Disclaimer: I do not own anything. But can I please have Sebastian Stan or Rami Malek?
A/N: I know I haven't updated in a while, just haven't been able to feel it and was in a reading mood so I did that instead. Sory about that. So here's a Pepper and Norah chapter, there's a hint of some Pietro too much it's mostly just Pepper and Norah. I still have no idea how to write her so I just really wing it and hope for the best.
Chapter twenty-five
When Norah had finally woke up from her a coma almost a week or so ago there were no words that Pepper could possibly think of that would describe how relieved and thankful she was that Norah was alive and that she was able to be up and walking with only a bit of pain from the wounds she had received in Sokovia – being shot five times was not something a person just walks off. Pepper cared and loved Norah just as much as Tony loved her, but while the relationship that Tony had with Norah was a father/daughter one the one that she and Pepper had was more so along the lines of the protective older sister/younger annoying sister sort of relationship. Pepper was a career woman, she would be the first to admit that and Tony….well Tony never really wanted kids, said he didn't want to end up like his father but then Norah came into their lives and wedged herself into both of their hearts. Both Tony and Pepper still didn't want any kids, personally Norah with her antics, her sarcasm and acting way too much like Tony and using her powers to pop in and out whenever she pleases, well, she was more than enough for them let alone adding a small child into the family dynamic.
The moment Norah had woke up from her a coma Pepper wanted to barge right up to her, slap her upside the head for her stupidity and tell her exactly what she thought about everything that Norah had done but instead of doing that Pepper had ended up breaking down and telling Norah how much she loved her and how thankful she was that she was alive. So Pepper decided the best plan of action would be to wait, to wait and let Norah heal up a bit, to give her and Pietro time with one and another (she so shipped those two even if Tony didn't) and she gave her time to just rest up and recover from the ordeal that she had been through.
But now it was time for the two girls to have a one on one talk with no interruptions by any outside forces – she'd have Friday make sure that happens – there was a lot of anger and frustration that Pepper felt because of what Norah did and she knew that Norah knew that she would have absolutely refused to let the blonde haired Mutant join Tony and the others in taking out Hydra bases and definitely would not have let her help them take Ultron out but still, even knowing that Norah still went along and helped and got herself severely injured in the process. All right so Pepper was a tad bit overprotective of Norah, she was probably worse than Steve at times but Pepper couldn't help it, she wanted to protect Norah and make sure she lived the life she deserved and be a normal twenty something year old but she forgets at times that Norah first and foremost was a Mutant, a powerful Mutant and could protect herself the majority of the time. Pepper knew that Norah was strong even without her Mutant powers, she was stubborn, determined, and fierce and would do anything to protect her friends but Pepper couldn't help but want to keep her safe and coddled, away from the danger that the Avengers tend to get themselves into.
"Friday?" Pepper questioned out to the hallway she was walking down, heading towards the elevator that was closest to her office in the tower.
Within but a few moments the A.I. responded, "Yes Ms. Potts, how can I be of help?" the Irish accented voice of Friday said throughout the hallway Pepper was walking down at the moment.
Pepper brushed some of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear, "Can you tell me where Norah is, please?" she questioned politely, Friday may be Artificial Intelligence but Tony did make sure that most of his A.I.'s had feelings and personalities, said that it made them interesting and more fun to talk to when he was working alone in his lab at times.
"Norah is in the library with Pietro." Friday replied simply to Pepper's question. "Will that be all Ms. Potts or is there anything else that I can do for you?" she questioned.
At that Pepper shook her head, "No Friday, that will be all. Thank you." Pepper said as she reached the elevator and pressed the correct button that would take her to the level that the library was on – a library which Tony had built for both Pepper and Norah who both shared a love for books of almost any kind.
The A.I. responded, "It is my pleasure Ms. Potts." It replied before it was quiet within the elevator once again.
