I Was Never Yours

Chapter 84

Steve P.O.V

I'm woken by a gentle patting against my cheek, and there's Callie, thumb in mouth, hand against my face. "Hi," I whisper, aware of the sleeping bodies around us.

"I hafta pee." The thumb muffles her voice so I pull it out and kiss her parted lips.

"Alright, pumpkin." I shift out from between Thor and Tony with one hand under her diapered bottom as she clings to my neck.

It's strange seeing her this way, like we've time warped. When she's done peeing, which is a painful experience, she doesn't argue when I grab the cream for the yeast infection as well as some ointment Bruce put out to soothe her raw skin. As I wipe away the fresh blood and apply the ointment to her vulva, I ask, "Is it feeling a little better?"

She shrugs, holding my shoulders for balance. That's a no then.

"Hey, Callie?" I grab for the Canesten cream, my heart thudding. "When Uncle had May over and you were waiting out in the hallway, someone took you away but you came back crying. Was that Cooper?" Its a memory that pulled to the surface after everyone else had fallen asleep. The way she'd been grabbing at herself, her hysteria over being left in the hallway, the way her little fingers clawed the carpet under the door. I turned it over and over in my mind, the person that took her couldn't have been Thor because she came back minutes later even more distressed.

Her big glossy eyes meet mine and she nods.

"Did he rape you?" My voice is barely a whisper.

She bites her lip, looking up to the left, then back to me. "That was b'fore, so I went to Uncle, but then he found me and spanked my bum." A tear slides down her red, feverish cheek.

The nausea that's been sitting in my gut all day strengthens and I sit down against the tub, resting my face on my knees. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I didn't know." It had been easy to assume it was Thor, but thinking back, I can see that it had just been a convenient assumption. He never would have just let her come running back. He never would have stayed in bed while she sobbed out in the hallway. How could I have been so stupid?

Callie pulls my hands away and curls up in my lap. "He cut my hair," she whispers, her lip trembling, "and my teddy."

This information hits me like a truck. Of course it was him. Why the hell would a thirteen year old hack off her own hair, or chop up their special stuffed animal? "I'm sorry, Callie. That's horrible. The way I treated you was horrible. Why didn't you tell me?" I hold her naked body to my chest, she feels too hot, yet she's shivering.

"I thought you'd do somethin' bad and go to jail." She sniffles, fingers twisting into the back of my hair.

I laugh bitterly. "Yeah, I'd like to do something that'd send me to jail."

"No," she wails. "I need Uncle."

"I know, I know. It's okay, baby. I won't do anything stupid." I kiss her and grab a fresh diaper. "Let's put this on, then we'll get some Tylenol." She seems to agree, that or she knows fighting it is futile, because she holds my shoulders and steps into the nappy without a word. "Okay, do you want to lay down and I'll go get your Tylenol?"

A head shake. "I'm hungry, Uncle."

Even with seeing her bruised little body, I find myself grinning. She's hungry. I can't remember the last time she's said that. "Yeah? You want something to eat?"

"Uh huh, yeah." She nods, hugging me as I pick her up.

"What are you hungry for?"

A shrug. "A sandwich?"