"How'd you do it, Pepper?" Tony paced the office of Stark Industries' CEO and his best friend in this life, Pepper Potts Banner.

"You'll have to be more specific, Tony." Pepper didn't look up from where she sat reviewing one or another of the dozen memos that came across her desk every day. Tony didn't understand why she bothered - he'd always ignored them, trusting that he'd learn whatever was truly important some other way.

"Put up with me off being Iron Man." Tony paused to look out over the Manhattan skyline, unconsciously rubbing at the scar on his chest where his arc reactor used to reside. "You knew I was doing something dangerous, impulsive and, knowing me, potentially somewhat suicidal, and you never had a nervous breakdown."

"You're not having a nervous breakdown, Tony." He heard the quiet slap of paper on wood, turned to see that Pepper had set aside the memo to study him. "You're worried about your soulmate. It's perfectly natural."

"I've never done this before."

"Had a soulmate?"

"Worried."

"Tony." Pepper rose from behind her desk, came to join him. "She's in good hands, you know that. Phil won't risk anyone he doesn't have to, and he doesn't do anything recklessly."

"It's not just Coulson. There's a whole team around her." And he hadn't met all of them in the short time he'd been on the Bus. Agent May was competently lethal, no doubt about that, and the young woman hacker, Skye, knew her way around a computer system almost as well as he did. Those two he wasn't worried about. Much.

But the others - Fitz, Triplett, Mackenzie, Morse, Hunter - those were the ones he hadn't been able to judge for himself. The ones he'd had to blindly entrust with his soulmate's safety.

"You read all their files," Pepper reminded him. "Twice. They're good people."

"Are they? Are they, really? There turned out to be more than a few bad apples in the barrel that was SHIELD. Even one on Coulson's own team."

"And that one didn't kill Jemma when he had the chance. He at least gave her a chance to survive."

"He won't, if I ever get my hands on him."

"Tony."

That tone in Pepper's voice had always made him pay attention, and now was no different. He focused on her, the grave expression that etched her mouth and eyes.

"Do you want me to get Maria Hill up here so you can ask her about the team yourself?"

That was Pepper all over, Tony thought. She understood him better than almost anyone else, understood his need to control what he could and learn as much as possible about what he couldn't. Jemma going into danger was something he couldn't control, so Pepper was offering him information from a source he trusted, at least conditionally. He appreciated the offer, and he considered it seriously.

"Not yet," he said finally. "Jemma's only been gone a day."

"A day?" Pepper stared at him. "God, Tony, you really don't have any experience with this, do you? You don't start worrying without reason until at least the second day."

"You know how much can happen in two days."

"Still. You can't just assume something's gone wrong without reason. Come on."

"Come on? Come where? You know I don't like spontaneous invitations when I'm not the one doing the inviting."

"Just lunch with me and Bruce. You can tell us all about Jemma."

"Haven't I done that already?"

"Yes, but that's never stopped you before."

Impulsively, Tony hugged her. "Thanks for giving a damn."

Pepper hugged him back. "I always will. Let's go drag Bruce out of his lab. I'm hungry."

#

Jemma straightened from her microscope, stretching her back. The rumble in her stomach reminded her that she had neglected her body too long. The data analysis had to take priority, but she was at a point where she could and, more importantly, should take a break.

The lead they'd found hadn't led to the obelisk, and it remained missing. What they had found, however, was almost as important: an old Hydra lab. Hydra had attempted to burn it down, but the building's safety code features had kicked in, leaving a lot of superficial damage but the interior had survived mostly unscathed.

Jemma was glad that they had a clue as to Hydra's next plans, but horrified as to what those plans might be. The samples she'd been given were of human blood, each one infected or infused with either an approximation of the super-soldier formula that had created Captain America or another compound she hadn't completely analyzed yet. It seemed like blood in many ways, but it resembled no human or animal specimen she'd ever seen before.

In any event, the computers were collating and cross-referencing the data from the analyses she'd performed. There was quite literally nothing she could do to speed the process, and a break sounded good.

She took off her lab coat and stretched again before making her way to the galley. She was surprised to find Skye there, reading something on her laptop as she ate a bowl of cereal.

"It can't be morning already?" Jemma opened the refrigerator and surveyed the contents.

"Only technically," Skye replied. "It's a little after midnight."

Jemma hummed an acknowledgment, decided to have some fruit and yogurt.

"How's it going?"

"I won't know until the computers finish their analyses." Jemma dumped some raspberries into the container of yogurt and grabbed a spoon from a drawer.

"How long's that going to take?"

"It's hard to say." Jemma sat across from her teammate and friend, took a bite before continuing, "Despite what the shows on the telly imply, you can't always get instant answers from a computer. If I had to guess, I'd say at least a day, possibly longer."

"And what are you going to do while the computers do their thing?"

Jemma shrugged and chewed a raspberry. "Sleep, probably. Maybe start another project, if there's one to be done."

"Not calling your soulmate?"

Jemma winced. "I should call him to tell him I'm all right, shouldn't I?"

"At the least."

Her spoon suspended in mid-air, Jemma glared at the other woman. "Just what are you implying?"

