Toni stares up at the old wrinkled man before her and wrinkles her nose. He looks like the kind of man that often yells for children to get off his lawn. Tony places a hand on her head and makes her look up at him. "Be nice."
The man bends down to her level, "My name is Tobias Wilford. What is yours?"
"Toni Cha'Kwaina Stark."
"That is a lovely name." Mr. Wilford says and stands back up. "Why don't you show me your room?"
Toni looks to her father, who nods at her. Slightly reluctant, she leads the man to her bedroom. The man takes the chair from in front of her desk and places it at the foot of her bed. He motions for her to sit on the bed.
Toni does so. Wilford holds up a clipboard and takes a pen out of his jacket. "Now, Miss Stark, do you know why I am here?"
Toni shakes her head.
Wilford nods, "I am a child psychologist."
When Toni shows no sign of recognition the man continues, "It means I study the way children think and act. Your father has hired me to…evaluate you."
Toni frowns, feeling very confused. Mr. Wilford begins to ask her questions. Some are easy and some are not. The hard ones make her think and she doesn't really like to think about it. He asks her questions for an hour before standing up, shaking her hand, and leaving her room.
Just outside her door she can hear Mr. Wilford and her father talking in hushed voices. She feels tired and crawls up to the head of the bed.
After a while, Tony comes in and sits in his usual chair. "How's it going?"
Toni shrugs more interested in why her daddy feels so sad.
Tony sighs, "What did you think of Mr. Wilford?"
Toni thinks for a minute, "He's nice, even though he doesn't look it. Very calm. He asks a lot of questions."
Tony nods and pets her hair, "Well kiddo…it looks like he is going to put you on some medicine."
"For what?" Toni asks.
"To help you with your nightmares, and so you won't be sad." Tony leans back and crosses his arms, "I'll expect you to take it every night."
Toni's eyes widen, "Is it liquid?"
Tony crooks an eyebrow, "No, a pill."
Toni calms, "Ok. I can do that."
Tony tucks her in to bed and lets her take a nap. When Toni wakes up, her father is gone and she stares at the ceiling for a solid five minutes trying to decide what to do.
Eventually she gets up and exercises for a while. Practicing the moves Natasha has taught her so far. Then she decides to take a bath.
The tub in her bathroom is enormous. The bathroom is all in blacks and greys and whites, just like her bedroom. Daddy has installed some step stools for her to reach everything.
Toni loves bathes and showers and water in general. Often she can take up to two hours in the bathroom. The first time she had done it, her dad had come in to check if she was ok when Jarvis alerted him to her extra long shower.
She explained that showers or baths like this were a luxury. Back home in the trailer, where she and her mom had lived on the reservation, the bathrooms were small. They also didn't always have running water or electricity because momma would forget to pay the bills. Or sometimes just didn't pay them on purpose so she had enough money to pay for drugs.
Toni remembered creating her own shower with the neighbors water hose and showering with a flashlight.
Her confessions had made her daddy really sad and he hadn't said a word about her bathing time since.
So she fills the tub and sinks into the hot water with a smile. As she soaks she closes her eyes and sinks below the surface of the water with nothing but her nose above the water. When everything is quiet and she can let her mind relax. Meditation her grandmother had called it.
She nearly doses off it is so peaceful. Eventually though she surfaces and turns on the bathroom TV. Who had ever heard of a TV in a bathroom? Once she finds something nice to watch she turns on the Jacuzzi feature in the tub and settles back.
Toni watches two hours of TV shows before a knock on the door catches her attention. It's her dad, she knows. She jumps out of the tub and streaks across the room to where a huge fluffy towel is laid out. She then opens the door.
Tony is standing just outside the door and smirks at her. He holds out a white paper bag. Toni wipes her bangs to one side and takes the package with one hand. "What is it?"
"Your prescription. These are the pills you're going to start taking." Tony says and watches as she peeks in the bag.
Toni walks across the room and settles on to her bed staring down at the two orange bottles in her hand. "Momma used to have bottles like these."
Tony winces and rubs at the back of his neck. He sits next to her and takes the bottles from her hand. "You know, your mother…" He struggles for words to say.
He gets an unwavering stare from Toni before she nods and places a hand on his wrist. "Momma was sick. But…not in the same way as I am sick."
Tony puts the bottles in his pocket as he stands, "You're so smart."
Toni has him turn around and she gets dressed. When she is done she pulls at his hand, "Can you help me put my hair up?"
Tony looks from her damp hair and the brush he can see sitting on her dresser. "Maybe I should go get Natasha…"
Toni shrinks, "No, no, I can do it."
Tony waves his hands around, "I'd love too!"
Toni's mood lightens immediately and she goes to the dresser and pulls out a package of hair ties. She grabs the brush and hops back to the bed. Tony sits behind her and takes the brush and a purple hair tie from the package. Slowly he begins to brush her hair.
"You have to start from the bottom." Toni whispers.
"Ah." Tony says and corrects his mistake.
Tony winces when his daughter hisses in pain at the first tangle. Gingerly he brushes through it. Eventually he gets the hang of it and brushes her hair till it's dry. Then he starts on trying to put it up in a ponytail.
The door opens and Steve stares at them, Tony with a hair tie hanging from his teeth and Toni with her bangs brushed back. Both of them stare back and Steve smothers a smile.
Slowly Tony finishes the ponytail. It's a bit lopsided and a piece or two escapes, but it's up and Tony feels he deserves a pat on the back for that achievement.
Toni fixes her bangs, "Hi Cap. What brings you here?"
Steve leans against the door jam. "We haven't seen either of you all day, so everybody sent me to check on you."
Tony stands and walks up to Steve, "I took your advice…"
From there anything he says to Steve, Toni can't hear. Tony's cell phone rings and he excuses himself to leave the room. Steve walks over to the window near Toni's desk. He's carrying a notebook and Toni curiously asks what he's holding.
Steve turns and smiles at her, "Oh this? It's a sketchbook."
"Do you draw?" Toni questions.
Steve nods and comes over to sit next to her. He flips open the book and hands it to Toni. She ooh's and awe's over each picture. "I hear you draw as well."
Toni nods and gets up and walks over to her desk. "I draw sceneries and people…I'm not good at animals though."
She takes a stack of papers out of a drawer and skips back to sit next to him. She hands him the stack of papers and Steve pats her shoulder as he begins to flip through her pictures. It's the third picture that draws his eyebrows together. Slowly a cold chill travels down his spine and Steve stands, staring at the drawing in his hand.
Toni looks up at him worriedly, "Steve?"
At that moment Tony walks back in, freezing at the look on Steve's face. "What happened?"
Steve finally looks back up at Tony, "We have a problem."