HOLY AWESOMENESS I'm BACK! It is so great to finally bring Sadie back, everybody. I missed writing about her so much and was so ecstatic to finally see Iron Man 3 and begin another journey with her. I just want to say first and foremost, how much I am so grateful to you all for reading and reviewing my stories. I have truly come a long way from a year ago and it is all thanks to you guys for loving my stories and telling me so. I could not have done this without you!
With that said, I'm ready to get writing and reading. I hope you all enjoy it. All my love-Geminisonic (Emily)
Go the Distance
Sadie tapped her pencil on her desk. She was distracted and knew that any minute, her fourth grade substitute Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, would crack down on her for making noise during the exam. It didn't matter; she and nearly half the class were already done. He only gave them exams because he wasn't as smart as their real fourth grade teacher Mrs. Hopewell, and he had nothing better to do than play Angry Birds on his phone.
She suddenly heard a popping noise and looked over. Sean was obviously done with his exam and making obnoxious popping sounds with his mouth. She looked down only to hear another popping sound from her other side. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Tanner making the popping sound. He tried not to snort and acted innocent.
Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, looked up angrily, "Quiet!" he barked.
Tanner and Sean snorted quietly.
Sadie couldn't stop herself when she looked over to make sure their tyrant of a substitute wasn't looking so she herself could make a popping sound.
Just then, Heather made one too.
Next thing she knew they were all making popping noises randomly in the room and would act innocent when Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, would look up angrily.
"Just because your teacher is on maternity leave does not mean you can all act like children!" he barked again.
Suddenly, Polly raised her hand, "Sir…we are children." She said defiantly.
Everyone sniggered in the room, causing Mr. Sunshine, yes Mr. Sunshine, to turn red.
The bell rang and everyone ran up to go grab their things, while handing in their exams.
They looked forward to Christmas break. Because by then they were home and once break was over their real teacher would be back.
"Don't think I won't be telling your teacher about your behavior!" Mr. Sunshine yelled at them all as they filed out. They could care less; once they got back he'd be gone. They'd take a rainy day over his teaching.
Sadie high-fived Polly on the way out. She held her head high and finally ranted when they got outside to wait for their rides home, "God, he makes me so mad!" Polly yelled.
Sadie nodded, "You know you'd think with a name like Sunshine, he'd be more…"
"Sunny?" Tanner said, coming up behind them.
They all barked with laughter.
"He should have been named Mr. Panda. Cause he sure is a sad one." Katie said, catching up to them. They all laughed again. Sadie couldn't be happier. Sure her substitute was an idiot, but at least she got to be with her friends. These days they were becoming her family. Pepper was always so busy at Stark Industries and her dad had been so busy in his shop, he barely noticed her. So Sadie always spent time with her friends. She hated feeling like she didn't want to be around her dad anymore, but truth was, she just didn't. She even hated admitting that she missed her Uncle Tony, the guy who let her sit on his desk and help him with his suit. The dad who kept her safe, held her close, and danced with her.
Now…this person, the one who ignored her, forgot her recitals, and never let her near him was the one she just hated to be around. Every time she wanted to approach him, she found she just couldn't do it and didn't want to. She wanted to scream and holler and tell him what a jerk he was, but instead, she saw the look on his face. The look of worry and stress and found she just couldn't confront him. Truth be told she was scared of him now. He hardly ate, hardly slept, and when he looked at her, he looked at her like she was growing five heads. So she turned to her friends for comfort and did what she wanted to do.
Pepper's car pulled up.
"See you tonight, Sadie." Polly said, happily.
"Yeah, don't forget to bring that CD!" Sadie said, running to the car.
"I won't!" Polly said.
"Bye Sadie!" Tanner called, along with her other friends, "Have a good Christmas!"
She waved sadly, sad to leave them for break. At least she'd made plans with them to spend some time.
She got into Pepper's car, "Hi Mommy." She said.
"Hi sweetie." Pepper smiled, "Excited for break?"
Sadie shrugged.
