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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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The Cold Blows White (in the Tower tonight)

January 17

Today has been a seriously super long day, and it’s not over yet. It’s been a long week, if I’m honest about it. That funky snowstorm…nor’easter…blizzard…whatever… anyway, I am so glad I wasn’t stuck out in it, or that I had to leave my toasty warm apartment for food or work or anything. This morning I definitely didn’t want to get out of bed. I was snuggled in very deep under my faux down comforter, Spazzie snoring comfortably next to me, when my alarm went off. I stretched my hand from under the pillow towards the bedside table and tapped my cell phone, dropping it to the floor. I decided that moment it was time to find a bigger night stand. This one didn’t have room enough for my phone, radio, lamp, glasses, lip balm, lotion bottle, water cup, and whatever book I was reading at the moment (I am currently finishing a re-read of Memoirs of a Geisha by William Golding), not to mention my journal and requisite box of tissues. I rolled to my back, slowly waking like the sun peeking over the horizon. The air in my apartment felt a little colder on my nose than I thought it should be, but that could be product of me being toasty warm and wishing I didn’t have to get up. And then I reached for my water cup and took a sip to wet my dry mouth.

My water cup is insulated, one of those that keeps hot liquids hot and cold ones cold. Every night before bed, I put slightly cool water in it, turn the thermostat down to about 63, then get into bed. It keeps my water cool but not too cold. But this morning, my water was much, much cooler than it should have been. I was now nearly wide awake. I sat up, immediately shivering from the cold air around me. My thermostat is programmed to maintain a cooler temperature at night, and warm slightly to 68 about half an hour before my alarm goes off so that I don’t have quite as hard of a time getting out of bed as I might if the room was cold. I swung my feet out from under the warm covers (Spazzie protesting this move) and put them on the floor for about 2 seconds. I was used to having a toasty warm floor. I very quickly tucked my feet into the cat slippers and went looking in my closet for my big fluffy red robe. My subsequent conversation with Jarvis went something like this:

Me: “Jarvis, what is the temperature in this room?” Jarvis: “Approximately 6 degrees.” M: *pausing to sigh* “And what does that translate to in American?” J: “Approximately 42.8 degrees Fahrenheit.” M: “Increase temperature to 68, please.” J: “I would like to fulfill your request, but I am afraid I cannot.” (This statement made me stop for a moment and think. I flicked a light switch and they bloomed to life.) M: “Why can’t you turn it up?” J: “There is a problem with the heating system, miss.” M: “Thanks for playing the obvious game –“ J: “I’m afraid I do not understand, miss…” M: “Never mind, Jarvis, can’t you fix the problem?” J: “I cannot, miss, Mr. Stark did not program me to handle this particular problem. It requires a human to take care of it.” M: “Thanks anyway. Uh, is it this cold on all the upper floors?” J: “No, miss.” (I breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards my bathroom.) “The temperature on the upper floors ranges between 49 to 62 degrees.” M: “Thanks, Jarvis.”

I also asked Jarvis if there were maybe portable space heaters somewhere I could borrow until the heat was fixed, and he informed me that the Tower had a fully functioning internal heating system complete with radiant heat flooring. The Tower didn’t need space heaters. I really hoped he could translate my glare.

I figured then, I would grab a nice hot shower, pull on a thermal top under my long sleeved uniform shirt, and take a sweater with me in case I got too chilly. I turned the water on in the shower, returning to feed Spazzie (who was the smarter of the two of us and refusing to get down from the warm nest he created in my comforter) and grab a change of clothes. I’ll never know why I just jumped right into the shower. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t completely awake. Maybe it was fog from grief still controlling my brain. Maybe I actually trusted The Man’s statement when he said the Tower never ran out of hot water. Obviously, Himself thought rather highly of his creation, and too highly of it at that. Because the water? It was barely warmer than the water I usually put in my cup before bed. And I had jumped right into the stream. And right back out, dripping and shivering.

I tried to get completely dry, but of course my hair was not cooperating. I pulled on thermals (top and bottom), thermal socks, a t-shirt, thinner sweater, flannel long sleeve, fleece-lined jeans (thank you Sunny!), my uniform tee, and a sweatshirt. I managed to be able to bend enough to get my sneakers on, but not far enough to tie them. I needed to borrow Sunny’s hair dryer anyway. I practically waddled across the hall and knocked on the door.

Eventually the youngest child answered, wearing shorts, of all things. Sometimes I wonder about those kids. I went in through Sunny’s bedroom to her bathroom and rummaged around in her cabinet for her hair dryer. I tried being quiet, but that became close to impossible, considering all the things she had crammed in that cabinet. Who puts Oreos in the back of their bathroom closet? In spite of my efforts, I woke Sunny earlier than she needed to be awake. She sounded frustrated at first, but when I asked where her hair dryer was, she calmed down again. After she directed me to its hiding place, (in a desk drawer, of all places), she asked me why I had so many clothes on. I replied by asking Jarvis what the temperature was, to which he (it? Still not sure on that one) replied approximately 44.3 degrees. She thought that wasn’t too bad, there must have been a warm front come through. I looked at her, hair dryer pointed at my head, and informed her that was the temperature inside. She was as thrilled with that answer as I was. Noticing my shoelaces were undone, she called the smallest kid in to tie them for me. I asked him if he still had his bow biters, and could I please borrow them for the day. He soon was smirking as he slipped the Kermit the Frog heads onto my shoes, tied the laces tightly, and clamped the mouths over the bows.

As I was leaving the apartment, I suggested she layer up. I told her I was going to check with Miss Potts about maybe making soup for lunch. One last stop by my apartment to grab my long cowl and a hat, I headed up to the not-much-warmer workplace.

At least there was coffee, I thought, grabbing one of the spare coffee cups in the cupboard and pouring a cup. My eyes nearly bugged out when I took a sip. I think this coffee could climb out of the cup, walk across the room, and slap the drinker awake. I must have made a choking noise as Clint walked around the corner, because he chuckled and informed me that he made coffee super-strong. I held out the cup to him, still shuddering, and he dumped the contents into his own cup, grinning at my expression. His laughter followed him back down the hall to the lounge.

Miss Potts came in with Coulson, offering him some coffee. She looked at me curiously as she talked with him, then informed me that he would be staying another night or two, but we were expecting a couple other people to arrive for an afternoon meeting; Sunny and I would be expected to keep ourselves out of the way. Stark Industries would be working with a skeleton crew, so she would be in her office until then. I did ask her if I could raid the cafeteria again, in case the usual places weren’t delivering, and she told me to get whatever I needed. Smiling and thanking her, I sat down to make up a list. About half an hour later, Jarvis informed me that there was a local grocery store that was making deliveries in the area, so I had him transmit my list to them. By the time Sunny arrived for work at 9, I was separating out the groceries. Soon we were up to our elbows peeling, chopping, mixing, and stirring. Within an hour, soup was bubbling on the stove and in the crockpot. Clint sniffed his way into the kitchen area, lifting lids and tasting until I caught sight of him and whacked the back of his hand with a wooden spoon, scowling at him. I was busy angrily humming “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” about to put a loaf of bread into the oven. He wisely retreated.

By the time noon arrived, we’d managed to increase the temperature in the kitchen to almost 60. Not hard to do with pots of gumbo, chicken noodle, tomato rice, and vegetable beef soups simmering on the stove and chili bubbling in the crock pot, and cornbread, honey-oat bread and sourdough rolls baking in the ovens. One of Steve’s buddies had arrived an hour or so ago, and they had recently come down from the training room. Surprisingly, Bucky had been sulking in the kitchen with us since his arrival. I felt a bit gratified when Steve’s friend (he introduced himself as Sam) mentioned it was a bit cool, but then he dismissed it as a result of their recent workout. I was trying to mentally rewrite the theme song from Disney’s “Frozen,” but I had gotten stuck. I tried to not be obvious as I backed up to the oven door to warm my butt. There was no warming my toes, however, and so I was going to just be cold until the heating was working again.

Sunny had managed to take my mind off of my frozen appendages by getting me singing silly songs. Bucky was sitting at the counter sulking over his cup of coffee, Steve and Sam were at the table talking, the occasional disappointed or annoyed glance sent Bucky’s way from Steve or Sam, respectively. Tasha had just come in with Coulson, who had apparently gone to the theater where she had found him, and Clint was pouring himself his umpteenth cup of coffee when Miss Potts and The Man had entered with another stranger. Sunny, as usual, clammed up as soon as The Man left the elevator. I nudged her though, once more softly singing at her. She frowned and mumbled the reply. Bucky smirked, and joined in quietly on the reply the second time. The three latest-come continued with their earnest conversations. I’m not completely sure when Dr. Banner came in, but he picked up on the reply too. Miss Potts cocked her head towards us soon afterwards, as everyone in the room – except for the three huddled in conversation – were soon singing softly together in almost-harmony. All three finally turned their attention to the rest of us as we got to the very end, all of us just singing everything, ending with a giant crescendo of “BUT BABY IT’S COOOOOOOOOLD OOUUUUUTTTTTTSIIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!!!”

There was a lot of laughter, and apparently a lot of confusion from Himself. He looked around, from face to face, and finally asked if lunch was ready. I gave Sunny a perturbed glance and said yeah, as soon as the cornbread was done. At least Dr. Banner suggested we just serve in the kitchen instead of trying to fit everything on the table, making less work for us. We stepped back and let them serve themselves, wiping up the drips and crumbs when they were all seated with their lunch. A few minutes later, Miss Potts suggested we sit down and eat with them. After exchanging a glance with Sunny, we dished up some soup and managed to find places at the table, Sunny between Bucky and Steve, me between Steve and Tasha. There was awkward silence, it seemed, so Miss Potts introduced the other new guest at the table as Col. James Rhodes, a friend of The Man. He asked us how we liked living and working in the Tower for The Man. He was looking at Sunny which gave a free moment to growl under my breath. I shivered as a cold draft crossed the back of my neck. I muttered to Steve and Tasha they could move a little closer. They responded by edging slightly away from me, I looked to each of them and said, “No, seriously, move closer!”

I guess it was a little louder than I expected because everyone was looking at me. I informed the table that I was cold. There was a bit of a rant by me, a bit of sass back from The Man, and then I repeated my conversation with Jarvis about the temperature in my apartment, why it was that cold, and why Jarvis couldn’t fix it. He sat there blinking for a moment, I could almost see him running the calculations and specs back from the top floor down until he hit the area of the problem. He mentioned fixing it after their after lunch meeting. Miss Potts, bless her heart, insisted the meeting could wait for a while. He agreed, and Tasha nudged me with her shoulder.

After we were finished – well most of us, at least – Tony and his buddy Rhodey left to go figure out where the exact location of the problem was and get it fixed sooner rather than later. Sunny and I made quick work of the dishes, wiping everything down. Then, on a whim, I pulled up a recipe from back home and started pulling out ingredients. Most everyone had drifted away to other parts of the Tower, except Bucky. He was still in the kitchen, though he had moved his bowl to the other side of the island from me. He was working on his 4th bowl of soup. He watched as I poured the batter into two large pans and popped them into the oven. I made a quick round of the lounge for stray dishes before finishing up.

When The Man reappeared to announce that the heat was restored, looking quite proud of himself (naturally), Bucky had finished at least one more bowl of soup (I think he had a bowl of each kind). The Man’s eyes lit up and he made a beeline for the brownies I had just pulled from the oven. I smacked the hand that reached for a spatula to cut and take one. I warned him to let them cool for at least 20 minutes before trying to eat any. Then I covered the soup pots and asked them to let me know when they were done. I planned to return to put away the leftovers at that time.

I returned to my apartment to unpack another of the boxes I brought back with me from Christmas. Spazzie had found a warm patch of sunlight to laze around in. It wasn’t long before I got out of most of the layers I put on earlier. True to his word, The Man had fixed the heat. That’s about the time I turned and whacked the cup of hot chocolate I had made for myself. It quickly soaked my shirt and lap. Ugh, I am going to have to take a quick shower before returning to work.

At least I knew better than to just jump into the shower. The water is still cold, not even warmer than it was this morning. I guess I’ll have to rub his nose – ugh, remind - The Man that he said the Tower never runs out of hot water. For now, I think I’ll just sort of sponge off the cocoa and put on some new clothes before I go back to the kitchen. At least tomorrow everything should be running again.

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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And So Begins a New Year

January 1 – HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Oh my heavens, where did the month go? Between the sickness and all the Christmas preparations, I guess it just disappeared on me. It took me nearly a week from my last post to get back to even 90%. And in that time, I had to help Sunny bake cookies for the kids’ school parties. Not completely sure how I managed to get shanghai’d into that. But thankfully we were able to use the common room for the baking. The Man very quickly agreed when I asked him, which kind of surprised me. But I didn’t really have the energy to wonder. I was just very grateful.

We also had some problems keeping the others from snagging all the cookies. Each of the others had a particular favorite. Sunny and I made chocolate chip, sugar, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, chocolate peppermint pinwheel, and gingersnap cookies. (You can guess which was each person’s favorite, I’m sure.) Thankfully these were all either drop cookies or the slice-and-bake kind, easily made. And Pepper told me to just have Jarvis order the ingredients to be delivered to the Tower so we didn’t have to go out. And making enough cookies for three classes, and keeping the Tower residents content, was a work in and of itself.

The whole two days we baked, I couldn’t help feeling like I was being monitored. Pepper made sure lunch was delivered so we weren’t too distracted. And every so often someone would come by and either watch me carefully or ask random questions. And Sunny, that hater of Christmas music, had it playing in the background. I went back to bed for three days after we made those cookies.

