The flight back to the Tower was uneventful. Steve had contacted Thor to confirm he and Tanya had both made it back safely. They had. And Thor assured him that Tanya was adjusting well to the modern world.

So when the jet landed, Natasha and Clint went up to their floors to stow their gear, Bruce pushed a cart full of the machine's remains into the lab's service elevator, and he and Bucky went to the common floor to watch a movie.

The elevator doors opened and Steve was greeted by the sight of Tanya running wild-eyed through the den.

"This is amazing!" she screamed. "All of it's amazing. I love this place!"

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "Adjusting well, Thor said."

"Oh, lighten up," Bucky said. "It's a lot to take in. You were probably just like this when you first came out of the ice."

Tanya pressed her hands against the flat-screen TV. "Look at the picture quality on this thing. Crystal clear."

"Oh yes," Steve drawled. "Exactly like this."

Bucky just snickered.

"Pardon my intrusion," Jarvis said. "But Dr. Banner has indicated it will be more than a week's time before he can get the portal fully operational. Miss Stark, may I take your measurements so that we may purchase a few necessary items of clothing for you?"

Tanya froze and looked around with an alarmed expression. "Who said that? Is someone spying on me for your files?" She backed into the corner beside the couch. "Are they still watching me?"

Steve sighed. "Jarvis, can you hold off for awhile?"

"Apologies," Jarvis said, and then fell silent.

Tanya poked her head around the couch. "Jarvis? Your butler's name is Jarvis? So is mine."

Steve smiled thinly. "What a coincidence."

Tanya climbed up on the couch and peered towards the ceiling. "How can he see me? There aren't any cameras."

"Jarvis is actually an A.I." Steve said. "He sees everything."

"Your butler's a robot? That's so cool."

"It's quite a bit more than that. Jarvis is programmed into all of the rooms in the Tower so he's pretty much part of the building. But he does function kind of like a butler, too. He talks with us and takes care of any problems we have."

"If you would like, I could demonstrate one of my functions," Jarvis offered.

"Yes, please," Tanya said excitedly.

"If you will remain still for a moment, I will scan your measurements into my database."

Tanya squeezed her eyes closed. "Okay, scan me."

"You are allowed to watch," Jarvis said with a touch of amusement in his voice.

"I don't want the lasers to hurt my eyes."

"They will not. You have my word."

Tanya opened her eyes and watched with fascination as a wide beam of red light shone down from the ceiling, momentarily enveloping her form.

"Scan completed," Jarvis said. The television screen flickered, switching to a display of Tanya's vital statistics. Eye color, hair color, height, weight, estimated clothing and shoe sizes were all shown on screen among other minor observable facts.

"Wow," Tanya said. "You can tell all that just by scanning me?"

"For more intimate details such as blood type, I require a sample of DNA," Jarvis said. "But I can make a fairly reasonable guess as to what that might be."

"We can probably wait on that," Steve said. "Getting her settled in here should be our first priority."

"Of course," Jarvis said. "There are a number of guest rooms on each of the floor and Young Miss Stark is welcome to choose whichever room she wants for the duration of her stay."

"Any room I want?" Tanya asked carefully.

"Any unoccupied room, of course. I can pull up a floor plan and indicate which bedrooms are currently occupied. Or one of the Avengers might like to give you a physical tour and show you the rooms."

"Oh yes, please." Tanya tugged eagerly at Bucky's metal arm. "I want you to show me everything."

Bucky offered Steve a shrug and a sheepish smile."Well, duty calls. I guess I'll see you in a couple hours."

"If you're not back by lunchtime, I'll send out a search party," Steve promised.

Once Bucky and Tanya disappeared into the elevator, he wandered over to the screen and peered at Tanya's measurements. "Jarvis, can you look up online retailers carrying clothing similar to something from Tanya's time?"

"Certainly," Jarvis said. After a momentary pause he said,"I have located several stores that sell either vintage clothing from the seventies or clothing influenced by the styles of the time. I will begin sorting through the material for anything in her size and have a few recommendations ready by the time she returns from her tour."

