Here is Part 3 of Daycare, I hope you enjoy it!
Bethany was beyond speechless, she was gob smacked. The Avengers? Seriously?!
The young woman released the breath she had been holding before once again surveying her new charges. She only knew as much about the Avengers as the rest of the public. She knew that Tony Stark (Genius, playboy philanthropist) was Iron Man. She knew that Bruce Banner (foremost scientist in the study of Gamma radiation) was the Hulk. Bethany winced at that thought as her overactive imagination immediately concocted an image of a four year old temper tantrum of Hulk proportions. Yeah, she decided, better to play it safe with this one and keep him in a good mood.
Beyond those two however, she was a little in the dark. Her knowledge on the little red head and the boy with the hearing aids was limited to their superhero identities as Black Widow and Hawkeye. She had very little comprehension who this Bucky person was (history class was a tad fuzzy) and she knew that Thor was an alien. Loki blew her away however, because everyone knew that he was the one who had orchestrated the intergalactic attack on New York a few years before. Loki had made sure everyone saw his face and knew him as the perpetrator (she theorized that he was the type to cause trouble to gain attention, and probably thrived on the negative attention given, a strategy would be needed to get him on the same page as everyone else). Why he was with the Avengers was a question she didn't quite have an answer to. However at this point Bethany feared for her poor brain which was close to having a mild breakdown at the sheer enormity of the situation she had unintentionally signed on for.
"So it's safe to assume that you're not their father?" Bethany finally murmured, a slight daze still coloring her undertones.
"Nope," Coulson smiled sheepishly a slight shake of his head.
The man had been sitting next to her at the dining room table while she processed, his companionable silence both welcome and comforting as she rearranged her brain so to be able to handle this very different and new kind of work day "So," she finally sighed giving a firm shake of her head to clear away the rest of the cobwebs "what do you know about childcare?"
"Does Supernanny count as a reference point?"
"…No…"
"Ah," Coulson nodded before chuckling softly "then I guess I would be 'up a creek without a paddle' as it were."
Bethany paused, opening her mouth in a small attempt to console the man but to no avail as the words that came tumbling from her mouth were simply "Yeah, pretty much."
Phil found himself laughing at the young woman's candor "Well, at least I can say that I'm confident I'm leaving them in capable hands."
Bethany whirled to face the man, her blue eyes wide as her heart swelled with the unexpected compliment. Giving a weak smile, the young woman nodded and murmured "Thank you Sir,"
"You're welcome," came the simple reply, but it was more than enough for the teacher.
From the corner of her eye, Bethany froze as she saw Tony reaching up to the stove top to turn on one of the burners making the young woman jump out of her seat and swat his hand away "Are you out of your mind?" she bellowed "I don't care how old you actually are, no way I'm letting a four year old use the stove!"
"But I'm hungry!" Tony whined.
An aggravated groan echoed behind her as Phil stood up to loom over Tony with his arms crossed "And I already told you that you can't ruin your appetite for lunch. You had a big breakfast, how you can possibly still be hungry is beyond me."
"When did they last eat?" Bethany queried.
"They ate around eight-thirty in the morning," Phil supplied, an uneasy smile lighting his features as he kept one eye on the rambunctious engineer.
The young woman gave a thoughtful nod, calculating in her head when lunch would be best "Then I can serve lunch at 11:45," she murmured.
"Sounds great," Phil nodded before standing suddenly to dust his pants off in soft pats "well its time that I go. I have a very important mission that I must take care of."
"You're leaving?" the young woman asked bending down to scoop Tony up into her arms, more so to ensure he doesn't make another move towards the stove.
"Yes," Mr. Coulson nodded "I work with the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. and with the Avengers out of commission we have to work extra hard to keep the world safe while also looking for a way to get them back to their original ages."
Bethany nodded numbly watching as the man walked briskly through the living and towards the front door "Alright guys," he called as he collected his briefcase and keys "I'm leaving you with Miss Bethany. Be kind to her, and do not cause any problems. The last thing I want is to come back to the house on fire and Child Protection Services putting you all into the system."
All blanched at the thought, except Thor of course he did not know the meaning of this 'system', even Loki paled at the idea of being put in an orphanage among human children. Eventually the man granted them a warm smile and then hustled out the door leaving eight four year olds staring at the door in an awkward silence. Bethany drew in a calming breath, her heart racing at the idea that she wasn't watching just any children but de-aged Avengers.
