I under estimated how awkward and strained things were going to be between Natasha and Clint. Over the next few weeks, the only progress was Clint would give Natasha a one worded answer. Occasionally. Most of the time her attempts to speak to Clint were met with a blank stare or a grunt. Jared didn't get much better from Clint. I felt like I was caught between my parents while they were fighting. I was having to relay messages between everyone. Even Coulson was at his wit's end with it all. People knew something was going on, but no one was game to ask what actually happened. By the end of the month, I was ready to kill both of them. On top of that, I was trying to be a good friend and help Sam through his broken heart. Both of us ended up spending a lot of times at Evans house over those weeks. Sam's arm wasn't progressing well, the bone wasn't mending. Instead of his brace that he first had, the doctor switched him to a full arm cast to try and keep the arm stable. It was miserable for Sam in the scorching summer heat we'd been smashed with.

Jared got out of it easily. When he realised he wasn't getting anywhere with Clint in the first week, he requested a mission. I hadn't seen him since then. Gareth went back to work after his week off and he'd been too busy to come up. To make matters worse, we all got extremely busy at work. SHIELD was about to launch its Helicarrier program and we were training our asses off for the security side of it. Clint hadn't been able to go see Laura and the kids. This put him in an irritable mood on top of his already shitty mood with Natasha.

The next problem I'd been having was the ridiculous amount of money sitting in my account. Now that I was seeing Riley's SHIELD and family payments go in there every month, I was feeling very weirded out by it all. I knew Riley was well off, but actually knowing the exact amount going in there every month was an entirely different matter. His life insurance payment and inheritance that was paid to me allowed me to buy my apartment outright. A terrifying prospect that I know owned two pieces of real estate and I was only 25. My credit card and motorbike got paid off and with my own comfortable SHIELD wage, I wasn't really making a dent in any of it. I didn't want to be irresponsible and piss my way through the money on stupid things. So I turned to the only person I knew who might be able to help. Pepper.

I was nervous as hell sending her that email, asking for some financial help while stressing to her that I definitely didn't need to borrow money. That I needed to do something smart with some money I'd gotten. In her usual fashion, Pepper was amazing. She set up meetings for me with Stark Industries financial advisors. I had to give it to her financial advisors, they were ridiculously efficient. An hour after my response from Pepper, the financial advisors had sent me a range of options for investing, shares and a lot of other stuff that had gone over my head, to read over before I had my meeting. I was having dinner with Pepper afterwards. Coulson let me have the day off so I could drive up to New York. It was a much needed break from everything.

I was only mildly surprised when Sam asked if he could come with me. He was bored and lonely since he still wasn't back at work. I'd found out that Riley had left him some money too. Like me, Sam paid his bills off, paid off his mortgage and found himself a bit lost with what to do with the remainder of the money. A text to Pepper had Sam set up with his own meeting with Stark Industries financial advisors. Sam looked positively giddy with excitement when I told him I set it all up for him.

It was nearly lunch time and Sam and I were pulling into the garage of the SHIELD headquarters in New York. Sam was in a good mood and was an excellent road trip buddy. We both looked like unsupervised children while picking out snacks. We had similar taste in music and neither of us could sing. But it didn't stop our hour long concert, singing along terribly to my random playlist as we hit the edges of New York City and crawled our way to Manhattan. SHIELD headquarters was half a block away from Times Square and the traffic was horrific, even by New York standards. Sam had been laughing his ass off at my road rage.

I hadn't told my parents I was coming today. It was going to be a little surprise for them both. Mom and Dad had lunch together every Friday. Mom often joked there were some weeks that it was the only time she saw Dad. With the promise of free food, Sam was more than happy to tag along with me. Sam had gotten along well with my parents when I was in the hospital after Pripyat, so there wasn't going to be any awkwardness.

