Amy quietly excused herself once she was done eating, disappearing back into their room. Lea didn't need her trying to keep an eye on the two of them, so she would get out of the way for a while.

Tony just grumbled a bit and picked at his plate, not wanting to admit that maybe Lea was right in insisting he eat.

Loki followed her back to her room. He didn't like staying around the others after all, so he didn't care about staying.

"Amy?" he asked quietly.

Lea waited until he was done picking at his food to let him head back to the lab.

The only thing that kept Amy from jumping was that she had known he was there.

"It's better down here," she said. "Not as smothering." Because it still wasn't comfortable being around so many strong-willed people.

"Ah yes." Loki settled on a couch easily. "Is it harder when your sister is off with Stark?"

"Not... in the metaphysical sense," Amy hedged. She wasn't about to admit that she was a bit jealous of her sister for finding someone else to connect with.

"Hmm." Loki guessed anyway, because he could be a genius. "I see." He stayed relaxed where he was.

Amy watched him cautiously for a minute, not sure if he would press for answers. When he didn't, she relaxed a bit and picked up one of the cats to snuggle with.

"How are your exercises coming?" he asked, watching her with the cat. He'd given her daily exercises to do to help her control and give her something to focus on.

"They're..." Amy considered for a moment. "Slow. I'm not sure if they're helping or not."

"Hmm." Loki puzzled over that for a few moments before he shrugged. He'd find something else for her to focus on, hopefully something that would start helping immediately.

Amy watched him, raising an eyebrow slightly. Sometimes it was hard to gauge his reactions, so she had no idea what he was thinking. Absently, she snuggled the cat again.

"Well, I'll have to come up with something a little more challenging." Loki smiled faintly. He did love a good challenge, after all. And it was becoming increasingly fun to teach her.

"I'm betting you already have something in mind," Amy said, looking at him. "You're not usually without a plan, I've noticed."

"I do like to have options," Loki agreed mildly. Getting up, he moved over next to her so he could teach her a new exercise.

Amy moved over a bit to give him some room, letting the cat go. Lessons were more important than snuggling kittens, at least for the moment. She knew she needed to get herself under control.

Loki took his time with the lesson. Hey, he was in no hurry to finish, and he was enjoying his time with her, oddly enough.

Several weeks later, Amy and Lea both ended up leaving the tower again. The desire for peace and quiet, at least for a little while, was too seductive to ignore, so they slipped out again on their own.

Tony discovered that he was Not Pleased about this.

Loki was less Not Pleased, but mainly because he'd placed a little tracking spell on Amy after she'd gone off and vanished the first time. He didn't want to lose track of her again.

In those weeks, Lea had gotten mostly comfortable in the lab again, going back to chatting with Jarvis and the bots and letting her little bot settle in to the "family". So she did feel a bit bad about leaving without a word.

The only one who could possibly be less pleased about Lea being gone was Darling. The little bot was absolutely morose once she realized Lea was gone, and had taken to trailing around behind anyone she could find in the lab, up to and including Bruce, Tony, and Dummy.

It only took one instance of Tony going to make a comment to Lea (only to remember she wasn't there) for him to realize something. He really, really Did Not Like her being gone. The conviction of that surprised him; he didn't usually care like that for anyone else. So he filed the thought away with the others of its kind (and there seemed to be several, where did they all keep coming from, honestly, he should have more control over his own head, he was a genius after all) and impatiently waited for Lea to return.

But Lea didn't return, not immediately. She didn't come back after a week, even. She was too busy ignoring the world and enjoying the quiet and seclusion of the middle of nowhere to even think about checking in with Tony.

Although it didn't help that she didn't think he'd care if she checked in or not.

After a week and a half, though, she was starting to get a bit bored and went to go turn on her phone for the first time since she'd left.

Tony, to his credit, had been a busy little genius in those two weeks. There were messages waiting for Lea on her phone from him.

It's been three days, when the hell are you coming back?

Your bot is annoying.

Seriously annoying.

She's following around everything that moves.

Even Dummy.

I swear if she doesn't stop I'm donating her to a city college right along with Dummy.

This is ridiculous now, seriously, get back here.

The first dozen or so texts went along like that, right up until the more recent ones:

Seriously, I didn't do something to piss you off, did I?

Was it the coffee thing? Because the coffee thing was not my fault.

And then the last one, which he had almost not sent: It's too quiet when you're gone.

Lea almost melted a bit at that last text. Really, she hadn't known he was even capable of feeling feels like that. So she texted him back quickly.

Darling is not annoying, and will not be donated to a city college. You didn't do anything, it's just easier for me to relax when I don't have my phone buzzing at me. Once she sent that one, though, she paused, considering his last text to her again before she typed out another text.

It's getting too quiet out here, I think I need to head back home.

Predictably, Tony had his phone right next to him the entire time, deftly ignoring Clint's teasing that he was acting like a lovesick teenager. Clint was obviously delusional, and Tony paid him no heed.

But he pounced on his phone when it vibrated.

Good, come back, you need to reign in your bot, she is a holy terror. He paused after he sent the message. And it's entirely too quiet around here.

Clearly she's been looking at Dummy's programming again. Lea sighed indulgently, shaking her head. I'll be back in eight or so hours, depends how much traffic we run into.

"Hey, Amy, you just about ready to head back again?" she called, looking out the window for her sister.

Amy was laying out on a blanket in the sun, sunbathing for a bit. She sat up when she heard her sister.

"Yeah," she replied, getting up. "I think it's about time we went back."