When You Saved Me

Chapter 20

Callie P.O.V

Flying in Daddy's plane was a lot different than the jet. This one had windows and I could watch the clouds and birds pass underneath us.

Daddy slept most of the trip, I don't blame him, the nightmares have been pretty bad lately, I should know. I kept quiet so as not to disturb him and just looked out all the windows and the nice lady in the uniform gave my snacks and juice.

When we finally touch down I feel relieved; I know that Daddy texted Pepper, I listen more than he gives me credit for, but atleast here we are far away from her.

I tug on Daddy's sleeve to make him wake up and when he finally stirs he looks at me with a sleepy smile, "sorry kid, I guess I was tired."

"That's okay,"I assure him, "but we are here now." I inform, pointing out a window as proof.

"Holy shit, what?!" He says, quickly covering his mouth and apologizing for something that I am unaware of. "I can't believe I slept the whole flight!" He exclaims at last.

I shrug, then begin pulling on his shirt again, "come on, lets go!" I urge. I am so curious to see where everyone else lives. I've only seen them a handful of times and it's mainly just been Uncle Bruce.

"Okay okay!" Daddy laughs taking my hand as we exit the plane.

We step down onto a long strip of pavement; which is called a runway according to Daddy, the runway leads to a path that connects to a series of large buildings which are affectionately called the 'Avengers Facility'. But surrounding all this concrete are beautiful, green lawns, and I feel the sudden urge to run.

I pull my hand away from Daddy's and start moving my legs. I've never really ran before but it just comes naturally, starting slow at first and getting faster and faster.

I hear my name being called behind me but I don't care; the wind is blowing against my face and I close my eyes laughing. In this moment I am completely free, a feeling I've never experienced in all my life.

When I finally reach the front doors of a building I am breathing hard; I turn around to see Daddy far behind me, not much moved from where I left him. I grin and wave, ecstatic at my new found skill.

"My God you're fast." I turn around to see Cap and Thor gawking at me.

"I told you, she's not human." Mumbles the tall blond man.

Uncle Steve quickly brushes him off and kneels in front of me flashing his perfect smile, "Hi Callie, how are you?"

"I'm great!" I exclaim.

Uncle Steve chuckles at my enthusiasm, "you like to run hey?"

"Yes!" I beam, "I've never done it before now, but I love it!"

His smile breaks a little, and I can sense a hint of sadness. He picks me up into his arms and starts carrying me back the way I came, "you're so fast you left your Daddy in the dust," he says making me giggle, "while you're here we can play lots of running games. You'd probably love football, or soccer, and we have a pool for swimming."

"What's a pool?" I interrupt him, this all sounds incredibly exciting, but I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed by all the words that I don't understand.

"It's... it's like a giant bathtub," he says, emphasizing the word 'giant'.

"Okay, that all sounds fun." I nod my head in agreement.

When we've finally reached Daddy, he raises an eyebrow at me, but despite his displeased demeanor I can sense his amusement.

"Holy shit, have you always been that fast?"

"Tony, language." Says Uncle Steve, covering my ears, to which Daddy rolls his eyes dramatically.

I lay my head on Uncle Steve's solid shoulder, yawning, "I don't know, I've never run before." I say again, closing my eyes, all those nights haunted by bad dreams seem to finally have caught up to me. I wrap my arm around his neck and push my face into him before drifting off to sleep.
•
•
•
Steve P.O.V

As soon as we got into the living quarters of the facility I put Callie down for a nap in the room we made up for her; anyone who falls asleep that quickly is clearly exhausted.

I find Tony in the room next to Callie's unpacking his things.

"She's a damn cute kid." I say, leaning my shoulder onto the doorframe.

His head snaps up, clearly startled by my presence but he recover and nods with a smile, "I know. But honestly, seeing how happy she was running... it makes me think I might need to reevaluate our living arrangements." He says scratching his head.

I'm surprised by his openness, he usually saves this part of himself for Bruce and I'm left with a closed off, snarky Tony. "What about Pepper?" I reach, hoping that I'm not prying to much.

"Well, I haven't heard from her since she stormed out the first day. I texted her before my flight but she hasn't replied yet." He shrugs, placing a folded t-shirt into the oak dresser.
"Depending how our stay goes I might look into selling my place and moving in here. It would be nice having extra eyes on the kid." He glances up at me, before continuing his unpacking.

"Really? She seems so sweet and quiet!" I blurt.

Tony smirks at my outburst and puts his hand across his mouth, a habit he usually does while thinking, "she's not bad... at least not in the way you'd think. But, she gets into things, like I've found several televisions dismantled, amongst other things. And because she moves so silently, like crawling across the ceiling and shit you never know where she is or what she's up to." His voice rises with the last sentence making apparent his frustration. "It might not be so bad if I wasn't so damn tired. She has nightmares every night Steve. I literally have to sleep with her otherwise they just keep coming every hour or so." He looks at me, clearly overwhelmed. "It would be nice if someone else could take over sometimes, that's all."

"Well, I'm sure we can all pitch in. I don't think it was ever Fury's intention for you to take her on all on your own." I assure him, "and honestly Tony, she's probably going to start testing her stability here eventually. Like I doubt she'll be so quiet and obedient forever." I shrug, I'd spent some time reading cases on foster care since Callie had come into my life and her compliance has always shocked me, but I have a feeling it won't last forever.