Dad may not have been a perfect role model or around as much as I would have wanted but he was always there for the big ones. He never missed a single birthday or Christmas. Whenever I needed him he was always a phone call away. He would drop everything just to make sure I was okay. And when he couldn't make it Nana was always there for me. There are certain things a girl need her mom for growing up and I don't think dad would have been the right person to help me through that.
It only made it more awkward when both of my soul marks appeared on my thirteenth birthday. That's right two marks. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.
Nora's POV- Age 13
Today's the day. I'm officially a teenager yet I've already graduated from High school. Well graduated is a loose term. More like I finished all the schoolwork equivalent to that of a high school senior, passed an exam, and they mailed me my diploma. I never set foot in a high school since I was homeschooled by Jarvis, my dad's AI. Now I was waiting for my acceptance letters to see where I would go to college. Dad was trying to get me to consider MIT. I didn't tell him I had already applied in case I didn't get accepted.
I got out of bed and hopped in the shower. Dad was coming over to celebrate my birthday with our time-honored tradition of a sci-fi movie marathon, tons of sugary snacks and a night locked in the lab with whatever random idea we tried to copy from the movie we saw. Last year we made a hover board like the one from back to the future. As I got out of the shower and started to brush my hair, I started to feel a burning sensation from both of my wrists. It stung a bit and I started to get dizzy. I fell to the ground and passed out.
The next thing I remember, I'm waking up and Nana is looking me over to make sure I'm okay.
"Nora, Sweetheart, are you Okay? What happened? Did you hit your head? How many finger am I holding up?" She mother henned me constantly but this was just making me get a headache.
"Nana I'm fine I just got a bit dizzy after my wrists started burning." I answered.
"Did you burn yourself with the curling iron? You have to be more careful Nora." She lectured.
"I wasn't curling my hair I was brushing my hair when.." I looked down at my wrists and that was when I saw them, my soul marks.
On my right wrist, Steven Grant Rogers.
And on my left, James Buchannan Barnes.
When Nana saw them her eyes where wide open and she gasped. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. Why was she so shocked they were just names.
"Nana, what wrong? Are you Okay?" I asked her. I was starting to worry. She looked like she was about to faint.
"Its nothing sweetie, just surprised is all. Can you do me a favor? Don't show your dad your marks, Please." The doorbell ringing interrupted her. It was probably dad. "Please Nora, just wear the clothes I picked out. I promise I'll explain after your dad leaves."
I don't understand why I have to hide my marks. Maybe its because I have two instead of just one. I hesitantly nodded and Nana left to go answer the door. I got dressed in the long sleeve olive thermal, jeans and boots she had laid out on my bed. After I looked presentable I went downstairs and saw my dad standing in the hallway leading to the kitchen talking on the phone. As soon as I we made eye contact he ended the call and I jumped into his arms.
"Hey princess, miss me?" He asked as he gave me a giant hug and spun me around.
" Yeah dad I missed my favorite science partner."
"Not as much as I missed you kid. You ready for our day of fun, I have…"he was interrupted by someone behind him.
"Don't I get a hug?" I heard someone behind me ask.
"Uncle Rhodey!" I ran to go hug my godfather.
"Hey kid your getting big. I'm sure there are already boys lining up at the door waiting to ask you out." He teased.
"No Uncle, there are no boys." I answered.
"Not even at school? Come on your barely starting High school." He asked.
"Actually," I went to the living room and brought him my framed diploma. "I just graduated high school." I smiled at him.
He was shocked. If he had hair I'm sure his eyebrows would have disappeared into his hairline. "What?! How come I wasn't invited to your graduation? Tony did you know about this?"
"Well to be fair I didn't get to go to her graduation considering she didn't tell anyone." Said my dad still slightly mad that I decided to skip graduation and just had my diploma mailed to me instead.
"So what now? You're barely thirteen and just graduated high school what are you going to do?" He asked. Everyone has been asking me that question for the past month.
"She's going to MIT if she decides to go. She already got accepted." My dad tells him.
"Wait how do you know I got accepted?" I asked surprised he even knows I applied.
"Because I found this giant thick envelope in your mailbox that is almost identical to the one they sent me years ago." My dad smirks.
"Oh," Is all I could think to respond. "They had mail back in your day old man? I thought they still used telegraphs back in your day." I teased.
"How old do you think I am?" He responds mock offended. "So, are you going to open it?"
"Maybe later, todays our day, MIT can wait till Stanford responds." I respond.
"STANFORD?!" My dad and Uncle Rhodey yell at the same time.
"Why would you want to go to that overrated junior college?" Dad mocks.
"Dad its one of the best universities in the world. Its right alongside Oxford and Harvard on my top choices."
