Tony laid in their bed and stared at the closet door. Light streamed out from the crack, landing just upon his feet. He could see Sam's silhouette as she worked inside. Some quiet music also drifted from behind the closed doors, filling the silent room and keeping her mind entertained.

She had been in there for five hours already. Tearing his eyes away from the door, he looked at the digital clock on his nightstand.

4:13.

"Sam!" Tony yelled finally as he stared up at the ceiling. He could hear the music cease and then her head slowly poked outside. She made sure to keep the door closed so he couldn't see inside but he could tell that her eyes were getting tired due to the bags beneath them.

"What?"

"It's four in the morning. Go to bed!" He whined as he rubbed a hand over his eyes.

She simply stood there for a moment before looking back into the room. An inner battle waged in her mind before she finally sighed. She had had like three Red Bulls already and her eyes were growing heavy.

"Fine..." She muttered as she simply shut the light off in the closet before she climbed into the bed. "Tony?" She asked once they finally got settled. Tony had placed the extra pillow in between the two of them and they both stared up at the ceiling like they had the night before.

"Yeah?"

"If you go in that closet, I'll kill you." There was no playful tone in her voice. He glanced over at her and saw that her eyes didn't sparkle either. She was absolutely dead serious.

"Why? What's in there? A nuke or something?"

"Yup. And it's rigged to blow if you open the door." She muttered before turning away from him and pulling the comforter up over her shoulder before shutting her eyes and quickly being dragged under by sleep.

Tony looked over at her again before he sighed and rested his head back on his pillow. She was so confusing. All women were.

"I hate my life." She grumbled as she stole Tony's sunglasses off his face and put them over her own eyes. She also pulled her sweatshirt hood up over her ears. Feeling as though she was a bit hungover but whenever she didn't have sleep, she always felt groggy and just like shit.

Her brain was a bit dead at the moment as they walked up the front steps to an iHop, having been up all night working on Ton's present.

Stark had driven the car that morning, simply driving five minutes to get to their destination. Sam had fallen asleep in the car. On a five minute drive. Yeah. She was that tired.

They were quickly seated and Sam had sank down onto the cushion of the booth provided, letting her head immediately fall to the table before she shut her eyes in hopes of catching a few more minutes of sleep.

"Can I offer you anything to drink?" A waitress walked up and smiled brightly at them.

"We'll take two coffees." Tony said as he picked up the menu. Sam stared down into her glass of water already provided, her eyes flicking up at Tony.

"No, we'll have one coffee because I don't drink the nasty stuff... Do you have any ionized plasma instead?" Her tone was extremely sarcastic as she pulled the sunglasses down so that they rested on the bridge of her nose, looking up at the woman underneath her lashes.

"Sam!" Tony hissed a warning in her direction before he kicked her under the table. She just jumped up from her leaning position and scowled at the dark haired man across from her. Looking back at the waitress, Sam simply smiled sarcastically.

"I'll just have a Mountain Dew, please."

"Alright, I'll be right back with those drinks!" She said cheerfully before walking off, her hips swaying wildly back and forth. Sam just watched her go for a moment before pushing the sunglasses up on her face.

"Bitch." The blonde woman murmured into her water glass before taking a large swallow.

"Samantha Marie Greene!" Tony looked up from his menu upon hearing the derogatory name come from her mouth. She only scowled in the waitress's direction before growling and pulling her sweatshirt hood down further in an attempt to hide herself from the sun.

"That isn't my middle name..." She added as an afterthought before laying her head back down on the table.

"I don't care. Why did you call that nice woman a bitch?" Tony growled once again but this time Sam smiled as he tried to act like her father and try to boss her around. Sam had been her own person since she turned 18 and nobody scolded her. Well, until now.

"I don't like morning people and she just came over here, all smiley and happy and shit and I'm sitting over here falling asleep because you woke me up at 8 a.m. so that we could come eat in a fu-freaking pancake house!" She caught herself before she cursed loudly in public.

