-Chapter Twenty-One-

"What the fuck is that?"

"It's a rat," Natasha said, turning her head sideways to stare at the newest addition to the tower's population. The animal did the same, causing her to step back slightly. Her mouth curled into a grimace. "I think."

"I am unfamiliar with the true variety of Midgardian animals, but from what I understand, that is a wombat." Thor bent down at the waist, holding out a large hand to the ball of fur, smiling at the way it glared up at him from underneath a layer of dirt and grime. He waggled his fingers, enticing it to swat at him. That only seemed to endear him further. Thor smiled and stood back up to his full height. Avery followed him with her eyes, careful to look away before she got caught staring. She hadn't the foggiest where he had learned about wombats, or why he would know about them before he knew about cats, but she found herself smiling the idea all the same. She hid it behind her hand, covering her mouth as she made it look like she was wiping a bit of non existent gunk off her face.

"Unfamiliar with animals my ass," Tony scoffed.

"It's a cat," Steve said, interrupting Thor before he could respond to Tony. He closed the notebook he was scribbling in and shifted in his chair, turning himself towards the center of the room where they were all gathered, per Natasha's request. "We found him under a subway platform."

"That's a gremlin." Tony stepped back when the cat turned it's lamp like gaze on him, a look of disgust on his face. "Did somebody feed it after midnight?"

"His name is Mandu and I've adopted him," Avery said, pushing past Tony to pick up the cat, slightly offended. Mandu gripped her shoulder with his claws, pressing closer to her chest. She kissed the top of his head, causing Tony to make an over exaggerated gagging noise that had no effect on her in the slightest. She was obsessed with him after about two seconds, something like Tony Stark's particular brand of insults wasn't going to change that.

"You named your cat, Mandu?" Natasha asked, confusion crossing her face for a moment before she smirked, figuring it out. "Clever."

"Thanks, I thought so." Avery beamed over at her, catching her eye for moment before they both looked away. They hadn't spoken to each other and Avery felt the distinct need to tell Natasha about the recent developments over the last few days. She thought she could keep the secret of her new power from everyone, but the more she thought about, the more she was beginning to think that it would be better if she got it out in the open before they found out and got mad at her for keeping something from them.

She would tell her when they went to lunch. Lump all the uncomfortable things into one cringe-filled outing and be done with it.

"Why is it still looking at me?" Avery turned back to Tony, feeling Mandu squirm in her arms. The cat was glaring up at Tony, tensing when he made a face, almost as if he knew how much Tony instantly disliked him.

Avery, sensing an opportunity, held Mandu up close to Tony, pushing the cat until he was almost touching his face. "He likes you. Come on, give him a kiss."

"Get it away from me."

Mandu hissed as Avery pushed him closer to Tony. She pulled him back and held him close to her chest, giving him another kiss for good measure, in equal parts to calm him down and gross out Tony. Truthfully, he smelled a bit like the sludge at the bottom of the subways mixed with a unique bouquet of rotten eggs and used underwear. She liked him though, so she wasn't going to let a little thing like excessive fur odor bother her.

"May I hold your new companion?" Thor asked, drawing her attention away from Tony and onto him once again. After a brief moment, during which she tried not to look too weird, and promptly failed miserably, she nodded and held Mandu out for Thor, pausing only to detach his claws from the skin on her arm. She stepped back, watching the cat instead of Thor. He seemed instantly at ease in his arms, snuggling into the crook of the man's elbow like he had done it before. "Do all animals here smell like him? He is rather pungent."

"No, we found him sleeping on an old dumpling box."

"And you brought it here? He could be covered in scabies."

Thor wrapped his large hands around Mandu's middle and held him up to his face. "He is rather fetching."

"Fetching," Avery repeated, giving Tony a superior look. "He also has an extra toe on each paw." Upon hearing this, Thor held him with one hand and picked up a paw with the other.

"How delightful."

"Delightful." Tony scowled at her when she echoed Thor again.

"Isn't it a little early for you two to be adopting?" Tony asked, gesturing between Avery and Steve to avoid looking at Thor dote over the cat.

"We tried the old fashioned way, but it's becoming harder and harder these days," Avery said, glancing over at Steve briefly. He was watching Thor, but she did catch him shoot her a look from across the bar where he was seated comfortably.

