Age Of Magneto

Negotiations

"Mr. Stark," K started out, but Tony immediately held up both hands and started to protest, which only had her tipping her head and frowning at him the more fuss he made.

"Nuh-uh, nope; you're not allowed to call me that," Tony said, walking to the other side of his desk.

"What the hell do you want me to call you, then?" she asked, one hand on her hip as she squared up with him.

"What?"

"What do you want me to call you if you don't want me calling you by your name?" K said, annunciating every syllable perfectly clearly.

Tony took just a moment to pause and narrow his eyes slightly as he tipped his chin up. "That ... sounds like a trick question."

"Tony."

"That'll do," he decided, leaving K frowning deeper at his ridiculousness.

"Whatever," she breathed out before she took a few steps closer. "I didn't want to do this over the phone. It seemed too ... cold. Even considering how the past month or so has gone."

Tony frowned and turned her way to give her his full attention. "What's going on?"

"Just trying to keep you in the loop with Katie," K said, doing her best to look open and non-threatening with him. But the look of alarm was clear he was wearing was clear- as was the spike in his scent that went with it.

"You're taking her?" he said, looking both stunned and upset. "What happened to sticking around? Or 'Tony, you can keep her on the weekends so she can still see you'? Huh? What about all that?"

K stared at him for a moment before she couldn't help but smile at his panicked reaction. Her shoulders relaxed, and her smile warmed up a little. "Tony ... we're not disappearing. We're going on a vacation. It's going to take longer than a few days - and I didn't want you to be looking for her if she was gone with me."

Tony looked visibly relieved - he really wasn't good at hiding his emotions. At all. But the relief only lasted for so long. "This ... wouldn't have anything to do with the notice we got from Wolverine saying he'd be out of touch for a few weeks, would it?"

"Yes, Tony. We're going with him."

"Getting serious then, are you?" he asked as he sat on the edge of his desk with the tiniest of frowns tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Well, seeing as polygamy is illegal, stupid, and a guaranteed death wish for you ... yes. I'm moving on, and you have too. Come on, admit it to me at least. You're in love with Jan. And that's beautiful! You two were dating before I started up with Logan, and you haven't looked back. Not really."

"That's actually not entirely true," Tony said, though he let out a breath and, for the first time since the split, looked somewhat relaxed around her. "The looking back part. I have."

"Less and less the more you fall into it with the Fabulous Wasp ..." K teased then hopped up to sit on his desk next to him. "She's really cute, Tony."

He drew in a quick breath and then let it out in a laugh. "I can't even argue."

"Nope. Never could with me. Learn to live with that." She let out a little breath and turned his way. "You know ... I didn't think we'd be sharing a kid, Tony."

"Not like this anyhow," Tony said, tipping his head.

She held his gaze for a moment and then reached over to rest her hand on his arm affectionately. "Are you going to guilt trip me every time I see you like this?"