The library was located about two levels below where a few of the bedrooms for the residents of the tower were; the library itself was a very humble room considering that it was Tony who had created and designed it with input from both Norah and Pepper. It wasn't incredibly large but it was a decent sized library, in the middle of the room was a rather large wooden table that could seat six or more people on both sides of it comfortably with papers and books able to be spread out across the table as well, there were some stained glass antique looking low hanging ceiling lights that dangled above the wooden table, there were very simple but elegant looking bookshelves that lined three of the four walls of the room while the other one had floor to ceiling windows that looked out into the city and had thick deep blue curtains pulled back. There were a few couches and chairs spread throughout the room for people to settle onto to read whatever books may strike their fancy, towards one end of the room was a spiral staircase that led to a second level that wasn't even half the size of the room itself and was more so like a nook that also had a few book cases and two small couches to sit on and a few floor lamps. There had been many times over the last three years that Norah had holed herself up in this library and pulled an all nighter of studying until god knows when – sleep was not something a college student got all that often.
Stepping off of the elevator, Pepper made her way down the hallway and passed a few rooms – a lounge, a bathroom and even a game room (there were at least three game rooms within Stark Tower) – before she finally reached the massive wooden doors of the library. Stopping in front of the wooden doors Pepper hesitated for a few moments and wondered if she should knock, should she just walk in or how exactly she should proceed at the moment. The tower was her home, she was comfortable walking in almost every room but she had heard from both Clint and Natasha that Norah and Pietro had been caught making out on the couch in the living room and had also been caught doing so in one of the elevators as well, Pepper had a feeling that neither Pietro or Norah were going to be afraid to show forms of public display of affection throughout the tower and in front of people and she knew without a doubt that the two twenty-something year olds would probably end up being caught making out in the tower more times than not…hopefully that was all they would end up being caught doing.
Slowly opening the door and looking around the room Pepper gave a soft smile when she saw that both Pietro and Norah were sitting together on one of the homey looking brown couches with a laptop sitting in front of them on the coffee table and a pair of earbuds being shared between the two. It was a sweet sight and Pepper wished she had brought her phone with her so that she could capture the moment, seeing Norah so happy and so obviously smitten with Pietro and Pietro in turn smitten and completely captivated by Norah was a sight to see. It made Pepper think that maybe after everything that Norah has been through, all of the bad things and all of the hate she had gotten and her people – Mutants – had gotten was something she had to experience to get to this point in her life. To get to Pietro.
Rather than interrupting the couple who were so engrossed in what they were doing that they didn't notice Pepper standing there near the doorway of the library, Pepper instead decided to just watch them for a while and listen to the two of them interact with one and another.
"These are….earphones?" Pietro questioned as he placed the small thing into one of his ears. "It is so small." He said as he gave a sideways glance to Norah, a questioning look on his face.
At that Norah gave a small laugh, she knew that in Sokovia that he and Wanda didn't get much interaction with too advanced technology or any modern pop culture or things like that and showing him these things were beyond hilarious. "There earbuds actually, but same concept nonetheless." She said to him as she put the other earbud into her ear and then plugged the cord into her laptop and her fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard and then scrolled through her music library before clicking on a song. "This is one of my favorite bands, it's a rock band and well, with you not really knowing what kind of music you like exactly and mostly only hearing older music I figured I'd just introduce you to music I like and then we can go from there and find out what you like and don't like. If you don't like something don't be afraid to hurt my feelings and tell me it's shit or something like that, I don't want you to suffer through something you hate." She told him as she gave him a pointed look, she knew him decently well at this point that she knew he would do something like that.
Pietro smile and leaned over and kissed her temple, "I do not think anything you listen to will be, as you say, shit." He said in amusement. "Now tell me, what is name of this favorite band of yours?" he asked her, a curious look glinting in his blue colored eyes.
"Avenged Sevenfold. They are completely amazing and are beyond talented when it comes to music, you can feel their emotions through their music and in concert…" Norah said and paused a moment to shake her head and smile. "Well, they are unbelievable in concert, you can see how much they love what they are doing and how hard they work to make music for people to enjoy."
While Norah had been saying this Pietro looked down at her with a soft smile on his face at how animated and passionate his girlfriend got when she was talking about something she truly loved and enjoyed and from what it sounded like, Norah was very passionate about music.
