Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Chapter 31 ~ meet the intern

"So you've met Morgan."

I politely nodded as Tony Stark continued to ramble on. This dude seriously did not know how to shut up. One second I thought he was finally slowing down, but no, then he had to go off on a rant about something entirely unrelated. Maybe he was catching up for all those months he was dead?

"And you'll like Pepper." He continued. "Everyone likes Pepper."

I nodded again as a joke about salt went through my brain. I bit my lip holding back the smart remark. While he seemed like the type of person that would appreciate my sense of sarcasm, I probably shouldn't try pushing it too much for one night. After all, if his little plan worked, we would be seeing a lot of each other, and I saw no reason to use all my jokes right away. I believed in saving my wit for use in the best possible moment. Unfortunately, that moment usually ended up being the worst possible moment.

"Why in the world is Morgan still up?" A female voice shouted.

A look of absolute panic spread across Tony Stark's face as he glanced from me to the clicking sound of someone in high-heels making their way down the twisting staircase. "Son of a." His voice trailed off as a woman with straight strawberry blonde hair appeared with a sheepish looking Morgan trailing behind her.

"In my defense, I put her in bed several hours ago." Tony held both of his hands up while trying to plead his innocence.

"Then why was she halfway through watching Frozen?"

"You know Friday gets bored at night and Morgan must have wanted to give her company."

The little girl immediately began nodding in agreement with Stark's explanation. She glanced up at her mother with the most innocent smile she could muster.

"Uh huh." Pepper nodded, but from the small smirk appearing on her face, I could tell she didn't believe a word of what Tony or Morgan had just told her. Her eyes darted around the room, landing first on me and then on the broken window behind me. "What happened to the window? Did you break the window?" She turned to glare at Tony.

"Ok." Tony began. "I can explain that." His voice trailed off as he struggled to fabricate a believable story.

"That was actually my fault." I piped up.

Pepper and Tony both turned to stare at me.

"There was a performance issue." I began to stammer.

Tony began to nod. "Right. Performance issues. They're not uncommon. One in five."

I nodded as I forced a confident smile. In a way it was the truth. The distant truth, but not entirely a lie.

Pepper continued to stare incredulously at both of us. "And you are?" She motioned to me.

"She's the tooth fairy." Morgan piped up.

Tony shrugged. "Meet my newest intern." He proudly said whilst motioning over to me. "She's great at tech." He smirked. "And dentistry."

Pepper glanced over at me as surprise registered on her face as she looked me up and down. "Intern." She calmly said. "First Peter and now."

"Lily." I politely said.

She curtly nodded to me and then turned to stare back at Tony. "You can't even keep up with one and now two?"

"I can keep up with him." He began to argue.

"Barely." She shook her head. "Do I need to remind you of the time you lost him at."

"And we promised that we would never bring that up again." Tony began to stutter but was cut off before he could add anything else. I smirked as I watched the entire scene unfurl.

"What animal are your powers from? Please tell me it's not another bug." She rolled her eyes as she continued to glare at Tony.

"I don't have powers."

"Oh thank goodness." She smiled at me. "So you like science?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "I even built my own suit."

Her face dropped at she glanced at me and then back at Tony. "No." She firmly said.

"But Pep?" Tony began.

"No." She began frantically motioning. "You are not passing this disastrous obsession along to this sweet girl." Her voice grew in volume as she became angrier. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Wouldn't be the first time." Tony interrupted.

She glared at him. "Anthony Stark." She began

"Oh boy we're pulling the big names." He joked.               "Virginia."

"Don't even think about going there." She sternly told him.

"Already did." He joked.

"Morgan." Pepper cooly said. "It's well past your bedtime. Why don't you take Lily to the guest room?"

"Ok." Morgan squealed as she ran up to me and grasped my hand. She then began to start tugging me up the stairs. Tony and Pepper's arguing voices could be heard drifting up the stairs. This was definitely not a fight he was going to win.

"Are you going to be my big sister?" Morgan questioned as she stared up at me.

"I don't know." I admitted as I glanced down at the excited little girl.

"Do you like cheeseburgers?"

"Yes." I slowly nodded; I was completely unsure as to where this conversation was going.

"Good." She nodded as she smiled up at me. "You're my new best friend." She cheered as she proceeded to tug me down the hallway. "This is my room." She pointed to one of the rooms. "That is mommy and daddy's room." She motioned further down the hall. "And this will be your room." She motioned the room we were standing in front of. "You got to make sure you clean up your toys or daddy will sell them." She paused. "Do you want to play with me?"

"Aren't you suppose to be asleep?"

"Aren't you suppose to have wings?" She crossed her arms as she began to pout.

"You're going to get me fired." I hissed as I attempted to shoo her back to bed.

A mischievous grin grew across her face. "That would be unfortunate."

I frowned as I stared bitterly down at her. She definitely was more like her father.