Scared To Be Lonely

Chapter 5: Night Scare

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When Rhodes had dropped Nick back off at the mansion, the girl had gone up to her room to change and to take a nap before having to do her schoolwork since she found it harder and harder to be able to actually get more than four hours of sleep a night. 

But taking a nap seemed to be just as hard, with her tossing and turning for almost an hour until she eventually gave up and did her homework.

Then when she heard Pepper get home, the girl decided to finish up and head downstairs. Only, when she did, she could hear the two arguing in the basement. Nick slowly went down the steps, before hiding on them as she heard Tony speaking to Pepper. "My fault. Sorry. I'm a piping hot mess. It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything. Nothing's been the same since New York."

"Oh, really. I didn't notice that at all." Pepper says sarcastically, and Tony looks at her, his arms crossed over his chest. "You experience things... and then they're over and you still can't explain them. Gods, aliens, other dimensions, daughters with powers. I'm- I'm just a man in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you moved in. Which is great. I love you. I'm lucky. But, honey, I can't sleep. You go to bed, I come down here, I do what I know. I tinker. I..." He sighs, and Nick sits down, leaning her head against the wall as she listened to them. 

"Threat is imminent, and I have to protect the two things that I can't live without. That's you and Nick." 

He then seemed to be struggling, "And my suits, they're uh..."

"Machines." Pepper finishes.

"But they're part of me."

"A distraction." Pepper states, softly, and Tony nods. "Maybe."

After that, Nick then gets up and silently heads upstairs before heading to her room. She gets ready for bed, still not hungry after that Mandarin video... and after what Tony said.

But the girl, even while her curtains were open and the moonlight shone partly in her room while she was covered and curled up in the fuzzy blankets... she couldn't sleep. She had closed her eyes and faked being asleep when Pepper had come in to give her a goodnight kiss, which is what she's been doing for over a year now. 

But even after an hour after they headed to bed, Nick eventually got out of her bed and after slipping on her boots and wrapping a blanket around herself, she then headed out to her balcony where she now had a ladder that led up to the roof, where she had her own little area. 

And even though she did end up there a lot, she still had that small pit in her stomach that came from the fear of heights that she had acquired after the battle of New York.

It seemed that no matter how much time had passed - from days, to weeks, to months, and now a whole year - she was still haunted by those events. By all the traumatizing events that have happened her whole life.

After plugging in the fairy lights strung up around the area and the cozy cute tent, Nick then crawled inside before laying down so that she could prop herself up on the pillows and look out at the night sky. 

The sight was one thing that could always clear her mind - the moon, the dark sky with the stars twinkling, and the sounds of the ocean waves crashing. It calmed her and it gave her something to focus on as she closed her eyes, making it so her mind didn't wonder while she just focused on that and trying to sleep.

Eventually, she did fall asleep, but that also meant that she wasn't concentrated on keeping her mind focused on the crashing waves.

Nick didn't know how long she had been out but when she jerked awake from a nightmare, it was still dark out. She sat up wide eyed and breathing heavily, her hands shaking as she crawled out of the tent and looked around. Her nerves were going off, almost like what had happened at the Tower at the beginning to the New York battle. 

And that scared her. 

The girl quickly ran over to the edge of the roof and climbed down the ladder, just in time to hear Pepper scream. The 13-year-old quickly ran out of the bedroom and down the hall, where Pepper and Tony shared a room, only to look wide-eyed at the Iron Man mark 42 suit that grabbed Pepper. Nick didn't even think as she gripped her hand and threw the light dagger forward, to where it pierced into the center of the suit, causing the suit to power down and dismantle back to pieces - right as Tony shot awake.

The lights all turned on as Nick moved over to them, all of them still panting and gasping - Nick because she had ran there after jerking awake, Pepper because she had been terrified, and Tony because he shot awake in fear as well.

"What the hell just happened?" Nick looked between them, her dark brown eyes wide, and Tony moved to the edge of the bed, shaking his head and speaking while completely out of breath. "I must have called it in my sleep." He then turned to look at Pepper, "That's not supposed to happen. I'll recalibrate the... sensors."

Pepper quickly gets out of the bed, making Tony try. "Can we just... Just let me... Just let me catch my breath. Hey, don't - Don't go. Alright? Pepper.."

Pepper had grabbed a blanket and moved over to Nick, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "We're going to sleep downstairs." She began leading them out of the room while gesturing towards the suit, "Tinker with that."

Nick didn't know what to do, but she let Pepper lead her downstairs since it was clear that the woman was scared for both of them, plus, Nick knew that they both needed to be with someone right now. And the young girl went along with it because her heart was still pounding in her chest and her hands were still shaky. 

The two girls ended up going to the movie room where they ended up putting on a Disney movie, and for the first time, Nick didn't care to even pay attention to what movie it was as she layed down next to Pepper on the big chair that reclined with a footrest, and leaned her head on the woman's shoulder. 

(little author's note ; I'm so excited with how this story is coming along! I'm already working out the sequel to this story and I'm excited to begin writing it, but how do you guys like it so far?)