"Here, listen. You'll understand what I mean when you hear a few of their songs." Norah said to him as she clicked on one of her favorite songs by them, Beast and the Harlot.
Watching Pietro's reaction to the music made Norah grin widely, his eyes widened almost comically at the loud sound of the guitars, the drums and the sound of the lead singers voice mixed with the loud instruments of the song. The lead singer of the band had a raspy voice at times, could have a very soft sounding voice and then in other songs it was loud and angry sounding and could do the metal scream/singing thing that not everyone had the talent to do so.
Music has always been a passion of Norah's other than writing and languages, hell she played the violin after all and though she wasn't the best at it and probably wouldn't be playing any sold out shows or any shows that weren't in front of her friends and family members she did love to do it. She liked singing too and liked doing Karaoke at the bars once in a while, she usually dragged Steve and Tasha with her and whatever friends that were available or in town at the time which usually didn't happen all that often sadly. Maybe Wanda and Pietro would want to go with and do Karaoke or at least watch Norah and the others do it and embarrass themselves the more they drank while doing karaoke.
"This…this is favorite band of yours?" Pietro asked as the song ended and another song by the band came through the earbuds for him to listen to.
Norah nodded, her hair falling into her face to which she frowned at and tucked behind her ear for umpteenth time. "Yup. I've loved them for a good ten years at least." She said to him and then looked at him expectantly waiting to hear what he thought of one of her favorite bands.
Giving Norah a soft look Pietro reached down and laced their fingers together before he pressed the back of Norah's hand against his cheek and then looked into her dark colored eyes, "I like these people, this Avenged Sevenfold of yours. Do you have more? Other's like theirs?" he asked her, an excited and happy look in his blue colored eyes as he spoke to her.
Just as Norah was about to respond to Pietro's enthusiastic question Pepper decided to make her presence known to the two young adults, she wanted them to spend time together and everything but right now, she needed to have that talk with Norah. A talk that she has been putting off for far too long, it couldn't wait any longer or else Norah's family would be here by then and it would just make things awkward if she did so when Norah's mother, sister, brother in law, father and niece were around. She didn't want to step on any toes.
"Norah? Pietro?" Pepper said as she walked further into the room and smiled warmly at the two who gave small smiles in return.
"Hello Pepper." Pietro said in his accented voice. "How are you?" he questioned friendly.
Pepper smiled at him, he may have willingly let himself be experimented on and then joined forced with Ultron for a while there was no doubt that he had been raised right by his parents before they had passed away. "I'm good Pietro, how are you?" she questioned.
"I am doing very well," he replied to her and then took the one earbud out of his ear and then gestured to the laptop that was in front of him. "Norah is introducing me to music of this country, to rock music." He said to her, a half smile forming on his face as he was talking.
At that Pepper smiled a bit, "And what's the verdict?" she questioned.
"I like this music of hers, I want to hear more." Pietro told her.
Norah smiled at him, "Just wait until we get to Apocalyptica." She said with a smirk and then looked over at Pepper with a curious look on her face. "So, what's up? Did you need something or did you just miss my bodacious self?" she joked.
Not able to help herself Pepper gave a snort of amusement at Norah's description of herself, "You sound too much like Tony at times Norah." She said to her with a slight shake of her head before she put on her serious face and looked at Norah. "I want to talk to you Norah." She told her.
Hearing that Norah furrowed her brow and looked at Pepper who had a serious look on her face, a look that made Norah wonder what sort of things she needed to talk to her about. It was the sort of look that Pepper had on her face after Tony had nearly died in the Middle-East and after the Loki fiasco, a look that Norah wasn't all that fond of having directed at her and she had a feeling that Pepper was not going to talk to her but moreso lecture her.
"Right now?" Norah asked quietly as she glanced quickly over at Pietro who was looking between the two females, and then looked back at Pepper who was giving her a pointed look at the moment.
"Yes, right now." Pepper said to her. "I need to talk to you Norah." She told her sternly, making it clear that refusing was not an option at the moment.
"But-" Norah began but stopped when Pietro gently put his larger hand on her forearm and squeezed gently and pulled her face to look towards him.