"You're making a scene!" He whispered harshly, his dark eyes flickering around the room. Sam just realized that she had been yelling and her tired eyes also darted around the room except her's were hidden behind sunglasses. Her cheeks suddenly turned bright red.

"Sorry..." She grumbled to the onlookers before shifting the silverware around that lay in front of her.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment.

"Tomorrow is Christmas." She reminded herself once again before dropping her spoon into her water glass.

"Oh, that reminds me!" She looked up at the exuberant Stark as she rose her glass to her lips and pushed the spoon to the side. "I am taking you out to dinner tonight!" Sam sputtered into her water as she took a drink.

"What?!"

"I'm taking you out to dinner. And you have to dress nice and you know, have to look like an actual member of the female sex." Sam simply glared at him and opened her mouth to say something but the girl came back with their drinks.

"Here are your drinks!" She said as she placed Tony's down upon the table. She slammed the Mountain Dew down on the tabletop in front of Sam, causing some of the liquid to slosh out onto the table. Some of it got on the front of Sam's gray sweatshirt and she jerked back, some of the liquid also hitting her face. "Oops! My mistake!" She said before smiling kindly at Sam and taking a rag out of her apron to wipe up the mess.

"Thank you... Valerie!" Tony leaned forward and read the name tag that was pinned to her apron. She simply smiled at him before nodding and taking out her order pad. Sam just wiped the excess liquid from her face.

"Okay... What can I get for the two of you?" Tony ordered an omelet and Sam looked up from the menu she had been staring at, thinking that she had her order ready.

"I'll have a platter of pancakes and a platter of waffles. Don't forget the syrup. I'll also take a plate of scrambled eggs with two sides of bacon. I want a plate of hash browns. Don't forget the ketchup. Plus, I'll also want two fresh cinnamon rolls with plenty of frosting." The waitress had started staring at Sam in disbelief the second that she had asked for a platter of pancakes and waffles. "Did you get all that?"

"O-Of course!" She said before quickly jotting down everything Sam had said. She promised them that she would return with their food before leaving.

Sam just stared at her glass of Mountain Dew for the longest time before her lip slowly turned up in a sneer.

"Tony... I'm 99 percent sure that the waitress spit in my drink..."She could see the milky substance floating around in the greenish liquid. Sam reached out and sloshed her drink around before setting it back down and making a face.

"Well, if you would have been nicer..."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have woken me up to come to a stupid pancake house..." She grumbled under her breath as she put her head back down on the table.

Tony just stared at her hard before pulling his busted phone from his pocket and glaring down at it.

After the longest fifteen minutes of her life, Valerie came back with all their food and after waking Sam up, they both thanked her and began to eat.

"Sammy?"

"What?" She said through a mouthful of waffles as she chewed.

"I'm 99 percent sure that the waitress spit in your food, too..." Sam just looked down at the copious amounts of food around her and frowned, the waffles still partially chewed in her mouth.

"Shit."

Upon arriving back at the hotel, Sam immediately rushed back to her closet and shut the door once more. And that would be the last time Tony would see her for the next five hours.

And when she did finally emerge, she quickly placed a thick lock on the door and sealed her secret project on the inside.

"Oh, good! You're alive and arrived just in the nick of time!" Tony stood up from where he had been watching TV on the couch. Quickly approaching her, he pulled his wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open.

Pulling two cards out, he held them out to her and she simply furrowed her brow and looked down at them.

"Meet me at this address at 8 and don't you dare be late!" He tapped her nose and she swatted his hand away. Simply taking the cards, she watched as the dark haired man approached his own laptop and began to surf the web. "Oh, yeah! And I'm going to need the car too so you'll have to take a cab!" Sam frowned again before she turned and headed towards the door.

This was going to be terrible. Sam absolutely hated dressing up. She hated wearing dresses. Hated wearing heels. Hated wearing make up. Just the whole bit.

