paradisalogs | I pace the floors this empty house

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I pace the floors this empty house

Who: Natasha Romanoff and Leonard Church
What: Calling in a favor.
When: Sunday night
Where: Stark.. the former Stark Tower
Rating: PG13 for language, will up if things change

Natasha had told Church he could come by and store his things at the tower might as well get some use out of the place. She’d had the stand in Jarvis AI work up a set of codes for him that would allow him entry to the building. It would be safe enough and since so few people used it tracking the comings and goings of the place were easy enough.

He’d sent her a message stating he was ready to come by so she waited in the lobby, leaning against a pillar just inside. No big deal right, just doing a favor, ensuring security of potentially dangerous armor and weapons. Yeah, nothing personally vested in this at all.

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Church looked up at the tower. This was just a temporary thing, just as a favor to York and Natasha until Carolina was settled down.

Totally no big deal. South was living in a house full of people somewhere in town. Like Natasha said, they'd probably never even see each other.

He took his helmet off and tucked it under the arm that held his bag of spare clothes. Wearing the armor down was the easiest way of getting it there, he'd change once he picked a room to store it in.

This was just a good plan security wise... He waives casually as he spots her.

"Hey, see you fond the place." Ha, as if anyone could miss it. She gestured to the bank of elevators behind her. "Secured, no one gets in without codes and here are yours."

She handed him the card with code on it and turned for the elevators. "Once you log in once it will ask you to reset the code, that way it's secure you will know that no one can get in unless there is a system wide reset, which is way more work than I'm willing to put in to peek at your stuff."

She punched a code in the keypad by the elevators and sleek doors slid open in front of them. "This is smaller than the towers he built back home, but you still have twelve floors to choose from."

He takes the card and tucks it into a storage compartment for now.

"Good to know, it'd be awkward having you peeking at my stuff."

Twelve floors, this place was larger than most of the bases he'd been stationed at. Security codes... It was more secure than most of them too.

He looks around as he follows her. The place wasn't yet finished the one time he'd been here.

"I actually helped Stark move some of that heavy shit of his down here from the castle. Never got the chance for the tour though."

"Not surprising, Stark enlists help when he wants things done but it's like pulling teeth to get him in when you need him." But she smiled. "Still he came through you know..."

Right because that's exactly what she needed to be thinking about right now. She didn't need to be thinking about it at all, it hurt too damn much. Jesus she could use a drink or something.

"Right so, like I said pick a floor, there's housing or what can pass for it on all of them. I'm staying up on eleven. Twelve is not an option."

"Natasha I..."
He stops before he can apologize. It would just make things worse at this point. Fuck. Because bringing up your missing friends in the giant empty building they left you is a great topic of conversation.

He just hits a button at random... 10.

"I'm sure I'll find something, I'm not fussy."

After all, this was just going to be a place to stow his gear in case things went bad at the Castle. He'll just pick the first room that looks like a guest room or can be made into one quickly.

"Not fussy? Well that's one way to make a woman feel special." The tone was an obvious joke, there would be no way to confuse it for hurt and the laughter that followed as the doors opened on the 10th floor would seal that.

"I think this was going to be diagnostics and testing. He never quite got around to getting everything up and running and I haven't needed to use it so most of it is just gathering dust."

She gestured to the corridor off to the right of the elevators, long with rows of doors. Open quarters as if Stark expected many people to live and work here, or maybe that was just how he saw the world, a place for everyone. She should stop being so hard on him he was honestly trying.

"Everything can be run off codes or biometrics so it's up to you." She would let him pick a room while she waited. "I can show you around after you've got things stowed, that way..in case you need to... You'd know your way around this place if you needed it."

He smiles, frankly he was half expecting to be told off or at the very least given the cold shoulder. He's happy to have been wrong.

This place does biometrics, so cool. Too bad he'll have to stick to codes. With biometrics, if he ever had to use his old body, he'd effectively be locked out of his own place.

"Oh sure, good. I uh.. I just need to get out of this.. and you know... into some real clothes."

