Thank you to Harliquinn for beta editing!

/\/\/\/\

Skye woke up with a groan as her alarm started blaring at her. She turned over and turned the alarm off. It was seven am, the time she had set her alarm to sound. It was the first day of school. Although she was excited to be going to a regular school, she was not a morning person.

Steve had found a local school that was used to protecting high target students - children of foreign diplomats, US senators, actors, and the like. Steve was confident that his daughter would be safe there, and he knew that she didn't want to have to do homeschooling anymore. And, also he was glad that it was a school that she could continue to go to until the end of her education since it had students from primary through high school.

Skye dragged herself out of bed, went to her bathroom, and started getting ready. Once she was out of the shower, she put on her new school uniform. This school had a strict policy about school uniforms. Everything was uniform from the shirt and pants or skirt to the socks, shoes, and blazers or sweaters. Even the socks had the school's logo on them. Once she was dressed, she went back into the bathroom to do her hair up into a high messy bun. Thankfully, the school didn't have anything too specific about hair in the dress code. That was the only place the student really were able to express themselves. Once she was ready, she grabbed her backpack (yup, even that was part of the uniform), and she headed into the kitchen.

"Good morning," she said to Yelena, who was the only other person in the kitchen at the moment.

"Good morning," Yelena said to the girl. "That is your school uniform?"

"Isn't it fantastic," Skye said sarcastically.

Yelena smirked.

"Well, at least no one will get picked on for not being up on fashion trends," Skye said.

Yelena nodded. "Yes, that is a good thing."

Skye grabbed herself some cereal and an orange before sitting down to eat.

Steve came into the kitchen shortly after and saw her eating.

"Good morning," Steve said to her and Yelena.

"Morning," Yelena said to him before taking her coffee and heading out of the kitchen.

Steve grabbed some coffee and sat across from Skye.

Skye smiled at him. "Morning."

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yes," Skye said.

"Did you read everything you were told to before starting?" he asked.

"You mean the code of conduct stuff? Yes," Skye said. "It's pretty straightforward for the most part. The only thing that is all that different is we can't go around telling people outside the school who goes to school there for safety reasons."

Steve nodded. "Good." He wasn't going to tell her, but he had to do a lot of convincing that she wasn't going to cause any problems after the dean of the school got her police record and the records from her previous schools. The only way he was able to convince the school to give her a chance was that she hadn't been in trouble in months and that he promised if she got into any trouble he would not argue for her removal from the school. She had earned his trust, and he trusted she wouldn't get in trouble.

Once she was done eating, she went and brushed her teeth and did one final look in the mirror before heading out to get a ride to school.

"Are you sure you don't want me to take you?" Steve asked her.

"Yes, I've already been to the school, got a tour, and met the dean. I'm fine going with Happy," Skye told him.

"Okay," Steve said.

"See you tonight," she said before she and Happy left.

/\/\

When she got to school she put on a student badge on her sweater before she went into the building. She smiled at the security guard who was watching as students went through the metal detectors. That was different from any schools she had gone to in the past. The security guard nodded to her as she passed through without setting it off. When she had visited the school it had been after hours so the halls had been pretty empty, but now there was a bustle of students and faculty in the hallways making their way to classes or just standing by lockers talking with friends.

She went to her locker, hung her bag up, and started to take out all her binders and textbooks onto the shelves inside. She pulled out a couple of magnetics that she had gotten to hang up her schedule on the door of her locker. She felt like someone was watching her, so she looked around and locked eyes with a girl who looked to be about her age. She smiled at her, but the girl scowled at Skye before walking away.

"Alrighty then," Skye said to herself. That girl was not likely going to be her new best friend. She just shrugged it off. She finished setting up her locker and grabbed the books she needed for her first class before closing and locking her locker. She headed to her first class, which was math.

The teacher was standing at the door welcoming the students as they came in. It was the first day back after the holidays, so the teacher was ensuring the right students were coming into the classroom.

"Welcome, name?" Mrs. Dixon asked.

"Hello, Skyler Rogers," Skye told her with a smile.

The teacher checked her class list, found her name, and nodded. "Thank you, Miss Rogers. You can have a seat anywhere," she told her.

Skye went and took a seat off to the side of the front row. She knew from past experiences she needed to sit in the front of the class to avoid distraction, but she hated the idea of sitting in the middle of the front row.

A girl sat down next to her.

"Hi, I'm Annabella," the other girl said with a smile. She had the prettiest accent that Skye had ever heard.

"Hi, I'm Skye," Skye said with a smile.

