with a name i'd never chosen i can make my first steps
(In which Liz's life gets no less odd, she's okay with that, and Plans are made.)
~x~
During the next few weeks of Liz's life she would swear she could feel her world tilting on its axis, spinning fast, erratic, and almost entirely out of her control.
The conversations are the first thing to knock her off kilter. Well, and the human Tesseract known as Tony fucking Stark. (She wonders what his middle name really is, and if he would legally change it to fucking if she told him how often she thought of him that way. It strikes her as something he would enjoy putting on business cards.)
"So, do you want your own lab, or...?" Tony asks her, after showing Bruce to his lab, which takes up half a floor on the next-to-top floor of R&D, below the residential floors and luckily undamaged in the attack, and is far too impressive to have been created after Tony met him.
"Um," Liz says, somewhat dazedly, and exchanges a glance with Bruce, who looks equally shell-shocked (if you know what you're looking for beneath his perpetual distant amusement.) "No? I'd rather keep being Jane's intern until I'm done with my degrees, all of them."
Tony snorts and she flips him off. Child geniuses. Ugh. She so should have skipped Jr. High when the school offered instead of worrying about maintaining socialization norms.
"Well," she speaks up again, then pauses and smiles hesitantly at Bruce. "Jane's and Bruce's, if he'll have me."
Bruce's eyes light up and he smiles at her crookedly. "Of course."
Liz grins, feeling a little warmer than can be accounted for in the perfectly climate controlled tower and Tony claps his hands. "Awesome, that's settled. Go call your boss and tell her I'll have a plane waiting for her tomorrow morning at nine. I'm already working on setting up a floor for her and Thor, whenever he gets his godlike ass back here. I figure you can share one with the other intern, Darnesha?"
"Darcy," Liz corrects him with a grin, carefully ignoring the realization that Tony Stark wants her to live and work in his tower and is giving her a floorbecause if she thinks about it too closely, she'll probably pass out. "And um, her girlfriend, my friend, Ava, she's going to be coming along too, if that's okay?"
"Of course! The more the merrier," Tony says with a manic grin before spinning on his heels and striding toward the elevators. "Oh! Your guys' new laptops and cell phones are on the desk over there," he calls over his shoulder with a distracted wave that encompasses the whole room. "I have to go bargain with Pepper about percentages, but I'll be back to kidnap you for lunch. Jarvis! Remind me about lunch."
"Yes, sir," the charming voice of his AI responds and Liz feels faint again. Jarvis is the most amazing thing she's ever encountered, and she includes every single alien and superhero on that list. He's another thing she's been carefully ignoring ever since Tony introduced them because if she doesn't ignore his existence until she has time to process, then she'll never stop talking to him.
Bruce appears at her elbow and guides her to a chair, looking down at her with amused concern once she's seated herself and taken enough deep breaths to feel a little less lightheaded. "Bit overwhelming, isn't he?"
"Holy fuck that's an understatement," she squeaks out, running a distracted hand through her hair. "I'm equipped to deal with deadly alien encounters; that's practically old hat for me at this point, but this?" Liz says with a slightly hysterical laugh and an arm wave that entirely fails to encompass their morning since Tony took the reins, then takes another deep breath or three before meeting his gaze. "How are you staying so calm?"
He raises an eyebrow at her and she flushes. "Right, calm is kind of your motto. Science fiction fuckery is mine."
He laughs, a warmer sound than most of his chuckles, and she feels accomplished beneath the excitementpanicholyfuckwhatishappeningtomylife that is currently overwhelming her brain.
"Sounds like a good motto for all of us," Bruce says with another chuckle, then glances away from her to scan the lab. "We've got sinks, and beakers, want some water?"
"Yes please," she answers, only slightly reluctantly as he seems to have forgotten his hand on her shoulder and she would much rather keep it there where it's helping to ground her in reality.
The warmth from his palm lingers after he pulls away and she makes a mental note of the fact that he seems to run a warmer temperature than average. "I wonder if Tony has sent us copies of our files yet," she muses as Bruce fills up two clear beakers at the closest sink.
"He has, Ms. Parker; you'll find the files on the laptops he left for you." It's Jarvis again and Liz almost falls out of her chair. Bruce looks like he wants to laugh at her and she shoots him her best Maria wrangling glare. (A few degrees shy of her Jane wrangling glare.)
"Thank you, Jarvis." She hesitates, then plunges forward, not particularly caring if she adds more blackmail fodder to the list Tony has undoubtedly been compiling. "Um, also, I just want you to know that you are the most amazing being I've ever had contact with, and that includes a few gods at this point. So yeah, count me in as captain of the Jarvis fan club, and I apologize if I end up babbling at you a lot since it appears I'll be living here and-" she stops when Bruce hands her the water, his eyes twinkling madly as he glances at her before looking away again.
She glares at his turned away face as she takes a sip from the beaker and he raises his hands defensively. "Hey, I agree with you, Jarvis is an amazing piece of technology."
"Thank you, Ms. Parker, Doctor Banner," Jarvis says after a beat, sounding almost flustered. "Do let me know if you need anything else."
