*discontinued* we're family. [& no you're not alone] (penny parker)

"Oh kid, by the way, I'm taking you shopping for school stuff later, so go ahead and get ready once you're done eating," Tony said, and Penny scrunched up her nose.

"School? Already?" She asked through a bite of cereal. As much as Penny didn't want summer to end, she was still grounded (much to her protest), so it'd be a nice excuse to get out of the compound. Really, though, the Avengers Compound had just about everything to do that you could possibly want, so she wasn't suffering too much. The biggest loss for Penny had been not having her suit, and she realized just how much she relied on Spider-Girl to stop overthinking and worrying so much. 

Tony nodded, "Yeah, it's August 30th, you have school on Monday."

Penny pouted, "So I'm gonna be grounded for the first week of school?"

"It's only the first three days, I think you can deal with it."

"I think I'll die!" She said, theatrically dropping her shoulders and sighing.

"Yeah, yeah, I think you'll survive. Be ready to leave in twenty, I have a meeting this afternoon that Pepper's forcing me to go to."

"Whatever, Mr. Stark, I think you'll survive." She said with a grin.

He rolled his eyes, "Go get ready, you little shit."

She laughed and went to her room, yelling, "Language, Mr. Stark! What would the Captain say?" behind her.

------------

"So, what all do you need?" Tony asked.

"Umm...well I really just need a new backpack. Maybe some notebooks, pens, that kind of stuff?" 

He nodded, "Okay, I'll go get a cart, you stay here and start finding things you like." 

As Tony left the aisle, Penny started to sift through the various backpacks hanging on the wall. 

Honestly, I'll probably end up losing it eventually, so it doesn't really matter which one I get, she thought to herself. She was notorious for losing backpacks, mostly due to when she was Spider-Girl-ing. Just as she went to pull a light blue one off the wall to look at it, she felt an intense, sharp tingle through her entire body. Even during missions, it was rare for her spidey sense to go off this hard.

She rapidly spun around but saw no-one standing before her. 

"Jesus," she muttered under her breath, trying to shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. 

Little did she know.

"Well if it isn't little miss Penny Parker," a familiar voice hissed from her left. 

Penny stopped.

Slowly, she turned to face the voice. Looking up, she saw a face that she had hoped and prayed to never see again. The face that took her innocence and purity and crumpled them up in a ball. The face. His face. Him.

"Skip?" She choked out, sounding much weaker than she intended.

"What, were you really not expecting this? Hm, you're stupider than I remembered. Do you not remember what I promised you all those years ago?" He asked with a sneer.

"I'll think of you every day, you little bitch. And when I get out, you're gonna wish you never snitched."

She couldn't breathe. Or think. Or speak. Run, a voice inside her said, run and find Tony.

He must have sensed what she was about to do because she quickly felt a tight grip on her wrist. Normally, Penny could easily get out of something like this. Today, though, today was different. She could feel something stopping her, the same thing that stopped her back when she was a fourth grader.

Fear.

A fear that she hadn't known until her hands were pinned above her head, pushing her further and further into the rough carpet.

A fear that forced her to be wary around any man over the age of 35. (Except Mr. Stark, but even that took months.)

A fear that made her shake when someone got just a little too close.

Especially male teachers.

God, she hated male teachers.

Not that they were all necessarily bad, of course. But she was always afraid that she'd run into another Mr. Westcott. 

That another "afternoon tutoring session" would happen.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Four times.

She was nine, almost ten. Her favorite TV show was My Little Pony. She played in the dirt, loved orange juice, had just memorized her multiplication tables and was excited for fifth grade so that she could finally be a "big kid."

Mr. Westcott made her a big kid a little early.

Those were his words, too. 

"I have a game we can play, Penny. It's a special, secret game, though, okay?"

"'Kay, Mr. Westcott."

"It's just for big kids, can you be a big girl for me?"

"Sure, Mr. Westcott."

She was snapped out of her memory as his hand dug into the flesh of her wrist. "Still a brat, hmm? I guess I didn't teach you enough of a lesson back then, did I?"

Penny started to let out a gargled scream, but he slammed one of his hands onto her neck, choking her. "Oh, princess, you don't get to call for uncle Ben again. Oh wait, I think I remember a little birdy telling me that he's dead. And your aunt too? What a shame."

She could feel her vision blurring, and every ounce of her body was screaming at her to fight back. He was squeezing tighter, and tighter, lifting her off the ground, and-

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF OF MY DAUGHTER, NOW!" 

Skip dropped her to the ground, where she gasped for breath. She could feel herself shaking, and she passed out as soon as her head hit the cold tile floor.

---------

Penny awoke in her bedroom, the bright lights hurting her eyes. Tony and Pepper were sitting in a chair next to her, and Tony stood when he saw that she had opened her eyes, brushing her hair out of her face. She involuntarily flinched at his touch, causing him to pull back.

"Hey, kid. How you feeling?"

She sat up, "Fine, I guess. Where'd he go? Is he..?"

Pepper spoke up, "He was taken care of, sweetie. You're safe now, okay?"

"Did you get him arrested?"

Tony cleared his throat, "It was handled." He said nonchalantly.

"Handled?" Penny asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means it was handled, kid, don't worry about it. He's never gonna bother you again, 'kay?"

Penny nodded, "Thanks."

Pepper placed a gentle hand on top of Penny's, "We did some research and figured out how he knew you. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Penny."

Penny looked down at her hands, "It...it was a long time ago. I don't really like talking about it."

"Y'know, kid, it might help to talk to a professional. There's nothing wrong with therapy, hell, I go myself quite a bit."

"No, really, I don't need therapy. I'm fine, I'm...over it by now. I'm fine, I just really don't like thinking about it." She explained, not even really believing what she was saying.

Tony sighed, "Okay, kid, we'll let you sleep and get you when dinner's ready then, okay?"

She nodded, pulling her blankets up further. Once they left the room, Penny let out a shaky sob.

Obviously, I'm not okay. I haven't been okay for a long time, she thought.

There's one thing that makes me okay, though.

She tried to shake away the thought.

The pills and drinks and cuts, they never worked long term.

She knew that.

But maybe I'm not looking for long term. Maybe I just need to be okay for now, that's enough for me. 

Just this once.

It'll help...

won't it?