What could she possible do?!
These kids had the minds of adults, and to be honest the teacher couldn't even begin to think of how to entertain them. Do they watch movies? No, four year olds need to expend energy, and besides no matter how old they are in their heads their attention span is super small…or is it? Bethany groaned internally when her inner rant was suddenly interrupted by a soft sigh. Turning her head, the young woman watched Tony lay his head on her shoulder, little fingers playing with the buttons on her shirt while his chocolate brown eyes reflected something she had seen all too often at her work. Abandonment.
Bethany didn't know much about Tony Stark, but to be honest she didn't need to, she knew all she needed to know by looking in his solemn gaze. In her years as a teacher Bethany learned one thing, children had an entire world of information to tell if you knew how to read it. Their eyes were the most telling, the emotions reflected in their innocent orbs displayed their environment in unabashed honesty that often gave her clues as to what she was dealing with. Tony's eyes? They revealed resignation to being left, sorrow that it was happening again and anger that he wasn't going with.
Giving a smile to the boy, Bethany at least knew what she must do, cuddling Tony the teacher walked into the living room "Alright everyone," she spoke brightly garnering the attention of the gathered children "I would like you all to join me on the floor and we're going to play a game."
A head of bouncy brown curls and green eyes peeked out from under the table and Clint stood up from where he had been playing with the Lego blocks with Steve. The children slowly came into the sitting area, Natasha keeping a wary eye on Loki while Thor clutched said Asgardian's hand drawing him near to their newest guardian. Steve walked over, but gasped as if he forgot something and ran back to where he was only to kneel down beside the loveseat that was up against the wall under a window. After a few minutes of the blond whispering softly the last child finally emerged, shy brown eyes cast down even as his hands fidgeted with his glove.
Eventually all were sitting down, and Bethany placed Tony on the floor beside her "So we're going to play a game that is a lot like Hot Potato, but instead of people getting out when the music stops, you have to tell us something about yourself."
Steve immediately grinned "I know Hot Potato!"
"Oh good," Tony sighed dramatically before casting a cheeky grin "I was worried Hot Potato was before your time, saves us time explaining it to you!"
"Shut up, Tony!" Steve pouted though his blue eyes twinkled with good humor.
"I don't know what this Hot Potato is," Thor grumbled "is it a food or a game?"
"How can you be such an imbeci-" Loki sneered before he was cut off by Bethany.
"It is a game that is named after a food," she rectified giving Thor a wink "but I'll explain how you play."
Jumping to her feet, the teacher jogged over to her bag and dug around until she found a bright orange nerf ball and then rejoined the children "Basically we will all sing the Hot Potato song while passing around the ball, and when we stop whoever is holding the ball will tell us something about themselves. It can be your favorite food, your favorite animal or anything else you want to tell us."
"What is the purpose of this?" Loki groused.
Bethany shrugged with seeming carelessness "I just wanted to get to know you. If I'm going to be watching you I want to know about what you like."
Loki's lip curled at the young woman "A prison warden has no need to know her prisoners."
"Well then it's a good thing that I'm a teacher, huh?" Bethany smirked satisfaction warming her heart as she watched Loki's hard glare soften to merely a suspicious pout.
Tony burst into giggles before reaching into her lap and grabbing the ball "Let's play!"
The Asgardian trickster sighed before giving a nod. Honestly he couldn't understand these imbeciles. They all retained their memories, none of them had suffered any form of amnesia that would cause them to revert and yet they were all acting like children! Even the Russian assassin had been caught cuddling a china doll earlier that day and rocking it in her arms. Loki wasn't clueless, he understood that returning their four year old bodies, regardless of the memories in their heads, would make them susceptible to the emotions and tendencies of said age group. However Loki hadn't expected everyone to be affected so deeply. Part of the trickster wanted to join in and play, to revel in childlike innocence that had long been lost to the sands of time. Life unfortunately is a cruel teacher, and Loki had learned long ago to hide his heart far away from prying eyes.
The trickster slid a wary glance over to their current guardian. He didn't know this woman, but he wouldn't be surprised if she was just another grown up with an angle to play, no matter how nice she may seem to be. Nope, he didn't trust her one bit.
Bethany gave her kids a bright smile before giving a loud clap of her hands "Alright, who's going first?"
Sorry it took me so long, but what with work and the holidays, it was very hard to find time to write. I hope you enjoyed this latest installment!
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