As 8 o' clock rolled around, Tony frowned and pushed his sleeve back to reveal his high dollar watch.

"Come on, Sammy..." He said as he did his snap-clap that he also did when he was either antsy or nervous.

She wasn't even at the restaurant yet and the other couples around him were sending a few pitiful looks his way. They thought he had been stood up.

And Tony Stark had never been stood up in his entire life.

At 8:07 he checked his watch again and he began to tap his fingers on the table. Yup, she was daring him. She was definitely late.

"And here is your table..." Speak of the devil. Tony tucked his watch back beneath his sleeve before looking up. The waiter stepped to the side and Tony just about shit his pants as his brown eyes grew wide.

From behind the waiter came a woman. A very, very beautiful woman.

She was dressed in an elegant, floor-length dress that was the same shade of red that Tony's Iron Man suit was. It hung on her one shoulder before covering her chest and then it circled around her waist before falling gracefully to the floor around her ankles. Along the side, there was a streak of rhinestone that traveled up her back and left barely anything to cover her tan back. Her light colored hair hung in soft curls that almost seemed natural for her person. Her hazel eyes were darkened with a smokey look and for a moment, Tony just stared in wonder at how beautiful this woman was.

"Tony, stop starring!" The female said as she walked over to the table on shaky legs. She had heals on.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" Stark was able to pull himself from his drooling and he stopped and actually looked at the woman. She looks familiar...

"Well, I hope you do! You're the one you paid for all this-this...!" She gestured to herself. "Ridiculousness!" Stark did a double-take before his mouth fell open further with awe.

"SHIT... SAM?!"

"Shut up!" She hissed at him. The other couples who were dinning looked at the duo.

"Oh my God!" He stood up and nearly tripped over himself as he tried to get over to her to pull her seat out for her to sit down. Once he reached her, he pulled her chair out for her and she carefully sat down, not wanting to hurt the dress.

As Tony returned to his seat, Sam looked him over for the first time herself.

He was dressed in almost casual wear for the rich Stark. He was in a soft black tux with a white shirt underneath. A black bow tie was fastened around his neck and he straightened it out before completely returning to his seat. He even had proper dress shoes on instead of sneakers.

"Y-You look... incredible!" He gestured to her wildly before smiling and clapping his hands together.

"I feel ridiculous..." She muttered under her breath as she checked her phone for the first time in a few hours. It had taken her forever to find a damn dress to wear.

"Well, let me tell you! You look absolutely amazing and I would just like to say that you don't look like a mechanic-stunt driver lady..." Her cheeks flushed red before she reached up and carefully touched her curled hair.

"I would say that you look great too but you really dress like this almost everyday..."

"Yeah, you're right. This is casual wear for me." He said and Sam beamed over at him and he really was jealous of Thor for a moment. She really was a beautiful woman. A real catch when she actually tried to look like a girl. "I ordered our food already."

"Oh, really?"

"Yup. I ordered you three chicken strip baskets." Sam just smiled slowly.

"Wonderful."

"La da dat da da! La da dat da da!" Tony sung as they twirled together outside. The two had spent a good couple of hours at the restaurant. They ate, they drank, they danced, and they sure as hell had been merry.

Sam laughed out loud as they danced together through the snowy streets. The white powder continued to fall around them and her dress dragged in it.

Finding it odd, she realized that she was indeed a bit tipsy and found that it was plausible that she was only able to get drunk because all the food she had eaten, meaning that her stomach was full and would allow for the alcohol to take effect.

She squealed as Tony suddenly dipped her, their feet almost sliding out from underneath them on the icy surface. She held onto his neck tightly, her arms encircling it as if she clung to him for dear life. Together they continued to sway through the streets, laughing loudly and waving to random cars that passed by.

"And I'm dancing with myself!" Tony belted in a slurred way, his voice echoing off the surrounding buildings. They both laughed again before nearly falling one more.

