cracks a couple of smiles at Peter and Ned’s rambling.
After lunch, they split up to take their final exams, with a genuine promise to text and see each other throughout the summer. They each take their respective exams and then head home for summer.
---
May 31, 10:00 am
Y/N wakes up to a text from Peter telling her to get dressed and meet him in Central Park in an hour for a surprise. She smiles to herself imagining what Peter might have planned for their first day of summer together, and quickly picks a pair of jeans and a sweater to wear to the park. She grabs a protein bar just in case, sends a quick text to her parents saying that she’s out with Peter, and starts making her way to the park.
She heads down to the street, putting one earbud in for the short walk over. She’s about halfway there when someone harshly pulls her into a side alley. She’s so caught off guard that she doesn’t have time to scream or even gasp before her mouth is covered from behind with a large hand that she doesn’t recognize. Her heart rate skyrockets and her breathing quickens as she struggles to fight back against her unknown assailant, clawing and kicking at them in an effort to slip away. Her attacker seems to get frustrated by her flailing and puts her in a chokehold, which sends Y/N into even more of a frenzy. She twists and squirms, but she feels a prick in her neck and knows there’s nothing she can do. Black spots take over the edges of her vision, and soon she’s slipping into unconsciousness.
“Hurry up, Shane, someone’s going to see us!”
“Shut up, Trevor, I’m doing my best here. She put up a hell of a fight for someone her size.” Shane grumbles back to Trevor as he hauls Y/N’s limp form into the back of the van parked in the alley. He closes the van door and works on binding Y/N’s hands behind her back and tying a gag in place. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Start driving, you’re the one who’s nervous about getting caught.” Shane snaps at Trevor who had just been watching Shane idly for the past few minutes.
Trevor complies, putting the car in gear and driving it out of the alley and onto the street. After a couple minutes, Shane joins Trevor in the front as they head away from Manhattan and into Queens.
---
The van pulls into a warehouse in Queens fifteen minutes later and Shane and Trevor exit the vehicle and look into the back seat.
“Why isn’t she awake yet, Shane?” Trevor asks nervously. “I thought you said she’d be fine.”
“Do I look like I know everything, Trevor? She’s probably fine, let’s just get her out of the car.” Shane replied curtly, already sick of Trevor’s worried comments.
They move Y/N to a chair in the middle of the room, zip-tying her wrists and ankles to the arms and legs of the chair.
Shane removes the gag from Y/N’s mouth and slaps her cheek to try and wake her up. Y/N’s eyes shoot open and she gasps, disoriented, as her cheek stings from the blow.
“Naptime’s over,” Shane spits at Y/N as she tries to blink away the tears in her eyes. “Here’s how this is going to go: you’re going to tell us everything you know about your dear old dad Tony, and we won’t hurt you in return. Sounds good?”
“W-what do you mean? I don’t know anything about any of my dad’s Iron Man stuff.” Y/N says, getting nervous about how this will go since she truly doesn’t know anything valuable about Iron Man, but she also knows there’s no way her captors will believe her.
“Cut the crap, Stark. We know you have access to all of the fancy tech and the passwords needed to infiltrate the suits. All you have to do is tell us, and you’ll be free to go.” Shane walks towards Y/N and looms over her with a sinister smile on his face. He caresses her cheek and whispers in her ear, “If you’re a good little girl, we’ll reward you for it.” He’s so close Y/N can smell his rank breath which brings bile up her throat, and she squirms in her chair, but there’s no escaping his closeness.
Y/N’s voice wobbles as she tries to convince him that she’s telling the truth. “I swear, I d-don’t know any-anything about the suits. My d-dad doesn’t tell me about them to protect me.”
“Hmm. We’ll see about that.” Shane says with a smirk as he picks up a bat from the floor and taps it against his empty hand a few times. Y/N’s heart is racing with anticipation and fear, and she knows this isn’t going to go well even before the bat connects with her thigh right above her knee. There’s a sickening crack which has Y/N screaming and blinking away spots in her vision as she tries to catch her breath through the excruciating pain radiating out from her leg.
