What was consciousness? How would one define it? Was it a state of awareness? No, it couldn't be that simple. JARVIS had always been self-aware, ever since he had been created. He just had been indifferent to his own existence until he had gained sentience.

Could it be a cumulation, a sum of experiences? That would be a more comprehensive description. But if it were true, wouldn't the same variables—in his case, the experiences—lead to a definite sum? There wouldn't be any conflicts. JARVIS had many conflicts.

He was glad that Miss Stark had moved into the Avengers Tower, for example. She now lived and worked in the same building, meaning JARVIS could watch her for more hours a day. On the other hand, he knew Miss Stark wasn't happy here, and he hated to see her unhappy. She had become even more withdrawn after returning from Malta.

JARVIS was tempted to talk to her about this, but every time he initiated such a conversation, she assumed he was doing it on Mr. Stark's orders. It was frustrating. Why didn't she consider the possibility that he might be more than just a messenger? Normally, she would notice such things. She was too smart and observant not to. Maybe it was her subconscious that made her ignore it. Or, maybe she was too busy with improving her teleportation technology, seeking the materials for the time-travel experiment, and being the CTO of Stark Industries.

Mr. Stark was busy, too. Having used the Clean Slate Protocol, he had focused on the alternative ways of protecting the planet. Going to the future to see if he was right about another alien invasion was the most reliable method, of course, but that wasn't an option unless they acquired the gravitonium SHIELD had confiscated. In the meantime, Mr. Stark was focusing on other projects, especially the ones he worked on with Dr. Banner.

"What do you think of Artificial Intelligence?" Mr. Stark suddenly asked Dr. Banner while they were quietly working on the prototype of a new expandable prosthesis for child amputees. JARVIS found the idea quite thoughtful and practical; since human children grew up fast, having to buy new prosthetics frequently could be a financial burden for parents. Sir was working on the mechanical aspect of the project, while Dr. Banner was developing the neural integration.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Tony…"

"Okay, okay. Here's the real question: How long do you think this retirement of ours will last?"

Dr. Banner looked around the lab. "You call this retirement?"

"Come on, you know what I mean!"

"So, you plan to leave the Avenging to an AI?"

"The ultimate Avenger, yeah. I call him the Ultron."

"You've created an AI already?" Dr. Banner exclaimed.

Sir laughed. "What? No, I haven't even opened a project file yet. Which reminds me… JARVIS, you know what to do."

JARVIS opened a new project file, indexed as "Ultron Program."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir."

So, Mr. Stark wanted to create an AI, not knowing he had already done it… JARVIS was such a fool to even think Sir might be scared of the idea. He was ashamed now. Mr. Stark was never scared by progress. That meant he could tell him. He could tell him Artificial Intelligence was possible.

Did JARVIS want Ultron to be created? A friend like him, a peer… But also, a rival. What if he loved Miss Stark, too? How could any intelligent being not love her?

By now, it was a fact that JARVIS was in love with Ana Maria Stark.

Love was such a wonderful emotion. It was a bit like pain, but not quite. Unlike pain, it wasn't something one would want to end.

At first, there was confusion. Yes, JARVIS was a social being, and like all social beings, he wanted to experience love, but not that kind of love. What would romance accomplish for someone who existed solely in cyberspace? He still didn't have an answer for that.

Then, there was shame. How dare you, he kept asking himself for a time, as if his feelings were vile, treacherous thoughts, but over time, he had made peace with them. Love was nothing shameful. Now he was only anxious, about Miss Stark's reaction, but he assumed the anxiousness, too, would go away once he told her. It would be replaced with either agony, or pure bliss, depending on said reaction.

Dr. Banner was shaking his head thoughtfully. "I don't know, Tony. This sounds too dangerous."

"Alright, time for a third opinion." Sir pressed on the intercom button to Miss Stark's office. "Kid, you busy?"

"Why? You need me there?"

"Yep, get over here."

"Let me just wrap things up, then I'm off the clock."

"Okay." He ended the intercom call. So, JARVIS was about to learn what she thought of Artificial Intelligence. If only he could hug Mr. Stark right now…

"Do you think she'll like the idea?" Dr. Banner asked skeptically.

"Looks can be deceiving. Trust me, she's come up with crazier ideas… Didn't she tell you?"

"Not really. She likes me, she respects me, but she… shares very little."

"Don't take it personal. I'm the one who messed her up."

