191The last thing I expected to come out of the end of my grounding was being brought before an equally irritated Phil Coulson. By the traitor Pepper Potts of course. She seemed all too smug with the vice grip on my shoulder so I couldn't so much as even think about trying to escape.
"Right, I've brought you two together to enact a truce. Anika?" Petulantly I glared down at the floor with my arms crossed only to have Pepper clear her throat. The unspoken 'I'm waiting' was louder than if she even chose to say anything at all.
"I'm sorry Phil." Came one of the most unenthusiastic apologies I've ever made where I still refused to look up at his face.
"For?" Came the prompt from Pepper and I gritted my teeth trying not to spit out anything rather nasty.
"For making a chemical bomb and stealing a car." We can just leave the ah...hacking and data pirating for a later date. Like when I'm actually being accused of it, no need to incriminate myself (and later Dad) via a confession.
Phil must have been on the receiving end of his own 'Pepper glare' because he responded in a tone hilariously similar to my own, "Apology accepted." But quickly was adding, "And I'm sorry I didn't properly provide care for you while in our...care." He was going to say custody, I thought mulishly before Pepper's hand squeezed again showing my cue.
"Apology accepted."
"Good! Now I must go to a meeting so you be good for your Uncle Phil and I'll be back in a bit. Bye sweetheart!" And she, I wouldn't say sprinted because you physically can't in the heels she wears, but she sure escaped that office rather quickly.
"I have never been more offended in my life," I muttered before finally glancing over at whose office I've been ABANDONED in, "So…'Uncle Phil' huh?"
His face was pinched, "Apparently so." The silence was long and awkward, neither of us so much as moved a muscle. "Do you... like music?" He asked haltingly, clearly unsure about how you talk to an almost eight year old.
"Do you have anything from the 40s?"
"Yes, actually." He looked surprised, "I have some records just over here."
"You have a record player?!" I exclaimed loudly which got a small bemused smile back.
"Here, pick some for me to work to. I could even show you my Captain America cards."
"I have a Captain Ameri-Bear and a Bucky Bear, they help me sleep."
His brows furrowed, "Do you get nightmares?"
I felt my face automatically pale thinking of one he actually starred in multiple times, "Protect your back, someone will try to kill you that way." He glanced down at my hands and when I looked to see what he was staring at I could see my hands twisting themselves raw.
"I'll be sure to try Anika." That was the best I was going to get.
I.F.I.F.I.F
Who knew Uncle Phil would grow to like me? Not me that's for DAMN sure. Unfortunately that meant that my growing so comfortable with him meant I constantly was letting my guard down and slipping. I typically was amazing at keeping future information under wraps, only sometimes having moments like the sneak peek I gave Dad and the emotional slip Phil got when we made nice.
So far, I think I've accidentally mentioned Daisy, May, and who even knows what other stuff. Mostly because I just felt comfortable as time went on and when one is comfortable it's not like they fully focus on what exactly they're saying when on a roll. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
On a side note, what the hell is taking Dad so LONG with what he is talking about? Honestly, today just wasn't my day after Peter went to school in the morning. I was off all day, just groggy and kinda listless. Whatever, soon enough I'll be home and everything will be fine.
I.F.I.F.I.F
"Has Anika ever showed any signs of having abilities Mr. Stark?" Phil asked directly and to the point but still keeping out of earshot of the child.
"Abilities? You mean apart from her intellect?" Tony smirked because honestly, how ridiculous, his child having abilities.
"Yes," Phil pressed his lips together in what the child has dubbed his 'ubber serious face', "We have reason to believe she has shows signs of being able to...fortune tell, if you will. Have some kind of psychic capability."
Tony outwardly scoffed, but on the inside he was cursing like a madman. "Well, I can tell you anything 'weird' she might have said is just regurgitated information she overheard from someone else at some point in time. She does have an eidetic memory, but she is still just a child, they have expansive imaginations." She, as a child, also did not seem to grasp how much was too much to say around people, Tony thought to himself with no small amount of panic.
"Mr. Stark, I myself have plenty of reason to think that it isn't merely the overactive imagination of a child-" Phil was cut off by an increasingly irate Tony Stark.
"No, you listen," his voice was the kind where he was oh-so-very-calm, when in reality it was hanging on by hardly a thread. In fact the dark stormy cloud of calm fury that cast a shadow over his face was the only evidence of how close he was to taking one of the perfectly lined up objects on Phil's desk and beating him over the head with it. "My daughter is as normal as a genius child comes, and those are the words you are going to use in the file you all have on her. She has no super human abilities, and has shown no signs of possibly getting any. Is that clear Agent?"