The following week, I felt much better, enough that I was able to go shopping for gifts. I made three separate trips to be sure I got everything that I needed. And I did not go alone. I guess whatever it was that I had, it was enough to make all these big tough guys (and gals) really worried. Tasha went with me the first trip, and we picked out some nice things for my mom and daughters. The second time it was a grand tour of Brooklyn with Steve and Bucky, and I convinced them to take me on the carriage tour of Central Park. (It was beautiful, by the way.) And the last trip was a quick one out and back for some last minute things. That time Dr. Banner said he needed a few things as well, so he went with me. I happily spent the evening wrapping gifts and listening to Christmas tv specials.

I was feeling pretty good by the 22nd. I had a flight scheduled home the next morning for Christmas. My bags were packed, and Steve had agreed (reluctantly) to check on the cats for the week I would be gone. The Man had insisted that we be back by New Year’s Eve because he was having a party and he would be needing us to take care of the food. No big deal to me, I could only handle so much time with my extended family. On top of that, somehow I had finagled The Man into letting us have an employee Christmas party. He tried saying that there was a Stark Industries Christmas party and that Sunny and I could attend that. I just happened to mention in front of Miss Potts that Sunny and I were not Stark Industries employees, so really we shouldn’t be going to a Stark Industries party. Apparently she agreed with me, because there was a note on the fridge the next morning: “Schedule Stark Tower employee Christmas party at your convenience. Have it catered, whatever you want. See Ms. Potts for company card to cover expenses. – T. Stark”

Wasn’t too long after that when Clint started in about why didn’t they get a party too. By his reasoning, he and the others were also sort of employees of the Tower, therefore they should be invited to the party. It made sense to me. Sunny and I scheduled the party for the 22nd, and we arranged to have soul food flown in from Athens. We made sure to get enough food for about 20, I knew the others would be there as well.

I don’t remember a whole lot about the night. I had picked up a cold or something, and I had taken a new medicine that had affected me a bit more than I expected. On top of that, Sunny and I were the only persons in attendance for a couple of hours, and well, he had said it was open bar – in his private reception room. So after an hour, we helped ourselves to a drink or three. I remember the others arrived, by which time Sunny and I were singing strange Christmas songs at the top of our lungs and laughing hysterically. There’s a vague memory of Sunny finally talking to The Man, something about being drunky and an argument with Bucky over Bucky (the cat). Not completely sure how I got back to my bed – or what time, but I was far gone enough between the alcohol and medicine to miss my alarms and plane the next morning. Apparently we had been highly amusing the night before, because The Man offered to send me home on his private jet. And I was in no shape to refuse. And it was very interesting to call my mom in mid-flight to tell her to pick me up at the little airstrip in Jefferson instead of driving all the way to Atlanta.

Things took a turn while I was home, however, and all was not the merry (although stressful) holiday I had expected it to be. Seemed my dad wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t go to my parents’ home to see him. I didn’t want to make him worse. The next afternoon , mom took him to the hospital, where he was admitted with pneumonia. Soon doctors discovered here were problems with his kidneys and liver. Though Christmas day was a jolly sort of affair, in the very early hours of the following day, my mother, brother and I went to the hospital, where my dad slipped peacefully into his eternal reward. I postponed my return flight to NYC by a day so that I could be with my mom and see my father buried.

As I was stuffing mushrooms on the 30th, The Man came in, took one look at all the mushroom caps, the sausage cheese balls, and the vegetables waiting to be cut up. He asked me what I was doing. I reminded him that he had said he wanted us to take care of the food for the party the next night. He cocked his head and closed his eyes, giving a sigh and said that he meant he wanted us to arrange for a caterer. I put the mushroom down, sighed deeply myself, and quietly replied, “OK.” Biting my lip, I walked away from the counter and took the elevator down to my apartment. All I really wanted at that moment was to take a nice, long shower and have a good cry.

About an hour later, Tasha came knocking on my door, bearing a lovely oolong tea and some shortbread cookies from a gourmet shop down in the Village. We had a nice chat and I explained what was going on with me. Sunny was the only person who knew about my dad until then. Tasha explained that Sunny had put away everything for me and called a few places to secure the food for the party. We popped some popcorn, watched Die Hard, then I went to bed. And I was very grateful to have Sunny to help straighten the mess upstairs out, because I really and truly didn’t want to deal with any of those people tonight, no matter how nice some of them could be.

January 6

So this morning, I woke to the weirdest thing outside my door. Actually, let me back up to last night. I had finished putting the last load of towels from the weight room in the dryer (in our new laundry room on our floor, even!). As I returned to my apartment, I saw the weirdest thing – there was a box of grass just outside my door. I stopped and stared at it a few minutes, the shrugged and entered. I figured it was probably something one of Sunny’s kids was doing.

This morning, as I headed out the door, there was a pile of packages where the box had been. I cocked my head to one side, looked up and down the hall for whoever had left them. If course I saw no one. There was, however, a similar pile across the hall at Sunny’s door. I picked up my packages and took them inside. Almost afraid to open them, I tugged gingerly at the paper on one of them. It came away (finally, after I gave up and ripped at it) to reveal a pair of cat slippers. By that I mean slippers in the shape of cats, lying on their backs as if to playfully bat at the bottoms of the wearer’s pant legs. They were cute, and my size too. Emboldened, I opened the rest of the packages. It was a decent haul: a cute coffee mug that read “Y’all Gonna Make Me Lose My Mind” (and in tinier writing under that: “up in here, up in here”), a lovely tube of extra rich hand cream, three pair of red, white, and blue fuzzy socks (infused with aloe), a thick fleece blanket, a set of some of the yummiest teas I’d ever smelled, and a small amber bottle that contained a mimosa tincture that the label claimed to help with grief. Oh, and my favorite, a t-shirt that proudly proclaimed “Sarcasm is My Superpower.” I toyed with the idea of changing into it, then decided to wash it first. Besides, I needed to really feel up to being sarcastic. I could hear Sunny trying to argue the kids into letting her sleep some more; I was on my own today, it was her day off.

It was pretty uneventful, as I expected most Saturdays would be. The upstairs crew didn’t really recognize weekends. Tasha had once told me that Clint grew up in the carnival, so he was used to weekends being his work week. And soldiers were soldiers, on call 24/7. Science geeks were that all the time too, mostly they couldn’t even tell the difference between day and night. The only one who seemed to keep a regular schedule was Miss Potts. As it was, the common area was pretty empty. One coffee pot was only half full, so I knew that someone was awake. I finished loading the dishwasher and headed up to straighten the upper floors.

In the open area between the pool and training room, Clint had set up a swinging target. As the elevator doors opened, I decided to drop off the clean towels and pick up the used ones, thereby avoiding being an unwitting moving target myself. Happy was sparring with The Man in the ring, and Steve and Bucky were working on the heavy bag. I found it interesting that so many of them would be up so early on a Saturday, doing the workout-slash-training thing. As I was coming out of the training area, the door to the helipad opened and a man in a dark suit blustered in, bringing a small snowdrift with him. The doors closed behind him automatically and the snow began to melt into icy puddles on the far side of the pool. I tossed a few of the used towels towards them. Clint put away his bow and the target moved to its cabinet on the side of the room. Clint greeted the new arrival and knocked on the window of the training room window, alerting the others. I exchanged nods with the new guy as I passed him to retrieve the now soaked towels on the floor and add them to my buggy.

Left to myself on the top floor, I recalled the short conversation I’d had with The Man New Year’s Eve night. He offered his condolences, I took his drink, a very fine whiskey I might add. It was interesting, observing his uneasiness reflected in the window, uneasiness brought on by trying out the gentle sincerity of expressing that condolence. It spread to me, of course, because it brought back thoughts of dad, and I finally sent him back to Miss Potts. I have to admit, I shared the relief that appeared on his face when he agreed with me and left. I appreciated the fact that he had sought me out (obviously, having left the party to come to the top floor), but it did make me somewhat uneasy.

I rounded out my day hours later once again loading the dishwasher. I had collected dishes on every floor, and there was definitely enough for a load. My last round was through the lounge. I walked around, picking up plates and cups (Clint snatched up his coffee mug and clutched it to his chest, glaring as I walked by, but giving me a wink to let me know he was joking). The Man entered with the arrival, telling me that he’d like me to go down to the 63rd floor and make sure the apartment next to Happy’s was ready for occupants. Our visitor, Agent Coulson, was stuck for a day or two. And would I please order pizza for supper? Jarvis broke in and said the usual pizza place was not delivering due to the bomb cyclone. I offered to hit the Tower cafeteria to see what I could find. Clint went with me, always interested in pizza, and I am glad he did. There was more food that he suggested to take than I could ever have carried. I finally left them all in the common room arguing over which pizza to bake first.

After a hot meal of crockpot chili and Sunny’s rainbow-ish bread (only ish because she had to sort of knead the colored doughs together and then bake it in the breadmaker), we watched a couple of cheesy movies and discussed the possibility of school being closed Monday over hot cocoa. As I left her place for mine, I mentioned how glad we were living in the Tower so we didn’t have to leave our warm apartment to go all those snowy blocks to work. She wholeheartedly agreed. I fed Spazzie, read a little, and asked Jarvis to turn up the temperature in the radiant heat floors by two degrees, then grabbed a shower. Now I am ready to tuck myself under my lovely down comforter and enjoy my day off tomorrow. I think I will have some of the tea with my oatmeal for breakfast, maybe I’ll make a loaf of sourdough and some turkey veggie soup. I don’t have anywhere to be, and I am grateful for it. Here’s hoping the power doesn’t go out. But I have fuzzy socks, cat slippers, and a fleece blanket in case it does.

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Just Another New Year’s Eve - Stark Tower

Tony popped another stuffed mushroom cap into his mouth, remembering how the Lippy One had been carefully spooning a similar mixture into a similar mushroom the previous day in the kitchen. He’d come in from being in the lab for 36 hours straight to an array of foods strewn across the counters and island, with her holding up the mushroom cap probably higher than was necessary, as though she couldn’t really see it. That’s when he noticed her face.

She was pale, almost haggard, with dark, deep bags under her eyes. Her skin was dry and dull, and she looked as though she was running on nothing but autopilot. She almost looked worse than she had before she had left for Christmas. He’d been a little worried about what she’d looked like when she left, but he’d thought she would get some rest during her vacation. But he was also puzzled about the food everywhere and he’d asked. When she replied that he had wanted them to take care of the food for the party, he had realized that he should have let Pepper take care of it. He’d just wanted to push the new housekeepers, mostly, he admitted – but only to himself – because he enjoyed getting a push back from this one. He sighed, remembering her response was simply to put everything down and leave the kitchen, not mad like she normally would, but just tired. And that’s when he really started worrying.

His concern was only slightly alleviated when he’d overheard Romanov telling Barton that Lippy’s father had died while she was home for Christmas. He had made sure that his housekeepers knew that they could watch the ball drop from the top floors, and suggested the library window. And he had been sure to arrange for a bottle of champagne and some non-gooey appetizers to be there when they arrived.

Tony decided to just run up and check on them. He heard the commotion as he walked though the mini golf course towards the library. The twinkling mini-lights on the model of Stark Tower made his lips twitch up slightly. Somehow, Lippy had managed to sprinkle the Christmas flavor all through the building. The voices and squeals grew louder as he approached the library door. At the far end, Jarvis was broadcasting the Times Square celebrations on the window. Bouncing around, squealing at some boy band group or something was the Quiet one and three mini-people; her kids, he expected, having not been introduced to them. Lippy wasn’t around. He took another look around before backing quietly out of the room. He looked at his watch, still a half hour before the ball drop.

The elevator opened on the top floor, and he saw her. She stood at the window next to the pool, staring out into the night.

“I thought you didn’t do heights. Something about falling out?” She looked over at him as he crossed the room. She looked so tired. He frowned momentarily.

“I thought you said I couldn’t fall out,” she rebutted, turning fully towards him and leaning against the window in question.

For a very brief moment, he prayed the window would hold true, even knowing how thick they were, and bulletproof. “No chance,” he reassured, coming to a halt a couple of feet away. He looked out, down into the cold night towards Times Square. “My condolences,” he offered raising his tumbler of whiskey slightly, “Romanov told us he passed while you were away.”

She took the glass from his hand and took a drink, curling her hand around with the tumbler cradled to her chest. “Thank you.” She turned back to staring into the night. “We were with him, to say goodbye at least.”

Tony stood in silence a moment, wondering if it was safe to take his drink back. His hand made this funny little up and down movement while his brain debated. Finally he let it drop to his side. He stood awkwardly, waiting for her to speak again, pursing his lips. When he couldn’t stand the tension any more, he spoke. “Stark Tower doesn’t really have a formal bereavement policy, I know most places offer about 3 days, but, uh… well, uh, we want you to feel that you can take as much time as you need to, uh, work things out. I’m sure we can manage if you need some time to… whatever.” He flourished his hand in the air, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the next.

He saw her smirk out of the corner of his eye. She swallowed half the remaining liquor. “Thanks, I appreciate it. But I think I will just jump back in tomorrow, business as usual.” She paused to drain the glass, handing it back to him. “I need to be busy right now. But seriously. Thanks” Her lips quirked up in a bit of a smile. “You better get back down to your party. It’s almost midnight, you wouldn’t want to leave your girlfriend waiting. Someone might move in.”