We went to Dad's office first. I knew he was most likely to be neck deep in something and need prodding to remember what time it was. His old personal assistant used to be amazing for keeping Dad on track. She was on maternity leave and I hadn't met his new assistant yet. Sam and I chatted on the trek down into the bowels of the building. R&D was five stories underground. Dad had been adamant about keeping his old office, saying he needed to be close to everything to run things properly. As we reached his office, the glass doors slid open and an unfamiliar face glanced up at us from behind her desk.

I was slightly taken back at Dad's new assistant. She was my age and gorgeous. Long brunette hair was impeccably straightened. Her make up was minimal, but flawless. Green eyes looked between me and Sam, arching a delicate pencilled in eyebrow. I didn't miss Sam's start of surprise at the brunette beauty in front of us. Dad had a rule about hiring an assistant that wouldn't be distracting for the geek horde, as he called the workers in R&D. This assistant wasn't the usual type.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely. Her eyes quickly danced down to her computer. "Paul is in a meeting with Eva right now."

I held back my snort of laughter. Mom always joked that Dad's workshop was his other wife and he should at least give her a name. Dad jokingly named his workshop Eva and it became his subtle way of avoiding any unscheduled visitors.

"I'm sure Eva won't mind," I said sweetly. "I'm Paul's daughter, Kari."

"Oh!" The assistants' eyes widened in surprise. "Shit, I'm sorry. I was trying to work out why there was such a resemblance. Now I feel like an idiot. Go on through."

"This is my friend, Sam."

I gave Sam a none too subtle elbow in his ribs. He'd been standing there staring during our exchange.

"Hi, I'm Sam." He nearly tripped over his own feet in haste to move towards her desk.

I nearly choked trying to stop myself laughing at Sam. He was normally so smooth with women. His brain must have switched off today. Either that or the sugar crash from that entire packet of Twizzlers and Skittles was coming to haunt him at the worst time possible.

"Yes, I got that." The assistant's smiled at him. "Can I get you a coffee?"

I left Sam to embarrass himself in front of the pretty assistant and slipped away. Dad's workshop was a few doors away. He liked to keep his office work and other work separate. I think it was also an excuse to avoid doing any office work he had. I put in his pin code and the door let me in with a quiet beep.

The workshop was in its usual state of chaos. There were parts covering every bench. A few weapon prototypes hung on the walls. One of them was a bow. Amongst the high technology weapons, the bow certainly stood out. It was smaller than Clint's usual ones. Curiously, I went over and took it off the wall. Whatever it was made of, it was extraordinarily light. Even lighter than Clint's usual bows. They weren't exactly heavy either. The grip was right handed as well.

"Kari?"

Dad's voice made me nearly drop the bow in surprise. He wasn't anywhere to be seen when I walked in.

"Hi." I turned around with a smile. "Surprise?"

"Surprise all right. Come here, kid." Dad's face broke into a bright smile. He opened his arms.

Still holding the bow, I walked over and hugged him hard. It had felt like an eternity since I'd last seen him.

"What are you doing here?" Dad asked as he hugged me back. "Not that I'm complaining about the surprise, but I know you guys are neck deep in training for the Helicarrier launch."

Dad's entire department was probably neck deep in work for the Helicarrier's first launch. Everyone important would be there, including the World Security Council for it.

"I'm meeting with Pepper later on and I thought I'd surprise you and Mom." I let him go and took a step back. Dad always looked tired thanks to his work schedule, but right now he looked exhausted. "I begged Coulson for the day off. I'm his only well behaved child so he gave it to me."

"Story of your life," Dad said with a chuckle. His eyes went to the bow in my hands. His entire face lit up as he motioned to it. "Do you like it?"

"I do." I shifted the bow in my hands. It felt like it was made for my hands. Even the grip was perfectly moulded for me. "Did you make this for me?"

Dad nodded eagerly. He motioned for me to follow him down into the depths of his workshop.

