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"What the hell did you put in these?!" Happy tiredly huffed, as he struggled to drag Davina's two suitcases out to the car.
"Just a few toys." Davina blinked, her bear under her arm and the picture of innocence as she watched Happy struggle. Getting to torture Happy was so much fun. He always got so cranky, it was hilarious.
Happy narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her. She was smiling at him a little too sweetly for his taste. She was up to something, he knew it. "Did you put rocks in these again?"
Davina gaped in mock outrage at his accusation, a hand flying dramatically to her chest. "Don't be silly Happy! I'd never do that... Again." Happy grumbled something under his breath that she didn't quite catch, but Davina was left smirking all the same. She knew he'd get even grouchier when she unpacked that particular bag.
As Davina happily tormented Happy, Madison was having one last anxiety fueled conversation with Tony. "So you have everything?" She frantically checked, well aware she was on the verge of driving him insane with her incessant checking.
Tony froze in mock alarm, eyes darting about madly as he began to frantically pat himself down. "You know now that you mention it I think I left my passport somewhere-"
Madison rolled her eyes as she gave him a gentle shove, causing Tony to laugh in response. "Come on Maddy, unclench. Everything will be fine." She had the same tense look of anxiety in her eyes that she always had whenever he was about to do something dumb or dangerous. He was very well acquainted with it.
"Just-" She sighed, glancing momentarily at Davina. She was currently unzipping one of her bags to retrieve a Barbie, no doubt in order to tauntingly wave in Happy's face. "Be nice to her. She has a few... things going on."
"Yeah..." Tony drawled. "I kinda got that."
"No I mean-" Madison heaved a sigh, lacing her fingers together as she tried to formulate what she was about to say. God she hoped he'd be understanding about this. "Sometimes she has a couple of bad dreams, a lot of which freak her out. Like a lot."
Tony felt his heart stop beating momentarily in his chest, wondering if he'd heard her right. Her too? "You mean like... Like night terrors?"
Madison nodded in reply. "I've got her on the waiting list at a sleep clinic. It only happens every once and a while, but if it happens while she's with you, please just be kind with her, ok?" Tony took a second to register the emotion on Madison's face, whatever joke he had on hand slipping away at once.
He nodded, the picture of seriousness. Even though he felt as though he was being sent into the dark while blindfolded, Tony was determined to get this right. He'd earn back the kid's trust come hell or high water. "You got it." Madison smiled gratefully, peeking over Tony's shoulder to find her happily clutching her Barbie, grinning menacingly at a disgruntled looking Happy as she waved it tauntingly at him. The man looked like he was barely restraining himself from ripping it out of her grasp. "So anything else I should know?" He asked, turning around to observe Davina along with her.
"Davina plus sugar is a waking nightmare so try to limit that, she brings Henry with her a lot so if she talks to him don't make fun, she'll ask you to read one of her books to her every night-" Tony made a face. "-and you will read it to her every. single night." Madison said, punctuating each word with a poke to the chest. "And her bedtime's at nine." She smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Good luck!"
Davina didn't think it was possible for someone to take so long to pick out snacks, but Davina had soon discovered that her Dad was super picky when it came to selecting them. They'd gone into a convenience store on the way to the airport to get some for the plane ride, and now Davina was stuck waiting impatiently as her Dad continued to stare at the choices spread out before him. He was worse than her Mom in a clothes store.
"Come on!" She whined, huffing in annoyance.
Tony simply waved her off, eyes still trained on the various varieties of chips, chocolates and sweets laid out in front of him. Davina had picked out her Skittles, Oreos and soda twenty minutes ago according to her Wonder Woman watch, but she felt as though she'd been waiting even longer. What was with him? "Totally growing a beard here!" She exclaimed, leaning against the popsicle box.
"Hey this decision making is a delicate process, I will not be rushed." Tony insisted, eyes still trained on the drink selection before him.
What a drama queen.Davina thought. She rolled her eyes at Tony, dropping to the floor to sit. "I guess I live here now!" She declared dramatically, purposely drawing out her sigh. She saw her Dad rolling his eyes at her action via his reflection on the fridge door, making her smile. She'd found a long time ago that she liked making people smile. Especially him. It was like she took someone's bad mood or sad expression out of their body and stomped it to pieces. The thought made her feel all light and happy and floaty.
