The next day Steve went and knocked on Skye's bedroom door.

"Come in," Skye said.

Steve went in with a look on his face that he had something to tell her.

"What's wrong?" Skye asked sitting up.

Steve sat on the end of her bed. "I want you to know. What I have to tell you. Does not make you a bad person. You didn't do anything wrong. You are not in trouble."

"Okay," Skye said slowly.

"The room you were brought to in the Hydra base had a camera. The camera must have been connected to another location because the footage has been released online. Not by a reputable news organization but regardless it is out there. Meaning people who know you. Now know," Steve said.

"Damn it. Glad I told Tucker before this happened," Skye said.

"Skye. The Dean was sent the footage by some concerned parents," Steve said

Skye's eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm out of the school?"

"He said he did not realize how powerful you were. And the things you could do. And is concerned about the safety of the students in that school. He says the students who go there are more vulnerable and he has to do what's best for the larger group. He said he knows you're a good kid. And he hates that he has to do this but it's what he has to do," Steve said

Skye nodded as a few tears fell. "I understand," she said her voice cracking.

"I have spoken to Lily and Ivy's mom and dad. They have no issues with you remaining friends. And will help make sure you three can still spend time together. They know you wouldn't hurt them. I spoke to Anna's host family. They have no issue, they have to discuss it with her parents but they will make sure that her parents know you are a good kid too," Steve said.

"Do Ivy, Lila or Anna know what happened?" Skye asked.

"Ivy and Lily yes. But they were told not to call you right now. I asked their parents to make sure they didn't before you and I could talk. Not sure about Anna," Steve said.

Skye nodded

"You are allowed to be angry about this. I'm angry. I know this isn't fair. I know you have proven time and again that you can control yourself," Steve said.

Skye broke down sobbing and Steve wrapped her in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry Peanut."

Skye sobbed into him. She had done everything right. She had been working so hard to maintain the GPA the school required. She had stayed out of trouble and controlled herself at times when it hurt her to do so. This wasn't fair. She continued to sob and she didn't care anymore to control anything and the temperature in her room dropped.

Steve just wrapped her in a tighter hug. "It's going to be okay."

Skye sobbed herself to sleep and once she was asleep Steve laid her down on her bed and covered her up before he left the room. He went down to the gym and started to punch at a speed bag. He was angry. It had been a long time since he had been this angry. He had worked so hard to help his daughter get to be a regular teenager and he knew how hard she had been working to be a regular teenager through everything she had been through she had remained a good kind person and she had just had to make the hardest decision of her life and that decision was now blowing up her life and she hadn't done anything wrong.

Sam came into the room and saw him, "Hey Steve you good?"

Steve shook his head while he kept punching.

Sam texted Bucky knowing if Steve would talk to anyone it would be him.

Bucky was in the gym ten minutes later and Sam left.

"Stevie, what's going on?" Bucky asked

Steve stopped punching and took a breath. "Someone in Hydra had video footage of Skye blowing the base up. They released it online and the Dean of her school found out and kicked her out."

Bucky let out a breath.

"She sobbed herself to sleep when I told her," Steve said. "I hate I can't fix this for her."

"I'm sorry, "Bucky said.

Steve nodded before he went back to punching the speed bag.

Bucky sat on a bench in the room and watched him. He figured the most he could do was be there for him if he needed him.

Steve punched for a while before Bucky started to see him losing momentum.

"Stevie. You need to take a break," Bucky said.

Steve shook his head and continued.

"Steve," Bucky said with a little more force in his voice.

"You do not want me to stop right now," Steve said.

"Why? Because you will break down?" Bucky asked. "It's just me here. Someone who has seen you break down before."

Steve kept punching.

"Steven Grant. Stop or I will make you," Bucky said. He knew when nothing else worked pulling out his full first and middle names would work.

Steve let out a breath and stopped.

"Come and sit," Bucky said.

Steve went and sat down next to his fiancé who took his hand.

"Skye is being punished when she didn't do anything wrong. It's not fair," Steve said.

"You're right. It's not fair," Bucky said.

"And I can't fix it," Steve said his voice cracking. It was very rare for the man to break down. Rare for him to cry at all.

"Stevie. Not everything in life can be fixed," Bucky said.

"I know that Buck," Steve snapped.

Bucky just squeezed his hand.

"But it's just one thing after another that I can't fix for her," Steve said.

"I know," Bucky said. "I want to fix everything for her too."

Steve nodded.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Sorry I snapped at you," Steve said.

"It's forgiven," Bucky said. "Are you feeling better?"

"Nope, but I'll be fine," Steve said going to get up but Bucky held his hand and kept him sitting.

"Buck, I need my hand," Steve said with a smile.

"You're staying here until you're feeling a least a little better," Bucky said.

Steve chuckled.

