Flashback

Morgan didn't like her second grade teacher. It wasn't something she'd ever told her Mommy and Daddy. She'd been afraid of going to second grade because she loved her first grade teacher and she would have to go to a whole new classroom with a whole new teacher, and her Daddy had talked to her for a long time about how scared she was and about trying new things and getting used to new people and giving new things a chance. So two weeks in, she knew that her Daddy would be disappointed if he thought she wasn't giving it a chance. She was really smart and she knew that sometimes new things were only scary because they were new.

But she still didn't like her teacher.

She hadn't told her Mommy and Daddy, but she had told her big sister. Her big sister was Spider-Girl, and she went to a big fancy school called MIT where she lived now, and even though she'd never lived with them, Morgan still missed her a lot. But Penny called every week, and her Daddy let Morgan have the phone and talk to her too. Penny had come home for the summer after her first year of college, and had spent lots of time with her and down in the lab with Daddy. The two of them talked about stuff Morgan didn't understand and did really hard, grown up science. But Penny watched movies with her and took her out for ice cream and played with her too. They went swimming a lot, and Penny took her out in the canoe and climbed trees with her…but now she was at school again and she missed her.

It was a Thursday night that Penny called that week, and Morgan sat in her room after dinner, pretending to play while really, she just remembered how her teacher had put his hand on her shoulder and how she'd hated it…how he looked at her too much even though she didn't know what that meant and before this, she hadn't even known that someone could look at her too much. But he did and she hated it and she wanted to tell Daddy but it was really embarrassing. So she just sat in her room, a doll in hand as she sat in front of her dollhouse, until her Daddy knocked on her bedroom door, poking his head in and holding up the phone.

"Mo? You want to talk to Penny?"

She nodded because she knew that saying no would make them both think something was wrong, and he pressed his phone to his ear. "Here's Morgan, kiddo. Talk to you later." He smiled, then handed her the phone, leaving the two of them to talk.

"Hey, Morgan. How was school?" Penny asked, and Morgan dropped her eyes like Penny was there and could see her.

"Hi. It was okay."

"Yeah? Your dad said you've been quiet. Everything okay?"

"Yeah." She wanted to ask Penny how college was but she couldn't think of anything to say. Usually she talked a lot about her classes and her friends and everything she'd been doing but now it was like she didn't know how anymore. "I have a test next week. A spelling test."

"Are you ready for it?"

"I'm good at spelling."

"I know you are," Penny told her, a smile in her voice. "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Mhm."

"Is there anything you wanted to tell me?"

Morgan's eyes heated up a little and she bit her lip. She knew she shouldn't. She really, really shouldn't. It would just make Penny worry and besides, she didn't even know what to say!

"Mo…if there's something you need to tell me, I promise I won't be upset."

"Can you not tell Daddy?" Morgan asked then, voice soft, but Penny could hear her because she could hear really well.

Penny was quiet for a moment. "I won't tell him unless I have to," she finally agreed. That made sense to Morgan…Penny was really smart, and she could take care of lots of things on her own. She was basically a grown up. "Do you want to do a video call instead?"

"Yeah," Morgan whispered, wanting to see her big sister even if she was scared that it would make talking a little harder. So Penny pushed the button to change it to a video call and her sister's face filled the screen. She was sitting in her dorm room, her bed behind her with what looked like a pile of laundry on top. Penny smiled at her, propping her phone up against the wall and leaning in.

"What's going on?"

"I don't like my teacher."

"Okay," Penny told her, nodding like that was no big deal, and Morgan was really glad that she didn't make it seem like a big problem. "How come?"

"He…he looks at me a lot. For a long time. And…and I feel bad."

Penny's eyes changed then, body stiffening a little, and it looked like she was looking at something behind Morgan. She glanced over her shoulder, but all she could see was her wall. "You feel bad?" Penny asked, gentle. "Bad how?"

"Like…here." Morgan pressed a hand to her tummy. "I think he's scary. Not scary like a monster or a movie on TV…scary like something else."

Penny nodded, looking serious. She talked to Morgan like she was a grown up a lot of the time, and Morgan was glad she was doing that now, like she really believed her and thought her feelings were important. "Does he ever do anything you don't like? Does he touch you or yell at you?"

"He puts his hand on my shoulder sometimes, and it makes me feel…bad."

"Okay." Penny nodded again, jaw tight. "Did you tell your dad?"

Morgan shook her head.

"How about this? I'll pick you up from school tomorrow. I'll tell your dad…and I'll meet your teacher. And if he's a bad guy, I'll take care of him."

Morgan's eyes widened, then she smiled, feeling a wave of relief. Spider-Girl was going to come and get rid of the bad guy! "Really?"

"Of course."