"You're new?" Annabella asked.

"I am. It's my first day," Skye said.

"Well, I can give you the proper tour if you would like," Annabella said.

"Proper tour?" Skye asked.

"Well, I'm guessing you got the tour from the dean, right? So you know how to get to classes, but you wouldn't have been told where the cool people hang out," Annabella said with a smile.

Skye chuckled and nodded. "Thanks, that would be great."

Class started soon after. The students quieted down and started to listen to the teacher.

Skye was happy that her new friend was in all her morning classes. At lunch, they both went into the cafeteria and got in the lunch line.

"Where did you go to school before?" Annabella asked her.

"I was homeschooled," Skye said.

Annabella nodded. "Cool."

"I like your accent. Where is it from?" Skye asked.

"Brazil," Annabella said with a smile.

"How long have you been going to school here?" Skye asked.

"Since the sixth grade," Annabella said.

Once they both had their lunches, Annabella led her to a table where a couple of girls were sitting. Skye could tell they were twins.

"This is Skye. It's her first day. We have classes together," Annabella said.

"Skye, this is Lily and Ivy," she said.

"Hi," Skye said.

"Ooh, Skye, is that short for Skyler?" Lily asked.

"Yes," Skye said as she sat. "Is Lily short for Lillian?"

Lily smiled. "Yes, it is. But the only people who call me that are my parents when I'm in trouble."

"That's pretty much the only time I get called Skyler, too," Skye said with a chuckle. She looked at Ivy. "Is Ivy short for anything?"

"No," Ivy said with a smile.

"Well, both of your names are really pretty," Skye said with a smile.

"Aawe, thanks," Ivy said.

Skye looked at Annabella. "Your name is pretty, too."

Annabella smiled. "Thanks."

"Do you go by any nicknames?" Skye asked.

"I've been called anything you can think of to shorten Annabella," Annabella said.

"We call her Anna," Lily said.

"That is the one I prefer," Annabella said with a smile.

Skye smiled and nodded.

"So why do you go to this school?" Ivy asked.

Lily sighed. "You don't have to answer that. She is so nosy."

Ivy chuckled. "Yes, I am. And, no, you don't have to answer it. I'm just curious. Our dad is a senator."

"My dad is a politician in Brazil. I had to come here after he received death threats," Annabella said.

"My father is Steve Rogers, Captain America," Skye said.

"Shit! You're the long-lost daughter," Ivy said.

"Not sure I would phrase it quite like that," Skye said.

"So you have superpowers?" Ivy asked

"Super abilities, yes," Skye said as she opened the bottle of water on her tray.

"You have to show us," Ivy said.

Skye chuckled. "Not here, I won't. I'd rather not get kicked out on my first day."

Ivy chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that might be grounds for expulsion."

"I'm not supposed to use any of the active abilities outside of training or in self-defence, anyway," Skye said.

"Well, what abilities do you have?" Ivy asked.

"Super strength, agility, and reflexes, and all around senses some are stronger than others. Super speed, I also have accelerated healing to some degree. If I get a cut or bruise it heals faster, but I can still get chronic conditions. Meaning I am diabetic, and that doesn't seem to be going anywhere," Skye said.

"You're not allowed to use your active powers, but what qualifies as active power vs inactive?" Lily asked.

"Well, the ones I can't control, like the accelerated healing are inactive. But things like the super strength are considered active powers. I can't just throw someone across a room for fun," Skye said with a smirk.

They all chuckled.

"Would you if you could?" Annabella asked.

"Well, I wouldn't want to hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. I have used it once or twice when I really shouldn't have, but never enough to seriously hurt someone. The only time I have really ever hurt someone was in self-defence against someone who deserved it," Skye said.

"If you use them, is there a way for your dad to know? Like is there some sort of tracking on them?" Ivy asked.

"I don't think so. But like I said, I wouldn't want to hurt anyone, so I wouldn't use them unless it's necessary, and then I would likely tell him," Skye said.

"You said you wouldn't call yourself a long-lost daughter, what would you call it?" Lily asked.

"He didn't know I existed," Skye said. "When my mother had me, she didn't tell him and gave me up for adoption."

"Wait, so you lived with adoptive parents, but figured out you were his daughter somehow?" Annabella asked.

"I was never adopted. I had health issues as a baby that should never have healed. That should have been the first sign that I have accelerated healing. But a baby with health issues isn't what potential adoptive parents are looking for. I was in foster care till my father found out about me and got me out," Skye said.