"Good got a laugh," Bucky said with a smirk.

Steve smiled softly and looked at him.

Bucky kissed him softly.

Steve kissed him back. "That doesn't not help."

Bucky smirked and kissed him again.

"Okay, if we are continuing this let's not have it been in a room with cameras," Steve said.

Bucky laughed and the two got up and went upstairs.

A few days later Skye was at her school for the last time. She had convinced her dad to let her be the one to go drop off the textbooks she still had that belonged to the school. She wanted to look the Dean in the face and show him that she wasn't the person he was seeing her as. Steve and the rest of the Avengers had been called away for some urgent thing anyway so Pepper drove Skye who went into the school and to the Dean's office. As she was about to enter she saw someone out of the corner of her eye and her jaw dropped. She saw the smirk on the face of the girl and took a breath before going into the Dean's office and dropping the books on his desk.

"So, it had nothing to do with my 'powerfulness'," Skye said. "It was all about the money that Carly's father paid you to get her back into the school. Right?"

"Miss Rogers, you are not supposed to be here," Mr. Fields said.

"I was told I could come and drop off my textbooks and the access passes that I and my family had," Skye said

"Okay. Thank you. Now you can go," Mr. Fields said.

"No. You will admit it. Admit this isn't about me but about the fact that you knew Carly and I couldn't be in the same school and her daddy paid the big bucks to get her back in," Skye said.

"Miss Rogers," Mr. Fields said with more volume in his voice.

Skye crossed her arms, "what are you going to do? Kick me out? I'm not scared of that anymore."

Mr. Fields pressed a button on his phone "Send in security please."

"Just admit it and I'll go," Skye said.

"You brought down a multi-level building. I am concerned about the safety of the students at this school," Mr. Fields said.

"I'm the one who got hurt in this school. Multiple times. I didn't do the hurting," Skye said.

"Yes and when that happened. I suspended those students," Mr. Fields said.

"So because I took down a building that was being run by people who would destroy all of New York if I didn't, I have to be kicked out of the school? That didn't even happen at school. And what about the fact that Carly has committed crimes," Skye said.

"So did you Miss Rogers," Mr. Fields said.

"Not while I attended this school. And my crimes didn't almost kill the daughter of a police officer and several other teens. The only person my crimes hurt was myself," Skye said.

Security came in.

"Wait, just answer the fucking question. Did Carly coming back here really have nothing to do with me getting kicked out?" Skye asked.

Mr. Fields let out a breath.

"Fuck you," Skye said before she left the office and got into Pepper's car and did up her seatbelt.

Pepper looked at her and saw the tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong?"

Skye shook her head.

"You're not hurt?" Pepper asked.

Skye shook her head again and wiped the tears away.

Pepper started the drive home. When they got home Skye went to her room, changed into a running outfit, and grabbed her earbuds before going to go for a run. She decided to run through a running path near the compound that took her through the woods. She was so into her music that she almost tripped over a dog in the middle of the path.

She took her earbuds out and put them in her pocket before bending down to the dog that she now heard whining.

"Oh hi, doggy. What are you doing out here alone?" She said before she looked around to see if she could see or hear anyone else. She heard some people laughing but it was far enough away that she figured they didn't know anything about this."

Skye let the dog sniff her before she started to gently pet it. "Are you hurt?"

The dog whined again in response.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Skye said. "Can I pick you up?"

The dog nuzzled her a little. Skye picked the dog up in both arms. It was a golden retriever so it was a large dog. Skye walked out of the forest and back to the compound.

When she brought it upstairs Pepper was sitting in the living room.

"I found him on my run. He is hurt," Skye said panicked before Pepper could open her mouth.

"Okay," Pepper said getting up. "Let's get him to a vet."

The two left and Skye sat in the back of the car with the dog petting him the whole time.

When they got to the vet and went inside Skye explained to the receptionist about the dog and Skye, Pepper, and the dog were brought to a room in the back.

"The Veterinarian will be in shortly," the receptionist said.

Skye set the dog down on the table in the room and a couple of minutes later the veterinarian came in.

"What do we have here?" The veterinarian asked.

"I was on a run and I found this dog in the middle of the path," Skye said telling him exactly where she was running. "He is hurt."

The veterinarian started to look him over and got growled and snapped at when he found the thorns in his butt.

"Oh, well that explains that," The veterinarian said petting the dog on the head. He grabbed a few treats from a container on the counter and set them down in front of the dog who ate them quickly. "So he must have gone through some rose bushes," the veterinarian said looking up at the adult in the room and tilting his head. "Virginia Potts?"

Pepper looked at him and tilted her head looking at the name stitched into his coat. "Kenneth Matthews? When did you move to New York?"

"Fifteen years ago," Kenneth said. "You?"

"For college," Pepper said.

"Is this young lady your daughter?" Kenneth asked smiling at Skye.