"Excellent," Steve said. "Thanks, Jarvis."

With her chin-length bob, Steve had assumed Tanya was a child of the late sixties instead of the seventies, but maybe he had gotten things mixed up in the abundance of pictures Natasha had shown him of how fashion had changed through the ages. Well, he supposed it didn't really matter at the moment. They could pin down the exact date she was taken from when they got the portal repaired.

While he was thinking about it, it was time to pay a visit to Bruce and see how the work was coming along.

Down in the lab, the machine's stand was set up in the corner, smaller pieces of metal were strewn across a table and twisted pieces of wiring were piled across another.

"How's it going?" Steve asked.

Bruce shrugged. "It's going." He picked through some of the pieces. "It's going to take awhile to get it all put back together. I'll have to replace some of the wiring, of course. Most of it's too damaged to be used again, but I need to at least go through all of it and figure out what it is before I replace it."

"You'll get it all taken care of eventually," Steve said. "I know you will. Don't overwork yourself, though. Tanya's doing just fine here. So there's no rush."

"Oh, I know," Bruce said. "It's just weird doing this all on my own. It's too quiet down here."

Steve squeezed his shoulder. "We'll get him back."

Bruce smiled ruefully. "It would have been nice to have his help. He would have loved working with this stuff."

"I know the rest of us aren't engineers," Steve said. "But if you need any help, let us know."

Bruce nodded. "I will."

If it came down to it, SHIELD could probably track down the villain's lair and get Bruce a copy of any blueprints for the portal's design. But that would take time to pull off. Better to let Bruce try to work things out on his own first.

Steve returned to the common floor and settled in the den to watch Braveheart while he waited for Bucky to get back from his tour.

Bucky reappeared halfway through the movie.

"Mission accomplished," he said with a messy salute. He dropped down onto the couch and propped his feet up on the armrest. "Fifty floors in fifty minutes. I think that has to set some kind of record."

"Fifty floors," Steve said incredulously. "Did you actually check out any of the rooms or just look at each floor from the elevator?"

"Hell no. We did the grand tour and everything. That girl can really move, though."

"So, where's she now?"

"Down on one of the lab floors with Bruce."

Steve smiled. "At the rate she moves, she'll probably be completely modernized by the time she comes up from the lab. That is, if she ever comes up. Bruce is a fellow scientist. How can the rest of us compare to that?"

"Easy," Bucky said. He loosened his ponytail and shook his hair out. "She may be a mini scientist, but she's still a little girl. And I have so much hair for her to play with."

Steve rolled his eyes. "You look like a damn shampoo commercial."

"You're just jealous of these luscious locks." Bucky made a show of flicking his hair back.

Steve elbowed him. "Okay, Mr. Herbal Essences. Why don't you take Tanya down a snack when you go for your makeover?"

Bucky rose from the couch. "I will. Just watch me."

Steve shook his head and settled back into his movie.

Ten minutes later, Bucky was back sprawling all across the couch.

"So, she wants pancakes for snack," he said with a theatrical sigh. "I don't know how to make pancakes."

"It's easy," Steve said. "There's a bottle of batter in the fridge. Just squeeze a little into a frying pan and try not to burn them this time. I still remember when you almost burned down your mother's place back in '37."

Bucky snorted. "You'll never let me live that one down, will you? Just you watch. These will be the best damn pancakes that ever were. And I'll definitely be her favorite now."

"Oh really?" Steve tugged on a strand of Bucky's hair. "I don't see a braid. Unless she decided you weren't worthy after all."

Bucky swatted his hand away. "She doesn't have any supplies yet. How the hell is she supposed to do my hair without those butterfly clips and sparkly hair bands?"

"Excuses, excuses," Steve said with a smile.

"I can put in an order for hair products as well," Jarvis said. "They can be here within the hour."

"And if she still won't braid you hair, I guess you'll have to admit you're not her favorite anymore," Steve said pleasantly.

Bucky huffed and stalked off to the kitchen.

