"So what do we do now?" Nathan asked.

The blue aliens were in mid-attack when one of them noticed Loki, and chattered excitedly to the others. All at once, they broke off their attack and stood there staring at him.

At this, the combatants stood down, waiting for the next move.

"What do they want?" Jane looked from one to the next, and they looked back at her with their huge round amber eyes.

"Me," Loki said quietly.

They all looked at him.

"They want me. If he did send them, they want to take me to him to pay for my failure. And . . . I deserve it. If I give myself up, they'll go away."

"I say we give him up," said Tony.

Now they were all looking at him.

"What? It's not like we need him! All he's doing is taking up space, and he can do that somewhere else."

"He can hear you, you know," said Loki.

"Nothing personal, Rudolph. It's just . . . total destruction of the city, again, versus losing someone who's not supposed to be here in the first place . . . it's a no-brainer. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the pawn to win the game."

"Nice to know you care so much about me."

"Needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, or the one. Don't forget to send us a postcard."

"How can you be so heartless?" Darcy demanded. "You know they're gonna torture him when they get him back to their ship! You've seen his scars! They'll kill him!"

"While I appreciate the support," Loki said, "my mind is made up. I'm going with them. What happens, happens. I'm prepared to deal with it."

"I don't believe this," said Tony. "You're giving yourself up to save the rest of us?"

"No, I'm giving myself up because I know if I don't, I'll get blamed for what happens next. I'd rather take my chances with the aliens than with SHIELD, thank you."

He lowered his arms, dropping the rolling pin to the floor, and stood with his head down, waiting for them to move in and take him away. After a moment of confusion, the aliens figured it out. Two of them grabbed his arms, and the rest formed a ring around him. They marched him out through the hole in the window, to the ship, and away.

It was only moments later that the Hulk smashed through a different part of the same window, making a second hole.

"Really?" Tony muttered under his breath. "You couldn't have used the other hole?"

A shadow fell across them as the Helicarrier hovered overhead.

"Oh, boy, we're in trouble now."


Nick Fury was not happy to hear the news that Loki had given himself up to the aliens.

"And you just let him go?"

"He insisted! Besides, it solves all our problems with the least amount of trouble."

"Says you," Darcy grumbled.

Fury looked around at the mess and debris, and got on the phone. "I need a cleanup crew here, to clear away the bodies and replace the broken glass. Oh, and get a new Christmas tree. Well, find one!"

"And that's it?" Darcy persisted, despite frantic signals from Jane to quit it already. "You're just gonna let the Smurfs from Hell get away with their prisoner, whom they're probably torturing right now-"

"They haven't gotten away," Fury told her. "Their ship is still hovering over the city . . . like they're waiting for something."

"I think they have a hive mind," said Bruce, who was sitting on the couch in a borrowed robe, Nathan beside him. "They're all connected. That's why the ground troops retreated as soon as the mother ship left the tower. They knew they had what they came for, so they pulled back to the drop point. Or something like that."

It was then that Thor burst in, through the window, making a third hole.

"For God's sake! There's a door right there!" Tony exploded. "How do three separate people miss a big French door right in the middle of the balcony?"

Thor seemed not to notice the destruction he had left behind. He strode up to Tony and demanded, "Man of Iron, is it true? Have the imps taken my brother?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. We tried to stop them-"

At this, Darcy made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

"-but he insisted. Gave himself up to them, to save us."

The Thunder God frowned. "That is not like him at all."

"Oh, come on!" Darcy exclaimed. "Why is it so hard for you to believe he can change? It's Christmas! People change at Christmas! It happened to the Grinch, it happened to Ebenezer Scrooge, it even happened to J. R. Ewing! May he rest in peace," she added reverently. "So why can't you believe that Loki can change, too?"

"I don't think it actually happened to J. R.," Tony began, but Fury interrupted him.

"I've been around long enough to know that Christmas miracles don't really happen as often as you'd think. If Loki let the aliens take him, it was for some other reason than wanting to help us. He's got some other agenda, I guarantee you that."

"What could possibly make him surrender himself like that?" Thor asked.

Suddenly there was a burst of static, and a bright flash from outside the window. Then Steve's voice filled the room.

"Something just happened to the alien ship! They're going down! All the guys on the ground just dropped at once, just like the Chitauri! What the hell happened?"

There was a flash inside the room, like all the bulbs on the Christmas tree blowing at once, and then Loki was standing before them, dressed in his customary armor and curved helmet.

"I happened," he said. "Don't worry, I didn't kill them. I just knocked them unconscious for about an hour or so. Their ship should land safely in the harbor, if I interpreted their controls correctly. Oh, and here." He handed over one of the alien weapons. "For you to analyze."