"Don't tell your mother, she'll kill me," Dad said casually as he led me to one of the cleaner benches. Well, cleaner by his standards. "But I got this idea after your last mission."

"Isn't there usually a monetary reward with those words?" I asked cheekily. Whenever Dad wanted to hide something from Mom, he wasn't above bribing Jared and me for our silence.

"You've got more money than me, so I'll buy you lunch instead," Dad said with a laugh. He picked up a strange looking harness off the table. "I know you like to use the bow and a sniper rifle. I imagine it was awkward as hell trying to carry it all."

Dad wasn't wrong there. He motioned for me to hand the bow over. I did without hesitation, keen to know where he was going with this.

"So." Dad put the bow in the right hand side of the harness. "Then you put this here."

He picked up an empty quiver on the table. It wasn't any different than Clint's ones. It slotted perfectly in the middle of the harness. Dad picked up something a model weapon replica that looked like the CheyTac.

"Then, this goes here." Dad put it on the left side of the harness. It all sat together perfectly. "Now try it on.

I eagerly took the offered harness from him. It was a simple but genius idea. There was still some weight to it, but there was no awkwardness as I slid it on. After a little bit of fiddling with the straps, it fit perfectly. The shoulders were padded and were wide enough I could easily add some ammo pouches along them if I wanted.

"This is awesome." I grinned as I looked over my shoulder. I took the bow off and it slid out without any problems. Testing the bow like I was firing, I was able to use both arms easily. The CheyTac and quiver were both offset perfectly for the range of freedom.

"Good, I'm glad you like it." Dad looked extremely pleased with himself. "It's still got a few things to work out like I'm trying to improve the quiver weight for both of you. The bow is a new lightweight material that will probably be fine for you, but the stress Barton has his bow's under, it might not work."

Dad talked at a million miles an hour when he was excited about something. This was no different. I was really touched that he specially made something for me.

"And I'm also working on this. Take that off and wait here." Dad was talking so fast I barely understood him.

Before I could give him any sort of confirmation, he was hurrying off to get something else. I laughed to myself as I undid my new harness. I liked it was the way it was. But Dad always wanted to make everything bigger, brighter and better. It was crazy how his brain ticked over with all of these ideas.

"Your new assistant is far too pretty to be your assistant," I called out, my voice echoing around the vast space. "Do your socially awkward geek horde spend all their time in your office at the moment?"

"She's a temp," Dad called back, humour clear in his tone. "Rebecca is only here for another week until I get my non distracting, but less competent new assistant back. The first day she was here, she put mace spray on her desk in full view. Funnily enough, no one bothered her after that. I'm tempted to keep her."

I laughed at the mental image. I liked Rebecca already and I'd only spoken a few words to her. I hoped Sam had managed to untie his tongue and speak to her properly. He needed something good in his life right now. Dad was back not long after with something that looked very similar to my CheyTac case.

"I've solved your problem of having to sacrifice distance for something lightweight." Dad put the case on the table, sending various parts scattering everywhere. "It's almost ready for you to field test. This is one of a kind I've designed just for you."

With a flourish, Dad turned the case around and presented me with the new toy he was so excited about. I blinked in surprise at what was in the case. It looked like a CheyTac but when I picked it up, I felt an immediate difference. It was even lighter than the AWSM. I turned it in my hands, admiring every inch of Dad's handiwork. It was very impressive, even by Dad's standards.

"I'm hoping when you field test it, that you get the same range as the CheyTac with it," Dad said while I was playing with it. "You can actually thank Tony Stark for the metal configuration I used in it. The man is an arrogant dick but he knows his stuff."

I nearly dropped my new toy in surprise at Dad's statement.

"Since when do you have Stark's contact details?" Before I broke what was probably a very expensive weapon, I put it back in the case. I was already dying to take it out and see what it could do.

"Since you babysat him," Dad said casually. "He emailed me after the whole disaster in New York at the Stark Expo wanting some input on War Machine's weapon systems. That guy, Hammer, really fucked things up."

