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Goodbye

Stephen Strange x Daughter!Reader

Summary: In his desperation to fix himself, Stephen forgets the one thing he should’ve prioritized above all

Warnings: Do I ever write anything besides angst???? Child abandonment, mentions of self harm, verbal abuse, fluff at the end I PROMISE

Stephen Strange couldn’t save everyone. That’s why he became a doctor. He couldn’t save the mother of his child, his wife, so he decided to save others.

Because if he couldn’t save his love, he’d save others.

His daughter was a spitting image of her mother. Y/N M/N Strange. Stephen’s partner in crime, his best friend, his child. Y/N was everything to him.

It always made him smile when Y/N would express her aspirations to be a nurse, to help others. When Y/N turned 16, Stephen was able to get her an intern job behind the front desk. He’d stop by regularly, smiling and calling her his “favorite front desk lady”.

Y/N was the main supporter of Stephen to go out with Christine. She was thrilled when they got together, and tried not to let it bother her when they separated. She knew they were meant for each other.

Y/N was having a fantastic patch of sleeping when the landline in the apartment she and her father shared went off. Y/N groaned, seeing the time was 3:27 am, and crawled out of bed, answering the phone. “Jesus, Chrissy it’s early as f-“

She froze when she heard crying on the other end, suddenly snapping awake. “Christine? Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

Christine let out a sharp sob. “Y/N, i-it’s you father, he-he was in a b-bad crash outside of town, we-we-we don’t kn-know if he’s g-gonna make it.”

Y/N’s entire world stopped turning. The phone slid out of her hand, shattering on the hardwood floor. In a daze Y/N shrugged on a coat and slid on shoes, getting into one of her father’s cars and driving as fast as she could to the hospital, adrenaline taking her body on autopilot.

Y/N ran into the hospital in a winter jacket, a t-shirt and sleep shorts, and boots, her hair a disaster, running to the front desk where her boss, Darla, worked. “Darla, where is he.”

The woman gave Y/N a solemn smile. “Floor 3, he’s in the OR right now.”

Y/N nodded her thanks, running up the flights of stairs and into the surgical center. She sunk into a chair, her mind going into shock.

“Ma’am, you’re not supposed to be up here-“ a voice approached her, probably an intern. Y/N flipped him her badge with looking at him, the boy spouting out an apology before leaving.

Y/N sat and waited for several hours for the surgery to end, to find out if he was dead or not. Nurses would offer her water or comfort, both of which she would refuse. Y/N was collapsing in on herself, her world crashing down.

Y/N looked up and shot out of her seat when Christine approached her, the surgeon’s eyes red rimmed and bloodshot. The surgeon smiled tightly, pulling the teen into a hug. “He survived the surgery, he’s in the ICU now. He should make somewhat of a recovery.”

Y/N clung to Christine, the tears finally beginning to fall as she held on to the woman for dear life. “Thank you…”

A couple hours later, Christine led Y/N to Stephen’s room, opening the door quietly. Y/N froze when her eyes fixed upon his body laying on the bed, the various pins holding fixtators in place on his hands. She stumbled back running and bursting into the nearest bathroom, emptying her stomach into one of the toilets. Christine followed, holding back the young girl’s hair and and rubbing soothing circles on her back. Y/N sat back down on the floor, resting the back of her head on the stall wall. Christine murmured sweet nothings, trying to ease Y/N’s pain.

Y/N was able to bring herself to sit by her father’s bedside, distraught because she wasn’t able to hold Stephen’s hand. It went on like this for weeks until he finally woke up.

Y/N was outside of the room getting a drink, Christine watching over him. When Y/N walked into the room, she dropped the bottle of Mountain Dew when she saw him awake. She rushed over, giving him a tearful smile. “Hey dad.”

Stephen simply shook his head, refusing to look at his daughter. Y/N’s smile fell as she turned and looked at Christine, who had tears in her eyes.

“Dad, can you please look at me?” Y/N asked quietly, walking closer to her father who squeezed his eyes shut. “Did I do something wrong?”

“You should’ve stopped them.” Stephen murmured, finally making eye contact with his child. “You should’ve stopped them from ruining me.”

Y/N felt a lump in her throat, tears spilling over her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

Stephen simply turned away, causing Y/N to let out a sob and walk as quickly as she could out of the room.

