Doesn't Play Well With Tricksters

6 - Stress Relief

Rachael was busy slicing fruit for pancakes, having ignored Stark's offer to have something delivered. Of course, she hadn't intended to make three towering platters of pancakes and another plate of waffles. She just kept cooking until the uneasy feeling slipped away, leaving nothing but calm.

"Whoa," Rogers stopped in the doorway, eyeing the food set out on the kitchen island. "Is there a special occasion I didn't know about?"

Stark chuckled but, for once, kept his mouth shut while Rachael set the sliced strawberries on the table and turned to pull a couple bottles of syrup from the pantry.

"Are we expecting company?" Natasha asked, taking down a stack of plates.

"Nope. Someone woke up with some nervous energy to burn off." Stark answered, breaking his silence.

Rachael rolled her eyes and turned to wipe up the mess she'd made while cooking.

"Well, well." Loki commented as he entered the kitchen, Thor a mere step behind. "I hope everyone's hungry."

As the team dug into the smorgasbord she'd laid out for them, Rachael rinsed the dishes and set them into the dishwasher.

Once everyone else had eaten their fill, she grabbed a waffle, smeared it with creamy peanut butter, rolled it up on itself and started for the door.

"You're not going to eat with everyone else?" Loki asked, doing a good job of sounding concerned.

"I have paperwork to catch up on."

Loki turned toward Stark. "How does she always have so much paperwork?"

Stark nearly choked on a mouthful of pancakes. "Paperwork is her go-to excuse. She's running off to hide in her office and recharge her batteries."

"Sometines I think she's an introvert." Natasha commented.

"Or she just doesn't like us." Clint added.

"What's not to like?" Natasha and Stark answered in unison.

---

Rachael was just exiting her office, paperwork neatly finished and filed, when she heard a familiar voice coming down the hallway.

"I don't need advice on how to speak to women, Stark." Loki grumbled. "I'm a full millennium older than you with more experience than you could ever hope to acquire."

Rachael ducked back into her office, hiding behind the all-but closed door, and rolled her eyes at his bragging.

"Maybe, but women these days are a whole new animal, my friend. Independent, strong, stubborn as hell."

"And listening in on our conversation as if she doesn't know we're talking about her."

She rolled her eyes again and opened the door. She nodded toward Tony. "Stark."

"Rachael."

"Loki," she turned cold eyes towards Loki. "Still delusional, I hear."

"I am nothing if not persistent."

She huffed and made her way past them.

"Heading for the gym again?" Loki asked, a twinkle of something in his eye that made Rachael's stomach do somersaults. "Going to be listening to any interesting music during?"

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "No, being as I had to reset my phone to undo whatever you did to it. Which, of course, made me lose most of my music."

"You could have just asked me to fix it."

"But I didn't." She answered flippantly and turned away, ignoring the sudden realization of just how stupid she'd been. Of course she didn't think to ask him to fix it. Why would she? It wasn't as if they were teammates who should be able to trust each other with simple things like electronics.

Then again, if she'd trusted him with her phone, what kind of doors would that open between them? What else would she end up trusting him with.

Slippery slopes do exist, after all.

She slowed as she neared the gym, not sure she wanted to go inside now that she was there. On impulse, she raised her eyes toward the nearest sensor in Stark's elaborate security system. "Jarvis?"

"Yes?" The computer answered. Speaking to the thing always gave her the creeps. As far as she was concerned, anything that smart should have a body of its own.

"If anyone asks, I'm going for a run. I'll call ahead when I'm on my way back."

"Very well, Miss Rachael. Should I alert anyone specific to your departure?"

Rachael made a face at the voice and headed for the elevator.

---

"Rachael's missing." Loki announced as he barged into the team meeting. Technically speaking, he wasn't intruding, as he had an open invitation to the biweekly sessions but it was the first time he'd set foot in the meeting room in the months since being exiled to Midgard.

"Welcome, Brother. We're glad you decided to join us."

"Speak for yourself," Clint grumbled under his breath.

"Yes, well if we are quite finished with the pleasantries, one of the team is missing. I've searched the entire tower. She is nowhere to be found."

"Have you considered she doesn't want you to find her?" Clint asked.

Thor quickly stepped between them before Loki's cold glare could turn into actual daggers. "Easy, Brother. We will find her."

"Find who?" Rachael jogged into the room, still pulling an earbud from her right ear.

"Found her." Stark chimed in.

"Where have you been? We were worried."

"And by we were worried, he means he was searching the tower for you." Stark elaborated, gaining an emerald-eyed glare for his trouble. "It was the entire tower, wasn't it?"

"Stop helping." Loki all but sighed in exasperation.

"Obviously, I'm fine. See? Me. Here. One piece. And with my music restored, I might add."

"Went to visit Tech Tony, huh?" Stark asked.

"How many times do I have to remind you, just because he's good with machines doesn't mean he has the same first name as you. Not all Tech Guys are named Tony." Rachael rolled her eyes, tucking her earbuds into their protective case.

"The best ones are." Stark smiled.

"Point taken."

"And why didn't you tell anyone you were leaving?" Loki demanded.

"I may be a millennium younger than you, but by human standards I am full grown and capable of making my decisions without running them by the committee first. The only person in this room under house arrest is you."

"Indeed," Loki answered coldly and stormed from the room.