Thank you to Harliquinn for beta reading and editing
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Everyone was looking for Skye. Steve had given them a quick explanation about what had happened. They knew she hadn't left the compound, but there were a lot of places she could hide. They had found her on the security footage, but they lost her when she went down to the least secure part of the building. There were a lot of rooms that she could be in.
Dr. Banner went into the room she was in. He turned on the light and started to look around. When he spotted her, she was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. She had her face buried in her knees. There was snow falling around her. Bruce knew what her abilities meant she could do, so he wasn't surprised.
"Can you please turn the light off? It's making the headache worse," Skye said.
Bruce turned off the light and sent a text to the group. "Found her. She is okay." Before he turned on the flashlight on his phone and went and sat on the floor a few feet away from her.
"Remember what I taught you about meditation?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Why don't you try that," Bruce said. "It could help you get control of this."
Skye took a breath and did so. She closed her eyes and tried to bring her focus to her breathing.
Bruce meditated with her, helping her completely calm down.
Skye could feel herself calming down, and the snow around her stopped. Once she was fully calm she opened her eyes and looked at Bruce.
"Thank you," she said.
"Of course," Bruce said. "I understand what it feels like when my emotions cause me to get out of control."
"But you have control of it. Don't you?" Skye asked.
"I do, most of the time. But it took a lot of years to get to this point," Bruce said. "And I have hurt people when out of control. You never have. And I wasn't a teenager dealing with all the things that come with being a teenager while coming into my abilities. I know this is unfairly hard for you. But you will get through it."
Skye nodded a little. "My dad is angry because I just wanted to be a teenager and go to the dance despite the fact that I knew things were getting out of control."
"Why didn't you tell someone? I would have happily helped you before the dance. Helped you get it under control," Bruce said.
"I was worried I wouldn't be able to go. I know I shouldn't have taken the risk, but I just want to be a normal teenager," Skye said.
Bruce nodded. "I get it. Next time you can come find me when things are getting bad, and I'll help you. And I'll try to help you be able to be as close to a normal teenager as possible. And I'm sure everyone else here understands the want to be a normal teenager. We all just want to help you."
Skye nodded. "Is everyone looking for me?"
"We all were. I texted them and told them I found you, though," Bruce said.
"Okay," Skye said.
"Are you ready to go find your dad?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know if I can handle seeing everyone right now. I am calm now, but still," she said.
"Okay, do you want me to get your dad to come down here?" Bruce asked.
Skye nodded.
Bruce texted Steve telling him where they were and that he should come.
Steve was in the room in just a couple of minutes.
Bruce got up. "I will let you two talk."
"Thanks, Banner," Steve said as he turned on the flashlight on his phone, and sat where Bruce had been. He looked at his daughter. "Are you okay?"
Skye shook her head her face buried in her knees again.
"I'm trying not to feel anything negative right now to make it easier for you," Steve said.
Skye looked up and smiled a little. "I don't think you can control that any more than I can control my abilities. But Bruce helped me get it under control for right now."
Steve nodded. "Good."
"I'm sorry, Dad. I should have told you what was really going on. I just wanted to be normal and go to the dance," Skye said.
"I get that peanut. I understand this is not fair, and if I could take these abilities away from you so you could be a regular teenager I would. But I can't. And, until you can control them fully, you need to be straight with me about when you can feel yourself getting overwhelmed. Even if that means you have to miss out on things you don't want to. However, if you are straight with me, I will do everything in my power to help you have a normal life. I want you to have a normal teenage life, too," Steve said.
"Okay," Skye said.
"You are probably pretty tired. You want to head to your room?" Steve asked.
"Yes, but I just-" Skye started.
"You what?" Steve asked
"I can't handle everyone else's emotions right now," Skye said.
"I will let them know that you don't feel like talking tonight and ask them to leave you be. Okay?" Steve asked as he stood up.
"Okay," Skye said.
Steve put a hand down to her, and Skye took it. Steve pulled her up into a hug.
Skye hugged him tight.
Steve kissed her head before they broke the hug and they both went upstairs. Skye went to her room and started to run a really hot bath. She took her phone out of her purse and texted her friends that she was home and would talk to them more tomorrow before she undressed and stepped into the bath and soaked, trying to forget about the day she had just had.