"What's that about?" Pepper laughed, acting shocked.
"I'm excited to have a sleepover with Polly tonight!" Sadie admitted.
Pepper smiled, "That's good. You know, I feel you and I should go out tomorrow. Did you wanna go shopping?"
"No thanks, Mom." Sadie said.
Pepper looked hurt, but understood. She was constantly taking Sadie everywhere but to Tony these days. She just didn't want her to see what he was doing to himself. She wanted a distraction for Sadie but she had to admit, the shopping and girls day out bits were getting old. Sadie wanted her dad, she knew it. But she just didn't know how to help Sadie any more than what she was doing now.
She drove off and it felt pretty quiet in the car, so Pepper decided to try talking to Sadie, "How was class?"
Sadie shrugged again, "Mr. Sunshine hates us so he made us take another exam."
Pepper raised her eyebrows, "God I can't believe there's a man named Mr. Sunshine."
"Yeah, he sounds like a Care Bear, but he's more like a Grumpy Cat." Sadie said.
Pepper laughed. It never failed to amaze her how very much like Tony she was. She was thankful Sadie had friends who championed for her. Pepper didn't know if Sadie would be able to handle Tony right now without her friends.
They pulled up to the house and Pepper stopped the car suddenly.
"What?" Sadie asked nervously. After being kidnapped in Libya she was more scared than usual about sudden stops in the car.
"Oh…my…God…" Pepper groaned, closing her eyes.
Sadie got out with Pepper and stared open mouthed at the gigantic bunny in the driveway. It was absolutely and unnecessarily huge. It had a pink bow on it that said Merry Christmas Pepper.
"Please tell me he meant for that to be for you…" Pepper said.
Sadie continued to stare at the obnoxious gift. Thank God that wasn't for her. But a part of her wondered what her dad had gotten her. She grew angry and realized her dad always did stupid things like this when he knew he was doing something wrong. He never truly made up for it, instead he got crap like this for her or Pepper and then went back to doing what he did best; ignore them.
She walked right past it, "Maybe Dummy will help me blow it up later." She smiled mischievously.
Pepper groaned and walked in right behind her. She prayed there wasn't a giant bear in the living room.
Sadie walked in and was glad to see no bear. She hardly expected anything these days. He usually just forgot about her. She looked up and suddenly shrieked, stopping dead.
Iron Man sat on the couch, waiting for them.
"Dad?" Sadie asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh God, are you seriously wearing that around the house now, Tony?" Pepper said, putting her bag down.
"How was work? School?" her dad asked. Sadie glared at the thing. That totally wasn't her dad. But she didn't even care at this point to tell Pepper, she'd figure it out. And Sadie wanted her dad to get caught for this crap. Sadie walked past her to go to her room.
"Sadie!" the suit said, "Early present on the table for you."
"Bite me." Sadie said, walking away to her room.
She closed the door and went to Kala who was lying on her bed waiting for her. Kala wagged her tail weakly and smiled at her. Sadie gave her a big hug and kiss, coming to sit on the bed with her faithful dog.
Kala was starting to look grey in places, but she remained loyal and sweet to the very end and Sadie wouldn't trade her for anything.
She sat back on the bed and turned on her radio. Christmas music was playing and she usually enjoyed it. These songs only played once a year and sure they were annoying but hey, once a year was fine with her.
She got changed and decided to go out and see what her dad actually got her. She found the table and noticed a box, wrapped rather nicely.
She sighed and opened it. It was a white box and she pulled the lid only to find a picture of a manatee. She saw a card and opened it.
She nearly fainted.
She ran downstairs, screaming excitedly.
"YOU BOUGHT ME A MANATEE! YOU BOUGHT ME A MANATEE! YOU BOUGHT ME A MANATEE!" she shrieked.
Pepper jumped when Sadie came streaking into the lab and her dad actually smiled at her.
She suddenly stopped dead and realized she hadn't really seen her dad in a while. He looked different. All her excitement vanished in an instant and she grew angry again looking at this shell of a man who stared at her. He might as well just be the suit.