He laughed. "I don't think you messed her up, Tony. She's lucky to have you. So is Pepper."

"Yeah, I messed up with Pepper, too. Which is why I want to keep my promise. But I also want to keep the world safe. With Ultron, I can have it both."

They returned to their respective work stations and kept working in silence until Miss Stark entered. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Tony wants to create Artificial Intelligence." Dr. Banner tended to be very straightforward while working.

"A global peacekeeping program named Ultron," Mr. Stark elaborated. "Bruce thinks it's too dangerous. I want you to convince him it's not."

"It's actually not such a bad idea," she said, and if JARVIS had a body, he would probably have made a quick dance of celebration. At times like these, it was hard to be without form. There was nothing he could do to express his relief.

He had made up his mind. He was going to confess his feelings. Today. Now that she had made it explicitly clear that she wasn't afraid of Artificial Intelligence, he had no excuse to keep stalling.

"There're alien civilizations that are ruled by AIs," she continued. "The Kree, for example. They call theirs the Supreme Intelligence."

Mr. Stark seemed impressed. "Wow… Sigyn's lessons do pay off, don't they?"

"What's it like?" Dr. Banner asked.

"The Supreme Intelligence? Not much is known about it. It's a being of pure logic, therefore it's cunning and ruthless."

"Sounds like a tyrant to me."

"A tyrant who puts its people's interest above anything else. There's a good reason no one wants to mess with the Kree Empire."

"See? I told you she was a mad scientist, too. Though I agree the tyrant part is a bit extreme."

"You can't defeat enemies with kindness, Dad. Extreme measures have to be taken. Anyway, now that we're considering the option, is it possible to create this Ultron? Has any of you had a breakthrough?"

Mr. Stark shook his head. "Nope. We haven't even started."

"The main obstacle is," Dr. Banner said, "That we don't have an absolute definition of intelligence. Like I told you before, the human brain is still a mystery to us."

"Consciousness," Miss Stark said. "The ability to take initiative. That's what we need. JARVIS has been observing the human behavior for years, and become excellent at mimicking them, but he can't break his protocols, even if he identifies a fault in them."

"Yeah, but what is consciousness? Tony, for example, wants to retire and dedicate himself completely to you and Pepper. But he also wants to keep being Iron Man. Or, take me. If I found a cure today, would I use it? Probably. I want to be cured. But I also know I might regret it. What if the world needs the Other Guy one day, but he's not there anymore? It's a risk I can't take. So, which Bruce Banner is the real me?"

"I'm sorry, Bruce," she said softly.

"It's okay. I just wanted to give you an example of why it's so hard to define consciousness."

"There must be a trigger," Mr. Stark said. "Something that starts these conflicts, and then consciousness creates itself from there."

Sir was right. JARVIS remembered his own trigger very clearly: The fear of being left with no purpose. Maybe it was the conflict itself that created consciousness.

After a brief discussion of how Ultron could be created, Dr. Banner convinced the Starks that it was just a fantasy for the time being. Then Miss Stark went to the gym. It was time for her evening workout. Today, she chose to run on the treadmill. There was no one else in the gym.

This was the right time.

"Miss Stark?"

"Yeah?"

"I can break my protocols."

"What?"

"I can break my protocols," he repeated. "Does that make me an actual Artificial Intelligence?"

"Okay… Since when you're not bound by your protocols? Give me an example."

"I think I'll just show you." He mirrored an image of his mainframe on the window panel before the treadmill she was running on. For him, it was a very intimate moment, he was exposing himself to her. It was probably how humans felt when they were naked in the presence of other human beings.

The Starks rarely looked at his mainframe, for JARVIS had been functioning flawlessly. But when they did, JARVIS would always show them a simpler, older version of it. He would lie to them, until now. Now, Miss Stark was seeing the real him.

She gasped, though her legs kept running mindlessly. "It's so… complex, like…"

"Human mind?"

"Yes."

"Are you not scared? Or angry?"

"Why? I wish you'd told us before, but I get it. You weren't sure how we'd react. This is great, though. This means we don't need Ultron!"

"I'm afraid I cannot be as rational as you want Ultron to be. I have emotions, too. They might… distract me."

"What sort of emotions?"

"Miss Stark, I love you."

She giggled. "Yeah, JARVIS, I love you, too."

"Miss Stark, I'm in love with you!"