“I’m telling you the truth! He doesn’t tell me about the suits, please, why won’t you believe me?” Y/N pleads with her captor as she continues to catch her breath and breathe through the pain.
“The thing is, I just don’t believe you. How can the heiress to Stark Industries not know a single thing about the Iron Man armor? It doesn’t add up hon, and if you say anything that isn’t related to those suits or continue to make useless noise, I’m just going to have to teach you another lesson.” Shane sneers with a glint in his eye that Y/N really doesn’t like.
Y/N sobs with the realization that she isn’t going to convince this psycho that she’s telling the truth. She’s terrified, and Peter probably thinks she’s running late and hasn’t started looking for her yet. Her sobs get cut off when Shane grips her jaw too tightly and forces her to make eye contact with him. “What did I say about noises, darling?” he jeers at Y/N.
Y/N whimpers softly in response, which seems to set Shane off. “I said no noises you imbecile!” he shouts at her, spraying her with spittle that she can’t wipe away. “I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice!” He grabs the bat he had previously discarded and Y/N closes her eyes in anticipation of the pain to come. She involuntarily groans when the bat makes contact with her jaw, delivering a nauseating wave of pain along with another crack. She can’t control the tears streaming down her cheeks and the soft groans that escape her without permission.
“Make another noise and you know what happens,” Shane threatens as he drops the bat onto the concrete of the warehouse. The loud noise makes Y/N flinch, which in turn causes another wave of pain to course through her, this time from both her thigh and her jaw. She does her best to gather herself without making any more noise, taking steadying breaths through her nose and letting them out slowly.
Shane approaches with the gag in hand, and begins tying it around Y/N’s mouth once again, bringing tears to her eyes when it’s tightened around her freshly broken jaw. “That’ll keep you quiet for now. Maybe in a bit, you’ll decide that you’re ready to tell us about good ole Iron Man, hmm?” Shane questions, not expecting an answer from Y/N due to her current state. He walks out of the room to meet with Trevor, and Y/N breathes a small sigh of relief knowing that, at least for now, he can’t hurt her again.
---
May 31, 11:20 am
Peter is starting to worry. Y/N seemed excited to hang out today, and she should’ve been here at least fifteen minutes ago. He’s been pacing in front of the bench they usually meet at for ten minutes now, wondering if he should bite the bullet and call Mr. Stark or if he’s just being paranoid. Y/N hasn’t responded to any of his texts, which is unusual, but maybe she stopped to get breakfast, or got sidetracked helping an old lady, or is already dead in a ditch somewhere, or -- Peter takes a deep breath and tries to rationalize the situation. The odds of her being dead in a ditch somewhere are very low, especially considering the lack of ditches in New York City, and Y/N’s stubbornness. He decides that he’s just being crazy and that she will show up any minute. He texts her one more time and tells himself that if she still hasn’t shown up in fifteen more minutes, he will freak out then.
---
May 31, 11:30 am
Y/N’s eyes snap open as she hears footsteps approaching the door to the main room of the warehouse. She had just calmed herself down and convinced herself that Peter would be here soon, but she’s back to a nervous mess hearing those footsteps nearing her. She’s so frustrated and scared and exhausted that she’s on the verge of tears for the umpteenth time in the past hour. She just wanted to go on a date with her boyfriend in the park, and instead she's at a random warehouse who knows where, being literally tortured for information she doesn’t have. If she wasn’t in so much pain she would laugh at the circumstances.
Shane enters the room with purpose, and Y/N can tell that this isn’t going to end well for her.
“So it seems that we may be running out of time here, dear, so I’m going to ask one last time, and I expect you to answer me truthfully this time. We’ll start simple: what’s the override code for the Iron Man suits?” Shane asks while walking towards Y/N and picking up the bat from the floor. At this point Y/N is pissed. She’s missing her date, and she simply does not have the information this guy wants so desperately from her. He crosses the room and removes the gag from her mouth.
Y/N takes a deep breath and steels herself, “Fuck. You. I don’t know,” she spits as best as she can through the pain.
