AN: Thanks to Marvel-Tolkien Fangirl for reviewing the last chapter. For those new to my universe, I explore the story of the Avenger Vision far more in my stories "Stark Security Situation" and "Team B to the Rescue;" the second half of the previous chapter shows how Scott Lang had a hand in coming up with the idea of a robotic security guard, and even suggested the name. In "Stark Security Situation," Tony takes the idea of a robotic security guard and implements it. In the comics, Hank Pym creates a robot called "Ultron," which in turn creates a robot called "Vision" as part of a plot to destroy the Avengers. In my universe, I cut Ultron out of the story, but "Ant-Man" is still sort-of responsible for Vision. For more on that, you can read "Stark Security Situation."
"Liz, I won't be able to fly out to Indiana with Cassie this weekend," Scott announced at dinner that night.
"What? Why?" Liz questioned, helping herself to some spaghetti before serving Cassie.
"The security audit this week turned up a couple problems," answered Scott after finishing his mouthful of salad. "Tomorrow night I need to give them my statement—again—and explain what happened—again. Then this weekend we are upgrading all the security software, and Mr. Allred wants me to do the upgrade Saturday morning and then be available all weekend in case there are any problems.
"Could you—?"
"Sure, not a problem," Liz nodded.
Liz and Cassie's plane arrived at O'Hare International Airport just before 7 PM Friday evening. Liz stood up and collected their carry-on bags from the overhead compartment. She adjusted her backpack straps on her shoulder, handed Cassie her ladybug backpack, and picked up their two suitcases. Once she had all their bags, she reached down and took Cassie's hand to wait for their turn to leave.
"I can't wait to see my mommy and Bill," Cassie said excitedly.
"Did your mommy tell you what you're going to do this weekend?" Liz asked as they walked down the aisle.
"Not yet, but I hope we get to go to the zoo tomorrow!"
"Maybe we will," Liz smiled nervously. "Now, Cassie, I don't know your mommy, so you'll have to point her out to me, okay?"
"Okay, Miss Lizzy," Cassie said enthusiastically. The two walked toward the airport exit together. Liz remained quiet, while Cassie babbled excitedly about the friends she wanted to see and everything she wanted to do that weekend.
When they finally passed airport security, Liz saw a crowd of people standing just outside, obviously waiting for someone to arrive. She felt the nervous sensation in the pit of her stomach, which had been lurking in the background since Scott asked her to make this trip, start to flare up now that she was so close to meeting his ex-wife and Cassie's mother. Does she approve of me caring for Cassie like a mother would? Will she be upset to see me here instead of Scott? What does she even think of this arrangement?
Cassie suddenly started waving excitedly and shouting, "Mommy! Mommy!"
Liz looked in the direction that Cassie was pointing and saw a woman in a light blue blouse and black pants with short blond hair smiling and waving back at them. Liz swallowed a little nervously as the woman started walking over to them. Just as the woman reached them, Cassie pulled her left hand out of Liz's grip and ran to hug her mother.
"Hi, sweetie, I've missed you," the strange woman said, wrapping her arms around Cassie and picking her up. A minute later she put the little girl down and looked up at Liz.
"Hi, Mrs. Johnson, my name is Elizabeth Byrne," Liz said, smiling as best she could and putting her hand out.
The other woman accepted the hand and gave her a tightlipped smile. "Peggy Rae Johnson," she said. "So you're the 'Miss Lizzy' that Cassie's told me so much about! I was expecting Scott to bring her…"
"Scott was expecting to bring her, too, until two nights ago. But he found out that has to work this weekend," Liz explained. "He only found out yesterday, and didn't want to cancel on you, so he asked me to take his place."
"That doesn't seem like him," Peggy observed thoughtfully.
"They're doing a security upgrade, plus they need him to tell them about how he got hurt again," Liz told her.
"He got hurt? At work?" Liz thought she detected a note of concern in Peggy's voice.
"He got shot last Wednesday by an intruder. The guy nearly killed him before the other guards subdued him," Liz answered.
"My goodness," Peggy said in shock.
Cassie, who had not been paying attention to the grownups' conversation, started tugging on her mother's hand. "Mommy, can we go?" she whined.
"Yes, sweetie," Peggy replied. She looked back at Liz and said ambiguously, "We can talk more later."
That night, after Cassie was in bed, Peggy made a pot of tea and set it on the dining room table with a pair of mugs. She took a seat and indicated for Liz to sit down as well. When the two were seated and had mugs of tea in front of them, Liz noticed Peggy staring at her, sizing her up. She silently sipped her tea and waited for the other woman to speak first.
"How is Cassie adjusting to life in California?"
"Just fine," Liz answered with a nervous smile. "Scott enrolled her in school the day after they arrived, and she's loving it there. All she talks about at dinner is how much fun they had that day and how much she loves her teacher. She begged me for weeks to let her invite some friends over, so she had five friends come over last Saturday. Of course we couldn't have six 6-year-old girls running around the apartment; Scott was asleep. So instead I took them to the museum. They had a ball!"
"That's good to hear," Peggy said, sounding relieved. After a moment's hesitation, she added, "Cassie's actually told me a lot about you."
"All good, I hope," Liz smiled nervously.
"Oh, yes," Peggy answered. "She's told me about how you drive her to school every morning, and you play with dolls with her, and you take her to play-dates with her friends…"
"Yeah, she loves going to the park together, especially when there are dogs there and she gets to pet them," Liz agreed with a nod.