Every time Y/N would try to visit Stephen, he would tell her to leave, sometimes followed by chains of expletives. It was like a flip had switched, like her father had cracked.

In a couple months he was home, wasting all their money on experimental surgeries that never worked and liquor. Y/N began to stash away all money she earned through her internship. Underneath a floorboard, in the pages of a book, she always had a $20 in her bra.

Soon Stephen sold all the cars except one. Every time Y/N would try to leave to go to her job, her father would scream at her for being selfish. Soon Y/N confided in Christine, who would buy them groceries and bring the girl to work.

Christine and Y/N came back to the apartment after getting groceries one night to a furious Stephen. They were selling the apartment, Y/N honestly had no idea what the fuck she was going to do.

“He won’t do it.” Christine piped up, referring to the next surgery Stephen planned. Y/N busied herself putting away groceries.

Stephen stood from the table. “He’s a hack. There’s a new procedure in Tokyo. They culture donor stem cells… and then harvesting them and then 3D printing a scaffold. If I could get a loan together…”

“Stephen.” Christine cut in, Y/N hiding herself behind the fridge door as she put in a bottle of water.

“Just a small loan, $200,000.” Stephen reasoned, sitting down again.

Christine sighed. “You’ve always spent money as fast as you could make it. But now you’re spending money you don’t even have. You have a daughter, Stephen. Maybe now is the time to consider stopping.”

Stephen raised his shaking hands in frustration as he stood, Y/N peeking out from behind the fridge door. “No, now is exactly the time not to stop because, you see, I’m not getting any better!” He yelled, Y/N flinching.

“But this isn’t medicine anymore!” Christine countered. “This is mania. Some things just can’t be fixed.”

“Life without my work-“

“Is still life!” She interrupted. “This isn’t the end. There are other things that can give you’re life meaning.”

“Like what? You?” Stephen spat. “Or her?” He gestured to where Y/N stood, shaking.

Christine shook her head. “This is the part where you apologize. To me and your daughter.”

“This is the part where you leave.”

Christine’s eyes darkened. “Fine. I can’t watch you do this to yourself anymore.” She walked towards the door, grabbing Y/N’s arm lightly. “C’mon, let’s go.” Y/N looked distraught between her father and Christine before grabbing her coat and following her father’s former lover.

“Oh, too difficult for you, is it?” Stephen taunted, Christine turning and walking towards him.

“Yes, it is. I breaks my heart to see you this way. You’re a father, a father to a wonderful daughter. Don’t break her heart more than you have already.”

“Don’t pity me-“

“I’m not pitying you.”

“Oh yeah?” Stephen challenged. “Then what are you doing here, bringing cheese and wine like we’re old friends going for a picnic? We are not friends, Christine. We were barely lovers. But you just love a sob story, don’t you? Is that what I am to you now? ‘Poor single father Stephen Strange, a charity case. He finally needs me.’ Another dreg of humanity for you to work on. Patch him up and send him back into the world, heart’s just humming. You care so much, don’t you?” Stephen screamed. Y/N had finally burst into silent tears, her whole body shaking. “Really, Y/N? Tears? Tears for your poor father?”

Christine shook her head with tears in her eyes. Thunder rumbled as the surgeon locked eyes with him. “Goodbye, Stephen.”

She turned and walked to the door, grabbing Y/N’s hand. The teen spared her father one last tear-filled gaze before following Christine out the front door.

Christine wrapped her arms around the girl, shushing her and whispering kind words into her ears. Y/N screamed into her shoulder, crying her heart out.

That was the last time she saw her father for a while.

A month later Stephen stood, looking out the window of the night time city in Nepal. He reached into his coat pocket, drawing out his watch, which had been cracked from a previous mugging incident. He flipped it over, the ingraving on the back visible in the candle light:

This will tell how much I love you, Dad

~

Y/N

Stephen laid it on the window sill, his fingers drifting on it momentarily as he remembered the excitement with which Y/N gifted him the watch at Christmas years ago. He let a sad smile break across his face before walking away.

The almost 3 months later, Stephen picked up the same watch, carrying it over to his desk where his laptop sat, opening it to start an email.

