The Avengers Without Ironman?

Alex smiled and shook her head as Andrew walked away to go greet Thor. She decided to stay away from drinking with Thor this time. She gave Tony a little smile. "He's going to spend most of the night in the bathroom and then most of the morning will be spent cursing Thor."

She looked at Tony and gave him a warm, friendly smile. "I'm happy for you Tony. You seem more relaxed than I have seen you in a long time. Are you sure you're going to be able to let go though?"

Tony watched Andrew step away feeling pretty good. Before he doubted Andrew ould leave Alex's side in his presence. I guess he meant it he thought relaxing a bit more. He looked to her and smiled, "I might rethink my drink choice." He said. He thought of his ability to let go and he took a deep breath.

"honestly? no, i wont let go. Going to drive a lot of people nuts. Someone has to make sure everything moves smoothly." Tony said. Though he doubted he'd work back in the field but he just coudln't see himself settling down. Seeing Tony and Kate, "Then again maybe i should retire to the county side who is that?" Tony asked. He had no ill intentions he was just shocked that Steve found a beauty all the way out there!

Alex was standing with her back to Steve and Kate and so when Tony's gaze went that way she turned to see who he was looking at. She laughed a little and grinned at his comment. "That is Kate Blackwell. She's an ex-SHIELD agent who lives next door to Steve. It's a rather strange coincidence actually. I thought maybe Fury planted her there to look after Steve, but she's actually been living on the property for a few years now. She's been helping Steve with the farm. She's divorced and doesn't have any children. She's younger than Steve, but I think she's perfect for him."

Tony listened to Alex raising an eyebrow, "So Steve retires to the country finds himself a girl next door?" he asked. Like Alex he thought that perhaps she was a plant but if Alex said it was a coincidence Tony was going to believe her. "So are they a thing now? I mean i know Steve has had to ask someone out before obviously. Oh and has Mariah met her?" He asked. Oh he still enjoyed gossip.

Alex smiled and took a glass of champagne off of tray as a waiter brought it over. She took a sip and looked back at Tony. "I'm honestly not sure if they are dating or not. I think Steve has been a little hesitant to get back out into the dating world...especially since he found out the truth about Eve's death, but I think it would be great for him." She took another small sip and nodded. "Yes, they've met. You should go over and say hello."

Tony had heard the truth about Eve's death and was surprised to see how well Steve was adjusting. He looked to Alex as she suggested he go introduce himself. "I might do that, if anything to mess with Steve's head." He said with a nod excusing himself.

Steve led Kate into the penthouse spotting Mariah and James and felt an introduction was in order. But he stopped seeing Tony approach and smiled. "Tony, congratulations." Steve said extending a hand. Tony smiled and accepted his handshake.

"Thank you thank you. Felt it was a good time for me new kick back and relax for a while. And who is this vision of loveliness?" Tony asked laying on the charm. Steve looked to Kate.

"Kate this is Tony, Tony this is Kate." Steve said making the introductions (i've forgotten her surname)

Kate knew quite a bit about Tony but had never met him in person. He was just as charming as she had heard about him to be. She couldn't help but smile and even blush a little at his compliment. She extended her hand as Steve introduced them. "So what are you going to do with yourself now that you're retired?"

OOC-It's Blackwell.

OOC: thank you ^_^

IC:

Tony gently shook Kate's hand. "That's the question of the evening, one i dont really have an answer for."

"A bored Tony Stark just seems like a horrible thing." Steve admitted. Tony looked to his friend and nodded.

"Yeah i'll have to take up a hobby besides making new suits. So how did this come about? One retires and a beautiful young woman shows up?" Tony asked.

"She owns the property next to mine and she's been a great help." Steve said. Tony nodded rather glad that Steve was attempting to hook up with someone. Oh he knew Steve for some time and he could tell Kate was putting him off balance.

"Glad to hear, i haven't heard of your skills with farm equipment. Has he broken any tractors yet?" Tony asked looking to Kate teasing Steve.

Kate couldn't imagine Tony just sitting around doing nothing. He seemed like the type of person to need to be doing something at all hours of the day otherwise he would get into trouble. Once again she blushed and smiled at Tony's compliment. She knew he was just being friendly and himself, but she appreciated it anyways. When Tony asked if Steve had broken any tractors yet she laughed a little and gave Steve a warm smile.

"Not yet, although he did almost drive one through a fence and scared a bunch of chickens. He's getting the hang of things though. He learns quickly and isn't afraid to try new things. And I rather enjoy watching him chop firewood."

Tony smiled wishing he could have witnessed that averted accident. He looked to Steve obviously withholding some laughter. "You did discover tools for that right?" He asked.

"faster the way i do it."Steve said though he did switch from using his barehands to pull the wood apart to an axe eventually.

"Hmm..maybe i should build you some things to make your life easier. But i'm sure you'd find some way to break that." Tony joked. Steve smiled and gavea shrug finding the simpler things worked best. Tony looked to Kate.

"It was lovely to meet you i'll leave you two to it. Feel free to make yourselves at home..maybe not you." Tony said smiling at Steve before excusing himself.

Kate had been more than a little impressed watching Steve pull apart the wood by hand. To be perfectly honest it had turned her on quite a bit. She felt that something was happening between them but wasn’t sure if Steve was ready to move forward in their relationship.

She watched Tony walk away and looked at Steve with a smile. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like working with him. But you both survived each other.”

Steve smiled thinking of his time with Tony and their ups and downs. "We certainly did. We had some good and really bad times but i think everything turned out well." He said. He looked the penthouse over and was glad for his friend. While they disagreed on various things Tony was still a good man in Steve's eyes. He then wondered what side Kate had been on in the civil war so many years ago.