A moment or two later, Davina heard him make a delighted noise as he located something. "Hey! My favourite!" Tony exclaimed happily, pulling free a family sized bag of chips to look at. Davina snorted at the action, while also wondering if he'd be willing to share. Tony turned around, showing them to Davina. "What do you think?" Davina felt a chill run through her though as he did, her smile slipping from her face as she took in what she was seeing.
Her Dad's body was all burned.
It was as though someone had taken a blowtorch to the entire right side of his body, one half of his face so blackened and charred that Davina had to try her best to supress the urge to vomit. He was suddenly wearing some kind of metal suit that was all burned too, the right side of it all melted and on the verge of falling apart. What had happened? Why wasn't he screaming? Davina tried to scream herself, but found no sound could escape her. She was utterly paralysed by fright. Davina's heart thumped loudly in her chest, fast and unrelenting as her eyes went wide in horror. She inhaled a shaky breath, desperately willing the image to go away. Why wasn't he screaming? Wasn't he in pain? What had happened to him?
"Davina?"
Davina blinked only once, and in an instant the horrific sight of her burned Dad was gone. He was back to normal, wearing his leather jacket and jeans, and his face perfectly smooth and unmarred by any burns. He was however, staring at her in concern. Davina rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes, laughing sheepishly. "Sorry."
"You zone out a bit there?" Tony asked, concern evident in his voice as he came to sit by her on the floor. She'd suddenly gone all pale, making a number of internal alarms go off in his mind. Was she sick? Had she eaten enough? Had she drank something funny? Did he need to get a doctor? He was so not equipped for this. He didn't know the first thing about taking care of children, and he'd just offered to be the sole caregiver for one while she stayed with him.
Davina nodded reluctantly, rubbing at her forehead. "My head kind of hurts."
Tony grabbed a bottle of water nearby and began to open it, handing it to Davina. Davina gaped in alarm, stubbornly refusing to take it from him no matter how much he insisted. "But you haven't paid for it!" She hissed, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching them. What was her dad thinking? What if he got arrested?
"I'm gonna!" Tony dismissed, chuckling at the outrage on her face. She was so by the book, it was adorable. "You're funny when you're all panicky."
Davina narrowed her eyes crossed her arms, shooting him a deeply unimpressed look.
"Here," he shoved the water into her hands, and gestured for her to hand her snacks over. "I'll go pay, you drink up and try not to faint like a southern dame on me." Tony hesitated for a second, before reaching forward to ruffle her hair. "I'll only be a second."
Davina smiled gratefully as watched him go, taking a big swig of her water as she tried to calm her heart rate down. Whenever she saw weird stuff like that, her Mom always said it was because she had an overactive imagination. Davina didn't know why her imagination wanted her to see stuff like her Dad being all burned and crispy, but she wanted it to stop. It was scary. Davina glanced towards the counter where her Dad was paying, watching him closely to see if anything was out of the ordinary with him. She watched and watched, but he remained exactly as he was. Davina frowned in confusion. Why had her brain showed her something so horrible?
Man that had been creepy.
When he was he was finished, Tony gestured for her to follow him. Davina hurried to his side, not missing the fact that he was keeping a close eye on her as they left the store. He was still doing so as they got back into the car, all while Davina grabbed Henry from where she'd left him and clutched him tight to her chest. She found herself breathing a little easier with Henry around. That was so the last time she left him in the car.
Tony kept doing so for so long, that Davina ended up taking another swig of the water just to appease him. He was worried about how she'd acted. She could just tell.
"What?" She stared questioningly at Tony, as he continued to stare at her as the car began to move once more.
"Nothing." He dismissed, pointedly looking away from her. Davina sighed in relief, the tension she hadn't realised she was holding easing from her shoulders. A second later Davina watched as he pulled out the spare burger he'd kept from the takeout he'd ordered for breakfast, handing it over to her. "Eat." He ordered firmly.
"Why?" Davina questioned, though she took it from him without argument.
"Protein, that's why."