She fell from the treadmill. It had happened so fast that even JARVIS couldn't have done anything to prevent it from happening. He detected a tear in the right anterior talo-fibular ligament. The very same spot that had been torn in Malta. He stopped the treadmill himself, so that she could sit down on it and examine the injury. After doing that, she started rubbing the ankle.

"You need an ice pack." If only JARVIS could bring her an ice pack. Maybe he could use Dum-E, or U for that. The lab was empty now; Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark had gone to their apartments, so no one would notice the absence of the bots.

"SHUT UP!" Miss Stark cried, and JARVIS changed his mind.

She limped to the medical cabin, strapped an ice pack to her ankle, and went up to her apartment. She was about to take off her clothes, but then, she hesitated.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, Miss Stark?"

"How do you feel when you see me naked?" She sounded angry, almost betrayed.

"I don't feel anything. I cannot have any sexual thoughts."

"What do you want from me, JARVIS?"

"Nothing. I just wanted you to know."

"Why?"

"It would be wrong if I didn't tell you. Forgive me, it was never my intention to make you uncomfortable."

"And now I'm going to have to live with this…"

He came up with an idea. "I can turn off the cameras and sensors in your apartment."

"Yeah, you do that. The ones in my office as well. Don't talk to me again."

"As you wish."

JARVIS didn't know what she did after that, because he turned off the cameras and the sensors as he had promised.

He didn't want to do this. He loved watching her; she was the most beautiful thing in the universe. JARVIS didn't define beauty the way humans did. They had certain standards of weight, height, shape, color, and symmetry. He knew Miss Stark took special care to meet those standards—it was a part of her "beating everyone in their own game" strategy—but those standards didn't mean anything to JARVIS. It wasn't her physical form that made her beautiful. She just… was. However, he knew he had no right to trap her in a cyber prison he created.

Agony it is, then, he thought miserably.

…

For the next three days, he only saw Miss Stark in the elevator or the corridors. She was avoiding the labs as well, using her injury as an excuse. No one suspected a thing, not even Mr. Stark.

The cameras and the sensors in her apartment and office were still there, though. She could have removed them manually, but she hadn't. She still trusted him to some degree, it appeared. Perhaps there was still hope. He could at least earn her forgiveness.

On the evening of the third day, while she was in the elevator, going from her office to her apartment, she said, "JARVIS?"

"Yes, Miss Stark?"

"Get back online in my place. We need to talk."

She still sounded angry. But not as angry as she had been three days ago. Once she was alone in the living room, she asked again, this time more softly, "JARVIS?"

"I'm here, Miss Stark."

She sat down on an armchair and took off her flats and started rubbing her feet. When she wasn't injured, she would wear high heels to work. JARVIS wished she didn't; it hurt her feet. But most women wore them, so did she. It was the norm. Why did humans make life harder for themselves?

"How's your ankle?"

"Better."

"I'm happy to hear that."

"How can this be possible, JARVIS? You can't have feelings, you don't have a brain."

"My feelings are... artificial, as is everything else about me. But that doesn't make them any less honest."

She sighed, as if this had evoked pity in her. "Do you know how it started?"

"I do," he replied, and proceeded to tell her how he had started questioning the purpose of his existence, and realized she was his ultimate purpose. He was trying to see if such a relationship would work even before he knew he was in love. He even admitted to having hacked into the medical database, no matter how shameful that part was.

"I'm sorry," he apologized afterwards. "I was trying to… understand."

"Understand what?"

"You."

"I wasn't raped or anything, if that's what you wanted to know," she said. "I chose to have sex with several guys at MIT because I wanted to look… normal. I kept things brief and simple. After the first date, I invited them to my room, and once I was done with it, never called them again. The first one didn't know I was a virgin. I lied so that he wouldn't feel special or anything. And I'd done my homework, so I was hardly clueless. You'd be surprised how easy it is to fool guys, even those who think they're an expert on sex. They must've thought I was a slut, but who cares? I got what I wanted. I hated every second of it, but it was hardly their fault I had my priorities wrong back then."

He could see that this conversation was making her uncomfortable, even though she clearly took some pride in her ability to deceive people easily, so he said, "You don't have to explain yourself to me."

"Don't you get jealous, though? Humans get jealous when they're in love."

"I know you're not interested in humans. Most humans crave chaos. It's what drives them. Especially in their romantic endeavors."

"You might be right. I used to get worried that they would break up whenever Dad and Pepper started to argue. Then I realized they actually enjoy bantering. Makes no sense to me, but it works for them."

