It only took two and a half weeks. That's it. That's all it took.
two and a half weeks.
Peter and I, we were thriving, I think. After the night with his panic attack, he slowly started being more comfortable accepting me. Naturally, he was better off with Bucky, being more attached to him and always ran to him first about his stress and panics, but he slowly started letting me in.
We were going to fix this family.
I didn't want to tell Pepper yet, though she 100% deserved to know. It's just... things with Peter are so hard right now. He is still finding out who he is. He has a lot to recover from — the daily panic attacks being one clear sign and frequently reverting back to his behavior with Hydra — and dumping too many new people on him at once just wouldn't be fair to him. I can take Pepper's scolding later.
Even the rest of the Avengers are kindly minding their own business right now. Still in the tower, just not mingling with the three of us as much.
But damn those two and a half weeks just weren't enough.
I woke up this morning, actually getting a full 7 hours last night. I decided I was not going to let my sleep deprived or alcoholic state chase my son away or make him scared and not like me, so I decided to fix all my bad habits. I had a full, fun day with Peter yesterday and I was more than excited to have another one with him today as well.
Bucky and I were slowly trying to introduce him to new foods. His palate is extremely sensitive to strong tastes, so we're taking it slow and giving him tiny pieces, but we decided today was a perfect day to introduce him to ice cream.
One can only go so long without tasting it.
Finding myself smiling, with a little extra jump to my step, I walked over towards Peter's room, lifting up my hand to knock on his door.
I realized that Peter, most of all, really appreciated the little things. Little things like knocking on his door that gives him a sense of autonomy and privacy. He disclosed to me, one night, that guards loved to just barge into his cell and, being his superiors, they could do whatever they wanted. They also liked to randomly play really loud and super annoying bells that triggered a sensory overload (we now called it) and gave him horrible migraines and pain.
As much as that angered me, what had happened to him, it also showed me that he loved whenever we did small things that mattered. Even if it was something as silly as just knocking on the door.
I knocked on the door and didn't hear a response. I gave it a second and knocked again. Peter always responded by the first knock. His enhanced hearing made him never not hear it and he was a light sleeper anyway. I gently turned the door handle, pushing the door open because, even though I felt a little guilty about invading his privacy, I was getting a little concerned.
"Pete? You awake?" I called out, sticking my head into the room.
No response.
My heart rate started to pick up and I felt panic flooding my brain.
"Peter?!"
I scanned the room and he wasn't there. I checked the closet and the floor, the two places I found Peter asleep in the first few nights he was here.
I quickly ran out of that room and towards Bucky's.
He wasn't there either.
"Friday? Scan for heat signatures. Please, please, please for the fucking love of god tell me Bucky and Peter are in the tower!"
"Sorry boss, scans and facial recognition does not identify them anywhere."
"THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU NOT INFORM ME THAT THEY LEFT?" I shouted in anger. I cannot have lost my son again.
I can't.
I can't. I can't. I can't.
"I was not notified of anyone leaving or entering the building. I can decode and analyze my algorithm history to see if there were any intruders that hacked me."
I started pacing around as Friday did her work, only to have her reply that there indeed was an unauthorized inclusion of code into her algorithm that didn't allow her to know of what happened.
"Trace the code and backlog it so that we can find accurate footage of where they went," I ordered, wringing my hands in panic.
In the midst of my stress, I decided that I can't waste another second letting them be missing. I did not fight tooth and nail my entire life, searching and searching for my son, only to have him lost two and a half weeks after I just found him.
Two and a half weeks later I made my family whole again and he started to love me.
My fingers fumbling with nervousness, I took out my cell phone and dialed up Steve.
"Hey, what's up Tony?" his voice rang out from my speaker.
"Cap. I'm gonna need you to come up fast. And suit up. It's time we take down Hydra once and for all."
YOU ARE READING
Not Anymore
FanfictionS-20 has only ever known one thing, Hydra, until one man came into his life and showed him that there was so much more. That man was his first friend. His older brother. But after one night, the two were ripped apart and S-20 cannot even remember hi...