Davina sensed he wasn't going to elaborate any further on that, so she decided to tuck in. Once she was finished she searched for somewhere to dispose of the wrapper, but to no avail. After making sure there was no cheese residue on it, she opted to neatly fold it up and tuck it into a nearby cup holder. Once she'd done so she noticed her Dad had stuck a pair of sunglasses on, making Davina giggle. It was a habit of his she was well acquainted with, but one she always found really funny.
She saw him frown, quietly questioning why she was suddenly laughing but finally letting his curiosity win out. "Why are you laughing?"
"You're wearing sunglasses. In a car." She pointed out, grinning as his confusion only increased.
"So?"
"You look like a douchebag."
Tony guffawed at her words, taking said sunglasses off as he assessed his daughter. "You're really something you know that?"
"Thanks!" Davina grinned, her face transforming as she thought about his words. "I think?"
Davina always knew she'd fallen into one of her freaky dreams by how real everything felt.
All of her dreams were generally on the bizarre side: Her and Captain America starring in a musical together, her mom buying her a unicorn, the taking dinosaur bones, that sort of thing. But those dreams always had the hazy, unreal feel to them that everyone else's dreams had. She could also hardly remember them after she woke up either. But her freaky dreams always felt like real life. And she always remembered them afterwards, down to the last insignificant detail. She was also aware that she was dreaming, which wasn't exactly fun when some of the bad ones popped up. Some of the dreams were nice, some of them were horrible, and some were just plain weird, even for her.
The Captain America nightmare was a recurring one she never enjoyed.
It always started the same.
Captain America had her up against a wall, and was repeatedly smacking his shield into her body. Face, body, face, face, face. Over and over, and yet she felt no pain. The sensation was more akin to someone jabbing something sharp into her body. The sound was hard to grasp, falling in and out of focus with a frustrating recurrence. Why was Captain America hitting her? And why did he look so scared?
And why did it look like she had a video game screen over her eyes?
"You can't beat him hand to hand!" A female voice with an Irish accent pleaded, from seemingly nowhere. Where was the Irish lady? Davina would look and look whenever she got this particular nightmare, and yet she never saw anyone else.
She was scared too in this dream. But mostly angry. Really, really angry. She wanted to hurt Captain America.
Davina was sure she heard a male voice then emit from her throat, an oddly familiar sense to it. Some innate part of her would urge her to pay particular attention to it, but to no avail. It would always float out of reach, muffled and incoherent to her every time no matter how hard she tried to make out what was being said. But it sounded determined, not scared like she would have been in a fight with her idol.
A few seconds later Captain America would go to hit her with his shield again, but this time around she would catch him off-guard by catching it with her big metal hand somehow. Davina figured she was some kind of robot in this dream, as none of his brutal hits seemed to ever hurt her all that much. But then one of the weirdest parts of the nightmare would occur: she blasted his shield away with her hand. With a laser! She had a laser hand! But she never had time to revel in how cool that was, as in the next second she blasted Captain America, sending him flying. No matter how many times she tried to steer the nightmare somewhere else, she seemed determined in the dream to hurt him. Why did she want to hurt him? This dream was horrible and made no sense!
She would then fly over to him, the next few seconds a heavy blur as they exchanged kicks and punches. Captain America ended up on his knees on the floor, hovering protectively over a motionless one armed man with long dark hair. She could never quite make out his face though, which always annoyed her.
Captain America would stare pleadingly at her, his words drifting in and out of focus. He had a darker suit on, different from the pictures she'd seen of him in books, cartoons and comics. "Friend." Was all she got, before she started pummelling him again.
She'd send him down to his feet once more, but he'd pull himself back up on to his feet mere moments later. Though Davina didn't enjoy the content of the dream, she had to admire how much of a badass she was in it.
"Can-" "-day."
The one armed man tried to grab her leg, but she kicked him hard in the face. She didn't like the one armed man. She hated the one armed man. Davina could practically feel it vibrating from her, to an intense degree. He'd done something bad. Something she wanted to hurt him for too. Something that wanted to make her cry and scream and rage from the sheer overwhelming emotion she was battling.
Captain America grabbed her like she was one of her own minifigures of him, tossing her to the ground as he resumed his own pummelling of her. Punch after punch after punch, and then a few hard hits from the shield to her face. Whatever helmet with the video game screen she was wearing fell away, and she suddenly became very aware of how much she had been fueled by adrenaline in this fight of hers. Her head, her chest, every inch of her being screamed with razor sharp pain as it caught up with her and she realised the inevitable: she couldn't beat him.
