─try to remember

try to remember the kind of

september, when life was slow

I mean not wrong-but, uh, her cells are not normal?" Bruce Banner tripped over his words as he stepped aside to let Tony see the results of the various tests they had run while the girl remained unconscious. Banner was quite nervous. His 'patient' was supposed to be dead. He remembered the headlines of the media stating that the heiress of Stark Industries had tragically gone missing on a car accident, and a month later they let the world know how the young girl had sadly passed away. Since he met Tony, he could count with the fingers of his hands the times the billionaire had talked about her. Arabella was always a touchy subject. The scientist grabbed the rim of his glasses and pushed them up his nose. "Her cells mutated." He said in a quiet tone. "I haven't seen that before."

"That explains why she phases," Josephine sat on a metal stool, roaming through researches on her laptop. "What do you think? Experiments? Or just plain, normal mutation?"

"I don't know, uh, I can't tell." Bruce fidgeted with his lab coat. "I don't have samples of other mutated cells."

Josephine hummed in response, shutting down her laptop. "So, we've got nothing? Nothing solid at least." Bruce shook his head while muttering a small 'sorry' that was meant for Tony rather than Jo.

"What about her memory, though? She doesn't seem to remember anything." The seventeen-yeard-old turned to Tony. "You saw how confused she was when you said her name. And if she's the one you saw in Oslo, her mind is surely messed up."

"Brainwash?" Bruce asked, unsure of himself but sure of his answer. "It's like she has amnesia."

Tony stood in front of tests' results, eyes narrowed, and wandering everywhere. He was still in shock, there was this feeling in the pit of his stomach he couldn't shake off. His mind was having trouble with processing everything, from the brainwashing to the abnormality on her cells to her presumed dead daughter lying unconscious on the bed. The latter being the hardest to process. He couldn't bring himself to touch her, afraid that she might break under his touch. She looked so pale and thin for a child her age it made Tony sick to his stomach. He wanted nothing more than to go back in time and give her the childhood they had stolen from her, but he knew that wasn't possible. Yet he still imagined how their lives would've been if the incident of New Year's hadn't happened.

He cleared his throat and faced Bruce. "Is there a way we can undo the damage?" Behind that stoic face, he was slowly crumbling. What if Bella was never Bella again? What if the damage couldn't be undone? She wouldn't remember him. She wouldn't remember anything.

"There are studies on how to treat amnesia, but none say how to reverse it." Bruce's voice became smaller as said so. He didn't want to disappoint his friend, but he couldn't lie either.

With a gulp, Tony nodded his head. "So, what? We just hope her memory comes back?" Josephine was quick to intervene.

"That seems like the only option," Bruce mumbled.

"What if we make the memories come back?" Tony's hopelessness faded away for a brief moment as he said so. "We can make her remember, right?"

Bruce fidgeted with his hands and said, "I think that could work." Even though he didn't know if they could actually succeed at that.

Heavy eyelidsfluttered openas her dry lips detached from each other to let out a weak gasp. Her head was pounding and her sight just wouldn't focus. The twelve-year-old felt like throwing up and emptying her already empty stomach when she unconsciously swallowed. She threw her head to the side and blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the blurriness.

"I believe she's waking up, Sir." Immediately after the A.I. spoke, the three of them spun around to look at the waking girl. Tony's heart once again started beating wildly against his chest. He shuddered as he began thinking of ways in which he could explain what had happened to her, why she didn't remember who she was before the accident.

Her eyelids fluttered open and Tony's heart skipped a beat. Her head looked down at the IV in her hand. Blinking a couple of times, she ripped it out of her hand.

"Hey! Hey! Take it easy," The man with the glasses soothed her down but the girl remained frantic.

"Yeah, we're not gonna hurt you, remember?" Josephine was the second one to speak. However, the third one, Tony, never did. The man stood there, frozen in the spot, doing nothing but stare at her. He felt like his vocal cords had been ripped off his vocal box, leaving him speechless.

Arabella dipped her brows. "Where am I?" Her voice came out just above a whisper as if she were afraid of what they might do to her.

"Upstate, New York." A British accent answered her question. Bella jolted at the sound of the voice since it didn't come out of the three people in the room.

"He's Jarvis, the—uh—butler?" Josephine's explanation seemed more like a question than a statement that confused the girl more. Why was the butler in the air? "He's artificial intelligence, a—uh—program."

Arabella nodded, stared at her hands, and clenched her jaw. The silence in the air felt heavy and uncomfortable, neither of them knew what to say or what happened next. They just stared at the young girl.

"Jo, I think we should go." Bruce was the one who broke the silence. He walked up to Josephine and placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her slightly to the door of the room.

Tony's eyes widened, he was left alone. He didn't know what to do or what to say or how to act. He was panicking, hands shaking and breathe ragged.

Bella was in alert mode, not knowing what the man was could do to her. Instinctively, she started picturing the fight scene on her mind, making up possible outcomes and moved she could do to save herself.

"Mr. Stark," Thankfully, Jarvis butted in the non-existent conversation to help Tony. "I believe you should talk to her."

Tony rolled his eyes at the comment. "Yeah, you think I don't know?"

And then, when he spoke something within Arabella's brain clicked.

That voice. His voice. Was he the man?

"I, uh, I'm Tony."

Silence.

"What's your name, kid?" Confidence filled his words, not really showing that anxiousness he was feeling.

"Arabella." It was a whisper but loud enough for Tony to hear.

"Yeah," Tony gulped. His eyes stung, tears threatening to fall any second. A memory flashed through his mind, one where Nina and he were picking the name for their daughter. He remembered perfectly how Nina has blurted out "Arabella" and how her eyes brightened when she repeated it with more confidence.

