A/N: I'm So happy that everyone is enjoying this story!

I don't own Marvel, or the Avengers, or Loki, or any of that stuff. I own Naiden though, and anything that doesn't actually exist in the Marvel Universe.


It was another room, another plain room, but this time they didn't feel like prisoners. The rest of the Avengers stood their silent, but noticeable, vigil with the odd family. Tony had noticed though, that Thor kept stealing glances at Loki, something troubling him. After they moved rooms, away from the battle, letting SHIELD do the clean up now, Naiden stayed close to Loki, and Loki wouldn't let Tony go more than an arms length away, eyes tracking his wrapped arm the whole time. There were no surviving Yar to send back, and Steve had looked at Tony, and promised that after this he'd personally make sure that Tony would be able to take Loki and Naiden to wherever he wanted. There was that troubled look from Thor again.

"Maybe I was wrong about you, Spangles," Tony said to Steve, small smile when Steve wrinkled his nose at the nickname. "Didn't expect a full turn around from you."

"I wouldn't say that's what happened," the Super Soldier said. "It's not that I completely trust Loki yet, but I'm fairly certain that he's not going to try and take over the world anymore."

"Close eye and all that?" Tony raised an eyebrow a little.

"I trust you," Steve said to Tony, and that caught Tony off guard. "I don't know what exactly you all went through, but if what just happened was any small indication of what happened, I think it would be a bad move to separate and contain you. I trust you to take care of things, and to let us now what you need, Tony."

Tony blinked, looking at him, nodding a little. He had officially gone from Stark to Tony, and he had Captain America's trust. Tony was sure that they would still want to keep an eye on them, specially Loki, but with the Captain's words, and the fact that even Barton and Natasha were standing to guard them, that they would be able to handle this.

Whenever Tony would feel a twinge of pain in his arm, Loki would place his hand gently over the wrappings and release a spell, chasing away the pain. Tony was leaning against Loki's side when the door opened an hour later, Coulson stepping through, arm still up in a sling. Naiden sat up, but Tony was content to stay where was, he was comfortable for the moment.

"Agent Coulson," Steve nodded to him, taking a little step forward, assuming the leader role on pure instinct. Tony swore that he saw Coulson swoon a little on the inside. The crush was real.

"We've confirmed with Thor that the Tesseract is indeed on Asgard now," Coulson said, nodding a little to the blonde Asgardian.

"So there's no longer a need to keep them here," Steve said, keeping his word to get the trio out of SHIELD's hands.

"Well, it's not that simple," the Agent said. "We can't just let-"

"SHIELD doesn't want us going somewhere where they can't watch us," Tony mumbled from his seat on the couch. "They're not entirely convinced yet, with everything that's happened the past week." Coulson just nodded once to Tony's words. "I plan on taking these two," he motioned to Naiden and Loki, "back to my Malibu house. It's quiet-er out there, and pretty secluded."

"But it's still your property," Coulson pointed out.

"Which means that you can't hack in to watch our every movement," Tony fleshed out the rest of the problem. "Forgive me for not getting upset that you want to invade more of my privacy."

"Then we'll need to post someone at the house-"

"Steve," Tony said immediately, and even Loki raised an eyebrow at his quick answer. "I trust Steve, out of everyone in your organization." Steve blinked, looking at Tony, a little surprised. "I also trust him to report anything unusual to you, but give us the privacy we still need. Things won't spiral out of control with him there."

Coulson looked back and forth between Steve and Tony once, twice, then nodded. "Alright, I think we can agree to that, if that's agreeable with you, Captain?"

"Can't say I've ever been to Malibu," Steve said after a second. "Got close before I went overseas."

"Everything's changed, Cap," Tony said, leaning back into Loki, the long arm wrapping around Tony's shoulders. Loki was in protective mood, just wanting to keep Tony and Naiden close to him, not caring what others would think of his actions. Tony wasn't sure why he suddenly trusted Steve Rogers to come stay at the house, but he just had a feeling. Maybe it was because before being unfrozen Steve had indeed been Captain Steven Rogers of the US Army, and he had seen battle, he been a part of World War II. Out of everyone, Steve would be the one to give the space they needed to heal, to process everything.

Tony glanced at Thor again, and saw that he looked like he wanted to say something, but then decided against it. Tony was really going to have to corner him, get him to just say whatever it was that was on his mind.

"I'll get the jet here-" Tony started, but Coulson shook his head.

"No air travel right now, except for military personal."

"Then that means you can get one of your fancy quinjets here," Tony said, looking at the Agent. "You're crazy if you think that I'm going to take the long journey in a car. It's not comfortable to sleep in, no bathroom, and I'm not a good passenger when i get cranky. Really, it would just be better to get something that flies, get us there as soon as possible, in everyone's best interest really."

He supposed that they had agreed purely on the fact that it would stop Tony from talking, but within the next thirty minutes the four of them were being moved to a Quinjet, Thor trailing behind them. Tony motioned with his hand to follow them, knowing that it would just be easier, and maybe he could talk to him while they flew. Tony would like to guess that if Loki could see him, that he would be okay.

Patting Loki's cheek, and making sure that Naiden was tucked in close on Loki's other side, he got up and wandered over to Thor after they had taken off and were in the air. "You keep looking over with this really troubled look, and I'm not sure if I should be concerned about you or not. So what's up, big guy?" Tony said, keeping his voice down, but not whispering. "We took down the big bads, the tesseract is safe and sound, and we saved most of the city."

"Yes, it seems that the damage was mostly controlled here on Midgard," Thor nodded, arms crossed across his chest.

"From what we heard, we were a little surprised that you came back so soon," Tony kept going. "Loki said that it takes a little more effort than usual to get down here." Thor nodded, and there was that troubled look again. "Does this have something to do with Loki? I mean, I know his Mom must miss him, but-"

"The order to bring him back to stand trial has been given," Thor said, stopping Tony's mouth in its tracks. "I am to bring back my brother in chains, to stand before the Allfather for his crimes against Asgard."

Tony blinked, letting those words sink in for a couple of moments. "In chains?" He was proud that he had kept his voice down. "Let's pretend that we entertain this idea of chains, or taking him back, would it be a fair trial?" Thor tilted his head a little, not quite getting Tony's meaning. "Will he be judged by a jury of his peers?"

"It will be a private affair," Thor told him. "Father is the highest authority of the Realms."

"So, not a fair trial then," Tony concluded. "I mean, do you guys even have all the facts? All the evidence? Because I would think that after seeing Loki being controlled, then seeing him turn things around, would make you reconsider taking him back. At least in chains. But as I said before, that was just entertaining the idea, because he's not going to be leaving."

"Anthony," Thor started with a frown, but Tony held up a hand.

"It's not happening," Tony shook his head a little. "You might as well just hand him the dagger to end his life if you take him back, specially if you take him back in chains. I won't allow it. Tell Dad sorry, but I'm saying no." He turned before Thor could say anything else, going back over to Loki and Naiden, settling back down in his seat, head leaning on Loki's shoulder.

"Anything I should be concerned about?" Loki asked calmly, fingers starting to card through Tony's hair.

"Not a thing," Tony assured him. "Well, maybe you should be thinking about how you're going to conform to my modern Mortal lifestyle."

"It's a pain in the butt," Naiden mumbled, his eyes closed, feigning sleep against Loki's other side. He smirked when Tony pushed Naiden's knee with his foot.

"You get to sleep in your own room tonight," Tony mumbled, knowing that it wasn't going to happen, but the look on Naiden's face was mostly worth it.