"My Niece, this is Skye. My husband and I do have a daughter she is seven, and a kid on the way. Clearly," Pepper said indicating to her belly.

"Well congratulations," He said.

"Are you married?" she asked looking at his left hand to see if there was a ring.

"I am. I don't wear my ring while working," he said noticing where she was looking, "We have four kids."

"You and your wife are brave," Pepper said with a chuckle.

Kenneth chuckled, "We wanted two. The second pregnancy surprised us with triplets."

"Oh my. Your poor wife," Pepper said

Kenneth smiled, "we couldn't imagine our lives any different at this point."

"That sounds about right," Pepper said.

Skye had been watching the two interact and had so many questions.

"So, for this guy, we are going to have to get the thorns out and he is not doing to like it," Kenneth said looking back at the dog.

Skye pet the dog, "I'm sorry buddy."

"He seems to really like you," Kenneth said as the dog nuzzled her.

Skye smiled. "So. How do you two know each other?"

"We grew up next door to each other," Pepper said.

"Until my family moved us when I was fourteen," Kenneth said.

Skye smiled, "that's cool."

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to be asking your dad if you can keep him?" Pepper asked.

Skye giggled, "Cause I am."

"Well let's get him fixed up and make sure he doesn't have a family missing him first," Kenneth said as he grabbed a pair of tweezers from a drawer in the room and called in someone else to help him out.

Pepper stepped out of the way gently moving the teenager with her. "Let them do their job."

The Vet student working in the office took hold of the dog in a way to keep him from being able to bite at Kenneth and Kenneth removed the dozen thorns from his butt.

The dog barked and squirmed and snapped at the two trying to stop them from causing him pain. When they were done the veterinarian cleaned the area and bandaged it up before giving the dog some more treats.

"All done," Kenneth said scratching the dog's head.

As soon as it was okay to do so Skye went over to the dog and pet him again.

The Vet student went out and grabbed a chip checker and brought it back in at Kenneth's request. They checked it and didn't find a chip.

"Well no chip, we will put out a notice to the community and see if anyone comes forward," Kenneth said.

"What happens with him while that happens?" Skye asked.

"Well, I am connected with an animal foster group they can take him until we know and if he doesn't have a home can help find a forever home," Kenneth said.

Skye looked up at Pepper with pleading eyes.

Pepper let out a breath.

"Please," Skye said.

"How long do you give people to come forward?" Pepper asked

"A month," Kenneth said.

"Please, please, please," Skye begged.

"If I say yes and an owner is found it's going to hurt a lot more for you to let him go," Pepper said. "And there are a lot of other people that live with us that might not love the idea of a dog."

"But," Skye said.

"Let's let the dog go to the foster family. And if it turns out he has no owners you can try and convince everyone else that we should have a dog around and if they agree we can figure it out then. I will keep in contact with Dr. Matthews until we know," Pepper said.

Skye sighed a little but nodded.

Skye pet the dog a little more, "I'm sorry."

The dog licked her across the face.

Skye chuckled.

After Pepper was given a couple of phone numbers she looked at the time. "We have to get going, Skye. I need to pick up Morgan." Tony and Pepper had finally agreed to her being placed in a private school when Morgan begged to not be home school anymore.

Skye nodded and pet the dog one more time before she left with Pepper.

"What happened this morning at your school?" Pepper asked as they drove.

Skye let out a breath. "I was about to walk into the principal's office and out of the corner of my eye I saw Carly. She had this smirk on her face. It sunk in that maybe I wasn't out of the school for the reason my dad was given. I went into the office and asked Mr. Fields point blank if the reason had to do with Carly and after a lot of back and forth he didn't deny it. Yes, I was rude and disrespectful about it but I'm not sorry in the slightest."

Pepper shook her head.

"My guess is Carly's father paid a lot of money to the school and either asked the Dean to have me kicked out or the Dean decided he didn't want to have to deal with our issues this year and kicked me out on his own," Skye said.

"I find it hard to believe her father would ask you to be removed after you did him the favor of calling Tucker to pass the message. And the fact that Tucker did donate the blood to save Carly. His family knows how important you are to him," Pepper said.

"Yeah. Well maybe you're right and it was all on the Dean. But it was clear to me by the smirk that Carly knew and was okay with it," Skye said.

"That is possible too," Pepper said.

Pepper pulled up to the school and got into the pickup line.

"You have any excitement about doing school online?" Pepper asked.

"Nope," Skye said. "I have to get set up on the website. I was supposed to do it today but well things got in the way."

"You can do it when we get home," Pepper said.

Skye sighed.

"If you want any chance of your dad letting you keep that dog you probably should do what he asked," Pepper said.

"Point made," Skye said.

Soon Morgan came out and got into the car and they started home Morgan talked about her day as they drove home.