They call her Human Torch! Chapter 29

Bella's POV

I turned from Bruce and looked around to the rubble in the street.

"It's like the Stark Expo all over again, only.. worse."

Tony sighed.

"Yeah, gotta say, I'm glad not to be behind this one. Fury's got some explaining to do to a lot of people. You think shield is just gonna cover it all up?"

"Knowing them, yeah."

"You were one of them.. now?"

"Now.. I don't know what I will do with my free time.. but I do know that I don't want to be a full time Agent and any missions I work on need to be full disclosure. I want to know exactly why I am doing what I am being ordered to do."

Tony looked at me with something like pity.

"Don't worry about that now, let's just focus on getting you back to the groove of things."

I nodded but sighed and moved to get out of this conversation.

"I'm gonna go find Spiderman. I'll meet you up in your office."

"What was my office."

I kept walking, almost feeling lost. I was back, the battle was over, but now I was starting to feel lost with what to do next, there were so many things but I needed to go one day at a time and relax. I walked 2 streets over when I finally found where Peter was holed up. He was chatting up a waitress and I looked around this section of the street, it was covered in webs with Chitauri soldiers rolled up in them and hanging down every surface. He noticed me for the first time and gave me shrug when I gave him a disapproving look. He turned to the waitress and ended the conversation before coming to walk towards me.

"I thought you weren't going to fight them."

"I didn't! I was helping the civilians, just like you said… but when some of them came this way I just helped keep them still."

I sighed but smiled at him as I hugged him once more. I sagged against him and let out a small sob. It was a mixture of relief and just an overwhelming feeling that I couldn't describe. I was glad to be able to hug him without any threats hanging over our heads.

"Hey, you okay? You look pretty tired. Hell, you all do, even me."

"Yeah, I think I'll sleep for a few days after this. Why were you chatting up that girl? What happened with Gwen?"

"I- We are on a break."

"I'm sorry to hear that Peter. How long ago?"

"It's recent, just 3 months ago. We still talk almost everyday. She just chose to transfer to Stanford, in California. We- "

He cut off mid sentence and sighed.

"It's okay Peter, I understand."

"I just wanted to give her freedom, I mean we have heard all types of stories about long distance relationships and I didn't want her to feel some type of obligation to be checking in with me. She didn't like that though so she has been dating a lot and making sure I know it."

"Ugh, I'm sorry Peter but that is so immature! I get that she is probably hurt because you had no right to make that choice for her, you should have talked to her about it but the way she is handling everything is just petty."

"I know. I apologized but I think that pissed her off more."

"Well.. All you can do is move on and go out in the mean time. I'm not saying go be a man-whore, just don't be afraid to go on a date with a nice girl once in a while. If you want to wait for her to come back, that is fine too, but don't let her hurt you with that information. She doesn't deserve you if that's the case."

He looked down at me and I saw the material under his mask get damp.

"Oh Peter don't cry."

He hugged me and buried his nose in my shoulder.

"I really missed you. No one else can give no nonsense advice like you can. Not even Tony."

"I'm glad to hear you have talked to him. A part of me was afraid that I would come back and our little family would be scattered everywhere."

He opened his mouth to respond but his thigh lit up. I looked up at him and raised my eyebrow at him.

"Tony helped me make a suit with pockets on the inside. It's my phone."

He pulled it out and I heard him talking to May.

"She saw me on the news with you earlier and is itching to see you."

I smiled brightly and bounced on my toes at the thought.

"Well? Get going. Go get out of your suit and shower. We still have to take care of Loki but go get Aunt May and rest a little bit before coming over. I am going to call Logan and have him bring Kitty and Piotr over to my place."

"Yeah, It's not like the Stark building is any good now."

"I'm just thankful that the battle was in these business streets. As far as I know, no apartments or townhouses got damaged. Everything in these 3 blocks are all businesses."

"Well, I did see a homeless shelter that was pretty bad. It's not gonna be livable for a while."

I frowned and looked down in thought.

"Well we will start all the cleanups tomorrow I guess and we can start there."

"Sounds good."

He hugged me once more before shooting a web at a roof and swinging off towards his home. I turned and flew straight up to the balcony of Tony's office before going inside and saw Loki slowly getting up off the floor. I looked towards the elevator and saw it was on the 2nd floor and was slowly climbing.

"You know, I won't boast about our victory, not after all the lives that were lost. That would be a dishonor to them."