Bella noticed the glossy look his eyes had, the same way the Soldier's eyes would glisten whenever he remembered something. She didn't know the man in front of her, but something in her heart didn't want him to come close to crying. So she had to ask. "Are you . . . Are you okay?"

That was it.

That simple question made him shut his eyes and it let the tears fall. Nothing escaped his lips as opened his eyes and wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

"Say, would it—would it be weird if I hugged you?"

The girl stiffened, hug. As far as she remembered she has never felt the embrace of someone. The closest to a hug she had ever gotten was when the Soldier wrapped his arm around her shoulders to keep her close during missions or training. She felt protected, yes, but it wasn't the same.

Reluctantly, she barely nodded her head. Part of her told her not to, afraid that he might to something. She didn't know why she had agreed, he was a stranger after all. But she felt like she had known him like they knew each other. She felt at ease.

Slowly and cautiously, Tony wrapped his arms around his daughter. He felt her stiff under his touch but he didn't care and pulled her closer to his chest. The man couldn't believe it. He was doing something he didn't think it was possible; he was hugging his daughter. He couldn't help it and he let himself crumble. Memories spilled from his eyes and fell down his face, dampening his cheeks and the girl's hair.

"I'm sorry, Belles. I'm so, so sorry."

and Arabella got used to the fact that she had a family. She had people that cared for her and that would look after her. It felt strange, everything did, especially the memories that were slowly coming back. Everything had changed and it was all very new to her. She was no longer Arabella Romanova, she was Arabella Stark. She didn't have to murder anymore nor be treated as an asset. She was now treated as a human being, a child who had yet to discover the world. She was no longer with HYDRA, she was home.

Tony had explained everything, every detail or how her life used to be before the accident, how close they were, how happy she used to be. At first, it felt like a bomb to the girl, like her whole world had turned upside down, yet she felt relieved. Relieved that she had a life and that she had the chance to get it back.

Remembering was a hard task, most memories came with a painful headache. She didn't care though, it was a small price to pay and she was willing to do it.

Tony helped her as much as he possibly could. Taking her to places they used to go back in the day, like the time he took her all the way to California for a burger.

The man and his daughter sat on a boot at the all too familiar—for him at least—fast food restaurant. The girl had a cheeseburger and fries in front of her and the man had a much bigger cheeseburger in front of him.

"These were your favorite cheeseburgers. Beg to differ though, Burger King's better." Tony told the girl as he gestured her to take a bite. She hesitantly grasped with her small hands the meal and took a decent sized bite. A soft moan left her mouth as she chewed. The father smiled at how content she looked while eating the cheeseburger. "Taste rings a bell?"

And as if in cue, she dropped the burger on the tray bite onto her fist, something she did whenever she remembered something. A scene played in her head, one where Tony was trying to take a bite of the cheeseburger she had on her hand. The wrapper of the burger had In-N-Out printed on it as did the sodas one the table. She was laughing as she moved the food around and out of his reach to stop him from eating it. Tony started tickling her side to get her to drop the burger on the table. She seemed happy. They both did.

"Belles?"

The girl let go of her hand and opened her eyes to meet the eyes of her dad.

"I'm guessing it did ring a bell, uh?"

Or telling her stories.

"You know, there was this one time when you gave Pepper a makeover." Tony mused. "Remember Pep?"

"Oh, God, I do." The strawberry blonde sitting next to the man chuckled. "I let you play with my makeup while your dad was in a conference."

The girl smiled, not really remembering but trying her best to picture the story. "You did?"

"I did," Pepper nodded, letting out a breathy laugh. "You were sad and you wouldn't stop crying because you wanted Tony. I tried everything to calm you down, but you wouldn't."

"That was till you found her makeup bag, of course." Tony chimed in. "I remember walking in the room and seeing Pep's face all 'beautified' as you called it." He couldn't help but grin as he narrated the story. "You had painted her cheeks with a bright red lipstick and her eyelids with black eyeshadow." He turned to the woman. "You kinda looked like a raccoon." Pepper playfully smacked his arm while glaring at him. "A sexy raccoon. Gosh, I wish I had taken a picture."

"Why didn't you?" Arabella tilted her head. A picture would really be of help.

"Boss here didn't let me." He gesture at Pepper with his finger.

"I looked bad, okay?" Pepper defended herself whilst smiling at the girl.

"No, you looked beautified."

Or showing her pictures.

A picture of Rhodey and she was resting on her lap as Tony took out some more out of a box. In the picture, Rhodey was sitting on the floor while Arabella was sprawled across the floor, boxes of sweet threats and ice cream tubs surrounding them both.

"What were we doing here?" She held out the picture for Tony to see.

"Rhodey was sitting and you, as you can see, were in a sugar coma."

"A sugar coma?" She asked, unsure of what that meant.

"When you eat too much sweet stuff and pass out." He pushed himself closer to the girl and took the picture from her lap. "See those, Belles?" He pointed at the various boxes of donuts and cupcakes and at the tubes of ice cream. "You two ate all that by yourselves."

Bella's mouth formed the shape of an 'o' as she thought how much sugar she had consumed that day. "Really?"

Tony nodded. "Yup. I got home and found you dead on the floor. You were all sticky." He made a grimance causing the girl to chuckle. "You had ice cream even in your hair. I'm surprised you didn't end up with a bunch of cavities, kid."

He did everything he could to get his daughter back. And he did got her back.

I would like to dedicate this chapter to Chadwick Boseman. He was a warrior in many ways and it's such a shame he had to leave so soon. May his kind soul rest in love and power.

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it took me too long to finish part two but I finally did. Thanks for 19k reads, wow! Thank you very very much, I appreciate it so much. I hope you stick around!

love, lili