Morgan felt her whole body relax then, and suddenly it was like she remembered how to talk again. She told Penny all about her friend Max and how they'd played together at recess and about the math test she'd done really well on and about how her Daddy was letting her play with her chemistry kit down in the lab. All the while, Penny smiled at her, listening and nodding and letting her talk, but there was something weird about her eyes.

She gave the phone back to her Daddy about an hour later, but when he went to put it away, she shook her head. "Penny's still on the phone. She wants to talk to you."

"Oh…alright," he said with a nod, sounding confused, and she plopped onto the sofa beside him as he pressed it to his ear. "What's up, Spiderling?"

She grinned at her sister's nickname, leaning her head on his shoulder and scooting closer when he wrapped an arm around her. From there, she could hear Penny's voice. "I forgot to tell you before, I'm coming home for the weekend."

"Really?" he asked in surprise. "I thought May and Happy were going on that trip…"

"They are. Do you mind if I stay with you guys?"

"Of course not. You can always stay here, Pen."

"Thanks. I was going to pick Morgan up from school. Take her out for i-c-e c-r-e-a-m."

"I can spell ice cream!" Morgan cried, and her Daddy and sister both laughed.

"Sounds great, kiddo. I'll call to make sure they know you're coming."

Morgan's school was a twenty-two minute drive from her house. Her Daddy told her that it was a private school, and that they may move back to New York City some day when she was old enough for high school, because they had good schools there, like the one Penny had gone to. But for now, they lived in the house by the lake most of the time, and sometimes visited the house by the beach in California where she got to swim in the ocean. The last time she'd gone, Penny had gone with them, and had built sandcastles with her by the water. Since she was in second grade now, she sat at a desk instead of at a table with other kids, and her desk was next to her friend Max's, but they were careful not to talk too much so they didn't get moved. She was allowed to write in pen during English class too, which was cool.

Mr. Steve was the only bad part.

But that day at school, Morgan told herself that it was okay because he was only going to be there for a little while longer. Her big sister was Spider-Girl and she would beat up the bad guys. Only…she didn't think Penny would beat up her teacher. Still, she'd do something. Morgan didn't tell Max, though. Penny being Spider-Girl was the biggest secret in the whole world and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone ever. So she just paid attention in class and did her work and tried not to notice when Mr. Steve looked at her. She ate her lunch and played at recess and listened really well and then, finally, it was time to go.

Mr. Steve walked everyone who rode with their families out to the front of the school where their grown-ups came to get them, and as soon as they stepped onto the huge front porch of the school, Morgan saw her sister. She waved, giving Mr. Steve a wide berth as her sister made her way over. Even though Penny was there to fight bad guys, she was still so happy to see her. Penny smiled, hurrying towards her and pulling Morgan into a big hug. "Hey, Mo. Missed you," she told her softly, and Morgan squeezed her extra hard.

"Missed you too."

Then, Penny got really still. Morgan pulled away, looking from her to Mr. Steve who had approached them. Penny was staring at him, eyes wide, mouth open a little, and Morgan wondered if it was her bad-thing senes going off.

"Hi. You must be Penny. Mr. Stark gave us a call to let us know that you'd be picking Morgan up. I'm Steven Westcott, but the kids all call me Mr. Steve."

Penny nodded, wrapping her arm tightly around Morgan and pulling her close. Her eyes still looked weird, and the arm around Morgan was shaking. "I'm taking her home," Penny told him, not shaking the hand he held out or even telling him it was nice to meet him like grown ups usually did to each other. Instead, she turned on her heels and led Morgan to the car that she'd built with her Daddy, the two of them working for hours and hours to make it work.

Once they were in the car, Morgan in the back seat with her seat belt buckled and her backpack beside her, she reached out and touched Penny's arm, which was the only part she could reach. "Penny?"

"Yeah?" Penny asked, but she sounded wrong, like she was choking.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…I'm okay."

"Is Mr. Steve a bad guy?"

Penny nodded. "Yes." She turned around in her seat and looked right at Morgan, tears running down her cheeks, and Morgan's heart seemed to jump in her chest because she'd never seen Penny look like that. "He is a very, very bad guy, and you will never have to see him again, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered, and Penny reached out a hand, taking hers.

"I…I do have to tell your dad, but I won't tell him that you don't like him if you don't want me to. I'm just going to tell him that Mr. Steve is a really bad guy."

True to her word, Penny took Morgan to get ice cream, and no matter how worried she was, ice cream before dinner was always really cool and exciting, so Morgan scarfed hers down while her sister played with a hot fudge sundae, the hand holding her spoon still shaking. When Morgan reached out to tug on her arm and ask what was wrong, Penny jumped, pulling away before seeming to realize that Morgan was there.