He turned weakly towards me and we sat across from each other, just staring.

"I'm sure that must make you the bigger person."

"No, it doesn't. You know a part of me can understand why you would do this. I have a theory."

"Please, enlighten me."

"I feel bad for you. Thanos, the other, the Chitauri, all of them used you. I believe you were at some point, under the influence of the mind stone, just like Selvig and Clint were. They took advantage of your feelings of betrayal and inferiority and used them to bend you to their will, with the hope that you would succeed in taking over Midgard, and so, gaining them the Tesseract. The scepter they loaned you has a powerful influence that was even affecting you in a small way and that, plus their threats and abuse, was what guaranteed you wouldn't betray them."

I paused for a moment but when he made no movement, I kept talking. I noticed the Elevator doors beginning to open but I didn't pay them no mind and Loki didn't either.

"The footage of your arrival was.. strange to see. You were all sweaty, shaky, your eyes were hollow, you were pale, and stumbling around like a drunk.. I think the effects of the mind stone were starting to take a toll. I've been asking myself 'why Midgard?' Why get the Tesseract and rule the poorest planet? It never made sense. Now I think it does. You were manipulated and all your ranting about freedom and how humanity would be free.. All that was what you wanted. You wanted freedom from the influence over your own body and winning yourself Midgard would accomplish that. Then you took a beating from almost everyone on our team… Natasha told me that Clint snapped out of the mind stone influence when she hit his head really hard… You seem like a new man now. You seem lighter, free. Tell me, did you finally snap out of it Loki?"

He looked deep into my eyes for a long minute and I saw his eyes darken for a moment before blinking it away and letting out a mocking laugh.

"Is that sympathy I see?"

"No. It's humanity."

"Well, I'm glad the rest of your friends have arrived along with my brother. You see my dear, I have one last trick up my sleeve. I always told you your meddling ways would have consequences."

He put his palms up for a moment and smirked at me before closing his eyes. I don't know what I was expecting but nothing ever happened. I looked around and saw that the rest of them had frozen and their eyes were unfocused. I ran at Loki and knocked him down, hoping he would break his concentration but he relaxed and sat back down calmly.

"Don't fret, they are not being hurt. I just wanted to show them how weak you really are. They looked up to you as an equal in this battle but after this, they will see how easily you crumbled in Asgard, how easily you gave up. I will show them what monsters the frost giants are, They will see you kill one yourself only to drop to your knees in defeat and sorrow, giving up your family to save those monsters. They will pity you for the weakling that you are. Little girl. So emotional, so human."

Thor came back to himself quickly and marched up to Loki before grabbing his neck and slamming him down. He turned to me and was confused.

"Why didn't his magic work on you?"

"Nothing that messes with my head usually does, remember I told you about my shield? How did you break out of it?"

"I didn't. I was there. He wasn't showing me anything new. Only I never knew you saved that family when you slayed the frost giant. He must have seen you and Sif on his way to the Bifrost."

I only nodded but braced myself for when the others came back from it. I didn't want to see them give me looks of pity. Thor must have known what I was thinking because he put his arm around me.

"They will not think less of you sister. Only a fool would see your sacrifice as weak. You are a warrior for good reason, never forget that."

I took a shaky breath and instantly they all sagged as they came back into their own bodies. Clint and Natasha looked murderous as they walked over to stand over Loki. Steve looked at me with concern but he looked away when he met my eyes. Bruce had tears streaming down his eyes, and Tony tried not to shed them but he hid his tears and just strode over to me to hug me tightly to him for a long minute.

"I love you and everything you do."

"I love you t-"

"I'm not done yet. You are too nice and self sacrificing… I mean good for you, you saved a bunch of blue men group rejects but…"

He sighed and hugged me harder.

"I'm glad, no- I'm.. I missed you. I'm glad you are back and I'm sorry you went through th- I'm sorry you had to make that call."

He took a deep breath and I had tears in my eyes just because I had never seen him so worked up over anything.

"It's okay Tony. I'm back, we all survived, we can move on now."

He nodded and cleared his throat while straightening himself out casually. I had to smile at his lacking ability to show deep emotions for too long.

"So.. Shawarma first? Or do we have to do something about Donnie Darko over there first?"

Clint and I laughed but it looked like we were the only ones who understood the reference. Thor smiled at me and took out bindings for Loki.

"I would gladly join you all for Midgardian food. Bella has told everyone in Asgard how delightful it is. I'm sure my brother would not mind waiting for me."

