Steve and Bucky are worried about your development so go to bruce for help, and discover something they weren't expecting. (Also you still can't speak).
Word count: 1,700
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"On Saturday he ate through, one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream, one pickle...."
You sat with Steve as he read the hungry caterpillar for the tenth time. The pages full of colour and different foods as you sat patiently.
"Hey guys", said Bucky, who'd just come in from training, "what are you reading?"
"The hungry caterpillar!" Said Steve in his excited voice. But by this point he could probably recite the book in his sleep.
Bucky went into the bathroom so Steve handed you the book and ran after him.
"Buck I'm worried", he whispered. "Y/n just seems sort of in her own world all the time".
These conversations had started happening quite often so Bucky smiled. "I know but remember what bruce said, we don't know what trauma shes been through so we shouldn't expect her to talk in the same time other kids her age do".
"I know Buck but she doesn't seem to be doing anything else either. She doesn't point or identify things when i ask. What if shes developmentally delayed and needs our help?"
Bucky put a hand on the man's shoulders and peeked out. You were sat in the same spot with the book on your lap looking up at nothing.
"You need to stop googling things, it makes you worry. But would it make you feel better if we saw bruce again?"
The blonde nodded so Bucky sighed. "Ok let me shower really quick and then we can see if he's free".
When he was done he walked into the bedroom to see Steve standing with you. He'd dressed you in blue joggers and a captain America top.
Bucky laughed, "look at you! Are you dressed like daddy!" He said making you giggle.
They walked into the lab and bruce didn't look busy, "hi guys, what can i do for you?"
Bucky turned to Steve so he could explain, "um well we are a bit worried about y/n. She still doesn't seem to be.. well.. in the same world as us most of the time. And um, i was worried". He finished, turning his eyes to the floor.
Bruce smiled, "thats ok, all parents worry. We can take a look".
They placed you on the floor and bruce got out a small box of toys. He placed a couple of different wooden animals on the floor. "Hey y/n, can you show me the giraffe?" You looked at them and looked up to bruce looking lost. "What about the pig?" But he got the same answer.
"Do you go over these things with her?" He asked your dads and they both nodded.
"We do all that and we read her like ten books a day", said Steve, "although normally she just wants the hungry caterpillar".
Bruce looked back down, "y/n, can you hand me the caterpillar?" But you, again, didn't move for the caterpillar.
"Ok what about clapping your hands? Can you clap your hands?" He smiled clapping his own.
You stared at him with eyebrows slightly raised.
"Does she always react like this?" He asked them. You would never spend much time around anyone except your dads still.
"Yea most of the time", answered Bucky, "sometimes she'll turn the pages in the book but not all the time. She never answers when we ask her, whats this? for example. Occasionally she'll point at something she wants but most of the time she just cries or shouts random noises until we figure it out".
"And she won't copy the sign language we're trying to teach her", added Steve.
"It's not unusual that she isn't speaking, we should try to encourage it but most kids her age say around 20 words by now so she isn't too far behind. She's only been here for 3 months so hopefully it'll start soon. And she isn't delayed in any way physically, in fact she's way ahead of her age in that. Unfortunately we wont know if she has any delays in learning until shes slightly older. We can make a plan to help her identify more things and communicate better. It could be that she needs more help socially after the first 15 months of her life didn't have a lot of it".
Bruce looked over and you were holding a thin book, looking at the pages. "Oh can i take that? Thank you. We can't have this breaking", he said gently but you started crying anyway. "I'm sorry y/n, here i have a different book", he tried handing it to you but you knocked it away.
Bucky lay stomach down on the floor next to you, rubbing your back. "Hey shhhh, its ok, do you want to play with the sheep?" He asked, taking it from a line of toys you must have made.
You cried harder and took it from him, putting it back where it was.
"What does the order mean y/n?", Bruce asked after watching you. He noticed you put the sheep back where it was before so wondered why you wanted it there when it just looked like a random line of toys.