"Cute," Tony said sarcastically, lip curling as Thor stuck his large finger in between Mandu's toe pads and wiggled it around, smiling brightly when the cat purred in response. "Just keep it out of my lab."

"But I already put his bed in there."

"Did you buy the stuff he needs, like diapers and formula?"

"Its a cat, not a baby. And yes. I went this morning."

Tony looked over at Steve, eyebrows raised. "Is this for your new hobby of arts and crafts using cat hair?"

"You went through my stuff?" Avery asked, glaring at him for the very idea. She realized she sounded like a bratty teenager, so she cleared her throat and bit her lip.

"You left if out on the table, along with a half eaten sandwich, wasteful by the way, and a book about Norse mythology."

"The sandwich was Steve's."

"The Norse mythology was hers," Steve said, standing up.

She took Mandu back as she sat back on the couch, pulling her legs up underneath her to make room for him in her lap. She made eye contact with Steve on the other side of the room after she made herself comfortable. He smiled at her, just enough to notice but not enough for it to be obvious. Realizing that she was in a room with Tony Stark, Avery pointedly looked away, hoping to stave off the inevitable snark. "Where's Bruce?" She asked, noticing the absence of the quiet doctor for the first time. "And Clint?"

Tony flopped back into one of the chairs and rubbed his temples with a tired look on his face. He had still been up when Avery and Steve got back, puttering about in his lab with only the light from his computers illuminating his face. Too engrossed in whatever he was doing, Tony hardly noticed them, or the little addition wrapped up in Steve's jacket. It was, perhaps, a good thing, considering how he reacted in the morning. "Clint's been gone all morning and Bruce is…"

"Right here," Bruce said walking towards them from the open elevator. He stopped behind the couch, casting a cursory look over all of them. He looked tired, but no more so than the rest of them that weren't Steve, and held a cup of tea in his hand. As with every time she had been in the same room as him, Avery instantly tensed up. Tony glanced sidelong at her, raising an eyebrow at her. He, mercifully, and uncharacteristically, said nothing to make it more uncomfortable than it already was. "Nice cat."

"Name's Mandu."

"Clever," Bruce said, sitting in the last empty chair. Avery shot Tony a shit-eating grin, earning a scoff and dramatic eye roll that made her smile even wider. "Are we waiting for Clint?"

"Busy." Natasha sat down in the seat next to Avery and put her feet up on the coffee table. "In case anybody missed the memo, it's been decided that Loki will go back to Asgard once they figure out how to stabilize and channel the energy from the tesseract in a precise enough way to get everybody back in one piece. Obviously, its not going as smoothly as we hoped."

"How long?" Avery asked, idly running her finger along the underside of Mandu's chin, eliciting a purr that sounded like it belonged to a chain smoker. Tony scowled at the ball of fur in her lap again.

"If Stark and Banner would agree to help, it would go a lot faster."

"I already agreed," Bruce said, taking another small sip of tea. "It's Tony who's being difficult for the sake of it."

"It would be safer for all involved if my brother were off Midgard sooner rather than later, lest he decide to try something again."

"That'd be pretty stupid on his part," Avery mused, picking at a chunk of some unknown substance in Mandu's fur.

"I would not underestimate his desperation."

"I'm not."

"He's locked up nice and tight," Natasha said, voice casual despite the serious topic they were discussing. "Ten guard duty that overlaps every six hours." Avery shifted, remembering the last time Loki had been locked up, the assurances she imagined were passed around and, ultimately, meant very little. Loki was only part of what kept her awake, but he was enough of presence to make her feel on edge, even if he was only there in conversation. "Thor and I will be going to the facility today, if anyone else wants to join us."

"Hard pass," Avery said, without needing to even consider it.

"I'll go. Most of my equipment won't be here for a few more days anyway." Bruce drank the last of his tea and stood up, walking the cup over to the sink in the bar. Avery followed him with her eyes, hands smoothing Mandu's fur more rhythmically. It was wrong of her to look at him, or not look at him as was the case most of the time, the way she was. He couldn't control his thing any more than she could. They hadn't spoken, not that it was a great tragedy for either of them, but she did feel like she should say something to him about what happened on the helicarrier. Mentioning his other half didn't seem like it would go over particularly well, but she felt an almost unnatural need to apologize for it. "Tony?"