Loki glared up at him but was too weak from all the beatings to move.

"Alright Tony, let's hurry up and go get your Shawarma. I want to get home."

30 minutes later, after slowly walking through the destroyed streets of New York, and after bribing the workers in the kitchen, we were finally able to sit on the only undamaged table and eat the famous Shawarma. Middle eastern food was pretty good, I was starving since I burned everything in my stomach during the battle but still, Nat and I only got 1 dish each. Tony and Clint got 2, but Thor, Bruce and Steve took the cake with 3 wraps each and it looked like they might order more.

"Sister Bella, you were right about Midgardian food. This is quite the delicacy. Volstagg will be displeased he missed this."

I laughed for a moment but frowned when I though of how different things will be now.

"It will be strange, not seeing you all everyday."

"Yes, we will have to adjust. However, with the Bifrost repaired, we can visit soon and you can come back anytime you wish."

I changed the subject when I saw Tony stop eating and clench his hands. I turned to Steve and tried to make conversation with him.

"Do you know what you will do after this?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I will go back to what I was doing before.."

"What was that?"

"Shield was letting me stay in a cabin they have. I usually stayed there and went out to the nearest gym."

"That's it?"

He looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. I sighed and slowly put my hand over his.

"Steve, I understand that you might still want some time to process everything that has changed… but, how can you ever really do that if you don't know what has changed? You aren't out there learning new things. I would be more than happy to help you there."

"Oh no, Bella, thanks, I'm thankful for you offering to do that. You are actually the first that has really offered, but I know you have a lot of things to do now that you are back, there are somethings that you need time for as well."

"Yeah there are but it's not going to take forever, and I won't be able to do them all at once anyway. Besides, you need a home. You can't stay on a hideout house forever."

He looked at me in shock, realizing that I wasn't just offering him help in catching him up but also offering my home up for him.

"I can't intrude on your family like that."

I laughed.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Besides, they are only there on the weekends. I'm alone all week, I used to fill my time by doing things around the Shield offices but now, I'm not going back to be a Shield Agent full time. If you want to do your own thing, that is fine but don't say no just because you feel you are intruding. I'm pretty sure that once everyone gets back on track with their lives, I will be left to sit in the living room alone with nothing to do. Seriously, ask Tony if you don't believe me."

Steve smiled softly at me but I could still see the debate in his eyes. He glanced up and Tony nodded at him enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah, it's pathetic really. I don't know what she used to do before Pepper and I graced her life. Kitty wasn't in it yet, Jane and Darcy lived off in Virginia..."

Clint laughed at my expense and nudged Natasha.

"Yeah Cap, don't worry, she welcomes company. When we started training her, she had us over for dinner every Friday just to make dinner for more than 1 person. Make yourself a favor and stay with her, she makes amazing food."

Well now I was the one looking down embarrassed. They made me sound like some lonely person in need of a cat! I noticed I still had my hand on his and pulled it back quickly before he thought I was coming on to him or something. God he is from the 40's! With the way I have been acting and cussing, he probably thinks I'm a whore or something! I cleared my throat and got up to throw away my trash but ended up cleaning after Tony, Bruce, and Clint too. I heard movement behind me on my way to the trash and turned to see Steve with his own trash.

"I'll take it."

"It's fine. I'm already up anyway thanks."

I nodded awkwardly and we walked together in silence across the room. I threw away my trash fast and turned to go back to the table, I was close to running just to get away from the tension but he grabbed my wrist as I turned to go. Instantly I was furious with myself for my stupid reaction. My hair lit up in flames as my control slipped for just a second.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, you didn't, not really. I'm not use to people touching me unexpectedly but I knew you were behind me so I should have been prepared. I'm just tired I guess."

"I know what you mean. I never want to sleep again after so many years of it but.. even I wouldn't mind a few hours right now."

I smiled softly at him and turned once more to go back to the table, only to be stopped again by him but this time by his words.

"I didn't mean to come off as rude, earlier. I should have given you an answer instead of staying quiet. I'm shocked at your generosity, I wasn't joking when I said you were the first to offer to help me adjust better. Thank you Bella, I would really like to take you up on your offer."

I felt my mood lift instantly but refrained from jumping.

"I'm glad. It will be fun! I've never been a teacher before."

He chuckled lightly and I melted. His smile is amazing!