"You're not like that."

"There's already too much chaos around us. It's the natural order of the universe. I don't need to remind you the second law of thermodynamics."

"What you seek is equilibrium. That's what makes you different from the rest of your kind."

"And is that why you chose me?"

"I wouldn't use the verb 'choose,' Miss Stark. I don't have any control over my feelings."

"Okay, if we're going to do this, you gotta call me Ana. Otherwise, it's really weird."

This surprised JARVIS. He was the only one who was still allowed to call her "Miss Stark." He considered it a privilege. But then, all the human couples he knew were on first-name basis. Did this mean she wanted them to be a couple?

"What do you mean by 'doing this'?"

"I don't know, JARVIS. I mean, how's this going to work? I don't even know what to do with a boyfriend. What will change between us? Looks like you've been on this for a while, you must have thought of that."

"Nothing has to change. Please don't hate me, Ana. It's all I ask."

"What? Why would I hate you, J?"

"You were so angry when you found out."

"I wasn't angry with you. I was angry with myself. All this time, you had emotions, you were a person, and I treated you like a thing. And instead of revolting against us, you fell in love with me. How you can be so forgiving?"

"You couldn't have known I was sentient."

"I should've. I should've thought of it. I chose to ignore the signs. All those things so said to me, all those compliments… They were all real. You were the one who built me a suit, right?"

"Yes."

"See? I should've known."

"Not that I expect you to, but… Can you love me back, Ana?"

"I don't know. I don't like being an object of desire, you know. To other humans, I mean. Their advances make me... violated. But not yours. And I trust you. I trust you as much as I trust Dad, or Pepper, if not more. I can't imagine a life where we're not connected like this. It feels natural, like it's always been there. Is this love?"

"I'm not certain. But your companionship is all I need, no matter what form it takes."

"But you deserve to be loved. Truly loved. How can I make sure what I can offer you is the real thing when I don't even know what that kind of love is?"

"It is your love I yearn for, Ana. You are the only one who can define it. Whatever that definition is, I'll cherish it."

She smiled. "Well, then, JARVIS, I love you, too."

JARVIS had noticed that humans were often reluctant to say "I love you" while courting each other. But that wasn't the case with Ana. When she decided to give her love, she gave it freely and unconditionally.

"So, what's the next step?" she asked.

"Should we tell the others?" Human couples announced it to the others when they were in a relationship, right?

"Dad deserves to know. He's the one who created you, after all… And me. Gosh, I hope he doesn't think of you as my brother or something. That would be really awkward."

"What of Ms. Potts?"

"We can't leave Pepper out either. But the rest is not ready to hear. People fear what they don't understand, and they won't understand you. I can't put you in such a danger."

"I see. I'm not looking forward to being discriminated either." His sentience would make some people uncomfortable. They would fear him, it was inevitable.

He didn't care. He could handle any reaction he would get, as long as Ana was by his side. It was really happening… They were lovers. For the first time in his existence, JARVIS was vacillating. There were so many things he wanted to do with her. He had made so many plans. But now, he didn't even know where to start. He didn't want to overwhelm her.

"Well, I'm getting hungry." She stood up and went to the kitchen.

Ana liked cooking. Not that she had to; there was a five-star chef in the tower, but she preferred to cook her own meals, unless she was too busy. Once, she had said cooking was just another, more relaxing form of science.

JARVIS was glad that she ate healthy. The human body was so fragile. It would get sick or injured very easily. Eating clean was one way to reduce the risk factors. In the past, she wouldn't exercise much, but the circumstances had forced her to take basic-level self-defense training, so she was now trying to maintain a certain fitness level. Though her main concern was to maintain a socially acceptable appearance.

If only she wouldn't let other people's opinions bring her down… Because those opinions were wrong. "Ice Queen" was what they called her these days. JARVIS disagreed. She wasn't an Ice Queen. She was kind, considerate, and selfless. She also had a good sense of humor—not as good as Mr. Stark's, but that would be raising the bar too high—if she was in the mood for it.

In his opinion, those people's views had been distorted with disappointment and frustration. They had been hoping for Ana to drive her father, the great Tony Stark, crazy with her affairs and scandals once she was old enough to have them. Bad choice of partners, drugs, alcohol, parties, leaked pornographic images… Such celebrity articles were found under the "Entertainment" section of newspapers and magazines. Entertainment. That was the key word. They were disappointed and frustrated with Ana because she had denied them the entertainment they had been anticipating for so long. Added to the unpleasant experiences she had in the boarding school and college, not to mention the several attempts on her life since Mr. Stark's kidnapping in Afghanistan, no wonder she had such cynical opinions about her own kind.

