Living with the Avengers

How to Help Skye

The second chapter of the week as promised. It's short, but hopefully, you will enjoy it.

Nat was the first to break out of their shock into a silent stupor, asking Bruce what happens now. Everyone looked up at Bruce hoping he had answers, they weren't cable of raising a child, let alone help someone through what Skye has had to endure. Sure they could keep her safe until the people that were after them were caught, but what else could they do. Bruce leaned forward in his seat, clasping his hands together in front of him, as he tried to recall anything he knew about dealing with trauma. So he started with medical facts first, choosing to leave mental for last. "First of, as I said, she needs to wear the cast, then the splint to heal her arm. We will have to get her on a calorie-rich, high vitamin and mineral diet as I previously mentioned, to restore and build up everything her body has lost, and severely needs. I will be putting her on vitamin and calcium supplements as well, to help speed up the process. She looks to be in good shape, fitness-wise, so I don't think exercises and such at this point is needed, but I will recess, once she starts putting back on some weight, and her levels balance out. As for emotionally and mentally, I want to consult a few colleges first, who have more experience in this field, before prescribing treatments and such, but at the moment, I think there are a few things we can do to help her. For one, we need to be careful how we react around her, like today for example..." The entire group was listening, giving Bruce their full attention, wanting to do everything they possibly could to help Skye. "we can defiantly say there was abuse, and as such, she will have triggers that can cause her to run, or have panic attacks as we have already seen. It seems like things like shouting, unexpected touch, fast movements, or anything resembling anger or fighting can trigger her, so try and avoid those. We will also have to try and get her to trust that we will not hurt her..." at this point, Clint adds his thoughts, as he is a bit familiar with this area, "Which will not be easy. Foster kids have been let to believe and trust and then let down, leading to abandonment issues, severe trust issues, and so on." Bruce nodded his head, "I agree with Clint here. I also believe that her abuse was not gender-specific as she is ok with both Tony and Steve, but skittish around me and Clint..." at this, he gives Clint an apologetic look, before continuing, "Same for Nat and Pepper. She seems to trust Nat, Tony, and Steve the most. Now as I said, I will be consulting a few colleges and keep you updated as I learn more, plus I think getting her into a routine would be helpful, but not forced upon her. At the moment I can't think of anything else." Bruce finished, sitting back in his chair. Everyone was in thought, thinking about everything that they just learned, to think only two hours ago they were having dinner.

Tony interrupted their thoughts a few minutes later, "so basically you are saying, spoil her every minute of the day, while trying not to scare her and earn her trust." Steve shook his head at Tony as Nat rolled her eyes and Bruce sighed, "Yes, Tony in a way, that is what I am saying." Tony just smiled brightly; as he started thinking of all the things he can do, to put a little joy in the girl's life.

They sat there for about 20 minutes discussing ways they could watch what they do, help Skye, and so forth when Bruce got an alert on his tablet that Skye's heartbeat was raising. The others saw this as well, and everyone stood up at once, going through the doors to see Skye and what was causing the rise in her heart rate.