Pietro smiled down at her, "We will have time later, you will show me more music like this Avenged Sevenfold of yours. You need to talk with your friend, it is all right. I will meet you later." He said to her before he pressed a quick kiss to her lips and sped out of the library before either Pepper or Norah were really able to comprehend that he had left.
Norah sighed sadly at the absence of Pietro and then looked over at Pepper with resignation, she knew exactly what this supposed 'talk' was going to be about and quite simply Norah was dreading what was to come. The moment she agreed to go to Sokovia with Tony and the others to help them take down the Hydra base that housed Loki's scepter she knew that there would be hell to pay for that choice, she knew…absolutely knew that Pepper would freak out, that she would yell and tell them what exactly she thought about Norah helping Tony and the others with their missions which Pepper had explicitly told them to not have Norah join in on. But, Norah wasn't exactly the type who listened all that well especially when it came to helping her friends or not. Yep, Norah really, really, really did not want to have this conversation with Pepper and end up arguing with her, not exactly on her list of things to do this week.
Pepper makes her way over to the couch that Norah was sitting cross-legged on and gently sat down next to Norah and she could only imagine the image they made at the moment – Norah in a pair of yoga pants, a tank top and an overly large cardigan and Pepper still in her business outfit with high heels on and everything. It was quite comical to picture.
"I've been wanting to talk to you since you woke up." Pepper admitted to Norah, looking into the girls dark brown eyes and then looking out the windows of the library and watching as the people down on the streets scurried along to do whatever it is that they had to do. "But I thought that I would give you some time to heal and recover from everything." She said and paused a moment as she attempted put what she wanted to say in order and hoped to god that Norah wouldn't get angry and accidentally make anything explode – she may have a hold on her power but that doesn't mean that there weren't accidents that still happened once in a while. "I already yelled at Tony and told him how stupid and selfish he was for letting you go with him and the others and for letting you help them with the Ultron fiasco he created."
At that Norah narrowed her eyes at Pepper and gave her an unamused look, "It wasn't Tony's fault-" she started to say and then stopped herself and made an odd face. "Okay, correction. It's not completely Tony's fault. He asked me to go with and I agreed and then when the Ultron thing happened I offered my help then too. I could have said no to Tony, trust me I really enjoy saying no to him but instead, instead I decided to help the people who are my friends and people who I see as family defeat a murder crazy robot that wanted to annihilate the human race."
Pepper pursed her lips at that, "He had no right asking that from you, he and the others could have handled it fine without you. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Thor all could have handled it perfectly fine without you being there." She said to her and gently laid her hands in her lap. "You've barely had a chance to experience life Norah, you're twenty-two years old and you've been through so much and suffered something that was horrific when you were just a teenager, and I may not know what it was that happened to you but I can tell it was something bad Norah. You were thrust into a hard life the moment you found out you were a Mutant, you were hated because of what you were and you had to endure so many people threatening your kind and hating your kid simply because they didn't understand." She said and took a deep breath for a moment. "After all of that, after experiencing all of that and coming out on top you deserve to have a normal life or as normal as you can have. You don't deserve to have Tony and the others ask you to help them with their Avenger business, you don't need to help them or go with them to foreign countries to take out a crazy robot that Tony created. You deserve….normalcy."
Norah looked at Pepper for a few moments and saw how intensely she believed what she was saying and then looked away from Pepper and at the bookshelves that lined the walls and thought for a moment, there were a lot of things that she wanted to respond with but she would much rather not get into an argument with Pepper.
She understood that Pepper wanted the best for her and wanted her to have a normal life after the life she lived; finding out she was a Mutant at 7 years old or so, gaining another power at fifteen, running away from home, getting…..assaulted horrifically in St. Louis, joining Xavier's school and then graduating early and making a life for herself in Sweden where she then had to run from because someone found out about her being a Mutant and was not so friendly to that fact and then being found in Romania by Fury and Clint. It's been a hell of a life for her and quite honestly it wasn't the most normal of lives to live but Norah liked it, it may not be what she had planned on or expected but it was her life and she was happy with it and that was what counted most. Pepper wanted Norah to have a normal life but the moment she found out that she was a Mutant normal went out the window never to be seen again. Being a Mutant made her stronger, she had to see things and experience hate and bigotry from people simply because she was born a bit different, she had to hear hate filled words directed at herself and her friends from school and experience the looks people would give her and every other Mutant the moment they found out what they were.
