Everything's Going to Change

An Old Enemy

"What do you mean there are letters in math?!" I giggled as I showed Steve some of the stuff I had been working on before he adopted me. "I don't even understand this and I have to teach it!"

"You know you can sign me up for online school and help me when I get stuck right?"

"I love the future."

That afternoon Steve enrolled me in the online school and watched as I breezed through the work they gave me. "Is this even remotely hard for you?" he asked in astonishment.

"Well math is a meh, but English is my favorite subject so I'm pretty good at it."

"I'll say, you're taking Geometry and on eleventh grade classes for everything else!" I smiled proudly as I finished my lessons for the day.

"One of the teachers emailed me and said they think I might actually graduate high school by sixteen at the rate I'm progressing." I said with a small smile.

"Charlie that's amazing!" Steve cried as he pulled me into a bone crushing hug "I need to tell Bucky, he's going to be so proud!" Then he lifted me onto his shoulders and dashed into the living room where Bucky was sitting and watching TV. "Bucky, we have a genius for a daughter!" I giggled as Steve dropped me onto the couch and excitedly told Bucky all the stuff that was going on in my lessons.

"Sixteen years old and you'll be out of high school?" Bucky asked in astonishment. I nodded happily and laughed as Bucky squeezed the life out of me in a hug.

"You're a supersoldier." I reminded him as I struggled to get free. He let go with a pout on his face and settled for ruffling my hair.

"So what does the genius want to do when she gets out of college?" Bucky asked casually as I fixed my hair.

"I thought about working from home." I said quietly "Maybe be a consultant for a big company that pays well."

"Great so we'll have you around even more!" Steve said happily "Maybe Stark has an opening, I'll call him and ask."

Steve's POV

"How old is this kid again?"

"Fifteen last week."

"And she's going to graduate next year? You got lucky Cap." I grinned at the impressed tone of Tony's voice "What's her name?"

"It used to be Charlotte Davenport but Bucky and I call her Charlie."

"Cute. Alright, I've got her file pulled up and- shit." I paled as Tony finished his statement.

"What's wrong?" I asked anxiously.

"Did you ask her family if you could adopt her?"

"Social services said none of her family wanted her!" I exclaimed.

"Well she's got an aunt who's on social media saying that she wants her back." Tony sounded worried and to be honest I was too.

"I need to get in touch with social services." I said frantically "I need to figure out what to do."

"Not to alarm you Rogers, but the odds of you getting to keep Charlie when it's her family who wants her are very slim."

"I don't like her." Steve had shown me a picture of my aunt who wanted me to come live with her "She's always smoking and taking pills that I'm fairly certain are drugs. Every time I went over to her house she made me do all the chores around the house and then I had to go buy her cigarettes and stand there as she hit me when I refused to do it." Steve's face fell as he held me tight against him.

"I am not letting her take you Charlie." he whispered "I promise she will never hurt you again." I felt Bucky sit down beside us and Steve gently hand me to him.

"Папа I'm scared." I whispered as I curled up against Bucky "I don't want to leave you two."

"Shh, it's OK Charlie." he whispered soothingly "Nobody's leaving. We'll figure it out, we always do." I tried to calm down as he spoke, but my breathing kept getting quicker and shorter. Because apparently a panic attack is exactly what I needed right now. I started wheezing and Bucky and Steve looked at me in concern.

"Oh, Charlie." Steve said sadly as he realized what was happening "It's OK sweetheart, we're right here. Just take a deep breath."

"Daddy it hurts." I whimpered as my lungs tightened up on me.

"I know sweetie, it'll go away in a second." he said softly "Try and take a deep breath, I promise you'll feel better if you do." I nodded and took a deep shuddering breath and tried to slow my elevating heart beat. "You're alright sweetheart." he whispered gently as he pulled me into a hug "I love you so much Charlie."

"I love you too Daddy." I said hoarsely as I leaned into him. Steve gently rocked me back and forth in an effort make me fall asleep.

"You can go to sleep." he said quietly "I'll be right here when you wake up. Nothing's ever going to hurt you again, I promise."