A/N: Oh. My. God. I am so sorry it's been so long since I've got anything updated! I will try NOT to let that happen again, but no promises since life always gets in my way.

Also, I noticed some discrepancies in my previous chapters with Kat's last name…I will fix that, eventually and if any of you notice anything like that, please pass it along to me!

Now, without further ado, here is the next installment!

CHAPTER TEN

That Friday afternoon, Kat met Darcy in the underground parking where her own car was also sitting. Darcy grinned at her friend as she dug her backpack out of the backseat and headed slowly over to where Kat was leaning against the wall, mirroring her friend's grin. Kat could practically see Darcy vibrating from across the garage at the thought of staying most of the weekend not only in the Avengers Tower but most likely rubbing elbows with the team as well. She was looking forward to meeting the rest of the guys and having a chance to catch up with Thor again.

"This is going to be an absolutely epic weekend!" She finally exclaimed as they climbed into the elevator.

"Especially when you consider the fact that Tony 'has plans' for part of it anyway. His plans are usually of epic proportions."

Darcy laughed and shook her head, "Which is one of the other reasons that cameras are a huge 'don't even think about it'. I do have to wonder if those plans involve us or not though. It is Tony after all so it may not even involve us."

A few minutes later the two of them stepped off the elevator and onto one of the floors designated for the team. None of the others were in sight but Kat was pretty sure that was going to change before too long, especially once food became involved. For the moment though, silence rang through the halls as they headed for the room that Tony had set aside for Darcy during her stay.

"So what movie did you decide on for tonight?" Kat asked while Darcy dropped her backpack on the bed and stood in awe at the size of the bedroom.

"This is like…as big as my entire apartment!" she exclaimed before turning back to her friend. "Oh, yeah; well I was thinking maybe like Saving Private Ryan or something like that, but then I remembered there'd be a chance Steve would join us and that would just be bad. I finally ended up on P.S. I Love You. That work?"

Kat laughed and nodded, "Yeah, the only one that might offend would be Tony and that'd just be amusing anyway. If Pepper's back from San Diego she'll probably join us for that one. You know, we should drag the guys in to watch it with us…I've already introduced Thor and Steve to the magic that is Disney!"

Darcy giggled and let Kat lead her out of the room and back down the hall as they continued to speak, "Sorry I missed that one. Hey, maybe we should do the Disney thing tomorrow!"

Kat laughed and shook her head, "Well they have yet to see the wonders of the 'Princess and the Frog'. I can almost imagine the reason why you came up with this particular movie though," Kat chuckled as they settled in on the couch in the rec room.

"Jeffrey Dean Morgan!" they exclaimed simultaneously before falling into laughter again.

"You know, other than Thor and Steve, I've only ever seen pictures of the rest of the team. Is the Black Widow really that…THAT?"

Kat nodded, "Yeah, she is. I mean she could make a supermodel jealous. Now assuming you knew none of the Avengers…who do YOU think is the hottest? Uh…Widow being excluded, just out of the guys based on pictures."

"Ooo, that's a hard one. I mean you have Stark, who, let's face it is hot and without the whole superpowers thing, that's hard to pull off with this group. Then there's Thor; God of Thunder and damn well built like it. Steve is definitely drool worthy which is why I have to laugh every time I think of you living in the same place as him. You've got it bad for him. Hawkeye…I don't know. He has the whole serious-intense thing going for him which is good. In all honesty though, I'd have to say Dr. Banner."

Kat quirked a brow at her friend, "I never really thought you'd have a thing for science guys."

Darcy shrugged, "I don't know. I can't really put my finger on any particular reason why him…"

Kat's eyes widened and she shook her head before she burst into uncontrollable giggling, "Wow…bad mind. Very bad mind."

Darcy quirked a brow, "What did you think of now? Come on I don't think I've ever seen you GIGGLE."

"You have to promise not to hurt me," at Darcy's confused nod, Kat burst out with, "Just hope he doesn't go green when you're doing it because dude that'd suck," before promptly falling into the couch laughing.

