Hello Readers, wanted to get in an update as a gift to you all for Christmas.

Merry Christmas :)

Remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. May He bless you and your family today and always.

Peace,

~Sawyer~

Steve browsed over Wanda's homework and groaned. It was unfinished and most of it was incorrect. The teen girl was pushing buttons he didn't even know he had. Tossing the papers on the desk, he strode across the room and crossed his arms. He didn't remember when everything had gotten so hard then he scoffed at himself. Who was he kidding, everything had gone straight to hell when he'd been forced to crash the Hydra bomber all those years ago, right at the moment when he'd wrestled with the controls and started to understand that the plane was too damaged to trust. He hadn't even had a minute to come to terms with the fact that he was going to die. He'd just reacted. He should have died. He was an old soul trapped in a young vibrant body, torn out of his timeline. Nothing made sense and he expelled a lot of energy trying to figure things out. He wasn't even sure how he'd survived, except he told himself it was because he'd been so super enhanced that the water temperature had preserved him in a cryogenic state. His theory on that was blown straight to hell when Bucky had survived too. Now it seemed like he existed rather than lived, especially now that Peggy was gone. A part of him had died with her. Despite the fact that she had been aged and slow, he'd still loved her. All he'd seen was her beautiful face when he looked at her. He would have married her if she'd have let him. Not a single part of him cared that she'd aged. She had still been his Peggy.

Steve rubbed his temples as he became lost in memories, something he did far too often anymore. Meeting Tony Stark and discovering the man was Howard Stark's son had been a real mind bender. He'd never really cared much for Stark senior back in the day and meeting Tony had made him realize that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. But, over time, his opinion of Tony changed. It had been a rocky beginning but the billionaire had eventually earned his respect. When Steve discovered about Tony's parents being murdered by Hydra, he'd never dreamed it was Bucky who had done it. Steve had been as surprised as Tony.

Voices from out in the hallway pulled Steve out of his reverie. Laughter and good-natured talking was a sound he loved to hear and the sound of Wanda's laughter was like a balm on his heart. It wasn't something they heard very often, especially since coming to Wakanda. Steve walked to the door and opened it to see Clint carrying Wanda in a fireman's hold over his shoulder. The teen was laughing and kicking her feet.

"C'mon. Not fair, Clint," she giggled between gasps of breath, "You're stronger than me."

Steve chuckled as he watched the two of them play together. It warmed Steve's heart to see Wanda having fun rather than being moody and belligerent.

"Well, it looks as though Clint punished you sufficiently, Wanda. That will teach you to give me a hard time with your schoolwork, young lady."

Clint spun around and scowled at him. "I'll have you know that I worked this child to the bone as punishment. She's learned her lesson, haven't you, Bella?" He spun in circles a few times while Wanda struggled to get free.

"Clint, put me down!" she screeched.

Clint chuckled and set her to her feet, catching her by the hand to keep her from falling on her backside in her dizziness.

"Easy there, Princess," laughed Clint.

Steve got a good look at the girl's flushed, dirt-smudged face and shook his head with a laugh. She looked much more relaxed and less combative than earlier which was a good thing. He reached out and attempted to rub some dirt from her face. "Have fun?"

Wanda shrugged and scratched at her arms. "If you call stacking wood in the blistering hot sun and getting chewed by mosquitos fun, then I had a blast." Her voice was light-hearted. "Clint is a slave driver."

Clint rolled his eyes as he walked towards the kitchen to grab water from the fridge. "Pfff, whatever, Sunshine. The hard work was good for your stinky attitude. Next time, I won't be so nice; I'll skip the niceties and go straight to blistering another part of your anatomy."

Wanda stuck her tongue out at him. "You and whose army, Clint?"

Steve looked at Wanda's arms and noticed the inflamed lumps all over them. "I hadn't noticed the bugs being that bad here. Are they terribly itchy? I could ask for something from the infirmary."

Wanda rubbed at her arm but grimaced at the motion.

"Your shoulder still bothering you?" asked Clint, still standing and holding a couple of bottles of water.