Liz groans and slumps in the chair, almost sliding out of it before she catches herself. "At least I didn't offer to have his babies."
Bruce's control slips at that and he snorts. "That would be an interesting conversation to have with Tony."
Liz laughs. "I bet he'd be thrilled and offer to help me figure out to create cyborgs with my genetic material and Jarvis' code."
"That sounds dangerously plausible," Bruce says, then looks at her over his glasses. "Let's never mention this to him."
"Indeed, Sir does not need any encouragement," Jarvis voice chimes in dryly and Liz can't contain herself, nearly spilling water everywhere as she laughs into her hands before Bruce calmly takes the beaker back from her and sets it on the closest shiny metal lab table.
Once she's regained her equanimity, summoning the control that has gotten her through countless crises, she straightens and holds her hand out to Bruce. She shakes his solemnly when he proffers it, and then uses it to pull herself to her feet. "Agreed. Now let's check out the goodies, shall we? I have a phone call to make and some people to shock the hell out of."
Bruce nods, his lips quirked into that little half smile he uses as effectively as Tony wields his sunglasses and manic charm. They meander their way through the lab, poking at every nook and cranny, and Liz watches with happy amusement as Bruce fidgets more and more with his clothes as the true extent of what Tony has given him is revealed.
Eventually they make it to a gigantic desk on the far wall, equipped with every possible item of office hardware. Two shiny laptops, both a bright metallic green, are sitting side by side in the middle of it, and Liz bites off another laugh, shaking her head as she runs a hand over the one that has a subtle alien head embossed on the top. "He doesn't do things by halves, does he?"
Bruce is staring down at the other one, with a pair of suspiciously familiar glasses impressed into the metal, and chuckles softly. "No he doesn't." His lips curve down slightly. "Makes me wonder how many people in his life have taken advantage of that."
Liz purses her lips, considering that. "Probably far too many." She nudges Bruce's shoulder with hers until he looks up at her and smiles, not a nice smile either. "Good thing he now has some dangerous roommates to keep the parasites at bay."
Bruce nods thoughtfully. "I think he already has one dangerous roommate who protects him from the world."
"Pepper?" Liz asks, nodding to herself before he can reply as she remembers her brief impression of the woman, one of the most powerful in the world, on the whirlwind tour Tony gave them of the non-damaged parts of the tower. She'd been beautiful, charming, warm, and terrifyingly competent as she greeted them, deftly managed Tony, and never took a break from the seeming endless string of tasks required of the CEO of Stark Industries. "I'm pretty sure she could make Fury back down if she wanted to."
He nods in agreement and Liz's gaze drifts back down the desk and the two small clear devices she wouldn't have known were phones if she hadn't seen Tony using his. "I will never stop geeking out over all the holographic interfaces around here," she murmurs as she picks the one next to her laptop up, awe in her tone as she recalls many days with Alex and Maria, discussing what they would do with a holodeck.
Bruce is still staring down at the laptop, fingers hovering over it as if afraid to touch, and Liz takes a step away. "I'm going to go make that phone call; have fun playing with your new toys."
He makes a distracted humming noise and she smiles to herself before making her way over to the empty corridor and sliding down the wall to sit on the floor just outside the lab. She hesitantly taps the clear glass-like substance—knowing Tony as she's beginning to, she's sure it's something he invented and can probably stand up to just about anything short of a bomb—and it instantly lights up, showing an image of her fingerprint briefly before revealing a screen full of holographic icons.
She touches the icon that has a little face, assuming it's the contacts, and then laughs out loud. In order, she has the following contacts already loaded: Coulson, Agent Coulson; Hammertime; Jolly Green Giant; Nikita; Old Glory; Optimus Prime, Pepper HBIC Potts; and Robin Hood, along with Darcy and Jane whom he apparently didn't know well enough to nickname.
Clicking on Optimus Prime, she changes it to Tony Fucking Stark instead, and then changes Jolly Green Giant to Bruce. The others she leaves for now, sparing a thought to wonder how she's listed in his phone before deciding she doesn't want to know.
She touches the little phone icon next to Darcy's name and holds it up to her ear. Predictably, it is picked up halfway through the first ring. "You were on TV. Also Jane is pissed that you saw Thor and didn't call her. We tried to call you but you never answered. When are you coming back?"
"I know. I have a message for her. My phone got, lost or destroyed, I honestly can't remember, but I have a new one now," she says, wondering briefly how Tony managed to get this phone to register her old number, before reminding herself, again, that he's Tony fucking Stark. "And I'm not, instead you're coming here," she continues, her voice perfectly calm, and waits for the explosion. Darcy does not disappoint.
"What?! That's all you have to say?! And what do you mean we're coming there? Where is there?"
Liz laughs. "Trust me, I have a lot more to say, but it can wait. And I am currently in Stark Tower, where we will all be living and working for the foreseeable future. No I'm not kidding and yes I will wait while you finish hyperventilating."
There's a brief pause. "You are evil." Another pause. "And you'd damn well better not be kidding."