Why was he doing this? Davina longed to plead. Why was she doing this? What had Captain America and the one armed man done to make her so angry with them?
Davina saw him raise his shield one last time, and she threw her robot arms over her face protectively. But instead of hitting her unprotected face, he instead brought his shield down upon her still protected robot chest. She looked down, the blue light in her chest flickering away to nothing. Captain America closed his eyes, sad and defeated as she looked up at him in hatred. He'd betrayed her. She could feel the hurt pounding awfully in her chest, as the adrenaline rush began to fade away. How could he do this to her? She wanted to scream. How could you?
Captain America pulled the shield from her chest, the fight seemingly over as he walked away to go get his friend.
She mustered up the last flickers of her remaining energy to roll on to her side, wincing painfully as she tried not to move too suddenly. The angry familiar voice erupted from her once more, only this time around Davina recognised where she'd heard it before.
It hadn't clicked all those other times, as she'd never heard him use his voice angrily with her. She was used to his voice being happy, smug, or teasing. She'd never heard what he sounded like when he was unhappy.
The voice was her Dad's.
And as she realised this, the voice suddenly came into focus, like a radio finally having found a signal.
"That shield doesn't belong to you!" She heard Tony's voice shout furiously. "You don't deserve it! My father made that shield!"
Huh. She knew that was true, but she'd never worked up the nerve to ask him about it.
Seemingly unbothered, with the one armed man slung over his shoulder and his back to her, Captain America dropped his shield and continued to walk away.
She'd lost.
"Yoo hoo! Davina?"
Davina stirred awake as she saw two fingers clicking in front of her face, dropping away at once to reveal her Dad standing in front of her. Davina blinked sluggishly, coming back to awareness as she rubbed the heel of her free hand into her eyes. She had Henry clutched in the other, and they had both been covered up by a fluffy red blanket she didn't remember being there when she'd closed her eyes for a few seconds.
"What?" She blinked, her vision coming back into focus.
"Buckle up, plane's about to land kid." Tony instructed, before heading back to his seat across from her.
Davina followed his instruction wordlessly, buckling up before plonking Henry back under her arm. It was reassuring, having him with her.
She didn't feel the pain anymore, thank god. She didn't want to imagine how many bruises getting into a fight like that would get her. She didn't want to fight anyone, period. It looked terrifying. Davina loathed that nightmare. She was always left feeling really guilty for making Captain America so sad, and she ended up getting her ass kicked. It was one in particular she hoped would fade away soon like her Mom said it would.
"You sleep alright?" Tony queried, observing her closely as he too buckled up for the landing. "You sounded a little off for a minute there."
Davina found herself nodding, though she didn't quite meet his eyes. She wasn't used to him looking at her for long periods of time. It was odd. "I was a robot with your voice and me and Captain America were fighting and I made him sad and he made me mad."
"Wow." Tony remarked dryly, brows raised. "You know, I had a funny dream too the other day."
"Really?"
He nodded, explaining. "Me and Rhodey were playing air hockey, and guess who showed up?" Davina straightened up, eyes bright with interest. "Barney and Elmo! And you know those guys they just couldn't wait their turn, so we challenged them to a round of fencing-" Davina burst into a fit of giggles at his words, making Tony stop mid-stream.
"You're making that up!" Davina accused, unconvinced by the look of faux outrage he was wearing.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"I bet I could beat you at air hockey." Davina confidently informed him, smiling pridefully.
"Oh yeah?" Tony grinned at her self-assuredness, raising a brow in question.
"It'd be suuuuuper easy." Davina bragged, already envisioning the victory lap she would do.
Tony grinned as he felt his competitive streak begin to roar to life, hastening to cement this chance to bond with her quickly. He pulled out his phone, continuing to speak as he typed. "I'm buying an air hockey table. When it arrives, you're on!"
As Tony busied himself with his phone, Davina began to hum along to the song that was playing over the plane's system. She began to swing her head from side to side as she sang along, a dorky smile slowly but surely forming on her face as she continued to listen. Davina glanced at Tony who was still on his phone, some slight anxiety making her hesitate as she thought over what to say to him. What should she say? She considered for a moment. Something simple sounded like her best bet. "I like this song."