The little sort of moment he had thought they’d been happening blinked from existence as she thrust the empty tumbler at him. He took it, turned it to be sure there was nothing left and turned on his heel. He strode swiftly to the elevator and opened the doors with the press of a button. Stepping inside he turned. His voice rang across the room as they closed: “YOU better get some sleep. You look like hell, and 6 am is right around the corner.”

#Tony Stark #Natasha Romanov #Sunshine + Kittens #Lippy One #Her father died #Tony is being sensitive #and awkward #he worries #time will heal

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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What Day Is It Again?

December 11

Ugh, I don’t know what happened. I woke up last night at some point, a strange woman, said she was a Dr. Kim, was smiling at me. She said I had been sick for a few days, and she was glad to see I was doing better. She gave me a shot and told me to rest. When I woke up this morning, the smallest child was sitting there staring at me. And when I asked what he was doing, he said his mom told him to watch me until she could get back. Smart aleck.

I was finally able to get into the tub and soak some of the grime off, the radio playing in the background, I still ache all over. I was weaker than I thought, but I managed to get out of the tub and back to the little café table in my kitchenette. Smart Aleck had made me a cup of tea before Sunny came in and chased him out for school. She asked if I was hungry, and I said yes, she said she’d take care of it for me. Then she went into my bedroom and changed the sheets, fed Spazzie, and made a phone call.

About 20 minutes later, The Man Himself knocked on the door and let himself in. I was surprised to see that he was carrying a very nice tray containing a very lavish breakfast. A little bit of everything, eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, toast, juice, coffee – he said he wasn’t sure what I would want to eat after being mostly out for over a week. It took a second for that to register in my weak and foggy brain. Like a few hours. I thanked him for the food, and told him I think I will call out again today, but I’ll be back ASAP. He waved it off, told me I have enough “credit hours” for decorating the top floors. He told me to take it easy for a few more days and do what the doctor told me to do, and that he had put me into Jarvis’ voice protocol so I could get in touch with anyone I needed to, including Sunny, Pepper, Dr. Kim, or himself. Then he told Sunny to make sure I was set before she came up to work.

She was great, fussed over me until I growled at her to get out, and got me situated in a new recliner with the remote for a flat screen TV on the wall above my DVD collection. And there I stayed, napping on and off until around noon, when there was a knock on the door. At my call, the door opened and in came Natasha with a big bag.

She went to the table and began unpacking my lunch. She said that some of the guys had wanted to bring it up, but she had insisted on coming. She wasn’t sure I would want anyone seeing me after being sick for so long. She brought a tray over to the recliner – totally yummy matzoh ball soup, and then some chicken fried rice on the side. She said there had been a huge discussion over what I should eat and what I would want on what was sure to be a tender stomach. The soup was a pretty clear choice, but she wanted to bring something a little more solid. And she sat down on the sofa and had some with me.

While we ate, she asked me what I remembered about the end of November. It’s fuzzy, I admit. I got the big tree downstairs done, and I got a few other things done for the top floors – the tree in the lounge, wreaths on everyone’s doors, some fake snow on windows and random swag – and I remember Sunny and kids finally making it back to New York. And the phone calls from my daughter.

Dr. Kim came in shortly after Tasha cleared away the dishes. She seemed pleased to see me out of bed, sitting up and having eaten some food. She did the usual checks and asked how I was feeling. I told her I still felt kind of weak and tired, she said that was expected. I had been pretty sick with some kind of virus, I had also been anemic and my blood pressure was really high. She instructed me to keep pumping fluids in me, eat light, and call her if I felt worse.

Tasha walked her out, asking if I wanted anything. I requested ginger ale, and some more soup for later. She nodded and told me to get some rest. I’m snuggled down in the recliner, Spazzie on my feet. I think I’ll take a little nap, and hope I don’t wake up with the Smart Aleck staring at me again. He’s cute and all, but it’s a bit unnerving.

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Flashback Friday - The Time Tony talked Bruce into Playing Laser Tag...

Tony’s voice rang out across the lab he and Bruce were currently working in. “I have an idea.”

Bruce sighed. Under normal circumstances, Tony using those words was, at best, a little annoying, but this time, he’d been drinking. And when Tony drank and got ideas, well, yeah – that could easily turn into a whole news segment on a show called “No, Tony, Just Don’t” which Bruce supposed would be wildly popular in ratings, if only based on the man’s fame.

“No,” Bruce muttered, looking down at the page he’d been scribbling ideas on as Tony fiddled with something hovering the air in front of him.

Tony’s hands went to his hips automatically in indignation. “But you didn’t even hear what it was.”

“I don’t need to.”

“But-“ Bruce still hadn’t looked up and Tony was moving quickly from huffiness to full on pout. The was his best ‘work with me’ pose, after all. How was it going to work if Bruce didn’t see it?

Tony began to tap his foot.

“You can take your hands off your hips and stop staring at me. I’m not going to go along with whatever ‘idea’ you have. We have work to do.”

Tony sighed with his whole body. “How can you say that when you don’t even you don’t even know what it is?”

“Is it about the reason we can’t get the equation to balance?”

“No.”

“Then it’s not important.”

Bruce still hadn’t looked up.

Tony rolled his eyes and no one and half-stomped back to his desk. “Fine.”

“Okay then.”

There was silence for all of thirty-nine seconds. “…but it was a good one.”

“Tony…”

“Bruce?”

“Can we just figure this out? It’s getting late.”

It was like a light had suddenly popped on in Tony’s mind. “Yes. Yes, let’s figure this out. And then you can hear my idea.”

It was Bruce’s turn to give a lengthy exhale. “All right.”

“Really?” Tony hadn’t planned on him giving in so easily. The word came out far less confident than he’d heard in in his head.

“Yes. Really. We fix this and I’ll listen—” Bruce held up a hand to stop Tony’s train of thought from going and further off the rails. “But that’s all I’m going to do is listen. We aren’t doing the thing.”

“We aren’t doing the thing.”

“We are so doing the thing.”

“We aren’t doing the thing and that’s final. But let’s hear it.”

Tony let a slow smile take over his face. This was going to be the best thing ever. And they were doing it.”

Bruce sat hard against the wall, laughing.

“Didn’t I tell you this would be the best thing ever?” Tony beamed at his friend.

“Fine. I’ll give you this one, it’s pretty fun,” Bruce conceded as he lifted himself a bit to see if he could see around the corner. “Only I don’t know if we should have used your ‘bots as opponents.”

Tony snorted. “You’d rather have asked Bucky and Clint, maybe?”

“Oh hell no!” Bruce answered a bit too quickly. “At least Dum-E and U have emergency shut down protocols.”

“There is that.”

A commotion down the hall drew their attention. It was clanging, followed by the sound of what could have only been a section of wall being none-to-gently removed from existence and then – was that a woman’s voice? A woman’s voice that was not Natasha’s? Bruce looked quickly to Tony, whose eyes were suddenly wide with fear.

“Shit, it’s Pepper. We’re busted.”

“What do you mean ‘we’? You’re the one holding the---” Even as Bruce said it, Tony was pushing the prototype weapon into Bruce’s hands.

“Not me, you!” Tony jumped up from a crouch faster than Bruce would have thought possible had he not just seen him do it. “I’m on damage control. Run!”

Bruce frowned for a moment before realizing what Tony was telling him. Then he was on his feet. Not hearing the words Pepper was saying, but he didn’t need to – he could hear the inflection.

He’d barely made if to the lab and was sitting at his desk, trying to look innocent before he heard the familiar sound of the lock ‘snick’-ing open.

“Robert. Bruce. Banner.” Her voice was a little too calm. And how did she know his full name?

Bruce looked up, trying his best at innocence, but clearly losing the battle.

“Well?” Pepper was right in front of him, Tony standing sheepishly behind.

“Well, what?” He was too deep now to admit anything.

“Why don’t you tell me why you thought it was a good idea to play laser tag with Tony and the ‘bots?”

(‘Tony and the ‘Bots’ sounded like a band, but Bruce wasn’t about to mention that.)

“Because it seemed like a good idea at the time?” He wasn’t so sure it sounded like he was sure.

“And it was also a good idea to use REAL LASERS?”

“Okay, so maybe that part wasn’t quite as good of an idea…”

“What if you’d been shot?”

Tony cut in – “But we weren’t…”

Pepper spun around to him. “Oh no, you don’t get to talk anymore, Anthony.”

Bruce cringed for his friend. Pepper saw.

“I’m letting you off with a warning the time, but if it happens again, I’ll have your clearance revoked. Is that understood?” And how was it she could sound so threatening and yet so very very calm? Bruce supposed it was because she had to deal with Tony on a daily basis.

Bruce nodded.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear that.”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

“Good.” Pepper turned to leave, but turned back when she reached the door. “And, for the love of everything holy, don’t let this idiot talk you into things.”

Tony had the decency to look ashamed.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce offered as she turned back.

“We all fall for it,” Pepper laughed as she left, Tony staying behind.

“Once the door was closed and the watched her walk away, Tony turned to Bruce.

“Sorry ‘bout that.”

“I could have said no. It was fun. But – let’s not do it again.”

“It’s a good story to tell at parties though, huh?”

“For sure.”

There was a silence as Tony went back to his workspace. Bruce looked back down at the page he’d been looking at before their ‘game’. “Tony? I think I have an idea.”

“Is it as awesome as laser tag with real lasers?”

“No.”

“Let’s hear it, then. It might be the answer we’ve been looking for.”

#Flashback Friday #Tony Stark #Bruce Banner #Laser tag #with real lasers #it was a good idea at the time #until Pepper found out #Tony and the 'Bots #Tony has an idea #Bruce doesn't want to hear the idea #at first #but then he does #Robert Bruce Banner #Anthony Edward Stark #we are not doing the thing #we are totally doing the thing

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

November 28

What a busy couple of days! And as much as I hate to admit it, I am really enjoying the task given to me by The Man, decorating the Tower for Christmas. On Saturday, after a very long, very well deserved sleep, I woke to three cats still sleeping on me. Spazzie held me down for a good 20 more minutes until I had to get up to pee. Afterwards, I fed them and started looking around for something to wear. It appeared that my ‘movers’ hadn’t bothered to separate anything, Sunny’s stuff was mixed in with mine. After opening a few boxes that were odds and ends, I finally found a box of clothes. That was all Sunny’s. Lucky for me she and I wear similar sizes. I pulled out a black maxi skirt and red top and went in for a shower. Hmmm, that was the loveliest, hottest, longest shower I’d had in months.

As I was brushing out my hair, I felt something tug on the skirt. It was the gray kitten, and yeah, he was adorable. Too adorable for his own good! I put him on the counter and he slid down into the sink. And I took him with me into the kitchenette. Lifting the little guy (I checked) to my face, I saw that there was indeed a tag. A cute red star, and engraved on it was the name “Bucky.” I figured maybe Sunny had got the kitten as a present for the Sergeant, maybe because he was missing the foot on his back left leg. And since I didn’t have any food in the fridge (or a fridge, for that matter), I supposed I would have to go up to the common area and get something to drink at least. I scooped up the kitten and took him with me. Maybe I would run into the Sergeant.

It turns out that was a really good choice, too. When I walked into the common room, he and the Captain were in the kitchenette. The Captain greeted me, and I plopped the kitten on the island in front of the grumpy soldier. He kept saying that the kitten wasn’t his, but it was very apparent that it was. That little furball crawled all over him! After a few minutes, the owner of the infamous coffee mug entered; it turned out to be the other guy from last night, the one I hadn’t recognized. And strangely enough, he still had my post-it note stuck on the mug! He laughed about it, but reminded me in all seriousness to never wash the cup. I was also introduced to another woman who lives in the Tower. Apparently her and the cup guy have known each other forever, and they are sort of “partners without really being partners” in the field. I guess that makes them Avengers too.

Pepper and Natasha took me to lunch to make up for everything about Friday night. It was nice to get out of the Tower, away from The Man. Nice to have some girl time and do a bit of window shopping. When we got back, I went to my new apartment to start sorting through the boxes. I was a few boxes in when who would show up with the key to Sunny’s apartment but The Man Himself. After a while, he came out with the real reason he had come down. He wanted me to decorate for Christmas. At some point before Sunshine + Kittens came on the scene, he had fired the decorators that did it last year and had forgotten to hire a new group. That was something he was talking about in the common room right before lunch, and a point of discussion between Pepper and Natasha. And I was paying attention. So I made him sweat a minute, then I agreed to do it, but only if he agreed to my terms. I made it so I get paid exactly what the company who did the decorating last year got paid, but he is footing the bill for the temps I hired and the decorations. So I’m getting much better than what the folks from last year did.

First thing I did was call Miss Fleming and told her what I was going to need. She asked what the job paid, and I had to check with Pepper about that. Not so much about what The Man is willing to pay, but for how much would be fair. And I had 6 people in the lobby at 9 am Sunday. Decorations, well... I was given the name of a local store with which Stark has an account. I went against all recommendations for a color scheme and went with basic elegance – crystal and pearl, all white and some very pale pale blue. I even found a beautiful crystal-like star for the top. It took until mid-afternoon to finish the tree and the other lobby decorations. Afterwards I went upstairs and gathered a couple of people to come and give me their opinion (Natasha and Dr. Banner). Both agreed that it was just perfect, and gave the lobby some more class. Pepper joined us after a few minutes, and she was thrilled. She even approved my idea for an Angel Tree, where employees could choose the name of a child who would otherwise not have a Christmas and fill their wants list.

