WHO Cassie Holmes, Bruce Banner & Natasha Romanoff WHAT Cassie's first morning in a new place WHEN Friday, Dec 9 WHERE Bruce & Nat's place WARNINGS Talk of underage drinking STATUS Closed | GDoc in Progress (continuing in comments)
Cassie woke up feeling a little disoriented. The last thing she remembered was drinking the last of her rum and meandering on over to the Casino to complain to Phil about how much everything sucked. Somehow, instead of waking up in his office the way she'd thought, she found herself in a comfortable bed that was clearly a bedroom. Suit got points for this one. And she could probably admit that maybe drinking all the time was probably terrible. The hangovers sucked.
She groaned and rolled over, diving back under the covers because that was so much better than facing the sun that was coming through the blinds. Cassie realized the door was open a crack when the smell of bacon wafted through and then she had to pee, so she knew going back to sleep was a lost cause. At least Suit had been kind enough to leave her a pair of sweats and an oversized shirt. She changed into those and padded downstairs to the kitchen, fully believing she was in Phil's place.
"Coffee. Need coffee. Hangovers suck, Phil." Cassie made a beeline for the table and put her head in her arms instead of actually paying attention to her surroundings.
***
Bruce was at the stove when Cassie wandered in and put her head down. It was a bit of a surprise last night when Phil dropped off the drunk teenager, but he and Nat were willing to help with getting the kid back on the right track. He knew that she was in a bad place and he hoped that some tough love would make things better.
“Hangovers do suck,” he agreed, his tone mild. “No more alcohol for you. There’s coffee in the pot on the counter. Mugs are in the cabinet to the right. Bacon, eggs, and toast will be ready in five minutes and you’ll load the dishwasher when we’re done eating.”
The kid needed structure to her day and he intended to give her chores and make sure that she was keeping up with her homeschooling while she stayed with them.
***
Tough but fair was pretty much the perfect way to describe Nat and Bruce’s style of parenting. It had worked for them and the charge they’d had before and Nat had a feeling Cassie would accept it, after a little bit of pushing back of course.
She was stood in the corner of the kitchen, out of the way of Bruce, having just made the coffee and poured them both a cup. She had to admit the state of the girl was rather amusing, it had been a long time since Natasha had felt like that thanks to alcohol.
She let Bruce take the lead for now, her part would come later. Apparently the girl had expressed an interest in learning self defence and it may just be the outlet for her anger than she needed and that was where Natasha came in. After all who better to teach her to kick ass and release some tension while doing so.
***
That wasn't Suit. Cassie lifted her head up slowly and turned to look at the voice. It took her longer than it should have to put a name to the face, burn she definitely recognized him, so that was less of a cause for concern. Her gaze shifted over to the redhead and then back to the brunet, trying to discern if he was really serious about the part where she had to get her own coffee and loading the dishwasher after breakfast. It took a few minutes, but it sunk in and Cassie rolled her eyes.
"Meanie," she muttered under her breath as she moved toward the cabinet to get herself a mug. She gave the redhead a wide berth, wary because she didn't know her. Cassie had a feeling this was going to be very different from what she'd dealt with at the past couple of places she'd crashed. There was a part of her that wanted to just bail right away, but Phil had already dealt with a bunch of shit from her and she was honestly just tired. Plus, she missed Nick and she hated that she missed him, which just made her more crabby since she was trying not to miss him.
"I'll pass on washing the dishes," Cassie said, this time definitely loud enough for the both of them to hear. "That's why you use paper plates." She helped herself to cream from the fridge, pouring a generous helping in her mug so that it was about half coffee, half cream, and then went through a couple drawers to find a spoon so she could add a few spoonfuls of sugar.
"Smells good though." She could be nice. Sometimes. She took a seat back at the table, figuring that was all she had to do.
***
“As long as you’re staying here, you’ll have chores,” Bruce said. “That includes loading the dishwasher. You’ll also be getting on a regular schedule with your schoolwork.” He knew that she had been couch surfing for a while and suspected she was behind with her homeschool lessons. If she was going to stay with him and Natasha, that was going to change.
He knew that taking a hard line with her could potentially backfire and she might leave, but he also knew thanks to a conversation with Steve that teenagers sometimes needed the tough love approach.
***
“You want to use paper plates go find a kids party” Natasha said her tone even, she wasn’t telling Cassie off simply stating the facts. “Like Bruce says while you’re here you’ll do chores. And if you want to eat what smells good you’ll use a plate and put it in the dishwasher when you’re done. It’s not that hard”
She picked up her and Bruce’s coffee cups and topped them up before taking them to the table, “Oh and we’ll work out when to teach you how to kick ass too. If you’re still interested” she added as she set down the cups. Keeping an eye on Bruce so she could bring the food to the table when he was finished cooking.
***
Cassie was very behind on her schoolwork, but she did actually like most of it. She just didn't see the point anymore since she didn't care if Nick got in trouble over it and no one was really hounding her to do it. Dr Foster had been bugging her about when they were going to look at the stars as a nighttime lesson, but Cassie kept blowing her off. Without anyone to hold her accountable, she just let it slide and that was okay. Phil asked, but she just glossed over it and insisted everything was fine. She had a feeling that wasn't going to work with Bruce.
"Good luck figuring that mess out," Cassie told him as she nursed her coffee. "I don't even have my stuff." That was all at Nick's, and she wasn't welcome there - in her mind - anymore. She glanced at the redhead - Natasha her brain supplied - and shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. Egg McMuffins are the best." She was lying through her teeth because she hated those things, and she really wanted some of that bacon, but she hadn't had to do chores a day in her life.
What caught her interest was the ass kicking lessons. "Even against people with powers?" Because while she wasn't afraid of Nick physically hurting her, it would be nice to know that she could be on more even footing. Faith was teaching her some here and there, but it wasn't anything formal and half the time Cassie bailed because she'd rather get drunk. Her interest in ass kicking came in waves, along with her feelings of anger.
***
Well, she hadn’t run screaming yet. Bruce was taking that as a good sign. “Don’t worry. I can get everything we need. Lessons will start bright and early tomorrow.” He’d give her today without classwork to shake the hangover and get used to the new rules.
It was also encouraging that she seemed interested in Natasha’s self defense lessons. Bruce started filling plates for all three of them so she could talk about that.
***
Natasha would leave the schooling to Bruce, only getting involved when or if Bruce needed her to. She could perhaps be of use in computer lessons but then Bruce knew his way around a computer almost as well as she did and hacking probably wasn’t the best lesson to teach the girl.
“Well I’m part of a team of people with powers and unique abilities and I hold my own” Natasha told her, “I haven’t met anybody that I can’t teach yet”
***
"How early is bright and early?" Cassie wasn't a morning person by any means, except for when she woke up hungover. Something told her being hungover wasn't going to be an option with this particular family. That could either be really good or really shitty, but she was tired of being angry and unhappy all the time. Maybe it was a little defeatist, but she figured she owed it to Phil and Faith, and maybe even Nick, to get her shit together.
"Well, you haven't really met me yet," she tossed to Natasha, definitely very self-deprecating because she really was down on herself quite a bit. She felt like she couldn't do anything right and that she wasn't even worth all the effort that Phil and Faith put into keeping her from self-destructing. She didn't care all that much about Bruce or Natasha, but Cassie didn't want to waste their time. "Here's hoping I don't screw up your perfect record."