Tony stashed his phone away, smiling in approval at her comment. "One of ACDC's best."
"Who are ACDC?" Davina blinked, tilting her head in confusion.
Tony froze momentarily, his eyes widening in alarm. "Who- Who-" He spluttered, shaking his head to himself. He dramatically buried his head in his hands, comically outraged as he turned to her disbelief. "You don't know who ACDC are?"
Davina shook her head. Given the look on his face, she got the feeling that whatever that was was pretty important to him. "Are they like a band?" She asked innocently.
"Are they like a-" Tony repeated, his voice turning so shrill he had to force himself to pause. He then turned to an otherwise occupied Happy, contently reading his newspaper just a little bit away from them. "Hap! The kid's never heard of ACDC!"
"Despicable." Happy replied half-heartedly, not even making the effort to look up from his reading material. Tony turned back to her, gaping in sheer horror.
Davina snorted at his expression, her cheeks beginning to hurt as she grinned. "You're a total drama queen."
"Nuh uh." Tony denied. "This is a perfectly reasonable reaction to me discovering your mother has been neglecting your musical education." Tony blew out a breath. "Wow. We have work to do."
Davina couldn't help the warm sensation that began to trickle into her chest at the implication. Maybe this bit of time with him would be fun.
Davina knew that her Dad was in trouble when Pepper came out of the house with her murder face on.
She knew that he had a regular habit of annoying his assistant, but on rare occasions some of which Davina had been witness to, he brought out the murder face. A face filled with so much barely concealed fury, that she looked like she was on the verge of strangling him with her bare hands. Pepper began walking over to them where they were stood by the car, cementing his doom. Davina began to snicker at Tony's expense, earning a grumble from her father.
"Stop enjoying this so much." He warned, which only made her grin grow wide.
"Uh oh! You're in trouble!" she taunted.
"Am not!" He protested half-heartedly, though Davina didn't miss the squirmy look on his face.
"What did you do?" She pressed eagerly.
"So glad you're happy as my demise walks towards me." He quipped, plastering on a smile as Pepper finally joined them. "Hey Pep!" He greeted with false cheer, pointing to Davina. "I know she's no Statue of Liberty figurine, but look who I brought back from New York!"
The redhead blinked in surprise as she registered Tony's words, looking down at Davina in surprise. "Hey Davina!" She smiled, pleasantly surprised if a little shocked to see her standing next to Tony.
"Hi." She gave her father's assistant a friendly wave. She launched herself immediately towards Pepper like a shot out of a cannon, enveloping her in a hug. Pepper found herself smiling fondly as she hugged the little girl back. "It's good to see you sweetie! How've you been?"
Davina lifted her head upwards, widening her eyes for dramatic effect. "Dad kidnapped me."
"WHAT?" Pepper exclaimed in shock.
"She's kidding! She's totally kidding! I did not kidnap her!" Tony turned to Davina in alarm, who was grinning at him evilly as she soaked in his distress. "Tell her I did not kidnap you."
"He didn't kidnap me." Pepper's shoulders sank in relief.
Tony narrowed his eyes at the still grinning Davina, pointing an incredulous finger at her. "You're scarily devious."
Davina pulled herself away from Pepper to pat Tony's finger condescendingly. "Don't be a baby."
She turned to Pepper once more, her face brightening. "I got the part in the school play!" She informed her, making Pepper gasp in delight for her. Madison and Pepper exchanged daily emails, where Madison kept her informed of all the major things going on in the young girl's life.
"Really we're just gonna ignore that-"
"Who are you playing?" Pepper pressed, pointedly ignoring Tony's mutterings.
"Glinda." Davina explained excitedly. "I have to learn all of my lines over summer break, then the first week we're back we start rehearsing for it. I can't wait! I get to wear a pink sparkly dress and a wand and Megan Fitzroy has to play the Wicked Witch of the West." Davina began to giggle, a hand flying to her mouth. "She was so mad."
Tony turned to Davina questioningly, nudging his way back into the conversation. A part of him was beginning to feel left out, not to mention kind of sad, as he watched Davina converse with so much ease with Pepper. His own assistant knew his daughter better than he did. "We don't like Megan Fitzroy?"
