What's Left Behind

The Forever Friend

Isabelle woke up and yawned, squinting as the sun poured through her windows. She scrambled over to the bedside table where the remote lay, and she pushed the button that lowered the shades, blocking out the bright rays. She slid out of bed and into her furry purple bunny slippers Aunt Pepper had gotten her when she offhandedly mentioned her feet being cold one morning.

The clock on the wall showed it was early, only 7:15 that morning, so Belle stood for a moment, listening to the apartment. There was no sound of movement, no low murmur of the kitchen radio where her father was listening to NPR as he prepared their morning meal. Belle tilted her head slightly the other way and listened again; She could not hear her father snoring, so she headed down the hall and peaked into his room, which she found empty.

Belle sighed, she was disappointed but not surprised. Bruce had not taken a day off to spend with her in over a month, and he had last week promised he would take this particular Saturday off and they would visit the park and maybe the zoo. Belle realized he had forgotten his promise, so she quietly headed down the hallway to get a bowl of cereal before getting a head start on her school work for the week ahead.

It was overly quiet, so Isabelle decided to make conversation with the most constant presence in her life, JARVIS.

"Good morning, JARVIS." She called from her place on a stool at the kitchen counter.

'Good morning, Miss Banner.' JARVIS replied on queue.

"Its dad working already?" She ask through a mouthful of Lucky Charms.

'Yes ma'am. He and Mr. Stark have headed over to the office of the mayor for a breakfast meeting. I was instructed to inform you after you'd eaten that your father was most sorry he was not there when you awoke, but that Ms. Potts would be home if you needed anything.' The AI replied.

"The Mayor has meetings on Saturdays?" Belle pondered aloud. "Does anyone in New York take a day off?"

'I assume due to the alien invasion and subsequent mess, many are working longer hours.' JARVIS offered.

"I guess." Belle sighed. "Hey JARVIS?"

'Yes ma'am?' JARVIS replied.

"Can you send a message to my dad's phone from me?" She ask quietly.

'Of course. What would you like me to say?' JARVIS ask.

"Just the words 'it's Saturday'. Please." Belle said, idly stirring at her remaining cereal. JARVIS let her know when it was sent and delivered, and Belle poured the rest of her breakfast down the garbage disposal and placed her bowl into the dishwasher before headed back down to her room to get dressed. Afterward, she took her books and headed down to the third floor, where Tony had just installed a greenhouse room, which took up the entire floor. There were comfortable places to sit, places to eat, and general cozy relaxing spots; This had quickly became Isabelle's favorite place in the tower. She often did her homework here, so it was how she decided to spend another day alone.

It was a couple hours later before Belle even looked up from her studies, hearing someone's footsteps approaching. She looked over toward the elevator doors to see Pepper coming over, holding a box close to her chest.

"Hey you, whatcha into?" Pepper ask, sitting across from Belle. The box she held made some noise, like something raking or scratching against the cardboard.

"Practicing how to calculate quartiles and interquartile range." Belle replied, sliding her math work over to let Pepper see. Pepper's eyes widened briefly while looking at the advanced mathematics that the nine year old girl was correctly calculating. She quickly regained her composure, however, and smiled at Belle.