Chapter 7
Iris's P.O.V
I am so toasty right now.
I don't even have to open my eyes to know I am currently in the middle of a giant pack puppy pile, I know for a fact Bucky's got me hold because of the arm and I know I have Natasha behind me because well...boobs. The two are talking softly to each other and ignoring the loud snoring that's going on around them - I could lay here forever honestly.
I want to just lay here forever.
But I know I can't avoid this conversation for ever. No matter how much I want to not talk about it. With a sigh I crack an eye open to see the two Alpha's looking at me quietly, Nat's hand close to my face - clearly about to move the hair from my face. "...Morning." I offer, giving an awkward smile. Natasha sends one back though it's clearly as forced as mine, I watch her hip move quickly and hear Clint yelp, hear a smack onto the floor and curses from Tony. A groan of 'Language' from Steve and a groan from Sam. "Did you have to rile them all up?" I ask, squirming out from under Bucky's grip I spot Bruce in the door way with a cup of coffee, he simply nods at me as he walks in and passes it to Tony.
"Yes, because if she didn't wake them I can almost guarantee you'd attempt to put off this talk till later tonight." Bruce mutters, running a hand over Clint's head - checking for bumps before casually sitting at the end of the bed. Natasha's already sitting up and Bucky's moving behind me. Apparently a reminder of this upcoming conversation has woken everyone up - even Tony looks wide awake. I groan a little and lean into Natasha, not wanting to look at them. "You don't have to tell us everything Iris, just....we need to know what's going on with you and your family. We need to know why you're stressing. Any information is good information." Bruce told me, squeezing my foot. Steve's looking over from his spot where Clint's happily cuddled into his side now, looking intrigued and I put my head back, close my eyes and sigh before popping it forward.
"Fine, yeah. Okay." I say, rolling my shoulders - I hate talking about my feelings. Makes me feel like I'm getting too much attention. Licking my lips I take another deep breath and start. "So, I'll answer any question you give but I'll tell you if I'm not ready to answer it alright?" I offer, receiving a nod from all the Alpha's I point to Natasha first. "You look ready to go combing through my brain so why don't you go first?" I offer and she rolls her eyes, clearly not enjoying my want to speed through this.
"Does this have anything to do with your family? Are your parents causing these...these stress episodes?" She asks, clearly trying to word her question correctly. I quirk my lips in a gentle smile at her and shake my head.
"Nah, They caused stress when they were in my life but they've not been around to do so in...well shit, its been a while." I say trying to do the math in my head. "Dad's been gone since I was like twelve and Ma...well that was sixteen." I say simply and shrug. "But no, they aren't causing my stress. That lovely reward goes to my gran." I say simply, ending it there. I can see the whole pack are debating on what to ask next - 'what did you gran do' or 'why aren't they in your life any more?', I look to Bucky whose grip was rather lax for now and prod his cheek. "Your turn." I tell him and flush a little as he nips my finger as a warning not to prod him.
"Your gran....what's going on there?" He asks seriously and I chuckle a little - it was more self-deprecating then anything but hey, let me wallow a bit okay?
"What hasn't she done Bucky." I mutter, and I hear Tony mutter 'double speak' - I stick my tongue out at him and sigh. "You want like, a list of things she's done in the past or just 'what has she done recently' kinda deal?" I ask, watching as Bucky works his jaw a little he sighs.
"All together. What has she been doing?" He asks seriously and I sigh rolling my shoulders.
"Alright, cool. So-" I hold my hands up and shake them like jazz hands "That's like a whole ass backstory. But to understand it all the basics are - Dad was an abusive bastard and ran out on us when I was twelve. Ma was an abusive bitch who got arrested when I was sixteen cause she beat up my little brother. We get sent over to the USA because gran's the next of kin, yay." I shake my hands again. "She's fine, Alpha and all that. Kinda strict around the house, shat on me for not presenting - told me I was broken as hell cause wow abuse-" I roll my eyes. "Nineteen year old me presents - gran locks me in my room the whole time not letting me out and leaving me with nothing but my fingers for that so that was lovely." I roll my eyes, not really noticing the looks the team where giving each other. "I come out of it and on that same day she's already trying to sell me off to the next highest bidder. Yeah that didn't fly. I move out and find out she's got me on a bunch of those dating sites? like 'Omega Match' or 'Hookies' cause she wants me mated off asap because lord knows why. Then! then I find out that my little brother and sister are close to presenting and I'm fucking terrified if one of them presents as Omega she's gonna sell em off or if they present Alpha she'll make them do something they hate and don't even get me started on my worry for Lilly and-and-Fuck me man, I don't know. My gran's just-my whole family bar those three are so-" I grip for the word and I guess I started ranting as I look up to see the team looking beyond pissed.
"Your grandmother provided you with nothing for your first heat?" Bruce asks, his voice is cold. "Does she not realise the health risks that come from not realising on your first heat-" He snaps and pauses, taking a breath. "Fill me in on the rest later. I need to-" He turns and storms out of the room, Sam not to far behind. I watch quietly as they leave
"Sorry, I guess I went a little too into detail-" I start to say but get cut off by Steve.
"You didn't. You're barely scratching the surface and it's upsetting already. I'd hate to live through that." He mutters, Bucky's got his nose firmly pressed into my neck, scenting me as much as possible. "...You've got siblings?" Steve questions, clearly trying to calm everyone down. "Can you tell us about them?" He asks softly, moving over so that we're all basically cuddling right now. I roll my eyes and shoulder Natasha a little.
"Can I gloat about my siblings? Of freaking course I can. I wouldn't be a big sister if I didn't." I joke, grinning as she smiles sadly at me.
See? This is why I don't talk feelings or family.