"How did he find out? Did your mother cave and tell him?" Ivy asked.

"No, apparently she passed when I would have been two. And, it's a seriously long story," Skye said.

"So you were just a kid in foster care with super abilities?" Annabella asked.

"Technically, yes. But I didn't know I had them till about eight months ago. I just shrugged the heightened senses off as normal. And, extreme fear is what triggered the super strength for the first time. That happened about eight months ago, and it's when I started discovering things," Skye said. "But enough about me." She looked at the twins. "You two are twins, right?"

"Yes," Lily said, and the conversation changed as they finished eating.

When lunch was over they stacked their trays at the designated place and headed to their afternoon classes. At the end of the day, Skye went to her locker and got what she needed to take home, and left the building to look for Happy.

Lily came out of the school at the same time as Skye and smiled at her.

"How was the rest of your first day?" Lily asked.

"Good, all the teachers seem good, and most of the people in my classes seem nice, too," Skye said.

"Most?" Lily asked

"There is one girl I saw this morning in the halls, and she is in all my afternoon classes. She was scowling at me anytime I noticed her looking at me," Skye said.

"Weird, maybe someone was having a bad day," Lily said.

"It's possible," Skye said. "But I know not everyone is going to like me. So if one person that I have come across today doesn't like me, I think I can deal with it."

"Fair enough," Lily said.

They went their separate ways, and Skye found Happy's vehicle and got in.

"Hi, Happy," she said

"Hello, Skye, how was your first day?" Happy asked.

"Great," Skye said.

"That's good. You made friends?" Happy asked as he started the drive.

"Yes, someone in my morning classes. She introduced me to her two friends at lunch," Skye said. "And most everyone in classes that I interacted with were nice," Skye said.

"Most everyone?" Happy asked.

Skye told him about the girl who had scowled at her anytime they looked at each other.

"Well, that is a bit strange," Happy said.

"One person out of the dozens I interacted with, I'm not going to complain," Skye said.

"That is a good way to think about it," Happy said.

Happy pulled in at the compound, and they both went inside.

Skye changed into a pair of leggings and a tank top before going to the training room. She had training with Wanda.

While they were training Wanda asked. "Anyone recognize you today?"

"No one said so. I told the three girls I had lunch with, and they asked me why I was going to that school. So I told them, and they, I guess, knew enough from news reports. One of them said 'oh, you're his long-lost daughter'," Skye said. "And they asked me a lot of questions about my abilities."

"They want you to show them?" Wanda asked.

"I mean yes, but I told them I couldn't and, even if I could, I wouldn't do it at school," Skye said.

Wanda smiled. "Good."

"But I don't blame them for asking. I would probably want to see, too, if I were them," Skye said.

Wanda nodded and smiled. "Yes, I probably would, too."

They kept training, and Skye took Wanda down for the first time, which surprised them both.

Wanda sat on the ground for only a second before getting up.

"Sorry," Skye said.

"Skye, you do not need to apologize for taking me down in here," Wanda said.

"You're okay?" Skye asked.

"I'm fine," Wanda said with a smile.

They continued training, and Skye could tell that Wanda was in pain.

"You sure you're okay?" Skye asked.

"Are you doubting me?" Wanda asked.

"I can tell you are in pain," Skye said.

"I'm fine, Skye," Wanda said.

"Okay, well I'm really tired. I think I'm done for today," Skye said.

"All right," Wanda said.

They both went up to the main floor of the compound. Skye went and showered. Not long after she was out everyone came together for dinner. Natasha watched Wanda while they were eating.

"Wanda, are you hurt?" Natasha asked.

"What? No," Wanda said.

"Why are you favoring your left side?" Natasha asked.

"I'm not," Wanda said.

"You get hurt training with Skye?" Steve asked.

"I'm fine," Wanda said.

Steve looked at Skye, who shoved food in her mouth so she wouldn't be able to answer any questions asked. Steve knew what she was doing, so he waited until she swallowed.

"Skye, did something happen while the of you were training?" Steve asked.

"No," Skye said quickly.

"We talked about her first day of school. She seems to have already made a few friends," Wanda said, trying to change the subject.

"Oh?" Steve said.

"Yeah, a girl in my first three classes, and she introduced me to her two friends at lunch," Skye said. "They all seem really nice."

Dinner was soon finished, and everyone went off to do their own things.

Shortly after there was a knock on Skye's door.

"Come in," Skye said.

Bruce came into the room.

"Tell me the truth, did Wanda get hurt training today?" Bruce asked.

Skye took a breath. "Are you going to tell Steve I lied?"

