A MASSIVE thank you to brittany durlach-prentiss for favouriting and following me as an author and this fanfic. Massively appreciated!

Lasagne; my absolute favourite. After martial arts I had "found" Bolt and Penelope (whom I had named after Penelope – my human friend whose mum worked for SHIELD). Mum had been fussing over my bruises but had stopped when dad said he thought he could trust me to handle myself.

Ivory and Raymond were adding more colour to their white tops by being messy eaters – it was bound to keep mum busy after dinner. As the maids came to take away our plates while we waited for desert, mum made light talk.

"So how was school today Will?"

Dad gave me a warning look which I blatantly ignored "It was interesting to say the least."

Mum smiled "Oh? What happened?"

I smirked and tried to come up with something funny, thankfully my 205 IQ didn't let me down. "Well, you know how the school wants to promote religion?"

Mum nodded and dad smirked – he knew what game I was playing. "Well, we had nuns visit the school today and a pair of them brought a dog. When they left our classroom we found a little poop underneath Mr Olger's desk. Anyway, we didn't tell him and so when he came in for our class, he kept asking who had let one rip. Suffice to say, when he left the room his shoes went around leaving their mark – literally."

Mum managed to smile while Ivory and Raymond cracked up laughing. Dad also smiled at me, but there was a message hidden within his smile, as if to say 'good job' but I just raised my eyebrows defiantly.

Desert came and went, and then mum left the table to take care of Ivory and Raymond. Dad and I went to the evening sitting room with the log fire already crackling. The smell of the fire was so comforting, but of course, dad had to ruin it.

"So what really happened today?"

I groaned "How did I know you were going to ask that now?"

He gave me a look that told me he was not amused; I sighed

"Can we please wait until mum gets back?"

He tried to protest "Dad, please listen to me this once."

Finally, he nodded and we sat in silence. The log fire was talking to me, begging me to unleash its power. Instead I just sat in the armchair, dreading the argument that was sure to come. Terribly, horrifically ironic, my mother came into the room as soon as that thought crossed my mind.

Sensing the tension between my father and I, mum sat on the couch quietly.

"I'm going to be blunt here and I don't want any interference."

Mum nodded without a second thought while it took dad another half minute to finally nod.

"I have been offered a position at the SHIELD Sci-Tech academy, and I want to take it."

Mum gasped "Oh sweetie, that's great news!"

But dad scowled "No."

I glared at him and surprisingly my mum stood up for me "Sunil, don't bring your business into the success of our daughter. You know that Hydra is falling too quickly for its own good, and this would be the best chance to keep William out of prison - because goodness knows she's old enough to go to prison."

Dad stood up glowering at mum, his glass was gripped so tight I'm surprised it wasn't cracking. "No. She's not going."

"Sunil!"

I jumped out of my seat "Stop! Look, I'll be gone by tomorrow lunchtime."

I looked at dad "I'm going to secure my account so that I don't ever have to come back here for financial support – and if you wish, you can forget I ever existed. Goodness knows Ivory and Raymond might even do that."

Without another word I stormed out and went straight to my room to pack, hells knows I won't be getting any sleep tonight.