Prompt: Steve reminds Penny of Skip

It wasn't that Steve didn't like Penny. Not at all. She seemed like a good kid. A capable kid. And he could tell that she was important to Tony, even if it seemed like Tony himself didn't want to admit it. The man had introduced her a week after Steve and the others had moved back to the tower, explaining that she was his intern who came over every month or so to work with him in his lab. And Steve didn't buy it…not quite. There was no way Penny was just an intern. First of all, never before had Tony had interns. Not ones that worked with him personally.

So Penny was smart. He got that. She had to be if she was working with Tony, especially at fifteen. He'd fed them some line about a shift in his company to work with high school students, explaining that Penny went to Midtown School of Science and Technology and even though Steve had never heard of it, Sam had seemed impressed. Tony had also told them that it had been Pepper's idea to start opening up internships to high school students.

It still didn't quite explain why a fifteen year old girl came by the tower once a month or so. It didn't explain how Tony seemed to care so much about her, even leaving dinner once when he got a phone call from her that he never explained…but he'd been gone for two days, and when he'd finally showed up on the common floor for dinner again, he'd looked exhausted. Haggard. Almost exhausted.

"Is, uh…is your intern okay?" Rhodey had asked, eyebrow cocked, seeming concerned.

"She, uh…yeah. She's fine."

Steve hadn't believed him. Still, when he'd tried to have a conversation with the girl in question the second time they'd met, the two of them running into each other by chance in the kitchen, Penny had been surprisingly quiet. He'd heard her talking to Rhodey before, and even kind of joking around with Tony. So, he'd been surprised when the girl had excused herself from their conversation as soon as possible, giving some kind of excuse about Tony wanting her to hurry back to the lab.

He found out about Spider-Girl almost six months later.

He was standing on the landing pad, staring out at the rain, his mind wandering back to Bucky and those days before enlisting and before going to war and before waking up to a work so completely different than the one he'd known when he'd heard the soft 'hiss' and 'thwip' that were somewhat familiar…and then he'd seen her. The woman from the airport. Spider-Girl. She landed on her feet, then stumbled forward, a hand pressed to her side, another reaching out as if for help.

"Hey…are you alright?" Steve asked, rushing out into the rain, snapped out of his trance as he gripped her arm. On her side was a growing red stain, and when she looked up at him, the lenses in her mask narrowed a little.

"I…I don't…" She shook her head, and he knew at once. He knew the voice.

"Penny?"

And then she was crumbling, knees giving out as she slumped forward. He lunged to grab her, lowering her to the ground amidst the pouring rain and slipping a hand under her mask, removing it to get a good look at her face. Her pupils were blown wide open and seemed to stare right through him, her mouth open as she struggled for air.

"Penny? Hey, look at me." He replaced the hand at her side and turned back to the open door. "Friday! Get Tony! Get a med-team!" She was Spider-Girl. It made more sense than the intern story…but why had they lied? Did Tony not trust him? Did anyone else know? Surely Tony knew. Probably Pepper…Rhodey? "Penny, can you hear me? Help is coming. You're going to be okay," he told her softly, putting a hand on her cold cheek.

And then her eyes zeroed in on him, widening, her mouth dropping open before she seemed to close in on herself, eyes squeezing tightly shut as she tried to flinch away. "No…no, don't…" she begged, shaking her head. He kept his hand from against her side.

"Penny, it's me. It's Steve Rogers. You're going to be okay. Friday!" He called again, hoping the AI could pick up his voice from the landing pad. When there was no response, he started to lift her, freezing when she screamed, a noise that went through him, nearly making him drop her.

"No! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"

He closed his eyes, then forced himself to lift her, ignoring her screams and flinching when her fist came up, hitting him hard enough in the temple to stun him even from the awkward angle. "I'm not going to hurt you. I swear, I'm not trying to hurt you. I have to get you inside!"

"He's…" She opened her eyes again, staring at him and shuddering. "I…thought…"

"It's me. It's Steve Rogers. Captain America." As soon as they were inside, he laid her on the floor, calling for Friday to get help once more. No way he could leave the girl here and he didn't want to risk carrying her any further. Ripping his wet jacket up, he folded it and slipped it under her head. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She stared at him as if in a daze, blinking and trying to focus. "I thought…I thought you…you look like him…" the girl muttered, her voice slurring, and then her eyes closed, head falling to the side.

The bullet had been coated in poison, Tony told him later once he'd spoken to Helen Cho. The man was pale, with dark circles under his eyes, his hair a mess from the many times he'd run his hands through it. He'd been the first on the scene, arriving three minutes before the med team and dropping to his knees beside a frazzled Steve and an unconscious Penny, still bleeding through her suit. "We won't know more until she wakes up."

