I am insensitive, I have a tendency to pay more attention to the things that I need,

Sometimes I drink too much, sometimes I test your trust,

Sometimes I don't know why you're staying with me,

I'm hard to love, hard to love, oh, I don't make it easy,

I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood,

I'm hard to love, hard to love,

You say that you need me,

I don't deserve it but I love that you love me good,

I am a short fuse, I am a wrecking ball,

Crashing into your heart like I do,

You're like a Sunday morning, full of grace and full of Jesus,

And I wish that I could be more like you,

I'm hard to love, hard to love, oh, I don't make it easy,

I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood,

I'm hard to love, hard to love,

You say that you need me,

I don't deserve it but I love that you love me good, love me good,

Girl, you've given me a million second chances,

And I don't ever wanna take you for granted,

I'm just a man, I'm just a man,

Hard to love, hard to love, oh, I don't make it easy,

And I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood,

I'm hard to love, hard to love,

And you say that you need me,

I don't deserve it but I love that you love me,

Hard to love, hard to love, oh, I don't make it easy,

And I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood,

I'm hard to love, hard to love,

And you say that you need me,

I don't deserve it but I love that you love me good,

You love me good,

You love me good

Hard to Love-Lee Brice

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As Tony slowly wakes up, the first thing he notices is that Natasha is still curled around him but she's not asleep. Her small hand is tracing patterns over the scar tissue where the arc reactor used to be. Her green eyes slowly meet his and he can't help but just stare at her. He doesn't know what to say, or what last night was for her. He doesn't know if it was a one-time deal or not. He only knows that the feelings he's felt for her have increased exponentially and yet he's still hesitant to give them a name. Giving something a name almost guarantees that things will change. Tony doesn't want anything to change.

"I can feel you thinking." Natasha says in a low tone.

"Genius never stops." He tells her just as quietly.

"Mm." Is the only response he gets from her as her hand stills and she sighs contentedly. Or, it sounds contentedly. He hopes.

"What's on your agenda for today?" He asks her after a moment of silence.

"Nothing really." Natasha's voice is even quieter and he thinks that maybe she's falling back to sleep. "At some point, we have to do a debriefing with Coulson. And I'd like to talk to both Maggie Lang and Laura."

"Yeah. We should sit down and start making plans for the long-term." He tells her as his mind shifts directions and starts rearranging his schedule so that he can call Pepper and discuss putting Laura, Maggie, and Paxton on the payroll. Then he'll present them with the options. He also needs to talk to the parents about schooling options since the kids will have to transfer somewhere else. He doesn't want to isolate them but he's not sure about sending them to a public school. Maybe a private school.

"Vision and Darcy have been collaborating on team building exercises." Natasha says, interrupting his thoughts.

"Team building exercises?"

"They think, and I agree, that we should get to know each other better. Strengths and weaknesses, things like that. The mission last night was a success and we did that by training together but we need to be able to work as a cohesive unit on the fly. Hence, team building exercises."

"That actually sounds like a great idea."

"Good. Then I'll give them the go ahead to start working on some ideas." Natasha says as she rolls over and gets out of bed. She doesn't try to hide her nudity, she never has, but now he knows her body intimately. He can't take his eyes off of her as she heads for the bathroom.

Tony hears the shower start a second later and he thinks about joining her but his phone goes off and he rolls his eyes.

"Fri, give me the most urgent first." He tells his AI and she slowly brightens the room.

"A Dr. Ambross from the U.S. Embassy in France is requesting a conference call at your earliest convenience. Scott Lang has turned himself in. They are discussing when to transfer him to the United States, or if he can be transferred at all."

Tony can already feel the headache forming at the mention of the man's name. Great. Just what he needed to start his day off right.

"Let Natasha know and ask her how she wants to proceed. Run facial recognition, gait recognition, and voice recognition on the surrounding areas for signs of Rogers, Barton, Maximoff, Wilson, and Barnes. Include large cities in the biggest countries in Africa."

"Started, Boss. All data will be sent to your tablet."

"Good girl." Tony tells her because he believes in positive reinforcement. "Schedule a call with Pepper, let her know it's about adding three individuals to payroll and give her the information she needs to find suitable jobs for James Paxton, Margaret Lang, and Laura Barton. Ask her for, at least, three options for each individual."

