Unforeseen¹

Chapter 10- Living nightmare

The next seven days were identical. Jayden would wake at ten, have breakfast with Pepper before she left for work, and then she'd be alone, under the observant gaze of JARVIS. She'd busied herself with various activities, including watching TV, reading Harry Potter, and playing around with Theo. By then, it would be later in the afternoon, and Bruce would come up with his worksheets.

With her extra heart, she had increased blood flow, and as a result, her brain worked quicker than any ordinary human. Or so that was believed by Bruce and Doirs. To test this, Bruce would come up each day and have her do an hour of math, science, or English. He even had her do some physical stuff, but the results were not very impressive. It was quickly concluded that it was likely because of her semi-malnutrition, and it would resolve once they got her weight up.

There were a few days when Pepper considered finding her a tutor, but Jayden immediately rejected the idea. She didn't like the thought of education, not one bit. She knew, of course, that it would be nothing like the lab's classroom, but she couldn't help it. She just wasn't ready for it, simple as that, and Pepper seemed to understand as she didn't push the subject.

The collar was proving a tough nut to crack, even for the famed Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Jayden, while eager for its removal, felt mixed about the whole thing. She was four years old when Terries first clicked it around her neck. To imagine a life without it was as strange as being without hands. It was a second skin. It was her normal.

It was different now. She was no longer in the lab where suppression collars were normalised, but in a place where it was a constant focus of discussion, where its permanent removal was becoming more possible by the day. Suddenly, it was there; present in a way it had never been before. It turned from a forgotten artifact to what it really was: a vice, a prison, tenacious claws that dug into her skin, digging further each time she imagined being without it.

Freedom taunted her. Unlike the lab, where it felt so desperately far that you had to squint to see it, her fingers could now brush against it, so close, yet it was so irritably out of her reach. It itched at her, but instead of scratching, all she could do was wait.

But at least she had another negative to focus on. Tony. Or the lack of him. In the past week, she could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen him. The excuses were as simple as him working on her collar, but she was skeptical. He was in his lab for hours at a time, and if it wasn't for Pepper dragging him out for meals at the table, or a decent night's sleep, Jayden doubted he'd vacate it at all.

During the few times she saw him, he acted strange. Stranger than his normal self. She noticed he wouldn't look at her properly, and he'd speak to her, sure, but it was only when she was the one to initiate the conversation. It left a bitter taste in Jayden's mouth, and she worried if there was something she had done wrong.

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The couch was second most comfiest thing she'd ever lain on, a tad behind her favourite: her bed. Her arm hung off the side, her fingers lightly brushing against the plush carpet. She'd imagined many things about what life would be outside the lab, and something she'd never accounted for was the simplicity of comfort.

Her other hand rested upon Theo's scaly back, rising and falling with the motions of his soft breathing as he curled up against her stomach. She felt one inch away from sinking fully into the couch, her eyes drooping, half-tracking an evening show the TV was displaying. Her nose wrinkled as it showed a pair of dogs chasing one another in a park; the sun was beaming, and children nearby were enjoying ice-cream. She turned, not wishing to look.

"You alright?" Theo asked, sensing it through their bond.

"Yeah. Just... wish we could go outside properly. To the park or whatever."