As Steve had predicted, Tanya spent the rest of the afternoon down in the lab with Bruce. He ended up having to take lunch down to her, which reminded him of all the times he had had to bring something down to Tony. Tanya really was remarkably like him.

When the order of clothes arrived, that was enough to finally lure Tanya back upstairs. She gleefully tried on every single outfit Jarvis had ordered and put on a little fashion show for the team so they could admire her modeling. Jarvis had really done a good job picking things out for her since she seemed to like all of the clothes, but the bright yellow sundress and mint-green romper with matching headband seemed to be her favorites. Especially since she was still wearing the sundress when Natasha called everyone to dinner.

Most of the plates in the Tower were a little big for Tanya, so Natasha served her meal on a dessert plate.

Tanya bounced up and down in her seat. "Spaghetti!" she said happily. "It's my favorite. How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," Natasha said with a smile.

Or maybe more of a calculated guess since Tony loved anything Italian.

Steve watched as Tanya cut her meatballs and noodles into little pieces and took tiny, dainty bites. "You are such a careful eater," he said.

"Daddy always throws out my dresses when I get them dirty," Tanya explained. "He says if I want pretty things I need to learn to take care of them."

"We're not that strict," Steve assured her. "If you spill, we'll wash it."

Tanya beamed at him but kept eating painstakingly carefully anyway.

After dinner, Steve talked Tanya into putting on her new nightgown before she dragged Bucky and Thor into the den to braid their hair.

Natasha brought down a case of her makeup and nail polish. "I think we need to give the boys the full makeover experience, don't you?" she asked with a wink.

Clint took up a position on top of the couch with his cellphone in hand. "Oh, this is going to be good," he crowed.

Thor settled cross-legged on the floor. "I will be your first volunteer. Make me over as you wish."

Tanya selected a brush from the pile of hair products. "Don't worry," she told Thor. "I'm really good at this. My hair's hard to braid because it's so short, but Mommy let me practice on her a few times when Daddy wanted her to keep me busy."

"I trust in your skills," Thor proclaimed.

Tanya climbed into Thor's lap to reach his hair better. She carefully gathered a section and started plaiting it."I wish my hair was long and pretty like yours," she said. "But Daddy told me I can't have long hair if I want to be an engineer."

"He has a point," Steve said. "You wouldn't want your hair getting caught in all the machinery."

Tanya snorted as she looped a pink ribbon at the end of the braid. "My hair's not that long. But Daddy still thinks I should cut it shorter. And I don't want to. If I cut it any shorter I'll look like a boy."

"We can't have that," Steve said with a smile.

"That's probably what he wants," she said darkly. "He probably wants me to look like a boy because he wishes I was a boy."

"Oh, sweetheart," Steve said. He wanted so badly to tell her Howard loved her just the way she was, but the words just wouldn't come.

"You can't tell me it's not true," Tanya said, chin raised defiantly. "Daddy keeps telling me how boys are better scientists than girls. And because I'm a girl, I'll never be able to invent anything the company could sell."

"That is not true," Steve said.

Thor gathered Tanya into his arms. "A definite falsehood," he agreed. "Women are as capable as men at producing greatness. Back on my home planet, one of my best warriors is a woman called Sif."

"Then why would Daddy tell me that?"

Steve stroked her hair. "Sometimes parents want their children to grow up to be just like them. And they forget that their children aren't them and will never be them. You will never be just like your father, but that's okay. You're going to be amazing in your own special way."

"Just wait until you get a little brother," Natasha said. "Then your father can have the son he always wanted and he'll leave you alone to do girly stuff."

Tanya shook her head. "Mommy and Daddy argue about it sometimes. Mommy says they should try to have another baby because maybe it'll be a boy this time. But Daddy says it could be another girl and it'll make a bad situation worse."

Steve rolled his eyes. Eventually Howard was going to overcome his stupid fears and Tony would be born. But he wasn't so sure that was really going to be a good thing for Tanya. If Howard really resented having a daughter that much, was he going to send her off to boarding school and never speak of her again? Otherwise, Tony's sister should have been mentioned in his file.

