Jane had spent all morning consumed with SCIENCE and Darcy had her morning just as consumed by SCIENCE paperwork, which was much less exciting than the actual SCIENCE and almost as hard to understand. This meant though that by lunch time Darcy was in desperate need of a break and some food, Jane of course didn't seem to see the need for either one of those things. So Darcy vowed to the uninterested science drones that she would return with food or at the very least pop tarts and headed back to her apartment to whip up lunch for herself.

After some reheated Chinese takeout and a good hour and a half stalking the outer reaches of Tumblr for crazy theories on the Avengers she was feeling much more human.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes Miss Lewis?"

"You given Tony the notes he wrote on the carpet last night yet?"

"Sir is still in bed."

"So that's a 'no' then." she exited out of her Facebook page and closed her laptop. "Think you could hold off on giving him the data if he wakes up and asks?"

"Certainly."

"Thanks, J-man."

"You are most welcome."

"Oh and do ya think we can get some food sent up from the canteen for Jane and her minions?"

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Her dad had built her a rather extensive tool kit when she had moved away to Culver for college. It had served her well over the years between keeping her ancient car running and aiding Jane's homemade lab equipment in New Mexico. So when she decided the only course of action was to rip up the carpet in the hall she had just the utility knives and pliers needed for the job. Plus, it kept Natasha from being pissed about Darcy using the Russian's Secret Ninja Assassin ™ knife kits hidden around the Tower for odd jobs that needed a sharp blade. She had dulled one of Natasha's knives trying to get a cork out of a wine bottle late one night and she feared for her life if Natasha ever found out about her doing something that idiotic again. It also helped the more Darcy thought about it, that she really didn't know who those knives had been in. Gross. Second-hand assassination germs. Ew.

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It was late afternoon by the time Tony got his ass up out of bed. He often wondered what it must be like to have to follow a set work schedule with strict time limits and the pressing need to wake up at a reasonable time, but then remembered that that lifestyle sounded horrible and quickly pushed those thoughts from his brain. There were some fates just not worth contemplating. Being a worker drone with a nine to five desk job was one of them. He managed to mumble a good afternoon to Jarvis and splash his face with cold water from his sink for several long seconds before he felt human enough to go find food and head back down to the lab.

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"Yogurt covered pretzels?" Tony held the bag out as a peace offering to Darcy as he entered his lab.

She was sitting on his work table fiddling with some small tools that had been left out, but otherwise being careful to not touch any of his stuff. Here was one of the few people in the building unlikely to screw something up in the shop instantly and still being polite enough not to play around with his toys.

"Thanks." she grabbed a healthy sized handful and popped one into her mouth. She mumbled a 'their good' through a full mouth as she ate a few more.

"Anytime, Lewis."

He moved to the side and pushed himself up on the work table beside Darcy. Tony dropped the bag of pretzels in between them and leaned back on his hands.

"I just, um, well figured that you might want those equations from last night." She kicked over the roll of carpet that had been propped up next to her feet. It unrolled to show the sharpie equations Tony had scribbled on it earlier that morning.

"You know I have people for that."

"For what?"

"You'll have new carpet outside your door by tomorrow."

"It's your building, Stark." Out of the corner of his eye he saw her shrug her shoulders. After a second or two she moved closer to the edge of the table.

Tony sighed as she was about to jump down and the noise caught her attention. She glanced over at him.

"You doing anything right now? You're welcome to stay. Or does Foster need you back sometime today?"

"What are you working on that had you one your hands and knees last night?" Darcy asked her escape off the work table momentarily delayed in favor of shop talk.

"The newest adjustments to the Mark suit. Hopefully I'll have a prototype of the main pieces in a few hours. Of course, since I'm going to be adjusting things for a while the safe guards won't be in place." he smirked.

"You jackass. Are you bribing me with the possibility of testing part of your newest suit?"

"Well if that was what I was doing would it work?"

"What do you normally bribe women with?"

That startled a laugh out of Tony and Darcy had trouble keeping a small grin off her face at the sound.

"Money, more money, and things that take a lot of money. JARVIS would be happy to see you stay. I don't think he trusts me in this shop over periods of time that last longer than an hour or two."

"I can't imagine why."

"So you'll stay then."

"For JARVIS's sake I think I can stick around for a few hours. Is there anything useful for me to do around here that DUM-E can't do?"

Tony mock pouted "You don't want to lounge around and admire me as I work? DUM-E tries but he just doesn't have the wistful sighing over my awesomeness down yet.

Only Natasha or Agent could have taught her how to raise an eyebrow that clearly said 'you have got to be kidding me.' Huh, she must have left the Taser upstairs in her room.