There was stunned silence all around. Then Darcy stepped forward and smacked Loki on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For lying and saying you didn't have your powers back when you did!"

"But . . . I didn't. At the time."

She gave him a look. "Right. You couldn't have done that without your powers!"

"I didn't get them back until I was on the ship! I don't know why!"

"Well, this changes everything," Tony observed.

Thor was jubilant. "Welcome back, brother! I had feared that you were gone forever! So Father has forgiven you for your transgressions! Come, let us celebrate!"

"Hold on one second," said Fury. "We're not done here. I want to know exactly what you did, and when. Don't think that saving our butts this time excuses everything else you did."

"I didn't expect it would." Loki took a step back and raised his arms to show that he wasn't carrying any weapons. "If you want to lock me up, you're free to do so. I won't resist. But do keep in mind that I just sacrificed myself to save all of you, the city, and possibly the entire planet. That should count for something, should it not?"

"You expect me to believe," Fury said, crossing his arms in front of him, "that you suddenly got your powers back, like some kind of deus ex machine, just like that? And now you've changed your ways, and you want to do good works and help all mankind for the rest of your days?"

"That does sound rather a lot to swallow, doesn't it? But I swear to you, it's the truth! Give me a chance to prove myself!"

"So you can stab us in the back and run away? For all we know, your deal with your alien buddies went south, and they knocked themselves out to get rid of you!"

"Stop it!" Nathan stepped between the two of them. "Can't you see he really wants to help? He's not like he was before! They did something to his mind before, but he's on our side! Let him help!"

"Step aside, son," Fury said to him, but gently. "You're a good kid, and you always see the best in everyone, but you've got to learn sometime that some people just can't be trusted."

"He's been here for three days and he's been good! Except for that time he ran away, but he was just going to get us a Christmas tree."

"Ran away?" The SHIELD director looked at the Avengers. "Why wasn't I informed of this?"

"He came right back!" Darcy shrieked. "He wasn't gone more than half an hour or so! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"We have a tracking device on him," Bruce pointed out. "It won't happen again."

"You're damn right it won't happen again. Not where he's going." He reached out to grab the wayward god by the arm, but once again, Nathan blocked him.

"Where's your Christmas spirit?" he asked, nearly in tears. "At least let him have dinner with us before you take him away!"

The elevator dinged, and Steve stepped off, followed by Clint, who had his arm around Natasha's waist for support.

"What's going on?" the Super-Soldier asked.

"Someone got his powers back and didn't bother telling us," Fury said flatly. "Say goodbye."

"Tell him he can't do this! It's Christmas! You can't throw him in jail on Christmas! He hasn't done anything wrong!" Nathan insisted.

Steve looked at Loki, who was just standing there, innocently. "What happened? The last I heard, you were kidnapped by the blue guys. Did you make a deal with them to let you go?"

"Look." Loki raised his hands above his head. "I let them take me because I knew if I did, they would go away. Some time between when they took me and when the ship left, I felt my magic return."

"On its own?"

"I . . . did ask Odin for its return. All right, I begged. Happy?"

"So you didn't have your magic yet when you surrendered to them?"

"Not that I was aware of."

"Sir," Steve said, addressing Fury, "he sacrificed himself to save all of us. And you're locking him away?"

"Oh, not you too."

Meanwhile, Bruce helped Clint walk Natasha to the sofa, where he examined the bandages covering her wound. "How bad is it?"

"Like a bad burn, but mostly superficial," Clint told him. Natasha gave him a look. "What?"

"I can speak for myself, you know."

"I thought I'd give you a break. Let you catch your breath."

"I'm fine. It wasn't as bad as they thought. Just peeled away a few layers of skin. They cleaned it out and patched it up at the scene, and then I got out of there. I refuse to miss Christmas dinner over a little owie."

"I don't know," said Clint, "it looked pretty serious when you got zapped."

"Please. I've had a lot worse. They gave me some pills for the pain, but I don't need them."

"I'll hold onto them for you," Bruce offered. "Just in case you change your mind."

"Can't. Flushed 'em already."

"You're really serious about this anti-drug thing, aren't you?"

"They're a crutch I don't need. Why mess around with that stuff when I can get by without it?"

"If my father has judged him worthy, then that is all the proof I need!" Thor was shouting. "If the Allfather trusts him, why not you?"

"With all due respect, your father hasn't seen what he's done down here."

"Not today! If you take him, you'll have to take me too!"

There was a two-note chime from above. "Pardon the interruption," said JARVIS, "but dinner has just arrived. Shall I direct the delivery workers to the dining room?"