"Got it, Boss." Friday says as Natasha steps out of the bathroom, dressed for the day in tight jeans and a green t-shirt.

Tony gets out of bed and heads for the shower as she steps into the closet to do her hair and make-up and grab a pair of boots. She stops him with a hand on his arm as he walks past her and raises up slightly to press a kiss to his lips. As he walks into the bathroom, a grin spreads across his face.

Showering quickly, Tony gets dressed, noticing that Natasha has already left to start her day. As he's walking down the hallway, he converses with Friday through his earpiece.

"Fri, call Dr. Ambross and schedule a call for this afternoon and get me the report on Lang's arrest. Ask Natasha to meet me in my office in an hour and tell her I'm also inviting Maggie Lang and Paxton to the meeting." He says as he checks his messages and emails on the tablet in his hand.

"Yes, Boss." Friday says as he gets an incoming message from Friday with the attached report he'd requested. She works fast, he's gotta give her that.

Stepping into his office, Tony began reviewing some paperwork for SI that Pepper had sent him, signing off on what he can and flagging what he needs to review. A knock on his door startles him and he looks up to see Natasha walking in with Maggie and Paxton right behind her. Once they are all seated in front of his desk, Tony dives right in.

"Scott's turned himself in to the U.S. Embassy." He says as he looks between Maggie and Paxton. "I have a call scheduled with someone at the embassy to discuss the matter but I wanted you to know before the news got a hold of the information. That way you can decide what to tell Cassie, if anything."

The couple doesn't say anything for a minute, seemingly processing the information as they look at each other.

"Now, if you don't want to have any contact with him at all, I can make sure that happens. But, if you want to open a line of communication, for any reason, I can make that happen, too. The decision is completely yours to make, though." He tells them.

"Can we have some time to think about it?" Maggie finally speaks up in a hesitant tone.

"Of course." He tells both of them. "And I want to make it clear that whatever choice you make, you can always change your mind. All you have to do is say so. No one will judge you for the choice you make regarding this or if you change your mind."

"Thanks." Paxton says as he reaches over and grabs Maggie's hand to comfort her. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"As a matter of fact, there is. I think it would be prudent to speak to Scott in person but I've never met the man. I was wondering if there was anything you could tell us about him, personality wise, which would help us in our approach. We want him to speak to us but I don't know if he's the type of person that responds better to negativity or positivity."

"Well," Paxton begins. "I'd probably start by sending in someone he doesn't know but seems friendly. Maybe younger like Miss Lewis or Agent Johnson. He'll feel comfortable around them and not so intimidated."

"Okay. What about myself or Natasha?"

"With your rivalry with Pym Tech. I don't think you would be a good choice until after someone else has spoken with him. And there's really no telling what he's heard about Agent Romanov from your former teammates. Fresh faces would be best because he would be less biased towards them."

"Okay. Thank you." Tony says as he leans back in his desk chair, lacing his fingers together and laying them on his stomach. "Now, I wanted to talk to the both of you and Laura about schooling for the children. I know that you may not be comfortable with sending them to a public school, I'm definitely not. I was thinking about getting you some information on private schools in the area or homeschooling."

"Oh, you don't have to do all that. You've done so much already." Maggie tries to wave away his concerns but with Natasha's help he convinces them to at least think about it.

When they finally leave his office, he feels a little bit of the weight on his shoulders shifting to be more bearable.

"Has Coulson set a time for a debriefing?" Tony has never really liked debriefs but he knows the necessity and he's willing to suffer through them for the good of the team. There's always room for improvement and though the mission went off without a hitch, he knows that can't always be the case. The teams need to learn to work together and individually, without prior planning, to reduce the possibility of civilian casualties if and when an emergency situation occurs.

"Friday said that your call with Dr. Ambross is set for two p.m. this afternoon so I asked Coulson to reschedule the debrief for three p.m. Also, Darcy and Vision have requested that we hold an informal meeting after the debriefing to discuss team building exercises."

"Sounds good." Tony stands slowly, stretching his muscles and joints from sitting in the same position for so long. Even when he's on a science binge, he needs to move around. "Talk to Coulson beforehand and ask him what he thinks about who to send in to talk to Lang. Bring it up with Lewis, too. We need to know if she has any training in interrogation or if she's strictly trained in battle."