That had been months ago. Clint and I were still in New Mexico when the Hammer drones were set loose on the Stark Expo.

"So I put another set of eyes on the work. We argue more than we get along," Dad said with a chuckle. "I enjoy the challenge of it, to be honest. Becoming head of R&D is more paperwork than doing anything useful. Do you like your new toys?"

I knew Mom's job involved her being buried in paperwork more often than not. No doubt Dad's position would be exactly the same. It would be worse for Dad because he was one of those people who couldn't sit still to save his life. How he even managed to sit down long enough to actually gain his PhD I'd never know.

"I love my new toys, thank you." I went and hugged Dad again. "We better get upstairs to Mom before she starts thinking you've forgotten her."

I couldn't think of anything else to add to the amazement that Dad was inventing things just for me. I never knew if he approved of me being in STRIKE or not. He didn't voice his opinion on the matter to me. This didn't quite feel like approval but he was doing things to make sure I was well equipped. I hugged Dad a little harder for that.

We left the workshop and went to get Sam from the office. I'd expected him to be his usual charming self by now, but he was awkwardly standing there with a cup of coffee. Rebecca was gently probing a conversation out of him. Poor Sam, he really wasn't at his best today.

"Can I get your number?"I asked Rebecca in a pause in the conversation. I decided to be a good wingman for Sam since his sensible part of the brain had shut off. He deserved something to make him smile at the moment.

"Sure." Rebecca didn't hesitate. In a few seconds, she had her number scribbled out on a post it note. "You're welcome to pass it to someone if he ever wants to have a coffee with me."

I'd never seen Sam blush so hard in all the time I'd known him. Even coming out of Jared's room still doing up his pants with all of us gaping at him hadn't caused him to go this red.

"Thank you," I said smugly, taking the piece of paper off her. There was nothing subtle about the way I stuck it onto Sam's cast. "There you go. We're here all weekend so if you don't call, I will."

"I look forward to hearing from either of you." Rebecca shot Sam a flirty smile. "But if you want to grab a coffee with me as well, Kari. I wouldn't mind."

Poor Dad nearly choked on his own tongue at Rebecca's comment. The meaning behind her words was very clear. Rebecca wasn't fussy with either sex by the flirty tone she used with me. Either that, or she was trying to rile Sam up.

"We're going to lunch," Dad said hastily, pushing me towards the door. "My phone is on if you desperately need me."

I grabbed Sam and pulled him away from embarrassing himself. It wasn't until we got into the elevator that his wits came back.

"I'm an embarrassment to STRIKE men everywhere," Sam said with a groan, taking the post it note off his cast. "I felt like a teenage boy seeing a pretty girl for the first time."

"You looked it too." Dad didn't hold back. Subtlety was never Dad's strong point. "I've seen my geek horde be smoother than you."

I gave Sam a reassuring pat on his good shoulder. I wasn't going to add to his embarrassment. He'd done a good enough job of that himself.

Mom was just as surprised to see me. Lunch became a very extended lunch and none of us were in a hurry to leave. It wasn't until my phone went off as a reminder about my meeting at Stark Industries that I dragged myself away.

Sam got a good laugh at my second round of road rage as we drove over to Stark Tower. Pepper had arranged for both of us to stay there the night. I was more than happy to take up that offer. Last time I'd stayed with Gareth, the room Pepper had given us was nicer than any fancy hotel. Gareth and I had made good use of the large shower in the morning. The adjustable jets from every direction were a lot of fun.

The elevator from the garage took us straight to the top floor where our meetings would be. Pepper was still dividing her time between LA and New York. I had no idea where she was most of the time unless she told me. Stark Industries in New York was up and running mostly smoothly. Pepper was hoping to be able to commit to one spot indefinitely sometime soon. She wasn't able to meet us before the meetings, but she promised she would be waiting for us as soon as she was done.

