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Allison Blake ran her fingers over the desk she'd so often stood on the opposite side of when Nathan was still alive. He'd sat behind the desk, of course, in his office at Global Dynamics, and she'd approach for whatever business she had as the liaison between GD and the government. And it was always business when she approached him here - never personal, despite their estrangement.
No, they kept their personal matters just that - personal - and off the GD campus.
Now, it didn't matter. Now, Nathan was dead, killed in the same experiment that had killed Kim Anderson, and as Nathan's wife - he never had signed the divorce papers she'd presented him with, and even if he had, their divorce wouldn't be official until the papers were filed - she inherited everything of his, including his controlling interest in GD.
It was that last that concerned her right now. In the two weeks since Nathan's death, GD had continued as per normal - or what passed for normal in Eureka, at any rate. But that state wouldn't - couldn't - continue forever, so the sooner she started getting acquainted with everything she needed to know, the better.
Allison circled the desk and sat in the chair, stretching a hand to switch the computer on.
A knock on the office door she'd left half open made her look away from the booting computer. "Yes?"
"Hey." Jack Carter, former U.S. Marshal and now sheriff of Eureka, pushed the door wider open and stepped inside, pausing just clear of the doorway. "You sure you're up to this? Now? It's okay to grieve."
Allison couldn't help smiling a little at his boy-next-door manners. Just a little. "I know, and I have. And I will some more. We may've been estranged, but we were still friends. And yes, I'm sure."
For a moment, it felt as if his blue gaze pierced her soul. "Are you?"
"Well." She glanced down at the computer screen, noted that it awaited the entry of a password, and looked back up at Carter. "I'm sure I have to be. GD won't run itself."
"That doesn't mean you have to start running it right away, either," Carter reminded her.
"No reason to wait," she countered, knowing that he understood duty as much as she did.
He nodded once and came further into the office. "So you're set up already?"
"No," Allison admitted. "The DoD told me it would be a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I figured I'd use Nathan's password and get a head start."
"You know his password?" Carter asked. "Isn't that a security violation? Maybe even a felony, considering what GD does?"
"I don't know his password," Allison said. "But I know - knew - Nathan. I'm sure I can figure it out."
She focused on the screen, then, entering the date she and Nathan had first met.
She tried not to be too disappointed that wasn't the correct password; she'd always known that she came second in Nathan's life, after all. Putting her momentary disappointment aside, she typed in the date he got his Nobel Prize.
No, that was too obvious, she scolded herself as the cursor blinked at her. Something else, something less obvious. Maybe the date the artifact had come into his possession?
That didn't work, either, and Allison glared at the cursor that blinked steadily in the box where she needed to enter the password.
Five minutes later, she swore the cursor was mocking her. And Carter, too, though his expression was carefully neutral where he slouched in one of the chairs across from Allison.
His voice was equally neutral when he said, "I didn't know Stark as well as you did, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have set a password just anybody could figure out."
"But I'm not just anybody," Allison protested, though the words felt dry on her tongue. Maybe she hadn't been as special to Nathan as she thought she had. Maybe she was just anybody. She pushed that thought away, declaring, "I knew him better than anyone else did. I'll figure it out."
"No, you probably won't." The declaration from the doorway had Carter lunging to his feet and taking a protective stance between her and said doorway before Allison fully registered the words. The voice continued, "Nothing against you personally - just there are only two people in the world who know that password. Nathan. And me."
The voice sounded familiar, but with Carter blocking her view of the door, Allison couldn't place it immediately.
"Holy shit," Carter muttered, but didn't move out of the way.
"Carter," she prompted, and it still took a moment before Carter stepped aside, and Allison had to will her jaw not to drop.
"Tony."
Across the room from her, Tony Stark offered her a nod. "Allison."
"What are you doing here?" Allison asked, then felt heat suffusing her cheeks. "I mean - you weren't at the memorial service."
"Please - all that maudlin sympathy's annoying." Stark strolled into the office as if he owned it. Two women and a man followed him. "And my being there would've taken the focus from Nate, where it should've been."
"Nate?" Carter repeated, and when Tony's gaze fixed on him, he flushed. "Sorry. I just can't imagine anyone calling him Nate."
Stark offered him a slight grin. "It's the politest thing I've ever called him."
"Why are you here?" Allison interjected. "And why did you say I won't be able to figure out Nathan's password?"
Stark graced her with a full-on smirk. "Pretty sure you don't know what the square root of his birthday times my birthday is, or what that is multiplied by Euler's number, and all that to six decimal points - let alone how our initials figure into it."
Allison blinked. "That - seems excessive."
Stark shrugged. "Both of us could do the arithmetic in our heads. No need to write anything down."
"And even just saying that formula doesn't really tell us what it is," Carter put in. "Do you use two digits for the year, or four? Do you use a leading zero if the day is less than ten? And which format?"
"Okay - I get it," Allison snapped.
"We made those decisions years ago," Stark said. "Now that explanations are out of the way, shoo. I have work to do."
"You couldn't be bothered to attend your cousin's funeral," Allison said, "but you waltz in here and think you're taking over?"
Stark gestured with one hand, and one of the women with him - younger and darker-haired than the other - took a step forward.
She had a leather folder with her, and from it she pulled a sheet of paper and offered it to Allison.
A glance at it was enough to have Allison on her feet. "I thought I was Nathan's sole heir."
"He and I were each other's technological executors and heirs," Stark replied, then frowned. "But I guess he's not mine now. Make a note, Lewis - I need a new tech executor."
"Done, Boss," the darker-haired woman - presumably surnamed Lewis - replied.
Stark nodded absently, most of his attention still focused on Allison. "I like you, Blake - I really do. You were good for Nate. But we've had these plans in place since before you two even met."
"I know more about what goes on at GD than you," Allison protested, but it felt weak even as she spoke.
"But I know more about running a business than you," Stark replied. "And I'll be up to speed on everything in a couple of days."
"A couple of days?" Carter asked, and Allison was glad he had because it saved her the trouble.
Stark waved a hand. "More or less. But that's what these two are for." He jerked his head toward the man and woman who remained behind him. "Somebody show Foster to the physics labs, and Banner toward the biology labs." Then he focused on Allison once again. "I told you to shoo. So - shoo!"