"Whoa, back off mother hens; I'm fine. Yes, I'm itchy and yes, my shoulder aches a little but I'll be fine. The healing balm Shuri gave me helps and I'm sure it will help with the itching too. I've always been sensitive to insect bites. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go take a shower."

Wanda started to walk away from them, but Clint cleared his throat softly causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Oh, yah. Umm, Steve, I'm sorry I was rude earlier. Will you forgive me?" Wanda tucked her long hair behind her ears and looked at Steve with a sincerity that melted his heart.

Steve smiled and walked over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace. He stroked the back of her head and eyed Clint who smiled at him.

"Of course, sweetheart," began Steve, pulling away and smiling at her. "I wasn't all that upset anyway. Although, you could tone down the flippancy just a little and maybe find another way to tell me to back off."

Wanda giggled. "What? You don't like being told to…"

Clint clucked his tongue loudly as he collapsed into a nearby chair. "No need for an instant replay, Bella."

Wanda stuck her tongue out at him. "As if you don't say worse, Clint."

Steve laughed. "She's got a point, Barton."

Clint sneered at them both. "Do as you're told not as I do."

Steve lifted a brow, "And what does your wife say about that?"

Clint shrugged and then burst out laughing, as did Wanda and Steve. Wanda turned to leave, stopping to fire a pillow at Clint's head as she walked by him. His quick reflexes allowed him to catch the pillow and fire it back, hitting her in the back of the head as she left the room. She turned and scowled at him with a snicker before disappearing down the hallway.

Steve sat down and accepted the other bottle of water that Clint held out to him. They heard the bathroom door close and lock before they began to speak again.

"I have to say, you're a miracle worker, Clint. When you escorted her out of here earlier, I thought she was going to spontaneously combust."

Clint ran a hand through his sweaty hair and nodded. "She needed to chill out. For some reason, she is ready to pick a fight with both of us at the drop of a hat."

Steve opened the water and took a sip. "You noticed that too, huh? She seems to want to push the envelope further and further lately."

"She's looking for a response, and she wants to see how far she can push you before you push back. You're gonna need to put your foot down, Cap. She's not a member of your training squad any longer; she's your kid. She needs some boundaries and lines drawn in the dirt. Kids feel safer if they can count on adults to be consistent."

Steve made a face at Clint. "That's such a load of malarkey, Clint."

Clint bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Malarkey? Did you just say malarkey?"

Steve scowled.

"Sorry," laughed Clint, "but I haven't heard that since I was a little kid staying with my grandparents. Geez, man, would it hurt you to say bullshit just once? I mean seriously. It reminds me of the time you called Stark out on his shit. Remember your language comment?"

Steve sighed at the memory. The joke was no longer amusing to him. "Haha. I already know I'm never going to live that down." It was one slip of the lip he seriously regretted. He couldn't have helped himself in the moment. Often times, he felt like he spent more time herding sheep than leading soldiers, especially where Stark was concerned.

"You can take the boy out of the 1940s but you can't take the 1940s outta the boy."

"Can we be serious for a minute?" asked Steve, rising to his feet and beginning to pace. Clint sobered and sat up straighter. "What's bothering you, Cap?"

Steve stopped pacing and shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly? Wakanda is making me crazy. I want to go back to the compound and do something useful. I want things to be like they were before. Back when the Avengers made a difference. Back before everyone was so uptight and decided that we needed to be controlled. What the hell happened to us?"

Clint stood to his feet and walked to Steve, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I dunno, Cap. People are not the same as times past. They need to feel safe and aren't as willing to take as many risks. I don't have any answers. I just know we're right and damn Tony straight to hell for being such a bastard to give in to it all. I thought he had more balls than that."

Steve closed his eyes and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "That's the thing; it's not Tony's fault. I was wrong to blame it on him. He's just the scapegoat in all this. He was emotionally manipulated, and I don't blame him for that. These aren't easy decisions for any of us. I guess I just hate that it tore us apart. We should have remained united."

"I agree and I think Stark is beginning to realize that too." Clint was quiet a moment. "Do you know anything about that kid he brought to Germany?"