Darcy sputtered before she started to laugh too and shook her head, "Hey, I wonder if Jane screams 'Oh God' or 'Oh Thor'. Both would be accurate."

Kat gasped and shook her head before falling back into her laughter, holding her sides as tears formed in her eyes, "How did our minds end up here?"

Darcy shrugged and then waggled her eyebrows at Kat, "You think when they zapped the Cap ALL of him got zapped. Thor told me he looked NOTHING like a soldier before the serum. I mean he was sqeebly. So…"

Now it was Kat's turn to sputter and shake her head at her friend, "Well, he did get taller…and more muscly…only makes sense…"

"Alright so if you could sleep with any of the Avengers, no strings attached and no consequences. Just fantasy, which would it be?"

Kat quirked a brow and shook her head, "Do you even have to ask…although. If I could pick more than one, Thor would be my other choice. I mean if he didn't have Jane…"

Darcy chuckled and nodded, "Agreed. Thor for me too…other than Dr. Banner. I mean how could you not want to…"

The sound of footsteps behind them had the girls letting their conversation trail off and Kat glanced over her shoulder only to breathe a sigh of relief when it was Pepper. She hadn't recognized the footfalls as the red head's because she wasn't wearing her usual high heels.

"I hope you don't mind if I join the two of you. Everyone else seems to off in their own worlds," Pepper laughed and the other two nodded.

"No problem, Pepper. We should go throw the pizza in the oven before Thor discovers it and inhales it," Kat chuckled.

"Wait. We're not ordering pizza?" Darcy pouted and Kat laughed.

"Trust me; my home made pizza is better. Just ask Thor and Steve."

Pepper nodded in agreement with Kat, "Absolutely and then we don't have the completely freaked out delivery guy trying to figure out where JARVIS's voice is coming from."

On that comment a laugh from all of them, they headed to the kitchen where Kat placed her homemade pizza in the oven. They stayed in the kitchen while it cooked, talking lightly and laughing at random things the others came up with. Finally the pizza was nearly finished and Pepper made popcorn while Darcy dug out the drinks. Everything made its way into the rec room the girls had commandeered for the night and they settled in to start watching the movie.

While the previews played, Pepper finally had to ask, "What were you two talking about before I joined you?"

Kat cleared her throat nervously and shook her head while Darcy only laughed, "We were discussing which of the Avengers was the hottest, but it's too close to call. We just have to go with personal preference."

"Well, I know for Kat that would be Steve. What about you, Darcy?"

Darcy shrugged and took a bite of pizza to avoid answering but Kat turned the tables on her friend, "That would be Dr. Bruce Banner."

Pepper shook her head with a smile, "It's good to know that Bruce has some fans out there as well. While you're here this weekend I'm sure we can find a way to get you two to run into each other."

Darcy shook her head, "That's alright. I'm sure he's busy."

Kat shook her head and they fell relatively quiet as the movie started. There was the usual commentary from Kat which Darcy and Pepper joined in on since they'd all seen the movie several times already. They were about half way through when Tony and Bruce appeared, helping themselves to any leftover pizza before they dropped into seats; Tony next to Pepper and Bruce in a recliner. Darcy shot warning looks to the other two girls as Tony immediately started to complain about the chick flick they'd chosen.

"No one said you had to watch it, Tony," Pepper pointed out, elbowing him lightly in the ribs.

"I just never thought Kat was the kind of girl to LIKE this kind of movie."

Kat shrugged, "On occasion I do like them. And this one has everything going for it. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Gerard Butler, Ireland…"

Darcy giggled and shook her head as Kat continued to defend their choice in movie. By the time the movie finished the rest of the Avengers had joined them as well. Clint and Natasha sat off by themselves a bit, shaking their heads at the rest of the group as Kat and Tony continued to argue and the others threw in their opinions for one or the other on occasion. Thor and Darcy had ended up taking the time to catch up as they munched on popcorn and sodas with Thor perched on the arm of the couch next to her.