Loki looked expectantly at Fury. "Well? Do I get a last meal before I'm carted away to whatever hellish facility you have planned for me?"

This was the moment of truth. Nick Fury knew that everything, from this point on, would be on him. He looked from Nathan's pleading face to Darcy's indignant one, to Thor's protective expression, and he decided, for the second time, screw the Council.

"You're not going anywhere," he said. "You're part of the team now."

Loki was so shocked, his silver tongue failed him. He stared at Fury for a moment, and then managed, "Thank you, sir. I am in your debt."

"And don't you forget it. If you make me regret this, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."

"That will not be necessary. I will comply with whatever orders you give me."

"You're only a probationary member, for now. Until you've proven that we can trust you, you're strictly reserves. If I need you, I'll call you, otherwise stay out of it. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come on," said Tony. "I ordered a turducken, because I've always wanted to try one. And we have regular turkey and ham, too, and all the trimmings. Hopefully, enough food for everyone."

There was plenty of food, enough for everyone, even the big eaters, to have seconds. After dinner, they sat around the TV and watched some silly Christmas specials.

"Oh, Nathan, look." Pepper came over, carrying a wrapped box. "There's one more for you."

He sat up and looked. "It came?"

"You were expecting this?"

"It's from Riley. She said she ordered it too late to give it to me before I left, so she'd have it shipped here. Should I open it now?"

"It's up to you, son," said Bruce. "If you want some privacy, you can go to your room and open it. Just let us know what it is, okay?"

"Okay." He retreated, package held in the crook of one long arm. When he got to his room and shut the door, he looked up.

"Mr. Jarvis?" he asked.

"Yes, Master Nathan?"

"Please don't record this. I don't want them to know what it is until after I open it."

"Recording disrupted. No visual record will be made of the next eight point seven minutes."

Nathan cocked his head at the ceiling. "Where'd you get that number?"

"By precisely calculating the amount of time needed to unwrap a present," the A. I. answered.

"Oh, okay." He tried to be careful with the paper, but ripped it a little. Oh, well, she wouldn't know. And he wasn't planning on saving the paper, anyway, just the tag.

The box had the Build a Bear logo on it. Curious, he opened the box.

A card fell out.

MADE ESPECIALLY FOR NATHAN BANNER BY RILEY WATERS, he read.

Then he saw the bear itself.

It had a long blonde wig, a T-shirt with Hello Kitty on it, and red-framed glasses. Also in the box was a bear-sized laptop.

"It's Garcia," he said, smiling. He took it out of the box and looked at it. In addition to the shirt, it had purple Capri pants and pink high-top sneakers. He couldn't remember that outfit from any particular episode, but it was exactly the sort of thing Garcia would wear: colorful and quirky, just like her.

"So what'd you get, sport?" Dad asked, when he rejoined them in the living room.

He held the bear up so everyone could see it. "It's a Garcia bear! Riley made it for me at Build a Bear."

"Well, that was nice of her," his dad said. "Did you get her something nice?"

"Fuzzy pajamas."

"Always good to have something warm to sleep in."

"Don't let me forget to call and thank her. She said not to call before seven, cause they'll be eating dinner till then, but not after ten."

"You've got plenty of time, then," said Tony. "And to think, they kept you in a cage."

"It was a high-tech containment facility," said Fury. "Which he broke out of anyway."

"No cage can hold this kid! He's too awesome!"

That made Nathan smile. "We're all awesome," he said. "A whole room full of awesome people."

Dad nodded. "God bless us, every one."

Loki felt like the Grinch after his heart grew three sizes too large. He never thought he'd fall prey to the sentimentality of the season, but he had a lot of reasons to feel blessed right now.

"Did you hang that family portrait yet?" he asked Thor.

"What? Oh, that. No, not yet. I haven't found the right spot for it."

"Would you be terribly offended if I took it back?"

Thor gaped at his brother. "You want it? After what you said about it being a lie?"

"Well . . . maybe I've realized that family is important, after all. I don't know if I'm ready to forgive him yet, but I can accept him. After he restored to me what was lost, it's the least I can do."

"And the other? Will you be keeping that as well?"

"Of course I will. You are the one person who never gave up on me, not even when I did all those terrible things. I could never stop loving you, not really."

"Give me a hug!" And Thor threw his arms around Loki so tight that it nearly cut off his circulation.

"Need . . . to . . . breathe . . ." he gasped.

Outside, a few flakes of snow were gently falling. They would melt as soon as the sun rose the next day, but for now, it was enough to give them the illusion of a white Christmas. And though this may not have been anything like a conventional family . . . they were happy.

Every one.