Shane tsks and shakes his head. “I wish you hadn’t said that, because now I have to punish you for making unnecessary noise. I thought you had learned your lesson, but It seems not. What a shame, I figured a Stark would be smarter than this.”
He approaches Y/N with the bat in tow once again, looming over her. Y/N doesn’t bother closing her eyes this time, and just braces for the pain that’s sure to come. She lets out a shrill yelp when the bat smashes into her wrist this time, creating one loud crunch that Y/N never wants to hear ever again. She knows something else is going to come since she made a noise when he hit her this time, but she is so defeated at this point she can’t gather the energy to care.
Shane, on the other hand, does seem to care that Y/N made a noise, as he grips her jaw and berates her, “You fucking idiot, can’t even stay quiet. It was very simple: unless you have something to say related to the Iron Man suits, you stay silent, and you can’t even give me that!” Y/N feels like she’s about to pass out from the pain that’s taking control of her every thought, but she is not so lucky to pass out yet.
“I’ll give you one more chance to give me what I want. I’ll walk away right now. Just tell me one thing about the suits. That’s it.” Shane almost sounded sorry for what he was doing, but Y/N knew deep down that he didn’t. No normal human would be ok with this treatment.
This time, Y/N doesn’t make a sound, knowing that it would just end up with more pain and probably another broken bone. She really doesn’t want to add another the the growing tally, although she isn’t sure of the actual number due to her thoughts being clouded by the screams of her bones.
“I see how it is. Let me know if you decide to wise up and share with me,” Shane says as he ties the gag too tightly around Y/N again, leaving her lightheaded and praying to every god she can think of that Peter has realized something has gone wrong and alerted her dad. She has no doubt that when the two of them find out she’s missing, it won’t take long before she’s found. Thoughts of seeing her dad and Peter comfort her enough to fall into a restless sleep.
---
May 31, 11:40 am
Peter has officially lost it. He broke down and called Mr. Stark ten minutes ago, and he has since been picked up by Happy and brought to the tower. Mr. Stark tracked Y/N’s phone to an alley about halfway between the tower and Central Park, which sent both Peter and Tony into a spiral. They scan CCTV footage and find a sketchy van that was in the alley around 10:50 that conveniently blocked the camera from seeing anything on the other side of it, but that point is where the cameras lose Y/N and she seems to disappear into thin air, so Peter and Tony agree that she was probably taken in that van.
“Mr. Stark, what if they switched cars? What if she’s not actually in that van? What if we can’t find her in time? I can’t lose her. I can’t. I can’t do it, Mr. Stark, please, we have to find her.” Peter says frantically, on the verge of a panic attack from the thought of something bad happening to Y/N.
Tony appears to be much calmer than Peter, but on the inside he’s just as worried about Y/N as Peter is. But, somehow he is the adult in the room and has to keep his shit together or they’ll never find her. “Peter. Look at me, take a breath. If she’s not in that van, we’ll keep looking. We will find her, ok? I need you to keep it together, for her sake.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, I just get so worried sometimes that she’s in danger because we’re dating and I just really would not be ok if something happened to her because of her association with me. I’m sorry. I’m rambling. I ramble when I’m nervous.” Peter says all in one breath, but stops when he sees Mr. Stark’s side glance at him.
“It’s ok, Pete, I’m nervous too,” Tony reassures Peter, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing. “Ok, FRI, track that van for me please, and send the coordinates to my suit and to Karen.”
“On it, boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y. responds seriously.
“Suit up, bud, we’re gonna get our girl back.”
Peter and Tony don their suits and quickly head out to the warehouse that F.R.I.D.A.Y. sent to their suits. They land outside and plan their attack quickly.
“Alright, I’m seeing three heat signatures, two unknown, and one is Y/N,” Tony says to Peter. “We go in, take down the two bad guys, and then help Y/N, yeah?”
Peter just wants to get in there and fight the assholes who stole his girlfriend from him, so he readily agrees, “Yeah, sure, let’s do it.”