"We can get your things from the cabin tomorrow, or actually, we can just have Fury send an Agent for them, he owes you that much at least."

"My suitcase is actually in the Helicarrier already."

"Everything you have is in a suitcase? Just one?"

"It's the clothes that Shield has given me."

I nodded but kept quiet. This man owned nothing! His things had to be somewhere, probably museums…

Eventually everyone finished eating and we got up to go back to the Stark building. Selvig met us back there with a capsule to hold the Tesseract in. Thor placed it in there gently and offered Loki to hold on to the other half.

"Sister, I will see you soon. I know you may wish to never return, but I will visit you when Heimdall rebuilds the Bifrost."

"Do you want me to pass any kind of message to Jane?"

He smiled softly but looked down with a frown.

"Anything I say to her, must be done in person."

"Well don't wait too long, there is a point in time where she won't be able to forgive your leave."

"I understand. Believe me, the first trip taken in the Bifrost will be to Earth."

He turned but I had to rush forward last minute. My hands shook slightly and I could see everyone else staring at me curiously.

"Thor!"

He turned knowingly.

"I know you are right, I probably will be afraid of using the Bifrost, I would be afraid of getting stuck again but, I know Asgard will be busy restoring peace and fighting the Marauders. If you need any help at all, Seriously, just come get me. I will suck it up and do what I have to do. I already spoke to your father about it so if he formally asks the court for me, don't try to change his mind okay? I gave my word."

"Thank you sister. I will not discredit your word."

I took a deep breath and nodded at him as he took me in his arms one more time and gave me a strong hug. Tony came to stand by me and walked me 10 paces back.

"Tony what are you doing?"

"Last time you were sucked into another planet because you were standing too close to him. That is so not happening again."

I smiled at him but looked back at Thor. He looked around and smiled at everyone.

"It was an honor to fight beside each and every one of you."

With that he twisted the capsule and the blue energy of the cube washed over them until there was nothing where they stood.

"Alright.. Well who's coming to our temporary headquarters?"

Everyone looked to Tony a little lost so I took over.

"Come on, let's all just go and whoever wants to sleep until next year then do it at my place and we'll figure out the rest later."

They gave in easily and followed me down the street. Once we got outside of the 3 block radius that everyone had evacuated, there were crowds and crowds of people. There were army men helping the police to organize crowds. Buses were taking people to nearest hospitals and others were trying to take people to their homes but there were too many people showing up and looking for friends and family or just to watch things happen. The crowds caught sight of us and went crazy! We all looked ready to hide, well all except Tony. Some were here cheering just because they saw us on TV but others were yelling out their thank you's for saving them. News stations were parked all around but we ignored all of the attention and walked straight to the first cop we found.

"Excuse me?"

The cop turned and froze when he saw all of us there.

"Uh, you! It's all of you!"

"Hi, um, can you direct us to your Chief?"

"Chief?"

I had to remember that 'Chief' was not a term used in bigger cities.

"Um, Sheriff? Superintendent? Police commissioner?"

"Oh! Yes, our commissioner is on sight. I will radio him."

It took less than 2 minutes for an older man in his late 50's to run up to us.

"Hello, thank you for requesting to speak with me. We are thankful for your service, we really are-"

"Sir! We do not need to be thanked, for what we did. We do however, need sleep. I wanted to touch base with you about how we will proceed or what the plan was?"

"Uh, well miss, as of now we don't have much of a plan. The only goal I gave the force was to get these people home safely, get the hurt people to a hospital, and do a check of every single damaged building to make sure there are no trapped civilians."

"Okay, that's good. We, actually I won't speak for the rest of them, but I will be back tomorrow to help start the clean up of the streets, I will start on the homeless shelter that was destroyed and go from there."

"Well thank you ma'am but you don't need to be here, you have all done the city a service by helping with.. those aliens"

Steve walked up next to me and nodded at the man.

"I will be here with her tomorrow, I agree that a homeless shelter takes priority."

I smiled at him and the commissioner gave up on trying to kiss our ass.

"Alright, let's go home."

We finally turned and fought our way through the crowds until it thinned out and we were able to walk freely. We walked for 3 minutes before Tony stopped all of us.

"What are we doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we really walking from the financial district all the way to Times Square?"

I groaned in exhaustion.

"I forgot how far we are.. Everything was walking distance in Asgard."

"Well Toto, you're not in Asgard anymore."