Then I decided that since I was hired to decorate the Tower… well the top floors were a part of the Tower, right? That was my plan for Monday after I got the rest of my work done. And it’s exactly what I did. When I got most of the chores done, I spent the afternoon going from store to store, buying decorations and lights, but not a tree. That night I mentioned this to Dr. Banner, and he offered to go with me to pick out a tree for the lounge. We went right after dinner, and the corner lot actually delivered it after they closed! It was interesting, the tree was about 15 feet tall. I hadn’t considered what I was going to have to do in order to get it all decorated. I got Steve and Bucky (it feels really weird to call them by their names), to help me get the tree in its stand. And as much as I would have liked to get it all done before they knew about it, I ended up saying we’d wait until Sunny got back. Then we’ll have a decorating party.

That made me check my phone. She should have been back Sunday, but she still wasn’t home. I also hadn’t heard from her. My phone wasn’t getting any sort of reception, which I found odd in one of the tallest buildings in New York. Steve mentioned that The Man keeps a tight rein on all electronic signals in the Tower, so I had to go ask him to fix my phone and laptop to where I could have access to cell signals. It was aggravating to ask, but he was pretty cool about it. I was still aggravated that nobody had mentioned this before. As soon as he tweaked it, and I had restarted it, it was almost like some kid was running his finger across a set of wind chimes repeatedly. Texts and emails and voicemails from Sunny. Sounded like she was having as rough a trip as I had. She was lost somewhere in New Mexico, I think that last one said.

Hopefully all will turn out ok. I am looking forward to Sunday, my first day off since we moved in. I fully intend to sleep in, go to brunch somewhere, and do some Christmas shopping. Now I have to go do laundry in the basement still….

Tags: meeting the residents, calling Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes Steve and Bucky feels weird, Tony fired the decorators, and didn’t hire new ones, nobody wants to volunteer, girls brunch out, unpacking, the gray kitten belongs to Bucky, his tag says so, kitten loves Bucky, Bucky the guy, O Christmas Tree, Lights, ornaments, I got a great deal, hired temps from ACME, because I’m not getting that high, Angel Tree, crystal and pearl, white and ice blue, tree for the lounge, impending decorating party, where is Sunny?, Is she lost?, did she get on the wrong plane?, does she have the kids? Did she lose them too?, The Man fixed my phone, wind chimes from hell, time to wash towels, in the basement still

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Stark Tower - Thanksgiving Weekend

Wednesday was a quiet day in the Tower. Tony had originally started thinking about maybe having Thanksgiving catered in, but then the others had started talking about going away. Clint and Natasha wanted to go off and “see some people” they knew. Steve and Bucky had said they were going back to their old neighborhood and have dinner with some friends. So Tony planned on taking Pepper and jetting off to the Malibu house for a cozy Thanksgiving for two.

And then things went south. Not literally south – OK literally, it was south - but they had gotten a call. So the whole lot of them had spent the night before Thanksgiving down in South America, fighting back a band of guerillas and rescuing a couple busloads of school children returning from an extended field trip. When they had awoken on Thanksgiving afternoon, it had been pizza and pho, which wasn’t Tony’s idea of a Thanksgiving meal. Still, they ate it and were thankful to not be out in the field. Afterwards, the assassin siblings headed off for the rest of the weekend, and the two old men went off to Brooklyn. Bruce was in the lab late that night when Tony got bored.

Bruce looked up as Tony entered the lab before returning to the test tube in front of him. “Some Thanksgiving, huh?”

Tony made a noncommittal sound. “I’d planned on taking Pepper away, but now she’s got her nose buried in some merger or something.” He moved over to have a look at the test results scrolling by on the computer screen. “So my weekend is shot. How’s yours going?”

Bruce finished making his notes. “Well, mine is just about done. I set up this experiment to run over Thanksgiving through Saturday night. So I’ll have a few days off to sleep, or whatever.”

Tony smirked. “Got a girlfriend we don’t know about?”

“Oh, noooo….the…Other Guy, he’s not very good at the boyfriend thing. Nope, I am going to just take some time to relax and maybe get in some reading.”

“We should do something, you know, Science Bros stuff.” Tony’s face lit up. “How about laser tag? I could go down and get out the guns –“

Bruce’s eyes widened in alarm, “Yeah, no, no, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Aw, c’mon, we could be a team, lie in wait for Rogers and Barnes.”

Bruce fixed Tony with a look that said very patient father with a 6 year old who wanted to use his mom’s apron as a cape when he jumped off the roof in hopes he could fly by sheer willpower. “Tony. Remember the last time you broke out the laser guns? Someone got me, the Other Guy guy took out half the lab here,” he swept his hand around. “Tony, I wasn’t even playing. And now you want me to go down and wait for Barnes, the Winter Soldier?”

Tony pouted. “Rogers swears he’s not that guy anymore. That’s the only reason he’s allowed in the Tower, you know.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to take that chance? And do you think Steve will overlook it?”

Tony shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah ok.” He moved over to another computer, his back towards Bruce.

After a few minutes, Bruce turned away from his completed data and towards Tony’s back. “So… how is the remodel coming along? Will it be ready by December?” He knew that it would be; there was very little that Tony’s money couldn’t buy.

“Oh yeah,” he dismissed, “they finished everything except the paint yesterday.”

“Wow, that was fast.” Bruce removed his lab coat and hung it on one of the hooks by the door. “Hey, uh… wanna go down and paint something? Give us something to do.”

And that’s how Bruce and Tony came to be found painting walls in an empty apartment by Steve and Bucky when they returned from their evening out. And, being the super soldiers always looking for something good to do, they grabbed rollers and brushes and joined in. Before long, the larger apartment was finished. Tony was yawning, but still energized. The sky was starting to turn a lighter shade of gray as the sun crept closer to peeking over the horizon.

“Hey, what do you say we go over to their apartment, pack everything up, and move them in?” Tony looked a little frazzled, but bright eyed as ever. Bruce was not so awake.

“Unnnnhhh, I have to get some sleep, I’ve gone most of the past 24 hours without any. Count me out of that adventure.” Bruce put down the brush he was rinsing and wiped his hands on a cloth. “I can’t be a party to breaking and entering.”

“It’s not breaking and entering if you have a key.” Tony grinned and held a key aloft triumphantly.

“Where did you get that?” Steve frowned in suspicion.

Tony shrugged. “I found it when I returned their bags.”

Bucky hmphed. “Found it or stole it?”

“The word you are looking for is borrowed. What do you say? Do another good deed?” Tony smiled expectantly.

Steve and Bucky agreed as they heard the elevator opening. Moments later they heard Pepper’s voice just before she came around the door frame. She stopped and stared in awe at the walls. “Tony! Did you do all this?”

“Well, yes!” Tony winked at her. “Of course, I had some help. In fact, they are about to help me with another project.”

Pepper turned to look at the three of them in turn. “What other project, the guys with the carpeting will be here in a few minutes.”

Tony kissed her. “Good, they should be done by the time we get back then. We are going to pack them up and move them in. As soon as we get changed into something a little cleaner.” He stepped around her, intending to follow the others to the elevator.

Pepper turned to follow him. “Wait, where did you get a key to their apartment?”

“Oh, I got it from them before they left.”

Pepper stepped onto the elevator with him. “Who is going?”

“Looks like me and the old guys. Bruce needed a nap. He gets grumpy without sleep.”

“I’m going with you. I can’t trust that you won’t break anything. And you aren’t a big fan of cats.”

Tony made a distasteful face. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I get along with T’Challa just fine.”

About an hour later, they were standing just inside the apartment. There was a scattering of boxes but it didn’t appear that the women were quite prepared to move. The guys started picking things up and putting them in boxes. Pepper insisted on packing the breakables.

“Hey, Tony,” Steve called from a back room, “which boxes are we going to put in which apartment? How are we going to tell their stuff apart?”

Tony shrugged. “We’ll put it all in the big apartment. They can sort it out when they get back.”

Pepper came out of the bedroom with a cat carrier holding an orange and white cat. “I got this one out from under a bed. He’s a sweetie though, aren’t you?”

It was clear that the cat in question wasn’t too happy to be in the carrier. He was making pitiful muffled mewling sounds. Barnes followed a few minutes later with another carrier, this one had a black and white cat in it. Barnes was also holding a little grey kitten. “I thought they only had 2 cats.” The grey kitten was intent on climbing to his shoulder and rubbing against his face. Steve chuckled, and Barnes scowled.

“Hey boss,” Happy called from the hallway, “I’ve got the truck parked downstairs. Ready to load up?”

Pepper ordered lunch in for them, and it was waiting when they finished putting the furniture and boxes into the larger of the two apartments. Afterwards, everyone retired for a good nap. It was evening when they all, including Clint and Natasha, managed to trickle in for a belated Thanksgiving dinner that Pepper had catered. It was a miracle that she didn’t have to find each of them and bully everyone to a sit-down meal.

Very late Friday night, Steve was filling in Clint on what they had spent the day doing. “We only managed to get the larger apartment finished, so Bucky and I thought we’d go over and do the other one. It shouldn’t take as much time. It’s only a 2 bedroom, 1 bath.”

“Don’t forget the cat room thing,” Bucky reminded.

Clint went with them to have a look, and they managed to knock the whole thing out in only a couple of hours. Afterwards they returned to the common area. Steve had just finished whipping up some strawberry-blueberry milkshakes when the elevator doors opened. Steve frowned at the figure as it trudged towards the closet in the foyer. The other two turned, and they all watched her come out sans her luggage and coat, then into the common room. She looked exhausted. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, continuing her shuffle towards the range.

Steve greeted her. “Hello, aren’t you one of the new housekeepers?” He indicated the dry erase board where several scribbles had appeared under the “SIGN IN,” including one line that said “Sunshine + Kittens.”

“Yes,” she sighed, reaching for the kettle and turning on a burner.

The three men exchanged glances. “We thought you two wouldn’t be back until Sunday evening sometime,” Steve continued, “where is your partner?”

“She’s still in Washington,” came the reply. The woman reached for a mug that was a little too far back on the shelf. Steve pulled it out and handed it to her. “Thank you. Short people problems. We were supposed to be back Sunday, but I had to get out of there early.”

“Why?” Bucky asked.

The woman busied herself pulling a box of tea from the cabinet and opening a packet. She heaved a deep sigh. “My partner’s oldest child. She’s…different from me… like, a way lot different. She’s not…Not my cup… not my monke…”She rubbed her eyes and spluttered a bit.

“Not your cup of monkey?” Clint supplied with a smirk.

Her mouth pinched closed tight and hand flung out. “Exactly!” she pressed both hands to her temples, rubbing in circles. “We had words, and the dinner conversation. I left before sunlight, do you know how hard it is to find a flight that early on the day after Thanksgiving? And there was a layover in Denver, and kids running in the airports, and screaming babies…And then when I got home…” Her voice broke and her caught. “Nothing…all the stuff…”

She sniffled and that’s when Bucky saw tears start to spill from her eyes. He jumped up, followed by Clint, who made a dash towards the liquor cabinet. Bucky drew the woman around to the other side of the island and sat her down on a chair.

The woman started to sob. “My poor Spa-az-zie-e-e-ee..” She turned her face into Bucky’s chest. He, bewildered, put his arm around her shoulders. “And I can’t find my soooockk *hic* and when is mama EVER coming HOOOOOMMMEEEE?!?!”

Clint returned with a tumbler of bourbon. He pressed it into her hand and looked at Steve. “Tony didn’t tell them, did he? You better go find him and bring him up here, like NOW!”

Steve nodded and headed down in the elevator. “Jarvis, where is Tony right now?”

“Mr. Stark is currently in his lab working on the latest suit, sir. Shall I hail him for you?”

“No thanks, I’ll go to him.”

By the time the doors opened, Steve had a stubborn set to his jaw and a full blown scowl on his face. He waited for the security measures to recognize him and allow him access to the lab. Tony was tinkering with one of the propulsion units.

“Tony,” Steve barked. “We need you upstairs.”

Tony didn’t look up. “You guys go on without me, I’m kind of busy.”

Steve crossed the room and stood where Tony could see him behind the suit. “No, we need you. Now.”

Tony gave an exasperated sigh. “It can wait.”

“No. It can’t!” Steve shot back. Tony looked up in angry surprise. “It’s one of your housekeepers. She’s back.”

Tony cocked his head to one side. “They weren’t supposed to be back until Sunday.”

“And,” Steve continued, “she has no idea about the move we did.”

Steve and Tony arrived in the common room a few minutes later. The Lippy One was sitting next to Barnes, with Barton across from her. Her face was red and splotchy, almost as if she’d been crying. The way the others were glaring at him didn’t make him feel comfortable, but he wasn’t going to let that show.

“Hey, what’s up with this? You aren’t supposed to be back in town until Sunday. I’m not paying you extra.” She glared at him, her eyes shooting daggers at him. “What’s wrong?”

Her face fell, and she lifted the tumbler to her lips. But a sob escaped before she could take a drink, and then Steve was pressing a clean handkerchief into her hand. Tony rolled his eyes. Leave it to Rogers to have a clean hankie on him. Finally she was able to speak.

“Thanksgiving was really stressful, I had to get out of there before a real fight broke out between me and the oldest child, I had to take 3 flights, endure two layovers, crying babies, a sinus headache, and then I came home to find out that someone broke into my apartment and stole everything. Including my cat! I’m sure that Officer Yang is sick of seeing me, and I didn’t have anywhere to go. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here, but I thought I could crash on one of the sofas. I certainly didn’t expect to, to…snot all over everywhere, I assure you these outbursts are quite rare, now may I please have a blanket so I can just crash?”

