Gangster Child

Mental State

"Daddy wake up! It's time for school!" Tony groaned as he hid his head under his pillow. "Daddy!" I whined as I bounced on his bed "Come on, I'm bored!"

"Alright," he grumbled "I'm up, I'm up." he slowly sat up and looked at me tiredly "Go get some breakfast then head down to the garage." he said with a yawn "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Yay!" I squealed as I scrambled off the bed and sprinted to the kitchen. Tony had increasingly been giving me harder lessons, but they always came with a fun field trip, so I was excited to see what today's was.

"Hey Котенок." Bucky said with a smile as I ran into the kitchen.

"Hi Большой брат!" I said hurriedly as I tossed a pop tart in the toaster and bounced around impatiently. Bucky chuckled softly as he watched me.

"Is Tony taking you on another field trip today?" he asked in amusement. I nodded excitedly and spun around with glee. "It's good to see that you're having fun in school." he said softly "I know that wasn't an option for you before you came here." I shrugged silently, unsure of what to say.

"I'm just glad to be here." I said quietly. Bucky walked over to stand next to me and gently pulled me into a hug.

"I love you Sadie." he whispered.

"I love you too Bucky." I held onto him tightly, not wanting to let go. He didn't make me, he just held me, kissing the top of my head and being there for me.

"Sadie," Bucky mumbled "I think your breakfast is about to burn." My eyes widened and I quickly snatched my pop tart out of the toaster, saying a silent hallelujah that it hadn't burned. "Have fun at school!" Bucky called as I started running to the garage.

"See you later!" I called back, hurdling down the stairs and stumbling into the garage where Tony was waiting.

"Took you long enough!" he said with a smirk as I bolted down my breakfast.

"You can't talk!" I retorted "I had to drag you out of bed."

"Ouch," Tony protested "that hurt Kiddo." I giggled as I slid into the car and waited impatiently for him.

"Where are we going?" I asked eagerly.

"Well," Tony said as we started our drive into the city "I was thinking, and I realized that I never asked you what you want to do when you get out of school and college."

"Oh," I said, unsure of how to answer "I hadn't really thought about it. This was never really something I had to think about."

"Well what do you like to do?" Tony asked. I frowned, thinking hard.

"Um... I don't know." I confessed "There hasn't been much that I've done. I mean, I like reading, and hanging out with the team."

"OK," Tony said slowly "Is there something specific you like about reading and being with the team?"

"It's a way to escape." I said quietly "You guys are fun to be around and books are fun to read, so it's a way to escape when I feel sad." Tony smiled sadly at me and leaned over to hold my hand.

"Sounds like we need to find you a fun job." he said teasingly. I laughed and looked out the window at the passing city. All those people were living normal lives and knew where they wanted to go, but I was still trying to figure my life out. Why was that?

"That sounds cool." I said distantly.

"Sadie, you OK?" Tony's voice snapped me out of my haze and I jerked upright, mumbling that I was fine. "Why don't we take a day off school?" he suggested "You've gotten the hang of everything, at this point we're just trying to see how far ahead we can get you."