"Welcome back Agent Lyngley and Agent Parsons," JARVIS greeted both of us as soon as we stepped into the elevator.

Sam visibly jumped, looking at the ceiling. It was funny watching him instantly go for where his sidearm holster should have been. Some habits were hard to break.

"That's JARVIS, he runs everything," I explained to Sam, smothering back my laughter. "He's a computer program."

"Now I don't want to sleep here." Sam looked back up at the ceiling. "I've seen far too many cheesy horror movies where the robots turn on people."

"I assure you, Agent Parsons, I have no interest in gathering a form and murdering you in your sleep," JARVIS said smoothly. "I would be more worried about Dum-E dousing you with a fire extinguisher in your sleep. Though he is not here, he's back in Malibu."

"One of Tony's robots," I explained to Sam as he glanced at me for clarification. "When Stark was testing his Iron Man suits Dum-E would always spray him, whether he was on fire or not."

Pepper had shown me the footage one day. I was tempted to steal it and put it on YouTube. I'd never seen anything funnier than Stark trying to figure out how to get his flight stabilisers to work and watching him get thrown into the walls.

"Will we get to see the infamous Tony Stark?" Sam asked, his lips twitching in an attempt not to laugh.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said with a shrug. "Last time I was here with Gareth, Stark made an appearance for about three seconds before disappearing. We don't exactly get along."

As much as he tried, Sam didn't quite hold back the scowl when I brought up Gareth. Despite not killing each other on Valentines Day, Sam really hadn't warmed up to him at all. I kept them apart as much as possible. I never knew what to say in this circumstance. I don't know if the roles were reversed, whether Riley would be getting the disapproving looks that I was getting from moving on. Well, trying to. I was very proud of my latest round of progress with anything to do with Riley.

Luck was on my side as the elevator doors slid open on the floor where our meetings were.

"You are in the third room to the left, Agent Lyngley," JARVIS said before I could pull out my phone to double check. "And Agent Parsons, you are second to the right. Your respective people are already waiting."

"Thank you JARVIS." This time it didn't feel quite as weird addressing JARVIS like a real person. It was strange how your mind could adjust to nearly anything.

We both went our separate ways. I felt very underdressed and out of place as I walked down the vast hallway. I'm sure the marble flooring wasn't some cheap imitation. The entire place reeked of wealth. Nothing but the best for Stark. I came to my designed meeting room, stopping at the door. I blew out a long breath and squared my shoulders. I was more than capable of doing this. I may even be doing a little bit more good in the world with whatever I ended up investing my money in. I pushed the door open, more than ready for this meeting.

That feeling lasted for about two seconds when I found Tony Stark was lounging at the table in the centre of the room, feet propped up and not a care in the world expression on his face.

"Good afternoon, Ice Queen," Tony said smoothly. "You know, not a lot of people intrigue me. I can usually sniff someone's intentions out within seconds. But you, I can't seem to figure out."

"Is my financial advisor running late?" I ignored his very weird statement. Tony loved to push my buttons. I knew that from our brief time together. I was impressed he'd managed to say three whole sentences without dropping innuendo in there.

"You're looking at him for today," Tony said, a smug smile on his face. He waved a hand at the chair across from him. "Come, sit. Pepper doesn't know I'm here and I fully expect her to disapprove of this and I will be sleeping on the couch for a week."

"Only a week?" I couldn't help myself. I was curious now. I took the seat as I arched an eyebrow at him. "I'd say a month. If you're lucky. What do you want Stark?"

"This," Tony's voice became slightly muffled as he bent down to pick something up off the floor. A second later he deposited a standard looking body armour vest of the table. "Is a new design I've been playing with."

"Congratulations, you're only 20 years behind the military designs," I said dryly. "Is there a stone wheel under there too?"

"Pick it up," Tony ignored my snark. "Look at it properly. You have half a brain, use it."