We all laughed but stopped short when Steve let out a booming laugh. In fact we all turned to him to stare.

"Oh my god how old is that movie?!"

"Clint!"

Steve finally looked at us and I saw his cheeks turn a bright red at the attention. He cleared his throat for show and composed himself.

"The Wizard of Oz was shown in 1939, I believe."

"Whoa."

We paused for a moment but Tony was already on the phone.

"- yes. Yup, right on that corner, yes exactly. Yep, there's a Jersey Mike's subs right in front of us. No, we need a van Taxi. There's 6 of us… Yes I know that cabs are not coming this way right now but we just saved New York and half of us can't fly."

"TONY!"

He ignored me and kept talking, eventually getting what he wanted. We made small talk for 4 minutes but soon a yellow van showed up with black letters all around. Tony stood straight and called shotgun while Clint and Nat sat in the back. The middle row only had 2 seats so after Bruce and Steve got in I sat on the car floor by the door.

"Sorry, I should have made sure you had a seat before I sat down."

I laughed but waved him down when he suggested that we switch seats.

"We're almost there, It's fine. God I just thought about how dusty and smelly my apartment must be! I haven't been in it in 8 months so I can imagine how much my fridge must smell too!"

Tony piped up from the front with a forced casual tone.

"Don't worry, I came every month to watch over a cleaning crew tidy up from top to bottom and restock your fridge every month. They changed and washed sheets too, just in case."

My breath caught and tears fell instantly. All I could do was stare at the back of his head and try to keep my breathing quiet as to not break out sobbing. I looked up at Steve when I felt his hand rest on my shoulder. He smiled softly and I tried to do the same back. I noticed he looked up at Tony and had a pensive look for the rest of the ride.

I didn't want to move my shoulders and run the risk of him moving his hand so instead of wiping my tears away, I let my face and eyes heat up to the point that they evaporated.

"Finally!"

I looked up after hearing Tony and almost cried again just looking up at the building. We got out and he swiped his card for the cab fare before pressing a few keys to leave a big tip. I ducked my head back in before he left and thanked him for agreeing to drive us under the circumstances. Bruce walked beside me while I hugged Tony to me as we walked into the lobby. I had yet to say anything about him having my place cleaned and my kitchen stocked. I didn't think I would say anything but I just felt the need to hang on to him. He kept proving time and time again that he was the brother I never had, he never gave up on me coming back.

"So Bella, this is your apartment building? I look forward to seeing the lab you talked so much about whenever you visited."

"Oh Bruce you'll love it! Tony has made even more upgrades since I last saw you."

We all walked in and the lobby attendant jumped up from her perch before we made it to the elevator.

"Ms. Swan! It's so great to see you back! We were so upset when you disappeared all those months ago and we have all been stuck on the news, so happy to see you back and along side Mr. Stark again!"

"Uh, I'm glad to be back, Thanks. And um, you know Mr. Stark and I are not… we don't.."

Tony laughed and came to wrap his arm around me.

"We're not into incest."

"Tony!"

The poor girl stuttered out and turned red as she backed away apologizing about her mistake. We turned and kept walking to the elevator before calling it and having the doors open instantly. Once I scanned my hand and the elevator shot up, I turned my glare on Tony.

"I have to see that girl almost everyday and now she will be uncomfortable every time she see's us Tony!"

"Don't blame me, If I hadn't of said anything you would still be there rambling!"

I rolled my eyes but turned to the doors, waiting with excitement for them to open. I sighed in relief when they did but I heard the usual newcomer gasp from Bruce and Steve. I stepped out and looked around. Everything was exactly the same, same lighting, same furniture, same citrus smell from the cleaners and candles I use. Everything was perfect, now all that was needed was the rest of my family in the living room. Tony let go of me and stepped away.

"I'm gonna go shower and change."

"Oh me too! I feel gross."

Natasha and Clint agreed and since they had clothes stashed in a guest room, they went ahead after Tony to freshen up. I would have gone to my room but I had 2 confused men here looking around in awe.

"Hey, you guys want to shower too? I can find clothes that will fit you."

They nodded quickly and followed me up to the second floor rooms. I showed them each to a free guest room that no one had claimed yet and went to Logan's room to find clothes. I got slacks and a button up shirt for Bruce but I got some jeans and a tight Henley for Steve, I knew the style might be too modern for him but it was selfish on my part. I really wanted to see him in some sexy tight clothes.

