SLEEPWALKING

CHAPTER TWO: THE STARK ORIENTATION

AUDIE watched as her uncle walked away and proceeded to rush down the staircase leading into the garage, she held back a sigh, maybe if she texted her mother she'd let her come back, all she had to do was say Tony had gone berserk and that the conditions of his house were not suitable for her.

No, her mother would never believe her, at least not this soon into her arrival. She'd have to wait a few days and chose a spontaneous time of day to send the text for her to even begin to believe she was telling the truth.

As she stood in the middle of the room, Audie felt that she seemed out of place among everything else, like something dirty among clean things.

She felt exposed.

Pepper appeared moments later from what she could only assume was the kitchen, sliding her phone into her pocket as she approached the woman smiled at her carefully resting her hands behind her back.

"I'm sorry about him." she spoke her voice soft as she held Audie's gaze, the girl gave a small shake of her head, "I didn't really expect him to remember, or to visit Laura, or to go to Dad's funeral, but." she paused adjusting the strap of her backpack, "he's Iron Man." she mused softly waving her hands at her side, "I'm sure he has more important things than his sister and his nieces."

Pepper gave a soft nod looking towards the staircase before she met Audie's gaze once more, "he's not doing too well, so don't be too hard on him, please." as much as the teen wanted to shake her head and go on about how she was going to give him hell for the entirety of her stay, there was something in Peppers eyes that made her want to do the exact opposite.

Maybe it was the look of admiration and pure love she held towards Tony, or maybe it was her attachment to him, but she rethought her response for a moment before answering, "fine." she mumbled managing to push her sudden guilt off for a brief moment.

"He did try to visit, you know..." she began holding her hands in front of her as she twisted her fingers, "he had a demonstration to give at a military base." she let out a chuckle before looking up at Audie, "that's when he got the arc reactor, after he was kidnapped." the teens face softened at the statement and she found herself feeling more guilty than before.

She hadn't even thought of the possibility that he actually had things going on.

Things of that severity.

"Anyways." Pepper smiled clearing her face of the small cloud of despair that had been hopelessly hanging over her, "is there anywhere you'd like to go? Anything you need?"

Audie shrugged her shoulders, "well, it seems Happy's already on the bed situation, so not really." she paused before letting a small smile flick across her lips, "are there any electronics stores nearby?" she questioned.

Half an hour later, Audie and Pepper were seated in the woman's car as they drove down the highway and towards the city, "so what is it you're looking for?" she questioned glancing towards the girl before returning her gaze to traffic, Audie let out a content sigh, "I'm looking for a 600 one-step green polaroid camera." she explained quickly glancing over to Pepper.

"May I ask why?" the woman asked her gaze never leaving the road, the girl simply shrugged her shoulders, there wasn't much reasoning behind her wanting the camera, besides to take photos she could carry around with her. Taking photos on her phone just didn't feel the same, didn't hold the same sentimental value of a physical photo she could hold in her palm.

"I just like the camera, plus." she began a small smile dancing about her lips, "Tony said to get myself something for my birthday, so I guess this is it." Pepper gave a curt nod as her response and continued to drive down the road.

When the city did come into view Audie found herself holding back a smile, as much as she didn't want to be, she was excited to finally be able to get the camera, even if it was with her uncle's money.

They drove on for a few more minutes before Pepper pulled into a small and fairly empty parking lot that seemed to belong to a refurbished electronics store- in reality, it resembled that of a pawnshop- "do you want me to go in with you?" she asked after she set the car in park, Audie shrugged her shoulders, "you can come if you want." she replied pulling her phone out to check for a text from her mother once again.

Nothing.

She held back a sigh.

Pepper smiled at the response and leaned over the seat to grab her purse from the back of the car, within seconds she had the small accessory draped over her shoulder and she was stepping out of the car. Audie climbed out after her pulling her jacket tighter around her arms, not only did the small store make her the slightest bit uncomfortable, but it gave her a bad feeling.

As Pepper glanced over her shoulder, she took notice of Audie's hesitance and brightly smiled back at her, "come on, let's go find that camera." she urged her tone light and excited in hopes of calming the girl down, it seemed to work as Audie took a few steps forward before she set an even pace and followed the woman to the front door of the building.

Stopping in front of the door, the older of the two pulled it open and held it for the teen before quickly following her inside with a small smile. The two of them stopped just inside the doorway as they let their eyes run over the shelves all around them, it seemed the store had everything from computers to well... cameras.

And more than a few of them seemed as if they were ancient.

So how hard could it be to find a camera from the nineties?

Actually, it became apparent that it would be quite hard to find the exact camera Audie had been in search of, but nonetheless, she continued her desperate search for the device, she wouldn't stop until she was told she had to.