Steve had been the final member to finally make an appearance. He'd started out standing off to the side, leaning a shoulder against the wall as he listened to the group's laughter and joking. After a few minutes he finally took the only remaining spot left in the room, next to Kat on the couch. Darcy couldn't help but laugh harder when Kat stumbled over her current argument on the hot scale of the Celtic accent when the Captain sat next to her.

Kat shot her friend a dark look, but managed to shake off her nervousness when Tony came back with some other smart comment. Steve shook his head at them and settled back as Pepper declared the argument over and they could both just be quiet so the rest of them could enjoy the next movie which just happened to be Tangled. Thor immediately fell silent as he turned his attention to the movie and Kat shook her head, throwing a look at Darcy.

Part way through the movie, Tony declared this was a waste of perfectly good time to plan and he needed to be in the lab before he left. Clint and Natasha decided to get in some training shortly after that. Steve, Bruce and Thor stuck around for the rest of the movie before deciding to leave the girl's to the rest of their girls' night and Pepper turned on the other two.

"Okay, what were you two REALLY talking about before I joined you?"

Kat shrugged and Darcy giggled, "Well…we were trying to decide on which Avenger we'd sleep with if we could. No consequences or girlfriends or anything."

"And who won?"

"Thor, Steve and Bruce," Kat answered sheepishly.

Pepper laughed and shook her head, "Just don't let Tony hear that. He'll hound you about how he makes up ten of those guys or something like that."

Darcy quirked a brow, "Speaking of relationship stuff…is there something with Clint and Natasha?"

Pepper shrugged, "I have no idea. Tony's been trying to figure that out since he became an Avenger. Kind of like his mission in life other than to get Bruce to 'Hulk out'."

Kat shook her head, "How the hell does he even have room in his head to figure out the suit and everything else he does in his lab when he gets so distracted by everything else?"

Pepper shrugged a shoulder, "Mystery of the universe. If we ever figure that out, we may just find the meaning of life as well."

The three of them laughed at that and spent the rest of the evening talking in the rec room as they finished off the popcorn. Finally they decided to call it a night and they headed for their respective rooms, though Darcy followed Kat to hers.

"So…what is up with you and the Captain?"

Kat quirked a brow and shrugged, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Darce. We're friends."

"But you want to be MORE than that, right? I mean, I may not be an empath like you, but I've never seen you get nervous around a guy before."

Kat sighed and dropped onto the edge of her bed, "Yeah well, if I ever figure out how any of this stuff is supposed to work, I'll let you know."

Darcy chuckled and sat next to her, "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure he's just as lost as you are."

"Oh that makes life just SO much easier. It's hard enough to figure out how to have a relationship without factoring all the things that Steve and I have to deal with."

Darcy nodded and sighed, "Well, it's not like you have to try to figure it all out on your own or anything. You have the Avengers and the X-Men…and me."

Kat laughed and nodded, "Yeah, let's just mix in MORE people to make it less complicated. But…thanks, Darce."

Darcy nodded with a grin and headed to her room shortly after. Kat spent quite a bit of time lying awake and considering what Darcy had told her. If she could see it, then it was a good bet that the others could see it as well. On that thought, she finally managed to get to sleep.

The next day, Kat and Darcy spent most of their time checking out the rest of the tower and hanging out with the Avengers. Darcy couldn't help but lament the fact that she couldn't really go around and brag to people that she got to do so. Still, she wouldn't change the weekend for the world. Late that afternoon, she got a call from Jane asking if she'd be able to go in and help her out Sunday morning. Not one to turn down a chance to make some money, Darcy agreed.

Pepper caught them just as Darcy was packing up her things to head back to her own apartment Saturday night, "Hey, Darcy are you busy two weekends from now; Saturday specifically."

Darcy shook her head, "As far as I know I'm good. Why, what did you need, Pepper?"