Steve shook his head, exasperated at the thought. When he first came up against the kid in Germany, he was really ticked off. What was Stark thinking to bring a kid into a battle between them? Sure, the kid had enhanced powers but for Pete's sake, the very fact that the kid was a kid just exacerbated the whole situation. Being controlled and "known" by the UN, in essence having their secret identities on display for everyone, was a horrific thought in itself, but to know kids like that Spider kid and Wanda would have their identities known to the public was maddening to Steve. What was Stark thinking? "No, but if you ask me it was a pretty shitty move."

Clint blinked, staring in proud amazement. "There ya go! Did it hurt?"

Steve chuckled lightly and held his fingers up about an inch apart. "Just a little; my mother would be appalled. Shut up, Barton."

Clint clapped him on the back with a grin on his face. "Nah, she'd just chalk it up to bad company corrupting your good character."

Steve laughed and turned his back to Clint. "I'm really trying to do my best to make this work. Clint."

"I know you are, buddy. No one said this was going to be easy, but you did a commendable thing. If Wanda didn't have you, where would she be? She's just an innocent kid. She never asked for any of this to happen. Don't sell yourself short."

Steve turned back around. "I know I have to be firm with her. She needs boundaries. I get that, but I'm a soldier, Clint; I don't know how to be a father."

"Steve, you're a good man. Trust your instincts. I didn't know how to be a father either. You just learn as you go along. Kids are forgiving. What counts is that you love her and you care enough to be there for her. The rest is just gravy. None of us are perfect and never will be. You're gonna make mistakes; you will mess up but she will forgive you and if we're lucky, we'll all learn something along the way. For what it's worth, we're kinda like a makeshift family for now."

Steve heaved a deep sigh. The truth was he was feeling way over his head in the parenting department and second-guessing his decision to take Wanda as his ward. Perhaps, she would have been better off in foster care with a family more experienced with teenage girls and a family with both a mother and a father.

"I'm sorry for interfering earlier. I know it's not my right, but when I saw her in your face and you weren't doing anything about it, well, it just set my teeth on edge…"

Steve raised a dismissive hand. "No need to apologize. I was over my head in that moment. Part of me wanted to smack her and that was not appropriate on any level." Steve shivered at the memory of how frustrated he was. Wanda was shouting at him and completely out of control. He hadn't known what to do to bring things back under control. He didn't often feel helpless but Wanda seemed to bring that emotion out in him more often than he'd like to admit.

Clint stuck his hands in his pockets and chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Well, sometimes it is." Steve opened his mouth to interrupt but Clint raised his hand to forestall him. "Just listen to me a minute. I'm not telling you to punch her or drop her to the floor like you would in combat. I'm talking about a few disciplinary swats to the backside which is perfectly acceptable when you're a parent. It captures attention and punctuates your words. Sometimes, in certain situations, it is useful and very appropriate."

Steve shook his head. "Clint, she's a 16-year-old teenaged girl, not a toddler. That wouldn't be appropriate on any level in my mind."

Clint shrugged. "Alright, but I have to disagree with you. We're obviously different kind of dads. But I reserve the right to do it if she steps out of line, and I hope you will respect me on that and not rip my head off should the occasion arise."

"How many swats are we talking?"

"However many I deem appropriate at the time. Steve, you know me, I'm not some kind of sick perverted guy who gets his jollies out of smacking teen girls."

Steve furrowed his brow at the comment. Sometimes Clint confused him with the things he said. Actually, most times the man confused him. Most times, most people confused him. It came from being ripped out of another time in history.

It had never crossed his mind that his friend was immoral in any way, and he wasn't sure where the comment had come from. Growing up, it wasn't usual for his father to discipline him in a more hands-on way, but his father would have never laid a hand on his sister. It just wasn't proper. He had been taught that women were the weaker sex and a gentler approach was much more appropriate. Steve couldn't imagine raising his hand to Wanda or any woman for that matter. It just felt wrong.

Clint dropped his head and massaged his temples. "Never mind, forgot who I was talking to. The point is sometimes as the parent you need something in your pocket to show the kid you mean business. It might not be the best choice, but it can very quickly put an end to an out of control situation."

Steve sighed again. He felt like he was doing far more of that lately. "Okay, okay. I see your point. All I ask is that you use it sparingly and as a very last resort. My own memories of it are not very pleasant."

