Despite my initial attempt to run away, living at the tower with the Avengers wasn't the absolute worst thing in the world. They were pretty nice and the breakfast was five star, at least, compared to what I was used to. My first night that I stayed in the tower, Bruce didn't let me leave the med-bay, and I had to have supervision at all times. Fortunately after that, Tony gave me a room to call my own. It was pretty devoid of any decoration and if you walked in you wouldn't think a teenage girl lived there. I didn't really care though, because for the first time in a long time I could fall asleep on a real bed.I guess Tony didn't see it the same way I did because after a few weeks of sleeping in one of the many spare rooms, he pulled me through the halls to stop outside a door that was down the hall from his.
"I figured since you're staying with us, you should probably have a room to call your own," he said sheepishly as we stood outside the new room that was down the hall from his. The location, I assumed, was probably a suggestion from Dr. Banner who had been watching me like a hawk since I'd moved in. With a small smile, I opened the door to the room and stepped inside to see one of the biggest rooms I'd ever been in! Not to mention that it had stars covering the ceiling that seemed to move in the light of the glowing sunset. "Sorry it took so long, but I remembered that you said you liked the stars," Tony said nervously as he gestured to the ceiling. "I hope it-" He was cut off by me hugging him fiercely.
"Thank you," I whispered as he hugged me back.
"No problem kiddo," he said softly "why don't you go ahead and get some sleep. Maybe we can try and start some schoolwork tomorrow or something." I nodded eagerly as Tony ruffled my hair and walked out leaving me to walk around my room in wonder before falling backwards onto my bed with a squeal and closing my eyes and descending into nightmares.
"You're such a bitch Sadie!" I whimpered in fear as Will cornered me in the warehouse.
"I'm sorry," I whispered before curling into a ball. Will just scoffed and started kicking me while yelling obscenities at me. "STOP!" I screamed.
"Sadie! Sadie wake up!" I bolted upright and looked around wildly. "Hey," I heard Tony say calmly "I'm right here, nothing's going to hurt you." I started sobbing as Tony pulled me into a hug and gently rubbed my back as I tried to calm down.
"He was going to kill me." I said hoarsely as started trembling.
"It's alright," Tony whispered as he pulled me into a tighter hug "Will is never going to touch you again. I promise."
"It felt so real," I mumbled as I looked up at him in fear.
"I know sweetheart," he said sadly "are you going to be ok for the rest of the night?" I hesitated before shaking my head and letting him pull me closer to him so I could rest my head on his chest.
"I'm sorry for waking you up," I said, my voice muffled as I buried my face in his shirt.
"It's OK," he said softly as he tilted my head up to face him "I just want to make sure you're alright after everything." I smiled slightly as I closed my eyes, trying to clear my head of the nightmares I'd been plagued by.
"Goodnight Tony." I mumbled as I started to drift off to sleep.
"Goodnight Sweetheart."
What did I do? I can't believe I actually had to have Tony help me with a nightmare; he's probably going to think I'm a baby. When I woke up, I found that Tony had wrapped an arm protectively around me. Wanting to leave before he woke up, I carefully slid out from under his arm and started to crawl out of the bed. Before I could however, I heard him clear his throat and I sheepishly turned around to see him watching me with a frown.
"Could've at least warned me you were awake or something," I muttered as I turned around to face him.
"It's more fun to mess with you," Tony replied with a grin. "And why were you trying to run away again?
"I thought you were going to hate me for last night." I said quietly.
"Sadie I'm not going to hate you because you had a nightmare." he said softly "I'm always going to be here for you because you're a part of the family now. No matter what happens." I smiled and looked at him happily.
"Thanks....D-" I cut myself off before I could say the dreaded three letter word that I hadn't had cause to say in such a long time. I tensed up and pulled away as Tony looked at me nervously.
"If you wanted to call me Dad," he said quietly as he drummed his fingers against the blankets "I'm just saying I wouldn't hate it." I glanced up at Tony and then back down at my lap before letting out a shallow breath.
"Thanks Dad." Tony grinned and pulled me into a tight hug as I smiled into his shirt.
"Anytime Kiddo."
"OK, so if you're trying to figure out this side of the triangle squared, you're going to multiply these sides by themselves and add them together." I nodded silently as I looked over some of the problems Tony had given me. I was about to ask a question when JARVIS, the AI who apparently lived in the ceiling, started talking.
"Sir, the contract for the miniature arc rector has been sent over." Tony pulled it up on his phone and groaned in frustration.
"JARVIS, tell them to send me a copy in English." he said resignedly.
"Right away Sir." I frowned as I looked over Tony's shoulder at the contract that was written in Spanish.
"I wouldn't take that contract if I were you." I told him as I scanned it.
"What do you mean?" Tony asked distractedly.
"Well it says in the second section that they will have complete access to your actual arc reactor and what it's used for." Tony stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me in shock.
"You can read Spanish?" he asked carefully.
"I picked up skills when I lived on the streets." I said with a shrug as I continued to read the contract. Tony moved to sit down in front of me.
"What else can you do, skill wise?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Um," I said as I tried to think "I can speak Spanish, Chinese, French, some Russian. Don't ask me about that last one. I can reprogram electrical panels and hack into security feeds." Tony was staring at me in astonishment, and it was honestly starting to freak me out. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked nervously.
"No!" he exclaimed as he smiled at me "Sadie, this is amazing! You said that you've never really had a formal education, but we completely overlooked what you just picked up from around you! Did you learn all of that from off the street?" I nodded shyly and Tony chuckled softly. "You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for." he said gently.
"Then why is it still hard for me to do simple stuff?" I asked miserably.
"You still need to hone the skills you didn't have on the streets." he said patiently "Now that we know how you actually learned, I think I have an idea on how to help you. Grab your notebook and pencil, we're taking a field trip." I was so confused, but did as he asked and followed him to his car where I got in and smiled as he zoomed at top speed into the city.
We stopped outside of a tall building and I hurried after Tony as we walked inside and took the elevator to the roof.
"OK," Tony said as he ushered me to the edge of the roof "let's pretend your brother's standing at the base of that building," he pointed to a building that was roughly a hundred feet away "and I want to shoot him from where I'm standing." I giggled at his example, but still paid attention "If this building is two hundred feet tall and he's a hundred feet away from the base of it, how far away do I need to shoot? I have a calcula-"
"Fifty thousand feet." I said as I finished my mental calculations. Tony did a double take as he looked at my work and then back to me.
"Yeah," he said with a small laugh "that's right." I smiled happily as he ruffled my hair. "I told you that you were smart." he said as he pulled me in for a hug.
"Don't rub it in my face." I muttered as I looked up at him.
"That's one of my favorite things to do so suck it up." I giggled as he picked me up and set me on his shoulders "Next we'll tackle how to reprogram computers to mess with people in fun ways."
"Dad, no."
"Killjoy."