Davina shook her head adamantly, a deep seriousness etching itself on to her face that Tony had never seen on her before. "We hate Megan Fitzroy!" She hissed, a passionate hatred in her tone as she thumped her closed fist against her palm. "She stole my Barbie pen and wouldn't give it back, so now she's my archnemesis!"
"Ahhhh an archnemesis at your age. I'm so proud!" Tony gushed, reaching out his hand, second guessing himself, before finally ruffling her hair.
"Thank you." Davina warmed at the praise, looking away from her Dad as she felt her cheeks warm. A tad sheepish, Davina began to smooth down her hair.
Pepper glanced between the two of them, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth despite her annoyance. "Davina-" Pepper pointed towards a struggling Happy, who had began ferrying the bags into the house. "-why don't you help Happy out with the bags while I talk to your Dad? We've got some adult business we need to talk about."
"Adult business-" The smirk forming on Tony's mouth died at once as he registered the somehow even more unimpressed look that was forming on Pepper's face.
Rather than make some kind of snarky comment like he knew she would to him, Davina instead merely gave a respectful "Ok" in reply, walking on over to the open trunk and grabbing both of her suitcases. Tony watched in amusement as she sat the main suitcase down on the ground, then taking several minutes to drag out the one Happy had been particularly struggling with that morning. Tony had heard him swear several times and the whole ordeal had made him sulky for most of the plane ride.
With Henry still faithfully tucked under her arm, once the bag was on solid ground again Davina bent down and began to unzip it. He could sense Pepper watching too, the little business of him taking off to New York without telling her temporarily put aside as they watched to see what she was doing. Once the suitcase was fully unzipped, she pulled it open to reveal several heavy looking rocks inside.
"Wow!" Tony remarked, as he watched her empty the rocks out on to the driveway. "She really will do anything for a bit."
He heard Pepper let out an amused laugh, the sound swirling into his heart and comfortably settling there. He smiled, closing his eyes momentarily to enjoy the brief moment of comfort, the sound of her delight at his daughter's antics. Once Tony opened his eyes once more, he saw that Davina had zipped the suitcase back up, but had Henry's head and paws poking out, seemingly along for the ride. She began to lug both suitcases indoors, but much to his amusement saw that she was dragging them both backwards as though they were two uncooperative dogs on leads.
Tony turned his attentions back to a waiting Pepper, offering her a conciliatory approach as he forced himself to stay still. "So, anything happen while I was gone?"
"Unbelievable!" Pepper scoffed.
"I was gone for five minutes!" He protested lamely.
"No note! No phone call! Not so much as a hint that you were even going anywhere-" Pepper squared her shoulders, blowing out a heavy breath.
A happy little smile tugged at Tony's lips. "You were worried about me."
"I was not."
"Did you send out telegrams? Letters?"
Pepper hadn't known her eyes could roll back as far as they did in that moment. "Strictly moving on! What was with the sudden trip?" Pepper inclined her head towards the house. "Is everything ok? I haven't heard anything from Madison. What's with the sudden visit?"
"Well..." Tony drawled uncomfortably, not meeting his assistant's unflinching stare as he began to explain himself. "I convinced her to come for a visit, try to get her to like me and do the whole Dad thing."
Pepper blinked in surprise. "As in-"
"As in where she is I am, birthdays, Christmases, the occasional Easter egg hunt if she's inclined, the whole shebang." Tony shrugged.
"And maybe spending more than five minutes with her?" Pepper guessed, noting the guilty look he was wearing that always flickered to life whenever she was mentioned around him.
"That too." Tony agreed quietly, forcing himself to take in a huge intake of breath. He paused for a moment, before finally voicing the thought that had been plaguing his mid. "She likes you better than me."
"She does not!" Pepper argued. "You're her Dad."
"She called me a douchebag for the shades." Tony huffed, pulling out said shades and putting them on. "I mean look at these." He gestured to them. "Worth every penny."
Pepper's lips quirked upwards. "Well she does have a point."
"Ouch."
"Sorry."
"My point stands though."