Unaware of Kate's growing interest Steve led her over to where Mariah and James were standing chatting with one another. He felt at least Mariah should meet Kate seeing as she's been keeping him sane. "Mariah. Sorry to interrupt i wanted to introduce you to Kate Blackwell." Steve said. "Kate this is my daughter Mariah and her husband James." He introduced.

Kate walked with Steve over to where Mariah and James were standing. They had been talking to someone else, but they stepped away as Steve and Kate approached. Mariah smiled at Kate, who smiled back at her. Mariah got a good feeling from her. She and her father were rather protective of one another, but she could already tell she was going to like her.

"It's nice to meet you," Mariah said as she shook her hand. "Steve has spoken of you many times and it seems that you are a great help to him."

Kate smiled. "I'm really only showing him a few things and giving him pointers. He has learned quite a bit on his own, but I'm always happy to help."

Steve felt that Kate and Mariah would get along fine which made him feel better about a possible future. "You're being modest, you've been a tremendous help with helping me adjust to the countryside." he said.

James looked to Kate rather glad that Steve had someone he could talk with. Though he wasn't sure if they were just only talking at this point. But Mariah seemed to be relaxed around Kate so he figured there wouldn't be any drama if things were to develop.

"So i take things on the farm are going well then?" James asked.

Steve gave a nod, "Yeah. think i even got a few crops planted believe it or not."

They all continued to talk for a while longer before Kate suddenly spotted someone she used to work with at SHIELD and hadn't seen for a long time. She excused herself and stepped over to the woman and they embraced before they began to talk. Mariah took this opportunity to smile at her dad.

"Soooo...what's going on with you two? Are you guys dating?"

Steve looked to Mariah when she asked if they were dating. "what? no i mean..shes just a friend." He said not sure how to handle this let alone date. "I mean she is a wonderful woman..but i mean we're just..neighbors."

"Well im convinced. You should ask her out, i mean you asked her to this event." James pointed out.

"suppose i just dont want to make things awkward." Steve admitted

Mariah took a sip of her wine and looked at Steve. She knew this was probably difficult for him considering he hadn't really been with anyone since her mother. That was a long time and he just found out the truth about her death, which had probably brought up a lot of memories and feelings.

"Well, I can tell you one thing...she likes you. She's been smiling at you all night. And I haven't seen you smile this much in a very long time. Do you like her?"

Steve was a bit out of his element in this situation as he hadn't really been with another woman since Eve. Sure he'd be on dates since then but it never really led to anything major. But Kate this seemed a bit different and he was struggling with how Eve had ended her life to this day and felt that he would betray her if he were to start seeing another woman.

But he coudn't deny that he liked Kate. Mariah could see the conflict in her fathers eyes and knew that he was struggling with Eve's death. "I think i do yeah." he said which brought equal parts happiness and sorrow. "Worried that i'll mess it up somehow, have very little experience in this field."

Mariah hated seeing her father struggle with this. She wanted him to be happy and it upset her to know that he felt guilty about being happy. "Dad, I know you feel guilty about Mom, but that's in the past and even though I never knew her I've heard enough about her to know that she would want you to be happy. You have a chance here with someone who understands the kind of life you've lived. I just want you to be happy."

Steve was inspired by Mariah's words and she was right he knew that Eve would want him to be happy. It was just so hard for him to let it go and press on. he had accepted that being alone was his punishment for choosing the world over her and he felt he was betraying that promise now. He looked to Mariah seeing Eve in her eyes and he slowly nodded. "I know hon, its just hard and i'm probably overthinking things." he said.

he looked over to Kate watching her chat with her friend and felt that Mariah was right. Kate was his second chance at happiness with someone who would be able to understand him. Maybe it was fate, Eve orchestrating things to ensure he would wind up in this situation out in the country. "I think i will ask her out on a date..an actual date." Steve said looking to his daughter. "Are you ok with all of this?" Steve asked wanting to make sure Kate met her approval as well.

Mariah was glad to know that Steve was going to ask Kate out on a date. She knew it was going to be difficult for him at first, but she hoped that over time it would get easier and he would finally allow that happiness to happen. She had a feeling Kate would understand if Steve talked to her about what happened with Eve, but that was his choice and Mariah certainly wasn't going to pressure him into doing that.

"Yes, I'm fine with all of this. I like Kate. She seems down to earth and you like her so that certainly says something in my mind."

With Mariah's blessing in a sense Steve was resolved to follow through with his plan. He knew he had a lot he needed to work through but he wasn't going to let this pass him by. After chatting with Mariah and James for a moment he took notice that Kate was wrapping up her conversation with her friend. He excused himself and walked over to the side. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"If its not an inappropriate time i was wondering if you wanted to got on a date with me. An actual date just the two of us." Steve asked. It was obvious he had been talking with Mariah

Kate was talking to a woman who she had worked with at SHIELD. They hadn't seen one another in a while and so they were catching up. After a time Kate felt she needed to get back to Steve. As she was finishing up her conversation she saw Steve approach and they stepped over to the side. She couldn't help but smile at him when he asked her out on a real date.

"I would really like that Steve. I've actually been rather hoping you would ask me out for a while now."

Steve found htat he held his breath a little bit and was obviously relieved that not only she agreed but was hoping he'd ask her for some time. "Obviously i'm not a bit rusty at this sort of thing." he said. His first relationship he waited and then the frozen nap occured, Eve was kind of a leap into things so he was hoping things would be a little slow with Kate.

"Great, guess i'll start thinking of something that we can do sometime." He said. His first thought of making a nice home cooked meal for the two of them actually.

OOC-Shall we move on to the lunch meeting with Azari, Lani, and Tony?