"I'm not," Liz promises. "In fact, Tony is sending over a plane, so you and Ava and Jane need to be all packed up and ready to go, including the lab, by nine tomorrow morning."
The pause is longer this time. "Holy fuck!"
Liz laughs again until Darcy's sharp voice cuts her off. "By the way, Kyle and Maria have both called and they are not happy with you."
Liz winces and lets her head thud back against the wall. "No, they wouldn't be. I'll call them, I promise. Can you pass the phone to Jane?"
"Hmph," Darcy says, still sounding irritated, but her voice is soft when she speaks again. "I'm glad you're okay; we all are."
Smiling, Liz blinks against the sudden sting in her eyes. "Me too."
"Wake us up to say goodbye next time, will you?" Darcy continues, her tone unnaturally light. Liz's throat tightens and before she can reply Darcy is blithely continuing. "Anyways, here's Jane; see you tomorrow I guess."
"Where is he?" Jane demands, and then a second later, "And are you okay? Because they have some footage from phones and security cameras and it looks like one of the aliens shot you."
"I'm fine," Liz says when the lump in her throat subsides enough for her to speak again. "I healed myself, and the shot wasn't that bad." This is a lie, but she honestly hadn't noticed the wound until after they'd tied up Loki, and Steve, going immediately into Captain mode despite everyone's exhaustion, asked about the blood. "And Thor," she pauses, knowing this is going to hurt. "Thor is gone. But he told me to tell you that he misses you and that he'll find a way back, even if you can't figure out the bridge. Which you totally can," she adds, sensing the emotional storm building on the other end of the line.
Instead of an explosion, however, Jane's next words are very quiet. "I miss him too." She laughs softly, an incredulous sound. "I'm a scientist and I knew him for two days and now I'm what, in love? How is this rational?"
"It's not, and you know that's not the point," Liz says gently, thinking of the day she was the one falling in love with an alien after far too short a time. "Sometimes it only takes one moment to make a connection with someone."
Jane laughs again, and then sighs tiredly. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't made a connection. But then I think about him, about not ever seeing him again, and that's worse."
"Well, we can fix that," Liz says in a firm and upbeat tone. "Tony Stark wants to give you a lab in his tower, with the best equipment money can't buy, because he doesn't sell the really good stuff, and you, the world's expert on Einstein-Rosen bridges are going to bring your man home, got it?"
There's a spluttering noise, and then the sounds of a high-pitched Jane conversing with Darcy in the background and suddenly Ava's voice is coming through the speakers. "I think you broke your boss," she says dryly, and Liz is laughing again, but it almost sounds like crying instead because she can hear the relief in Ava's voice under the humor and it's starting to sink that she could have died and she hadn't even said goodbye to the people she cared about the most.
"I fucked up, didn't I?"
"Little bit, Cornball, little bit. But, we forgive you, because we love you. Although I don't think Kyle and Maria are going to be nearly as nice about it, so have fun with that," Ava's voice is gentle and affectionate and that hurts almost more than Darcy's sharpness as Liz chokes off another laugh that's really kind of a sob.
"Do you know if my parents saw the news?" she asks after a few moments of silence while Ava patiently waits for her to regain control of herself again.
"Kyle and Maria didn't say, and the footage is pretty shaky, so it's possible they don't know. If they don't, are you going to tell them?"
"I, I have no idea," Liz answers honestly, her mind spinning in a dozen different directions. "If I do, I have to tell them everything, and I don't know if they can handle that. I don't know if I can handle that." She pauses, thinking it over. "And if I don't, then if the next time doesn't go so well..." she trails off, not even sure what awful thing to put at the end of that sentence.
She never wanted her parents to know the truth about her life; they were safer in the dark. But now that she's not living in the shadows anymore, now that her face, however blurry, has been seen on the news fighting off an alien invasion, can she really justify lying to them?
"I can't think about that right now, not yet," she tells Ava, whose silent support she can feel through the phone. "Help them get everything together and I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I need to call Maria and Kyle."
"Sure thing," Ava says cheerfully, but Liz remembers something and hits her head against the wall behind her in self-recrimination.
"Wait, Ava, are you, are you going to be okay being in New York again? Are, are Rath and Lonnie still here?"
There's a heavy silence for a minute and then Ava chuckles, an ugly, harsh sound. "They're dead, Liz. I made them walk in front of a semi going seventy miles an hour. There was a lot less left of them than they left of Zan." Her voice is soft, tinged with the memory of righteous fury, and Liz blinks back tears for the sweet little girl Ava must have been when she came out of the pod, and for the beautiful, strong woman she is now.
"And yes, I'll be okay. I have a new family now, remember?" Ava says, her voice warming again, the barest hint of hesitation underlying her teasing tone.
"Yes, you do," Liz says to that doubt, no hint of it in her own voice. "And I'm glad, glad that you'll be safe."
"Ditto," Ava says lightly, gratitude and affection clear in her voice. "Let's keep it that way, k? Now call Kyle and Maria, before they hitchhike to New York and kick your ass."