And despite what Audie had previously thought, Pepper had voluntarily joined in on the hunt, it seemed as if she was actually enjoying it too.

She was inspecting each individual shelf and turning over each camera for even the slightest of differences, Audie held back a smile as she continued to search, but as they came in towards an end of shelves the two girls found themselves with no camera along with an hour and a half of wasted time.

"AUDIE!" Pepper called her voice filled with enthusiasm as she stood from where she'd been crouched, "hmm?" she mumbled turning to try and locate the woman, just over the top of the shelves she could spot the top of the older females head, following it through the shelves she quickly found herself standing in front of the redhead.

"Is this it?" she questioned holding the device out to her. Taking it in her hands, Audie looked over it, it was a model or two ahead of what she'd originally been looking for, but it seemed that was all they had been able to find, so she'd have to make do.

Instead of telling Pepper the truth, the girl nodded her head and shot her a bright smile as she held the camera close to her chest, "I can't believe you actually found it." she spoke taking a moment to glance down at the semi-ancient device, it filled her with joy to know she finally had one.

"I'm happy I did, is that all you needed?" she questioned glancing past the girl towards the register, "actually..." she trailed off meeting Peppers gaze, "I need some overalls to work in, I outgrew my last ones." giving a short nod the woman led Audie to the front counter where the worker sat chewing a stick of gum as he quietly watched the two of them.

"That it for y'all?" he asked the sound of his lips smacking together as he chewed reaching their ears, Pepper shook her head, "do you by chance carry the film for the camera?" the man gave a small nod before he gestured for Audie to hand him the camera.

Hesitantly handing it over to him, the two females watched as he looked it over before carefully setting it on the counter and heading into the backroom behind said counter. Pepper was the first of either to pull her phone from her pocket and check the screen, "Tony said he should be home soon, maybe a little closer to dinner time."

Audie gave a small nod as her response before she began to pick at her nails, it was a bad habit of hers that had followed after her for more years than she'd wished, it had come as a package deal with her anxiety.

Most days she found herself stuffing Adderall down her throat with little to no thought as she needed to be able to focus and keep a steady hand, even if it meant hours later it would make her question her very existence.

Moments later the worker returned and it seemed the air had lifted as Pepper prepared to haul ass out the door and run to the store with the girl before returning back to Tony's house.

The man scanned the few boxes he carried in his hands followed by the camera before wrapping the old device in newspaper to keep any harm from coming to it, once he managed to wrap the entire camera he slid all of the items into a bag and held it out to the girl while Pepper slid Tony's card into the card reader and typed his pin in.

Another half-hour had passed and the two females found themselves settled in Peppers car as they drove back to the house, not only did Audie have the camera she'd been searching for, but, she also had four new sets of overalls, plenty enough that she wouldn't have to worry about getting new one's last minute.

Which helped put her mind at ease.

And as they pulled into the driveway Audie could only assume her uncle still wasn't home, and boy, was she wrong.

He was home.

And he had takeout spread across the living room while he watched the news.

"Tony?" Pepper questioned setting her bag on the coffee table, "hmm?" he mumbled turning to look at her before a small smile spread across his lips, "where'd you guys head off too?" he asked setting his bowl down before fully turning to face them.

Pepper offered a small shrug, "we went to a few stores, grabbed some things she needed." she replied plopping down beside Tony on the couch, nodding his head, he gestured to the bag in Audie's hand, "what's that?" he questioned furrowing his brows.

The teen merely shook her head, "my birthday present." she quipped, Tony smiled, "wow, glad you like it, took me forever to pick it out." he mused, "I wanna see you hold it up, get a photo for your mom or something." he added offering her an over the top faked smile.

Reciprocating his faked smile, she pulled the camera from the bag and held it in front of her, "see, I do have good taste." he spoke leaning back on the couch as she began to walk away and towards the stairs that led to the second floor.

"Oh! Wait." he called quickly sitting up, stopping in her tracks, Audie turned to look at her uncle.

"Rules, we have to go over them." he stated gesturing to the seat across from him, watching her with obvious expectancy he relaxed when she walked back to the living room and plopped down in the seat.

"There's only a few things we need to cover, one." he paused taking a sip of his wine, "you don't touch the suits, any of them."

Audie softly nodded, she didn't want to mess with the damn things, much less touch them.

"Two, I've divvied up the garage into two, so you have somewhere to work without messing with any of my projects." the teen pursed her lips before curtly nodding, "and lastly, I'm leaving for a business trip tomorrow, you're going to stay here with Pepper till I get back, understood?"

"Understood." she replied her voice deadpanning as she realized he was still as childish and irresponsible as her mother had proclaimed him to be.

SLEEPWALKING

CHAPTER TWO: THE STARK ORIENTATION