He gestures as he talks, years of habit having to express things without a face.

It doesn't take Church long to find a room that works for him.

"Take your time, I've already played dress up with you before." She waved him on and leaned on the door frame, arms folded over one another.

"There's a kitchen on the first floor and a garage too but no vehicles. I think Stark was going to build or wish some up but it never happened. I've been using it as a range for practice."

She watched him, not in a sexual sense, just almost causal observation. "There's a pretty decent gym on third floor, small track and everything, machines, free weights. No pool and the showers aren't fully functional yet, Plumbing isn't my forte. But since almost all the quarters have their own bathrooms it's not a big deal."

He wasn't sure why just having her stand there watching made him feel self conscious. It's not like she hadn't seen him naked before. So much of his identity had been tied up with his armor, it still felt strange removing it in front of anyone. Undressing from civilian clothes was so much easier. He focused on what she was telling him.

"I wonder how hard it would be to get one. A vehicle would be really handy."

He carefully sets his armor in a corner of the room, quickly checking each piece over as he goes. He'll make sure to go over it properly later.

"Wow, you got all the bells and whistles here. Except the pool, but who needs a pool?"

He'd probably just sink like a rock anyway. Eventually he's down to just the skin tight black undersuit.

"Do you have access to Castle Net here?"

"I never thought about it, I like to move so I run." Her morning work out regimen would be something he'd get use to if he stayed there any length of time.

"I'm sure we do, I've never needed to use it with the database that Stark had compiled. He didn't do anything halfway when it came to building things, especially when his name was on it. He put a lot into this place." And now he's gone, just like Pepper and Elektra and Harper and Steve. She looked down and frowned.

"I'm going to go set the security protocols. You'll be able to change codes with your card as long as I give the master override first. Then it'll be up to you."

She turned briskly and stepped out of the room.

"Natasha..?"

God dmanit and here he was just about out of his bodysuit. Church hurriedly finishes peeling it off and rummages through his bag for a pair of pants.

"Hey, wait up!"

He's awkwardly following after her, trying to pull his pants on as he goes.

She stopped when he called to her, turned and watching him trying to run and dress himself at the same time. Even in her bitter mood that was a funny sight and she at least cracked a thin smile.

"You can't really get lost you know. Whole building it set up around the central elevators." She assumed that was why he was rushing after her half dressed.

Oh good she stopped, he's finally able to finish getting his pants done up.

"Huh? Oh... Good to know, thanks."

Not really why he's here.

"What's going on? One minute you're all 'let me show you around' and now it's 'fend for yourself'."

If she's just going to be a moody bitch, fine. He has plenty of experience dealing with moody bitches... But he wants to get the ground rules set out. Did he do something or what? Just how many eggshells is he going to be walking on here?

"I wasn't I just..." She didn't want to get close to him, well that wasn't true, physically she did. She knew that watching him undress would have lead to complications. Even now she was looking at him like a steak dinner. But emotionally she couldn't risk it, people kept leaving and no sooner did she put some emotional investment into them and they were gone.

"The tour still stands, I just thought you might like some privacy while you changed." She dropped her hands to her side, then folded her arms, then dropped them again. Her mind was going places it had no business going and she was having to force herself to maintain control

Church frowns thoughtfully and crosses his arms.
Ok, so it wasn't something he did to piss her off. She's never struck him as the sort of person that would dance around that kind of thing.

Still, he knows an eggshell when he steps on one.

"Alright" He nods. "Let me go get a shirt."

He motions back to... well, guess it's 'his room' now. Then for her to stay put.

"I'll be right back."

He trots back to fetch a clean shirt.

Right, she nods. Clothing, clothing would be better. Less distraction, less thoughts of his his skin felt under her hands.

Why was she doing this? It wasn't as though she was some sort of nympho that thought about sex all the time. Alright it had been good, but that wasn't reason for her to react like this.

Part of her knew what it was and she was just too paranoid to admit it. She sighed and strode back to his room. "I'm sorry, and if you knew me you'd know that does not come easily."