"Your soulmate just happens to be Tony Stark. I'd bet good money he wants to do more than just talk when you call."

Jemma bent her head to take another bite of berries, knowing even as she did that the move wouldn't hide her blush. "It's not - he wouldn't."

"Wouldn't he?" Skye grinned. Then she paused, considering. "Unless you're still sore from -"

"Skye!"

"What? It's possible. I mean, you two were locked in together for almost eight hours."

"I am not sore," Jemma said, trying to regain whatever dignity she might have left. She'd known, of course, that everyone on her team knew what had happened to her. Gossip was impossible to quell even when SHIELD had been at full strength. Now that it was just the nine of them on the Bus, plus however many Koenigs there actually were, gossip would exceed the speed of light by several factors. Still, she hadn't expected anyone to speak so bluntly about it - to her, at least.

"Then I really have no idea why you're not already on the phone to him," Skye said. "If nothing else, let the man treat you to a massage, or something."

"I really don't -"

"Jemma, you hadn't had time off for a year even before SHIELD went to Hydra in a handbasket, and since then, you've been working nonstop, even undercover with Hydra itself." Skye jabbed her cereal spoon at Jemma, and Jemma instinctively sat back. "You're running on empty, girlfriend. Let your soulmate help you recharge those batteries."

With that, Skye stood, rinsed her bowl and spoon, and put them in the dishwasher, then headed out with a, "Night, Jemma."

"Good night," Jemma replied around another bite of yogurt. Skye was right about one thing, she thought. She needed to call her soulmate.

After she finished her yogurt, Jemma confirmed their location and calculated the time difference for New York. Early enough that he shouldn't be in bed, but late enough that she shouldn't be interrupting dinner.

Her hand was halfway to the phone that was never far from her when she realized that - given that she was calling Tony Stark, who was not known for anything resembling a sense of decorum or propriety - this was a call best made in private.

She headed for her quarters, grateful that it was late enough there was no one else around to notice how quickly she was moving.

Only when the privacy lock was secure behind her did Jemma take out her phone and call Tony's number.

He answered immediately. "Jemma."

"Tony." And it still felt strange to call him that - just "Tony," as though she'd known him for years and earned the right.

"Mission go okay?" The lack of specificity surprised her - but then, she realized, he was no stranger to secrets himself, from company confidential research to the Avengers Initiative.

"More or less. We didn't get what we were after, but we found something else that might be useful."

"And everyone's all right?"

She smiled at the Are you all right? he couldn't quite bring himself to ask, even though they were soulmates. "Everyone's fine. I'm sorry I didn't call before, but I was in the lab, analyzing -"

"Doing your job," he finished, cutting her off.

"Well, yes."

"Hey, if anyone understands getting lost in your work, it's me." Tony sounded unconcerned. Jemma suspected that was a front. "How's it going now?"

"The computers are doing what computers do," Jemma answered. "I'm free until they're done."

"I can send a jet to pick you up. Or I can meet you somewhere."

Jemma smiled, grateful that their call was voice only. It felt good to be wanted for something other than her brain, at least sometimes. Then again, if he wanted her body …. "I'm not sure I'm up for round four."

"Not a problem," came Tony's easy reply. "Not that I don't want a round four or five or one hundred or what have you. But I get that sometimes you just need a break, and sometimes you need someone to force you to take that break. God knows, Pepper did it for me often enough."

Pepper. Jemma reminded herself that the woman was married now, and whatever relationship Tony might have had with her had changed as a result. She had no reason to be jealous of it. Still, there was an uneasy flutter in her chest, quickly gone.

"Jemma? Are you there?"

"Yes, sorry." Jemma gathered her thoughts, performed a quick calculation. "It's five hours to New York, at least, from where I am."

"How long to London?"

"London? I thought you'd invited me to New York."

"Yeah, well." Tony sounded almost embarrassed. "I had lunch with Pepper and Bruce yesterday, and Bruce suggested that coming to New York might not be as relaxing as you want. So, London, or wherever you want to go."

"You are turning every impression I had of Tony Stark on its head."

"Only when it comes to you. Where do I meet you?"

Jemma considered the question. "London isn't really relaxing."

"Too many paparazzi."

"I've never had that problem."

"I've always had that problem."

Jemma put that problem aside for the moment. "But London is a good place to meet, I suppose."

"Where would be relaxing for you?"

Jemma hesitated. What would he think of her response? He was Tony Stark, after all - what could he possibly find interesting about a town of ten thousand people?

"Jemma?"

Well, better find out now than later whether he could fit into her life. "Oakham."

There was a pause, and Jemma would bet Tony was typing the name into whatever computer happened to be closest, whether it was his own or someone else's. "Huh. Quaint little place."

"I went to school there, for a while," Jemma said. "It's quiet and out of the way. No paparazzi."

"Okay." Tony sounded dubious, Jemma thought, which wasn't surprising. That he'd agreed - that was surprising. "Birmingham's closer. I can meet you there, and we can drive to Oakham."

"You'll be bored," Jemma warned him.

"I'll be with you. Are you calling yourself boring?"

"Compared to what you're used to? Well, yes."

"No," Tony said. "Not remotely boring. See you in a couple of hours."