Pepper grinned, "Well, there's a Stark fundraiser for the new children's hospital and Tony thought it would be a neat idea, since some of the kids will be there for part of the afternoon, that the Avengers show up. You don't have to be there for that, it's just the team that's going to do that. Even I don't get to go. But there's a big dinner, dance and auction that night to raise money and everyone's going. The thing is we need someone to go with Bruce."

Kat laughed and shook her head, "There's your opportunity to get in good with the good doctor, Darcy."

Darcy glared at her friend and turned back to Pepper before she nodded, "Sure, I guess. Is there any kind of dress code for this?"

"Formal, but don't worry. Tony already said he would pay for everything so if you can get here Friday afternoon, the four of us girls can go shopping and then Saturday while the guys do the hospital visit we can get hair and nails done."

"Wait…I have to go to this too? I'm not doing the hospital am I?" Kat questioned; after all she wasn't known as an Avenger.

Pepper shook her head, "You're not doing the hospital but you can go to the rest of it as Steve's date."

Now it was Darcy's turn to laugh at her friend, "Oh I'll go for sure now. I get to see her in a dress, with that hair done up and everything. Plus she's on Captain Steve Rogers' arm. This is going to be great."

Kat sighed and scratched her head, "Alright, Pepper. Why do I think this is a complete set up?"

"Because it kind of is; Tony came up with the idea. I'm not sure how Steve's going to react to this at all though. I mean the hospital thing he'll be all for, but the dance and everything…"

Kat shook her head, "It's alright. I'll figure out some way to keep him relaxed and happy. Maybe laughing at Darcy here."

"Just don't forget to get a kiss goodnight when you get back here, eh?" Darcy laughed before she grabbed her bag and bolted out of the room for the elevator. "I need vicarious smoochies!"

Kat growled under her breath as Pepper followed Darcy from the room also laughing before turning back to the mutant, "Relax, Kat. This will be good for the two of you; get you out of the tower and into a different setting."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. It's kind of hard to get past this plateau when we never get out of the tower to do anything. I'd ask him out but he's so old fashioned I think that may offend him."

"Hmm…I'll see if I can't bolster his courage to take you out sometime. Even just to one of those theatres that show the old movies."

Kat nodded as Pepper disappeared and then slapped herself. She had essentially just asked Pepper to get Steve to ask her out. This was going to be disastrous; especially if Tony found out about it. Sighing, she stood and headed to her own room. She had a mountain of laundry that was calling her name and she needed something to distract her from her thoughts for five minutes.

It was a couple of hours later and Kat was still sitting in the laundry room, her laptop in front of her as she played computer games, waiting for the rest of her laundry to finish. She nearly jumped out of her skin when someone laid a hand on her shoulder and she looked back to see a grinning Steve.

"Never thought it was possible to sneak up on a feral."

"Only when said feral has her character lost in a forest in a game," she laughed.

"Did Pepper talk to you about the fundraiser thing?"

Kat nodded, "Yeah. You're alright with going with me?"

He chuckled and nodded, "Yeah. She also mentioned something about old movies?"

Kat shook her head, about to reply when the timer went off on the dryer and she leapt to pull her clothes out and fold them, "Yeah…there's a theatre downtown that only shows older movies. I thought it might be fun to check some of the old horror movies out sometime."

Steve only nodded as she finished folding her clothes and closed her laptop before setting it on top of the basket. He followed her as she headed out of the room and down the hall.

"So…Tony figures I should wear a suit."

Kat quirked a brow, "And you want to wear?"

"My dress greens. I know they aren't exactly in style or anything like that…but I'm comfortable in them."

A sudden image jumped into Kat's head and she very nearly stumbled over her own feet, "Well, why not go out and try on a couple of suits and if you don't like them, then stick with your greens."

Steve nodded with a grin, "Yeah, Clint offered to go with me instead of having to go with Tony. No one says anything about Thor wearing his cape and armor though."