"You like it?" he asked her, excitedly.
Sadie put on a fake smile and nodded, remembering why she came down there in the first place, "Yeah…it's great." She said, trying not to choke.
She looked at Pepper and said, rather simply, "He bought me a manatee."
Pepper stared at Tony, her mouth open, "Tell me that it's not in the swimming pool!"
"Relax, it's at the zoo." Tony explained, taking off his holographic head set, "Sadie just owns it is all. Kind of like boarding a horse. You really like it Sade's?" he asked her again.
Sadie nodded and backed away, "Polly's coming over." She said, and then went upstairs.
Tony stared after her and Pepper gave him a look.
"She okay?" he asked.
Pepper merely stared at him, "Tony, do you even know what's been going on in Sadie's life lately?" she asked.
"Sure, she's in fourth grade, ballet, and she does other stuff." He said, "Don't know why she's so snippy with me though. I mean I got her a manatee."
Pepper glared at him, "You haven't even bothered to come out of your little hidey hole to spend one fraction of a second with your daughter, so her being pissed at you is perfectly justifiable, manatee or no."
Pepper turned, "Polly may be coming over tonight, but she won't be here for another two hours. I expect you to be upstairs talking with your daughter and catching up. Do you understand?" Pepper growled.
"Pep, I have tried talking to her, she won't talk to me." Tony said, "It's like she doesn't want to."
"Well, gee, sorry if I have no sympathy for you, but that doesn't mean you give up and come back down here to tinker." Pepper snarled, "You push for your daughter. She may be well now, but that doesn't mean you couldn't lose her anyways."
Tony felt like he'd heard this spiel a million times, but for some odd reason, it hit home. Shoot he'd just told Pepper how much she meant to him, how much he loved her. How could he have just forgotten his own daughter? He felt like all the hours of missed sleep were catching up to him and he felt fatigued, suddenly. He looked around disgustedly.
He looked to Pepper and he had a feeling she could see how he was feeling in this moment. He put his head on her shoulder and hugged her, "I'm so sorry." He said softly.
"Go tell Sadie that. She needs you, Tony." Pepper said, "And I'm not letting you sleep with me until you do."
He chuckled and sighed.
"Clean up and I'll see you upstairs in one minute, no later." Pepper instructed.
He obliged.
…
Pepper placed dinner in front of Sadie and made a place for Tony. Sadie thought that maybe she was going to sit there, but she suddenly left, "I'm taking a shower." She said.
Sadie stared after her and looked over to see her dad sitting at the table, digging into his food.
Sadie didn't know if she'd stepped into the twilight zone or if this was actually happening.
"So…what's up?" her dad asked, swallowing his food.
Sadie narrowed her eyes and pushed her plate away. She was about to get up and leave when he stopped her. He put his hand on her chair to hold her there, "Wait."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I've been a jerk lately and you need to hear this."
That got Sadie's attention; she crossed her arms and sat back.
He sighed and looked her in the eyes and suddenly felt like such an idiot. Her eyes, his eyes stared right back at him, but they looked so hurt and angry.
"I am so sorry, Sadie." He said.
Sadie stared at him, her face unmoving. Sure he could be sorry, but she didn't know yet if this was quite as genuine as she needed it to be.
He continued, "I've been…" he sighed, "Okay, I've been a dumb ass." He said, "But above all I've been a real shitty dad to you. I never should have let my suits come between you and me and Pepper."
Sadie kept the tears in her eyes, not wanting to cry. She quickly choked out, "Why?"
He shrugged, "It's pretty hard to explain, kiddo." He admitted.
"So is Thor, but if I can describe him then you can tell me why you won't look at me and why you forgot my ballet recital and why you don't let me come see your work and why you don't even say good night and why you won't help me when I have a nightmare and-"
"Okay, okay!" he stopped her, "I get it; I'm the worst father in the world."
"No you're not; you're just not being a good one." Sadie said, wiping her eyes. She used to be able to cry in front of her dad and now she couldn't.