"No," Bruce said. "But I need to know because, if she is hurt, I need to make sure it's something that will heal quickly."

"She did. I think it's her left shoulder. We were sparing. I took her down, and she landed on her shoulder. She said she was okay. But we continued, and I could tell she wasn't okay," Skye said.

"Okay, thank you for telling me the truth," Bruce said.

Skye nodded.

"You did the right thing," Bruce said before he left the room and went to find Wanda sitting in the living room.

"Wanda, come with me to my lab, please," Bruce said.

"Why?" Wanda asked

"Because I asked you to," Bruce said.

Wanda went with him cautiously.

Bruce pointed to the hospital bed in his lab. "Sit and let me see your shoulder. You argue, I'll go tell Steve, and you know he will bench you for not being upfront about it," Bruce said.

Wanda tilted her head. "My shoulder is fine."

"Prove it. Let me take a look," Bruce said.

Wanda sighed and shook her head.

Bruce stood next to her. He put gentle pressure on her left shoulder and watched for any reaction from her. But there wasn't any.

Wanda was holding her breath to keep from reacting when he touched the tender spot on her shoulder.

"See, it's fine," she said.

"I'm not done," Bruce said. He took her arm and started to rotate her shoulder. When he got to a certain point a small whimper escaped her lips.

"Now, tell me exactly what happened," Bruce said.

"It's no big deal," Wanda said.

"That's not what I asked," Bruce said.

"I got distracted and got taken down my Skye. I landed on my shoulder. I dislocated my shoulder, but I popped it back in myself," Wanda caved and told him.

Bruce sighed. "You popped it back in yourself?"

"It's not the first time," Wanda said.

"Well, it's the last. You can do a lot more damage to yourself doing that," Bruce said as he pulled an x-ray machine towards her and set it up to x-ray her shoulder.

"Bruce, it's fine." she was annoyed.

"You gave up the right to say that when you lied and let the thirteen-year-old lie as well," Bruce said.

"Skye told on me?" Wanda asked.

"Only when I cornered her and didn't give her a choice. If her dad finds out, you both will be in trouble. What kind of example does it set for her? You got hurt, and you didn't tell anyone. And, you lied about it when asked," Bruce said.

Wanda looked down.

"You are an adult, and you want to be treated as such. But then you do this, which is something I'd expect from a teenager not an adult," Bruce said.

"Okay, you can stop the lecture, I get it," Wanda said as she stopped arguing against the x-ray.

Bruce examined the pictures as they came up on the screen.

"Okay, nothing is broken. Your shoulder is in the socket correctly, thankfully," Bruce said.

Wanda nodded. She wanted to say I told you so, but she knew right now that was not in her best interest.

"I need to tape up your arm. Take it out of your shirt," he said.

Wanda did as she was told, and Bruce started to tape it up. "You are going to go to Steve, tell him you hurt yourself, and that I checked it out and you need to take some time off training."

Wanda sighed.

"Or I will," Bruce said.

"Fine," Wanda said.

He finished taping her arm and helped her get her shirt back over her shoulder.

"Ice it, often," he said.

"Okay," Wanda said.

They both went upstairs. Wanda found Steve in his office with the door open.

"Cap," Wanda said.

Steve looked up. "Hey, Wanda, what's up?"

"I did hurt my shoulder. Banner has looked at it, and I need to be off training for a while. I don't know exactly how long," Wanda said.

"You go to Banner yourself, or did Skye break and tell someone?" Steve asked.

Wanda sighed. "You knew?"

"I can't always tell when you're lying, but I can always tell when she is," Steve said.

"She told him when he asked her about it," Wanda told him.

"Okay, well, I'm going to trust you to let me know when you are good to train again," Steve said.

Wanda nodded.

"Go, rest. I'm guessing Banner told you to ice it, so do so," Steve said.

Wanda nodded and did so.

Banner saw her coming out of the office and went in.

"She told you?" Banner asked.

"She did. How long do you think she will be off training?" Steve asked.

"Couple weeks," Banner said.

"Okay," Steve said. "How hard did you have to push Skye to tell you?"

"Not too hard, I asked her. She asked if I was going to tell you that she lied and told me what happened when I told her no. I figured you knew she was lying anyway," Bruce said.

"I did know," Steve said. "I was waiting to see who would crack first, her or Wanda."

Bruce nodded. "It would have been Skye. Wanda continued lying until I told her I would tell you she was."

Steve shook his head. "She is stubborn."

Bruce nodded.