"Sure thing." Natasha says as she stands and moves closer to him as he rounds the desk. He leans back against it and she fits herself up against him, her feet placed between his so that she's as close as she can get to him. "We'll learn what we can from Lang and go from there. We'll find Rogers and his team and we'll bring them in."

"Yeah." Tony sighs as he wraps his arms around her waist and presses his forehead to her shoulder. He's leaning against the desk, so he doesn't have to bend his neck uncomfortably. One of Natasha's hands moves to his hair and her fingers weave through the strands.

"Boss, Colonel Rhodes is on his way to your office and Miss Potts has asked that you call her at your earliest convenience. She has the information you requested and she wants to discuss an upcoming meeting she has scheduled with Miss Hope Van Dyne." Friday says and a second later there's a knock on his open office door. He looks over and spots Rhodey, walking with his new braces and a cane.

Natasha pulls away slightly and presses a quick kiss to his cheek before pulling away completely and straightening her back. She turns around and nods at Rhodey with a "Rhodes" and walks out of the office. When Tony is sure she's out of ear shot he looks at Rhodey and narrows his eyes slightly.

"What was that?" He knows his best friend isn't a big fan of Natasha and he understands why so he's not really mad about it.

"Nothing. We had a talk when you first got back from vacation is all." Rhodey says as he pushes the door closed and settles himself into one of the chairs in front of Tony's desk.

"Awe, platypus, did you ask her about her intentions?" Tony asks him in a teasing tone.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Rhodey tells him seriously, a hint of a smile on his lips. "But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here because I talked to Pepper about her upcoming meeting with Hope Van Dyne. I'm pretty sure she wants to help with the search for the former Avengers and possibly wants to join the team. At least, on a case-by-case basis. Her mother was Wasp, if you remember."

"Yeah. I do." Tony says with a sigh as he sits back at his desk chair. "I guess it's worth hearing her out."

"I think it is." Rhodey says with a nod. "And I don't know if you've talked to Vision since yesterday but he and Friday came across a man by the name of Dr. Stephen Strange while going through the former Shield's Index and cross-referencing it with incidents worldwide. Strange wasn't on the Index but he was involved with an incident apparently not on this plane of existence. Vision thinks we should set up a meeting."

"Wait, what?" Tony asks as he tries to process exactly what Rhodey just said. He's seen a lot since the portal opened over Manhattan but he's kind of glad he can still be surprised. "Okay. Why was he involved in an incident not on this plane of existence and how does Vision know that?"

"Well, you know that Vision has been researching the mind stone and trying to figure out what, exactly, he's capable of and his limitations. Friday has been assisting him and they learned that the stones leave a trace of their essence, for lack of a better term, on people and things they come into contact with."

"Okay. So, people that have come into contact with the stones can be tracked." Tony says, an idea forming in his mind.

"Sort of. But, Vision found evidence of someone nearby that holds a different kind of stone. He and Friday traced its origins and found Dr. Strange. I'm not sure how they discovered that he was involved in something. Vision tried to explain it but I think the stones communicate, essentially. If they're near enough to each other, anyway."

"Sentient stones?" Tony asks. "That could be helpful. Maybe."

"Yeah." Rhodey looks exhausted and Tony sympathizes. "So, Vision and Friday think we should contact Strange. At the least, he might be able to help capture Wanda. And Vision could use the help in understanding the mind stone."

"Okay. Set it up. You call him, or get me his number and I'll call him. I'll talk to Pep about setting up a meeting with Hope Van Dyne and I want you, Natasha, and Coulson there. If she's going to work with us, I want others opinions and input. We can't have this one person vetoing everything. This has to be a democracy of sorts if it's going to work."

"I agree." Rhodey tells him as he goes to stand up. "Tell Pepper to come by for dinner tonight. I've noticed that some of the more recent residents can use a night of fun. We'll have a big dinner and watch a movie or something. All of us."

"I'll be sure to pass the message along. And I'll get her to bring Happy. He'll bring Peter and Ned, too."

"Friday, remind Tony of the debriefing when it gets close to time." Rhodey says as he's walking out the door and Tony squawks indignantly but ends up laughing at the look Rhodey throws over his shoulder.

With a smile, Tony gets Friday to call Pepper and he leans back in his chair as he waits for the call to connect. He'd woken up worried but so far the day has been good. Here's hoping it stays that way.