I took the piles to each man and showed them where the essentials were. Steve had a little more explaining needed though so I set the clothes down on the bathroom counter, put up new towels and showed him what each thing was for.

"I know what most of this is of course, I just don't know what these 5 are."

"Okay well first of all lets move these aside. This is all new by the way so don't worry. I just opened this toothbrush, razor, comb, you get the idea. This is a sugar scrub for your face, just get about this much and scrub your face with it, wash it off, follow with this, it's a face wash but its moisturizing so it soothes your skin after the scrub. This is beard balm so you don't need it since you don't have facial hair. This is for after you get out of the shower, it's deodorant but this is in spray form. I have a solid form if you want?"

"No this is fine, thank you. It says here to hold it 4 or 5 inches away from my underarms, that is about this much right?"

"Yeah about that. It doesn't have to be exact though so don't worry it it's too close or farther."

"Okay, got it. We only worried about having a bar of soap back then but now I think those are rare to see, everything is in liquid form. Last thing, what is this?"

Fucking hell..Damn Tony for making the rest of the guys buy this..

"Um.. I don't use that.. Well I use a version of it, but for females… It's like the body wash.. but, for your.. you know, your private areas.. You use it to wash your…. testicles..."

I almost whispered the word but did not dare to look him in the eye while saying it. I saw his feet shifting awkwardly and heard him clear his throat.

"I never thought there would be special soap for that, explains why it's called ball wash… uh, thanks Bella, sorry for asking."

"No, it's fine. It shouldn't be uncomfortable, I mean it's the natural human body right? Yeah, well uh, I'm gonna go shower now so.. See you in a bit."

"Right, yes, of course."

I nodded and marched right out before running up to my room. God that was embarrassing! Damn Tony and his fucking ball wash! When I walked into my room I took a deep breath, I wanted to jump onto my bed and sleep but I was too dirty and I had to stay up until I could see Kitty again. My shower was fast and soothing as I turned the water up as hot as it would go. I turned up my body heat and was dry by the time I got out of the bathroom. Walking into my closet was strange since I had gotten used to more formal looking clothes by now. Deciding to keep up with the 'good' clothes trend, I chose an actual set of pajamas instead of my ratty t shirt and ripped sweats. I put on the thin light gray jogger pants and put on a black push up bra before slipping into a black tank top. It was casual to be around family but it was all thin and tight material that made my body look awesome…

Why am I trying to look good for Steve? I hardly know him, I don't know if I will hate his personality or if I am ready to flirt my way into a relationship… Is this what it's going to be like from now on? I hope not, maybe living with him is not a good idea… Oh who the fuck am I kidding? I was ready to jump his bones as soon as I felt his body under mine, then I saw his face and it was a done deal.

I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that I would not make a move until he did. I had to keep things fine between us while I caught him up on everything he needed to know. Not to say I wouldn't casually flirt here or there, just enough for him to notice me but not enough for him to think it was on purpose… Yup, alright! With my confidence restored I looked in the mirror one last time and turned to go back to the living room. Tony was already there with Clint and Bruce but as soon as I offered drinks, Steve showed up too. He looked really good.

"Modern clothes fit you very well Steve."

He looked down at himself and blushed slightly.

"Thanks. You look much more relaxed as well."

"Yeah, I figured I might be able to get some sleep in a few hours if I'm lucky so I may as well be ready to crash."

He chuckled lowly in his throat. I turned back to the guys in the room and found them all staring.

"What?"

They smirked and shook their heads but kept quiet.

"Alright… anyway, like I was saying, you guys want anything to drink?"

"The biggest bottle of whiskey you have please."

I nodded while giggling as the 3 guys nodded eagerly. Nat came up behind me and sat down on the nearest chair.

"I'll have an orange tea please. If you have any."

I nodded and turned to Steve but he just moved aside for me to walk ahead of him.

"I'll help."

I led him to the kitchen and opened my fridge, it was filled to the brim with every ingredient I could think of.

"Thank god for Tony."

"It was a really great thing for him to do. To make sure your home was ready for you. He is good with you, I've noticed."

I scoffed and turned towards him so he could see my eyebrow lift.

"You say that now, wait till you see him with Pepper and Kitty though. So would you like any type of juice, soda, alcohol, tea?"

"Um, I think I could just go for a big glass of water."

"Water, coming right up."