"You're not by yourself, idiot! You've got me!" Sam protested as she leaned against him heavily.

Tripping over both their feet, Sam stumbled and Tony caught her by the wrist. Tugging her back to him, the both of them straightened up.

"Holy cow, you're drunk!" He yelled.

"I know!" Sam laughed gleefully as they swayed one more. "Where did you park the car?"

"I parked it just through that alley!" Stark pointed and together they began to stumble to the shadowed alleyway. Normally, warnings would have been going off in Sam's head. Dark alleyways were never a good sign, especially when there were only two of them and they were tipsy.

However, upon making it halfway through, two men stepped out from behind a dumpster, catching both heroes off guard.

"Give us all your money!" One of the men demanded as he flipped open his knife.

Both Avengers simply looked at the small blade, their eyes dark with the influence of alcohol.

"Is that it?" Sam asked as she looked up to the robbers' faces. The thieves simply exchanged a look before edging forward toward the two classy looking people.

"Don't ask questions! Just hand it over!"

"Or you're going to stab us?" Tony made it sound more like a question as he too stared at the blade, almost laughing at the tiny size of the weapon. However, when the second man pulled a gun out and pointed it directly at Sam's head, they both froze. "Guess not." Tony muttered before swallowing nervously.

"Hand over your cell phone and your money!" The man yelled in Sam's face, his spittle pelting her cheeks. Sam held her hands up and slowly reached down into her coat pocket, withdrawing her old touch screen.

"Here you can have it. We don't want any trouble." Sam held her hand out to the man, an idea swimming into her intoxicated mind, the alcohol beginning to wear off already. Perfect timing. "Here you go..." As soon as his hand touched her's to take the phone, she smiled and quickly placed her other hand over his.

Letting the electric current flow through her hands, the man let out a yell of pain, his face twisting up. Dropping to the ground, Sam took the gun from the man's hands and she tossed it right back over her shoulder to Tony who, after a few stumbles, was able to catch it.

The other man simply gawked at them, still holding his tiny knife toward them.

"Okay, so listen..." Sam began as she picked up her phone that had fallen to the ground in the skirmish. Her brow furrowed in dismay as she tried to turn it on, only to find that it was completely fried. Slipping it back into her coat pocket, she looked back to the final robber and shrugged. "I'm a walking taser and he developed weapons for a living..." She gestured to the man behind her. She glanced back at Tony who was still fumbling around with the gun in his hands.

"Yeah!" He insisted as he managed to click the magazine release and it fell from the bottom of the gun. It clattered to the ground and the bullets went flying in all directions.

"So, in reality, we weren't really the best people to rob..." She continued before holding her fingers up and letting sparks dance across them. "So, move along before I really get angry."

The man simply glanced down at his unconscious friend before quickly hauling him up onto his shoulders before running off. They watched the man go before Sam looked back at Tony. He had this weird look on his face and the gun in his hands seemed to have been forgotten.

"You were amazing..." He breathed suddenly. Even in her drunkenness, Sam looked down at the ground and managed to blush beneath all the make up on her face.

"I didn't really do any-" However, she was suddenly cut off as Tony tossed the gun to the side and moved across the alley in one, surprisingly fluid, movement. He was a graceful drunk after all.

His lips were on her's in the blink of an eye. He found that his drunk self was completely turned on by her confidence and power. His arms quickly circled her waist and pulled her closer before he could realize what was happening.

Sam, however, had other plans.

"Holy shit!" She yelled as she used her superior strength to pry his mouth from her's.

Tony then realized what was happening and his brown eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God, Sam!" He began to panic and he released his hold on her. They pushed each other away, the snow still falling around them.

Her own hazel eyes were wide as she gazed back at the billionaire, her mind racing a million miles per minute.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I-It was... It was..." Tony searched for the right word and his hands flailed about as he tried to get his shit together. "It was a drunken mistake!"