No, Norah did not have an especially nice or easy life, it wasn't horrible and it wasn't exactly difficult but it definitely wasn't easy. This life though, this is her life and she's okay with how she's living it and is happy with the people that she has met and the people that she was surrounded by. But Norah did not need to be protected and coddled like Pepper seemed to do a lot of the time; she understood her protectiveness to an extent but sometimes it gets to be a bit much. She is a powerful Mutant, she has unbelievable abilities and has learned how to fight, how to protect herself and how to control her powers and is an asset when it comes to the Avengers if it suits her to do so.
"Pepper," Norah started as she looked into the concerned gaze of one of the people she cared deeply for. "I love you, you're like another sister to me and I appreciate you looking out for me and willing to yell at Tony for putting me in danger but as much as you hate to think it, I am an adult who can make her own choices and I chose to help Tony and the others. I chose to help them take Ultron down and I chose to save Pietro, Clint and that kid in Sokovia from being shot and ended up being shot five times and nearly dying. It wouldn't be my first choice of things to do given the choice but I chose to do them because they were needed, no one expected anything out of me simply because I am a Mutant with useful powers but I decided to help because I could and because of my powers. I-"
Before Norah was able to finish what she was saying Pepper interrupted her, "No Norah, I don't care if you willingly went with or not Tony should never had asked you to help, he should never had allowed you to go with and he should have made sure that you wouldn't have a way to go with if you were being stubborn. You shouldn't have to be in that sort of danger, you're a kid, you need-"
"I'm not a kid!" Norah yelled as she looked towards the door of the room where she could have sworn she saw a flash of black hair but shrugged it off, she didn't really care if anyone could hear her and Pepper's conversation. "I'm not a damn kid Pepper, I'm not and I haven't truly been a kid since I was fifteen years old. I'll be twenty-three years old in six months Pepper, I'm an adult as far as modern society is concerned." She said and gave a frustrated sound at how Pepper was being. "I thought Steve was bad but geeze Pepper, you are really starting to top him at the moment." She told her and slowly inhaled and exhaled a few times to control herself and to keep her power under control. "I'm an adult Pepper, I've been an adult for a while now and I don't need to experience things other 'kids' my age do, I don't need to be a kid anymore. I've seen too much and been through too much to do that anymore."
"And that's why you need to be a kid Norah, that's why Tony shouldn't have asked you to go with him and the others. You never should have been put into that situation." Pepper argued with her. "When I got that phone call from Tony telling me about what he did and about what happened to you…..I was terrified. I was absolutely terrified Norah," she admitted to her as she ran her hands through her hair. "I thought we were going to lose you, I thought that you would die before I had the time to fly back into New York. I've never lost someone close to me before; I've never seen anyone that I cared for in a hospital bed like you were. I never want to experience something like that ever again Norah, I can't see you like that again. Laid out in the hospital, numerous bandages and blood covering your body. It was like something out of a horror movie." She said as she shook her head to dislodge the images from her mind.
Yep, this conversation wasn't exactly going how Norah had hoped it would.
Rubbing at the back of her neck Norah looked at Pepper once again, "Pepper, I'm going to put this as bluntly as I can. I'm a Mutant." She told her and paused for a moment. "I'm a Mutant who can Blink herself from one place to another and who can also blow things up so to say. Nothing about me is normal no matter how you try and look at it. I'm a Mutant runaway who was taken in by Tony Stark who is Iron Man, I'm good friends with Captain America, a Norse god and the Hulk, and I was trained by two skilled assassins and on top of that I'm now friends with a girl who has some magic voodoo thing going on and am dating a guy who can move faster than the blink of an eye. Nothing about my life is normal and I don't want it to be."