"It does not." Pepper refuted. "She likes me because she knows me. Give her a chance to know you! Use this as an opportunity to get to know her." Pepper offered him a soft, reassuring smile. "I know for a fact that the door's open on her end Tony. All you've gotta do is step right through."
"Okay but-" Tony scrambled. "How? How do I-"
"You've gotta figure that out."
While Davina loved her room at home the best, there was one benefit that her Malibu house room had over the other that Davina could never resist.
Cartwheels!
She'd been doing cartwheels in her room for several minutes since lugging her suitcases upstairs, flying back and forth across the length of the room all while giggling to herself. Once she grew tired she collapsed to the floor, landing on her back as she laughed at herself. It had been pretty fun being back in the Malibu house so far, all things considered.
"Good grief!" Henry remarked from his place by the wardrobe, his disapproval clear in his tone as he continued to pack away her things for her. "You'll give yourself a headache."
Davina rolled her eyes affectionately at the bear, sitting up to face the teddy bear as he carefully put one of her shirts on one of the coat hangers she'd grabbed and placed on the floor. She was supposed to be doing the whole unpacking thing herself, but had gotten distracted by the giddy sensation of realising how much sheer space she had to mess around in.
"It'd be worth it." Davina argued, stretching out her legs so she didn't get pins and needles.
"Yes," Henry remarked, proceeding to do an impressive high jump where he landed on top of the wardrobe door, tip-toeing over to the closet bar where he delicately hung up the shirt, before launching himself backwards, doing a flip in the air, and landing perfectly on his feet. "I recall you said the same thing, when you thought spinning around in a circle over a hundred times was a good idea."
"I was like three then Henry," Davina straightened up, lifting her chin proudly. "I'm all grown up now." A deep, mirth filled chuckle erupted from Henry's chest, that told Davina exactly what he thought of that. "Jerk." She muttered under her breath.
Henry had been with her since birth. She couldn't remember exactly when he'd started talking back to her, but she didn't remember if there was ever a time where he didn't. He was single-handedly the most uptight teddy bear (and the only teddy bear) she knew. He was British for some reason, and a total stickler for the rules. His favourite phrases were "I told you so!" and "Don't do that!" The former of which would garner him an eyeroll and some light mocking, and the latter of which she almost always ignored. He was her nanny bear, and as pompous as he could be, she loved him with every fibre of her soul. He never judged her about the things that mattered, he always listened and there wasn't a person alive that knew her better than Henry.
"You don't have to do all that," Davina insisted, feeling a little bad as she watched Henry continue to put her stuff away. "I'll do it eventually."
"Oh please." Henry waved her off. "By the time you get around to it, several generations of butterflies will have been born and matured."
"I'm not that bad!"
Henry chose to answer her with a loud scoff.
"I'm not!" Davina folded her arms in displeasure. "I'm organised... Sometimes. Hey so about the offer, I'm upping it to five dollars!"
"No." Henry replied.
"Come on!"
"No!"
The offer in question was a bribe she kept offering to Henry, for him to talk in front of another human being. He was different from her imaginary friends, as he was real, tangible and was with her all of the time. Her mistake however, had been letting him and Penny watch E.T with her. The two of them became hysterical by the film's end, convinced if they showed themselves to anyone other than her that the government would take them away to hack them to pieces. She'd tried assuring them otherwise, but they stubbornly wouldn't listen, turning motionless like the toys from Toy Story whenever someone else was around. So now not only was she the girl who talked to thin air, but she was also the nutjob who had full blown conversations with her doll and teddy bear for no apparent reason.
"Fluff for brains!" Davina cursed, folding her arms in displeasure. She kicked her open suitcase in annoyance, freezing however when she heard a tiny squeal of pain from inside. "What the-"
"Ah yes." Henry grimaced, nodding to a still zipped up section. "You have a surprise waiting for you."
Davina frowned, reaching forward to unzip the compartment in question. The suitcase had two layers to it, so she could fit plenty of things inside. But on the flip side, plenty of things could also sneak their way in.
"HIYA DOLL!" Penny's squeaky little girly voice exclaimed as she jumped out of the suitcase, launching herself into Davina's arms.
Davina let out a screech of surprise, glaring down at her innocently smiling doll as her heart raced. "Penny what are you doing here?" She demanded, furiously setting the doll down on the floor. "I told you you couldn't come."