Tony looked up from his shoes, seemingly caught off guard at being dragged into the conversation and away from his own little world. "Yeah, I'll come later." Tony stood up and looked down at Avery, eyeing the cat in her lap warily. "Avery, Pepps wants to meet you in her office once you're ready for the day."

"I'm starting today?" Avery asked, face feeling suddenly quite pale.

"You're working for Stark?" Natasha was surprised by this information.

"I made a deal with Fury. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say he made a deal with me. Gainful employment looks better than sitting around eating cheese doodles all day, I guess."

"That's…"

"Brilliant," Tony filled in for Natasha.

"Workable." Avery smiled at the dark look Tony shot Natasha. She uncrossed her legs and cradled Mandu under her arm, standing up. Apparently, she had to get ready for the day. Wearing what, she wasn't entirely sure, but a shower would go a long way for looking presentable.

"I'll take him," Steve offered, holding out his arm for Mandu. "You need to get ready."

"Thor, you ready to go?" Natasha asked, standing up as well. She smoothed out her pants and scratched the back of her head, stepping around the coffee table. She walked over to Thor and stood next to him, absolutely dwarfed by the Asgardian.

"Can we take the," Thor started, pausing as he looked for the word he was looking for.

"Subway."

"Yes. I would like to see how Midgardians travel."

"We're going out of the city and it's faster to take the car."

Thor looked truly disappointed by that, but he didn't say anything. He nodded and headed towards the elevator with Natasha, bending down slightly to speak to her about other types of transportation that people on earth used. Bruce followed after them, leaving Avery, Steve, and Tony standing around the living around a little awkwardly. Tony waited until the elevator closed behind the other three before he turned to Avery and Steve.

"So, you two were out late." Tony looked between the two of them, an unreadable look on his face.

Avery snorted, looking down at the top of Mandu's head. The fur was matted with something sticky and brown, making her think that might not ought to be kissing him until she gave him a good bath. She tried not to make a face, conscious of Tony watching her, and shifted Mandu into a position that didn't have his head quite so close to her face. He growled.

"Did you know that there's a group of nocturnal magicians that pick a different subway platform to perform on every night?"

"No, I didn't."

"Avery spotted them. They were still there even though the subways aren't running again yet."

"He turned my shoelace into dental floss," Avery said, holding Mandu out to Steve. She rubbed the cat behind the ear, glancing up at Steve. She felt Tony watching them, causing her to step back with a blush on her face. "Anyway, Pepper's in her office?"

"She's been there all morning."

"I should go." Avery took in a deep breath and shook out her arms, bouncing on the balls of her feet nervously. "Are you going to be there?"

"She doesn't bite, Avery," Tony said, smirking. "Unless you ask nicely."

"Gross. So, is that a yes?"

"Yes, I'll be there. I have to do something first, though."

"I'll put Mandu in my room for the day," Steve said, leaning back slightly.

"Where are you going?"

"I have a meeting with Fury."Avery didn't particularly like the sound of that, but she said nothing. She looked at his face, taking note of how he blinked a bit more rapidly. She noticed he did that when he was nervous or uncomfortable. He had blinked a lot last night before he loosened up around her. She considered it quite an accomplishment that, once they got over the initial awkwardness, they were able to go almost the entire night without things getting awkward once.

It was basically the equivalent of getting a lifetime achievement award at the Oscar's for Avery.

"I'll see you both tonight," Steve said, turning to go towards the smiled at her one more time before he stepped inside, leaving the living space silent after he left.

Avery watched him before she realized she was doing it. When Tony cleared his throat, she jumped. She felt Tony's eyes on the side of her face before her gaze slid back to him, knowing the smug look was plastered all over his face. He smirked at her, waggling his eyebrows rakishly. "So you two adopted a pet together. Things must be getting serious. Should I call the wedding planner?"

"Shut up."

Avery stalked over to the elevator, knowing that it was her own fault for not being more careful around Tony.

"Don't forget to wear something nice!" He called, winking at her as the doors to the elevator closed.

Pepper Potts watched the young woman carefully, eyes following her as she walked around the large office, hands laced together behind her back, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Her two piece suit fit poorly and bagged in places it was supposed to be fitted and pulled in places it was supposed to give a little. Pepper had the sneaking suspicion that she bought it a few hours ago in a fit of panic. She didn't wear it like a woman who was comfortable business attire, or heels for that matter, but Pepper was trying very hard not to judge her. When Avery looked back at her, she turned her attention back to her file, trying to make it look like she hadn't been openly staring at her.

