Thank you to Harliquinn for beta reading and editing
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The next afternoon Skye was sitting in detention. She had gotten in trouble for not having her homework finished.
The teacher was sitting at his desk, working on something, and not paying attention to what was going on in the room. There were paper planes flying across the room, and balls of paper were being thrown. Skye was keeping her head down, trying to focus on her homework. She wanted to get done as much as she could while she was stuck in that room for two reasons. One being that she now had two days' worth of homework to do, and two that she knew she was going to be in big trouble at home. She hoped that by having as much done as possible she might limit how angry her dad would be with her.
After sitting there for an hour the teacher looked up. "You are all free to go."
Skye packed up her stuff and left the room. She went to her locker, grabbed the rest of the stuff she needed, and headed outside, where Bucky was leaning on his car waiting.
Skye let out a breath. She was expecting her dad to be home, and him to pick her up. She knew what to expect from her dad. But it was Bucky, she wasn't sure what he was going to say or do since he was the one she had disobeyed by not doing her homework.
She went over to the car. "Hi."
"Hi," Bucky said.
Skye got into the car as Bucky walked around and did the same and started the drive home.
Skye could feel how annoyed Bucky was with her, and she started to fidget with her hands and fingers.
Bucky noticed but didn't say anything.
Skye looked out the window as her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry," she said softly, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
Bucky could hear how upset she was and let out a breath. "Skye, why didn't you do your homework?"
"I- I don't know," Skye said.
"I don't believe that," Bucky said.
Skye wiped at a tear before it fell.
Bucky just shook his head and kept driving. When they got back to the compound they both got out of the car.
Skye grabbed her stuff and went to go inside. Bucky put a hand on her shoulder, and she stopped moving.
"You are in your room until your homework is done, and I suggest you don't try to lie to me about it being finished again," Bucky said.
Skye nodded and Bucky took his hand off her shoulder, and she went inside to her room.
Bucky went inside as well and went into the kitchen, where Pepper was prepping dinner.
"Can I help with anything?" Bucky asked.
"No, I've got it covered. How is Skye?" Pepper asked.
"I don't know. She's not telling me what's going on," Bucky said. "I'm not the person she usually opens up to."
"She has before, hasn't she?" Pepper asked.
"She gives me half of the story, never the whole thing, and I'm not usually the one left responsible for her," Bucky said.
"Steve wouldn't have left her in your care if he didn't trust you could take care of her," Pepper said.
"He knows I will keep her physically safe, yes. But I've never been the best at understanding the emotional well-being of anyone, let alone a teenager," Bucky said.
"You understand Steve," Pepper pointed out.
"I've known Steve since we were kids, we grew up together, that bond took years," Bucky said. "Skye doesn't have that trust in me, at least not yet. Maybe in time."
Pepper nodded.
"And that bond with Steve is not the same kind of bond I would ever have with his daughter," Bucky said.
"Different people, different bond, yes, but that doesn't mean she won't come to trust you as much as she does Steve, or as much as you and Steve trust each other," Pepper said.
Meanwhile, Skye was in her room trying her hardest to focus on her homework, but she just couldn't focus. She was overwhelmed, she was upset, and she was really cold. She grabbed a big sweater from her closet and put it on, but it didn't matter she was shaking she was so cold. She sat on her bed and wrapped herself in a blanket before she started to notice what felt like a breeze around her. She looked at the window, but it was shut. It then clicked. This was her, she was causing the room to be cold. And it scared her. She took a breath to try and steady her emotions, but it wasn't working, and the wind started to pick up and things were moving around her room.
Bucky and Pepper heard a lot of banging coming from Skye's room.
Bucky went quickly to check on her.
At the same time, Morgan was in her room and heard the noise as well and went to check on it, too. She knocked on Skye's door.
Skye was so wrapped up in her own mind she didn't hear the knock, and Morgan opened the door.
Skye looked up as the door opened. She saw Morgan standing there, and she panicked. She couldn't control this, and Morgan could get hurt.
Morgan saw what was happening in the room. Bucky got to the room and grabbed Morgan as she was about to step into the room.
"Morgan, go to the kitchen with your mom," Bucky said, moving her out of the way of danger before he focused his attention on Skye standing in the door of her room.
"Skye, I need you to stop, now," Bucky said.
Skye looked so terrified, and spurts of water were coming from her fingers.
"Skyler, now!" Bucky said with more force in his voice.
Skye snapped out of it and looked around at her now-trashed bedroom.
"Are you okay?" Bucky asked as he stepped into the room. He went over to where a stack of books were on fire and smacked it with his metal hand to put it out.
"I- I," Skye said in tears.
Bucky moved toward her once the fire was out.
"NO!" Skye said.
Bucky stopped moving. "What?"
"I don't want to hurt you," Skye said softly.
"Skye, you're not going to hurt me," Bucky said.
Skye got up and ran past Bucky and ran out of her room. She made her way toward the door and outside. Once she got outside she fell to the ground, sobbing.
Bucky went into the kitchen where Pepper was holding Morgan.
"Is she okay?" Bucky asked.
"She's okay, go find Skye," Pepper said.
Bucky went and found her outside. He knelt by her and put a hand on her shoulder.
Skye took a breath to steady her emotions. "Is Morgan hurt?" she asked, her voice shaky.
"No, she's with Pepper. She's not hurt," Bucky said.
"I- I could have hurt her," she said in tears.
"But you didn't," Bucky said.
"These abilities, I can't control them. If she had stepped into my room, she would have gotten caught in the whirlwind. Maybe I would have set her on fire," Skye said tears streaming, "if you weren't there."
"But I was. Do you think any of us knew how to control our abilities before we trained them?" Bucky asked.
"I almost hurt an innocent child," Skye said looking down at her hands. "I shouldn't be here," she whispered.
"Skyler," Bucky said.
Skye looked up at him. "Has anyone here ever come close to hurting Morgan?"
Bucky let out a breath. "no."
"I- I'm going to end up killing an innocent person," Skye said.
"No, Skye. Yes, okay, you could have hurt Morgan. But you didn't, and I think the reason you didn't is because you controlled it. In that moment you kept it in control because you didn't want to hurt her," Bucky said.
Skye let out a breath.
"I'm sorry," Skye said.
"You don't need to apologize for what happened in there," Bucky said.
Skye shook her head. "For going to the area of the city I'm not supposed to, for disobeying you and not doing my homework."
Bucky nodded. "It's forgiven. But, why?"
"I felt really overwhelmed in the silence with almost everyone being away, so I wanted to go for a run to clear my head. And I didn't really think through where I was going and ended up there. I should have turned around as soon as I realized where I was, but I guess I just wanted to do something I wasn't allowed to. And you brought me home. The dislike of silence came from when I was in a particular foster home where it was silent all the time and where I was too scared to not just do what I was told. I hate being told what to do because of that. And I know you weren't telling me to do my homework because you weren't trying to be mean. I just- it all just-" Skye said.
"You were overwhelmed," Bucky said.
Skye nodded.
"Can we make a deal?" Bucky asked.
Skye looked up at him.
"Talk to someone when you're feeling the way you are. You can talk to me, but if I'm not around someone else, because clearly when you're feeling overwhelmed it doesn't end well," Bucky said.
"Deal," Skye said.
Bucky stood up and put a hand down to Skye.
Skye took his hand and Bucky helped her to stand. The two went inside.