Liz grins, her darker emotions ebbing at low tide again. "Yes, ma'am. See you tomorrow; try to keep Jane sane and Darcy from inciting the agents to homicide."
Ava laughs and hangs up on her in lieu of answering. Liz sticks her tongue out at her phone, and then dials Kyle's number from memory, figuring Maria will be with him anyway, and that he'll be less likely to puncture her ear drum when he answers the phone.
She underestimates him.
"So you remember that time when you didn't tell me that you'd died and an alien brought you back to life and I stalked you for a year? Or the time you used me to change the future without telling me? I forgave you for those. I'm not sure I'm going to forgive you for this one," Kyle's voice is hard, fear and fury and a desperate need bleeding from the gaping wound beneath the stone, and Liz suddenly feels like the lowest form of life on the planet, her heart seizing with actual, physical pain, at the proof of how much she hurt the people she loves more than anything else in the world.
She can't catch her breath to speak and suddenly Kyle is speaking again, his voice soft and worried and painfully gentle, as if she's made of glass and he'll break her if he says another harsh word. "Liz? Liz are you okay? I didn't mean it, just," he takes a ragged breath and she knows he's rubbing a hand over his face just like his father does after a rough day, "we were so fucking scared and mad and god, Liz, just say something."
She's crying, she thinks she has been since she heard his voice, and the tears loosen the tight fist that wrapped around her throat. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I love you both so much and I didn't call and I'm sorry."
She can hear Maria sobbing and cursing in the background and Kyle lets out a broken chuckle. "Yeah, well you're an ass sometimes, but you're our ass, so next time just fucking let us know when you're going to risk your life fighting aliens, okay?"
"Okay," she says, still crying, but also smiling, and so unbearably glad that she's alive, that they love her even when she doesn't deserve it, that she feels like she might explode.
"I could have helped, you know," he says quietly. "You're not the only one Max changed."
"No!" she says, instant denial as panic stiffens her limbs and not caring that she's being utterly hypocritical. "After Thor, I made a deal with them. They could have me, they could use me for invasions or whatever, but they couldn't touch you, or Maria. I need, I need you guys to be safe. And I know that's not fair, and I don't have the right to ask it, but please, just, keep each other safe. As long as I know you two are okay, I'll be fine, I will, and I'll call, every time, I promise."
"I promise to keep Maria safe, but I won't promise not to keep you safe," Kyle says gently, and Liz isn't sure if she feels more fear or more love at the thought of him here, helping fight, especially now that she knows the FBI hasn't given up. Before she can come up with words, any words, he's passing the phone to Maria and she has to put her new thoughts and fears on hold.
"They shot you, Liz! There were aliens and they shot you! What the fuck were you thinking? You said you were done. You said we were done. Fighting off an alien invasion on national fucking television is not being done!"
"Maria, Maria! Breathe," Liz instructs firmly, ignoring the wet burn of tears on her face as she focuses her entire being on reassuring her best friend, wishing she had the ability to physically reach through the phone and wrap her arms around her. "I know I should have called, but, you knew I wasn't done," she laughs, a brief moment of genuine amusement. "Kyle was right, I don't know how to quit and I couldn't just let them destroy New York. You'd have been furious if Broadway was destroyed."
"Not as furious as if you were destroyed," Maria says, her voice quiet, but more piercing than even Kyle's had been, and Liz swallows, hard, her eyes slipping closed as a fresh flood of tears stains her cheeks.
"We need you Liz, you're our center, always have been. You can't be the one who does crazy things without a plan, that's my job," Maria says with a little laugh that doesn't have any humor in it. "We need you, we need you to stay alive, okay? Nothing else matters. I can't, I can't lose you too, Liz, I can't."
Liz wipes her free hand across her face. "I'll try, I promise. I can't, I can't not do this, but I won't take needless risks, and I will always be there if you need me, okay? I can't lose you guys either, I love you; you, you guys are a part of me, and-" she stops, her big brain out of words that aren't just repeats of things she's already said.
She doesn't know how to reconcile her need to keep them happy and safe with her need to do something with the powers she has, the powers that came at the cost of Alex's life, at the cost of all their lives.
"I know, I know Liz." Maria sounds tired, so very tired, but her voice is warm with resigned affection. "We love you too, all of you, even that annoying martyr side that has to do things and is too stupid to quit when she should."
Liz laughs, a broken sound, but doesn't disagree. "Yeah, well, we all need flaws, right?"
Maria laughs too, a husky chuckle that makes Liz desperately miss listening to Maria sing in the car with sudden, fierce intensity. "Yeah we do."
There's a comfortable silence, still ragged around the edges with everything between them, but safe.
After a few minutes of quietly basking in the knowledge of each other's existence, Kyle comes back on. "Call, every day, and visit when you can, okay? Your parents don't know; I don't think anyone could have recognized you who doesn't know about your powers, but you never know when more footage might be found so you need to figure that out."
"I will," Liz says heavily, shoving that need down into a safe compartment to be dealt with soon, but not now. "Keep each other sane, okay? I'll call, and I will come as soon as I can. I still have to figure out school, but I have a place to live, and a job, which you won't believe but that can wait."