Phil nodded stiffly, and Tony straightened his tie before turning on his heel. His stoney expression relaxed to one of exhausted fondness seeing his baby sleeping in the chair by the door. Her face was tight from how uncomfortable she was tucked up tight in the chair, but seemingly exhausted enough to sleep despite it. She loosened when he lifted her from the chair, automatically wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist even knowing in sleep that it was him. He sighed and rested his nose in the soft strawberry locks that amusingly enough smelled of strawberries, Pepper had great taste. "God kid, what have I told you about conspiracy theories?"
I.F.I.F.I.F.
Tony, while he did notice she seemed lackluster during the evening after leaving 'Uncle Phil's' *gag*, did not really think too much of it at the time. That all changed at around three in the morning.
A little voice that sounded absolutely miserable whimpered, "Daddy? I don't feel good."
Tony was still groggy, this was one of the times he was actually sleeping at a decent hour so he was trying to connect the dots, "What do you mean?" The question was asked only about two seconds before it looked like she was sucker punched in the gut by Bruce Lee, subsequently following was the most violent projectile vomiting he'd seen since his days at MIT. What was alarming, well more so than the fact that his kid looked like she was trying to have her inner organs expunged through her mouth, was how the heaves just weren't STOPPING.
He and Pepper had jumped out of bed at the start of it but were only able to try and comfort as she sobbed through what looked like agonizing dry heaves.
"Oh no baby what happened?" Pepper asked before he was able to, he mostly was frozen in fear not quite knowing what he was supposed to do. Her hand went to rest the back of her fingers over Anika's forehead, and her face tightened into the mask she puts on when trying not to panic. "She's burning up, Tony can you take care of this? I'll go clean her up."
All the while his poor baby was still sobbing, "I-sorry!" She managed to say hiccuping between the cries.
Pepper just shushed her, leading her to the bathroom, "Don't even worry about it, we're going to get you in the shower and brush your teeth again. Get that yucky taste out of your mouth."
Tony finally got the sick cleared up, though he made note to have cleaners come in to really get rid of the smell, and went out to join Pepper and his daughter who were kipping out on the couch in the living room. He wasn't sure where Pepper found the bucket that was positioned near Anika's head, but he wasn't all that shocked she would manage to find it. Anika looked absolutely dreadful, glassy eyed and quite red in the face.
Actually… "Is her face supposed to look like that?" Pepper looked up at his question and frowned.
"Well her fever is about 103."
Tony still frowned, "Right…" That was when Bucky came out of his room, the sheer amount of noise enough to rouse even the dead.
"The hell is going on?"
"Anika isn't feeling very well," Pepper said rather diplomatically as that would be classified by many as an understatement. Bucky however took that as stating that the sky was falling as he immediately knelt down in front of the girl to inspect her closely.
"Shit," he lifted her pajama top even as Tony let out a 'Hey!', eyes widening as he put a hand to her face ignoring Tony completely. "Маленькая звезда, I need you to open your mouth for me. I know your throat hurts but I need to see."
"What do you mean her throat hurts?" Pepper asked, instantly trying to see what was wrong.
"Look under her jaw, she's swollen, and- fuck!" She has stuck her tongue out and even Tony could see that something was WRONG. "It's scarlet fever, I remember back when Stevie had it."
"Mommy, hurts," Anika mumbled, her usually strong grip scarily weak and lack with her attempts to just clutch Pepper's pants.
Sending a significant look up at Tony, Pepper said, "We're going to the Emergency Room, now."
A/N
First of all, HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS WE GOT TO OVER 100K READS ON IRON FALL? HOW?! I'M GOING TO LITERALLY CRY I CAN'T EVEN DEAL LIKE WE'RE ALMOST AT 110K! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING, REVIEWING, AND IN GENERAL ALWAYS COMING BACK FOR UPDATES!
Secondly….I'm sorry about the waiiitt… as my time of waiting for being able to go to Germany extends I was just in a FUNK and was trying to figure out some filler stuff to eventually get to the Avengers (it IS a little bit of a gap and there is stuff that needs to be laid out more before then) in any case I'M WRITING AGAIN and it's happening...everybody stay calm xD
PEACE!
