2014-02-10 - Snuggles in the Sitting Room

Stark actually comes into the sitting room, searching for Natasha. "Nat?" He hadn't heard anything from her yesterday, and usually get at least gets tweeted by her something...anyway, he has something to ask her.

Natasha had left her damned duffle bag. The day after the gala, she left it in the kitchen, and two days of burying herself in paperwork on the helicarrier later, she had slipped into the mansion to ask Jarvis if he had tucked it away somewhere.

She hears Tony calling her name from the sitting room, though, and slips into the room, steeling herself. "Tony?"

Stark turns about, "Nat!" He grins wide at seeing her. "What's kicking? I just got to read a bedtime story to Tanya!" He sounds excited and happy about that. His face is lit up more than usual, and it's as if the wheels are turning inside his head.

"Oh?" Natasha asks not moving further into the room. She has a rather expressionless look.

Starks happy expression falls a bit, "Hey...what's wrong? Did something happen?" He starts to look worried, and he hides the voice recorder behind his back as if not to be staring at it as a constant reminder to his plans. "Umm...are you mad about what I'm about to ask you?" He suddenly looks wary, did Jarvis tattle on him?!

"What are you about to ask me?" Natasha looks genuinely confused. And then somewhat-- frightened? No, that was a trick of the light, her expression is neutral again. "No, I have just been doing paperwork for the last two days," she says. Not a lie. But certainly not the whole truth. And Tony probably knows how much she despises paperwork.

"Ah hell, damn, don't scare me like that Nat! I thought your cat died or something!" Stark rolls his eyes. "Anyway, did you know Aunt Mellie has a foster daughter? Tanya Macguire. Her dad is in for manslaughter, but for obvious reasons, he refuses to see her. I mean, who wants their little girl to see him in handcuffs and orange overalls and in jail? Anyway!"

And Stark shows the tape recorder. "I got Tanya to say into the tape recorder a bunch of things, what makes her happy, what makes her sad, stuff like that. I am going to visit her Father, play it for him. Talk to him. She purposely avoids talking about him, but she talks about her mom all the time, she died of sickness. It's noticable. Anyway, I'm hoping he will agree to see her once outside of jail."

Stark hrms, "And that is where I need your help." He then grins, "And your clearance level for an awesome caper to make a little girl happy to get to see her Father."

Natasha gives Tony a rather cold and apparaising look. "Which jail? And..." she pauses. "Why me? You have enough connections that I am sure you'd be able to..." She seems uncertain. She puts criminals in jail, dammit, and doesn't really intend on them getting out, to be honest. So this is a thought process that's rather foreign to her.

"One day, a work release or something, get him in some normal clothes. He screwed up, BIG time, but he isn't a malicious guy. I can send you the information on the case, their family history, stuff like that," Stark states. "And I ask because you can get it done more quickly and more efficently."

Natasha barely manages to stop her nose from wrinkling. This is totally not something she understands the 'why' behind. "Abuse my power with SHIELD," she clarifies, "to get a criminal out of jail so that he can see his..." the word sticks for a second, "...child?" There is obvious distaste in her tone. "If you insist."

A roll of his eyes, and he crosses his arms. "Check your E-Mail. All his information, Tanya's, along with her mother's is there." When did he send it?! Stark then frowns a bit, "He's not perfect Nat, but he's not some supervillain or hardcore criminal. Not like my parents were exactly 'good parents'. I was neglected, shipped off to school away from them, and generally ignored a lot of the time. Jarvis was more of a Dad to me. But that still doesn't mean I don't miss my parents or don't wish they were still here. And let's not talk about the stories I heard about them in the Hellfire Club," and he shudders a bit at that. "But parents are parents, and good or bad, she had to bury her mom, and she just needs to know her dad still loves her. Sometimes, thinks are just that simple. It's adults that make it more complicated."

Natasha continues giving him that same look. After all-- she had not seen her own parents... actually, she did not recall her father at all, and her mother was a distant blur of a memory. Most days she didn't even remember what the woman looked like. Still. "If you insist," she repeats. "If he runs, or otherwise causes problems, he will regret it." Not a threat, of course. A statement of fact.