The three men were standing there, staring at Tony. Man, if looks could kill! Steve’s arms were crossed, Bucky kept clenching and unclenching his fists. And Clint. Well, Clint was running his thumb back and forth across his fingertips.

Steve muttered, “If you don’t tell her, Tony, I will go get Pepper, I swear to God.”

Tony finally gave her a bright smile. “I think we can do better than that. Come with me.”

Tony led the little entourage down to the apartments on the 62nd floor. He stopped in front of the smaller apartment and turned the lock. He was thinking that he could get the others to move one of the beds over when the door swung open. His jaw dropped. Someone had already painted the place and moved in some things.

She walked in and stopped for a moment, her jaw just as low as Tony’s. “Oh my go- what happened? My stuff! MY SPAZZIE!” An orange and white blur came flying from the back of the apartment, practically leaping into her arms. There was more crying, this time accompanied by hugging, scratching, and purring. A black and white cat was weaving its way around her legs, and she eventually put the first cat down and picked up the second one, cuddling and petting him. The gray kitten was trying to climb her leg, and doing a darn good job of it too.

After a few minutes she put the second cat down. “Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on? How did my apartment get here?” she demanded.

Tony shrugged. “Well, we just figured it would be nice for you to come back and find everything had been moved. One less thing for you to worry about, so to speak. Unfortunately, we didn’t know which stuff was whose, so you’ll have to go through them on your own. But, welcome home.” Tony smiled his biggest, best ‘Look at the wonderful thing I have done for you now be grateful’ smile.

A lot of emotions crossed her face. Wonder, confusion, a little joy. And then. Then the realization that they had basically broken into her apartment. “What? You? You broke into my apartment? You stole all our stuff? How dare you presume…I MADE A POLICE REPORT! I’M PRETTY SURE MAKING A FALSE REPORT IS A CRIME!”

Tony blinked, a little taken aback. “I-I can take care of that.”

“You had better take care of it!” She looked down at her waist, which was where the gray kitten now clung. She plucked it off her jeans and held it up by the scruff of its neck. “Where did this come from?”

They all exchanged glances. “It’s yours,” Tony said.

“Shut up!” she snapped. Her eyes turned to Steve and her voice softened just a bit. “This is not my cat. Where did it come from?”

Bucky shrugged, “It was in your apartment, it must be yours. It even has a collar.”

She deflated and scrunched up her face, rubbing her forehead once more. “Get out.”

“But-“ Steve said.

“Out!”

“But-“ Tony started.

“GET. THE HELL. OUT. OF MY. APARTMENT!!!”

The guys retreated quickly, and she slammed the door shut behind them.

Saturday around one, the woman walked out of the elevator. She looked a lot fresher than the last time Steve and Bucky had seen her, wearing a long black maxi skirt and red t-shirt with a cardigan layered over it. She was carrying the gray kitten.

“Good morning,” Steve said, “have a cup of coffee?”

She smiled and shook her head, dropping the kitten on the counter in front of Bucky. “Good afternoon. No thanks, I’m pretty dehydrated from the planes. I’ll just have water.”

“Sleep OK?” The kitten had climbed up Bucky’s shirt to his shoulder.

She giggled. “He sure likes you.”

Steve grinned, Bucky scowled and went to remove it from his shirt. He shoved it across the island towards the woman. She held up her hands and shook her head. “Un-uh, he’s yours. Tag on the collar says so.”

Bucky squinted at the tag. Sure enough, the tag read “Bucky”. “But it’s not my cat. I don’t have a cat.”

The woman shrugged, “You do now. Two is my limit.” Seeing the disgruntled man ,she put her glass of water down. “Maybe she intended him as a gift for you.”

“She who?” Bucky grumbled, letting the thing bat at his hair.

“Sunny. My partner.”

Clint walked in from the lounge and headed for the coffeepot. “Your partner’s name is Sunny? Really?”

She turned and grinned. “Yep, for real for real. Her name is Sunny.” She noticed the mug in his hand, complete with two post it notes. “Ah, so that’s yours.”

Clint downed half the mug and poured more. “Yep. Is that yours?”

“Yep, that’s mine. I’m sorry about that, I was having a rough day.”

Steve and Bucky looked at Clint, who turned so they could read the notes. The first one, in Clint’s scrawl, read: “Do Not. Ever. Wash This Cup. Again. EVER!!!!!” The second one read “Then don’t leave your stuff lying around where it can get cleaned up.”

Clint’s laugh barked out. “HA! Don’t worry about it. Good retort.”

She relaxed. “OK, good. I was a little worried when I came back at the end of the night to remove it and the cup wasn’t where I left it.”

“So,” Clint said, “If your partner is Sunny, you must be…Kitten.”

She spluttered a bit. “Uh, yeah, no. Name is Kate.”

The others introduced themselves as Steve, Bucky, and Clint. After a few minutes talking, Natasha came in and Steve introduced the two women. Clint and Bucky alternated telling the story of what had happened the previous night with the painting and apartment.

Kate finished a second glass of water, and then her stomach growled. She ducked her head. “Sorry.”

“When was the last time you had anything to eat?” Steve asked.

“I dunno,” she replied. “Denver, maybe?”

Steve opened the fridge. “We need to get some food into you. What’ll it be? Burger? Omelet? Waffle?”

“Uh, she should have food in her own little fridge-lette. She shouldn’t need our food.” Tony and Pepper had come in when nobody was paying attention.

Steve noticed Kate stiffen next to him, and he really couldn’t blame her.”There isn’t a ‘fridge-lette’ in my apartment. Or a stove. Or apparently a place to put either one.”

Tony must have felt a little guilty, because he changed the topic very quickly.

“I’m glad to see you’re all here,” Tony began rubbing his hands together. “I was afraid I was going to have to yell ‘Assemble’ or something. As it is officially after Thanksgiving, you know what day it is now.” He looked around the room expectantly.

“Saturday,” Natasha offered.

“International Hat Day,” replied Clint.

“Blasé Day,” muttered Bucky.

“My eldest’s birthday,” Kate frowned.

Tony was temporarily flustered. “No, it’s – wait, you have kids? Nevermind. It’s the Christmas season, c’mon guys!” He grunted as everyone just looked at him. “Who wants to put up the decorations? Hah? Hah?”

Clint poured another cup of coffee. Bucky turned away, and Natasha concentrated on playing with the kitten. Steve put a dozen eggs on the counter.

“Aw, c’mon, really? No takers?” Tony looked from person to person.

Pepper lightly tapped Tony in the chest. “Told you not to get rid of the decorators.”

“Excuse me?” Tony replied softly. “You didn’t like the decorations. You said they were too ‘over the top,’ as I recall.”

Pepper cocked her head to the side and smiled. “It looked like an elf threw up in the lobby.”

“Wait, what?” Kate interjected.

Pepper smiled at her. “Oh yeah, it was horrible. Jarvis? Show the pictures of last year’s Christmas decorations.”

Pictures appeared on the wall behind Kate. She turned at Pepper’s direction. Maybe Pepper was exaggerating a bit, but the decorations were way too much. It looked like an overzealous troop from the planet Christmas had attacked and besparkled everything within an inch of its life.

“Oh well, Tony, looks like you are just going to have to hire someone else for it.”

“There is nobody else. The tree is arriving this afternoon at 4.”

Pepper just gave him a smug look. “Then it looks like you are doing the decorating.” She turned to the housekeeper. “Can I take you to lunch? It’s the least we can do, considering everything you’ve been through. There’s a little place around the corner, pretty casual. It’s Mr. Stark’s treat.”

Tony grinned, “I’ll get my coat.”

Pepper grabbed his arm. “Not you. This is girls only. Natasha, you want to come?”

The redhead stood up. “Love to, bye boys, have fun decorating for the holidays!”

A few hours later, after a nice lunch and a little window shopping, the ladies returned to the Tower about sundown. Coming in through the front lobby, they saw that the tree had been delivered already. It was a good 30 feet high, looked like a Douglas fir. Kate stopped to consider how someone would get instruments and lights on it. That was really high up, and no way would she go up that high. They went up to the common area, hearing the cheers and protests coming from the back of the floor. Pizza boxes littered the kitchen.

“Ugh,” Kate groaned, “I am not on duty until Monday. I think I am going to go unpack some stuff and see if I can find my clothes. Thanks for lunch, it was nice.”

“No problem,” Pepper replied. “Like I said, it’s the least Tony could do. Let me know if you need anything, ok?”

“I don’t suppose you have a key to Sunny’s apartment.”

“I do not, but I bet I know who does. I’ll bring it to you later.”

Kate slumped against the elevator wall as it descended to her floor. Her phone had died during lunch, and she didn’t have a charger with her. After it got up to half-full, she would try calling Sunny again. Hopefully she wouldn’t be in an absolute panic. She started going through the boxes in her apartment while the cats twisted around her legs and tried to break her leg by tripping her. She finally gave up trying to find a complete box of either hers or Sunny’s stuff. She dumped out a box on the bed and started sorting Sunny’s stuff into it.

She’d managed to sort a few boxes of Sunny’s stuff out, and was moving them into the hall when Tony stepped off the elevator. She glanced at him and then went back to dragging boxes across the hall. Tony approached slowly, pulling a decorative handkerchief from his suit breast pocket and waving it.

“Truce?” he asked as he stepped up to her.

She glanced in his direction. “A truce flag is white. That’s electric blue.”

“Well, it’s all I got right now. How about a peace offering then.” He held up a key between forefinger and thumb. She frowned at him and took it from him, using it to open the other apartment door. Tony lifted one of the boxes and followed her inside, putting it down next to the one she had just placed on the floor. “Anything to go across the hall?”

She pointed at a box, and followed him across carrying another one. He stood by awkwardly as she dumped the box she was carrying onto the bed and started going through the things.

“So, um, how do you feel about Christmas?” he ventured.

She didn’t look up. “It’s fine. I’m going home for a week this year.”

“Well, ok. I suppose that’s ok.”

“It better be. And I better not come back to find you’ve stolen all my stuff again. Once is enough.”

Tony waited a few more minutes, then just blurted out, “How would you like to decorate for Christmas?”

“I expect I’ll have a tree in here. Maybe some lights.” She looked around, assessing the apartment.

“I meant the Tower. I need someone who knows Christmas. And you are my best shot.” He gave her the most earnest look ever. She cocked her head to one side. “You know Christmas. At least you know Christmas music. I saw your collection, impressive. I assume the DVDs are yours too?”

“Yes, those are mine,” she conceded. He waited, she studied him. “What does the job pay?”

“What do you want for it?” he countered.

“I get the same as you paid the people last year.”

“OK-“

“AND! And, you pay for the decorations.”

“Sounds reason-“

“AND!” She held up a finger. “I need some people.” She waited a moment watching as his mouth opened to say something then closed it, waiting. She nodded. “And. Where is my laundry room?”

Tony waited for her to nod. “Well,” he stepped out into the hall, “do you want it on this floor or another one? If this one is good, then we can put it back here near the elevator.”

She considered it a moment. “I choose the appliances, and also the ones that are supposed to be in our apartments.”

“Definitely.” Tony held out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Can I trust you? Maybe we need it in writing.”

Tony nodded solemnly. “Jarvis, where is Miss Potts? I’m going to need her to witness a document.” He continued holding out his hand for her to shake.

Cautiously, she placed her hand in his. “Deal. As soon as I get it in writing.”

“I’ll have Miss Potts bring it to you.” As the doors closed to the elevator, he called back, “Oh yes, the lobby has to be done before start of business Monday! That gives you…about 36 hours!” The last thing she saw was his smug grin.

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Reblog if its ok to message you during this holiday season incase Im feeling lonely or out of place during family events because no one should be alone on Christmas

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Sunny calling Kate and leaving a voicemail

#stuck in an airport #apartments just don't go missing #were we robbed or something #Kate was crying out her message so I didn't understand her #Jason get back here #Where did Joey go?#There are no fire escapes at the airport #At least I hope they are not #Great #Now Jason is hungry #And Joey has to go to the bathroom #tag you're it Kate #Please hope this all gets resolved #And that all my kids make it back to New York with me

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Not Enough Alcohol in NYC...

Saturday, November 25 the wee hours of the morning. I think.

I would love to go to sleep right now, God knows I have been through enough chaos the past 72 hours to qualify for hazard pay, or at least PTSD treatment. The flights, the usual holiday family drama (not EVEN my family), an empty apartment, snotting all over some Tower residents, new digs…but I probably should start from the beginning…

Wednesday

When last we left our intrepid adventurer (that would be me), it was in an airport, JFK to be exact. I was waiting, along with Sunny and the 3 younger kids, for our flight out to Pasco (via Seattle) to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with her mom and oldest child. My kids weren’t going to be at my family gathering, so no sense in going home, especially since I’m spending an entire week home for Christmas. Besides, Sunny’s mom has been going through some health issues, and I haven’t seen her in forever. Sunny made all the flight arrangements, all I was supposed to do was pack my bag and be ready to go. So something I didn’t know about her before this day, seeing as I had never flown with her before: Sunny is paranoid about missing flights. I realize that this is one of the busiest days for traveling, and that means all the lines for everything would be extra long, but I am still not sure why we had to leave the apartment at 6 am for a 1:30 pm flight. Maybe she thought we’d get caught up in the parade traffic. But since The Man arranged for a car to take us to the airport (and pick us up upon our return Sunday afternoon), we didn’t have to worry about getting a cab or riding the subway (Sunny’s great idea). So yeah, I am grateful to The Man for the car. Amazingly, we checked bags and got through the security lines very quickly. We were through to the gate section of the airport by 10. Even though one of us was chosen for the random search (guess who that was). Luckily I didn’t have any contraband to speak of, so that was pretty smooth, except for them telling me I needed to get my driver’s license updated to my new address when I get back. Yet another thing for me to have to squeeze in before Christmas. Sunny suggested we grab some coffee and lunch while we waited for our plane. Over this meal is when she told me we had another 3 hours before we were scheduled to board. That’s when I made my last post. (BTW, the girl child is an extremely talented artist, I’ll have to post some of her work sometime soon. Oh, and Sunny did manage to catch the loose cannon. When last I saw, all the kids were still alive.)