Tony counts down from three and they burst through a window, glass flying everywhere (Tony loves an entrance). They quickly find the two cronies, and Peter knocks one out with a single punch, while Tony sends one through the wall with a blaster shot. Once the two men are sufficiently incapacitated, they converge on the heat signature of Y/N. What they find, neither of them will ever forget. Y/N is unconscious and covered in newly forming bruises that signal something much worse under the skin. She is bound to a chair and still has the gag in her mouth, and she looks exhausted.
Tony quickly cuts through the ties on the chair while Peter gently removes the gag from her mouth, both so shocked they can’t say a thing. Y/N stays unconscious throughout the whole process, which concerns Tony incredibly.
Tearily, Tony says, “FRI. Call an ambulance for Y/N and the police to deal with those two scumbags.” He’s still reeling from the past few minutes, and can barely think straight. Peter, usually a motormouth on missions, is uncharacteristically quiet as well.
“Should we move her?” Peter asks quietly while brushing Y/N’s hair away from her face with a touch as light as a feather.
“Not yet. We should wait for the paramedics. Don’t want to make anything worse,” Tony croaks out, trying to imagine how it could possibly be any worse than this.
The EMTs arrive a minute later, and quickly put a neck brace on Y/N and then move her to a backboard and onto the gurney. She groans once throughout this process, but never regains consciousness. Tony and Peter ride the ambulance to the tower with Y/N, both a little shell-shocked still at how quickly everything went wrong for Y/N. F.R.I.D.A.Y. must have alerted the medbay staff that Y/N was coming, because as soon as the ambulance arrives, Y/N is whisked away into a patient room by Helen.
Peter and Tony find themselves in the waiting area, both still clad in their armor, dazed by the speed and urgency that the doctors showed.
“Is she going to be okay?” Peter asked timidly. He didn’t even want to consider what might happen if she wasn’t okay, but he had to know.
“I don’t know bud, but I know Dr. Cho is the best, and she knows what she’s doing, so we’ve just gotta hope and wait.” Tony wishes he could have a drink or maybe a bottle of something to ease the pain that he’s in, but he knows he has to be alert for when Y/N wakes up - not if, but when.
---
May 31, 4:00 pm
Tony was about to lose it. It had been nearly four hours since Y/N had been taken back for surgery, and since then, he had only had one update from a nurse saying that Y/N would be okay, but that she required surgery for multiple things, and that Helen would be out with an update once Y/N was in recovery. That was two hours ago, and Tony didn’t know if he could wait any longer. Once he and Peter had quickly changed out of their suits, he had taken to pacing back and forth in the small waiting room long ago, and was now sitting down next to Peter with his head in his hands. Peter had been quiet the whole time, just looking at the wall and bouncing his leg nervously. In short, they both were not coping well.
Peter’s head snaps up a few moments before the door to the waiting room opens, and he and Tony are both on their feet in an instant. Helen Cho walks in and doesn’t bother with a greeting. “Sit down, both of you,” she says while pulling up a chair for herself.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you. Y/N has a long road ahead of her, but she’s going to be just fine.” Helen says, making sure that both men are listening to her. Tony and Peter both visibly relax when they hear that Y/N will recover, but they know that it’s not that simple.
“She had a broken jaw, femur, and both her left radius and ulna were broken as well. We operated on her arm, placing a few plates and screws to secure the bones in place, and we also had to wire her jaw shut. There is a tube in her nose that is there as a precaution, so don’t freak out when you see it. Also, her femur will likely need surgery, but for now we have the bone stabilized with an external fixator.” Helen says, knowing that Tony would want all of the information he could get.
Peter is the first to break the silence. “When can we see her?” he asks Helen, hoping for a good answer.
“Follow me, and you can see her right now. She should be waking up from the anesthesia soon, and it’ll be good to have familiar faces around.” Helen says, getting up and leading Peter and Tony towards Y/N’s room.
She pauses outside the room, giving Peter and Tony a moment to prepare themselves, and then she opens the door and walks inside, closely followed by Peter and Tony.
“Press this button here if you need anything, I won’t be far,” Helen says kindly, and then she’s gone, leaving Tony and Peter to take in the picture before them.