I ignored his dig at my intelligence and played along with whatever the fuck we were doing. As I pulled the vest towards me, one thing became apparent. This thing was extremely light. That got my attention, I picked it up looking at the vest curiously. As I picked it up, it barely weighed more than the light jacket I was wearing. I pressed my thumb into the where the heavy ceramic plates at the back should have been. Whatever was underneath the outside material felt moveable and squishy, for lack of a better word.

"Shear thickening liquid?" I glanced over at Tony for confirmation. He nodded, looking pleased with my correct guess.

Shear thickening liquid was something SHIELD had been experimenting with a few years ago. Instead of ceramic plates in body armour, the shear thickening liquid filled the protected areas. It would harden on impact, protecting the user from projectiles. It would stop a serious calibre bullet and most shrapnel. Or it was meant to. The problem was, it had to be discarded after one hit because it wouldn't return to a liquid state. The hardened state of the liquid would deteriorate over time making it useless. SHIELD had shelved the research because it was ridiculously expensive to produce to use for only one hit and you had to throw it out. I remember Dad coming home in the foulest mood the day he'd been told to stop working on it because of the financial viability. He said we shouldn't put prices on people's lives. That SHIELD should be spending whatever it had to keep it's people safe.

That had also been the same week Jared had been accepted in the Academy. It wasn't hard to tell why Dad was so angry about it.

"With my own tweaks of course," Tony said with only the arrogance he could muster. His statement broke me from my pondering. "Your Dad was three particles from making it be able to go back to a liquid state with a simple repair kit."

I turned the vest in hands. I was speechless that Tony had wanted to show me this. He could have gone straight to Dad with the research. But he was showing me instead. As I turned it, I noticed the entire garment was full of the liquid everywhere you wouldn't expect it to be. The side of it gave you full protection, unlike the normal kevlar where the sides were elastic. If Riley had something like this, he would have had a bruised rib instead of a bullet ripping through his internal organs. As much as I tried to force it away, a lump formed in my throat. This meeting wasn't an accident by any means. Tony was too smart for this to be a coincidence.

"I know I'm a pain in the ass," Tony continued without me speaking. The change of topic made my head spin. "And I know we aren't friends, but you and Pepper are. Ever since she's become CEO, you're the only person who has never used that for personal gain. Even with this, you asked for help and couldn't stress enough that if it was too much of a hassle you could find someone else. Pepper thought it was funny that you were so worried about making this look like you were using her, she was also really touched too. So, naturally, I poked around."

Of course, he did. He wouldn't be Stark if he hadn't of gotten curious about why I was asking for a financial advisor. At least this one sided conversation Stark was having with me made the lump in my throat disappear.

"At first I thought it was just a trust fund kicking in." Tony lent back in his chair, not looking at all perturbed by his actions. "You Grandmother is rich as fuck so it would make sense for her to give her grandkids trust funds."

"Not until I'm 30," I added, mostly because I felt the need to say something instead of sitting here slack jawed.

"Right." Tony waved a hand dismissively. "I found that out in about two seconds. A quick search through some court records found your name and another person who's Aunts were contesting his will about his life insurance and inheritance."

I closed my eyes and took in a few deep, calming breaths. I wasn't surprised that Tony went digging. The entire situation was practically begging to be found out with his curiosity. I was still in the anger stage at Riley's Aunts for daring to go against his will. It probably was a good thing no one told me until it was over. I may have made both of them go missing and their bodies would have never been found.

"SHIELD is very thorough about cleaning up anything to do with their agents," Tony said with a mirthless chuckle. "Luckily for me, the Navy isn't quite as thorough. Especially when one of their distinguished SEAL's gets buried at Arlington with full honours. Rhodey poked around too and I had my answers where the money came from. Drink?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice right now. Tony stood up and went to the small bar on the side of the meeting room. The room was silent as Tony walked over and took the bottle of whiskey from the bench. He snagged up two crystal glasses and came back to the table.