Y/N, I’m emailing you one more time to

Stephen sighed, unable to finish it, to find the words to express how he loved his daughter with all his heart and that he was so fucking sorry for how he treated her. She should’ve been his number one priority.

And then in the fight against Kaecilius, where Stephen had been fatally hurt, he conjured a portal to the one place he knew he could go.

He stumbled into a storage closet, trudging past the nurses and doctors in his path. “Doctor Palmer, where is she?”

“Sir we need to get-“ the doctor argued, Strange shaking his head.

“Where is she?” He yelled.

“The nurses station.” The Doctor stuttered, Strange lurching forwards.

Stephen stumbled to the end of the hallway. “Christine!” He shouted, the surgeon coming into view ahead of him.

“Stephen?” Christine gasped, putting down her clipboard and rushing over, helping him stand. “Oh my god!”

“Get me in an operating theater now. Just you.” He gasped out. “Now, I haven’t any time!”

Christine led him to an operating table, helping him onto it. “What happened?!”

“Stabbed.” Stephen said matter-of-factly. “Cardiac tamponade.”

“What are you wearing?” Christina questioned, looking over his various robes as she ripped them open, tapping her fist on both sides of his chest. “Chest cavity is clear.”

“No, blood is in the pericardial sac.” Stephen gasped before loosing consciousness.

Christine turned to him, letting out a yell. “No, no, no! Stephen? Stephen!”

The surgeon readied a syringe, poising herself to inject it into Strange’s chest. “Just a little higher.” Stephen instructed, causing Christine to scream when she saw his astral form.

After Stephen battled one of Kaecilius’s lackeys in the astral dimension he regained consciousness. Christine was stitching up his wound. “After all this time… you just show up here-flying out of your body?”

“Yeah I know.” Stephen groaned. “I missed you too, by the way. You and Y/N.” Christine let out a sarcastic chuckle, Stephen sighing. “I wrote you emails, I wrote Y/N emails, but neither of you ever responded.”

“Why would I?” Christine inquired, looking at Stephen. “I had to fix your mess. I had to take Y/N to a therapist and get her help because she was convinced she did something wrong, that your behavior was her fault so she started cutting herself. She was convinced she had to hurt herself to make the pain stop.”

Stephen let out a deep breath, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. “Christine, I am so, so sorry. For all of it. I mean, you were right. I-I was a complete asshole, I treated you and especially Y/N so horribly and you both deserve so much more.”

“Stop, you’re, you’re clearly in shock.” Christine interrupted, looking up from her stitchwork. Stephen let out a wheezing laugh. “I mean what… what the hell is happening? Where have you been?”

Stephen exhaled. “Well, after Western medicine failed me, I headed East, and I ended up in Kathmandu.”

Christine paused. “Kathmandu? Like the Bob Seger song?”

“1975, Beautiful Loser, side A. Yeah, and I went to a place called Kamar-Taj and I talked to someone called ‘The Ancient One’, and-“

“Oh, so you joined a cult?” Christine smirked.

Stephen shook his head. “No, I didn’t. No, not exactly. No. I mean, they did teach me to tap into powers that I never knew even existed.”

“Yeah that sounds like a cult.”

“It’s not a cult.”

“Well, that’s what a cultist would say.”

“Oh, no.” Stephen laughed, sitting up.

Christine tried to stop him. “Wait. Stephen, wait what do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m late for a cult meeting.”

Christine helped him out of the OR, leading him back into the storage closet where the portal was open. He hopped into the portal, leaving the surgeon shocked. Stephen turned to face her. “Really do have to go. I need you to do something for me.” He gave her a sad smile. “Tell Y/N I love her. And I’m sorry.”

And with that the portal closed, leaving Christine alone in the mop closet.

A few weeks later Y/N got a text on her phone with an address, 177A Bleecker St. Y/N drove to the location, an old building in downtown New York. Y/N stepped in, looking around curiously at the building. It was beautiful, filled with ancient artifacts and books. Y/N walked up to the staircase. “Hello?”

“You cut your hair.” A familiar voice responded, Y/N turning to where her father stood in a red cape and blue robes. “It suits you. You look beautiful.”

Tears gathered in Y/N’s eyes as she stared at the man who once had always been the sun, moon, and stars to her.

“Hey dad.”