A New Home
Chapter 1:
Dani POV-
I had been at a group home for all of four months now. I suppose it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened at least now I had food, water, and shelter but I wouldn't call Mrs. First's Home for Girls an "ideal" living situation. On the outside it was beautiful, a large brick building with beautiful landscaping. The foyer and interrogation rooms were also decorated to please anyone who would want to come an adopt us, it was our sleeping quarters that looked like something you would find in a homeless shelter.
There weren't many beds so several girls had to share and there were even fewer blankets, so it was often cold. Cockroaches scurried across the floor, hiding in the corners with the cobwebs. Thankfully, almost everyone was nice, even Mrs. First, who was constantly apologizing for our room saying that she intends to clean it up whenever she can get more income into the home.
Unfortunately, every time I seemed to make a friend, she would be called down to the interrogation room and adopted. So far, nobody seemed to want to adopt me but Arista, the first girl I met here (who was adopted a short period of time later) said that I should never loose hope, that the right family will come around sometime.
'Maybe today is that day,' I thought hopefully as a group of girls, myself included, were called down to the main hallway. We lined up at the bottom of the stairs where Mrs. First and another woman with long red hair and a kind smile looked us over.
"Will I be able to meet them all separately?" the woman asked.
"Of course," Mrs. First said, leading the woman to the interrogation room and motioning for us to follow her. The woman went inside and the first girl, Amelia, at the front of the line, followed her in, taking the empty seat across from the woman. I looked at my place in line, second to last, which mean, that if this woman was planning on adopting one of us today, she might choose someone before I had a chance to go. My heart sank just a little.
'She might be waiting until another time though, so if that's the case, she'll have more time to think about who she likes best,' I thought to myself, once again raising my hopes just a little. Amelia came out and stood against the empty wall and the next girl, Rachel, went in. There was only one more girls in the line in beside me. I prayed silently to God that I would get my chance, looking at the Mrs. First's large painted cross on the wall as I did. When I got here, she had been the one to tell me the story about Jesus. I had been able to relate to it, He had been abused, worse than me, but still chose to do the right thing and die for everyone else, even for a 'mistake' like me.
Rachel came out and stood beside Amelia as the third girl, Darcy, went in. I tapped my fingers against my thigh. Darcy was a few years younger than me and very sweet, if anyone had a chance of getting adopted, it was her. It seemed like I stood there forever before the door finally opened a crack and Darcy came out and stood beside the others. I glanced at Mrs. First who came me an encouraging smile. I put my hand on the cool door handle and pushed the door open, taking the open seat on the other side of the desk. The woman in the room looked at me and smiled, in the light I could see that her eyes were a dark blue-green color and her red hair had hints of blonde through it. I smiled aback at her.
"I'm Ms. Potts, but you can call me Pepper," she told me. I smiled at her.
"I'm Danielle, but most people call me Dani, Dani with an I," I told her, she smiled again, taking note of this on a little notebook she had sitting in her lap.
"How old are you?" she asked me.
"Twelve," I told her, she nodded and continued to make notes on the notebook, I leaned to the side a little to see what she was writing, but hoping she wouldn't see me snooping, but unfortunately, she did. A twinkle of humor shone in her eyes as I quickly leaned back in my seat.
"What about your parents?" she asked.
"If I had them I wouldn't be here," I shrugged, she chuckled lightly, making another note.
"Yes, but do you know what happened to them, do you know why you ended up here?" she asked. When I didn't reply she added, "What about your mother?" she asked.
"I never knew her," I lied, because technically I'm a clone and I don't have a mother.
"Father?" she asked.
I clenched my teeth, remembering the man I had once called a father who had used me to get Danny, so that he could make a half ghost son because I wasn't good enough for him and then a few months later when he had kidnapped me and tried to melt me down into ectoplasmic goop. I shuddered involuntarily.
"I don't want to talk about it," I muttered, my teeth still clenched, her eyebrows furrowed and she scribbled more notes onto the notepad.
"What are you interested in?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Food, rock music, action movies, cars, and anything relating to space or NASA," I replied, this seemed to surprise her but a little smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she scribbled on the paper.
"What are some things that you're afraid of?" she asked.
"Um…" I thought for a minute, "Needles, spiders and failure." She seemed to appreciate my honesty and continued scribbling.
"Well," she grinned at me, "I think that's all of the questions I need to ask you." I nodded and headed towards the door, still thinking about everything I said in the interview.
'Maybe I shouldn't have been so sarcastic. Maybe I should have told her about my dad…' I thought to myself, so absorbed in my own thoughts that I hadn't realized that Pepper had gotten up behind me and had followed me out of the door.
"Mrs. First," she said, "I don't think anymore interviews will be necessary." For a second I thought that maybe my interview had been so horrible that I had messed it up for everyone else but then she said, "I have found the girl I want." I looked around at the other girls.
"That's wonderful!" Mrs. First exclaimed, "Who?"
Pepper smiled down at us, "Dani," she said, "Dani with an I."
For a second I was dumbstruck but then my brain started working again and I realized that THAT WAS ME! I AM GETTTING ADOPTED! I beamed and ran up and hugged Pepper who awkwardly returned the hug.
"Wonderful!" Mrs. First clasped her hands together, "I will draw up the paperwork."
A few minutes later we were seated in Mrs. First's office.
"Are you sure you don't want to think about this a little more, I mean taking on a child is a large responsibility," Mrs. First asked, I know it's her job to ask this question but I was really hoping that the answer was no.
Pepper shook her head smiling, "I've been thinking about this for a while and I think it will be good for me and especially Tony."
"Might I ask who this Tony is?" Mrs. First asked.
"Tony Stark, he's my boss," she replied, with a little blush that said he was definitely a little more than her boss. Mrs. First was so shocked that she nearly dropped the stack of papers in her hands.
"Tony Stark, as in the Tony Stark?" she asked, and Pepper nodded, "Mrs. Potts, are you completely sure this is a good idea?"
"Absolutely, Tony needs to learn to take care of others and stop thinking about himself all the time. I can assure you that Dani will always be well cared for while living with us," she replied.
"Well I hope you've at least told Mr. Stark about this," Mrs. First exclaimed. Pepper looked down guiltily, that would be a no.
"It's better this way anyway," Pepper said. Mrs. First let out a deep sigh but continued to organize the paperwork.
"I just have one question," I asked, and pepper turned to look at me, "Why did you pick me?"
"I picked you Danielle, because you were the most fun and the most like Tony, if anyone will be able to break his hard exterior, it would be you," she smiled. I didn't quite know what to think of this so I sat back for the remainder of the signing process.
Not even an hour later, everything was signed and I was officially adopted. I climbed in the back of a Volkswagen bug car as Pepper climbed in the front seat.
Hello, I'm sorry if you were offended by my touch of religion there in the middle but I'm not going to change it so suck it up. Anyway, I do not own Iron Man or it's characters or Danny Phantom and it's characters. I hope you enjoyed it, please review if you did.