Her Second Soulmate | Steve Rogers

Chapter Five

Two days into the renovation of the Tower's fourth floor conference rooms, I'd been called by Angie's school to have a meeting with her teacher. In a moment of panic, I'd double checked the time before answering, but it was only ten am.

I sat in an uncomfortably cramped chair in the reception space, waiting for her teacher to arrive for our brief meeting. She rounded the corner a minute or so later, and I stood as she smiled reassuringly, "Are you ready?"

She led us to the Heads office, where I was ushered into a second, slightly more comfortable, seat. "Miss Miller?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know why you're here?"

I glanced between the two, completely baffled. "I... no. Is Angie okay? I know I was late picking her up a couple of days ago, but I just lost track of time. You see, I have this alarm on my watch so I can leave with enough time but I left it at home, so-"

"That's not why you're here, Miss Miller." Miss Taylor said. "It's about Steve Rogers."

"What?" I choked, staring between the two of them. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Well..." The Head trailed off as she slid a cheap tabloid across the table. I took it warily, glancing at the pair before looking down at the cover.

A cover that showed a bright picture of two people in a park.

A picture of my daughter, and Steve Rogers.

"What is this?" I flicked through the pages to find the article, which was furnished with three more similar phots of Angie chatting happily to him, as he crouched to talk to her. I shook my head, beginning to grow angry. "Who took this photo? Who got it published? Surely this is against some kind of law? Does Angie know? Does Steve-"

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about." Miss Taylor said soothingly. "Angie's been talking to me a lot about the Avengers. Before Hero Day, she was obsessed with the Hulk, as I'm sure you're aware. But since he visited the school, Angie hasn't stopped talking about Steve Rogers."

"She's met him a few times - just bumped into him at the park when her aunts babysit. I think they walk along the same path he goes running on." I shoved my glasses back up my nose, as they'd slid down whilst I'd been studying the pictures. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"We had a phone call to the office asking for a statement about Angie, and who she is to the Avengers. We told them No Comment, and hung up-"

"Well, Leslie took the phone call so I'm sure she was a lot ruder than that." Miss Taylor cut in, with a shy smile.

"Yes, well..." the Head breathed deeply. "I just wanted to make you are aware of what's happening."

I clenched my hand around the paper, and stood up. "I know who I can talk to to stop it. Thank you again, I'll come and pick Angie up at twelve."

Miss Taylor gave me a worried smile, and walked me back to the door. "Miss Miller, I really am sorry about this. We'll look after Angie as much as we can in school, and if there's anything we can do here then just let us know."

"Thank you." I smiled weakly, before walking back to my car. I slammed the door harder than I meant to, and threw the paper onto the seat next to me. With a renewed wave of anger, I sped out of the small car park next to the school, and back to the Tower.

As I drove I began planning my words. I couldn't go in completely screaming, though I couldn't be too meek and polite either. I had never so much as complained to a supervisor in a shop before, let alone confront Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, but I would do anything to ensure my daughters privacy and security.