"She has always loved animals, ever since we had a cat when she was born," Peggy reminisced, looking off into the distance.
The two women sat for a few more minutes, holding their mugs in an uneasy silence.
Eventually, Peggy broke the silence again and asked, "Has Cassie made a lot of friends in LA?"
Liz nodded and replied, "Absolutely. Our neighbors have a six-year-old, also, and the two of them are almost inseparable. She's also made a few friends from school. She was over at her friend Hannah's house yesterday afternoon, and I nearly had to drag her home for dinner!"
"And what do their parents think of your… arrangement?" Peggy asked, giving the other woman an appraising look.
"Oh, I suppose one or two might have been uncomfortable with it at first, but as soon as they found out what was going on, they were fine with it," Liz answered carefully. "About a dozen of my girlfriends at UCLA work as nannies on the side, and a couple of them are also living with the families they nanny for, so it's not that unusual. Actually, half the kids at Cassie's school have nannies, too. I think the most unusual part of the situation is that Scott's a single dad and a security guard, as opposed to mom and dad both being company bigwigs!"
"Oh," Peggy said, sipping on her tea. "So this isn't that unusual?"
"I don't think so."
After a few more minutes of sitting in silence and drinking their tea, Peggy poured herself another mug and finally asked, "Why are you doing it?"
"What do you mean?" Liz asked innocently.
"I think you know what I mean," Peggy responded. "Why did you decide to move in with my ex and watch our daughter for him?"
Liz thought for a minute before responding. "I suppose I could say that it gives me a place to live away from my parents. I could also say that I love Cassie, and that that alone would be enough to make me do it," she said slowly.
"But neither of those is the real reason."
"No."
"Then what is?"
Liz thought for a minute. "Did Scott tell you about how we met?" Liz asked finally.
"No, he's been intentionally… vague about the details of how he got his job and how he found you to be his…" Peggy trailed off.
"Nanny, primarily," Liz supplied, "though I also do some cleaning and cooking." She looked away for a moment. Finally she said, "I don't think Scott is very comfortable with talking about what happened.
"I was nearly abducted from the café where I worked." She heard Peggy gasp as she went on, "It was down in Atlanta while I was in college there back in the fall. Some guy came in, stuck a gun to my head, and tried to take me away.
"I thought I was going to be dragged away, raped, murdered… I didn't know what to do except beg for my life. A customer who'd come in a couple times stood up to the gunman, wrestled the gun away from him, saved my life. It was Scott. He took a bullet in his arm and saved my life, even though he'd only just met me a couple days before."
"Gosh," Peggy said, surprised. "He never told me any of that."
"My dad's head of Human Resources for Stark Industries," Liz continued. "When I told him what had happened, he wanted to help Scott get a job, even with his criminal record. So, that's also how Scott got his security guard job."
"And you decided to move in with him to watch Cassie."
"More or less," Liz nodded. "I'd already decided I wanted to be closer to home because of the abduction scare; moving in with him as Cassie's nanny seemed like a win-win situation for both of us: He got to take the job and have his daughter live with him. I got to have my housing and food taken care of, make a little spending money, and repay the debt I owe him for saving my life."
"That makes sense now," Peggy smiled. "So how has Cassie been feeling since moving out there? I assume that Scott's been continuing her treatment?"
"He took her to see Stark Industries' primary pediatrician a week after they arrived, once we'd gotten more settled in," Liz affirmed. "He didn't have any brilliant treatment ideas other than that tea I gave her before bed. But he did refer us to the best oncologist in Los Angeles. Scott scheduled an appointment for her on Monday."
Peggy sighed in relief. "I'm glad to hear it. Access to better doctors was one of the reasons that I let Scott take her."
"Cassie really does seem to love her father," Liz observed, "and I can tell that he absolutely adores her."
Peggy was silent for a minute, looking appraisingly at Liz. Finally, her shoulders slumped and she said, "I know. You must think I'm a horrible person for taking her away from him and leaving him the way I did."
"Oh, no," Liz replied in shock, a horrified expression crossing her face. "I wasn't implying anything like that at all!"
Peggy was quiet for another minute, watching Liz's face. Finally she said, "Believe me, that may have been one of the most difficult decisions I ever made. I didn't know what else to do. Cassie was still sick, she still needed medication and treatments and doctors' visits and all of that. With Scott in prison, we didn't have any health insurance to help pay for it. I couldn't just get a job and leave my sick two-year-old with someone. Going to live with my parents was the only logical choice."
"You could've done that without the divorce," Liz commented, before she could stop herself.
"Do you think I don't know that?" Peggy demanded hotly. "I know I should've stuck by him, even with the prison sentence. But I—I was ashamed of what he'd done. I was ashamed that my husband had tried to steal, even if it was to support us. I was ashamed that my daughter had to grow up visiting her father in prison. I was ashamed of the stigma that prison carries. I couldn't handle all of that with my sick daughter with no support, so I—I left him and came here.
"I've regretted it ever since, even if I have remarried."
"I'm sorry if my presence makes it worse," Liz responded quietly, putting her hand on the table.
"It did at first," Peggy acknowledged, looking back at her. Then she put her hand on Liz's and continued, "But after talking with you and seeing how good you are with Cassie… I—I'm glad that she has you to take care of her."