"Hey! I stole that pen back for you! I deserve a vacation!" Penny snapped, mimicking Davina as she too folded her arms. "All work and no play is no way to live Davina!" She chastised, shaking a finger at her.
"A vacation from what?" Davina snorted, unable to take the doll's self-seriousness seriously. "You're a doll."
"Rude." Penny sniffed. She placed her tiny little porcelain hands on Davina's leg, leaning forward with all the eagerness of a puppy. "Are we really in California?"
"Yes." Davina confirmed through gritted teeth. In spite of her creepy little dead eyes, Davina had admittedly grown fond of Penny. She was always down to help her right a wrong, though some of her suggestions were a little extreme even for Davina.
"OH BOY!" Penny launched into a brutally tone deaf rendition of California Dreamin', her voice so painfully loud and off-key that both Davina and Henry were forced to put their hands and paws over their ears. Much to the despair of Davina and the rest of her friends, Penny's favourite thing to do other than steal things was to sing.
"Make her stop!" Henry cried. "We'll go deaf!"
"But singing is her passion!" Davina defended weakly, wincing as she reached the chorus and hit a whole new level of bad. Were her ears bleeding? They had to be! Penny was genuinely awful at singing, but Davina didn't want to make her feel bad by being mean.
"And mine is being able to hear!" Henry shrieked.
"Penny!" Davina grabbed the doll, holding her by the waist as she gently shook her. "If you don't shut up my Dad will hear you!"
Penny ceased her singing at once and Davina gladly sat her back down. "Thank you!" She heard Henry mutter thankfully.
Davina shook her head at the two of them, climbing to her feet as she eyed them both carefully. "Okay ground rules!" She declared, looking at them in a way that told them she was very serious. Both Henry and Penny exchanged a glance, before gathering to their feet and moving to stand in front of her. "Thank you. Now-" Davina began to list each thing off on her fingers. "There will be no stealing-"
"Aw!" Penny let out a sad cry.
"-there will be no cleaning when everyone has gone to bed-"
A sulky expression began to form on Henry's face.
"-there will be no singing and no doing stupid things that make me look dumb or get me in trouble, okay?" Davina finished off, a firm note to her voice that left no room for argument.
Henry and Penny both reluctantly nodded in agreement, each of them taking their turn to shake Davina's hand to cement the deal. However mere seconds later the three of them began to hear footsteps climbing up the stairs, prompting a series of gasps from the bear and doll before they slumped lifelessly to the ground. Davina rolled her eyes at the dramatics, a slight bit of irritation flooding her. She would never let anything bad happen to them. Why couldn't they do this one thing for her? Then everyone would see that she wasn't crazy.
Tony popped his head through the door, a look on his face that seemed as though he was trying not to laugh. "Were you singing?"
Davina's eyes went wide in alarm. Had he- "NO!" She shook her head vehemently, but her Dad didn't seem all that convinced. Tony merely laughed in response, shaking his head at her frantic denial.
"Anyway, I came to ask. Do you like pizza?" He asked, pointing a finger at her.
Davina nodded. "I love pizza!"
"Good cause that's what we're having for dinner." He replied.
"What about toppings?" Davina quizzed.
"Oh I ordered everything." Tony shrugged, dropping the little nugget so casually Davina had to take a second to register what he was saying.
"Everything, everything?"
"Everything, everything."Tony confirmed, his grin faltering however as his eyes landed on a familiar sight behind her. "You brought the creepy doll with you." He noted, making Davina sigh.
"I didn't bring her with me, she hid in my suitcase." Davina tried to explain. "She's been begging me to let her come here for years and years."
"Uh huh." Tony raised a brow, wearing a look on his features that Davina knew all too well whenever she tried to talk about her friends to other people. It was the 'I don't believe a word you're saying, but I'm humoring you to not be rude' look, which drove her insane. There was no point in trying to get through to him, it was like talking to a series of brick walls where the topic of her friends was concerned.
"Okay well don't take this the wrong way, but please don't bring her downstairs." Tony pleaded, making Davina giggle. "She looks like she's preparing to stab me while my back is turned."
"You got it." Davina agreed, grinning at the genuine look of fear on his face as he bid her goodbye and headed back downstairs.