A/N: Hi again! I've finished one story and here I am with a sequel! If you haven't read Learning Curve then I suggest you go back and read it or you might get a little lost with this one. This is set ten years after the end of Learning Curve, but the players are hte same. Gabby is back too!
I don't own The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head, and Kaia, Gabby, and Nathan. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.
Kaia sat next to Nathan, both had their school books open, but they were ignoring the homework. Gabby sat behind them at the table with her laptop open, and ignored. The girls had managed to to talk JARVIS into letting them watch TV and were listening to the reports being given on the latest across the country. Tony and Loki didn't like letting Kaia know when they were going off to fight, and especially didn't want her watching, but they had underestimated their babysitter, years ago.
Seven years after Nathan and Kaia met they found that they were going to the same elementary school, and then the same middle school, and Kaia ended up being in the same grade as Nathan, the same high school. At 13 Kaia was living up to Tony's legacy by skipping two grades and being three years younger, at least, than all of her classmates.
"I like Uncle Loki's armour better," Gabby suddenly announced and Kaia looked up at her twenty-one year old cousin. "It's not as bright."
"You really just like his jacket," Kaia pointed out.
"Can't really blame me," Gabby mumbled.
"I'm sure I could," Tony's voice sounded over the comm lines. "I think you've always been a little biased, missy."
"I'm not," Nathan piped up.
"No, you're a good man Nate," Tony commented. "That's why we let you keep on coming back."
"Aren't you three supposed to be doing your homework?" Loki wondered.
"We are," Kaia said, turning some pages in one of her books. "It's right here, in front of us."
"Doing homework and watching the news are two different things, kiddo." They swore they could hear a smirk in Tony's voice. "Of course leave it to you to get JARVIS to lift the TV ban."
"All we did was ask, nicely," Gabby responded. "Does this mean that the team is coming back now?"
"In a little bit, you two just keep doing your homework." The girls could hear Tony talking and they glanced back at the TV as the news started showing some footage from the battle they had had.
"You mean after you stop by the Malibu mansion to try and repair your suit?" Kaia asked and Tony sputtered a little. They saw that the repulsors on the Iron Man suit were no longer capable of keeping Tony in the air.
"Which means that you're stuck in the quinjet with everyone else," Gabby deduced. "Which means that they've all been listening."
"At least we can be sure that the Tower is one piece," they heard Clint mutter.
"Hiiiiiiiii," Kaia drawled out. "I think that you all should stay in the Malibu house for a few days."
"And why do you think that?" Natasha managed to ask the question first.
"So she can get a head start at being more like Tony with her boyfriend," Clint cut in.
"Hey!" Nathan looked up.
"Because we like the peace and quiet," Kaia cut in. "Byyyyyyyyye." She heard JARVIS end the line and giggled a little as Gabby shook her head.
"Alright you two, if you wanna make it through the rest of the semester and get to the holiday break, without having to study for any exams, then you should get back to your homework," Gabby told the two teenagers. She herself was studying for her own exams.
"Yes moooooom," Kaia and Nathan said at the same time and Gabby rolled her eyes.
While Kaia was three years younger than her class at 13, and Nathan at 16, she never had any problems with classmates. At least none that she or Nathan would tell them about. Gabby wasn't surprised that the girl had skipped so many grades though, not when one of her dads had entered college at the age of 15, and her other dad had rivaled most magic users from his home. That was a startling fact for the then 17 year old.
Gabby shuffled down the hall towards the kitchen. She liked to explore the tower at night when there would be no one to stop her, maybe except for JARVIS, but she knew he wouldn't wake anyone else up.
"Is it because your nervous about your new school?" Gabby stopped when she heard her uncle Loki's voice.
"No," Kaia's little voice answered, obvious that she was lying.
"It won't be that much different than any of your other classes," Loki told the girl. Gabby looked around the corner and saw Loki sitting on the love seat, his arms wrapped around the little girl. "That's what your Daddy tells me."
"He said he was a little younger than me when he went into the 6th grade," Kaia told him. "How old were you?"
"Me? Ah, well," Loki looked slightly uncomfortable and Gabby wondered what his schooling had been like. "My schooling was very much different than your own, and your Dad's. Where your Uncle Thor and I are from are schools are not the same. We each had our own private teachers."
"There was no classroom? No other students?" Loki shook his head. "What did you study?"
"I studied magic," Loki waved his hand let a glowing butterfly trail across Kaia's nose before disappearing. Gabby blinked a little. "Uncle Thor studied combat and strategies. He wasn't a very good student sometimes."
