Author's Note: Moving forwards! I own nothing.

18. Lunch

Hank bounced over to Piper and the Professor a wide smile on his face. Piper grinned at him as he set down his papers.

"So we found some interesting things in your tests. It looks like your mutation isn't becoming stronger, the pincers have likely always been there but the mystical drum you described pulled out the more animalistic side of you, forcing them to develop faster than they were, hence the bleeding and discomfort when they first appeared." Piper nodded.

"That makes sense." Dr. Connors frowned slightly.

"I'm skeptical about the whole magic business." Piper shook her head.

"Don't knock it till you try it Doc. Trust me I didn't believe at first either but It's way more real than I'd like it to be." Hank and the Professor nodded. Hank continued.

"So it looks like you wont be developing anymore similarities to your spider brethren. Now about your venom, your intern was right Dr. Connors. It's not deadly, it's a paralytic. It is also present in your saliva though not in any amounts that would be harmful to anyone you should chose to swap spit with." Piper went bright red. Then she went pale.

"Oh shit!" She shot to her feet as everyone stared at her. She turned to Dr. Connors.

"Glen defiantly knows." Dr. Connors went slightly pale.

"How can you be sure?" Then comprehension seemed to dawn on him. "He asked about saliva this morning." Piper nodded.

"And I left my travel coffee mug in the lab." Connors went as pale as Piper was.

"Oh shit." Piper took off out of the lab, calling out her goodbyes over her shoulder as Dr. Connors sprinted after her. Logan shook his head as the Professor frowned slightly.

"That girl has the worst luck." Hank nodded slightly.

Glen stared at the results in front of him. He had been right. There were trace amounts of the venom in Piper's saliva along with the coffee and an ungodly amount of sugar. He closed his findings, quickly deleting them off the server and stepping back over to the actual project he was supposed to be working on. Piper had been right, they were making more progress with the Lizard DNA than they had been with anything other than the zebra fish, but they were still no closer to an actual lab test yet. He glanced up as the elevator door as it opened. Dr. Connors looked slightly ruffled as he and Piper who still looked somewhat like she'd just rolled out of bed. He met her gaze which was calculating, not the normal smile she shot at the interns. He broke the gaze first and Piper frowned.

Piper put a hand on Dr. Connors shoulder as he made to step forwards to talk to Glen.

"I got this one Doc. You go ahead off to lunch." Dr. Connors smiled and nodded. Piper stepped over to him. He glanced up at her.

Glen would be lying if he said he wasn't worried that he was about to be fired on the spot but instead Piper smiled at him as she snagged an office chair and sat down next to him. Dr. Connors talked Abe into lunch again and the two left before Piper spoke. It was a Saturday so there weren't nearly as many people on the floor.

"How are you settling in here at SI Mr. Stacy?" Piper asked. No one even looked twice at them. One of the benefits of being Tony Stark's Kid was that no one really questioned why she was in any given place in the tower. Glen frowned at her slightly.

"Pretty well I think. And please call me Glen." Piper nodded. She spun in her chair, halting it when she was facing him again.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" Glen raised an eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean?"

"For lunch. I know this great little place in midtown. Not too far from here. Chinese, little hole in the wall but the food is fantastic. Come on my treat." Glen didn't have time to respond as she dragged him away down the elevator to the garage. This time she didn't bother changing into her leather outfit, she shoved her spare helmet into his hands and mounted her bike, her own helmet already in place.

"You coming?" Glen thought for a moment. Did he want to get more involved in this than he already was? Could he handle what he might find out? Then he caught the look in her bright blue eyes and nodded pulling on the helmet and mounting the bike behind her.

The restaurant was small and they knew Piper by name, smiling and greeting her like she'd been there a thousand times. One of the older women behind the counter winked at her as she handed them menus and directed them to a secluded booth in the corner of the restaurant.

"You and your boyfriend take that booth. More privacy that way." Piper blushed bright red.

"Thanks Mrs. Tanimura, but he's not my boyfriend." She winked again and nodded.

"Of course not." Piper plopped down in the booth and Glen sat across from her. They ordered and were silent as they waited for their food. It arrived quickly and the waitress smiled at them and promised to leave them alone until they called for her. Piper picked up her chopsticks and snagged a wonton off plate in the middle of the table. Glen took one of the dumplings and bit into it. They were silent for another moment.

"You were right, this is fantastic food." Piper nodded.

"I know. My aunt used to love this place." Glen raised an eyebrow.

"Your Aunt the Black Widow." Piper shook her head.

"No, my Aunt who was married to my biological father's brother. My Aunt May. She was a wonderful person, great taste in everything. I used to come here with my Uncle Ben after she died." Piper glanced around. "It hasn't changed much. Not even the people have changed all that much." Glen grinned slightly as Piper took a bite of her orange chicken.

"Seems like they know you pretty well." Piper nodded.

"Yeah, I come here a lot. Sometimes we all order takeout from here." Piper nodded to a picture on the opposite wall, it was the older lady, Mrs. Tanimura with the Avengers, it was signed and everything. Glen let out a snort and Piper grinned.

"I took that picture." She smiled at him and he relaxed slightly and snagged a wonton. Piper sighed slightly as she took another bite of her orange chicken. She chewed then she spoke.

"So the project Dr. Connors put you on yesterday. He probably shouldn't have, in all honesty. But he trusts you. He thinks you're brilliant. Pretty sure he wants to hire you straight out of high school." Glen's eyes went wide.

"Can he do that?" Piper shrugged.

"He has to go through the proper channels but yes technically he could. Proper channels being my dad and Pepper. Mostly Pepper. You should meet her, I think you two would get along spectacularly." Glen smiled slightly.

"Really?" Piper nodded through another bite of chicken, this time with some rice. She swallowed and spoke.

"Yeah, you're both very organized. Also very smart. Smarter than people give you credit for. Both very good at finding out things other people might not want you to know." Glen nearly choked on his dumpling. Piper smiled slightly.

"I want to make it clear, you're not in trouble. I'm honestly kind of impressed. It took the last person who found out quite a long time to figure it out." Glen glanced down at his plate.

"I mean to be fair you did give me a big hint last night." Piper blushed bright red. Glen had to admit she was pretty cute when she blushed, but no she was definitely off limits. He wouldn't get involved with the daughter of the man who controlled his future career. Or at least he was going to do his damnedest not to, but with eyes like that he could easily picture a string of boys following her around her school drooling over her.

"I did not mean to do that. I've been under a lot of stress lately." Glen nodded.

"I imagine keeping that to yourself cant be easy. You know I'm a pretty good listener. If you ever need anyone to talk to. I know something of what it's like, I mean cause my dad is on the force. He's always talking to my mom about how tough it can be. Especially since the supervillain boom." Piper smiled at him and he felt his heart flip.

"I'd like that. Now I have to run to the restroom. Be right back." She slipped out of the booth and Glen shook his head to himself.

"Oh I am in trouble." He sighed into his coke.