"Thanks for taking care of it and making sure I knew," Steve said.

"We look out for each other. Are you okay?" Banner asked.

"I just got Skye's foster care file, and, yes, I believe a lot of it is an exaggeration. But there is a foster home she was in. I recognized the names of the couple from the news a few years ago because they got shut down for being very abusive," Steve said.

"Damn, how long was she with them?" Bruce asked.

"Six months by the looks of it," Steve said.

"We knew she had been abused," Bruce said.

"Physically, mentally, verbally, yes," Steve said.

"Oh, wow. So we are talking…wow," Bruce said.

"Do I talk to her about it?" Steve said.

"I don't know," Bruce said. "I think you should let her know you got her file and that you read it. Let her read it. She will know that you saw it. Tell her you are always there if she wants to talk about any of it."

Steve nodded.

"And there are others around here who likely went through similar things who she might be more comfortable confiding in," Bruce said.

"All this could have been avoided if her mother had just told me about her," Steve said, shaking his head.

"But her mother couldn't have known she would be abused. She probably intended for her to be adopted as a baby," Bruce said.

"She still should have told me," Steve said.

"Yes, she should have. But you can't focus on that, it's done. Holding onto that anger against her mother isn't going to change what Skye has been through. And it isn't going to help you help her," Banner pointed out.

Steve nodded. "You're right."

The two were silent for a few minutes.

"Thanks again for making sure I knew about Wanda," Steve said.

"Of course," Bruce said before he left the other man alone.

Steve took a breath and went and knocked on Skye's door.

"Yes," Skye said.

Steve went in and saw she was at her desk with some school books.

"Doing homework?" Steve asked.

"Organizing all the paperwork we got. It's not really homework. I'm just setting myself up to be organized," Skye said.

"I'm glad, being organized will only help you succeed," Steve said.

Skye smiled and nodded.

"So, two things. One, I'm proud of you for telling Bruce the truth about Wanda," he said.

Skye sighed, "He said he wouldn't tell you."

"Technically, he didn't, Wanda did. But, Skye, I knew. I know when you lie," Steve said. "But I'm not upset with you. You're not in any trouble. I realize Wanda probably made you feel like you couldn't tell me."

Skye nodded. "What's the other thing?"

"I got your foster care file a couple of days ago. I have read it. And, if you want to, you can read it this weekend," Steve said.

"Why can't I see it now?" Skye asked.

"I don't want it to distract from your schoolwork or your sleep this week," Steve said.

Skye let out a breath. "Okay. You know a lot of it is probably exaggerated or lies right?"

"I did consider that, yes. If, when you're done reading it, you want to tell me what isn't true I will listen," Steve said.

"Okay," Skye said.

"And if there is ever anything from your past you want to talk to me about. know that I'll listen," Steve said.

Skye took a breath and nodded.

"Have you spoken to your friend from the last group home? Kate was it?" Steve asked.

"A little, she has been working three jobs to afford to survive. So she has been really busy," Skye said.

"It's sad that young people right now have to work so hard just to survive," Steve said.

Skye nodded. "That would have been me in a few years. If you and Bucky hadn't been there that night and saw it all happen and tracked me down. I would never have told anyone."

Steve nodded. "I can't imagine having not known about having these abilities and finding out when you have to use them in a scary situation like that."

Skye nodded. "Someone should have noticed when I healed from an unhealable heart condition when I was a baby."

"Medical anomaly is how it's described in your file," Steve said. "Things like that do happen."

Skye nodded. "I guess."

"So on to a better topic, school today was good? You mentioned making friends. Are your teachers good too?" he asked.

"They all seem to be great," Skye said.

"No issues with anyone?" Steve asked.

"There was one girl who I first saw this morning in the halls, and then she was in my classes this afternoon. Anytime we happened to look at each other she just scowled at me. I'm going to say she was just having a bad day, and I was the target of her feelings and hope that she's fine tomorrow. If she doesn't like me for some reason, especially without saying even a word to me, I'm not going to worry about it," Skye said.

Steve nodded. "Well, I hope she was just having a bad day, too. You know if there are any problems you talk to the dean or a teacher, right?"

"I know. But she didn't do anything but scowl, so I'm not going to make a big deal out of it," Skye said.

"Fair enough," he said as he looked at the time. "It's getting late, I think you need to get ready for bed."

"I will soon, promise," she said.

Steve kissed her head. "Good, good night. Love you kid," he said.

Skye smiled. "Good night."

Steve left the room and closed her door.

Skye packed up her backpack before getting ready for bed.