Pepper perused the information for what felt like the hundredth time before she cleared her throat and looked up again, smiling softly at Avery. "You're employment record is pretty extensive." Avery paused in front of the large painting above Pepper's couch, eyes following the bold lines and splashes of color. Her back was rigid when she turned around, a slight blush standing out against her pale skin. "You went to college?"

"Two years to finish." Her voice was unsure. Pepper smiled again.

"Major?"

"History and math."

"Languages?"

"Spanish and a little bit of French."

Pepper looked down at the file again, glossing over the blacked out lines curtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The deal Tony struck didn't sit particularly well with her. Of course, nothing about the last few days sat well with her, so she decided that, for the time being, she would just trust that Tony knew what he was doing when it came to hiring Avery and be done with it. That didn't make the task of placing her somewhere in Stark Industries any easier, however, so she read through the file again, hoping to find something that would stick out to her on yet another pass through.

"Have you wo…"

The door to her office flung open, cutting her off and startling Avery. Tony slipped inside and closed the door behind him, locking it with a click. Pepper rolled her eyes and set the file down, staring at Tony as he crossed the large room and dropped into one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Sorry I'm late Pepps, but it is your fault for meeting so early."

"It's noon."

"I repeat, your fault," Tony said, smiling at her when she rolled her eyes again. He had at least managed to shower and put on a clean suit, so she couldn't find it in herself to be too annoyed with him. She had only just gotten back the night before and she could already tell the invasion, and everything that went with him, still weighed heavily on his mind. "So, you got the file from some S.H.I.E.L.D. crony?"

"Are you going to explain?" Pepper sighed, looking over her shoulder at Avery. She still stood in front of the painting, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes sir?"

"Go dark."

"Of course."

Pepper stood up, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Tony."

"So, this is all technically classified," Tony started, fiddling with her paper weight with a casualness that irked Pepper. He gestured dramatically towards Avery's back and Pepper sighed, realizing she would just need to let him go through his own way of telling her, however long that might take. Avery still didn't turn around, but she could see her back tense up and her clench into fists. "Pepper, Avery. Avery, Pepper."

"We know. You were late." Pepper couldn't help but smile slightly at look on his face.

"Is this a Mondrian?" Avery asked, speaking for the first time since Tony entered the office.

"Yes, it belonged to Tony's mother."

Truthfully, Pepper had never been very fond of Mondrian, but she had never really been able to bring herself to donate it to the Met, despite the letter she received from them every year inquiring about it. "My mom took me to see some of his work in Dallas when I was seven."

"Road trip?" Tony asked, swiveling around in his seat to look at the blonde standing on the other side of the room.

"Sort of."

"Anyway," Tony said, still watching Avery as she walked over to sit in the seat next to him, even more uncomfortable looking in motion than she was standing still. "I offered Avery a job."

"I know."

"Where do you we need people?"

Pepper pursed her lips, giving it a large amount of thought. They needed people everywhere, in every department. The company was in the process of transferring its offices to New York, so the manpower was needed for all the complications that came from such a large scale move. She didn't even want to begin to think about the logistical nightmare of doing it in the aftermath of the invasion. Bodies were still on the ground, buildings still smoking, people still missing.

"What are your skills?" Pepper asked Avery after a moment, inspiring the younger woman to face her once again.

"I can bus a table faster than anybody."

Tony snorted.

"Show her?" Tony asked, turning to Avery with an unreadable look on his face. Pepper followed him with her eyes, glancing between them. Avery immediately shook her head. She sat on her hands and bit her lip, holding her ground against whatever Tony was asking her to do. "Oh, come on, kid."

It certainly wasn't the first time she had witnessed him latch onto someone, particularly someone of the opposite sex. Most normal woman would be concerned. For Pepper, that feeling couldn't be further from her mind. Instead, she was just curious. Curious to see where it would go and curious to see what sort of impact Avery would have if she stuck around.

Avery glared at him, demeanor suddenly quite frosty and closed off. She folded her arms over her chest and turned in her seat, mouth set in a hard line. "You said it would be HR."