Kyle chuckles. "Liz? At this point, I'll believe anything you tell me, anything at all."
"Yeah, well, I'm still having trouble with this one, so," Liz says with a grin at the thought of their faces when she tells them about her new home. That news can wait for a skype call. "I love you, both of you, and I will call tomorrow, promise."
"Good. Cause if you don't, we will be showing up in New York, and you will be hog tied and brought back home whether you like it or not, clear?"
"Clear," Liz says, smile softening as warmth blooms in her chest. He and Maria say goodbye and she hangs up the phone reluctantly, just breathing for a few minutes before opening her eyes again, still wishing they were close enough to touch.
When she blinks away the last few tears clogging her vision, she sees Bruce on the other side of the lab's clear wall, trying to look like he's not watching her with concern while typing on the laptop Tony gave him.
She smiles, touched and embarrassed, wondering how much of a wreck she looks after sobbing for at least the past ten minutes, and wipes her hand across her face again, this time with a little alien magic behind it. Afterwards, she tucks the phone into the pocket of her jeans and rises to her feet. She feels a little unsteady and takes another few breaths before walking back into the lab.
She thinks those phone calls might have drained her more than the battle did, and she has no idea what that says about her or if it's a good or bad thing.
Liz leans against the table across from Bruce and studies him for a moment, then raises an eyebrow when he finally meets her gaze. "Do you have anyone you want to call?" she asks, knowing it is an invasion of privacy, but also knowing that she's already invaded his privacy in a far more intimate way when she slipped inside his mind and brought him back from the brink.
He opens his mouth, then shakes his head. "No, not anymore," he answers quietly. "The other guy kind of ruined my social life," he adds with a twitch of a smile.
"Yeah, well he also saved New York City, and Tony's life, so I'm personally kind of fond of him," Liz says with gentle humor, smiling as he blinks at her with surprise and amusement.
"Dit-to," Tony says as the elevator doors slide open, breezing into the room with a megawatt grin. "I know it's early for lunch, but Pepper needs me for some meeting with the Mayor at one and she yells at me when I don't eat, so, food? Yes? We can go anywhere you want, well, not any of the places that got flattened, although if you really wanted one of them, I'm sure they'd be willing to cook for us. There's a kitchen in here somewhere that didn't get crushed-"
"Tony," Liz interrupts forcefully, while Bruce ducks his head to a hide a grin. "Honestly, I think we're fine with a hot dog, whatever. Let's just walk and see what we find, okay?"
Tony rolls his eyes at her, but nods, practically bouncing with energy. "Fine, plebian." He turns to Bruce, who's still sitting, and blinks at him. "Well, come on, food time, chop chop!"
Liz swallows a giggle and steps forward, winking at Bruce after he stands and Tony's turned back to the elevator. "I think your first project in your new lab should be figuring how to convert that," she says, pointing at Tony, still nearly vibrating with enthusiasm, "into a sustainable energy source."
Tony laughs and spins around, tugging them both into the elevator. "You can't bottle me, baby; I'm one of a kind, accept no substitutions."
Liz snorts and Bruce chuckles as the elevator drops them down to the ground floor. Tony materializes sunglasses from somewhere and slides them over his nose. "Be prepared for some attention," he warns them. "It's New York, so people don't give that much of a fuck, and you two shouldn't be recognized, but my stock's gone up a bit since we saved Manhattan."
Liz nods with a small frown as she and Bruce exchange a glance. For all Tony's ego (most of which is yet another mask, she thinks) she doubts he enjoys being mobbed when all he wants is a hot dog. "We can go to a restaurant if you want," she says, trying not to let her thoughts show in her voice, "Less attention that way."
Tony shoots her a sharp glance over the glasses and she knows her attempt at subterfuge failed. She grins at him, unashamed of the desire to protect, and lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. He huffs and shakes his head. "No, fuck that, now you've made me want a hot dog, and there's a stand a few blocks away that has some special relish the woman will never give me the recipe for."
"How awful of her, to deny you the chance to duplicate and mass market her livelihood," Bruce deadpans and Liz laughs loudly as they step into the lobby, Tony favoring Bruce with a haughty glare.
"I sell technology, not food. Although now that you mention it, maybe I can interest her in expanding her business. Pepper's always trying to get me to pay more attention to acquisitions."
"I doubt that's what she means," Liz says with a small grin as they make their way across the marble floors of the lobby.
"And that's what makes it fun," Tony retorts with a genuine grin that morphs into something a little more dazzling and a lot less real as they step out onto the sidewalk.
Liz shakes her head, lips twitching, and tries to ignore the feeling that someone is aiming a gun at her head that she's felt ever since she discovered she'd been caught on camera using her abilities. SHIELD employee or no, the paranoia earned from nearly eight years of keeping secrets out of fear for her life and the lives of those she loved isn't going to just go away.