"Oh, so kissing me was a mistake!?" Sam yelled and her voice echoed down the alley.

"Well, yes! I-I mean no!" She sent a pointed look his way, him not knowing how to answer this question. Either way bad things would happen. "I don't know!" He cried finally. "It was a mistake because you're my best friend and I'm lonely because Pepper left me!"

Sam only stopped and looked at him for a long moment, her jaw clenched tightly. "You know what? I found us spooning the other night! Spooning!" She threw her hands up in exasperation as she began to walk away from him in her heels that Tony bought.

The alcohol was beginning to get burned off and she actually found herself walking easier. However, she soon realized that, sober, she could not walk in heels.

"Sam, wait!" He called after her as he jogged to catch up. She would have totally ran away from him had it not been from the heels and the cold.

"These damn shoes!" She screamed in frustration before kicking them off and carrying them instead. The snow be damned. She didn't care anymore.

"I can't help my actions if I'm lonely!" He told her as he still struggled to keep up with her long strides. "And I'm drunk!" He stopped walking and simply watched her back as she continued to walk away from him. "Sam, I'm sorry!" He called after her. He watched as she stopped in the alley and slowly turned back to face him.

Sighing, she rubbed a hand over her face. Her feet were getting colder the longer they stood outside. Snow continued to float down into Tony's dark hair. Sam had to admit, he did look so sad and whipped, like a beaten puppy.

"Can we just go back to the hotel, please?" She said quietly. Not answering with words, Tony simply walked passed her and began to lead her back to the car.

Tony handed her the keys because she was the most sober between the two of them. Neither said a word to each other on the way back.

Upon reaching the room, Sam pulled her key out and was about to stick them into the lock but stopped when she heard a sound through the door, their floor lobby quiet and allowing her to easily hear it. She paused for a moment before pressing her ear to the painted wood so that she could listen. From what she could make out, she discerned that there were voices coming from inside their room. Glancing back, she only watched as Tony bent down to tie his shoes so he wasn't in the room. The real question was: Who was?

She quietly slid the key into the lock but didn't turn the handle on the door.

"Tony!" She whispered yelled, motioning for him to come closer. He did so and she pointed to the door and he put his ear against it.

However, he knew something that she didn't. And things were about to become very messy.

Holding up a finger to her mouth, she silenced the billionaire and silently turned the handle before she pushed open the door. Tony watched as she disappeared into the dark room and he soon quietly followed.

She caught the bottom of her dress in her hands and hiked it up so that she wouldn't trip.

She could hear the voices coming down the hall in the living room. Quietly stalking into the kitchen, she grabbed a frying pan and continued down the hallway, her feet silent upon the floor. The TV was turned on and the lights were dark inside. She was 100 percent sure that someone was in their room and she was going to deal with it the Sam Greene way.

She could hear the familiar tune of an old western playing. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? Really?

Sneaking into the living room, she could see two people sitting on the U-shaped couch. Stepping down on the wooden floor, it creaked beneath her weight and she cursed under her breath.

Both men froze and looked at one another before pausing the movie.

Sam herself just rolled her eyes at their stupidity. It was like a six hour movie. They weren't going to miss anything if they just let it play. Plus, the beginning was kinda slow.

One of the men stood up and Sam took this as her opportunity. Rushing from the darkness, she swung the frying pan at his head. Sam, however, began to panic when he caught it in his hand.

"Get out!" She yelled as she grabbed his hand and sent some mild electric sparks through it. He cried out and released the frying pan and she brought it back to swing again but had to stop as the lights flickered on.

The change in light stung her eyes and she blinked rapidly so that they adjusted and she could see the men breaking and entering. However, what she saw next made her stall in her assault of the criminals.

"What the hell?" Sam yelled once she could properly see, dropping the frying pan so that it rested by her side. "BRUCE?!" She looked to the other man on the couch, her hazel eyes wide with disbelief. "STEVE?!"