Chapter 5
Charlotte and Clint walked back into the common room from the elevator. The entire room was still silent. Charlotte followed Clint to the peninsula and sat down. After a moment she looked up and around at everyone in the room.
"I know what it sounds like when people stop talking because they had just been talking about you." she said to the room at large. These people had seen her in a minor break down earlier and she was honestly too tired to find the careful professional veneer she usually wore around strangers.
"I personally was just commenting on your delightful grasp of the swear words in the English language." Tony said flippantly, a friendly looking smile played across his lips.
Charlotte smiled back at him before saying "I had a bit of an afternoon. I figured you'd forgive me. That being said. I do apologize, my language was vulgar and inappropriate."
"Bitch please. I'm Tony Fucking Stark. I'm pretty sure at least one of my sex tapes is still on line."
"I grew up in the 40's in a poor section of Brooklyn and then I was in the army. I've heard and said a lot worse." Steve said from the stove.
"I grew up around military and contracted for them, so you know..." Bruce said. Natasha just muttered something in what Charlotte thought was Russian. Out of all the people involved in the battle of New York the sole woman on the team was the one everyone knew the least about.
"Sir, at this time there are 5 sex tapes with your presence in them." JARVIS supplied. Charlotte began to laugh. A mug of something appeared in front of her steaming and she looked up to see Natasha. Charlotte took the mug in her hands and took a long sip. She raised an eyebrow at the other woman when she tasted much more than a splash of whiskey mixed in with peppermint tea and a bit of lemon. The redhead raised an eyebrow back and Charlotte nodded her thanks. She assumed Clint would be driving her home again and although strong this one cup of tea wouldn't get her so drunk she couldn't handle herself. She glanced at the clock. It was almost five in the evening. There was no chance now of Elizabette going down early for bed, but Charlotte would be able to delay a meltdown until they were back in her apartment at least.
Clint on the other hand walked right to the fridge and pulled out a 6 pack of some artisanal microbrew beer. Charlotte watched him flick the top off before chugging the beer back. He immediately grabbed a second one and popped that top too. This time he started to take slow sips as he came around to plop on the stool next to Charlotte.
"Fuck yeah it's been that kind of day." he said.
"Have you found any family?" Charlotte asked Tony.
"None yet but give JARVIS sometime. He's also running background checks on anyone he finds who might have ties to the couple. No-one's claimed the bodies yet. We found them through facial recog. The city has had to put photos of the unclaimed dead on a section of their website so loved ones can find their lost." Tony explained.
"Fuck." Charlotte said. There wasn't any good way to find out your loved one was dead but a photo on the internet had to be among the worse.
"It's better than what we used to do. We had to stick posters up and hope someone claimed them before they decomposed too much." Steve said grimly.
"If there's something to find we'll find it." Tony assured her.
Charlotte took another sip of her strong tea.
"I appreciate your help more than I can say. At the very least we have answers. If there's anything I can do for you guys let me know." Charlotte knew her offer to help would ring hallow- what could she do for this insanely powerful group of people after all. She was only here because Clint wanted to see how things were going after he'd seen her on the news. After she went home she'd never see any of these folks again. They were being much nicer than they had to be.
The elevator doors dinged open again and two women stepped off of them hand in hand.
"Jane, I know the new lab is fucking awesome but I swear to god if I do not eat soon I'm going to kill you first and then anyone else I see. I love you- a lot but we've been packing the lab for two weeks and traveling across country by car for three days because you didn't trust anyone else with your duct tape machines. We're eating. We're sleeping. We're yelling at Thor. Then we can go do the fucking science." The first woman was saying as they climbed off the elevator. She was short and curvy and made Charlotte think of a pin up model in glasses. The woman next to her was even smaller. She looked like a particular stiff wind might knock her over. Her arm was also scribbled on in permanent marker and Charlotte thought those might be equations.
Charlotte wondered if she should be here, surrounded by virtual strangers, especially if what looked to be a personal matter between Thor and the two women. Leaving though would mean waking Elizabette up, not finishing her tea and having to wait to see if Tony found anything. Charlotte put aside her discomfort and took another long drink of her tea.
"Lady Darcy! Lady Jane! You have arrived!" Thor's voice boomed.
"Thunder Dude. Long time, no call. What the fuck?" the pin up looking woman said as she put her hands on her hips.
"Oh this is going to be fun." Clint whispered to Charlotte. "Dude ditched out and didn't call for like over a year."