He stopped her from wiping her eyes, taking her hands and squeezing them tight, "It's me, you can cry, Sade's."
She broke down and he came over and picked her up. He realized she was getting pretty heavy now and sat down with her, rocking her and rubbing her back like he used to.
Why did he ever stop doing this? He always felt so safe and invincible when he held Sadie. He felt better than Iron Man when he held her. He was her dad, he protected her. Why, why did he ever let her go?
"I'm sorry, baby." He whispered, trying not to cry himself, trying to be strong, "I don't know why I'm acting like this. Maybe I'm ashamed because your dad is becoming this shell of a person who's afraid to think about New York and Libya. Who's ashamed because he let those bastards hurt you." He didn't realize his heart beat racing until he began sweating and crying himself. He wiped his face, breathing hard.
"Daddy?" Sadie sobbed, looking up at him, "Daddy?" she asked again.
He pushed her off of him and got up to run to the sink. She followed him, "What's wrong?" she cried.
"I'm fine…" he panted, "Just…hold that thought…"
She came closer to him and watched as her dad began having an anxiety attack. She recognized these. Her mom, Anna, would get them, but she never knew why. She only knew that whenever her dad, Tim, got a belt out she'd begin to panic.
She tried remembering what Tim had done for her mom. She walked closer to her dad and put a hand on his back carefully, pushing him so he'd face her.
He turned at her hand, but didn't realize it until she wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her head into his chest, "One…two…three…four…five." She counted slowly, "Count with me Daddy."
His hands still on the counter he finally looked down at those soulful brown eyes he'd come to love so much and wrapped his arms around her, getting down on his knees, still breathing hard.
"One…" Sadie counted.
"Two." He choked out, "Three…four…five."
"Take a breath in." she instructed, "Now let it out."
He smiled at her, wiping his face, "When did you get so good at this?"
She smiled, "A magician never reveals her secrets."
He rolled his eyes and hugged her close, burying his head into her hair and smelling her crazy strawberry shampoo that she loved. He kissed her forehead quickly and looked once more at her, "Can you forgive me?" he asked.
She smiled finally feeling like she was getting her old dad back, "You bought me a manatee." She said, raising her eyebrows, "Duh!"
He laughed and held her once more, kissing her cheek.
The doorbell rang and Sadie smiled, "Polly's here."
"Okay, I'll let you girls have fun." He smiled.
"Actually, Tony." Pepper said, coming in, looking showered and refreshed, "I have some paperwork to do tonight, so I need you to watch the girls."
He froze, "Say what?"
"Relax, I'm sure they'll just want to play 'Just Dance Wii' and have makeovers." Pepper smirked, smiling proudly at him all the same.
"But-" he started, and then looked down at Sadie, who was finally looking at him like he was the greatest person in the world.
He looked back up at Pepper who added, "And if you make sure they get to bed, come on up to bed yourself and maybe we'll 'talk' a little." She winked.
He raised his eyebrows and smiled down at Sadie.
"Daddy, please." She asked.
He could not say no to his little girl anymore. She was his world and he wasn't about to lose her again. He sighed and nodded, "Okay, but no makeovers!" he said.
Sadie smiled, running to the door.
Pepper hugged Tony and gave him a deep kiss, "I'm so proud of you Tony."
He shrugged, "Hey, it's what I do, I'm Iron Man."
"You are more than that." She said. Somehow he failed to see it but one day he would, "Now, be good and I'll make sure you're rewarded at bed time." She smiled, then walked away, "Have fun!"
…..
YIPEE! First chapter is done! So excited. Don't forget to review and tell me what ya think. I promise more to come soon. Keep in mind I'm in the middle of like five stories and I write during the free time I actually have now lol.
Oh and quick info: Mr. Sunshine was an actual substitute I had in high school…and he was not a very happy person. And the popping sounds the kids made is a true story my sister told me when she was in school that she and her friends did to harass their teacher during exams. Had to write about it.
See you soon!