"Usually the unproductive one," Tony pointed out. "And anyways, what do you care about my R&D monkeys anymore, no, you don't get to analyze things like that, do I need to distract you again?"

"Technically I am still one of your R&D code monkeys," Lea pointed out. "Since I still get a paycheck, although I don't know why you bother anymore."

"Do you not want a paycheck?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought paychecks were, you know, a good thing."

"Yeah, no, they are, trust me, good thing," Lea said quickly. "Just, y'know, companies usually require you do something productive for the company to get a paycheck."

"Who says you're not being productive?" Tony asked with a bit of a smirk. "You're instrumental in ground-breaking new scientific and technological research that could have enormous and widespread impact on everything from the medical field to smart technology. At least, according to the pitch Peps is drafting once we figure out everything about Extremis."

Lea blinked and shifted so she could look at Tony, pushing herself up a bit. "Wait. Wait. What? Are you... You're including me in that? You're actually trying to... give me credit?"

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Why doesn't anyone ever believe I'd give credit where it's due?" he asked. "Honestly, most of the credit usually is mine, but this is one of those times that someone actually did help, and I'm not about to piss off more people than I have to about it."

"Well, yeah, you and Bruce are doing all the work," Lea pointed out. "I'm not actually doing much for this, I mean, I'm just donating blood for Bruce to research."

"Still contributing," Tony pointed out in return. "And when it works, you have the option of being the first person in the world with the honest-to-god perfected virus."

"That's... You're lumping me in with you and Bruce in terms of contributions, that is so far off I don't even..." Lea looked at him like he was crazy.

"You're giving me that look," Tony said. "I know that look, that's the look that says you're considering sending me to a shrink. No, no, I'm not any crazier than normal, and I mean it, you're contributing."

"Where do you even get that idea?" Lea asked, sitting up properly now. "I putter around the lab and play with AI programming and occasionally look at R&D designs while you and Bruce work on this stuff for me and update Steve's gear and create new arrows for Clint and all this stuff."

"Look at it this way," Tony said, "if you weren't there, we wouldn't have the research to do in the first place. So really, you are instrumental, you're at the center of all of this."

Lea shook her head, a bit gobsmacked still. "You... are still the most confusing dick on the face of the earth, but you've got your good qualities." She finally managed to grin at him.

"That's better than what most people say about me," Tony said as he leaned back and relaxed again.

Lea snorted and leaned down and kissed him again before settling down. She could take a nap, she wouldn't mind.

Tony returned the kiss and let her settle in for a while. At least everything was good for the moment. He couldn't ask for more than that.

Eventually, though, Lea got hungry and got so they could head back to the tower.

The only problem was, Tony was no longer the only person in any position of power who knew that a few Extremis experiments had gone rogue, essentially.

Tony was glad to be back at the Tower. The hunting lodge was great, but he'd missed his tech.

After that, things settled down and got quiet again for a bit. For once, Lea and Tony weren't at each others throats, and Loki was quite pleased with the fact that Amy hadn't rejected him.

All that lasted up until Fury got wind of what exactly the two girls were. And then he was pissed and going to Have Words with the whole team.

Amy was making a real effort to hide behind anyone she could when Fury showed up at the tower. And he did; he'd been less than pleased when the group had refused to bring the girls to the Helicarrier, so he had to show up to get them, himself.

"I don't think any of you realize the position you put me in with this stunt," he said to them.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, moving up to the front. Hey, he was team leader, so he'd try to keep this a calm and rational meeting while he still could for as long as he could. He knew Tony wouldn't be helpful with that, though.

"Keeping a pair of lab experiments holed up here?" Fury said. "Especially ones that are so damn dangerous? I've got the Council breathing down my neck over this, not to mention the fact that the American government has gotten wind of it and is demanding they be handed over."

Steve's expression hardened at that. "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know of any "lab experiments" being kept here. Just a few extra people at the moment. I don't see why the government would be interested in harassing a few citizens."

"Don't pull that act on me, Rodgers, you know exactly who I'm talking about," Fury said. "And it's got everyone between a rock and a hard place, here, because if word gets out about Stark and Banner's research before it's done, we're all going to be facing a shitstorm."

"Research, what--" Tony started, but Fury just looked at him.

"Not in the mood for your bullshit today, Stark, really not," he said. "I know what you've been working on, let's leave it at that."