"Um, that's the whole idea, Cap. The more unpleasant the better."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Point taken."

Clint grinned. "Anyway, I need a shower. Does Wakanda have restaurants? I sure could use a hamburger about now."

Steve grimaced. "Don't even mention hamburgers. What I wouldn't give for a medium-rare steak about now, but I highly doubt we will find anything of the sort in the village."

Clint groaned and started to head down the hallway towards his room. "King T'Challa better up his game. I'm going crazy eating slugs cooked in snail boogers."

Steve laughed out loud, nearly choking on his own saliva at the comment. Leave it to Clint to say something off the wall.

"You're disgusting, man."

"Just adding a little realism to the moment."

Steve shook his head as his friend disappeared from his sight. Maybe things were going to be okay. Perhaps between the both of them, they would be able to help Wanda and they would all survive the situation unscathed.

Before Steve could even process that thought, Wanda came stomping down the hallway looking very angry. She came up to Steve and stood in front of him, holding what looked like a cell phone.

"Why don't I have any service?" she demanded.

Steve blinked. "Wanda, this is Wakanda. I don't even know if they have Wi-Fi here let alone cell phone service, and where did you get that phone? I thought T'Challa had all of our communication devices. We don't want our whereabouts traced by anyone."

Wanda frowned, her face reddening. "Clint has his phone and you have yours. I've seen you both communicating with people outside Wakanda. Why can't I?"

Steve furrowed his brow wondering who Wanda would be communicating with outside of him anyway. It wasn't like she'd had a lot of time to makes friends in America.

"Did you have service before?"

"Yes!" she shouted at him in exasperation. "Why doesn't it work now?"

Steve went to take the phone from her hand but she snatched it back and held it away from him.

"Wanda, where did you get it?"

"What difference does that make? It's none of your business."

"It is my business. King T'Challa made sure our devices were properly firewalled to protect us from being traced. Please give that phone to me right now."

"No way!" snapped Wanda, backing away from him. "It's mine. You have no right!"

"Wanda, you could have compromised our location. Do you want to go back to that prison?"

Wanda's face paled and her hand shook as she reached out the phone towards Steve. "I-I can explain."

Steve took the cell phone and looked at it. Damn if it wasn't his old cell phone. He thought he'd left it in his room back at the compound. Why would Wanda have it when she'd been given her own?

"I don't know why I took it…I just wanted to have one…in case, well, I didn't know if…" Wanda tripped over her words as tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks. Her anger was gone, replaced by uncertainty. She gulped. "I took it to the mall and used a pay as you go card to hook it up. You don't need to be any specific age to buy a prepaid card."

Steve looked from the phone to her face, sensing there was more to the story than she was telling him. He heaved a sigh, turned off the phone and pulled the battery, hoping it wasn't already too late. Wakanda was well hidden from outsiders and he felt certain that a cell phone wouldn't jeopardize their whereabouts but he knew he'd have to tell T'Challa anyway, just in case. He didn't know what kind of tracers would be on a phone issued by Stark Industries.

"C'mon, have a seat and let's talk about this."

NEW YORK

Tony looked up at the ceiling and mentally counted to ten. All his life he had been quick-tempered and he was trying hard to leave that part of him behind. Peter had done a lot of dumb things since he'd known him but this one topped the chart of stupid. He knew he should have been thankful that Peter wasn't doing something dangerous but he'd have almost taken that over stupid, especially considering it was school related. Tony felt his teeth clench as he debated just letting Aunt May handle this one. After all, it really didn't have to do with the kid being a superhero. It had more to do with the kid being a stupid kid. Aunt May was better suited to handle stupid kid stuff, wasn't she?

"Are you gonna say something, Mr. Stark?"

Tony raised his finger in the air over his head. His back was to the kid and he wasn't ready turn around quite yet. He was missing time with Pepper over this? Tony began to count out loud this time.

"Uh…Mr. Stark…you, umm…counting like that is making me nervous."

Tony spun on his heel and glared at the fidgeting kid in front of him.