I took out a tray from under the sink and set down Nat's tea with a bottle of whiskey and 3 rock glasses, and an iced tea for me as well but Steve looked at me peculiarly when he saw me add in some bourbon.

"What? It takes the edge off mentally. I can't really get drunk but the slight flavor is soothing enough. Want one?"

He nodded and agreed to try it but I still set him up with a highball glass of water just in case. I froze in the entrance of the living room when I heard Jarvis inform me of the elevator moving up. I put down the tray on the coffee table quickly and waited for the elevator to open straight into the second floor. I almost started pacing, expecting Kitty but I was only slightly put off when I saw Peter and Aunt May standing there. When my eyes met hers and they filled with tears I threw my self at her and hugged her as tight as her little body would allow.

"My dear it's so great to see you!"

She cried on my shoulder and I had tears myself, never having seen her this way.

"I missed you both very much. How have you been?"

"Oh we've been quite alright, missing our family nights but now you are back!"

I hugged her once more and when she moved aside I hugged Peter again.

"Got some decent rest?"

"Yeah, pretty good 2 hours but after that she kept waking me up to say you were expecting us."

I laughed and offered them drinks but they both declined.

"Oh! Before you sit down, I'd like to introduce you to Bruce and Steve. Guys, this is May Parker and her nephew, Peter Parker."

They both got up and exchanged proper introductions before finally sitting down. Peter chose to sit closer to Bruce since he knew a lot about his work and they were able to get talking science pretty fast. May chose to sit by Natasha but not before letting Steve know that her father was a big fan of his work. To that, Steve awkwardly thanked her but I noticed he chose to sit away from her.

Steve sat and was happy to look around the room of people. He saw a real family here and had to remember to ask Bella how she was related to the Parker's, not that it seemed to matter because she called everyone else in the room family as well, I think it was just her, the comfort was clearly seen in everyone's face when she was in the middle of the room. Stark's file had not left a good taste on my mouth and meeting him on his own would have probably led to us not working together but my opinion of him changed just by seeing his whole being just soften around her. It's like he was unguarded with her and when she was not around, you could almost see the walls in his eyes come up.

"Cap, you sure you don't want a shot of this?"

I looked towards Agent Barton and then towards the bottle. I had never gotten drunk or even had more than one glass of alcohol at a time when I was human, once I went through with the serum I had joined different groups of troops to celebrate victories but since my tolerance had been sealed by the transformation, I never found a point in drinking the stuff, lord knows it's not the best in taste.

"Thank you Barton but I'll stick to this tea, it has some bourbon."

"Oh come on man, we're off the field, call me Clint."

I raised my glass to him in appreciation and told him to call me Steve. Bruce interrupted his conversation with Peter while listening to Clint.

"Yeah, call me Bruce."

Bella laughed while listening to us go back and forth with the whole 'call me' situation.

"Why don't we all agree that we will call each other by our first names?"

Everyone shrugged at the simple solution and nodded. Minutes passed and I noticed Bella grow more and more restless. She would shift her feet or sigh every couple of minutes until she sagged her shoulders and turned to Tony.

"Tony, when did Logan say he would be here?"

He shook his head and lifted his sleeve to look at his watch.

"Patience grasshopper, you know how bad city traffic is, now imagine it with a whole bunch of main streets closed off and half the city on their way to the same place? I'm waiting for Pepper to get here too and I'm waiting for updates from Trent too, he agreed to fly down Jane and Darcy but they won't get here until tomorrow night probably since the airport is jammed with people."

None of what he said made sense… Why would he call Bella a grasshopper? He looked towards her but she didn't look even slightly offended at being called an insect. He didn't look long though, her shower had made her look perfectly put together. Her hair fell in small ringlets over her uncovered shoulders that exposed the glowing skin. He had seen her when he stepped into the living room but had to pretend she didn't have a body if he had any hopes of speaking coherent sentences to her. How am I going to learn anything if I have to focus on where to properly look at her? He had to think on that for a moment but flinched slightly when Bella jumped up from beside me. She hopped up and I noticed Stark come to put an arm around her to keep her in place. Everyone else stepped towards the side so as to not crowd the elevator door. It all confused me but I decided to join the crowd on the side. I was standing behind everyone so I couldn't see the elevator doors properly but I could clearly see Bella, her eyes were glossy and she looked to be holding her breath but that all went away when the elevator dinged. Her breath left her body and she fell to her knees as full body sobs ran through her. I took a step forward, wondering what the in the world could make her crumble like that but stopped short when I heard a feminine scream.

