3 Vipers (May 1994)

Isabella could tell Tony was trying to cover something up and that just made her even more upset because she knew it was bad. “Tony, just tell me. I need to know. If you won’t tell me I’ll call the doctor in.

Tony almost never perspired but he was sweating now. His forehead beaded moisture as he fought to deny her what he knew she deserved. ‘It’s her body...just tell...her!’ He thought. But he also knew it was a one two punch. For once he was glad it was just them to in here. ‘God damnit!’

“You were pregnant babe,” A couple weeks...We lost the baby,” Tony said plainly. He thought about just leaving it at that but he needed to get this out and quickly. “You were...bleeding internally. Badly. The only way to save your life was to do an emergency hysterectomy,” Tony said quickly. He looked at her as if what was done, was done but he knew he had time to mourn this loss and she did not. The Stark family line was ending with him.

Tony’s words felt like a gut punch. She felt suddenly as if she couldn’t breathe and felt dizzy and nauseous. She had known it was possible that she was, but she hadn’t known for sure until this moment. Knowing that she would never be able to become pregnant again was a second gut punch and tears came to her eyes. She looked away from Tony and just began to sob.