Chapter Eleven

… …

Tony came up the stairs, whistling the most annoying tune he could think of. Unfortunately there was no one around to be annoyed. The girls had disappeared into Arella's room immediately, chattering away. Natasha had seemed to take on an almost normal demeanour when around the other two. Clint was up in some cranny or somewhere, Steve in the gym punching things and Tony had a sinking feeling that he had to find Bruce fast. His roof was apparently a good place to sit and brood. He found the scientist looking blankly at the pages of a book, his eyes not moving down the page. Tony simply watched him form the door for a moment.

"Good book?"

"Go away, Stark." Came the answer. Tony grinned and ignored him. Instead he sat down on the chair opposite him.

"Someone should cast you in Romeo and Juliet," he said. "You're as angsty as a badly written teenager." Bruce was very tempted to throw the book at him.

"Go away."

"No."

"Please?"

"Nope."

"Um, guys?" Clint appeared out of nowhere making them both jump. "Thor's getting ready to go." The archer frowned slightly at the black look on Bruce's face but comprehending soon came.

"Come on, we gotta say goodbye," Tony said as he pulled his friend up. As unwilling as he was, Bruce couldn't quite match Tony in the tug-of-war that followed.

Thor was standing in the middle of the lounge, a small sack at his feet. His face looked sad but determined as he spotted his friends.

"We are leaving, my friends. Arella will be up shortly. She wanted to say goodbye to the Captain." Bruce hovered in the corner looking miserable. Pepper and Natasha exited the lift, the former holding Arella's small bag of newly acquired belonging.

"Cheer up, it's not like she's dead or anything," Natasha muttered. Everyone except Clint sent her a glare. Her partner shook his head, warning her not to carry on. They waited in silence, no one really knowing what to say.

… …

"Steve?" Arella asked quietly. She didn't go all the way through the door, the sounds of things being hit kept her at bay. Steve stopped pummelling the punching bag and smiled at her.

"Hey, it's okay, you can come on in." He wiped his face with a towel, moving round the swinging bag towards her. She fidgeted slightly, unsure of how to say what she had come to tell him. She had already memorized the translation JARVIS had given her, now all she had to do was say it.

"Wat hapnd on se roof. Im sorry. I don't fell," she stammered. Steve held up a hand, a comforting smile on his face.

"It's okay. I get it." She let out the breath she had been holding. "I still don't want you to go." Steve shrugged. "Not that there's much I can do to make you stay."

"You want me to stay? After now?" Her broken English was still endearing to him.

"Of course." Arella thought about it for a split second.

"I speak Thor. If Tony want me to stay here," she told him. With a happier face than he ought to have had, Steve led the way to the lift and up to where the others were waiting.

"Arella! Are you ready?" Thor asked loudly the moment they arrived. She skipped over to him.

"I wish to stay in Midgard. I have more friends here than in Asgard. It is no disrespect to you, or your father. I like it here," she told him quietly. Thor sighed.

"As do I. Yet I will leave you here then, for you have no duty to attend to. Asgard is a cold place for an outsider, even an old friend."

"Do not attempt to do war upon Jeie; my people have had too much war for such a hollow crown." Thor touched his heart as a sign of an oath taken. He then turned to the others.

"It seems that Midgard is too fine a place to bear leaving." Tony let out a loud sigh, cutting the god off.

"Yes, you can," he said with mock resignation. "On the condition that you not only learn English, but that you keep Pepper's girly dress and shoes stuff away from me." Arella, not really understanding anything besides the word yes, hugged him. After a moment of shock because no one hugs Tony Stark, he grinned and hugged her back. "Sometimes I feel like a hotel manager or something except the guests keep coming and no one seems to leave." Taking the hint Thor began to say goodbye to his friends. Finally the God of Thunder left Stark Tower. He even managed to leave it intact.

… …

"Oh cheer up. She's still here isn't she?" Tony was more than a little bit fed up with Bruce's moping around. They were working on the suit, installing some basic life support in case Tony got injured.

"I'm fine." Tony stood up, his hands on his hips and a determined scowl on his face.

"This is more than a little bit of you not wanting a cute girl to leave, isn't it? Oh stop being pathetic and own up. You're in love with her, aren't you?" Bruce didn't meet his eye until he realised that Tony wasn't going to back down.

"Yes, I am. Happy? Can we leave it now?" he snapped, turning his back on Tony

"No. Tell her, I don't think she and the Cap are actually a thing, you know."

"Of course they're a thing, Tony. Why else would they have been kissing on the roof?" Tony was surprised at that; he didn't think that Bruce had actually seen them doing anything. He had assumed that they had just been sitting a bit too close and Bruce had taken it the wrong way. His friend sighed, going back to his work.

"You're buggered," he told Bruce simply. The scientist glared at him flatly.

"N.S. Sherlock."