Castle | Tony Starks Daughter x OC

Chapter 4

"I'm so sorry," I cried into her shoulder.

"None of this is your fault," She cried as well.

I pulled away from her and looked at her worriedly. "Pepper, where is my dad?"

She gulped at my question and looked down before looking up at me with sorrow. "They don't know. He was taken by the people who attacked you. They don't know if he is still alive or not or if he managed to get away. They've been searching for him nonstop. Rhodey wanted to go help find him, but he refused to leave until you woke up and he knew you were okay."

"He's gone," I questioned her in shock.

"I'm so sorry, Ally," Pepper said as she pushed my hair behind my ear.

"Oh, my god. He's gone. I have no family left. Everybody's gone. I'm all alone," I said, starting to hyperventilate.

Pepper's tears started streaming down her face nonstop now and she pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head She sat there with me, holding me close as the two of us let our tears fall for my missing father.

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"After an extensive amount of testing and some scans, we've determined that Miss Stark is suffering from traumatic brain injury," The doctor told Pepper and me.

"What? What do you mean she's suffering from a traumatic brain injury? How is this possible," She questioned him in shock.

"Well, it's very common among people who have been in car accidents. It's possible that when the missile went off next to the truck that she was in, the blast caused her to hit her head harder than we originally expected," He explained to her.

We were all silent after his explanation, and I looked at Pepper to see she seemed like she was close to losing her mind. I reached over and placed my hand on top of hers and squeezed it. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile in thanks and gripped my hand back. I took a deep breath and looked at the doctor curiously.

"Are you sure that's what it is," I questioned him.

"All the tests that we gave you showed the symptoms for it. You showed difficulties of concentrating, while we were moving you from your bed to the wheelchair you were dizzy and almost fainted, and you had severe nausea after focusing on the tests we were giving you," He listed off of the chart he was holding.

"Okay, so I have a traumatic brain injury. That can't be a bad thing. So I go home... and rest... and lay in a dark until I'm better. That doesn't sound so bad," I shrugged.

"Actually, your brain scans prove otherwise," He told me, grabbing the folder that was sitting on the tray in the room.

"Of course they do," I said bitterly.

"Your scans show there is a severe amount of swelling in your brain," He explained as he placed the pictures on the machine to show us.

"Okay, so, what does that mean," I questioned.

"It means that if the swelling continues, then there will be complications. The swelling will cause improper blood flow to your brain. This will then prevent your brain from receiving the oxygen it needs, killing or damaging your brain cells," He explained to me.

I nodded and held back the tears that were building up. I looked over at Pepper and could see she already had tears prepared to run down her face. I looked away from her and down at my lap to avoid eye contact with her and the doctor. If I look at them and see their sympathetic and sad faces, then I'm going to lose it.