Tanya finished Thor's look with a floral headband and a heavy application of gold eyeshadow. "Now it's Bucky's turn."

Bucky eagerly settled onto the floor. "Don't go easy on me. I want to look ten times prettier than Thor when you're done."

"You're going to be just as pretty as he is," Tanya said firmly. She twisted a section of Bucky's hair and secured it with a butterfly clip. "A different pretty, but still just as good."

Steve smiled as Tanya went around the room, giving everyone on the team a makeover. He didn't have enough hair to really style, so Tanya just stuck clips in his hair and painted his nails blue. Even Clint finally gave in and allowed Tanya to paint his fingernails turquoise.

By the time Tanya was finished with everyone's looks, Steve noticed her yawning. "It's getting late," he said. "Probably time to head to bed."

"But I'm tired," Tanya whined. "And bed is so far away."

"Fear not, little one," Thor said. "You shall be carried off to bed like a princess." He gathered her into his arms. "Now, where have you chosen to spend the night?"

"Floor Twenty-Nine," Bucky said proudly.

Ah. It figured.

"You realize Bucky and I are sharing that floor, right?" Steve asked.

When he first brought Bucky into the Tower, he had given him a room on his floor so he could keep an eye on him and be just a few feet away if he woke screaming from nightmares. And Bucky had just never been interested in moving out of that room. Steve didn't really blame him. What was he going to do with a whole floor to himself?

"I know," Tanya said cheerfully. "Bucky told me. That way I get to live next to two awesome people instead of just one."

"That's sweet," Natasha said. "But if the boys start bothering you with their snoring, you're always welcome on my floor."

Bucky stuck out his tongue. "Nice try, but we don't snore." He motioned towards the elevator. "Come on, Tanya. You'll like it on our floor."

They left Natasha and Clint giggling together as they cleaned up the makeover supplies and headed upstairs to Floor Fifty-Nine.

"Here you are, little one," Thor said, lowering Tanya down in the doorway of the room she pointed to. "I will leave you in the care of our good Captain and the Sergeant."

"Thanks, Thor." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "You're the coolest."

Bucky pushed open the door to the bedroom and gestured for her to make her way inside. "After you, kiddo."

She hesitated, eyes wide. "Am I really allowed to sleep in here? There's so much cool stuff in here." She reached out to touch the base of the vintage lamp and then quickly yanked her hand back. "I don't want to break anything."

"You won't," Steve assured her. "You're a very thoughtful little girl and I know you'll be careful."

"But if I do break something," she pressed. "If it was an accident and-"

"Not a big deal," Steve said. "I don't care about any of this stuff. A friend of ours just decorated all the rooms real nice so they wouldn't be plain and empty. If you don't like the furniture and you want us to get you something-"

"No," Tanya said quickly. "I love it." She put her hands down on the edge of the mattress and vaulted up onto the bed. "I love how huge this bed is." She rolled from one side to the other. "So much bigger than my bed."

"Good," Steve said. "I'm glad you're comfortable." He tucked her in and reached for the light switch. "Good-night, Tanya."

"Wait!" Tanya said suddenly. "I don't want to go to sleep. Because then I'll wake up and you'll still be missing and Bucky will be dead and Thor will be in my big book of mythology and everyone else won't exist and today will have been just a dream."

"It's not a dream," Bucky said. "We're all really here."

"You just think that," she insisted. "How would you know whether you're part of my dream or not?"

Steve sighed. "This isn't a dream and I can prove it to you." He gently pinched her arm.

"Ow," she said. She glared at him accusingly. "That hurt."

"Which means you're not dreaming," Steve said. "You don't feel anything in your dreams, do you?"

Tanya narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "I guess you're right."

Steve patted her head. "So get some sleep. We'll all still be here in the morning. I promise."

"Okay," Tanya said quietly. "Good-night."

Steve smiled as she snuggled down under the covers. This time, when he reached for the light switch, she was already snoring.