Steve hadn't lingered. Hadn't felt like it was his place, not with Tony and Pepper sitting in the corner of the room, holding hands as if waiting for news of their daughter. The girl's guardian didn't know about her vigilante hobby, and apparently no one had any intention of telling her. Tony had called her and left a voicemail assuring her that everything was fine…that Penny would be staying a little late today to work in the lab on a project they were trying to finish up.

The lie made Steve want to throw up…but his mind kept going back to her words. "You look like him." Who? Who did he look like? Who had she thought he was? And why had she been so scared of him? According to Tony, she lived with her aunt who was her only living relative. And he'd thought about asking Tony if her aunt had a boyfriend…anyone that looked enough like Steve that she might confuse them. But surely it was none of his business. Right?

Tony sought him out the next morning, arms crossed tight across his chest, looking uncomfortable. "Can we talk?" he asked, leading the man out of the suddenly quiet kitchen, the two of them heading into the hallway.

"What's going on?" Steve wondered, glancing at the kitchen where Sam and Natasha had been cooking a batch of bacon and wondering if they were listening.

"She wants to see you."

"She's awake?" Steve asked, feeling dumb as soon as he asked the question, but something told him that Tony wouldn't have left her side had she still been unconscious. Tony loved her. Everyone but Tony knew it.

"Yeah. Just woke up a few hours ago. Helen has her on some strong stuff, so she's been in and out of it, but she's asking for you."

"Right…okay."

If Tony felt uncomfortable letting Steve talk with his intern alone, he didn't show it. Just gestured for Steve to lead the way, then sat down in a chair in the waiting room, a tablet in his hands as if he'd be able to get any work done while worrying about the kid. Still, Steve thought as he headed down the corridor, Tony was good at keeping up appearances when he needed to be. How long would it be before Tony admitted how much he cared about Penny? Admitted that she was practically his kid? It was something Steve pondered until he reached the door, tapping his knuckles softing against the wood, then stepped inside when invited.

Penny's bed was half-reclined, letting her sit up a little, but she looked so exhausted that Steve wondered if she should be sleeping. There was an IV in her arm, and a cast on one of her arms. She'd broken her arm? Steve hadn't known…she hadn't acted like her arm had been broken. Stepping slowly forward, Steve cleared his throat and tried to smile at the girl who looked moments away from passing out. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she muttered, lowering her eyes and swallowing hard. She looked uncomfortable, as if regretting asking for him to come in. So he paused a few feet away from the bed, not sitting in what must have been Tony's chair right at her side. "Thanks. For helping me, I mean."

Steve shrugged. "Anyone would have." She swallowed again, taking a long, deliberate breath. "I'm glad you're feeling better. I can let you get back to resting," he offered, ready to give her an out. But to his surprise, a tear escaped the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek, flashing briefly in the fluorescent light. "Penny?"

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" he asked, taking a step forward. "Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?"

"Your face."

He frowned, narrowing his eyes, then remembered. She'd punched him. There was a nearly healed bruise on his temple, spreading down his cheek, a colorful array of blues and purples with a light brown at the center, but it had almost faded. "It's fine. You didn't mean to," Steve assured her, taking another step forward. "The bullet was coated in poison…you were probably hallucinating."

"You look like him." The soft words, repeated once more now that she was lucid, took him aback.

"Like who?" he finally asked quietly.

"When…when I was a kid, I had this babysitter. You look like him. Your hair…and your eyes. Not exactly alike. Just…" She trailed off, shrugging one shoulder as another tear fell, and it all clicked into place, forming a heart-breaking picture. Closing his eyes and dropping his chin to his chest, Steve felt a jolt of regret for something he had no control over.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." The whisper was just as heartbroken as he felt, and Steve moved over to the chair at her side, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder. In a blur of motion so quick that he almost didn't catch it, she leaned into him, hiding her face in his chest as her whole body shook with sobs. He didn't know if it was the guilt or the memories or the pain that made her cry, but he held her either way, trying to make her feel safe. Trying to assure her without words that her secret and her identity and her, herself were all safe with him.

She apologized again and again, but he just held her, this girl that he didn't know. This girl whose head he'd slammed his shield into. Who he'd dropped a loading bridge on. Who he'd had one half-conversation with. This girl who was a superhero and who was like Tony's daughter in this strange new world he found himself in. He held her until she fell asleep, then gently leaned her back against the bed, pulling the blanket up around her shoulders and tucking her in before leaving.

And then he sat at her bedside until Tony returned.

Thank you for reading!