"With all of my work I've been doing with Paul," Tony explained as he poured two glasses. He didn't do the customary thing of putting a nip in the glass. He filled it to the brim and slid it over to me. "I didn't quite understand why he was trying to make things so light. He's always vague on the details but he brings me such fun challenges I can't help myself."

I huffed out a quiet laugh as I took a drink. I'd pay good money to see Tony and Dad interacting on a science bro's level. The topic had taken a turn in another direction I wasn't quite prepared for. At least we were off the subject of Riley and his money, for the moment. I knew this would all make sense eventually. The whiskey tasted as expensive as it should be in here. I was tempted to gulp it down and have another glass of three. I was probably drinking my annual salary in this glass.

"Rhodey is a gossip, so you can blame him for telling me what went on in that mission in Syria a few months ago." Tony went back to lounging in his chair, taking a sip of whiskey. "But then all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. You're, what? 125 on a good day?"

"131 at the moment." It took me a second to follow the conversation again. The whiskey was going straight to my head. I was training my ass off at the moment and it was paying off with the muscle gain.

"So, carrying three quarters of your body weight on a mission. I can see why Paul wanted everything as light as possible. Combined with what happened to your boyfriend, That's where this brain child came from." Tony finally made his point, as he gestured towards the body armour in my lap. It was so light it could barely feel it there. "While Stark Industries has stopped making weapons, there's nothing saying we can't make things that will save lives. All I need is a startup investor to fund it. The whole concept is here and ready to pitch to the military. If they don't like it, you can sell it to the public."

Tony slid over one of the folders on the desk to me. Inside was a business plan with proposals inches thick. My eyes hurt just thinking about reading all of it.

"Don't worry about the details," Tony said as flipped through the pages. "Look at the last page."

I peeked up at Tony before doing as I was told. I still wasn't as good as Natasha at reading facial expressions, but to me, he looked genuine about all of this. It wasn't some elaborate prank he was playing. I did as I was told and flipped to the last page. It had a summary of all the boring things like production times, meeting schedules and all of that. When I got to the bottom, I nearly choked on the sip of whiskey I was taking. The projected costs to manufacture it looked far too small from what I knew of it.

"SHIELD shelved this because it wasn't cost viable." I looked back up at Tony with a frown. "The costs don't match up."

"Yes, but SHIELD didn't have me working on it." Tony's arrogance shone through. "Three components and an adjustment were all it needed. Your Dad probably would have discovered it in a month if SHIELD had let him continue with it. With my formula, it's not only cost productive but it can be reused as well."

My eyes went back down to the page to the projective income. This time I choked on my own spit at the figure. I'd be investing about half the money Riley left me but the return was more money than I could ever imagine having in my life. The money side of this was so inconsequential though. This new body armour could save a lot of lives every year. Not only in the military but for anyone in a dangerous job. I honestly wouldn't care if I never saw a cent of the money returned to me. This could make it so there would be a lot less grieving families in the world. People would be spared the pain I went through after I lost Riley. To me, that was priceless.

"If this doesn't work out, I will personally refund you every single cent," Tony said, taking a sip of whiskey. He looked completely calm about the amount of money we were throwing around at the moment. "What do you say, kid?"

I looked back up to Tony with a thoughtful expression. He could have done this without my money or opinion. The amount while it seemed enormous to me, was a drop in an ocean for him. This was done purely on a personal level. He wasn't the type of person to be sentimental, a thank you would probably get brushed off. Instead, I took a gulp of whiskey and squared my shoulders. This wasn't a hard decision to make.

"Where's a pen?"

"J?" Tony's face broke into a broad grin. "Give us a pen."

A panel popped up in front of me with what looked like a fingerprint scanner. A stylus was sitting in the panel. I picked it up and signed without a second of hesitation. It was only after I did the fingerprint scan that I realised I'd just spent more money than most people would see in a lifetime. It was a little disconcerting.

