Wrong Number, Kid

Dinner With the Avengers

"How was dinner?" I ask.

"Very good. Thank you," she responds.

"If you're still hungry, there are some peanut butter cookies in the cabinet."

"No thank you."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Um, sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Honey, we're not blind. We can see that there is something going on."

"Oh..."

"Is there anything we can help with?" I ask.

"No, sorry. No one can really help me with this one. All I can do is hope for the best."

I'm confused by this. What does she mean by "hope for the best?"

"What do you mean, honey?"

"Sorry, it's nothing. I-I, um, it kinda, er, just-just, slipped out. Um, I-I..."

I cut her off. "Honey, you don't need to apologize. Everyone here just wants what's best for you. It's okay to not be okay. Nothing is perfect. I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, you can always ask. Understand?"

She nods. "Yes ma'am."

"Please don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel old."

She smiles. I hope that she is starting to feel more comfortable with everything going on. She is such a sweet girl.

<<Delilah>>
"Um, may I go home? I have more homework than I would like and I want to get a head start," I ask.

Mrs. Potts turns back to me. "In a sec, Tony had something he wanted to talk to you about. Nothing bad, if you were wondering. For some reason a lot of people associate needing to talk with something bad."

I nod, and she calls over Mr. Stark.

"Hey, kid," he says. "Before you leave, I was wondering if you wanted to spend weekends here and help. You would have your own room and plenty of time for homework, if you need it. You could either just stay over Friday's and go home Sunday night so you can get to school, or you can go home Fridays and come back Saturday mornings. Or you don't have to come on weekends at all. The choice is yours."

I stare at him blankly. He wants me to come over on the weekends to help him, and stay the night?

"I would- I would love to," I say. "I will have to check with Ms. Nancy, but I will let you know tomorrow. Um, if she, um, if she says yes, I wouldn't be able to come this Friday. Something came up. If it's okay, I would come Saturday morning."

"No problem, kid. Uh, you can go home now if you want. I can get Happy."

"Thanks!"

"See you tomorrow kid."

<<Tony>>
This kid. She is so polite, but almost to her expense. I'm going to get Happy so she can go home. I would drive her, but I would probably have to fight Happy for that. He says that driving with her is peaceful. I get it. Having a normal conversation with her would be great if I could get her to talk about herself. Happy says that she always greets him and says thank you before leaving, but that's about it. I would kind of like to see her have a conversation with someone she is comfortable with to see what happens.

I head back to my lab only to remember that there's a blaster in there. I go over to the table where it lays and pick it up. I pull the last wire out, but it blasts again. Obviously I know how to handle that, but the kid was doomed no matter which wire she pulled. Of course Pepper rushes in because she thinks I hurt myself again, but I just look at her. Then we both look at the blaster.