"I'm sorry," she told Morgan, reaching out and gripping her hand.

"Are you scared?" Morgan asked, just the idea unthinkable.

Hesitating for a moment, Penny nodded. "A little." Thinking for a minute, she leaned in, lowering her voice. "I've met Mr. Steve before."

"Really?"

"Yeah. When I was little. And he…" her words trailed off and she looked at the melting ice cream in her bowl. "He…he hurt me. I was really scared of him."

Morgan couldn't imagine Penny being little…or being someone that could be hurt by a regular person. Penny was Spider-Girl! She protected people and she'd helped save the world and she always took care of her! "You're really strong, though. He can't hurt you anymore, right?"

Penny gave her a soft smile, nodding and squeezing her hand. "You're right. He can't hurt me anymore."

Still, Penny seemed nervous as they drove up to the house, and it took her at least a whole minute to get out of the car. She had a backpack in the trunk, and Morgan got her own backpack, the two of them walking to the front door where Morgan's daddy waited. She'd asked before if he wasn't Penny's Daddy too, since Penny was her big sister, and her Daddy had given her a smile that had been kind of strange.

"It's kind of complicated, Mo," he'd told her, but her Daddy had never not explained something to her, so she'd waited. "Penny…I didn't meet her until she was fourteen years old. And it took a while for me to get to know her. And then…you remember that all the people disappeared?"

"Yeah. And Penny did too."

"That's right. I wasn't good at being a dad yet. Penny showed me how but…I still had to learn a lot. And then when she came back, she didn't know that I was good at being a dad or even that I wanted to be a dad. But I love her so much…just like I love you. She probably won't ever call me 'daddy' like you do, but she's still my daughter."

Now he wrapped the two of them in his arms before pulling away and looking really closely at Penny, just like he looked at Morgan when he thought she was hiding something. "Hey, kiddo. You hungry? Pep and I made pizza. From scratch. With tomatoes from the garden."

That sounded really good to Morgan, but Penny shook her head. "I…I really need to talk to you," she told him softly, and her Daddy went really serious.

"Okay. Mo, why don't you put your backpack away?"

Morgan nodded, hurrying off to do just that, but instead of taking her to her room, her feet took her just around the corner where she could still hear. She couldn't' help it…she wanted to know!

"What's going on, honey?" her Daddy asked, sitting next to Penny on the couch. Penny's backpack was on the floor beside her like she'd dropped it, hands resting limply in her lap. Morgan hurried to pull her head back lest they see her.

"I have to tell you something. And…I need you to believe me."

"Of course I'll believe you. Pen, I'll always believe you."

"I didn't plan on coming over this weekend. I…" she made a sound that Morgan thought was supposed to be a laugh, but it sounded more like she was lying. "I didn't even pack anything. I had a test today and…I came here instead. Started driving at 7am.

"Okay. That's okay. You can always come here. Always. No matter what. Did something happen?"

"Morgan told me her teacher's name."

That part wasn't true. But Penny had promised not to tell him that she didn't like her teacher.

"Yeah?"

"And…and I had to see. I had to know if it was the same…" she stopped talking, and when Morgan dared glance around the corner again, she saw that her sister was wrapped in her Daddy's arms, her teeth bared like something hurt, and she shook from how hard she was crying even though she wasn't making any noise. "He…" Penny gasped, then pressed her hand to her mouth, shaking her head. "My babysitter…"

Her Daddy held her tight, just like he did Morgan when she was hurt or had nightmares, wrapping her up in his arms like he was going to keep her safe. And Morgan was really glad, because Spider-Girl kept Queens safe, but Iron Man kept Spider-Girl safe. That's how it had always been, even if her Daddy almost never wore his suit anymore. He would always be Iron Man.

"You're okay," he whispered, rocking her back and forth on the sofa. "You're safe. You're here with me. I've got you." They were quiet for a long time, and Morgan was about to go to her room before she got caught but then he spoke again. "Did you ever tell May or Ben?"

Morgan didn't hear the answer. She knew that May was Penny's aunt and was like her Mommy, and that Ben had been her uncle but he was gone now, and had been since Morgan had been born.

"Okay. I'm going to take care of this. I promise. You're okay. You're safe."

"Mo…"

"He won't get near her. Never again."

Morgan did leave then, the words making a knot of worry loosen inside her. Her sister would always keep her safe from bad guys, and if she couldn't, they would get her Daddy, and he'd keep them both safe. So she went to get cleaned up for dinner, but she ended up eating alone with her Mommy, because her Daddy and Penny stayed together down in his lab for a really long time. Figuring they were making plans to arrest the bad guy, Morgan ate her pizza and wrapped up some leftovers for them to eat later.