Lieutenant - Daughter of the Captain

Chapter 53.0 - Moving

It started slow.

Folding the first box. Putting the roll of tape on the tape gun. Taking the pictures off of her walls.

Carter had never been a fan of...organization. She didn't own much clutter, so her room was tidy, but the pictures didn't have frames and her closet didn't have hangers.

She spent too much time training to focus on laundry, or decorating. Instead, when she wanted something to be posted on her wall, she simply pushed a pin through it and the drywall and there it stayed.

Wanda, Natasha and Pietro had done most of the aesthetic parts for her. Adjusting the pictures so she could see them all, occasionally straightening the crooked ones, taping together the oldest of them so they could still hang.

This was what Carter started with. This would be the hardest part, she decided. After she got rid of those, then her connection to this place would fade. The emotions that almost made her chase down Tony and Pepper and beg them to let her stay would be set aside. Locked in a small box so she wouldn't have to face them until she's ready.

After that box, it was simple. Tony and Happy would be installing new electronics in her new room, so she didn't have to worry about those. Her books filled a few large boxes with some space for clothes in each so that the weight of the books could be evenly distributed.

She packed up her sharp objects in their traveling cases and then simply stuffed a few of her favorite pieces from her wardrobe, fully intending on getting a new one now that she was supposed to spend her days sitting around in classrooms rather than jumping from the gym to training with her superpowers.

While closing the last of her suitcases, she noticed a folded red shirt and sweatpants sitting on top of her dresser.

Confused, she examined them.
The shirt was red with the periodic table printed on the front, though it was slightly faded from the wear.

"I will have Happy get these back to you, at some point,"

Carter blinked at the memory, realizing it had been over four months since she'd borrowed these and they'd just been sitting in her closet.

Fully intending on returning them to the awkward, web-swinging boy that had helped her through two of her panic-attacks, she packed them in her backpack along with her good charger, her small first-aid kit, and a bag of tampons.

Yeah, it'd been a really shitty four months.

But hey, at least puberty waited until she was fifteen to fully hit her.

The lights dimmed slightly, and on instinct Carter looked to the tv across the room to read Friday's notification.

[ Tony and Pepper want to know if you are ready to send the movers in ]

With a sigh, Carter grabbed her small, sealed box of memories, and stuffed it in her backpack with the rest of her necessities.

Taking one last look at her room, she felt nothing but anger at the turn her life had taken. At the stage of her life that she had enjoyed so much, coming to and end.

So she turned her back, and walked out of it.

**********************

"Legally, you're in boarding school. However, since you're not technically attending a boarding school, you'll be staying in an apartment complex nearby," Pepper explained from beside her.

"Yeah, think college, but less fun and you're not and adult," Tony quipped, having positioned himself in the front passenger seat rather than in the back to give her some 'space'.