They make it two blocks before anyone does more than a take a second glance, and Tony flips the peace sign as a few awed college students snap pictures with their cell phones. No one actually attempts to speak with them, and Liz can see the relief she feels echoed in Bruce's slumped shoulders as they reach a hot dog cart manned by a tiny redhead with laughing green eyes and a stubborn chin that clearly brooks no nonsense.
"Back again, Mr. Stark? I won't sell you my recipe," she warns with a stern frown that is in no way ruined by the dimple at the corner of her quirked lips.
"Mary, light of my life and giver of delicious hot dogs, how could you accuse me of such crass commercialism?" Tony asks, clasping a hand over his chest in a show of offense that is utterly ruined by his grin, once again an expression of genuine happiness.
"Hmph," is Mary's only reply. "The usual?"
"Yes please," Tony says as he pulls out his wallet and then waves an arm at Bruce and Liz. "And whatever these two lugs want." He turns sharply and gives them a stern finger shake. "As long as it includes the relish. You have to try the relish."
Liz nods obediently and is deeply amused to see Bruce doing the same thing out of the corner of her eyes. They end up ordering the same thing Tony does (one hot dog and one polish dog with everything and extra relish) and after a few more minutes of banter disguised as harassment, Tony leads them down a random street toward the closest corner of Central Park.
Liz bites into the plain hot dog first and then moans with an utter lack of shame. "Fuck, Tony, you weren't kidding, these are fantastic."
Bruce nods, mouth too full to speak, and Tony swallows his own mouthful and laughs. "I have awesome taste, you should learn to never question that."
Liz ponders this for a moment, takes another bite, or three, and nods. "Well, your girlfriend is basically the most amazing person on the planet, and your new roommates are pretty damn awesome, so I guess I have to agree with that statement."
Tony looks like he's torn between glaring at her and grinning and Bruce almost chokes on his second hot dog so Liz feels accomplished.
"I am telling Pepper you said that. She may try to kidnap you from me, so I need you to resist her shiny, shiny hair, because if you end up as my PA, one of us will end up electrocuted, and then Fury will get all up in my face about the team and things won't end well," Tony tells her, waving his finger at her in a tsking motion.
Liz snorts. "I promise Tony, I will never become your PA. And for the record, you're the one who would end up electrocuted. Electricity kind of likes me, it's a thing."
"Reaallly," Tony says, drawing the word out as he eyes her with clear fascination. "You and I are going to play with that nifty little ability later. And I'll blame you if and when we short out the tower."
"When, definitely when," Bruce says dryly as he wipes a spot of relish off his cheek.
Tony shrugs, not denying it, and Liz chuckles her agreement, then takes a deep breath because she's finished her second hot dog and they've reached the park. There's a conversation she needs to have with Tony and now's as good a time as any. "Hey, let's sit, I need to ask you something."
Tony's gaze instantly sharpens and he studies her before nodding and plopping down in the middle of the nearest bench. Bruce hesitates for a moment before sitting down next to him and Liz sits down on Tony's other side, curling her legs underneath her and swiveling to face them.
"I am not a healer," she says. "What I did to Coulson isn't some sort of healing ability, and it is directly related to how I killed about half of the Chitauri I fought."
They're both watching her intently, Bruce through his lowered eyelashes and Tony head on, his expression alive with curiosity and caution.
The side of her mouth twitches into a faint smile. "Molecular manipulation."
Bruce's head tilts up fully and both his and Tony's eyes go wide with sudden knowledge. Liz chuckles, fully appreciative of the fact that she's sitting here with two of the few people in the world who can truly grasp exactly what a power like that means.
"Ho-ly shit," Tony breathes reverently, his face soft with wonder while Bruce just stares at her, utterly flabbergasted. "That's, that's, you're the holy fucking grail of science. And I moved you into my tower! I am a motherfucking genius."
Liz laughs, soft and genuine, and nods, feeling a surge of affection for the crazy and brilliant man still staring at her in awe. "Yes, you are. But that's not actually the point I was trying to make."
Tony looks confused but Bruce's eyes widen again and he smiles at her, a warm approving smile that makes Liz flush slightly before meeting Tony's inquiring gaze. "I can dissolve the shrapnel, and restore your organs to their proper, healthy state, if you want me to," she says softly, and watches as Tony rocks back on the bench as if her words were blows, his skin going several shades paler and his pupils dilating.
She bites her lip and wipes her suddenly sweaty palms on her jeans. "It's up to you. I know the reactor's proved useful," she says with a hint of rueful smile, remembering the security footage she'd seen of Loki trying and failing to possess Tony with his staff. "But,"
"It also makes me a target. It's a weakness," Tony says, his voice harsh with blunt honesty, "And it's already almost killed me once or twice."
She nods, flicking another glance at Bruce, who's looking at Tony with a kind of distant pain.
"I'd have to redesign the suit, incorporate the arc reactor into it," Tony mutters to himself, his eyes darting from side to side and his hands tense against his legs, oil stained fingers splayed out as if he's already designing it in his mind. He probably is.
"I," he says, looking up at her, his face carefully blank of all emotion. "I'll get back to you on that."
