When You Saved Me

Chapter 29

Steve P.O.V

I wake up the next morning with Callie tucked into bed next to me. She had started the night in her own bed and was sound asleep for about an hour before I was awoken by blood curdling screams and had to go fetch her. Once she was passed out beside me she slept peacefully for the rest of the evening, I was grateful to get some sleep though I can see why Tony wanted me to take the night shift, you can't exactly be intimate with a kid in your bed. I'll definitely be suggesting to Tony go get the girl a therapist, she is obviously still tortured by her past; which reminds me, I need to tell him about the "Star Wars incident", I imagine that's something he'd want to know about.

I roll out of bed, careful to not wake the snoozing five year old and make my way out of the kitchen to find something to eat.

When I turn the corner I'm startled to find Tony leaning over the counter, his face buried in his hands.

"Uh, hey bud, you okay?" I ask awkwardly.

"Oh hey Cap," he looks up clearly embarrassed, "yeah I'm fine." He says stiffly and starts to leave the kitchen.

The redness rimming his eyes proves to me that he is lying, so forgetting myself I grab his arm, "no offense Tony, but you don't look 'fine'." I add sarcastic quotations with my fingers around the last word.

Tony sighs, rubbing the back if his neck, "I fucked up Cap."

"What do you mean? What did you do?" I ask cautiously, a nervous sensation coming over him.

"I told Pepper she could pick the nanny." He groans, squeezing his eyes shut with a fist clenched against his forehead.

"What? Why would you do that?" I snap, "it just, it doesn't sound like she has Callie's best interest at heart." I add, taking the edge out of my voice.

"I didn't exactly do it on purpose." He whinces, "she took advantage of my...desires. I know it's stupid, I'm so stupid." He slams his fist down on the counter.

"Yeah, it was stupid." I blurt, feeing my blood rise. "How can you be that desperate that you just say yes without thinking?" I don't often get angry, and to be honest I'm not even sure why I am. After all, Callie is Tony's kid, not mine. And I've only just gotten to know her over the last few days, but I feel a strong paternal protectiveness that I can't explain. The thought of someone taking her away and possibly harming her makes me sick to my stomach.

"I'm sorry but..."

"No. Fuck sorry!" I interrupt, surprising myself as much as Tony. "She's happy here, can't you see that? There's no reason for you to go back."

"First off—language Cap, language!" Tony smirks, but I'm in no mood to laugh. He draws in a breath, sensing my cold demeanour, "secondly, it was never the plan to stay here." He sighs quietly. "I need to give Pepper a chance, if it doesn't work out then maybe we will come stay here. But, I have to give her a chance Steve."

"At the expense of Callie?" I say flatly.

"Jesus Cap, not everything is black and white." He says angrily and stomps out of the kitchen.

"This one is!" I shout back driving my fist through a kitchen cabinet, shattering a stack of glasses inside.

"Shit." I mutter and proceed to clean up my mess.
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Callie P.O.V

I'm sitting on the floor with Uncle Bruce, we're building a remote control car—or he is, I'm learning how though and it's fascinating. He lets me pass him the tiny metal pieces that he screws in and the tools that he uses to do it. As he builds the machine he explains how to put the engine together, how and why it works and as he speaks it all starts to make sense—I'm pretty certain I could recreate it myself, I definitely intend to try once we've finished.

Once the car is done we get to work on the controller, which he lets me do the building of and just instructs me where to put the pieces.

"Where's Uncle Steve?" I ask casually, "he wasn't there when I woke up."

Bruce shrugs and glances away from my gaze, "I'm not sure," he says slowly, picking up the tiny car and spinning it's wheel with his finger. "He must have had some work to do this morning."

I squint my eyes at him sceptically, I can tell he knows something and isn't letting on to it. I'm about to voice my lack of belief when he places the car back on the ground and takes the controller from my hands, "this is nearly finished." He announces with a grin and pats the top of my head.

Excited, and adequately distracted I proceed to follow his final instructions to complete the finishing touches on my remote control car.
•
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Bruce P.O.V

I breathe a sigh of relief, Callie seems to have forgotten about Steve for now and is enthralled with her project. The truth is that I actually don't entirely know what's going on, I just happened to hear the tail end of a disagreement between Cap and Tony and the shattering of a cupboard, so I decided to entertain the kid for a few hours.

Callie holds up the completed controller proudly, I take it in my hands and show her how it works and then she races it across the room, tromping after it gleefully. She's smart, remarkably so. There's no way a child so young should be able to put together a machine of that complexity, even with my instruction. Most 5-year-olds would quickly lose interest and go find something else to play with, but then again, she's no regular 5-year-old.

I'm about to chase after Callie when I hear a rumbling behind me, I turn to see Tony dragging two suitcases down the hall and my heart drops into my stomach.

"You're leaving?" I ask, fearing the answer.

"Yeah..." he replies, chewing on his bottom lip uncomfortably. "Where's Callie?"

"She just ran over that way, we built a RC car and she's pretty excited about it." I say. He begins to walk towards Callie, the suitcases rolling behind him. "Tony wait," I say and he pauses, keeping his eyes straight ahead, "why are you leaving? You just got here." I prod, pushing the angry disappointment down.

"Pepper came and agreed to give this a try, so we're going," his eyes drop to the ground.

"Then why don't you sound happy about it?" I whisper, guilt is oozing off of him, anyone could feel it.

"I am happy," he turns and gives me a huge, fake smile, drastically contrasting the tone of his voice. Then he turns brusquely, calling to Callie.

"Dad look what I made!" She yells running up to him, proudly holding up her car and controller.

"Cool." He says half-heartedly, Callie's shoulders drop visibly disappointed by his lack of excitement.

"What are those for?" She questions nervously, gesturing at the suitcases behind him.

"We're going home today," he says softly.

Callie steps back, shaking her head, "but I don't want to. I want to stay here." She looks up and makes eye contact with me, "I want to stay here," She pleads, breaking my heart into a million pieces.

"Callie," Tony sighs, releasing the suitcases and kneeling in front of her, "we were never going to stay here, it was just a visit."

"It's because of her isn't it?" Callie interrupts bitterly. "The red-headed woman." She rolls her eyes as she says the last sentence. I do not envy Tony, this isn't going to be a fun transition for him.

"Pepper," He corrects his voice slightly irritated, "and yes, she has something to do with it. But we're going home to meet your new nanny." He tries to put excitement in his tone but it really comes off as sarcasm.

I groan inwardly, so that's what this is about. She'll only come back if there's a nanny and Tony caved as he always does with Pepper. It also explains the argument I overheard this morning.
I make a mental note to plan a trip to see them in the next week or two, if Tony is distracted with Pepper he may not notice if anything is amiss with the nanny.

Tony hands Callie a suitcase and then grasps her hand. She looks back at me helpless and all I can do is paste on a smile and tell her I'll see her soon.

After they've left the building I carefully pick up the remote control car off the floor, and try to shake the feeling of anger coming over me.