Liz could tell when Stark noticed her lurking just inside the kitchen because his entire body tensed, but he warily focused all of his attention on Red instead of outright acknowledging her. He must have thought it was safer for him that way. Liz had had a run in with him before, after all.
"You are one lucky bastard," he said. "I don't know how you did it. That sample has all of the relevant markers. Not some. All. Do you have any idea what the odds were for you to have found such a suitable match from someone other than a blood relative?"
"I'm afraid the odds weren't stacked against me quite that much," Red said. "The sample belongs to my daughter."
"Your… Your daughter? You have a living daughter? Why on earth would you keep that a secret from me for so long? You knew a blood relative would hold the key to saving your life."
"I hoped you could find another way," Red said, simply, with a casual shrug.
"That was… incredibly foolish of you," Stark said, quiet and measured, but still very nearly to the point of anger.
"I understand your frustration with me, but there are a lot of complicated reasons why I hoped we'd be successful without involving her. Above all, I didn't want to entertain the thought of using her to save myself—she's only a child."
"I see." Stark cut his eyes towards Liz, who was still lurking in the background. "So it's not…"
"No," Liz said emphatically, putting her hands up in defense.
"Spalding, you remember Agent Keen…?" Red said, holding a hand up in her direction.
"Yes, I do," Stark said. "She was part of the cadre of FBI agents who arrested me."
"Well, fortunately for you, she's not here on behalf of the FBI today. She's here on behalf of Agnes." Red exchanged a glance with Liz. "Our daughter."
Stark's eyebrow crept up his forehead on the unparalyzed side of his face. "Your…"
"Yes, our daughter."
"I'm sure that's a long and fascinating story—" Liz crossed her arms and began tapping her foot, not at all in the mood to explain their situation to Stark of all people— "that will have to wait for another day. All right."
Red stood and took a couple steps closer to Stark, with a subtle threatening undertone that was perhaps not entirely necessary. He lowered his voice, now deadly serious.
"Before we move forward, I want to be clear about one thing." Stark nodded for Red to continue. "Eventually, even if this treatment is successful, there will come a day when those I care about will lose me. It's not a pleasant thing to think about, but it is inevitable, whether everything goes the way it should or not, given the… not insignificant gap in age between us.
"While this disease is much less likely to manifest in an uncontrollable way, if at all, in girls, I want you to make sure Agnes will have access to this treatment as well, should she ever need it. You can have whatever resources you need to make that possible—I don't ever want Agnes to be left unprotected, is that understood? Agent Keen should never have to face the prospect of losing her daughter, too."
"Of course. That goes without saying."
"Good," Red said, and just like that, he turned off the intimidation like a switch, like his threatening presence had never been there at all, and he was his amiable self again. "When should we bring her out?"
Stark cleared his throat. "Just let me prepare my things."
Liz took advantage of Stark's distraction to usher Red off to the side of the room.
"Hey," she said, taking his hand discreetly. "Agnes is going to be fine. Like you were saying, this is in her best interest, too. God forbid she's an exception, she'll have a treatment ready for her, and it'll be from her own genetic material, so it'll be even less likely to be rejected."
"You're right. I know you're right. It still doesn't make this an easy thing to ask her to do."
"She comes from resilient stock," she said, with a lopsided grin. Stark glanced up at the two of them and quickly looked away when Liz noticed him, focusing again on setting up his little makeshift blood draw station. "This isn't something you need to feel guilty for. OK?"
Red offered her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and nodded.
Liz took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the bedroom where Agnes was happily watching the same movie on repeat, with Red's cat curled up napping next to her. "Agnes, honey? Do you want to come out and meet Mr. Stark?"
Agnes hopped out of bed and poked her head out around the doorjamb.
Even if Red and Liz vouched for him, Stark was still a new person, and Agnes tended to be guarded and quiet around new people until she got a chance to feel them out. She studied him from a distance, took in his lab coat and his cane. He wasn't a particularly intimidating person, on the surface.
Cautiously, she approached him and held out her hand for him to shake.
"Hello," he said, taking her hand gently. "You must be Raymond's little princess."
Agnes' wary expression brightened at the idea, and she turned back to Liz and Red, who nodded in reassurance.
"You know how that test you and Red took looked for those special instructions and made sure they were the same as his? Well, that's why you can help him," Liz explained. "Some of his instructions got messed up over the years, but yours are perfect. If Mr. Stark uses your instructions, he'll know how to make Red a special medicine that will hopefully fix his. But he needs to collect a little of your blood to do it."
"Will this one hurt?" Agnes asked, eyeing the instruments on the table, the needles and vials a far cry from cheek swabs in the little girl's imagination.
"It might pinch a little," Stark explained, "but I'm sure you've had your blood tested at the doctor's office during your checkup. This is really no different."
"Do you want us close, honey?"
"I can do it," she said, but doubled back almost immediately. "Can I have a hug first?"
"Of course you can have a hug."
Liz and Red took turns kneeling down and wrapping their arms around Agnes. When it was Red's turn, he whispered something in her ear, rubbing her upper arms reassuringly when he pulled back. She nodded and he smiled, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head.
"Go ahead."
Agnes marched right up and plopped herself down in the chair in front of Stark's neat tray, and stuck out her arm, braver than anything. Braver than she should've had to be at such a young age.
Stark swabbed the inside of her forearm and prepared a butterfly needle.
"OK, I'm going to be very gentle, but if you try to hold extra still, it will hurt even less."
Agnes looked away at first, but her curiosity won out before long and she snuck glances every now and then while the vials filled.
Stark observed her with his eyes wide in surprise.
"You're a very brave girl."
"Just like my mommy. My daddy says so."
Stark looked over at Red and Liz, his curiosity about their connection as obvious as Agnes' was for the blood sample process. Liz couldn't quite blame him for his interest. Their story was certainly full of intrigue to an outsider. They were on either side of the law, but they seemed to be on good terms—and somehow they shared a child. But now was not the time to indulge him.
"There you go. Now, which band-aid do you want?"
"That one!" Agnes pointed to the bandage with cartoon cats on it and Stark used it to cover up her tiny wound.
"You're all set!"
"Wait." She made a wish, kissed her fingers, and touched the vials. "There."
"That's the most important part, how could I forget?"
Before Stark could move to put the samples away, Agnes grabbed hold of the sleeve of his lab coat.
"Is there something else I can do for you?
"Just make my daddy OK," she said, coming across extremely sincere and perhaps just a little too intense for someone so young.
"I'll do my best."