"Oxford?! No Nora! I refuse to have you any farther away than you already are. I can make an exception for MIT or even Harvard but no Oxford they are way too stuck up. Your going to come back with a pretentious accent and spelling words all weird and obsessed with tea, and…" He's ranting. Its getting ridiculous I would normally let him continue his rant but I'm hungry and my stomach decided to let out a loud growl, interrupting dad's rant.
"Was that your stomach? Dang girl lets get some food in you." Uncle Rhodey leads me to the Kitchen where Nana has set up a table with all my favorites. Dad decides to stop ranting but tells me that we will continue my intervention later.
A few hours later after our movie marathon, dad and I are downstairs in the lab trying to make a light saber. Dad's working on a possible power source while I'm trying to find a way to magnify and contain the laser to form the saber. There's ACDC playing in the background or at least If feels like its playing in the background the music is playing so loud I think I may have gone deaf.
Out of nowhere dad turns the music off. "Nora,"
"Yeah dad?" I respond.
"Why didn't you tell me you applied to MIT?" He asks.
"It didn't seem really important." I reply nonchalantly.
"What do you mean not important? It's your future, where you're going to be for the next four years, where you might meet your soul mate and fall in love. What do you mean its not important?" I felt a pain in my chest when he said soul mate. If only you knew dad.. I thought to myself. He questions me looking at me trying to figure out what was going on with me.
"Dad, you have a lot on your plate, I didn't want to add on too it. Besides there was a chance I wouldn't get accepted and I didn't want to disappoint you. Its nothing." I turn around and get back to work.
Dad puts his tools down and walks over to me. "Hey kid, look at me."
I try to avoid looking at his eyes. But instead be grabs the tools out of my hands, puts them on the table, and pulls me to the futon in the corner and makes me sit down. He then squats and makes it impossible to avoid eye contact. " Nora, listen to me you have no idea how proud of you I am. It has nothing to do with how smart you are or what school you end up going to, its because of the person you have grown up to be. You could never disappoint me. Hell, I should be worried you'd be disappointed in me, I'm a horrible role model."
"Dad your not-"
"Yes I am no matter how much I didn't want too, how hard I tried not too, I became my dad. I hardly see you kid, I spend to much time working or getting drunk. I missed out on most of your childhood, I missed your first words, your first steps, the first time you accidentally started a fire."
"Well you didn't really miss it, I think the security camera caught most of it." I joke trying to relieve some of the negativity in the room.
"Point is kid, I could've done better and I still have no idea why you don't resent me. So no matter what you decide to do I could never be disappointed because out of everything in my fucked up life you are the best thing I have."
" Dad I can't be disappointed in you. Yeah maybe you should cut down on the booze a bit it cant exactly be god for your health But like you said I'm all you have and you're all I have. Its us against the world. You did what you thought was best to give me a normal well semi-normal life-"
"Semi-normal?" he asks with a smirk.
"Well were both super geniuses with ridiculously high IQs that try to recreate gadgets from sci-fi movies, both graduated from high school really young and in a couple of years we'll both be MIT alumni with the record of being the youngest in our graduating classes. So yeah not exactly normal." I respond and dad gives me a grin.
"Come on, let's go get some birthday cake and tell Rhodey the good news."
We go upstairs and see that Nana and Uncle Rhodey have already lit all the candles on the cake. The cake says Happy Birthday Nora in white frosting on maroon Fondant. We eat cake and then go back to the lab. We manage to get the lightsaber to work for about 30 seconds before it over heats and blows up. Best Birthday ever.
The Next Morning:
"Well kiddo, maybe next year we can get it to stabilize and hopefully use it for more that 30 seconds. Maybe we'll make it to a full minute." Dad teases.
"Yeah maybe if I'm not to busy you can fly down to Boston, If not there's always Christmas." I respond much to Nana and Rhodey's dismay.
"That's true, well kid this is where we leave you." Rhodey says.
They each give me a massive bear hug before getting in the car and driving off.
"So I guess its time for that talk you promised." I tell Nana.
"I guess it is. So how much do you know about your grandfather's work during World War II?" Nana asks as we walk in the house.
"You mean besides the bed time stories dad used to tell when I was smaller? All I know is that he worked for something called the Strategic Scientific Reserve as an engineer. Dad doesn't really talk a lot about grandpa." I respond.
"Then I guess its time for a field trip. Its time to go see an old friend" she says.
"What does this all have to do with my soul marks?" I retort.
"I think Peggy can fill in the blanks better than I can." With that she walks in to the kitchen and starts making phone calls.
Short A/N: Thank you to all those who have read this story. I would love to get some feedback about how you are liking it or anything you think i could improve or even if you have questions about the story itself. Thank You.