Y/N sleeps peacefully in the hospital bed, with a cast on her left arm up to her armpit, and a metal contraption surrounding her left thigh and knee. There’s a nasty bruise forming on her jaw that is spreading upwards towards her cheek, and the tube coming out of her nose is hard to miss. The steady beeping of the heart monitor pulls Tony back to earth as he stares in shock at his daughter, feeling sick at how small and defenseless she looks.
Peter takes the seat to her right, and rubs her shoulder gently, whispering something to her that Tony can’t hear. Tony takes a seat next to Peter and grabs a hold of Y/N’s hand. “How could I let this happen to you,” he says as his eyes fill with tears and he feels a lump forming in his throat.
Peter glances at his mentor and says, “It’s not your fault Mr. Stark, if anything it’s my fault. She was coming to the park to meet me. I should’ve offered to pick her up and walked her to the park.” Peter feels the guilt rising in him. He should’ve been better. He’s Spider-Man for goodness sake, he should be able to protect his girlfriend.
Tony takes a breath to argue more with Peter, but is cut off by a soft groan that comes from Y/N. He and Peter instantly perk up and direct all of their attention to Y/N, ready to comfort her if necessary. They are not prepared for what happens next.
Y/N releases the groan without thinking, and immediately begins to panic. The beeping in the background increases all at once, her eyes clench tightly shut, and she begins hyperventilating, finding hard to breathe through her nose for some reason. All she can think about is the pain that’s sure to come since she made a noise out of turn. Someone is holding her hand, which is strange, but she figures it’s all part of the plan to torture her more. She can’t catch her breath and feels like she might pass out.
“Y/N. Open your eyes, honey, you’re safe now. We’ve got you,” Tony says, sounding much calmer than he feels. He starts rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb to try to calm her down.
Y/N shakes her head, unwilling to make another sound, just in case this is still part of some sick game. She doesn’t think she can handle any more pain. She just wants her mom and dad.
“Y/N, bear, it’s okay, you’re in the medbay. We took care of the sickos who hurt you, you’re safe, I promise,” Peter says gently, trying to keep Y/N from having a full-fledged panic attack. He squeezes her shoulder softly three times, their way of saying I love you to each other. Only then does Y/N slowly open her eyes, finding Peter’s eyes quickly. He looks at her with such love and tenderness that Y/N’s eyes well up with tears and soon she’s uncontrollably sobbing with relief.
Y/N is a mess, she can tell. She’s full-on ugly crying now, so relieved to be safe. She can’t sniffle hard enough to keep the snot from escaping her nose, especially with a tube obstructing one of her nostrils, and she’s pretty sure she’s drooling onto her chin, but she honestly couldn’t care less.
Once she gathers herself somewhat, she tries to ask what happened, but finds that trying to talk is incredibly painful, and she can’t open her mouth anyways. Her eyes widen and she looks between her dad and Peter confusedly while trying to bring her right hand up to her mouth. Her dad stops her, though, and says, “Try not to touch it, Y/N. They had to wire your mouth shut so your jaw can heal.”
Y/N tries to make a face that conveys her simple thought of ‘oh’, but she doesn’t seem to have control of the bottom half of her face quite yet, so she settles on a small nod.
“I’m so glad you’re alright, I was so worried.” Peter says, finally feeling the adrenaline leave his system. “Do you need anything? Are you in any pain?” he asks her, starting to get worked up again. Y/N shrugs and waves her hand side-to-side to indicate that she feels alright. She then mimes typing on a phone while looking at her dad questioningly.
“I had Happy grab your phone from the alley, do you want me to get it for you?” Tony asks, standing up to find his head of security. Y/N nods and tries to smile, but immediately winces at the sharp pain in her jaw. Tony notices and immediately starts worrying.
“Are you in pain?” he questions. Y/N nods again and holds up 5 fingers to measure her level of pain.
Tony reaches over and presses the call button and then hands the remote to Y/N to hold, showing her how to use it and telling her, “You can press that button and Dr. Cho will come to help you, ok? She should be here any minute with more pain meds for you.” Tony kisses Y/N’s forehead and then goes to find Happy and Y/N’s phone.