"Do I write a cheque?" I asked feeling lost with what to do next. "Or will JARVIS go into my account and transfer it?"

"With your permission Agent Lyngley, I'm happy to do the transfer for you," JARVIS spoke up. "There is a seven day cooling off period so your money will be held in trust in case you change your mind."

There wouldn't be any changing my mind on this one. I'm sure it was all in the contract I hadn't really read. I trusted whoever did this up wouldn't put something stupid in there, like I was now a slave for Stark. Well, I really hoped not.

"Go for it JARVIS." I was happy there was going to be a lot less temptation in my account right now. I was doing something good with the money.

"While you're at it, let Rodney know he can come in," Tony said, getting to his feet. "Make sure he get's that reservation where ever he wants for his wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't hug me Ice Queen. I don't do touching. At all."

I snorted with laughter at Tony backing away like I was going to show him some sign of affection. There's no way in hell I would ever hug him. I might catch something.

"Thank you." I knew it would probably get brushed off, but I had to say it anyway. Like Tony said, we weren't friends. However, it seems my friendship with Pepper may be marginally expanding to her boyfriend. Only marginally. Barely a hair width if I was pushed to give it as a measurement.

Tony's face softened momentarily. I thought he was about to get sentimental on me. It was gone as quickly as it came on though. He gave me a mischievous smirk.

"So, Mr Model is new. Did you get bored of Captain Hot Pants already? Where's your doctor friend?"

"Ugh, get out." I knew it was coming. He couldn't resist teasing me. It was like breathing for Tony. There was only so long he could hold back before it killed him. "Before I tell Pepper you were sneaking around."

I put the vest back on the table so he could grab it on his way out.

"That one is your prototype," Tony pushed it back into my lap as he went past me. "This is yours too."

He dropped a blue jewellery box on the table. Before I could open it, he was gone. A middle aged guy came in the door as it was closing.

"Good afternoon Ms Lyngley, I hope I didn't keep you waiting. I'm Rodney," Rodney didn't miss a beat. He played it off like Tony hadn't just been in here. "Let's get started so I don't bore you to death."

It was surreal, like what happened with Tony had just been a dream. The meeting and the numbers made my head spin. I ended up narrowing down three further choices for investing the rest of my money in start up for business ideas. I would be totally anonymous with whatever I went with, Rodney had everything that I needed. All I had to do was sign whatever I wanted to do. It was crazy how simple he made the whole process. Then again, I doubted Stark Industries hired anyone who wasn't brilliant.

My brain was ready to break by the time I went back to my room to get ready for dinner. It wasn't until then I had time to open the jewellery box Tony had left on the table. Inside was a stunning sapphire and diamond bracelet. It took me a few moments to place it was one of the ones Tony wanted advice on to give Pepper for Christmas. Apparently, my offhand remark about wanting the sapphire one wasn't forgotten. I had an internal battle for five minutes whether to give it back or not. In the end, I knew he wouldn't take it back and I'd only be making a scene at dinner.

It was also a ridiculously pretty bracelet.

I felt extremely relaxed as I got dressed for dinner. Today had been just what I needed after all the drama of the last few weeks. The next few weeks weren't going to get any easier. I was going to enjoy this while it lasted.

Authors Note

Look at this update! Even I'm surprised at how quickly it came out. Developing Tony and Kari's relationship is fun, especially with their love/hate thing they have going on. Things are about to get busy again for the team, so it was good to put a breather in there too.

I'm hoping updates will be a bit more regular now I've settled back down into a routine. Being at university 5 days a week this semester means I have a lot more commuting than last semester. Catching the train is very handy for getting writing time in. As well as some classes I have huge gaps between, so fingers crossed.

Thank you to everyone for sticking with me through long gaps between updates. I know it's frustrating. I have days where I know how I want things to go but words on paper just won't work. I cherish every single review, so thank you again!

Until next time.