"I'm not the CEO." Technically, not, but Pepper couldn't help but feel like Tony was splitting hairs just to be contrary. Avery seemed to think so as well and scoffed audibly, fingers tapping on her arm in annoyance. When she didn't show any signs of listening to Tony's request, he stood up and walked over to Pepper's desk. He grabbed the file, sneaking a quick kiss to her temple, and flipped it open. "S.H.I.E.L.D. redacted all the fun stuff."

"Like why you're trying to hire a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent onto your staff," Pepper said, leaning back in her chair. "The last time it happened, you didn't even know about it for months. And you've complained about it ever since."

"Avery's S.H.I.E.L.D.-light."

"That still doesn't explain it."

Avery shifted in her seat, clearing her throat to draw their attention back over to her. "I asked Tony to hire me."

"Why?"

Avery glanced at Tony, apparently not anticipating Pepper asking her that. She bit her lip, applying enough pressure to leave behind teeth marks. Sensing that she might be making the girl nervous, Pepper tried to soften her expression to appear more welcoming.

"Because she's probably an Asgardian with the power to make people reveal their deepest, darkest secrets with a single look and make giant golden walls with her mind," Tony said nonchalantly, flipping idly through Avery's folder like he had just said the most normal thing in the world. Pepper gaped at him for a moment before she managed to school her expression enough for him to continue. "And if we don't give her a job she'll end up on a beach somewhere with a piece of paper stapled to her head that says 'tamám shud'."

"Tony," Pepper admonished, giving him a stern look.

"It's probably true." Avery didn't sound offended, which was a good sign.

Pepper looked at the other woman again, sizing her up unintentionally now that she knew why Tony was so interested in her. A year ago, if someone had told her that people would be able to do things like what Tony claimed she could with her mind, she would have brushed it off as pure nonsense. But then New Mexico happened and the entire world changed. Tony changed and so Pepper had to as well. They weren't alone anymore. If that was the end of it she supposed they wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Despite knowing this, she hadn't given it much thought. She had a company to run. She had Tony to deal with. She had too much on her plate to think about aliens, or blonde Norsemen from space, or even newly thawed American heroes.

She realized the flaw in that way of thinking when she stepped off the elevator after her flight landed. She wasn't necessarily surprised that Tony would give them a place to stay, but she was a little shocked to walk inside the penthouse late at night, imagining a warm bath and some quality time with Tony, only to find it full of the world's newest team of superheroes. With the exception of Avery, of course. She had been conspicuously absent from their initial meeting. Truthfully, Pepper didn't even know she existed until Tony mentioned something about giving her a job as they were getting in bed.

Seemingly overnight, and with the help of an alien invasion, Tony had found himself a new team and a whole new set of problems that would inevitably be hers.

"So, how would you like to move forward?"

"You said HR," Avery reminded Tony again. "Not that I'm being demanding."

"What's you clearance level?" Pepper asked, a spark of an idea niggling its way forward the more she thought about it.

"I'm not entirely sure."

"But you have done field work?"

"How do…" Avery trailed off, seemingly regretting her question before she finished asking it.

"I have to find a way to keep up," Pepper explained. "Have you ever done any work in public service?"

"No."

"Government?"

"No."

"Non-profit?"

"No. I can, however, balance a trey with ten plates on it." Avery's words was joking, but her tone revealed a level of shame about her past employment that she couldn't shake. "So I have that going for me."

"How many words a minute can you type?"

"Definitely more than ten, but probably less than a thousand."

Pepper stared at Avery for a moment before she turned to Tony, tapping his leg to grab his attention. "Tony, is there something you need to tell me?" Tony looked up from Avery's file, eyebrows knitted together in confusion, apparently having tuned out what they were saying in favor of rereading something she was sure he had gone over no less than a hundred times.

"What?"

"Did you have an affair with an Asgardian and father a child that you didn't tell me about?"

"You know you're the only goddess in my life, Pepps." Tony winked at her and leaned down, kissing her quickly. "Besides, I can't be responsible for every disaster."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding," Tony said, holding his free hand up in mock surrender. "Partially."

"I'm no more of a disaster than the others."

"That's true. Rogers has more issues than Playboy," Tony paused, shooting Pepper a look. "Not that I would know. Thor has family problems that would make the Bluths weep. Which I guess are your problems now."