She nods, stomach churning with the desire to say something, anything, to take away the ghosts in his eyes, and knows there isn't anything she can say or do that can.
Before any of them break the ensuing silence, a familiar figure in a suit appears in front of them and Liz blinks in surprise, then sighs. "Please tell me the tracker's not implanted somewhere."
"Of course not, Ms. Parker," Coulson says with a bland smile and Liz laughs, the strain of the conversation she just finished lifting in the face of the Agent's perpetual calm. "I wanted to speak with you, if you wouldn't mind." He glances at Tony and Bruce. "I'll escort her back to the tower, if you don't have any plans I'm interrupting."
"Like that would stop you," Tony says, former levels of snark resumed as he grins up at Coulson. "Bring her back in one piece, I need her for science, and don't forget that good boys and girls use foreplay."
Liz chokes and Tony's grin widens. Bruce shakes his head and stands up. "Come on Tony, Pepper needs you for that meeting and I don't want to explain why you got stuck in a SHIELD detention cell for harassment."
Tony gives a combination pout-smirk that Liz is sure he has used to great effect many times in his life, but follows Bruce after giving her and Coulson one last salacious wink. Liz laughs and rises to her feet, turning to look at Coulson, who's looking back at her with the faintest hint of amusement in his eyes.
"They don't pay you enough, do they?" she asks as he begins to walk down the path in the opposite direction and she matches his stride.
"There isn't enough money in the world, Ms. Parker," he answers her dryly and she laughs again.
"Guess not. And please call me Liz."
"Very well, Liz, I wanted to thank you, and to apologize," he says, tone still formal despite the change of address.
"You're welcome, and apologize for what?" Liz asks, her voice deliberately casual. She isn't sure how she feels about being thanked for using her powers, but she knows it would be incredibly rude and selfish of her to let him see her discomfort.
He doesn't reply immediately and she glances over and sees him looking at her with mingled embarrassment and apology. "I'm sure Stark's discovered by now why you weren't in the files we gave the others, something we'll have to speak about later."
Liz nods, her muscles tightening up again at the reminder of the FBI's continued determination to keep her looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life.
"But you should have been briefed about the situation and the failure to do so was entirely my fault," he continues. "I was, distracted, but that is no excuse, and it is entirely to your credit that you performed so admirably despite that initial handicap."
Liz remembers the flight to New York, during which Coulson had been glued to the computer and his ear piece, carrying on multiple conversations she only caught the edges of but knew were important, and his carefully concealed eagerness when they picked up Steve, who was given a file that she's guessing, now, was supposed to be shared.
"It's not an excuse, but it is a reason," she says after a moment, and smiles at him. "And honestly? Things turned out pretty damn well, so you have my forgiveness if you want it, but I'm not upset. I wasn't even upset then, not really, mostly just confused and overwhelmed and I don't think all the briefings in the world could have helped that."
He chuckles, a dryer sound than even Bruce's little laughs. "No, they probably wouldn't have. But thank you for your forgiveness all the same, and I promise not to leave you in the dark in the future unless it's absolutely necessary."
Liz's smile takes on a tinge of cynicism, but she nods, accepting the truth in his words. She now lives with Tony Stark, who lives to break rules and find out information he's not supposed to have. SHIELD will hoard its secrets and Tony will find them and they'll all learn to deal.
She wonders if this sort of dilemma and compromise is something most people deal with when they 'grow up'.
"You won't get any powers, by the way, in case you were worried about that," she says abruptly, dragging herself out of her thoughts as they step out of the park onto the sidewalk less than a block away from the Tower. "Also, I am envious of your internal map."
Coulson smirks at her. "I wasn't, worried, and you should be. I never get lost."
Liz laughs and then sighs. "My town could fit practically fit into the Tower; I'm going to get lost at least once a week." She shrugs as they stop in front of the giant structure. "It'll be a good learning experience. You coming in?"
Coulson shakes his head. "Not this time, but I'll be by for another conversation soon, and with more paperwork."
Her answering groan isn't remotely exaggerated and she pouts at him. "My hand is still tired. Paperwork is evil."
"And you don't have nearly as much of it as I do, so pardon my lack of sympathy," he responds heartlessly, then turns on his heel. "Try not to let Stark and Banner blow anything up," he calls over his shoulder, probably his version of a fond farewell, and Liz sighs despondently, then frowns as she walks into the building.
He clearly overestimates her responsible side. If there's explosions to be had, she will be a gleeful participant, not a referee.
Right now though mostly all she wants is sleep, exhaustion swamping her in a wave as she leans against a wall in the elevator and stares blankly at the buttons.
"Would you like to see the room Sir has set aside for you while the residential floors are being renovated?" Jarvis asks her after a moment and Liz barely jumps, then nods.
"Yes please, that would be wonderful."
The elevator glides upwards in response and she closes her eyes with a faint smile. She never could have imagined that things would turn out like this. She honestly had thought there were only two possible outcomes to her life: one in which she was eventually killed because of an alien saving her life when she was sixteen, or one in which she pretended to be normal, became a brilliant scientist, and spent her life as close to Maria and Kyle as possible.