Kaia looked down at her hands and her nose wrinkled in concentration. Her fingers started to glow and an illusion of her favored stuffed mountain goat appeared on the table in front of the love seat. It started to leap about the table and Kaia grinned. Loki chuckled a little.
"Okay, a short story before you must return to sleep," Loki told Kaia and she nodded, the goat disappearing. Loki waved his hand and a couple of young kids appeared on the table. "I believe that this one is your favorite."
"Is it when you and Uncle Thor got lost inside the Nymph's forest?" Loki nodded and Kaia snuggled into his side. Gabby leaned against the wall and watched the story unfold on the table as Loki narrated it. She had lost track of time until she saw the images disappear and Loki picked up a sleeping Kaia. Her eyes widened a little and she scrambled to her feet and ducked down the hallway, hoping to avoid being seen.
After several minutes, and silence, she poked her head around the corner but didn't see anyone. Slowly making her way over to the table she waved a hand over it, then looked underneath, looking for any kind of holographic device that Tony could have installed.
"Usually people who have school in the morning are supposed to be asleep," Gabby eeped and fell back against the loveseat. Above her she saw Loki's inquiring face.
"I couldn't sleep?" She gave him a small, unconvincing smile.
Loki sighed and pulled her up to her feet. "It's past two in the morning, and anyone under the age of eighty should be asleep."
"So then why aren't you asleep?" She walked around the loveseat and looked at her Uncle.
"I believe you already have a theory for that. Now, shoo," he pushed her back. "To bed with you, or I'll let Tony wake you up in the morning."
"I thought gods were supposed to be merciful."
"Most gods are," Loki grinned and she shuffled off back to her bedroom.
Gabby yawned a little as she put her empty ice cream bowl in the sink.
"Mr Stark is on the phone for you Miss Potts," JARVIS informed her. She nodded and watched a screen above the counter island light up and saw Tony's face.
"How's Malibu?" She put her hand over her mouth as she yawned again.
"Hell of a lot warmer than New York I bet," he smirked a little.
"Because I enjoy having to put two jackets on over my shirt, and bring snow boots with me to change into as I freeze walking across campus." Gabby rolled her eyes.
"I remember the days when you refused to talk," Tony almost sounded nostalgic.
"She's spoke to me," Gabby chuckled when she heard Loki's voice in the background. "She must have just like me better than you."
"You two down in your lab?" Gabby watched her Uncle.
"Better than listening to the horrendous sounds that come from Thor when he's sleeping," Loki groaned out then joined Tony on the screen.
"Are you two calling to check up on your darling daughter?" She raised an eyebrow at the two men.
"Tony wants to make sure that Nathan is in fact sleeping in a different room," Loki informed, grunting when Tony elbowed him.
"You're not worried about it, uncle Loki?" Gabby smiled sweetly. There was a short silence and Gabby started to laugh. "Kaia is in her room and Nathan is just down the hall from me, a whole two floors away from each other."
"Good good," Tony nodded a little. He looked off screen at something then frowned slightly. "Don't you have an exam tomorrow?" Gabby nodded. "Then what are you doing up at one in the morning?"
"I need to indulge in some ice cream while I finished a paper," Gabby shrugged. "There's only three days left before vacation starts, are you guys going to stay down there and fly us over?"
"We thought about it," Tony nodded. "Pepper has informed me that she can fax any important documents to me here, or give them to you to get to me later this week."
"He's also a touch afraid to leave his suit alone while it's getting repaired," Loki filled in.
"Are the others gonna stay in the mansion, too?"
"Clint and Natasha already left, something about another mission," Tony said. "Steve said he'd stay, Bruce has to travel for a conference or something, and Thor said he was going to visit Asgard for something or other." Gabby nodded a little and Tony watched her for a second. "Have you told your boyfriend you're leaving for Malibu for the holidays?"
"What!" Gabby sputtered, her eyes wide. "What are you talking about?"
"Kaia has informed us that you have some kind of secret boyfriend, whom you rendezvous with every so often," Loki threw in, smirking like he was getting the juiciest gossip.
"She's as bad as you two," Gabby sighed out. "I do not have a secret boyfriend, and even if I did then yes he would know that I was leaving. But I don't, so there's nothing to worry about." She started to walk away from the counter and the screen turned to follow her.
"That's a yes," Tony grinned. "I hope we'll get to meet him soon."
"Good night!" She called as she walked into the hallway and out of sight.
"I wonder if we know him?" Loki pondered, tapping his chin.
"Oh, we'll find out," Tony brought his hands together.
"Hang up already!" Gabby yelled, sending the two men into laughing fits as the call ended.