No-One But You (The Zephyr Endeavor)

Chapter 5: Quiet Coyote (Part 5)

Some of you know that in this story, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers lived together in Brooklyn, New York. They also attended the "Harvest Week" event that took place in Nebraska, but the two of them didn't stay for the whole thing.

They liked being home, and they liked being alone. Steve Rogers wasn't really thinking about that as he unlocked the door to their apartment, but the notion was usually on his mind. He looked toward his right as Tony walked in the open door.

Bucky Barnes had his apartment at the end of the hall, but the blonde hadn't seen him enter the space in a long while. Steve caught up with his best friend in Nebraska. The two of them managed to have a conversation, and that's how he learned Bucky was staying at the Kamar taj. That didn't seem like a permanent thing for Bucky, but a few theories about that began to form in the soldier's mind.

It had to do with Miss Donna Strange, and Bucky's failed relationship with Natasha Romanoff. That all felt too recent, and the wounds were very fresh. Steve was aware that Bucky was licking some hefty wounds that were caused by the Black Widow. Getting back together with Donna Strange seemed….

Hmmm.. Steve decided to give all of that some additional thought. He eventually entered the apartment that he shared with Tony, and he noticed an interesting little light. As soon as Steve walked in, he saw that the living room was illuminated a little bit, and he wasn't sure where Tony was in their space.
...

"Oh, really? So, you live here now?"

…

Uh, what? Steve heard Tony talking to someone, so he skipped the steps of taking off his jacket and shoes. The blonde quickly and awkwardly walked over toward the living room, and he saw Tony speaking to someone that he really didn't expect to see. Whoa, yo.. Steve was instantly confused with what he saw.

"Did something happen at home?"

…

Tony Stark noticed a little "Star Child" as soon as he approached the front door. Sofia Strange had helped herself to their apartment, and she was currently looking around their space. Tony asked her if she was okay when he entered the living room, and she made a comment that surprised Tony to the max.

Sofia Strange responded, and said that she was going to live there. She actually said the words, "I live here now."

Tony almost laughed, but he controlled himself. Hearing that made him immediately ask if something happened at home. The Dark Dimension is where Sofia Strange lived, with her parents, and they just left her parents behind in Nebraska. Obviously, they were followed…

Tony looked over at Steve, and Steve's eyebrows arched up toward the ceiling. Uhhhhh….

"Sofia says she lives here now, Steve.."

..

Tony gave him A LOOK. Like, a what the off we gunna do sorta look. OH, Steve Rogers read that look, and he expressed the same look right back at him. Oh no no no no no noooooo… See, Sofia Strange lived with Clea and Stephen. That's where she was gunna go, so Steve quickly pulled out his handy dandy cell phone.

Tony watched those thumbs get to work, because Steve started texting Stephen Strange right away. Yeahhhhh….. The message to Stephen was getting composed and sent via snail mail, so Tony decided to shift his focus and attention back to that darling little star child. He smiled at her and he crouched down more toward the floor. Tony looked her in the eyes and he tried to question her again and figure out why she was there.

"Are you upset with your father?"

Bingo. Tony noticed a look on Sofia's precious face as soon as he said something about Stephen. Her face sharpened a bit, and she looked more directly into Tony's eyes. He had a hunch that was the issue, for some reason. Even in that moment, Tony could see a stubbornness going on within Sofia. And, throughout the years of knowing her, Tony could see that she was just as stubborn, and just as smart as her daddy…

Her all-knowing and only "Supreme" when he felt like it wizard-daddy was still in Nebraska. Stephen Strange was speaking to his father, Eugene, and his sharp eyes immediately locked upon his darling daughter as soon as he received a text message from Steve Rogers.

Sofia was there with him in that moment, not in Brooklyn. Please hold.….

Her physical form was right there in Nebraska, so the former Sorcerer Supreme had to quickly calculate what his daughter was doing. Stephen looked toward his left and he quietly showed his wife the message on his cell phone. Clea Strange took a moment to understand what she was seeing.

She understood that Stephen communicated with his friends with the device that he showed her in that moment. Clea's mind was on a conversation that she was having earlier with her sister-in-law. Donna was telling her some things relating to the person who was there across the room.

Clea's mind cleared from all of that as soon as she read that her daughter was supposedly in another location. And, of all places, she was allegedly in Tony Stark's home…..

Her sharp eyes locked onto her daughter as well, and Clea immediately started reading into Sofia's energy pattern. She also noticed Stephen as he put his focus back toward that contraption called a "cell phone." Clea watched as his hands composed a message back to Steve Rogers.

[She's split herself in two, so we will be there soon. If you stall her for me, I'll buy you a sandwich.]

The sandwich thing was an inside joke, so Stephen laughed a little when he sent the message. The message made its way to Steve Rogers, so the sorcerer looked over at his daughter once again. She was physically in the room with her grandmother, Beverly. The sorcerer recalled the moment when he looked upon his daughter for the first time.

He had to think about that, because when he met Sofia she was five years old, and he noticed immediately that her ability to "see" far surpassed his. The more he interacted with Sofia, the more he learned. It didn't take him very long to figure out that his daughter had a mind that could reach worlds aeons away.

Stephen figured his humanity suppressed his "sight" and he always understood that his vision was distorted in comparison.

He couldn't hide anything from his daughter either, and maybe that was about to bite him in the ass. I mean, Stephen never expected her to act out and rebel at that point. How much damage could a six-year-old little girl do? That question was far from Stephen and Clea's mind as the two of them approached Sofia.

She was playing a clapping game with her grandmother, but Stephen knew that her mind was hundreds of miles away.

Chapter: END

Thanks for reading.