A/N: This is the last chapter guys.
Thank you for all of those who took the time to read this and/or review, it was much appriciated.
Enjoy.
Abbindon estates, three weeks later
"How are the upgrades coming?" Lara asked Zip as she walked into the tech room, she came over and lent over Zips shoulder, her eyes focus intensely on the computer screen in front of her watching the upload bar slowly, almost at a snail's pace, fill with red as programme after programme made it way on to the mainframe. It had barely made it past halfway.
"Slow, very, very slow." Zip said as he rubbed his eyes, he'd been up since ridiculous o'clock this morning, and it barely brushed past nine. He lifted his hands above his head and stretched, Lara cringed at the sound of his back clicking. She stood slightly and looked around the room, and sighed, wooden crates were spewed about the room, the Stark Ind. logo printed along the sides.
They'd had a special order come through days ago from the London division of the company, all thanks to one Pepper Potts. The crates had contained new security camera's, that were slightly ahead of their time, a new untested Tony Stark design, that were able to make out brain patterns that was so sensitive that according to the man himself, would be able to spot a clone from a mile away, Pepper had promised that they were flawless, and Lara fully believed her. There had been enough of them to cover every inch of the estate, they were also very small and compact.
She'd had a swarm of technicians' in to set the bloody things up, and now days later the programmes to allow the cameras to work to full capacity were slowly downloading. It had come at quite a shock to Zip this morning to find that his computer had been hijack right under his nose, he'd simply lost control, the files he'd been working on had magically sorted themselves, and numbers much like The Matrix code had run down his computer.
What had been more shocking had been when the next computer in the link had switched itself on, and Tony Starks face had filled the screen, Zips webcam blinking to life to allow the two men to communicate.
It had been quite amusing to watch Zip stumble over his words as he spoke to his hero, he'd gotten over it when Tony had smiled through the camera upon seeing Lara and had simply said 'hey'.
Tony shrugged on his end, "Its gunna be slow I'm afraid, the signal's got a long way to travel," there was a clicking noise in the background of Tonys voice feed, it stopped when Pepper came into view as she set down what looked like a coffee mug, "it is however going faster than I expected it too, the download should be finished in...How many hours was it?" Tony asked looking at the ceiling; the question was obviously not directed at Pepper.
"Two hours and thirty-seven minutes Sir, and fourteen seconds...thirteen..." a cool English voice replied, Lara and Zip shared a look.
"Jarvis" Tony explained when he saw the look they shared.
"Jarvis?" Zip and Lara questioned together.
"Just A Really Very Intelligent System..." Pepper offered, "He's Tonys A.I. and practically runs the house, making my job a little easier." Tony swivelled around on his chair to face the redhead and raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively; Pepper shrugged in response and flashed him a cheeky smile.
She gave a small wave to Lara and went back to her work.
"Personal assistants," Tony started, "who needs 'em?"
"You wouldn't last a week without me!" Pepper yelled out of the shot in a sing-song tone, Lara didn't doubt her one bit.
"So, where's Amanda?" Tony asked cheekily.
"Sleeping, if you must know." Lara replied curtly, hoping to God that he kept his mouth shut, but from what she already knew about the man, she doubted he would.
He nodded, and for a second Lara was hopeful, "Busy night, huh?" the American asked with a dirty smile. Lara frowned, from the look on his face she knew that the bastard was picturing them together, it was highly disconcerting. Zip who had been taking a zip of his coffee, now found himself spluttering everywhere, Lara looked at him oddly.
She didn't give him an answer, she left the room instead, with Tony shouting after her, "Shall I take that as a yes!"
Later on:
Lara, according to Winston, was currently residing in the library, and would be best for him not to disturb her, no matter the information he had for her.
He of course, being American, had not listened to Winston's subtle hints and had strolled straight for Lara's sanctuary, although it had a slightly new layout thanks to the re-modelling it had gone through after the fire.
He didn't so much as acknowledge the girlish giggles coming from inside before he barged in, the sound of the door opening causing Amanda to jump up from her place on Lara's lap, Zip stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Amanda and Lara, both were quite flushed, their clothing ruffled, he watched as Lara pulled her hair back up into its customary pony-tail, trying hard not to shift uncomfortably on the spot as she glared at him.
Amanda stood awkwardly to the one side of the chair Lara was occupying, suddenly becoming very interested in the documents on the desks.
"Yes Zip?" Lara asked sharply, Zip suddenly questioned whether or not it was safe to proceed into the room, he decided it wasn't and opted to stay standing where he was.
"Uh, the software had finished downloading; I just thought you'd like to know." He said quietly, like a child in the wrong, which is pretty much how he felt right now.
"Could this have possibly waited until later?" Lara asked as she cocked her head to the side and studied him; he hadn't missed the venom in her tone, he cowered.
He nodded, "Probably..."
He didn't quite know what to do at that moment, so he just stood there, the two women looked at him oddly, both of them wondering why he was still there, he obviously needed a bigger hint to get lost.
"Was that all?" Amanda asked finally stepping into the conversation, she looked slightly annoyed, but then when didn't she when she was around him, she wasn't the most patient woman, at least not with him anyways.
He racked his brain, there might have been something else, no, he knew there was something else, "Yes actually, uh, I gotta message from Tony," both women looked at him pointedly, "he says: 'thanks for the kiss'." Zip had to wonder how close Lara had gotten to the guy.
"Kiss?" she turned to Amanda who simply shook her pretty blonde had, "What kiss, I never-" her eyes bulged as she recalled events after the party in Washington, and of the events before they got in the Limo, the car that had pulled up behind theirs, she recalled the two men who stepped out of it as they'd stepped into theirs, one of them carrying a red and gold briefcase, and of course the kiss, that kiss, the only one he possibly could have seen...
She would never get a moments peace from that perverted man now.
"Oh, Bloody Hell!"
Fini.
A/N: Thanks for reading ^_^
