War

Chapter 6

Janis's POV

    I sprang up, screaming and crying once again. Back on routine, I guess. Steve woke up and tried to console me but he failed, causing him to back up. Wanda rushed in and held me until I stopped, once again proving that she was the only one able.

    "Shhh... It's alright, Janny. He won't get you." She reassured me. I could tell that she knew Steve was there. If "busted" wasn't a fitting word for this moment, then there wasn't one. I tried not to fall asleep but I ran out of meds and my body got the best of me. Wanda grabbed Steve's shirt from the end of the bed and slipped it on me, sensing that I'm cold. I just hope I'm able to convince her to keep her lips sealed.

    My eyes fluttered open as I felt a hand on my shoulder. Thinking it was Steve just waking up as well, I rolled over to say good morning. To my surprise, it was Wanda.

    "I knew I would trick you." She laughed. I sat up,

    "You were right. I guess you want me to explain myself?"

    "Oh yes. Let's start with how long this has been going on." I squinted,

    "Well, we've been on the down-low for a few days but last night was the first time we ever did anything." I told.

    "Okay, now explain why you didn't tell me." She crossed her arms.

    "We didn't tell anyone. I just assumed that if anyone besides us knew then that meant everyone knew. I'm sorry." I apologized. Wanda fiddled with the sleeve of the shirt I had on.

    "Your secret's safe with me. Just make sure that he is clothed next time you have a nightmare." She joked. I nodded with relief. I knew that Wanda was trustworthy. Let's just hope she can hold out.

   I figured, now that Rogers and I know so much about each other, it was time to give him the key to my heart (literally, but in a way it's a figurative key.) I went into his room and found him writing in his little book.

"Hey you." I greeted.

"Hey. What's that?" He pointed to the CD case I had in my hand.

"Allow me to share with you a little story," I said, sitting next to him. "When I was 5, my mom started getting really sick. Since we couldn't afford a babysitter, I had to tag along to her doctor appointments. I didn't like this because every time we went, they had something new to say. Every piece of news was worse than the last and I didn't like that. After a few times, I began to notice the pattern and when we would drive home after every appointment I would be in a sad slash grouchy mood. I would sit there in the front seat of our little Dodge Stratus and just pout. My mom would look over and ask what was wrong but I never answered. She would pull over on the side of the road and ask me again but this time I would just say 'I hate those mean old doctors' and my mom would ask me why and I would always respond 'cause they never have anything nice to say.' My mom would reach into her center console and grab this CD and put it into the stereo. I would pretend that I didn't see but she always put in the second side of the disk and skipped to track six. It would always make me feel better to hear this song because it was nice to my little child ears. To this day, if I ever feel upset or down, I just grab this album and turn it to second side track six." I shared. I put my physically old copy of "Help!" by The Beatles into his hand. The song I was talking about was Yesterday and I wanted him to know because it was so significant to me that he might just need it. Steve looked at the album and smiled,

    "I guess this is something else you want me to learn."

    "You bet your ass. Study up so that I can give you the next record from my life." I laughed, standing and walking to the door.

    "How many are we talking?" He asked.

    "27. Hop to it, blondie." I said, leaving the room.

    I walk out of my bedroom with my arms full of sheets. Might as well get these washed up before I use them again. I put them in, turned it to the bedding setting, and threw in a detergent pouch. After that, I walked through the hall to get back to my room when I saw a sticky note on my door that read "Come to the lab so we can work this out. -'Father Dearest'" He must've heard about that new nickname for him. It seems like talking is what's causing the problem so I'll take a different approach.

    As I entered the lab, I saw that Tony had his headphones in while working on something. Given that his back was towards me, I snuck up behind him and hugged him. I was close enough to hear that he was jamming to Enter Sandman by Metallica. He flinched for a moment but took his earbuds out.

    "I'm sorry." I apologized, given that my father never says sorry first.

    "No, I was the unreasonable one. I made you think that the car was a gift but it was more of a way to keep tabs on you. I originally didn't want to bug it but then I remembered that you were turning 18 and I got a little worried... and I shouldn't have gone into your room. If it makes this moment any better, I am proud that you got the Travelmaster working." I released my hug and leaned on the counter.

    "Well, for the most part. The area calibration is off... by a lot."

    "I sorta got that from the water damage. Luckily..." Tony held up the device he was working on when I walked in which happened to be my Travelmaster prototype. "I fixed her up for you. Don't worry, you still have full credit and copyright. I'm just the repairman." He told. I took it from him and smiled,

    "This is awesome! You wanna test it?" I ask.

    "Let's test it together. A nice father-daughter moment but less Lifetime movie and more sci-fi thriller." In the next room, we heard a series of roars, clearly from the other guys watching the hockey game.

    I told my dad all of the precautions to take, such as closing your eyes and keeping all your hands and feet in at all times. I turned the knob to the location that he gave coordinates to and took his hand.

    "Would you like to do the honors?" I wondered, holding out my wrist while still keeping it close. Tony reached over and pressed the knob into the watch.

    As a gust of wind hit us, we heard the guys again but a lot closer. A ton of oh!'s and yeah!'s echoed the previous. I opened my eyes,

    "We're in the spot!" I exclaimed.

    "14 to zero, baby!" Uncle Clint yelled, giving Uncle Sammy a high-five. Tony squinted and looked over at me,

    "We did but... wasn't that the score five minutes ago when they yelled the exact same thing?" I thought about it for a moment and realized that he was right.

    "Did you tweak my invention to where it travels time as well?" We went silent for a moment, looked at the watch, and then looked at each other.

    "Oh, shit..." We said in unison. After going silent again, we then realized how cool it was and looked at each other once more. "Oh shit!" We yelled with excitement. "You're not getting this back until I fix that part, by the way."