A sigh, "Obviously, that goes without saying. I'll speak with him tomorrow and see how it goes. I'll let you know," Stark states. He then moves toward Natasha to playfully pinch her nose and wiggle it. "Miss Grumpy Pants," he teases Nat. "Oh ya, I got to send E-Mails to Clint and Steve about Tanya. She wants them to visit again. I promised her I would."

Natasha looks at the end of her nose where he is pinching it, then back to him, slight confusion crossing her face. "...all right," she says in response to his comment regarding emailing Clint and Steve. "Is this what you needed of me?" She is a bit more standoffish, chillier than she had been. And she hadn't contacted him since the night of gala-- but then again, it was probably the talk that skirted dangerously close to emotional attachment. That has to be it.

Stark rolls his eyes, "Damn girl. Whatever. Ya, it was and wanted to see your face, but not when it's that grumpy. I'm going to see what it takes for Tony Stark to visit a damn jail right now," and Stark starts to head out of the sitting room.

Natasha turns, calculating. Always calculating. "Tony?" she asks, then takes a couple steps, reaching out and snagging him from behind, sliding her arms around his waist to wrap around his stomach, nuzzling her nose into his back between his shoulder blades.

"Whoa!" Stark pauses, and a wide grin starts to spread across his face, "That way of you apologizing?" His free hand moves to slide over your hand which rests on his stomach. He mmmms, "Guess I could be distracted a little bit before performing my 'research'. Even if it's just curling up on that couch for more nuzzles and watching a movie." Wait...what?! His mind isn't on sex?!

Natasha mumbles into his back, "I'd like that." Her mind isn't either? Huh.

She tugs him around to face her, and then slips her arms around him again, burying her face into his chest. "What movie?" she asks after a moment.

"Considering we have Netflix, what movie don't we likely have access to? But I honestly have no clue, I haven't taken the time to watch a movie in...a really long time," Stark confesses. "What are your fave types and we will find something?" He soon sets the voice recorder aside, and sits down on the touch with Nat, the television automatically coming on and soon Netflix is pulling up.

Natasha laughs lightly, snuggling up against him. "Can I confess something to you?" she asks, kicking off her boots to drag her feet up onto the couch, reaching back for a blanket to tug over them both.

"If you say romanaces I will laugh hysterically," Stark teases. He works his own shoes off, and moves to wrap an arm about Natasha. He kisses the top of Nat's head, smiling. This...feels good, having someone to curl up with on a cold day.

"America and I have been watching many movies lately. I normally am not interested in wasting such time, but she has been insistant. I have found I really enjoy these action movies-- we have watched these... Crank movies. And Expendables. But they always fire far more bullets than the guns are capable of holding, even with expanded mags." Natasha nuzzles closer. "They are quite entertaining." She leans up and kisses his jawline for a moment. It's strangely comfortable.

Stark seems to consider that before saying, "What about RED, or there is always the classics Die Hard or any of its sequals," he inquires. Yep, he called it on America and Nat getting along really well, no kidding! But the kissing on his jaw line is making Tony smile.

"Red? Yes, this is one we have seen. With the old Bruce Willis man, Clint has a poster of him that Steve got him for Christmas. But not this Die Hard. What is it about?" Natasha kisses him one more time before nuzzling against him again. "No, it sounds fine. We will watch it, if you want."

A quiet mmmm, "Die Hard it is then. It's about a kick ass cop kicking ass for his family. Pretty cool actually." Stark then wirelessly turns the movie on via Netflix and it starts to play the intro soon enough.

Stark holds Nat to him a little tighter for a bit before he starts to relax under the nuzzling, petting Nat's hair. He doesn't want to really think about the last time he watched a movie, took the time for it, but he is enjoying this right now.

As the movie plays, Natasha begins dozing lightly. She nuzzles closer, her eyes eventually fluttering shut completely. She looks absolutely peaceful tucked in Tony's arms on the couch, lit by the flickering of the television.

After the movie, as she's still dozing, Tony carries her upstairs to bed without waking her.