"I will pay for the mess we made, Mr. Stark. I, uh, just didn't want to tell my aunt about it because she's freak out and when she freaks out, I freak out…"

Tony winced. There was that wording again. The kid used it every time he was worried about his aunt discovering something he'd done wrong. Why was he so afraid of his aunt freaking out, and why would it make him freak out if she freaked out. Parents freaked out. It was something they were good at. Tony should know because he felt like he was going to freak out at any moment."

"Kid, I'm going to freak out all over your skinny behind. Does that make YOU freak out?"

Peter gulped loudly. "Kinda."

"Good. Sit your butt down and tell me what the hell made you think breaking into your school to use the science labs was a good idea on any level?"

Peter sat but his nervous energy made him literally bounce up and down on the sofa. "It wasn't like that, Mr. Stark. Ned and I…"

Tony shook his head. "Nope. I don't want to hear anything about Ned. If you incriminate your friend, I will be forced to report what you say to his parents. It's best I do not know anything about his involvement."

Peter paled, liked his dry lips and nodded. "I-I wanted to see…to test…remember how we tried out a few things in your lab? Well, I had a hypothesis and well, I didn't think…"

"Yah, you didn't think, kid," Tony mumbled. "What kind of hypothesis, and why couldn't it wait until we were in my lab?"

Peter swallowed but remained quiet.

Tony looked around the room. His office was usually a place he avoided if he could help it. Pepper always made sure they did business when he came there. He looked at his desk and saw the ghost of himself signing paperwork and shuddered. He was never so glad he'd made Pepper his CEO. He always hated the business side of Stark Industries. He didn't have the patience for it. He crossed his arms and purposely sat in the chair closest to the door, not wanting to associate himself with the chair behind the desk. Peter sat on the sofa fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Well, if you didn't want me to know then why call me and tell me?"

Peter shrugged. "It was either you or Aunt May. I figured you were the less of the two evils." Peter tossed him a weak smile but Tony didn't return it.

"I'm betting you're wrong. C'mon, Pete, out with it before the school calls Aunt May. You know they will."

Peter shook his head. "No, no, they won't. There's no way they'll connect what happened to us…"

"One word, Pete. Cameras."

"Yah, we knew that so Ned…" Peter stopped when Tony gave him another warning look. "Uh, I mean, I took care of that. There is no way the security cameras picked anything up."

Tony crossed his leg over his knee, bouncing it up and down. "What kind of damage are we talking? Did you blow up the entire science department or what?"

"I dunno, not really, maybe." Peter looked at Tony and groaned. The fact was he didn't want to say how much damage because he already felt bad enough plus he had reasons why he did what he did but he didn't care to share that either. "If you could lend me the money, I'll submit it anonymously, so the school science lab isn't shut down or something silly like that and so there isn't a huge inquiry into what happened."

Tony shook his head. "Pete, my clean-up crew expends exorbitant amounts of money cleaning up after the Avengers fiascos; do you really think I care about a measly couple of thousand dollars to fix a school lab?" Peter grimaced giving Tony the impression that thousands of dollars weren't going to cut it. "Trust me, kid, I don't care about money. What I want to know is what you did and why you did it? You have access to my lab. We can do experiments together. Why go off grid to do it? What gives?"

Tony stared at the young teen in front of him and Peter continued to fidget and squirm under his scrutiny but refused to respond to his questions. Tony was becoming impatient. He couldn't figure the kid out. Every time he thought he came close to guessing, he discovered he was far out in left field.

"Pete, give me something here…anything," Tony could hear the pleading in his voice but for some reason, he no longer cared. As much as he wanted to be a hard ass, he didn't have it in him tonight. His red flags were up and he was worried. Peter was acting weirder than normal and he wanted to know why.

Peter stopped fidgeting and stood up. "You know what? Forget it! I can handle this myself. I made a mistake calling you." Tony heard the belligerence in the kid's voice and cringed. It was like Peter was two people, and this side of Peter pissed Tony off. This was the sassy little brat that he wanted to kick into the middle of next week. The other Pete, the vulnerable one, was the kid he was most concerned about.

Tony uncrossed his leg and kicked Peter in the shins lightly. "Sit," he warned.

