Peter's POV
"Umm... Dr. Banner, Dianna's been gone for a while, should we be concerned?" my voice was trembling. I was genuinely concerned. All she said was that she was going for a walk because she needed air.
"She probably went to go talk to Tony." he replied nonchalantly.
"Why did you say that so casually?"
His eyes staying locked on the lab screen, "because when she feels like she can't talk to me, she goes to talk to him."
"Really?"
"She says it's therapeutic for her so I don't try to argue with her about it. They were really close. He helped take care of her while I was stuck on Sakaar, so I'm not surprised they grew close with each other. He helped her not be so afraid of using her powers. He was the one that gave her the strength to start using them more. He was really protective of her, there were times I felt like she was his daughter not mine." he laughed.
"Why doesn't she talk to you?"
"She does, it just takes time. Sometimes she feels like I've got enough on my plate so she doesn't want to put her own problems on there."
"But you're her dad."
"I try not to push her to talk when I know she doesn't want to. I've learned to give her some space and when she's ready to lay it down on me, she will." he paused, "the same way it took her a couple months to open up to me about your breakup. When it happened, she was still upset, but she didn't tell me why you guys broke up. She held it all in until it was too much for her to handle and she let everything out the other day."
"I'm so sorry about that." I said, very ashamed.
"It was disappointing to hear that you cheated on her the way that you did and you never told her about it. I'm guessing you had your own reasons, whether it be because you didn't want her to know or you were too ashamed of yourself to tell her. Whatever the reason was, she was really distraught and she still is."
"I know." I sighed.
"I won't sit here and guilt you because you probably know how wrong you were and I know she wasn't perfect in the relationship either. But if you guys get back together, I'm not going to idly sit by and watch you hurt her like last time. After every other argument, she was so upset. I didn't know what to do as a father, I felt like I was failing."
"But you weren't." Dianna walked in and hugged him. "May I have a moment with Peter please?"
"I'll let you two get back to work. I'm gonna get started on dinner. Will you be staying Peter?"
"Uhh... no. Thank you though." he walked out.
"So now you know about my runaway spot." she bit her lip.
"Yeah."
"I just needed to let some things out."
"You can always talk to me you know?"
"I know."
"Are you alright?"
"I will be."
I know she doesn't want to tell me what's really happening because she doesn't trust me. I'm working on finding ways to prove to her that she can, but I've got nothing so far. Right now, my only option is to stick around–not literally–to reassure her that I'm there for her.
"Why don't we put a pause on all of this for tonight? I think we can both use a break."
"You're right. We'll worry about this tomorrow."
"Do you promise you won't continue without me?"
"I will fight every urge that I can." she smiled, "now get out of here before May kills you."
"I'll see you tomorrow." I went in to kiss her but she hugged me. I was confused.
Dianna's POV
"Hey, Dad." I walked into the kitchen.
"Hey, kiddo. Peter leave?"
"Yessir."
"Ah." he simply said.
"You don't really think you've failed do you?"
He turned his back toward me, "sometimes I do."
"Dad, I need you to know that you haven't. I know you're still going through your own stuff, that's why I don't bother you with any of this. With the loss of Nat and Tony, processing being gone for two years on another planet just as the Hulk, everything with Thanos, me and Mom being gone for five years, Mom dying, you're dealing with a lot.
"Listening to my problems and worrying about me is the last thing you need on your plate right now."
He turned to me with a sorrow look in his eyes, "you're my daughter, no matter where you are or how well things are going for you, I'm always going to be worried about you. You're my number one priority, now and always. After your mom died, I vowed to myself that I was going to protect you in every way, shape, and form, that I was going to do better."
I walked toward him, "you're doing more than enough for me. Moving to Queens so that I didn't have to transfer schools in the middle of my senior year, spending your quality time with me, involving me in bits and pieces of your own work, comforting me when I need you, helping me when I need you no matter what the issue is, being able to deal with me being Raava. You're doing more than enough and I will never be able to thank you. As far as I'm aware, you're the best dad in the world."
"You're just saying that."
"No, I mean every word of it." I hugged him, "I love you, Dad."
"I love you, too, D." he rested his cheek on my head.
To ruin this precious moment with my dad, one of my encryption codes caught something. I walked over to the computer to see what it was.
"Skylar's trying to hack into our software..." I whispered, "we need to turn off every electronic we have in this house right now before Skylar gets anything from our database."
I put our emergency encryption keys into each file and my dad ran around and turned off everything, from the TV to everything in the lab. Better safe than sorry. Right when I thought things couldn't get any worse.
"I guess now would be a good time to use these huh?" my dad handed me a burner phone.
"It's a flip phone."
"Yes."
"I thought these were discontinued or something."
"I'm old."
"I can see that." I teased.
