As always, I have zero knowledge of the Avengers' films: this is basically post Iron Man I and Thor I with some Avengers whose names I've snapped up from fanfiction tossed into the bunch!

TapTap

Afterwards, Tony was never able to pinpoint the exact cause and effect. Pepper had insisted on certain changes, after Dumm-E had dropped that wrench onto his head, but was it because of the wrench, or something else entirely? Tony grudgingly admitted internally that when it came to Pepper, he simply had no idea.

Whatever the cause had been, the effect was simple. The effect, of whatever unknown thoughts Pepper kept in that crazy CEO head of hers, was a young blond engineer standing in Tony's kitchen one morning. By the time he actually woke up, moved out of his bed and finally walked into the kitchen, she was in fact sitting at his kitchen table, a large quantity of papers spread over the surface somewhat carelessly. Afterwards, Tony would wonder if that was the first thing which endeared her to him - her daring to be a bit of a mess.

Tony stopped dead in his tracks upon entering his kitchen, wondering if he had hallucinated her presence in his Tower. The woman sitting there was fairly young, with long hair flowing down her shoulders, brushing against the table and even her hipbone - at least now, when she was slightly bent over the table to check a paper some distance from the edge.

She looked vulnerable, Tony noted, more so than any one-night-stand of his would. Paradoxically, she also looked far more confident than most people he had in his life; perhaps Natasha, Bruce and Pepper aside. Confident in that rare, silent way which didn't radiate outwards, but merely seemed genuine, and was rock solid instead of a piece in a mask. She was also a few years younger than any one-night-stand of his, whose presence he might have forgotten, would be.

As Tony moved over to get himself some coffee, she obviously heard him and she looked up, looking just a bit startled. Perhaps it was she who had at least momentarily forgotten about his presence, this time. "Oh." She smiled at him. "I didn't see you there, Mr Stark. I am Claire Thomas - your new lab assistant."

Tony raised an eyebrow, looking her over with a sceptical eye. She did have a few things going for her. Firstly, she was dressed in denim trousers and a wide, sleeveless hoodie, with something green peeking out underneath; none of those silly little costumes people wore to seem more impressive. He knew a lot about people, as well, and there was an unusual element of honesty about this one.

There was something about her hands, too: they were worn somehow, as if she'd spent considerable time tinkering with something very recently. And then there were her eyes. Those clever blue eyes directed at him, a promise that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to completely and fully keep up. At least enough to take over Dumm-E's job and be an improvement. Which was more than you could say about most people, frankly. "Did Pepper send you?"

She smiled slightly, nodding. "Yes. Miss Potts is concerned. She said to remind you that you need someone to help with your paperwork and documents in the lab. Also, that as your CEO, Miss Potts simply does not have the time to hound you about papers that needs signing... Sir." Tony saw the woman swallow.

He got the distinct impression that he made her nervous. It wasn't an unusual impression - he made a lot of people shiver in their boots - but she didn't have any of the usual tells. With her, he just had a sudden feeling it wasn't the money, status or his own reputation. Something else, then, must be why she wasn't at ease. That was new.

She was a strange one, this girl. It made him curious. Probably what Pepper counted on, he was aware. He had resigned himself to just how well that woman knew him years ago.

"She also said to tell you, to pass on a message from her," Claire cut into his thoughts, "'she's got small hands'."

Tony found himself grinning at that statement, looking at her hands. They were small, as a matter of fact. "So they are!"

To his surprise, the woman Pepper had sent to keep an eye on him did not seem to be confused at this response. "Got some very small components to put together or restricted space to work with, Sir?" At his look of astonishment at her deduction, she merely smiled and shrugged. "I am an engineer, Sir. I know my way around a a toolbox!"

Tony found himself just watching for the second time in an hour. Claire had taken to his workshop like a fish to water, pretty much straight away. After an hour-long shouting match (away from Claire, thank you very much. He might be a bit reckless occasionally, but he wasn't a dick) with Pepper, he had resigned himself to his fate and started introducing his new lab-assistant to the bots.

Pepper had assured him that the young engineer would be more than capable to lend him a hand in the workshop, but his brand of science was hardly typical, and he had actually expected her to fall flat. What he had not expected, was for her to be genuinely helpful.

She was polite to JARVIS, understood any instruction more than quickly enough - she even got along with his bots. Not that they were all that difficult, but most people tended to either get alarmed by them, lose their patience or simply not understand them. Not Claire. She had started this habit of playing with Dumm-E when Tony didn't need her within fifteen minutes of first meeting the bot, and hadn't even batted an eye when he'd asked her to stick an entire arm into the newest Ironman suit to pull out a lost wire. She really did have perfectly small hands.

Now they had spent the last eight hours in the lab, and he was starting to expect a Pepper-sponsored lecture on taking a break, eating, sleeping, any of those. Or more likely all of that stuff. She wasn't doing that, either. Now, Tony was a genius, and quite the apt reader of character, whatever people might think, and he was neither easily nor frequently surprised. This time, though, he was. And the puzzle she was quickly starting to become to him intrigued him - in between the actual work he had to do, that was.

Tony waited for the protests to come for another four hours, and she did eventually start yawning, but she didn't start nagging even then. "If you do not need me more tonight, Sir, I will return tomorrow," she stated suddenly, appearing behind Dumm-E like she'd teleported into that spot. He had honestly thought that she was somewhere in the other side of the lab.

"What, no lecture from Pepper? Or high-handed concern for my welfare?" he couldn't help but asking, some of his usual sass creeping into the question.

She rolled her eyes. "You're a genius, almost twice my age. I'm sure you figured out your limits while I was in kindergarten. As for Pep - Miss Potts, it is not my job to nag you. My job is to file away your lab reports, bring you any papers you need to sign, lend you my smaller hands, and call for her if you set fire to anything important. Sir."

It was very telling about the mysterious presence of this girl that Tony did not make a dirty joke about what he'd like to borrow her hands for, but he didn't even think of it. Well, maybe for one second, but that didn't count, surely?

Instead, Tony merely nodded, and stated, "This was a long day, take tomorrow off. I like to be alone in the lab sometimes. Come back the day after tomorrow." This, Tony was sure, was when she'd object, tell him that it was her job to keep an eye on those potential fires. Anything, really.

But she merely nodded, patted Dumm-E on his grip-claw as a goodbye and went towards the door. When she was almost there, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "What time, Sir?"

Tony found himself smiling. "Any time. But I won't be up before noon. And it's Tony."

He was still smiling as he watched her leave the tower, JARVIS lending him eyes to do so. Pepper, he privately acknowledged, though he'd never do so out loud, had probably been right. Again. Claire Thomas might just be a wonderful lab-assistant. Maybe. He'd never tell Pepper that, though. Not, he knew, that it would be needed. He had absolutely no doubt that she already knew.