"I will agree to that Norah. I want you to have a normal life but I suppose being a Mutant doesn't make that all that possible." Pepper conceded. "But, Tony shouldn't have asked you to go with, you shouldn't have been made to be in that sort of situation and you definitely shouldn't have had to be shot."
Hearing that caused Norah to frown, a crease forming between her eyes the deeper she frowned. "Yes he should have." Norah stated quietly, knowing that Pepper was not going to take that simple statement all that well especially if the dark look she sent her was anything to go by. "Tony should have called me and asked me and I'm glad that he did, I'm glad he called me and asked me to help him and the others take down the Hydra base in Sokovia, I'm glad that I offered to help him take Ultron down and that I was able to help and protect my friends. I am glad, ecstatic even, that I was able to save Clint and Pietro from being shot at even if the end result was me being shot and being forced into a medically induced a coma for almost two weeks. And I'm damn sure that Laura and Wanda are glad that I did so too." She said to her.
Pepper looked at Norah and shook her head, not able to believe that she was hearing what was coming out of Norah's mouth at the moment. Norah was….happy, that she had been shot and been in a coma, she was glad that she was there and that she had been put in a dangerous situation that could have ended with her death, something that had almost happened. All Pepper wanted was for Norah to be safe and to not go out on missions with the Avengers ever again, if not for Norah's own safety than for Pepper's peace of mind but she had a feeling that things were not going to be going that way.
"You don't even want to be an Avenger, you-" Pepper began to say but Norah interrupted before she was able to continue on her tirade.
"Correction," Norah said simply as she stood up from the couch and leaned up against the wooden table that was in the middle of the room and crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at Pepper, a woman who she loved like a sister most days but was beginning to piss her off at the precise moment. "Fury didn't want me to join the team, not the other way around and at the time I wasn't really feeling being on a superhero team, if I wanted that I would have stayed at Xavier's and became an X-Men like Xavier had asked me to do but it just wasn't my kind of thing. I'm too much of a free spirit, stubborn, hard-headed and like to do my own thing to be able to really work on a team like that permanently." She told her as she clenched her fists in front of her and did her best to calm her breathing down. "And you're right for the most part, I don't really want to be an Avenger. I want to be able to be home when I want to be, I want to be able to lounge around in the afternoon in my yoga pants and a band shirt and read or do some writing, I want to be able to use my degree that Tony paid a good amount of money for, I want to be able to go out when I want to without being called away to stop whatever bad things are going on at the moment be them aliens or a crazy murder bot. But," she said as she looked at Pepper with a fierce look on her face. "That doesn't mean that I won't offer my help when it so obviously needed, I am a Mutant first and that means that if my powers will give the Avengers the upper hand in something or another that I will offer it willingly. I will jump into the middle of where the danger is at just to help and to make sure my people – my family – is safe and comes home relatively unharmed."
"You nearly died!" Pepper basically screamed at Norah, frustrated angry and frightened for the young woman that Tony had taken in and that Pepper had let into her circle of people she cared for.
"I KNOW!" Norah yelled right back in frustration. "I know I nearly died Pepper, god I knew it the moment I got shot and I knew that I would more than likely end up dying when I decided to save Pietro and Clint." She said and then gave a dark and hollow laugh. "Do you know what it feels like to feel bullets enter your body, what it feels like to feel them within your body and know their exact place, how painful it is to be shot yet how numbing it is at the same time, I could feel my blood oozing out of me Pepper, I felt myself dying." She said to her darkly and crossed her arms under her chest and shook her head angrily. "Trust me; I know I nearly died Pepper. I felt it happening." She told her.
After that the two females stayed put and looked at one and another and then glanced around the room, neither was happy with the other and both realized that they were at an impasse so to say. Pepper was angry that Norah had gone with Tony and the others and had gotten herself injured so severely and wanted her to promise to never go along with them ever again even though she was an adult and Norah wanted Pepper to realize that she was an adult and that what she did was of her own choice and that it was the right choice, helping her friends would always be the right choice as far as she was concerned.