Peter pushed his foot away and glared at Tony. "No. I'm going home. I should have known you wouldn't help me. All you care about is Tony Stark. You don't care about me!" Peter's voice became louder and he jumped over the back of the couch, heading towards the door.

Tony didn't move. "You know better than that, kid."

Peter reefed on the door handle but it didn't budge. The teenager stood breathing heavily with his hand on the knob. Tony didn't say anything but waited to see what the kid would do next.

"You can't keep me here forever."

"I called Aunt May. She knows you're staying with me tonight. Tonight is not forever. C'mon, Pete, talk to me. You called me, remember?"

Peter's shoulders dropped. He didn't turn around. "Let me go, Mr. Stark."

"Sorry, kid. The only place you're going to is to your room. If you don't want to talk to me tonight, that's fine but you're not leaving the tower tonight."

Tony rose to his feet and adjusted his shirt. He felt dishevelled and tired. He'd left Pepper when he'd really wanted to be with her. He knew she'd be there when he came back but the mood would be lost. He couldn't even put into words how disappointed that thought made him feel. Pepper and he had so much to reconcile and releasing some of the pent-up passion would have been good for both of them. He had no hope of rekindling that tonight, and he wasn't sure he wanted to anyway. He felt sappy of energy.

Peter mumbled under his breath making Tony strain to make out his words. Tony walked to the door and placed a hand on Peter's forearm.

"Talk to my face, Underoos."

Peter yanked his arm away. "Stop it! Stop pretending you care about me, alright? It's messing with me, and I don't want to feel like this anymore."

Tony's hands found his hips and he stared at the young man in front of him in complete bewilderment. They kept travelling this same circle, around and around they went and no matter what Tony said, it was to no avail. He didn't know how to get through to the kid that he was here for the long haul and that he cared.

"Kid, I do care. I don't know how else to prove that to you. All I can do it show you with my actions." Peter glared at him and Tony returned the look simply out of frustration. "This is what's gonna happen. Tomorrow, you and I are going to your school and you're gonna show me what you and Ned did. After I find out what you two geniuses did, I'll deal with things from there. You're gonna accept whatever consequences come from that and I'll foot the bill. If you can't tell me…"

Peter balled up his fists and gritted his teeth. "Alright, if you really want to know, I'll tell you. I've been working on something that I didn't want you to know about. It's Spiderman stuff and really none of your business, so I used the school's lab instead. Since you're so high and mighty and seem to think you can control me, I didn't want you to know. My hypothesis failed causing an explosion. It was a stupid mistake, but you can't tell the principal because he'll expel me and my aunt will freak out. When she freaks out…"

Tony held up his hand. "You freak out. Yah, I've heard that before. You haven't told me why her freaking out is such a big deal. Parents freak out, Pete. It's pretty normal. I'm about two minutes from freaking out all over your tail…"

Peter dropped his chin and stared at his feet, his anger melting away. "I'm sorry."

Tony heaved a sigh again. "How bad was the explosion?"

"Bad."

"Did the fire department come?"

"No."

"Then it can't be as bad as you think…"

Peter groaned. "It was worse, but we disabled the alarms and messed with stuff so that the emergency services weren't alerted. We put out the fires as best as we could and the sprinkler systems put out the rest."

Tony held up his hands. "Wait, what? You disabled the alarms? God, Peter, are you nuts? Chemical fires aren't going to be remedied by water from sprinklers. Please tell…"

Peter's face reddened again, his anger ramping up once again. "I'm not an idiot, Stark. I know how to handle a chemical fire, for Pete's sake. We put it out, alright? Geez."

Tony stuck an irritated finger in Peter's face. "Knock off the attitude before you find yourself in more trouble than you're already in. Grab your jacket!"

"Why?" asked Peter, taking a few steps back in trepidation.

Tony went to his desk and picked up the phone. Usually, he'd have his cell phone on him, but he'd left it somewhere and wasn't sure where. It was best that he called in his clean-up crew to be on the safe side. If Peter's entire school went up in flames, Peter would be in a lot of hot water. Maybe he could salvage some of this without Peter taking too bad a hit over it. Something was not right with the kid and it was messing up his common sense. Tony knew he needed to get to the bottom of things before Peter self-destructed.