"Lady Darcy, I extend my apologies. My duties on Asgard-"
"Are a great excuse if you know you hadn't said you'd come back as soon as you could. See we figured that Rainbow Bridge of yours was broken and that's why you didn't let us know what was up. Which cool. Jane started trying to fix it. Then suddenly we get this mysterious grant to Norway. Jane is doing the science thing and I turn on the news. What do I see? Everyone's favorite Thunder Dick in New York City. Jane isn't speaking to you by the way. We did rock paper scissors. I cheated. I wanted to yell a bit."
"I knew you cheated!" the other woman, Jane, Charlotte guessed stopped glaring at Thor long enough to glare at Darcy.
"Sorry babes. You didn't catch me till I told you so doesn't count. Speaking of not catching things- Mr. Stark you should really talk to your legal team. They totally did not notice the changes I made to our contracts and signed them with us. I added a few write ins- including hazard pay and a few other fun things. The elevator told us there would be food here though, so we'd like to eat, figure out where we sleep and see the labs when we're conscious again."
Charlotte was impressed by the young woman. She looked young twenties but held herself like she was completely comfortable in the space surrounded by what the media had been calling the Avengers. Thor looked properly chastised and a bit afraid to say anything else to the women. Jane still hadn't looked at him unless it was to glare. Steve was looking anywhere but the scene in front of him and was resolutely plateing dinner. Charlotte wondered for a moment if she should offer to help. She decided against it. It might call attention to her status as a stranger here. Natasha sat with an unreadable expression, but Charlotte thought she saw a hint of amusement on her face. Clint was chuckling as he sipped his beer. Tony was actively leering at the new occupants in the room.
"Did your mother happen to have a fling with a tall dark and mysterious stranger about oh twenty odd years ago?" he asked Darcy.
"Nope, my dad is my dad." Darcy said as she pulled Jane into the room.
"Dinner's ready!" Steve said loudly bringing a huge platter of spaghetti over to the table. Bruce looked up from the science journal he'd been reading and began to help with plates. A new mug of tea was placed in front of Charlotte by Natasha and a careful sniff told her this one was as spiked as before. Charlotte thought of declining for a moment but Elizabette would sleep for at least another hour if not longer and like she thought earlier- she wasn't driving. She took a slow sip as a plate of food appeared in front of her.
Clint settled back on her left side and Natasha sat across from him. Steve sat next to her and the history nerd in her had to stamp down a squee at being so close to a walking time capsule. The rest of the group fanned around the table. They all fell on their food without speaking too much. Every now and again Thor tried to say something to the two new comers only to be shot down instantly by Darcy.
After the food had been eaten and the dishes cleared away Charlotte cleared her throat.
"Anything?" She asked Tony. The man looked up from the StarkPad that had never left his elbow and shook his head.
"I alerted social services that the parents have been located among the dead. So far, I haven't found anyone. The parents may have had a will that names a caregiver in the case of death." Tony told her.
"Thank you. For everything. She's had a big day today, so I might be able to get her home without waking her. Who knows how long it'll take social services to figure it out. At least we have a name now." Charlotte felt the last bit of her own energy get sucked out of her.
"I'll get you guys home. Tony- is Happy still around?" Clint asked.
"Yeah, I'll have him pull the car around Legolas." Tony tapped something on his phone. Charlotte just hoped it wasn't another robot car.
"It was lovely meeting you all. Thank you for helping us. Thank you for everything." She said as she stood. She accepted the murmured good byes with a nod of her head and followed Clint up to the elevators. They went back to his apartment where he carefully scooped the toddler into his arms. They were silent on the elevator ride down and into the waiting car. A man Charlotte assumed was Happy held open a short limo door outfitted with a car seat. Once they were settled he pulled smoothly from the garage and into the traffic.
The entire twenty-minute ride home Charlotte sat silent and stared out the window. Clint didn't say anything either and Elizabette- god she needed a nickname- slept quietly the whole way. Once Happy pulled up to her building Clint automatically lifted Elizabette into his arms. Charlotte grabbed the bag full of toys and stepped in front of Clint to open the front door to her building. They walked up the three flights of stairs.
Charlotte held open the door for Clint as he stepped into her small apartment. He looked down at the toddler in his arms before back at Charlotte raising an eyebrow in question.
"Bedroom." she whispered. Clint nodded and carried the toddler into the other room. A few moments passed, and he came back to stand in the living room. For several seconds the two adults stared at each other. It wasn’t even eight yet so the sun still filtered in through the open window.
"Would you-" Charlotte started, "would you like to stay for a bit. I think I have some wine. Baby Girl's either going to be up in five minutes or out for the entire night until 5 am. She had a long day and I don't think I'm quite ready to be alone."
"Wine sounds good. I'll send Happy a text, have him go back to the tower. I can take one of the trains back in." Clint said as he pulled out his phone.
"Won't people recognize you?" Charlotte asked as she pulled out a bottle of white from the fridge and glasses from the cupboard.