I will say this, at least Sunny got us first class seats for our flights (yes, I said flights). It was nice, but we were kind of spread out a bit. Which is nothing compared to the connecting flight in Chicago, which was delayed over an hour for mechanical problems, and we got bumped to another plane, and everyone was pretty scattered then. For our final leg from Salt Lake, though, we were in one cluster of seats, thanks to the airline folks feeling bad for us having missed that connecting flight. After they saw how frazzled she was with the middle child, who kept wandering off. But we arrived safely at our destination airport only about 2 hours later than scheduled. Oh yes, and every time we hit an airport with wifi, Sunny would get a gazillion messages from the oldest child asking why we weren’t there. I felt bad for Sunny, so I admit I bought her a drink in Chicago and Salt Lake. And then I paid for a taxi van to drive us from the airport to her mom’s house so we wouldn’t have to wait for a shuttle.

Didn’t take long for the drama to start when we got there, though. There was only one bed in the house, and that belonged to Sunny’s Mom. The oldest hadn’t even put her bed together, so we were all sleeping on the floor. I haven’t done that in I don’t know how long. Mom started in on how worried she’d been and why were we late, and then blaming Sunny for not getting there any sooner (like we can just hijack the plane or something). But like I said before, Mom had recently had some health problems, so I just tried to overlook it and be there to support Sunny. She was going to need it. Then we all stayed up way too late (with far too little alcohol), and finally got to bed at some point after midnight. I whispered to Sunny as we were drifting off that had I known we were going to sleep on the floor, I’d have rented a car and got a hotel room. Or at least rented some rollaway beds.

Thursday, Thanksgiving

Well, this day started entirely too early for a regular day, much less a holiday, even with the extra time we got for being 3 hours later than home time. Mom had said she needed help cooking, and we were fine with that. But she needed to oversee everything and everyone, assuming we had never entered a kitchen before in our lives. By the way, who in their right mind puts an egg into their literal Stovetop Stuffing? Menu was pretty good, very standard: ham (instead of turkey, which was fine with me), stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato soufflé, rolls, and 2 kinds of pie with whipped cream. It was a store bought kind of meal; everything came out of a box, can, or bag, or was bought ready to serve like the ham. Except the pumpkin pie. The Airport Problem Child made that and did a really good job, if I do say so myself. Which I do. So as soon as everything was cooked, we had to eat – right that second! Dinner conversation included why in the world did Sunny move so far away, why didn’t she tell her mom and oldest before she moved, why didn’t she find a man and settle down, how her mom’s health was (not good and how much worse it was getting every second that Sunny wasn’t caving), how the kids liked school, Sunny works too much, maybe at least she could find a husband in New York, how were my kids doing, and when was she moving back to Washington. We tried deflecting most of that by saying we had good jobs that we liked, we were making really good money at them, and we were about to move into a secure building at the first of next month. After dinner (with an unhealthy side of stress and heartburn), everyone retired for a nap. Except for Sunny. She stayed up to clean. Of course I stayed up with her. And it took every bit of 2 hours to clean. After which, the tree came out.

Sunny is not a Christmas person, she really doesn’t like it at all. She feels it’s entirely over commercialized, which I agree with. Unlike her, I enjoy the holiday season with full gusto. My only complaint is with people who have conniption fits when people break out the Christmas songs before Thanksgiving. I also find these are the same ones who then start complaining that there isn’t enough time in the Christmas season to get everything done that they want to do – starting the day after Thanksgiving. Anyway, Sunny was going to be aggravated with the evening. So first, her mom put on some Christmas station with some really annoying, tacky Christmas music. And let me tell you, that is really saying something coming from me. I love all Christmas music. At least I thought so until that night. I mean nobody liked it. Not even Sunny’s mom! And then the tree, it’s a wonder Sunny hasn’t ground her teeth down to stumps. It’s kind of old, but we couldn’t get her mom to let us run out and buy a new one. And the lights…it’s a wonder they can’t see that thing from space. You know those sort of net-type lights, the kind you drape over the shrubs outside? 5 of them. Draped onto a 6 foot tree. Then we had to add another 15 strings of plain white lights. I tell you, I needed shades when we plugged in the tree. Then the ornaments, a mix of glass, plastic, and handmade kids ornaments, and then those irritating silvery plastic icicles, the kind that clog up the vacuum. Then, just when we were starting to get into the tacky music, Mom changed it to something equally obnoxious.

About an hour later, I was questioning my decision to be there for the whole weekend. Because that’s when the oldest started in on how unfair life was and how hard she has it there. I could tell she was angling to move with us. Allow me to say one thing about the eldest child: Super Social Justice Warrior Snowflake, she’s about as far from me on the spectrum politically, religiously, and socially as you can get. And before we had left New York, Sunny made me promise that I would not start a fight with her. In other words, I’m surprised that I didn’t bite my tongue off in the short time I was exposed to her awake. She went all over the place from one thing to another, but finally I’d had enough. In fact, I don’t even remember what it was she said, or even what I said, only that I finally blew up and smacked her with an opinion that should have given her a heart attack right then and there. But her face welled up and she stormed off to her room, slamming the door shut and sobbing loud enough to be heard in Seattle. I just looked at Sunny and said I needed to get some air. I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. I walked for a good while, too bad I don’t have a fitness tracker because I easily walked 10k steps. I finally got so cold I went back inside (no hot water for a shower, but I’ve come to not expect that), and crashed in the living room with the kids instead of in the eldest child’s room with Sunny. I slept very little, eventually getting up literally at the crack of dawn for another walk.

Friday

Overnight I had come to the conclusion that neither my blood pressure nor Sunny’s family could take me sticking around for the rest of the weekend. As soon as I walked out of the door, I was on my phone with the airlines looking for the first flight out. I agreed to be on standby; even an airport had to be better atmosphere. I called a taxi, and realized everything except for my carry on bag was still in the bedroom where Sunny, the artist, and eldest child were still asleep. I was not about to go in and risk waking the crew. Instead, I tiptoed over the boys and went to the kitchen to leave a note.

“Sunny, Needed to fly back quickly. Can you please bring my suitcase when you come? See you in a couple of days. Call when I get home. Tell your mom thanks for dinner. Kate”

I carefully gathered my few things in the living room and made for the door. The youngest sat up and rubbed his eyes, then asked where I was going. I lied to the boy, told him I was needed at work, and that I’d see him in a few days. He shrugged, nodded, yawned, and went back to sleep.

I sat in the airport for only a couple of hours before I got on a flight to Denver, where I sat for two hours before I got a plane to New York. From JFK, I took a taxi back to the apartment. As I was walking up the three flights to the apartment, all I wanted to do was take a long hot bath, cuddle with my Spazzie, and get a full night’s sleep. I planned to spend the rest of the weekend lounging around and maybe doing some packing for the impending move looming on the horizon. It was about 11 pm. I unlocked the door to my apartment, stepped in, turned on the lights and saw…nothing.

Literally nothing. Every single thing was missing from our apartment. No futon in the living room. No dishes in the cabinets. No towels in the bathroom. And, the horror hit me as I realized, EVEN THE CATS WERE MISSING!!! For the third time since I moved to New York, I was dialing 911 to report a theft. And, bless her heart, Officer Yang came to take the report. I tried to give a pretty good description of what was missing. Her partner went down to the super’s apartment but there was no response. About half past midnight, Jake’s mom came home from her shift and looked in. We found out from her that a group of men had come first thing that morning and had been packing up our stuff. She had assumed that she had misremembered the date of our move. She offered to let me stay in their apartment, but I didn’t relish another night sleeping on the floor. Instead I called a cab as soon as the police left.

I had thought about going to a hotel, but figured they would pretty much be booked solid. I decided the best place for me to go would be to the Tower. I knew there were comfortable looking sofas, at least, and I figured that all the residents were gone for the holiday. Maybe I could convince The Man to hurry up the remodel because we really did have nothing. No sense in buying furniture, moving into the old apartment to just have to move it the following week. I had the taxi drop me off at the Tower, and I stood just outside to make the phone call I was dreading. I had to tell Sunny we had been cleaned out. I got her voicemail, which made some sense to me. It was closing in on 1:30 am, which was 10:30 pm there. And her mom was always fussing about her being on her phone. I left her a message and promised to call after I got some sleep. Then I went inside.

The night guard was someone I hadn’t met before, but I had my badge so he let me in. The elevator ride up was the longest leg of my journey. I was reviewing all the events in my head and was starting to feel overwhelmed when the doors opened on the 91st floor. I had decided that I was going to have a cup of tea before trying to find a blanket and settling in on the sofa in the lounge. Surely The Man wouldn’t begrudge me that after everything I had been through. I hung up my coat and stashed my carry on in the closet and entered the common area, headed to the stove to heat water in the rarely-used kettle.

Standing at the island were three men. I recognized Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes from news stories I had seen over the years. The other one was unfamiliar to me. They were casually dressed, sweatpants and tees. It appeared they had just come down from the training room, they were slightly sweaty with a healthy glow. Captain Rogers was pouring some post-workout smoothie thing into glasses. I took a deep breath, feeling everything from the past few days welling up behind my eyes, and my nose starting to tingle and burn. I was desperately trying to contain my emotions in front of the people that I was definitely going to be running into in the halls and elevators, residents of the Tower. I was not going to lose control.

They glanced over at me as I came in. Captain Rogers welcomed me, asking if I was one of the housekeepers. I told him I was and then he said he thought we’d be back Sunday evening and where was my partner. I told him that she was still in Washington, and we were supposed to be back Sunday, but I had to leave early. Sergeant Barnes then asked why. And I think that’s where I started to lose that tenuous hold on my emotions. I tried telling them about the disastrous 24 hours that Thanksgiving had been, but I think I became a bit flustered. I don’t think I was making sentences. And then pieces of the past 2 days came spilling out and I absolutely burst into tears. Next thing I knew, I was seated on a stool at the island, Sergeant Barnes was doing his best to awkwardly comfort me with an arm around my shoulders, and the man I didn’t know was pressing a tumbler of some form of alcohol into my hand and demanding that Captain Rogers go find Mr. Stark and bring him up immediately. Before long, hthe Captain had returned with The Man Himself in tow. I will admit, he was concerned to see me sitting there sobbing, and he asked me what was wrong. I lost it again, someone handed me a handkerchief, and after about 5 more minutes, I regained some control. I blew my nose, took a deep breath and started to speak, but when I tossed back half the dark amber liquid, there went my voice.

When it returned, I told him as calmly as I could about the stress at Sunny’s mom’s house, that I just had to leave before really bad things were said, the layovers, the crying babies, coming home to a literally empty apartment, finishing up with the emotional outbursts they had all just experienced, which I assured him was a rare occasion, and could I please have a blanket so I could crash on the sofa. I finished the drink while waiting for the answer. I noticed glares aimed at The Man from the others in the room. And then the Captain threatened to call Miss Potts. Finally The Man said to follow him.

We went down on the elevator together, all four of us. I could almost feel the heat of the glares directed at my boss. This was the second elevator ride I’d had with him that was in complete silence, but somehow I felt like the awkwardness was coming from him this time. The doors opened on the 62nd floor. I followed The Man down the hall to the door opposite the one he had showed us at the beginning of the week, the others behind me like some sort of guard or something. I now thought that what he was going to do was bring up a bed for me. Maybe this convinced him to complete the remodeling ASAP. But when I stepped into the now opened doorway, I was completely flummoxed. There, inside that room, was my apartment. Complete with cats. Spazzie came racing towards me and I scooped him up cuddling and scratching behind his ears. And I started crying again. I put him down for a minute and asked what the hell was going on.

The Man shrugged and told me he’d figured it would be great if we came back and found everything already moved in. One less thing for us to worry about, as it were. They had gone in, packed everything up and moved it, though they hadn’t known what stuff was mine and what was Sunny’s, so unfortunately we were going to have to go through the boxes ourselves. I was really jet lagged, and it was after 2 in the morning, so it took a little while for everything to sink in. But when it did…

I yelled, I screamed at him, I cried big fat hot mad tears. Sergeant Barnes smirked, thoroughly enjoying every word. Sunny’s cat, Aaron, came into the room and started pawing at me. I scooped him up and continued ranting. And then I realized something was climbing my leg. I looked down to see this cute little gray tabby kitten working its way up. And that was most definitely not my cat. I’d never seen it before. The guys all insisted that it must be ours because it was inside the apartment when they packed it up. And it had a collar. About then I felt all my energy drain from my body. I ordered them out and told them that we would finish this conversation tomorrow. I fell into the bed in the bedroom and pulled a comforter up over me. Spazzie curled up behind my knees, Aaron was behind me, and the kitten sprawled out on the pillow next to me. I’ve got to call Sunny tomorrow to let her know everything is OK and to just come to the Tower as soon as she gets in. But right now I need to sleep.