But this, this having her cake and eating it too, even if there is a razor blade she needs to avoid in every bite, well, she's not sure that metaphor makes sense, but she is sure that she could never have predicted or planned for this turn of events.
Of course, as Kyle and Maria have been telling her for years—as if the alien abyss hadn't already taught her that lesson the hard way—sometimes you can't plan for everything, and sometimes (only sometimes) that's the fun (terrifying) part.
The elevator stops and she opens her eyes as she steps out in the hall of the highest floor of the tower that wasn't damaged in the attack, two floors above Bruce's lab.
"Your room is the third door on the left," Jarvis tells her, and she smiles up at the ceiling where she guesses his primary cameras are.
"Thanks, Jarvis."
"You're welcome, Ms. Parker," he replies, and Liz wonders briefly if Tony programmed him to be so polite, or if the AI decided to be so on his own, an antidote to his creator's utter indifference to social niceties.
She stops in front of the third door and smiles again as it opens on its own. She hopes she never stops being awed by how amazing this Tower is, and how amazing everything Tony's created seems to be.
That thought triggers a spiral of others and she collapses onto the bed in the middle of the room, blind to everything else, as she frowns at the ceiling. "Jarvis? Can I ask you some questions?"
"Of course, Ms. Parker; I will answer to the best of my abilities," he replies promptly and she nods slowly as she wonders how to phrase the thoughts bouncing around her head like ricocheting billiard balls with intersecting trajectories and impossible angles.
"Why, why is Tony doing this? Why is he moving all of us into his tower and giving us floors and-" she cuts herself off, remembering Bruce's earlier words, and continues in a softer tone, "I don't want to take advantage of him, of his generosity."
There is a brief pause, and then Jarvis speaks, his voice gentle. "You are not taking advantage, Ms. Parker, Sir genuinely wants you here, all of you. As for why," he makes a thoughtful hmming noise and Liz shoves down another minor freak-out over how impressive he is.
Fully sentient AI. Holy fuck she is living in the future and god damn is it amazing.
"I believe you are the one who said he 'does not do anything by halves," he continues, amusement coloring his tone, and Liz chuckles.
"Yeah, I did. So this is what, an Avengers thing?"
"Yes, at least in part. I do not know everything he is thinking, but I know that once Sir commits himself to something, he does so with his entire being, and he has committed himself to the Avengers."
Liz nods, thinking this over, thinking of the moment in battle when everything else fell away and they united to fight the enemy. And thinking of all the moments after, the quieter, softer moments, in which they continued to watch out for each other while SHIELD dissected everything that happened and the media frenzy began.
"What are his plans, with the renovations?" she asks curiously, holding back further questions about Tony himself as she does not want to further invade what privacy he manages to maintain in a world where he's been in the spotlight since birth, nor does she think Jarvis will let her.
"He and Pepper will retain the penthouse suite. The next floor down he intends to create suites for Doctor Banner and Captain Rogers. Then a floor for you and Ms. Lewis, below that would be Thor and Dr. Foster, and finally a floor for Agents Romanov and Barton. Assuming everyone agrees to move in, of course."
"Of course," Liz agrees faintly, once again feeling dizzy as the sheer improbability of her life washes over her. "I'm just an intern," she says with a disbelieving laugh. "Darcy and I would be fine on Jane's floor."
"You are an Avenger, Ms. Parker," he reminds her, tone gentle again. "And, as Sir has seen your SHIELD file, I believe that he thought you would be the one most likely to have guests."
Liz blinks at that, and then swallows against a throat gone tight as she remembers Bruce saying he didn't have anyone to call. Steve wouldn't either; everyone he loved, everyone he even knew, had died, war or age, while he slept beneath the ice. Everyone Thor knew on the whole planet would already be in the Tower other than Erik, still being debriefed by SHIELD, and she has a feeling that Natasha and Clint only have each other, and maybe Coulson. And Tony, well, Tony has Pepper, and now he has them.
But her? She has Ava and Maria and Kyle and her parents and the Sheriff. She has family, and she has never felt so grateful or so lucky to have them.
Her family isn't blood, not mostly, it's friendship and spilled blood and loss and shared moments of joy and the kind of love that comes when you trust someone with your life and want nothing more than their survival and happiness.
Which means it isn't limited to existing members, and she's never met anyone more in need of a family than the people who make up her team. (Still weird; still good.)
"I don't do anything by halves either so we're not just going to build a team, Jarvis," she says firmly, knowing he's still listening, "We're going to build a family."
There's a silence that manages to be thoughtful, despite Jarvis' lack of body language to give her cues. "Do let me know if you need assistance, Ms. Parker," he finally says, and Liz grins, knowing she has his approval.
"I will Jarvis, I will," she promises, and then closes her eyes, no longer feeling quite so exhausted, as she begins to make a plan.
Liz has always been good at making plans.
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A/N: So I haven't forgotten Rhodey, but Liz doesn't know about him which is why he isn't mentioned in her list of people whom Tony has. But he will be in this fic. I have plans for Rhodey, *cackles*.