"I think you're right," Maeve said, nodding. She settled in on her chair. "So how has it been with Vulpix?"

"Generally good. She's fairly well behaved, most of the time, and she and Electrike play." Julie smiled. "They get along better than I hoped."

"Good to know," Maeve said, making mental notes. Hey, she was still Julie's handler. "Any combat potential that you noticed?"

"Electrike, yes. I'm sure once Vulpix gets older she'll show some, although she'll be more challenging to train." Julie shrugged. "We'll see what happens, I might have to leave her home when I go on missions."

"Alright," Maeve said. "I'll send a note to the daycare on the Helicarrier about it, so you'll be able to leave her there on missions.

"Good." Julie smiled a bit. "Thanks, Maeve." She finished cutting the biscuits and put them on a sheet to go in the oven.

"No problem," Maeve replied. "It's my job to look after you." She grinned. "In the job description and everything."

Julie snickered. "I know," she said, shaking her head. "You won't let me forget it, thankfully."

"You're glad someone looks after you when you're out on the field," Maeve pointed out. She grinned. "I'm not cut out for your kind of field work, anyways."

"It's probably a good thing, too," Julie said musingly. "I don't think I'd trust anyone else with my safety and info so easily."

"And that's why it's me and not someone else acting as your handler," Maeve said. She stretched a bit.

Julie grinned briefly. "Go shoo and make sure the pokemon aren't getting in trouble. These biscuits will be ready in half an hour or so."

Maeve rolled her eyes but went into the living room. She didn't have anything to worry about, though; Gardevoir was babysitting the little ones for the moment, and had everything well in hand.

A little while later, Julie brought out a plate of goodies for the pokemon and a plate of cookies for the people.

"You made cookies?" Tony looked briefly amazed.

"Sure, why not?"

"You're a SHIELD field agent, you aren't supposed to do things as nice and domestic as bake cookies."

"You underestimate the field agents," Maeve teased. "They were normal people before SHIELD found them." She paused. "Well, most of them."

"I don't think anything about either of you was ever normal," Tony said dryly.

"I was raised in a firmly-middle-class family, one younger sibling, out in the suburbs," Maeve promptly replied. "Average grades in the core curriculum classes in school, although I excelled in pokemon theory and practice, and I went to a typical four-year college for a liberal arts degree, and I specialized in TMs and type-matching on the side. It was about as average as it gets, aside from the specialization in college."

Tony rolled his eyes. That wasn't exactly what he meant, but whatever. She could pretend she was a normal person all she liked.

Julie snorted. "Have a cookie," she said, shoving one at Tony before going to offer one to Steve.

Maeve just grinned and nibbled on her own cookie, watching as Chandelure swooped down to grab a treat for himself.

Julie snorted but didn't even try to stop Chandelure, instead handing out treats to the rest of the pokemon before settling in with her own cookie. Vulpix immediately settled in her lap to eat her treat.

Maeve just smiled when she saw Vulpix snuggling in. Neither of her pokemon were really snugglers, so she didn't get cuddles all that often.

Julie was more than happy to settle in there for a little while, relaxing in a way she didn't often get to. Tony did too, keeping track of his group, who had also settled in to nap through the heat of the afternoon.

Gardevoir had settled in next to Maeve, while Chandelure had taken up a spot up near the ceiling to nap in. Noon was not a normal ghost-type time of day, after all.

Tony ordered dinner for them so Julie didn't have to cook, settling in for the evening to watch movies with Maeve.

He did notice when Julie headed outside and down the mountain side to the beach again, but he didn't say anything.

Maeve had no problems settling in to watch movies.

Steve, however, had also noticed Julie leaving, and got up to go see if anything was wrong.