"Unconfirmed."

"Keep telling yourself that, kid." Tony stood up from Pepper's desk and walked back over to the other chair, holding out his hand to count on his finger. "Anyway, Natasha and Clint are spies so they probably don't even know what it's like to be normal. Fury is the head of a sneaky government organization so no further explanation needed."

"You forgot yourself."

"I've accepted my own status of living, breathing, human disaster, thank you very much." Avery rolled her eyes at him and looked back at Pepper.

"I think I have a spot for you," Pepper said, making up her mind for where Avery could work within the company after watching them banter back and forth. "What are your commitments to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Mandatory interrogations once a month for four days."

"In D.C.?"

"Yep."

"I recently acquired build permits for an office in D.C., so that's perfect."

"Pepper, you're a genius," Tony said, understanding what she was getting at before she could say it out loud. She smiled slightly, inclining her head. "Those offices were going to be based in D.C.?"

"Right now, no. This new branch hasn't gotten off the ground yet, so I planned to keep it close until it was more self-sustaining," Pepper said, glancing over at Avery. She watched them go back and forth confusion written all over her face. After thinking it over for a moment longer, Pepper decided that it was the best course of action, the only course of action, that would suit the younger woman. "There is a subsidiary of Stark Industries called the Stark Relief Foundation that provides aid to countries suffering from war, poverty, famine or widespread disease. Recently, after Tony's," Pepper paused, shooting Tony a look. He simply shrugged his shoulders. "Scuffle at the Expo, the board decided there needed to be some money set aside for incidents involving similar conflicts."

"And this involves me?"

"We've been having trouble finding people with the right kind of security clearance to work this kind of job. It was hard enough when it was just Iron Man that we had to deal with, but now it would be basically impossible."

"What would I do?" Avery asked, leaning forward slightly, shoulders relaxing slightly.

"You'd need training, obviously, and shadowing experience dealing with other relief operations. After that, we can move forward with giving you a bit more responsibility." Pepper watched the emotions on Avery's face as she worked through the offer, traveling from confusion to caution before she settled on acceptance. She relaxed even further, sinking back into her chair until she almost looked comfortable. Almost. She still seemed a bit fidgety to Pepper, but she thought that might be a personality trait more than anything else. "What do you think?"

"It helps people?"

"That's the goal."

"Specifically, people who are in the wrong place, wrong time?"

"We try and help as many people as we can, for as long as we can. I think your particular connection will help."

"I'll do it," Avery said after a moment.

"I'm digging the enthusiasm, kid." Tony smiled at the guilty look he elicited. Avery blushed and shook her head, immediately starting the process of backtracking.

"I'm sorry, I'm rea…"

"Avery, don't worry about it. I'll have Bambi come find you later today to work out the details. If you have any questions you can ask her."

Avery nodded, biting her lip. She glanced between the two of them, taking a few deep breaths before she stood up, smiling more than she had been when she walked in. "Thank you." She held each of their gazes for a moment before she turned towards the door, apparently waiting for a cue that she could leave. Pepper nodded and she immediately hurried towards the door, slipping out before either of them could call her back.

"She's a bit on the nervous side," Tony said, as soon as the door snapped shut.

"I noticed." Pepper looked up at him, studying his face carefully. "She actually has powers?"

"Yeah, and they keep getting stronger." Tony rubbed his hand over his beard. "She needs stability."

"Why do you care?" Pepper asked, curiosity getting the best of her. "You aren't normally so altruistic."

"Pepps, if somebody doesn't help, actually help her just to help, she's going to slip through the cracks. I don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Like you did?"

Tony bent down and kissed her on the cheek, smiling slightly. "Something like that."

"You're a good man, Tony Stark."

"Don't let anybody hear you say it."

"It'll be our little secret." She touched his side

"We still on for dinner tonight?"

"Bambi made reservations." Pepper turned towards her computer, glancing at Tony as he walked towards the door. "Do I need to have the contractors stay off this floor until everyone leaves?"

"That would probably be best," Tony said, body halfway out the door. "Also, up the food order."

"Already done."

"You're the best, Pepps." Tony winked at her.

"Let everybody hear you say it. In fact, shout it as loud as you can."

"Don't you have work to do?"

"I'll see you tonight," Pepper said, laughing at the look on his face as he closed the door behind him.