"Nah, I wasn't the flashiest one out there and I don't have the bow. That's what people typically remember." Clint said. He shuffled awkwardly from one foot to another.
"We can sit in the living room." They both sat down on opposite ends of the couch. They drank in silence for several minutes. Charlotte sipped slowly knowing the combination of two mugs of spiked tea and the wine would get her buzzed soon.
"I'm sorry." Clint spoke up after several minutes, "I thought we'd get better news. I thought that because we didn't have her name she was just lost in the system. I thought we could help."
"We know now. That's better than before. Social services can start looking for anyone who knows her. It's better to know." Charlotte said. Halfway through her voice broke and she started to cry. She cried for the little girl in next room who after a few short weeks she already loved. She cried for the two parents sitting in a morgue, unidentified, who would never get to see their little girl grow up. She cried for the city itself and the man next to her. She could tell how much he wanted this good thing and now none of them got it.
Clint didn't say a word just came closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder and let her cry.
~&~
In the tower Tony headed back down to his lab. "JARVIS, complete background check on Charlotte Mathews. Get dirty if you have to. I want to know about. Something tells me she might stick around a bit."
"Yes Sir. I shall have results in a few moments."
"Thanks J-man. Keep searching on the kid too."
"Of course Sir."
Tony picked up one of his repulsers off the work bench. He turned it over in his hands a few times before grabbing a screw driver and beginning to make adjustments. The fight with the Chitari had done a number to his suit and he had some modifications he wanted to make.
"Que music." He said to the air and AC/DC began to flood the room. He'd been working for maybe an hour or so when he heard his lab doors woosh open.
"Hey boss man." He looked up and saw Darcy Lewis standing in the door way. "Thanks for the sweet digs. Especially since they seem to be Thor free."
"I figured Foster and you might want some space from Point Break." He shrugged. He was seriously not used to being thank this much. It made his skin itchy, first the teacher and now the intern.
"Hmph, we'll be fine, but Jane and I need some space especially right at the start. It was intense when he was here and the aftermath kinda sucked. The new funding rocks though, it'll be nice to actually get paid."
"Billionaire, playboy- you get the picture." Tony plastered a smirk on his face and pointed the screw driver at himself.
"Yeah, I've heard that one. Sounds like a good song to sing." Darcy smirked. "Where's Jane's lab? I want to get a look at it before she goes crazy tomorrow. I finally got her to sleep."
"Her's is right over there. I figured our science might play nice and I like to keep my pet projects close." Tony waved his hand toward the lab next door.
"You know- some people just call pet projects friends." Darcy pointed out.
"Some people fall in love with their boss," Tony deflected as he tried to distract the young woman. He'd read the interns file. She majored in soft sciences and was good at it too. There were few reasons she might still be following the astrophysicist around and falling in love with her was one. It made the most sense too. Tony may have hacked into a few more private records and the pair seemed exceptionally close- even with accounting for the whole shared trauma thing.
"Yep, they do. Their boss and the alien prince who falls out of the sky. Sometimes they grow a pair and tell them and they all live happily ever after as long as the prince grovels a bit and works on his communication issues." Darcy laughed as she left the lab. Tony stared after her for a moment.
"JARVIS, add a more in-depth background check on Darcy Lewis to the list." Tony said.
"Of course Sir. I have the information on Ms. Mathews you wanted."
"Hit me with it." Tony flung his hands in the air and several files popped up on the holographic screen above his work table. JARVIS highlighted the first file.
"Charlotte Renee Mathews was born in a small Wisconsin town to Catholic parents Darlene nee Michael and Scott Mathews. Nothing exciting in her high school years. Active on the local gymnastics team, and in the local 4-H and FFA. Good grades and she seemed well liked by her teachers. Accepted into NYU teaching program, graduated with honors. She had an unusually high income for a student and received no support from her family during this time."
"Drugs?" Tony asked, he knew several guys who paid for MIT by dealing when he was there in the 80's.
"It doesn't appear so. There are some photos of her with various wealthy persons in New York. Please see the highlighted file."
Tony grabbed the file and had it blow up on the screen. He flicked through the information gathered before waving it all away.
"Keep an eye on the file in social services. Her business is her business and she seems harmless enough. If Legolas brings her around again we can dig more."
"Yes Sir. I will alert you if there is any status chance on Ms. Mathews or Ms. Elizabette in any systems. I still have not found anyone that has any indicators they were close enough to Ms. Elizabette's parents to take their child should something happen."
"Not a lot of people think about doing that. No one thinks they'll both die. Where's Pepper?" Tony asked.
"Ms. Potts is currently in the Penthouse."
"Tell her I'm on my way up."
"Right away sir."