"MOM!"

A smaller body ran quickly and launched itself directly onto Bella. Both held each other tightly with their bodies shaking from the force of the crying. The smaller body kept repeating 'mom' over and over as she choked over her sobs. Bella went from hugging her fiercely to pulling back to pet her hair and look into the girls face.

"Baby girl."

The phrase seemed to throw the girl into sobbing harder and he noticed Mrs. Parker crying silently as a crying Peter held her to him. Steve looked back and forth between everyone but couldn't wrap is head around it. Mom? She is a mom?! As confused as he was, it was heartbreaking to see both girls fall apart so completely. They held each other on the ground but made no move to get up since their sobs were still rocking through their bodies. Stark watched on from the other corner of the room and had a small smile on his face even though there were tears that would escape his eyes once in a while. I turned when Natasha pulled on my shoulder and nodded for me to follow her. I did so silently and went through the kitchen until we ended up in a massive dining room. It looked like it could host dozens of people.

"I thought I could explain the situation since you looked pretty confused back there and I needed an out from the emotion overdrive."

"Oh, I didn't mean to look on rudely, I just wasn't aware that she was married. It wasn't on her file."

The thought of her married shouldn't have bothered me so much but it did. I just assumed that she was single since she said she was alone most of the week. What kind of bastard leaves his wife alone for days at a time? The thought angered me, unless he was some type of army man…

"She is not married. Why would you think that?"

"She's not? But, I just thought, because she is a mother."

Natasha smirked at me but her eyes took on a harder edge.

"Okay, modern times remember? Now a day's a woman can have a child without being married and she won't be looked down upon by society. It's called being a single mother, which is what Bella is. Second, Kitty isn't biologically hers. She adopted Kitty a few years ago when she was 19 I think and Kitty was about 15. Kitty is a mutant."

I fought the small smile that formed on my face but in the end I couldn't slip it off. Bella had actually adopted someone just a few years younger. It made more sense now how all the news reports on her file said she didn't have family but now it seemed she had more than plenty of it. She adopted her family, it was all people that needed a family and she formed one with them. He grew a greater appreciation for her. He was drawn to her beauty but the more he learned about her as a person, the more he wanted to know.

"That's amazing."

She smirked at him in a way that said 'I know something you don't' but he couldn't ask since she motioned that they should go back. He walked in right on time to see the ladies get off the floor. So that was the 'Kitty' everyone kept talking about, she actually could pass as Bella's daughter with how alike they looked but Kitty was still shorter. When she loosened her arms around Bella, 2 men came forward. One was huge, probably 4 or 5 inches taller than I with muscled arms. Bella engulfed him in a hug and cried some more before stepping back and tugging on his hair.

"Piotr! You died your hair?!"

He laughed and shed some tears but she took on a maternal stance and wiped his cheeks before hugging him again. The boy nodded and said some things in her ear before letting go and moving to stand by Kitty. The second man looked older, probably late 30's, his hair was messy but not bad, it looked like he purposely made it like that, he looked gruff and almost rude with a cigar in his mouth but the moment that Bella faced him he softened his face and stared at her for a moment before he opened his arms and she ran into them.

"Logan!"

"We really missed you around here little darlin' don't you go disappearing on me again. Might have to chain you up in a cell if it happens again."

She giggled into his chest for a moment before she visibly hugged him tighter and her soft cries were heard.

Little darling? What kind of endearment is that for someone who is supposed to be your friend only? Were they just friends? I mean he had her daughter, clearly he took care of her while Bella was gone… He sounded southern and that only served to annoy him slightly more. He was nudged in the back and turned to see Stark standing there with a grin and a piece of paper folded up. His face scrunched up in confusion but he took it nonetheless, opening it up it had messy and clearly quickly written words written down.

'Your not so little green monster is showing!

You can relax, they are like siblings is all. No competition for her affections yet! (;'

I rolled my eyes at the competition part but did relax slightly knowing their bond was like the one she had with Tony. Still I looked up at him with confusion and mouthed the words 'Green monster?' hoping he would explain what that meant or what it was. His grin slipped and he rolled his eyes before pulling his phone and typing on it before passing it to me.

'Green monster = Jealousy.'

I glared at him and passed the phone back before turning back to Bella and choosing to ignore him for the rest of the night.

Why would I be jealous? I had absolutely no claim over Bella, I had never even met her before today.