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

November 22

Sitting in the airport right now, my ears plugged into my Spotify relaxation playlist, one kid sitting beside me watching Jurassic World on his tablet, and another on the other side drawing. The final child is being chased down by his mother, Sunny. I understand flying with them is going to be an adventure. But it seems like my life has become one great big adventure ever since I moved in with them.

This past week has been so busy. After the mugging, and after The Man returned our purses, I went out and bought pepper spray, one for me and one for Sunny. I am still nervous about her carrying hers. Of course we left them at home today. But then we had a busy weekend, doing a big clean up of the apartment to pull out the Christmas things when we get back. We are spending Thanksgiving with Sunny’s mom in Washington. It’s a small place, I hear, but I haven’t seen her mom in 20 or so years. Besides, my kids are working or spending the holiday with the in-laws.

Anyway, our plans were thrown off a bit on Monday. When we arrived at the Tower for work, The Man was waiting for us. When he invited us to sit down, my stomach dropped. He had asked me on Friday about changing our hours, and I was really nervous that this sit down was to let us go. Instead, he announced that he had a solution to our being out so late at night. He wanted us to move in. at first I was relieved to hear that we weren’t being fired, but then dread creeped in. If we moved in, that means we would be available 24/7. I am still not sure I’m ready for that. Then he and Miss Potts took us down a few floors and showed us what will be our new apartment.

It was pretty tiny, I’ll tell you. Sunny and I lived in similar apartments back in the day: large bedroom and tiny bath, kitchenette and living area. Kinda reminds me of one of those live-in motel rooms. This place was similar, with a slightly different layout. There was a large living area, with a kitchenette and dine-in counter at the back off to one side. A door opened into a spacious bedroom and decent sized bathroom. No windows. I could definitely live in a place like this, but it’s way too small for Sunny.

I admit that at first, I thought this apartment was something they wanted us to fix up for Dr. Banner, so my reaction was probably a bit over the top. Still, the apartment was barely finished, so I wasn’t sure what exactly what they wanted us to do. When he finally said that it was a place for us to live, I was stunned. But I told him exactly what I just said, that it would be fine for me, but much too small for Sunny’s family. I think we managed to give him what we needed and wanted in an apartment, and he eventually got us to agree to move in. The date is the first weekend in December. He promised to do some remodeling before then. I hope so.

Yesterday was the busiest day. We all pretty much ran around trying to get bags packed for our flight. Sunny spent the afternoon yelling at kids to get packed, then went across the hall to ask Jake’s mom to keep an eye on the place and look in on the cats a couple of times. I got my bags packed and escaped to the bookstore for something to read on the flight. I plan to work some on my NaNo but I might rather read a while. It’s a pretty long flight there, and back on Sunday. But I am behind, only 19k out of the 50k words I need to win.

Last night while I was cleaning the kitchen, Miss Potts came in. Jeans and a casual button-down shirt, it was probably the most laid-back I’ve ever seen her. She asked about colors and amenities, if there was anything we would like in the apartments. I’d already given her the basics Monday, but I had had some time to think since then. I asked if I could have a patio space where I could grow a few plants. With the bars we asked for on the balconies (between cats and Joey, we don’t want any splats on the pavement below), it would make for nice ambience. She took some notes, then went off to find Sunny. When we left last night, I left a note on the fridge reminding The Man that we were going to be gone the rest of the week, but we’d return to work on Monday. I hope they have a good Thanksgiving. And I hope we do too. Sunny may come back a kid or two short. If they keep all this up, she just might kill them.

#great adventure #sitting in an airport #tha #whee #Sunny + me +kids #4 days of fun?#pending move #not sure I like this idea

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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November 20 - Stark Tower

Tony had been working on the problem all night, and still it was bugging him. He didn’t like that his housekeepers were putting themselves in danger simply by working for him. After he had returned their purses to them Thursday, he’d started considering options. The easiest one by far was to switch up their schedules. But his suggestion had come with a resounding and flat no.

He’d tracked down the Lippy One – he guessed that maybe he should find out their real names, one of these days – and pitched the idea to her on Friday. She was in the middle of unloading the dishwasher.

“So I was thinking about the problem you had the other night, and I think I have the perfect solution. We just change your hours, you come in earlier, and leave before it gets too late. I’ll still need you here in the evenings, so what about 2 until 8. You would get home by 9. Great idea, no?”

She had stopped for a moment, looked at him, and sighed. “No.”

Tony frowned at her. “What do you mean no? It’s a fabulous idea. You guys still take care of everything, but get home before the real weirdos come out in the city. It’s perfect!”

This time she didn’t look at him, just kept putting away dishes. “No.”

He reached out and caught her wrist. “Then tell me why it’s not a great idea.”

She looked at him, then down at her wrist. The look she returned to his face said she would gladly cut that hand off for him. Not the least bit intimidated, he released her. She put the glass she was holding down on the counter with a sigh. “It’s not convenient to our schedule. We have other obligations in the afternoons.”

“Well then, what about coming in the mornings then?”

She shook her head. “No can do, obligations.”

Tony then offered, “Overnight then?”

That seemed to make her nervous. “I’m sorry, but the current schedule really is the only time we have available.” Then, frowning, she asked, “Is that going to be a dealbreaker?”

Tony shook his head. “No, no, I was just thinking it would be safer for you both, that’s all. Why don’t you talk it over with your friend. Let me know if something changes.”

Over the weekend, the problem had bothered him. He’d gotten pretty far with the new suit modifications, he always managed to work better when thinking about an unrelated problem, but he still didn’t have an answer. And then he was muttering about it when Banner came into the lab Sunday evening.

“Why not give them an apartment here?”

Tony looked up halfway from his bench, not quite listening. “Huh?”

Bruce waited a moment. “The housekeepers? Uh, Sunshine and Kitten?” He waited for Tony to look up at him and put down the component. “If you are that worried about them out on the street so late at night, why don’t you put them in one of the empty apartments? Then they could be here when you need them, and they won’t be out so late.”

Tony blinked a few times, the gears in his brain starting to work on that suggestion. He made a few faces, pursed and unpursed his lips, cocked his head to one side, then the other. Finally his eyes lit up and he grinned. “Banner, I knew I kept you around for a reason!”

Bruce chuckled to himself, shaking his head as Tony started for the lab door, asking Jarvis about the available apartments.

Monday afternoon, Tony was waiting for the two of them to come in the door. They were laughing and chatting as they put up their coats and bags in the closet. When they entered the common area and saw him standing there, though, they came to a screeching halt and stared at him. Tony smiled over his coffee and waved towards the dining table. “Ladies, have a seat.”

They gave each other a long glance and eased towards the chairs. Tony took a seat at the head of the table and looked at his watch. “Oh well, I’ll go ahead and start. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the conversation you and I had last week.” He nodded towards the Lippy One, then turned to the Quiet One to explain. “I’m concerned about you two walking home so late at night. Especially since at least one of you doesn’t have the sense to NOT chase after an armed assailant. I offered to change your schedule, but she said that you two have…obligations.” Quiet One nodded vigorously. “So, thanks to the suggestion of Dr. Banner, I think I have a mutually beneficial solution. Ah, there’s Miss Potts now.” They turned to see Pepper coming out of the elevator, smiling. “Let’s head downstairs, there’s something I want to show you.”

The two women cautiously entered the elevator with Tony and Pepper. Together, they rode down to the 62nd floor in an awkward silence. The housekeepers kept exchanging nervous glances. Tony led the way down the hall to an open door and showed them in. They walked around looking at the dusty space. Tony could hear them talking in low voices at the other end of the room.

Pepper leaned over muttering. “Do they know why they are here?”

Tony pursed his lips and shook his head. “Not yet.” Pepper sighed. “Well,” he said to the housekeepers, “what do you think?”

The Lippy One replied, of course. “It’s going to take a lot of work to get it ready. It’s an awful lot to pile on top of our usual work.” She had one hand on her hip, looking a bit disgruntled.

“That’s the beauty of it, you don’t have to do it on top of your usual work. You can work on it in your free time.” Tony beamed at them, clearly proud of himself.

“Our free time? Are you serious?” She was incredulous, that was clear.

Pepper touched Tony’s arm. “I don’t think they understand.”

Lippy continued, “If Dr. Banner wants us to get his apartment together, then it’s going to be a separate bill, especially if we are doing it in our free time.”

Tony made an exasperated sound. “Then you can take that up with him. But what do you think about this place?”

“We think it’s dusty, dirty, and small. And definitely not strong enough to withstand any – angry outbursts.” She threw up her hands. “How is this supposed to make sure we are safe walking home?”

Tony looked at Pepper blankly. “I told you they didn’t get it,” she said.

He sighed. “OK, I guess I wasn’t making myself clear. I thought perhaps you would like to move in here. You wouldn’t have to be out walking the streets at night.” Lippy looked skeptical, Quiet looked a little eager. “We can remodel, you can move in your stuff, and you can have the run of the upper floors. What do you think? Say yes.”

Quiet tugged on Lippy’s arm, and they turned their backs and walked to the other end of the room. As Tony and Pepper waited, the two talked, sometimes with wild arms gestures and what sounded like growls. Pepper pulled Tony out into the hallway.

“So what sort of changes are you going to make to their contract?” she wanted to know.

Tony shrugged. “Well, hopefully, they will agree to move in here. So we’ll add the apartment in, and hopefully they will agree to work a few more hours in return.”

Pepper raised her eyebrows. “No other changes?”

“No,” he replied. “I’m confident they will show us their ethics.”

Just then, Lippy poked her head out. “OK, come on in, we have some things to say.”

Tony smiled at Pepper, and they returned to the apartment. “So the answer is yes, great, I’ve got to get back to work, move in whenever you are ready!” He turned to go.

“Hold up, buddy!” Lippy stopped him in his tracks. “We have a few things to discuss.”

Tony really did look puzzled. “Like what? There’s a kitchenette and small fridge, but you have the run of the common area. I mean, I know it’s a bit small for the two of you, but I’m sure you can make all this,” he twirled his hand in the air, “work.”

“What do you mean, make it work? What do you want us to do with it? It’s empty!”

“Surely you two don’t have that much stuff.”

Lippy rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, then spoke in a slow, calm tone, as if talking to a child. “This,” she swept her hand around, “might work fine if it was just me. But she’s got kids. This place isn’t big enough.”

Tony was perplexed. Kids? Nobody mentioned kids. Still… “OK, what do you need?”

“She needs three bedrooms, two baths. Wifi, cable, bigger fridge. More counter space in the kitchen.” Tony could see Quiet muttering behind Lippy. “I’ll be fine with something this size.”

“You aren’t going to stay with her? And the kids?”

“Oh, God no! She knows I love her, I followed her here, after all, but there is such a thing as too much togetherness. I can count the number of hot showers I’ve have since I’ve been here on one hand. No, I need my own place, and my own water heater!”

“Stark Tower has never run out of hot water.” Tony boasted.

“Yeah well, just wait. Anyway, we’d both like a small balcony.” Quiet squeaked and grabbed at her friend. “No fire escapes, and we need secure bars or something all the way up please. Her youngest has this thing about hanging out on fire escapes. Frankly we are both afraid he’s going to end up some greasy” (she pronounced it “greezy”) “spot on the sidewalk somewhere. But we also have cats, and they like sunny spots and being high up. Still, we don’t want them to end up like greasy spots either. I’d like space to grow a few plants too.”

Tony thought for a moment. “I think we can do a bit of remodeling. It’s nothing too out of the ordinary. It’s a deal.”

Lippy held up her hand. “Hold your horses, we aren’t quite done.” Tony rolled his eyes. “If we are going to live here, there are going to have to be some changes to the duties. And since you are the one who brought up the change in our schedule, it’s time to get that settled. We are each going to work 5 days a week, two days off. Sunday for both of us, and then each of us will take a different day during the week. We can switch to daytime hours, as long as that’s convenient for you.” Tony nodded. “And one more thing. I want a laundry room that’s not in the basement. I don’t know what experiment you have living down there, but I am done trying to get the laundry washed without getting eaten.”

Tony smiled, wondering what she was talking about. “OK. Anything else?”

They looked at each other. “Not at this time.”

“When are you moving in?”

“When will the remodeling be done?”

He did a quick calculation. “It’ll take about 2 weeks.”

They nodded. “OK, we’ll move in December first.”

Tony agreed. “Good. Now, can I get back to work?”

“That’s fine,” Lippy dismissed.

Tony couldn’t help but chuckle as he left. And he would see to it that the apartments would be finished on time, if not before.

#Tony is concerned #Bruce has an idea #Tony runs with it #new apartments #they'd rather not live together #separate hot water #Stark Tower never runs out of hot water #why did nobody mention kids #Lippy got really lippy #agreed #tony is pleased #Lippy seems hostile

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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Meanwhile, Back At The Tower

“Tell him I’m busy!” Tony snapped at JARVIS’ interruption of his work. There was a problem with the coolant on a mini-suit he was working on.

“He says it’s extremely important, sir,” Jarvis replied. “He has something that he needs to give you.”

Tony swore and threw the wrench across the shop. He took a deep breath, set his jaw, and blipped open the screen for his phone. “This had better be important.”