"Look," Norah said finally as she looked into the pained gaze of Pepper, who was probably thinking about all of the scenarios that could happen to Norah if she joined the Avengers – she'd rather be a consulting Avenger or on-call Avenger. "I love, absolutely love that you are so concerned for me. There were times when I thought I didn't have anyone that was that worried or concerned about me, but Pepper I made my own choices and those were good choices no matter what you think. What I did was for the good of my friends and for the people of the world. Ultron wanted to kill off the human race, with my powers I was able to help and make a dent into his army. I was able to help my friends and family and that will always be an important thing to do." She told her with a small smile on her face "I get that you worry and that you already have to worry more than enough for Tony and his antics but I have powers and I can't just not use them when I know I can help people. I helped defeat Ultron, I helped and made a difference and that difference saved Pietro and Clint and who knows how many other Sokovians. If I hadn't of done what I did and gotten shot in the process then Pietro would be dead Pepper, Clint would possibly be dead and that kid. If I hadn't of gone with and helped everyone then who knows who may or may not have died."
"Norah-" Pepper began in a subdued tone of voice but Norah shook her head at her.
"You need to let go a bit Pepper, you need to let me live my life and stop wishing for me to have a normal life and let me live the life that I have. Let me live this crazy and unconventional life that I have here at the tower with the Avengers, let me make mistakes and if I want to, let me go on missions with everyone." Norah said to her and then ran her hands through her long curly blonde hair which some days she really considered cutting but could never bring herself to do. "I get why you are angry and you have a right to be angry, we should have told you what was going on and what we were doing or left a hint of some sort but we didn't. We could have died and you would have been none the wiser until Fury or someone had contacted you and that wouldn't have been fair to you." She told her. "But Pepper, please, please let me live my life how I want to. I already have too much going on with my family coming to see me, the first time I will see them in almost eight years and on top of that my 'father'," she said sarcastically. "Is coming with and that's a whole shit storm in itself. I can't take this sort of conversation. Just accept me doing what I want when I think it's for the best, I'm not about to go against an army of aliens by myself or anything but if they need help and if my powers will benefit them I'll help if I can. Please?" she asked her, begged her with her dark colored brown eyes.
Pepper looked at Norah and gave a heavy sigh, "Stop giving me that puppy dog look, it only works on Tony and on me when I'm drunk." Pepper said to her which made Norah give a snort of amusement. "I'm not happy, you know this and I think we've discussed how angry I am and how scared I was when I heard what happened. I'm angry that you put yourself in that position and that you got shot and nearly died, I'm glad that Clint and Pietro are alive because of what you did but I hate that you had to do it." She said and gave a small smile to Norah. "I'm not your mother so I can't dictate what you can and cannot do and for some odd reason I get the feeling that even if I was that you wouldn't listen." She said which made Norah give a sly smirk and shrug of her shoulders, a way of saying 'what can you do'. "I'll do my best to not comment or demand that you not go with Tony and the others when they do missions but all I ask is that you think hard before agreeing, that you be careful and that you make absolutely sure that you are as prepared as you can be and that you start training again with Natasha and Clint. I get you're a Mutant but….just in case."
"All right Pepper, I'll do my best." Norah said with a half-smile on her face directed towards the woman who worried like a mother even though she had no kids nor did she want any kids.
When Norah had said that Pepper let out and frustrated sigh to which Norah just gave a laugh; she couldn't help but tease people and push their buttons.
Now that Norah and Pepper had things figured out all Norah now had to worry and freak out about was her family coming to New York which should be within the next day or two and quite frankly, Norah was terrified and was sort of dreading what was to come and could only hope that things weren't too horribly awkward. She hoped that her mother didn't think along the same lines that she once had and that her 'father' didn't do anything too stupid or say anything stupid that would make Tony or the others decide to use violence upon him. In fact, it may be best to make sure Tony never meets or sees Tom face to face, he may end up beating him.
Life, sometimes life was a struggle.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~ Author's Note ~_~_~_~_~_~~_~_~~_
Hope you all enjoyed that chapter, next chapter will have to do with Norah's family.
Smooches darlings.