"That's because no one argues with," she rounded a corner in the hall and walked into something very large and very solid, making her drop her clothes and laptop and she looked up, nearly falling over as she finished her sentence, "a god."

"I am sorry, Lady Huntress!" Thor boomed but Kat barely heard him as she stared at his very naked chest.

"Thor! What are you doing?!" Steve exclaimed a second later as he realized that Thor wasn't just shirtless but was very, very naked…and wet.

"The shower in my chambers was not working and Jarvis told me that I could use the one down the hall," he suddenly realized Kat was still staring at him, her face a very bright red. "Are you alright, Lady Huntress? Did I harm you?"

Kat slowly shook her head, forcing herself to keep her eyes on his chest while she tried to figure out how to get her clothes off the floor, "No…I'm…I'm fine."

"Then what is the matter? Am I not pleasing to behold?"

Kat nearly choked on her own tongue as she started to drop to her knees to gather her clothes only to realize that would put her at eye level with…She shook her head and stood up again.

"Thor! Would you cover yourself?" Steve snapped before crouching to scoop Kat's clothes back into the basket.

"On Asgaard it is not uncommon for one to…"

"I don't care what's done on Asgaard. This isn't Asgaard!" He cut the god off and then frowned as he gathered a small slip of lace and tried to figure out what it was.

Kat could feel the heat in her face increasing and snatched her thong from Steve's hand before throwing a towel at Thor from her basket, "Thor! Clothes are worn here for a reason and when clothes are not handy, wrap a damn towel around your waist!"

With great care with how she was positioned as she did so, she pushed Steve out of her way and gathered the rest of her clothes herself. She'd never known it was possible to become so embarrassed you started to see black spots, but that was the state she found herself in as she bolted down the hall, clothesbasket in hand. She'd left her laptop however, something Steve carefully picked up, still glaring at the God of Thunder as he continued to berate the highly amused god.

On her mad dash to her room, Kat stumbled across Tony of all people who stopped her by stepping into her path, confusion in his eyes, "Kat-Man-Do you alright?"

"Fine…stupid damn Thor, thinks just because a bloody god…" she muttered before bolting past him, slamming the door to her room after she entered.

Tony was still confused but shrugged it off. It wouldn't be the first time Thor had done or said something that was out of line or strange but it didn't really explain that particular shade of red. He shook it off and continued down the hall, his confusion returning and growing when he heard what sounded like Steve and Thor arguing.

"Do you think she was pleased with what she saw?" Thor asked as Tony approached.

Steve's glare could have soured milk and Tony could have sworn he detected a hint of jealousy in his voice as he replied, "I think you just embarrassed the hell out of her for no reason. Would you put some bloody clothes on?!"

Tony stepped up as Steve stormed away and even he wasn't about to ask Steve what had happened. Judging by the look on the Captain's face, it was going to be one hell of a story though. Instead he stepped up to Thor as he headed back down the hall, towel now securely fastened around his waist.

"So…what was that all about?"

"Lady Huntress ran into me when I had just come from the shower. Speaking of which, the one in my chambers is not working."

Tony nodded, "Okay, so she ran into you."

"Ah…apparently it is uncommon for people on Midgard to allow the air to dry their bodies as they walk."

It took Tony a second to process that and when he did he stopped in his tracks while Thor continued to his room. Finally Tony burst into laughter, leaning against the wall as he slid to the floor. That was just too good to be true. And with the good Captain right there with her too, it must have been one hell of a scene.

"Jarvis?" he sputtered when he could somewhat speak again.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Please tell me you have that whole ordeal on surveillance video and I can watch it!"

"Of course, Sir, the cameras run constantly and record everything."

"Great! Cue it up in my lab!"

A/N: Alright, I am so very sorry it's been so long since I updated anything. Between work, horses and computer issues, I've had no time to get anything done! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

I tried for fun and light this time and I hope it came across the same way it does in my head!

Until next time, reviews feed the muse!