“Oh it is, Mr. Stark,” the young face at the other end promised, “it really is.”

Tony raised an eyebrow and glared at the screen for a moment. “I’ll meet you in the deli around the corner in 10.”

When Tony walked into the deli, he was greeted from across the room by the owner. He waved back at the man and nodded. Might as well pick up lunch while he was here. A few minutes later the kid rushed in, carrying a backpack and panting. Tony took his latte and sat at a table in the corner. The kid took the seat opposite him.

“Hey, thanks for meeting me, Mr. Stark,” the kid tripped over his own words. “I just knew that this was something you needed to have…”

Tony held up a hand and cut him off in mid-sentence. “Stop, I don’t have all day. What did you bring me?”

The kid reached for his backpack. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Ummm, here.” The kid drew two items out of his bag. One nearly filled up the kid’s backpack. The other was somewhat smaller.

“OK,” Tony looked at him quizzically, “why are you carrying around, what are those, purses? And what’s more important, why are you giving them to me? Neither one goes with my outfit.”

“Well, see, I thought you could return them.”

Tony grunted irritably. “What do I look like, Manhattan’s Lost & Found department?”

The kid’s eyes grew round and he stammered a bit. “Oh, no no, it’s just that, well, these belong to two of your employees.”

Tony had never seen these bags before, but then he never paid attention to this sort of thing. “How do you know they belong to my employees?” he asked.

“Because that’s what one of them said,” came the reply.

“When?”

“She was yelling it as she chased the guy.”

Tony grew more and more confused. “What guy?”

“The guy that snatched the purses.”

Tony shook his head. “OK, why don’t you tell me the story, from the beginning.”

“Oh,OK,” the kid said. “Ok, so I was out last night, kind of late, I know, I should have been studying for that math test, but I’d already been studying all night, and I really just needed a break for a while, so I just went out for a bit.”

“Your aunt let you out late at night?”

“Oh no! Aunt May wouldn’t let me out after midnight, even on a weekend.” He looked around, ducking down and whispering, “Please don’t tell her, Mr. Stark, she will ground me forever!”

“You were out after midnight? Are you crazy, you aren’t even 150 pounds soaking wet!”

“Well I put on… I mean...”

Tony ground his teeth and gave him a threatening look. “Just go on with the story.”

“OK, so I was just kind of swinging around – um, hanging out, near Bryant Park, see, and I hear this lady kind of scream. Like not a real scream, but like cut off, you know? Yeah, so I kinda went over, and I saw this guy, and these two ladies, and one of them kinda threw her bag at him, the other one was doing like a tug of war thing with the other bag, until the guy like cut the strap to get it away from her. See, this one right here, see how it’s cut? So he turns and takes off through the park. And the lady who was pulling at her purse, she just takes off running after him. So I figured I oughtta, you know, be like a good Samaritan or something and get the purses back for them. And anyway so she runs out of breath kinda fast, and she’s yelling after him, ‘you just wait until my boss hears about this! Tony Stark WILL find you and he’s gonna kick your ass!’”

Tony smirked. He could just guess who that was. And he had to admit, not many women would chase after an armed purse snatcher in broad daylight, much less into a park after midnight. He kinda respected her a little for it. She had guts. Or no brain. He wasn’t completely sure which, but he expected that the new additions to his Tower were about to make life interesting. Not that life was dull up to that point.

The kid continued. “So anyway, I followed the guy through the park and finally caught him. He had stopped for a minute to look through the big one, so you could say I caught him red handed.” He smiled at his own little joke, then sobered up when Tony frowned at him. “OK so I wrapped him up, took the bags back from him, and then delivered the guy to the cops.”

“And how did you do that, walk in wearing your onesie?” Tony was rewarded by the flustered expression on the kid’s face.

“It’s not a onesie! You gave the suit to me –“

Tony cut him off, “And I told you not to play around with it. But nevermind. What did you do with the mugger?”

“Oh, I left him kinda tied up at the door of the Penn Station PD office. Oh, with a note! I figured somebody would trip over him, and I didn’t want them to let him go. I left the other stuff he’d stolen with him. I just brought these two.”

Tony sat back a minute and regarded the kid. He was growing up, that was true, but he obviously still needed the approval of an older man. Tony didn’t like to think of himself as a father figure, but sometimes he had to just resign himself to the inevitable. He finally gave the kid a tight smile.

“Good job, kid. I’ll be sure to get these back to their owners.” Tony looked over at the deli owner who nodded and put a paper bag on the counter. “Now, get back to your room and get ready for that test, ok?”

The kid hesitated a moment. “Oh, uh, ok yeah. So can I have-”

Again Tony cut him off. “You know the rules, ace the school, be responsible, keep on doing the friendly neighborhood thing. But let’s confine that to daylight hours, got it?”

* * * * * * * *

Tony was waiting that evening when the two housekeepers arrived. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee and watched as they exited the elevator and hung up their coats in the closet. When they walked into the kitchen, he stopped them. “I need to see the both of you. In the meeting room. Now.”

Both women stared at him with big eyes, glanced at each other, and then preceded him into the room. He was being dramatic, he knew, but sometimes a man just couldn’t resist. He waited until they took seats and then walked to the other end of the room and stood with the window at his back. He looked down on the nervous women.

“So which one of you wants to tell me about last night?”

The women looked at each other, the Quiet One pleading with the other silently. Lippy One shrugged and replied, “What would you like to know about?” When Tony pursed his lips and frowned quietly for a moment she went on. “Well, we come in, I start the dishwasher, she goes up to check the theater, and we meet on the top floor. We gather the towels –“

Tony reached under the table and pulled out the bags he’d received that afternoon, plopping them down on the table in front of them. Lippy One fell silent for a moment, then uttering a single, “Oh.”

“Let me try again. What happened last night?”

The Quiet One snatched up her purse and began digging through it excitedly. Lippy didn’t even reach for hers, just stared at it as if it were a snake. After a moment, she let out a big sigh.

“OK, so after we left here last night, we decided to celebrate our first check. She wanted to go to the Tick Tock Diner, so that’s where we went. And on our way to the train station, we got mugged. Guy pulled out a knife, demanded our bags.”

Tony frowned. He was concerned for his people, and, for better or worse, these women were now his people. Even if they didn’t like it. “Did you get a good look at the guy?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied, “White guy, about 5’9”, 180, curly hair and a mustache. He was wearing jeans, a black hoodie pulled up, Converse, and dark sunglasses.”

The Quiet One looked at her friend. And actually spoke. “No he was closer to 6’. And he was wearing camouflage pants and a navy blue hoodie. And a ski mask. And he had a gun, not a knife.”

Then they were talking over one another, arguing about what the guy looked like. Tony rolled his eyes. He noticed Barnes and Rogers stop outside the meeting room and have a short conversation about the arguing women before moving on. Tony shook his head and turned to pull a file from a drawer, dropping that on the table. That stopped the argument, with a comment from the Quiet One of “you are describing the Unibomber.”

“Yeah, they caught him a while back,” Tony mentioned. “Your guy’s name is Davis, Eliot Brandon. He’s a small time thief, deals mostly in purse snatchings, shell games, the occasional knock down and grab. About the only thing you two got right was he was a white guy wearing clothes. He’s 5’11” and was found with a knife. NYPD has him now, though, and he’s not going to be making bail this time.” They exchanged another glance, and finally the Lippy One pulled her purse towards her. “Double check, make sure everything is there. Let me know if anything is missing, I’ll see what I can do about getting it replaced.”

They checked through their bags, and he saw relief on their faces when Lippy found their uncashed paycheck. She pulled out a wad of folded bills and thumbed through them. “Wait, I wasn’t carrying this much cash, this isn’t mine.” She held the bundle out to him.

Tony shook his head. “Think of it as a reward for helping get the guy off the streets.” She gave him a sour look. “OK kids, let’s get back to work.” They rose and headed for the door. “Uh, for what it’s worth? Next time something like that happens, call me. I can pull some strings. Oh, and I’ll have someone drive you two home from now on. No need to thank me.”

Lippy cocked her head to the side. “OK, just one thing. How did you get these back for us?”

Tony smirked. “Let’s just say an associate brought them to my attention.”

They didn’t look so much like they believed him. But the Quiet One nudged her friend and jerked her head in his direction. Lippy huffed. “Thank you for getting them back.”

Tony grinned. “Any time.”

#Tony is busy #this had better be good #why does the kid have purses #and why is he giving them to tony #where did he get them #he stole them back #friendly neighborhood guy in a onesie #Lippy One #Quiet One #they don't even know who mugged them #everything is there #plus a couple hundred more #tony is a good guy #when he wants to be #Lippy still doesn't trust him

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sunshinykittens-blog · 6 years

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I Guess We Are Real NYC Citizens Now

Oh good lord, what a freaking night!!!!! This week has been one interesting thing after another. Stuff at work, our first paycheck, and then, to top it all off…. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

So work has been busy and tiring, but good. I’m still not sure where all those towels from the top floor came from. That doubles my washing time, unless I want to do a load daily. I might go that route in the end. But something is going to have to be done about those creatures in the basement laundry room. I’m not very squeamish, but this is New York, and they are rumored to have rats the size of gators in the sewers. And who knows whether or not the basement has a sewer grate.

I was going along fine Monday, until it came time to unload the dishwasher and put away the clean dishes. I’ve resigned myself to very likely having to do double the work on Mondays since nobody apparently knows how the dishwasher works on the weekend. So I did the first load and when I opened the cupboard to put away the first batch of cups, there was one cup front and center of the bottom shelf, right where I couldn’t miss it. With a very passive aggressive post-it note. Said note read:

“Do Not. Ever. Wash This Cup. Again. EVER!!!!!”

I’m not sure what came over me in that moment. I try to always be professional at work, even when I am annoyed by The Man. Sunny and I discussed the situation of working on the top floors, and we agreed we would keep our heads down, do what we were told, and just collect our paycheck. But there was something about that post-it note. So I did what any self-respecting housekeeper would do.

“Hey, Jarvis, where can I find a post-it pad?”

In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best or most professional idea. I left my response next to the original post-it note on the cup. And I went about my business. By the time our coffee break came around, I had decided it was not a good idea and I went to throw my note away. And the cup was gone. I hid my panic and went on with the night. I’ve been apprehensive, but nothing has been said about it.

Tonight we went into work, and there, clipped to the fridge, was our glorious first check! We took a quick minute to squeal as quietly as we could and do a little dance, then I stowed it in my purse for safekeeping. We got to work quickly, trying to get everything done as soon as possible, because we had agreed to stop for a celebratory meal on our way home. We even managed to get out of work before midnight.

Sunny had been wanting to try the Tick Tock Diner since we moved here, and it wasn’t too far from our subway station, so I agreed to it. The place is absolutely awesome! I love the décor, and the menu was fabulous. It took a good while for us to decide though. I ended up getting the lemon ricotta quinoa pancakes with a side of sausage and an egg cream soda for my meal, and Sunny got the Reuben with onion rings. We toasted our success (me with a cosmopolitan and her with a jolly rancher) while we split the disco fries. And even though we were stuffed to the gills, we also ordered dessert of apple pie (Sunny) and tiramisu (me). It felt so good to just pay with the company card and tip VERY well without batting an eyelash. We left the diner about 1:15am with our leftover desserts in carryout boxes, laughing and very, very full.

We were walking back towards Times Square subway station to head home, just minding our own business, when this guy jumped out in front of us. I was startled, but guided Sunny to go around him. And that’s when he pulled out a knife and demanded our bags. Sunny practically threw her little backpack purse at him, along with her dessert and the to-go coffee. I’m surprised he managed to not get burned by the coffee. He caught her purse and then demanded mine. I was not about to give it up, our paycheck – a VERY NICE paycheck, I might add – was in there! I told him no. I think he was a little shocked, but then he reached out and grabbed the strap of my purse. I kept a grip on it and a tug of war ensued. Sunny kept telling me to just give it to him, and he was telling me to listen to my friend, but I just got madder the more he pulled. Finally he reached out with the knife and slashed the strap, yanking it free from me, turning to take off through the park. I don’t know exactly what got into me, but I chased him. I was so pissed! Unfortunately, I am also very out of shape, so it wasn’t long before I felt my lungs burning. As I doubled over panting, he disappeared into the night. But not before I screamed after him, “You just wait until my boss finds out! Tony Stark’s gonna find you and kick your ass!”

I returned to Sunny, who was shaking and holding the dessert boxes she’d picked up. She offered me her other fist. “I have subway fare, at least.” I told her we were NOT going home, as I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911.

A few minutes later a black and white pulled up. It was Officers Yang and Hancock. The first, ridiculous words out of my mouth were, “My purse did NOT get towed!”

After a few initial questions, Officer Yang asked us to go to the station with them to make our reports and give them a good description of the guy. Definitely not a problem, we had both gotten a good look at him. About 5’9”, maybe 180, white guy wearing jeans, a black hoodie, sunglasses, and Converse tennis shoes. He had a mustache and the hair over his forehead was curly.

We made it home close to 4am. And although we hadn’t recovered anything, I made Sunny promise one thing. In no way was Tony Stark to EVER find out what had happened. I promised her I would speak to Miss Potts about replacing our paycheck. And now I am nervous about being out so late at night. Maybe it is time to get some mace.

#first paycheck #cha-ching $$$#passive-aggressive post-its #don't clean that cup #ever #leave it out and see what happens #tick tock rocks #yummy food #creepy man #purse snatcher #he stole my paycheck #Tony must never know #never

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