Clearing my throat a little I straighten up and nod my head to some invisible being in front of me because I'm getting too awkward for this. "Ok! so-" clapping my hands and popping them in my lap I lean back against Steve who's slipped between Bucky and Natasha. "So, the twins Charlie and Rosie, they're fifteen now and absolutely amazing. I'm pretty sure Rosie's gonna be one terrifying Lawyer or CEO or something man. She could railroad someone into doing as she wants within minutes of talking to them- And Charlie, that little bastard-" I say with absolute love- "Boy's more stubborn then Tony or Natasha when they want something. Won't drop something till he gets all the answers, shits good at sports and is an artistic little monster." I grin a little and relax more. "And Lilly, oh my god. Lilly pad, Lil Lilly. She's eleven now and just...you couldn't meet a sweeter girl. She gets so excited over the smallest of things and I'm pretty sure she's going to do something with animals when she's older. Maybe be a vey or something. They're just so.....them" I say smiling and I know its fucking gooey because I'm being all gooey about my siblings. "I don't tell them that though. Cause if they knew I gushed about them I'd never live it down. Older sibling code and all that" I chuckle awkwardly and Clint actually laughs a bit, his own smile on his face. "I still talk to them, we got a group chat and all that but...I've not seen them since I moved out which fucking kills me-" I pause realising I've broken Steve's cussing rule a lot. "Sorry" I offer him and he waves it off.
"I'll allow it, it's a stressful situation." He says easily, running a hand through my hair briefly. He's clearly about to ask something else when Tony pipes up.
"So...your dad and mom aren't in the picture any more. You said your mom got arrested and your dad ran out. Can I ask why?" He asks, he's messing with his phone and I roll my eyes a little.
"Sure, but stop trying to look em up. We all have my grans last name." I tell him, laughing a little as he pouts a bit. "My ma and dad's names were Greg and Sarah Wood - I know, 'wow your ma went from Erwood to Wood. Big change' Laugh it up." I joke a bit but they don't laugh. They're waiting for me to talk.
Freaking love talking.
"So. Ma got pregnant with me right? One night stand gone nuts, and two years later she marries the guy she made the mistake with, dudes abusive as hell. Hitting and shit like that....did a lot of not so great stuff to us you know? But for the first three years of the marriage she'd argue with him - 'she's a toddler you can't hit her' or 'stop it Greg!' stuff like that, she'd try. But the twins came and she just stopped, didn't care no more. Just didn't give a flying fuck about us." I snap out a little and pause, god. I hated talking about them. "He got worse. Kept hitting us and doing other....unsavoury things. Then he starts getting secretive about the basement then a storage unit. Won't let people go near it- by this point Lilly's around too. I was twelve when someone realised my constant injuries probably weren't from weekly rugby or foot-ball matches and well...surprise surprise turns out cps and the police had an investigation under way. He found out and ran off....he'd been caught for..." I bite my lip and take a deep breath.
I hate talking about this.
"Dude was trafficking people. Aint heard about him since he ran off, don't know if they caught him." I explain, rubbing my neck - Clint opens his mouth to interrupt me but I steam through it. "Ma got worse after that. Lilly was like three and the twins were barely seven at the time so I ended up looking after them. Cps where still hanging around and all and I had no clue. So for a year I made sure they were doing great, looked after - even potty trained the little sog monster whilst I was at it. They said she did a great job and stopped checking after a year." I shoot them an uneasy smile. "Then I get home at sixteen to Charlie beaten black and blue on the front step of the house, lads bleeding and got a broken arm so that was the straw. Grabbed the kids, called CPS and got Charlie to hospital. Ma had been at a pub since she beat the shit out of him and well...yeah. She got arrested for abuse, we got sent to gran and thats that." I say easily, looking at them all. "That's the short version of it," I tell them and I feel Steve pulling me closer to him.
"I...I think the only thing I have left to ask is....what set this stress out off?" He asks finally and I sigh. Rubbing my neck a little and leaning into the scenting Steve was doing, I take another deep breath.
"This is the last question for now ok?" I offer, the pack look unsure. "Last question about my past" I clarify and Nat grumbles a little, I roll my eyes. "Yeah yeah I'm horrible." I say with an eye roll. "The stress out is being caused for a few reasons but the main one is my gran all but demanding I hurry up and settle down with a pack already, my ma gets out of jail in a year and she could get the kids back and....the twins presenting. It got too much earlier" I say quietly. The room falls silent for a moment and I can feel Nat's hand scratching through my hair in an attempt to calm me, Steve sighs above me.
"Iris," He starts and I tilt my head to look at him. "We want you to move in - hear me out before you argue.." He tells me and I sigh, nodding my head. Letting him talk. "We're already bonded Iris, you went through a heat because you were away from us for too long. On top of that we want to be able to help you when you're stressed like before- we want to be able to help you instantly not twenty minutes after you called us. And-" He stops for a moment and takes a breath. "And selfishly, I want you around because I miss having you here. We've known you for almost a month and it's probably really fast but not having you here makes us all feel empty all hell" He says and I snort as I hear Tony mutter language. "Please....just...move in." He begs me, I fall silent. The whole room is silent as I think about my options. I'm safe here and it's so soon after meeting them but I've never felt so safe-
"Yes-" I squeak out, the pack are stunned into silence and so am I. I didn't expect to....To just jump in like that.
Clint breaks the silence.
"Yessssssss" He says fist pumping the air and tackling me, knocking me into Natasha's side. I laugh a little and push at him as he hugs me. "We get our omega in our home! Best reality!" He calls out and Steve chuckles, pushing him back. The pack break into chaos as everyone moves and jokes around for a while - taking jabs at each other or just joining in.
We stay in the pack room joking like that for a while.
I've never felt so relaxed and cared for in my life and honestly?
I hope moving in lets me keep this feeling forever.