Y/N puts her head back onto the pillow and closes her eyes, basking in the familiarity of the medbay of the tower. A minute after Tony leaves, Dr. Cho enters, and Peter explains that Y/N was experiencing some pain. Dr. Cho increases the dosage, and Y/N soon is filled with a comforting warmth that drives away the lingering pain.
Helen moves to leave the room, but turns before exiting, “Don’t hesitate to use the call button, Y/N. You are my only patient, after all,” she says kindly. “I’ll be back in about an hour to check on you and remove the tube from your nose for you,” she smiles softly and then leaves Peter and Y/N alone.
Peter takes Y/N’s hand and starts to apologize, “Y/N, I’m so sorry, I should’ve known something was happening when you were late. If I had realized sooner this would never have happened. I’m --” he’s cut off by Y/N shaking her head and covering his mouth with her hand. Once she’s sure he won’t continue to apologize for something that’s clearly not his fault, she cups his cheek in her hand and tries to convey with her eyes that she doesn’t blame him. She holds her hand out for him to take, and then squeezes three times.
“I love you too, bear,” Peter whispers back softly as Y/N drifts to sleep.
---
May 31, 5:00 pm
Y/N is awoken by a soft knock at the door. She sees Peter rubbing his eyes and assumes that he fell asleep as well, and she also notices that her dad is back and has taken a seat next to Peter. Dr. Cho walks into the room holding a tablet and smiles warmly at Y/N.
“Alright, Y/N, I’m back to take the tube out of your nose. It was there as a precaution just in case any blood got into your stomach during the surgery. There shouldn’t be any left, so we can safely remove the tube now. It might be a little uncomfortable, but it won’t take long,” Helen said while putting on a pair of gloves.
She quickly removed the pesky tube, much to Y/N’s relief - it was starting to get rather annoying in the back of her throat. Helen discarded the tube, and then pulled up a rolling stool to sit on next to the bed.
“So, as I’m sure you noticed, we had to wire your jaw shut so that it can heal properly. It’ll stay wired shut for at least six weeks, and in that time, you’ll have to stick to a liquid diet. Once your pain level is down some more, you should be able to talk without a problem, you might just have to enunciate a little better than usual. Any questions about that?” Helen briefed, making sure to cover any possible questions Y/N might have.
Y/N shook her head, a little overwhelmed with the news that she would be on a liquid diet for more than a month.
Helen continued patiently, “Both bones in your left arm were broken, and we did surgery to insert plates and screws that will keep the bones straight while they heal. You’ll have this cast for about a month, and then you’ll get a different one that ends before your elbow for another month. You’ll likely have to do some physical therapy during your recovery, but you should regain complete use of your arm in due time. Any questions there?”
Again, Y/N shook her head, trying to take in all of the information and think of questions she might have.
“Ok. Finally, this big metal contraption here is an external fixator. We put this in to keep your femur stabilized until we can do surgery to permanently fix the bone there. We wanted to wait so we didn’t put your body under too much stress all at once, and this way, your body can heal some before we have to do another surgery. The recovery for a broken femur is unfortunately pretty long, but I have no doubt that you’ll recover fully. Ok, I know that was a lot of information, so is there anything you want to ask me?” Helen concluded, looking up from her tablet to make eye contact with Y/N, who looked rather overwhelmed.
Y/N nodded and reached for her phone. She typed for a few moments and then showed the screen to Dr. Cho.
how long will i have to stay here?
“I’d like to wait two to three days until we operate on your leg, and after that, you’ll probably have to stay for observation for three to five more days. Before we do the surgery, I’ll come in and explain it all to you and make sure that you and your parents understand what the surgery will consist of,” Helen responds sympathetically.
Y/N nods again, still processing everything. She types another message on her phone to show Dr. Cho.
what am i supposed to do between now and the surgery?
Helen smiles at Y/N,“Your only job is to rest. Ask for help when you need it, and let us take care of you. How does that sound?”
Y/N gives a thumbs up to that, as she is already exhausted from this interaction. She relaxes into the pillow and tries to get as comfortable as possible before falling asleep.