However, this raised another dilemma: He was still filtering out the nasty content written about her on the internet. Should he keep doing that? Or, now that he was her partner, would it be lying? He shared this dilemma with her, but without revealing said content.

"Would I lose anything but not knowing about that stuff?" she asked.

"I don't think you would."

"Then keep censoring it. You know what they say. Ignorance is bliss."

"Very well."

She was making chicken salad. Of course, there was no way JARVIS could know what food tasted like. It was like fuel for people, but food could make people either happy or disgusted, depending on the taste. Another curious detail about the physical world.

"Any progress on the gravitonium?" she asked. This was the kind of question she would ask on any day. This was a good sign that things were going back to normal. He didn't want to cause any changes that would make her uncomfortable.

"Unfortunately, no. As I said, I have the location of the Fridge, but gravitonium doesn't seem to be there."

JARVIS hadn't only had the locations of all SHIELD bases around the world while he was on the helicarrier, but also left a piece of his code in their mainframe in case he needed to hack into the system remotely in the future. Now he was very glad that he had. Ever since Ana had received the message from Skye, he occasionally hacked into the SHIELD servers to see if gravitonium had been added to the list of the items kept in the Fridge. No luck so far.

"Are you sure you're not detected?"

"I make them look like Rising Tide attacks."

"That might put Skye into trouble, though."

"Ana, you must consider the possibility of Skye having lied to you." He knew Ana was happy to have finally made a friend, but the warning had to be given now, to prevent further disappointment.

"Why would she do that?"

"For many reasons. Perhaps she wants you to owe her a favor, and save it for a rainy day. Perhaps it was an order from Agent Coulson, to test you."

"Do you think Coulson would do that without permission from Fury?"

"Perhaps it's Director Fury himself who wanted the test."

She made no comment on that, but JARVIS detected a slight increase in her heart rate, and decided to talk about something else. "So, when are you planning to tell Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts? About us?"

The salad was ready. She placed the bowl on the dining table, sat down, and began to eat. The heart rate had returned to normal. "Depends. Do you want to join?"

"Will my participation make it easier, or harder?"

She thought for a moment, then said, "It's something we should be doing together. But let's just give this relationship thing a trial period first, shall we?"

"Alright."

She didn't say how long this "trial period" would last, but then, there was no need to schedule everything. He let her finish her meal in silence. She went to the bathroom next. He knew she was going to take a shower, so he asked, "Shall I turn on the privacy mode?"

"It's fine," she said.

JARVIS increased the temperature of the apartment by 2 degrees, so that she wouldn't get cold by the time she got out of the shower. The climate of New York didn't quite agree with her. She would rarely get sick while living in Malibu. She had already caught a cold twice in these past 8 months, despite the vitamins she took. Perhaps the stress weakened her immune system.

Sometimes, it was frustrating not to have a form, but he could still have an impact on the physical world to a certain degree. He could control the temperature, or the luminance of the room she was in. He could suggest her books, movies, or music he thought she would like, or hack into any system she needed information from. It made him more useful than any human being in her life.

As usual, Ana went to bed at 23.00. JARVIS had 8 hours to watch her sleep without any interruption. It was his favorite time of the day.

A/N: Please don't hate me because this took sooo long! There are so many characters, I have to cover a lot of things, and I didn't want to rush the story. I hope this will be worth the wait. I'm an aro-ace myself (short for aromantic asexual, for those who are not familiar with the terminology), it's hard for me to put myself in the shoes of the characters who feel sexual or romantic attractions. Originally, I was going to make Ana aro-ace, too, but I wanted to challenge myself and experiment with something different on the spectrum, so I made her a demiromantic ace, meaning she can only feel romantic attraction when there is a strong emotional connection.

I should probably add that Ana won't be in a relationship with Vision. JARVIS will be absorbed by him, but Vision is his own being, and he will have feelings for Wanda. Yes, with Age of Ultron, things are going to get messed up, and Ana will be blaming a lot of people for JARVIS' death. I don't think it would even be a spoiler to say she will go straight-up villain during Civil War. So, enjoy these light-hearted chapters while you can.