He spoke quietly, "there's a sheep, and a syringe, and a fried egg..." you quietened to sniffles to listen to him speaking. "And another sheep, and a lamb".
He reached over and swapped the egg and syringe which made you growl and put it back.
"Does she normally do this? Have things a specific way?"
Steve nodded, "yea sometimes, its just small things like this though. Doesn't really make sense".
"Why do they have to be like that y/n?" Bruce tried again. This time you looked towards the book in his hand.
Bucky saw and offered you a different book but you shook your head. Bruce however looked at the front cover. 'Learn genetics for pre-teens" it said on the front.
He also noticed a little picture of a sheep on the front, "dolly?", he whispered to himself, making you fling your head around to face him.
"Dolly?" He repeated and you smiled.
Bucky and Steve just looked confused.
"The sheep, the syringe, the fried egg, the other sheep and the lamb", he said quietly, "the cloned sheep".
You looked up smiling and clapping your hands.
"Why's she clapping now?" Asked Bucky, "who's Dolly?" but bruce just looked confused.
"Dolly is a sheep that scientists successfully cloned. It says it right here in this book. It kind of seems like thats what she was trying to re create here", he says pointing to the toys.
"But she cant read", said Steve, "at least she's never seemed to read anything".
Thinking, Bruce stared at the toys. He walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a small set of books, handing them over to you. You took them making excited squealing noises.
"Sometimes my team goes to schools and talks to kids", explains Bruce. "They hand out these books to kids aged 5-8".
"Shes not even 2", said Bucky but bruce shrugged.
"She seems to like the older stuff, rather than just the toy animals. Keep an eye on her and see if she looks through these books and turns the pages or if she just plays with it. Read them to her and see if she identifies things from them. And I'll see you again next week to see if anything's changed".
Your dads were equally confused but agreed and walked you out, with arms full of new books.
Four days later Steve and Bucky appeared back at Bruce's door again.
At first he assumed it hadn't worked, "do we need to find something simpler?" He asked but they shook their heads.
"Not exactly", said Bucky. "Just watch this".
He set you on the floor and opened up a geography book. It showed an entire page on the wonders of the world.
"Y/n can you point to the pyramids?" You did it straight away and made a humming noise as you waited for the next one.
"Good job! What about the... Mausoleum?" He wanted to ask a hard one to show bruce.
Again, you pointed straight at it.
Steve bent down to kiss your head, "well done baby girl!"
They looked up to bruce who looked impressed. "Wow how did you teach her that?"
"We didn't!" They said. "We just asked her one day and she pointed to them all, we think she read them herself".
Bruce took a moment to think about what happens next. He'd planned for a few different outcomes but this wasn't one of them. He looked around until he saw the remnants of an iron suit tony had left in there earlier. He looked around for the blueprints before handing them to you. "Hey y/n, read these".
Steve gave him a funny look but he didn't respond, just waited until you gave the paper back.
"Ok good, come over here and look at this", he said as he walked to the suit.
He waited until you were next to him before asking, "where are the flight stabilisers?"
You immediately pointed to the hands and looked up.
"Good. What about the HUD display? The repulser rays? Jet thrusters?"
You pointed to everything he asked and again, looked up.
"And you definitely didn't teach her that?" He asked as your dads shook their heads no.
"In that case... i think shes going to be fine. Just keep getting her books if she gets bored with these and maybe try puzzles or educational video games. Don't let her get bored and you'll be fine".
You realised there were no more questions so started to walk out, past your worried looking dads. "What do you mean we'll be fine? We came in for her?" Said Bucky but Bruce laughed.
"Well you don't have to worry about her it seems she's going to be ahead of other kids her age. We won't be able to test how ahead for another couple of years. Come back if you have questions".
"Ok thank you", Steve mumbled in shock as Bucky ran out realising you had already gone.
"Good luck!" Bruce shouted after them, chuckling to himself.