Fondue
Who Cares?

Bucky had taken the microphone by this point and was handing it to Nick, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Everyone knows the exciting story of how I lost my arm... How did you lose your eye?"

Carol quickly covered her mouth with her hand to try and hide her smile.

Tony, catching his sister's movement, asked his uncle in confusion, "I thought you were betrayed by a friend... Isn't that what you said happened?"

"Well, I wasn't exactly being dishonest...even if the exact circumstances weren't what I let you believe," Fury admitted.

***

Goose had finally thrown up the tessercat...and then proceeded to just sit in the basket in Fury's office, eating when she wanted...purring and demanding attention when she thought Fury wasn't giving her enough...and otherwise acting like she hadn't given him a scratch that had resulted in him losing his eye.

He wasn't upset with her about it. A flerkin was like a cat in most ways, apart from the tentacles that she used to pull people (and objects) inside of her.

Making sure the tesseract was safely locked away, Fury checked that Goose's food and water bowls were full and then left SHIELD headquarters.

He'd taken on something of a responsibility for checking on Tony Stark. Maybe the younger man didn't need him, but Fury liked to think that maybe Tony liked seeing him.

Reaching the garage, Fury got into his car and began driving to Tony Stark's home.

***

Tony- as usual- had spent a large part of the night partying into early morning. Then, unable to sleep- as usual- the rest of the early morning tinkering in his lab. Obie didn't tend to expect much from him as long as he put in a monthly appearance to appease the public and the board, and gave him new weapons to make the clients happy. He had the hangover from hell and was just about to cure it with a couple of shots of vodka when JARVIS let him know he'd be having company in a few minutes. Sighing, he quickly took the shots. He'd need them to deal with people.

***

Fury parked the car outside Tony's house and got out. He walked to the front door and rang the doorbell, knowing that JARVIS would announce his presence to Tony.

The door opened for Fury and JARVIS announced, "Sir is in the sitting room, if you would please go there...."

Tony was stood by the bar when Fury walked in. "Care for a drink, Agent?" He gave a cocky grin.

Fury shook his head. "No thank you." It was a fairly common exchange between them. "How are you doing today?" he asked. "Were you working on anything in your lab?"

"Yep. Finished that upgrade for the rifle the army wanted. Saved a copy for you..." Tony smirked and took a sip of the drink he held in his hand. "File is on the table there." He motioned toward the file.

Fury nodded, but didn't immediately go and retrieve the file. It was a nice bonus, but it wasn't what he'd come here for. "It's a bit early to be drinking so much, isn't it?" he asked.

"Maybe .. if I'd ever made it to bed. Since I didn't, it's late enough!" Tony said, in a devil-may-care way.

Fury shook his head. "Not sleeping isn't healthy, Tony. Maybe it's time you take a nap," he suggested.

"Nah... I'll sleep when I'm dead..." Tony snorted at his own joke. "You can inform Aunt Peggy I'm still breathing, though. I know she asked you to keep an eye on me...."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "You don't take care of yourself, dead is gonna be sooner rather than later," he said bluntly.

"Yeah, well. A lot of people would be happy about that..." Tony said blithely, his tone fuller of bitterness than he realized.

"Plenty of people wouldn't be," Fury disagreed. "I wouldn't be happy about that. Neither would your Aunt Peggy."

Tony blinked at that, not really believing it, but knowing the older man did believe it and retaining enough self-control, he didn't argue about it. Sighing loudly and over-actingly, he agreed. "Fine ... I'll take a nap. J? Wake me up in time to get ready before Obie shows up. I don't need a lecture about expectations..." he muttered, before plopping down on the sofa closest to Fury.

Without a word, Fury went over to collect a blanket and a pillow, bringing them back over. He didn't bother trying to ask Tony to get into bed, but at least taking a nap on the couch was a concession he could live with.

"Thangs..." Tony mumbled, before noticing. "What happen to yer eye?"

"A friend betrayed me." It was a slight exagerration, maybe. But Goose wasn't there to correct his story. "Go to sleep, Tony. I'll stay for a little while."

"K..." Tony accepted the words at face value; with Fury's job, he had no doubt the older man got stabbed in the back frequently. He quickly fell asleep, the deeper part of him trusting Fury without reservation, even if he didn't believe the man really cared.

Fury settled on the edge of the couch, planning to stay until Tony woke up. Since the other man wouldn't be likely to have anything other than a liquid lunch, he planned to make sure Tony actually ate something a bit more substantial when he woke up and before Fury left.

***

Tony took another bite of fondue, then sighed before giving his uncle a rueful grin. "I should really have figured out much sooner that you were one of the ones who really cared instead of pretending. Sorry it took me so long...."

"You were surrounded by a lot of people who were pretending to care," Fury answered. "I'm just glad you finally did figure it out."

"Better late than never..." Tony smiled.

Carol wrinkled her nose. "Flerkins have a very long lifespan, usually. I didn't know how old she was originally when we found her, but... Whatever happened to her?"

"She disappeared from SHIELD about the time that I was forming the Avengers Initiative," Fury answered. "I always thought that she maybe left to find a place to pass away peacefully. But she could have found a different home. I tried to find her, but it's not easy to find a flerkin."

Yon slanted his head. "Are there any places that you have 'secret facilities' that welcome aliens? She may have set up residence there to 'guard' her new home planet. Flerkins are fairly territorial and protective of what they view as theirs."

"There are facilities like that," Fury said. "It could be worth seeing if she's found a home in one of those."

"I'd like to see Goose again... And I think she'd like moving where the family is..." Carol said

"Would she get along with our cats?" Kara asked nervously.

"She's very much like a cat in appearance and behaviour," Fury said. "I don't think she'd have any problems with other cats. Or animals at all," he added, thinking of both Copper and Shadow.

"Then... If it is alright with all of you," Carol glanced between the three who were in charge of the entire group," I'd like to check those areas, and if she is there, invite her to come back here to live."

"It sounds like she's technically a part of the family as well. And we should have all of the family here." Steve smiled.

"I'll give you the list tomorrow," Fury said.

"Thanks, Uncle Nick..." Carol said, with a mischievous gleam in her eye. She'd never let him forget that one time, he'd said no one would ever call him anything but Fury.

Fury shook his head, though he was smiling, and looked around at the family members gathered around. "Who's next?"