"Well," Pepper walked out of the elevator and onto Thor's level the next morning, informing the thunder god with a small smile, "Jane and Darcy are coming, but I'm afraid that Dr. Selvig has declined the offer. JARVIS has already started arranging for a private jet to go pick the girls up and be back here by the end of the day."

"Wonderful!" Thor cried. "Although I am sorry to hear of Erik's refusal."

"Bruce was disappointed too, but he understood. Dr. Selvig said he would like to try and retain something of a 'normal' life after what had happened to him in Manhattan."

"Of course," Thor nodded, understanding as well, even as the corners of his mouth sagged just the tiniest bit.

Pepper's brow crinkled as she thought of something she'd noticed yesterday when she'd come up here to see to the accommodations and glancing around now, she asked Thor, "Where is Loki, exactly? He wasn't here when I came by yesterday."

"He's gone temporarily to Asgard and should return to the Tower in a couple of years."

"A couple of years?" Pepper repeated, her eyebrows rising before she said slowly, "Alright, then. I'll tell the others the news."


"We. Are. Going. To. Live. Here?" Darcy asked slowly, getting her first glimpse of Avengers Tower as the jet she and Jane were in came in for a landing.

"Yeah," Jane said absently, practically jittering in her seat with anticipation. "Avengers Tower. Right."

The thing was that Jane didn't actually care about living in Avengers Tower; she wanted to live with her soulmate, who just so happened to live in Avengers Tower. Thor was the only thing on her mind just then, and she was thrilled to find him waiting for them when the jet was landed and she could finally clamor out. She ran straight into his arms and he pulled her straight off of her feet when he lifted her into his arms for a kiss.

"You're here!" he breathed.

"I am," she whispered back, half wondering if her smile might actually be wide enough to crack her face in two. "I'm here to stay."

And the two of them had never been happier than in that moment.


The next day found Tony walking into his Aunt Peggy's room at the nursing home, more than ready to ask a few hard questions. He wasn't called a genius for nothing, and he thought he might just be starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Howard had out and out told him that Steve and Bucky were his aunt's soulmates, but Peggy had never mentioned it herself. She had made it pretty clear that she and Uncle Jack were soulmates though. What's more, there had been times when he was growing up that he could've sworn he saw Jarvis' writing on his aunt's left arm, and then it had shown up on Steve – even in the exact same spot!

It made him wish that he'd paid more attention to the handwriting of the six living in that mansion when he still had them around. It made his head hurt. And it made him need answers!

Did his aunt have – what? – seven soulmates? Did all of the six who'd raised him? What did that mean for Cap and Sergeant Barnes? Tony wanted answers and he wasn't above using handwriting-recognition software to get it… but he really did love his aunt, and he wanted to give her the chance to tell him the truth first.

"Hiya, Aunt Peg," he said, waltzing straight over and flopping into the chair at her bedside, hoping to whatever or whoever might be listening that she would be lucid enough to answer his questions today. The next hour was the first chance he'd had to talk to her since he'd seen Steve's file, and considering his schedule, it would be the last one for a while too.

"Tony, how are you?" she asked, her eyes mercifully bright as she turned towards him with a smile.

"I'm good," Tony replied with a smile of his own, but he got right to it, because he knew as well as anyone how quickly a good day for her mind could go down the drain in a blink of an eye. "But, listen, I do have a few questions."

"What is it?" she asked curiously, accepting the hand that he leaned forward and offered her.

"How many soulmates do you have, Aunt Peggy?"

"Just Jack," she answered with a light smile. "My poor Jackie; he's passed on now, you know."

"I know," Tony replied sympathetically, squeezing her hand gently as he asked bluntly, "What about Steve? Captain America?"

"Oh, see now, that's a great secret," Peggy grinned like a child. "But I guess people won't mind so much anymore if they find out – but you mustn't tell anyone!"

"Tell them what?"

"Sergeant Barnes, silly! Practically everyone knows or can guess, I suppose, but no one ever wants to believe that someone's only soulmate can be a platonic one!"

"Weren't Cap and Barnes platonic?"

Peggy's grin turned teasing as she mimed zipping her lips.

"Aunt Peeeeeg!"

"Of course they were platonic, you git," she gave in with a chuckle. "Some people need friendship more than they will ever need romance, even if they aren't willing to admit it."

"So they were like you and Aunt Angie, then?" he asked, trying to trip her up. It was taking advantage of her fragile mind and he knew it, but if that was the only way that he could get real answers, then maybe it was a necessary evil, no matter how much he inwardly grimaced at the idea.

Peggy laughed at the very idea, saying, "Oh, you know how affectionate Angie could be, it doesn't always mean a soulbond, Tony! You should know that better than anyone, you ridiculous womanizer!"

"I'm not that anymore, Aunt Peg, you know that – and we're not talking about me, I want to talk about you."

She narrowed her eyes at him, her amusement gone so suddenly that he wondered if she hadn't been playing him with it in the first place, and asked, "Why so many questions about soulmates?"

Tony shrugged, replying, "I guess I just got curious because," he couldn't help the smile that pulled his mouth up and he didn't even try as he informed her, "Pepper and I found our third about five weeks ago."