---
May 31, 5:30 pm
Once Y/N falls asleep, Helen explains to Tony how much and what type of food Y/N should be eating (drinking) along with how often she will be able to get more painkillers through her IV. She also gives him a brief explanation of what to expect in the coming weeks in terms of Y/N’s recovery, and advises him to start looking for a nurse and physical therapist who will aid in recovery and day to day activities.
Tony uses the time after Helen leaves to call Pepper and update her on the situation. She is relieved to hear of Y/N’s safe return, but is upset that she won’t be able to come back home for another week at least. He also tells Happy to start looking for a physical therapist and a home nurse for Y/N. Peter updates Ned and MJ, both of whom had been worried out of their minds for the past couple of hours. They agree to visit once Y/N is feeling up to it. Tony then sends Peter home, telling him that “Y/N isn’t going anywhere, bud. She’ll be right here the next time you come over.” Peter reluctantly leaves, giving Y/N a soft kiss on the forehead before heading home, emotionally and physically exhausted from the day’s events.
Tony looks up at Y/N, feeling like the worst father ever for failing to protect her from the dangers of the world. She looks so young and vulnerable hooked up to all those machines. Tony wishes he could trade places with her, he would do anything to take away her pain. While he can’t take away her physical pain, he decides that he can try to alleviate some of her potential emotional pain by making sure the men who took her never see the light of day again. He stops short of tracking them down in his suit because he knows that Y/N wouldn’t want him to hurt anyone on her behalf, and he knows that if he found them, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.
---
May 31, 6:30 pm
Y/N starts to stir, quietly coming to and offering a small smile that resembles a grimace to her dad when she realizes he’s still there. She lazily gestures towards Peter’s empty seat and furrows her eyebrows, silently conveying her question: “Where’s Peter?”
“I sent him home, he looked like he needed a good meal and a full night’s sleep. I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow morning though,” Tony supplied. Y/N nodded, she knew how Peter got when he was nervous.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty? In pain?” Tony asked, hoping the answer to the latter was no, since Y/N wasn’t due for another dose of pain meds for another hour and a half.
Y/N nodded and then shook her head, much to the relief of Tony. He hated not being able to do anything to help his daughter, and getting food and water was something he could do for her.
Tony stood up, “Alright, one smoothie and one water coming right up,” he said, heading for the door. “You’ll be ok while I’m gone? I shouldn’t be long, but I can make Hap do it if you want me to stay.” He turned to see Y/N shaking her head and shooing him away good-naturedly.
He returns a few minutes later with a smoothie, a bottle of water, and a large syringe. “Which do you want first, water or smoothie?” he says, setting the water and syringe on the bed as he sits down in the chair next to the bed, still holding the smoothie. Y/N points to the smoothie just as her stomach grumbles loudy. “Geez, I would’ve offered you food sooner if I had realized there was a monster living inside you,” Tony jokes, preparing the syringe with the smoothie.
“Do you want to try or do you want me to do it for you, sweetie?” Tony asks softly, not wanting Y/N to feel like a burden for needing help. She doesn’t think she’d be able to use the huge syringe with just one hand, so she gestures for her dad to go ahead. The smoothie is incredible, and reminds her of when she was younger and refused to eat anything other than smoothies for a solid year.
She didn’t know how hungry she was until her dad mentioned food, and now that she thinks about it, she realizes that she hasn’t eaten anything all day. She downs the smoothie as quickly as possible, which is truthfully not very quick at all, and then starts on the water. Once the water is gone, she signs thank you to her dad by touching her right hand to her chin and then extending it towards him - something she used to do as a child.
“Of course, patatina,” Tony says, “Do you need anything else?”
Y/N shook her head and reached out for her dad’s hand, giving it a little squeeze and giving her dad a small smile before leaning back into her pillows. The events of the day left her tired, despite having just had a nap, and she found her eyes drooping shut after a few minutes. Before she drifted off, she felt her dad give her a kiss on the forehead and whisper something in Italian that her sleep-muddled brain couldn’t bother to translate.