She wasn't looking at him, her gaze was on the floor, but all the same she was there. "This whole thing is about keeping you safe, from whatever is going on out there. I don't want to make things awkward or difficult. So, I'm sorry."

Miles from the whole truth but it was something.

"I don't need to be kept safe."

Church pulls his shirt on roughly... he's sick of being coddled. He might not be a fuckin' 'super-solder' but he's not an incompetent idiot.

He's about to tell her just that when it hits him, the way she's standing, her tone... she's genuinely concerned. Not just in a 'you're an idiot' way either.

"I... I've dealt with Freelancers before."

He takes a couple of steps toward her and pauses. What is going to do... take her in his arms? Tell her everything is going to be ok? He balls his fists and sighs.

"York worries... Hell, during that Wonderland thing he asked me if I needed a 'rescue mission'. Because the singing flowers might get me."

He chuckles and subtly raises a hand out to her. Keep things light... no pressure. She can safely ignore the hand if she wants and neither of them has too feel like they were snubbing the other. Or being snubbed.

"Carolina isn't a threat to me. I'm just making it so York has one less thing to worry about. And, well..."

He clears his throat and shifts slightly.

"I don't want you to worry either."

“Doesn’t mean you have to deal with them alone, I’m good. Hell I’m better than good and I’m not about to let some crazy bitch just walk up and mess with you because she thinks she can.”

She reads his movement, the hesitation there, the decision and how his poster changed. What if he had? Would she have let him?

“Well then we’ll give York one less thing to worry about, this is a secure environment, it’s better for you and better for Carolina. The less she fucks with the better for everyone.”

That last though, she shrugged it off.

“I’m used to people dying on me, it’s not pleasant but somehow I keep on surviving. I’d just like that track record to change a little bit.”

"Well I'm not just going to hide here. If Carolina tries anything, I... we'll deal with it."

He chuckles mirthlessly.

"All of us. York and the others owe me a favor or two. If I have to, I'll just call them in."

He shrugs. He'd like to think they'd help out because they were his 'team' here... but it was good to have insurance. He might think they're good people and he'd fight with them if it came down to it... but that doesn't mean he trusts them. He doesn't really trust anyone.

"I know, but I'm not going to die."

I've already done that, he thought bitterly. Still, he knew what it was like to loose people. Jimmmy and the rest at Sidewinder... Tex (even though he still clung to the hope that she survived somehow).
Tucker and Caboose had been shipped off somewhere else. At least he could enjoy the ambiguity of not knowing what happens to them.
Harper... well, at least he wasn't going back to his death like the Freelancers here.

“Of course you’re not; we’d kill each other if we spent that kind of time together. No, this is just a safe house, till things blow over.” So as long as he needed it he had a place, with codes and safety and he happened to randomly choose the level below hers.

“Good to have a team.” She nodded but didn’t expand on that, she knew teams could be the difference between life and death, but she didn’t have hers anymore.

“Everybody dies. Some people die a long time before they figure it out.” And sometimes by some fluke you get to keep living even though you should have died a long time ago. You can do things you shouldn’t be able to, you become something never intended. She was like that, the people she’d cared for were like that too. And she hurts like hell because of it.

"Good."

He nods. Good, they had some ground rules and they both knew this was just a temporary thing.

"Yeah, it's good to have a team again. Even if they are a bunch of assholes."

Or crazy bitches.

Church looks away at the 'everybody dies'. Part of him knows he should tell her about the whole 'ghost' thing. More of him doesn't want her to know... he doesn't want to risk it. Plus, it's kind of embarrassing.

"Right."

She nodded to the rest, she'd already learned that 'crazy bitch' and 'asshole' were often as close as he got to terms of endearment with people.

"So, ready for the tour or what?" She changed the subject and leaned back on her heels.

"Yeah. Let's do this."

He's grateful for the change in subject. He manages a smile and get's ready to follow her out of the room.

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I pace the floors this empty house

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