Chapter 2

It's been a few months since the two sisters moved to New York and Niki was doing incredibly well at her work and she supposed Ember was doing well in school, she hasn't heard her complain. She wasn't worried and even if she was, Ember could fend for herself, the girl's got a mouth…

Niki had been home for a while, reclining in her chair, avoiding work, when her cell phone rang. "Y-ello?"

"Hey Niki?" it was Ember.

"What is it Ember? And whose phone are you using?" Niki asked, Ember didn't have a cell phone because she didn't really need one.

"It's my friend Shadow's. Speaking of friends, can my friends come over and hang out for a bit?"

Niki took a second to think about this. If Ember had friends over, they would distract her from bugging Niki while she was working. Also, Niki could finally meet some of the friends Ember keeps talking about. Well, there were a few upsides. The only downside was that Niki might have to take them home. "Depends, do they need a ride home?"

"No. They already called their parents and cleared it with them. They would pick them up."

"That just made my life ten times easier, go ahead, bring them home."

When the small group of friends came in, Niki felt like she knew them from somewhere.

"Hey Nik!" Ember greeted.

"Hey Em, wanna introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh right! Yeah sure!" Ember pointed to each in order. "This one's Shadow," Shadow was a dark haired girl with a mischievous glint in her dark brown pools for eyes. "Airy," a tall blonde haired girl with blue eyes. "Unity, Elizabeth and Matthew." Unity was another blonde with blue eyes but not quite as tall as Airy. Elizabeth had long black hair, glasses and brown eyes, Matthew had light blue eyes and messy reddish brown hair.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Niki, Ember's older and smarter sister," Niki said with a snicker, shaking the children's hands.

"HEY! Not true!"

"Who's graduated college and is working?"

"Right… point taken! Let's go outside guys! I haven't taken time to explore outside yet and I think we would have fun with that!"

They nodded and followed after Em. Niki sighed and plopped down on the computer and began reading through edits and other publishing things that she was supposed to read.

It was about three hours later and Niki was on the chair again, drinking her tea and thinking about what the next day will bring. Well, if those were the last of the transcripts she would have to read this night then she should have a fresh new stack to read through and edit and give pointers. That wouldn't be so hard. While she was thinking, there was a knock at the door. Niki hopped up and opened the door. She almost fell down when she saw who it was on the other side.

An average sized man with chestnut brown hair, coffee colored eyes and a goatee and despite that it was dark out, he had sunglasses on. Also, he wore a black Sabbath shirt with jeans and converse. He smiled at Niki with a playboy like grin and that's what got things to click for her. It was Tony freaking Stark. What the heck was the millionaire doing at her house?!

"Hey, I'm Tony. I understand my daughter is out here with your daughter, right?" he said, still grinning.

Niki stumbled for words. She wasn't flustered by his good looks or his money. Nah, she was amazed that he was at HER house. He was at the humble abode of a humble publisher taking care of her little sister! "Uh, no, er well, yes. The person you're uh… referring to as my daughter is actually my younger sister… um, come on in," she stepped aside and let him in. "Now uh, who is your daughter?"

"Shadow."

Before she could say another word, there was another knock on the door.

"That I think is Bruce. He was behind me when I was on my way here," Tony said, smiling at Niki.

"Oh, uh okay." Niki stood and opened the door. Tony was right. It was the famous Dr. Banner.

Banner had brown hair and brown eyes both almost as dark as Tony's. He smiled kindly at her. Not like Tony's playboy grin, but a kind genuine smile. Bruce adjusted his glasses and nodded at her. "Hello. I'm Bruce Banner. You must be Niki."

"Yes I am."

"I'm here to pick up my daughter."

"Which one would that be?"

"Elizabeth."

"Aha, I'll get her and Shadow."

Niki stepped back and let Bruce in. She was a little nervous about letting the man with a raging green rage monster stuck inside him in her house. But she reminded herself that he most likely knew how to control it, especially since he had a kid. "Uh, they're probably upstairs, ummm, can I get you some coffee?"

"Oh, if it wouldn't be too much to ask," Bruce said, nodding.

"Sure," Tony replied.

Being the polite hostess she was, Niki quickly made some more coffee and poured them in the mugs. Just as she brought them over to the men at her kitchen table, there was yet another knock on the door. "Who could this be now?" she asked herself quietly. When the door was opened, she saw two people. Both were average sized. One was male, one was female. The man had short cut brown hair with blue eyes while the woman accomplice had red hair. They smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm Clint and this is Natasha," the man introduced themselves. "Uh, we're here to pick up Matt."

"Oh! Of course! Please come on in, the others are waiting for their kids too. Do you want some coffee?"

They nodded and sat down with Tony and Bruce and started chatting. Niki hurried and gave them their coffee and ran to the door, anticipating the upcoming knock which arrived right when she reached the door. She swung in the door and without looking said, "Thor and Steve, come on in."

"How on earth did you know?" Steve asked, chuckling a little.

"Took a lucky guess. Please, sit down. Would you like some coffee?"

"Please?"

Once again, Niki rushed and got the hero's their coffee and then pardoned herself and ran upstairs to her sister's room. "Em!" she hissed, attracting her little sister's attention away from her friends.

"Hold on, I'll be right back." Ember got up and walked over to Niki with a questioning look. "What is it?"

Niki placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at Em. "Whyyyyyy didn't you tell me that your friends parents are the Avengers?"

"Wait… what?!" Em shout-whispered. "You're joking!"

"No! Is this a face that says I'm lying?"

"No. Alright fine. They're here?"

"Heck yes."

"Alright," she spun around and faced her room. "Hey guys, your parents are here."

Shadow nodded and stood and the rest followed after her. "Thanks. Let's go."

Niki and Ember walked down the stairs and met with the Avengers and their kids in their small living room. Niki sat in the recliner and Ember leaned against the wall.

"So uh, this is a surprise. Can't tell if this is a pleasant one or a rather unpleasant one," Niki said, running her hands through her hair, trying to process this event.

"Yeah, well, not much we can do. I mean there is one option but uh, I'd rather not say it," Steve commented, nodding.

"I would like to live," Em mumbled. At that moment, the cat decided to rub up against her leg. "Oh hey Loki," she cooed as she lifted the cat.

Clint lifted his head in surprise. "Where?"

Niki laughed nervously and shook her head slightly. "Our cat, not the real person… god thing."

Thor raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "You named your feline after my step-brother?"

"Hey! Don't judge! We didn't even begin to guess that we'd meet the freaking Avengers!" Ember laughed. "You should see what we named our dog," she then mumbled.

"Well then!" Niki said, not trying to go further into the subject about their canine's name. "Is there anything that we should really be worried about?"

Clint shook his head. "No not really, except for Tony's ego."

"Hey, I think you mean Bruce's ego!" Tony said defending himself.

"Guys, please! We have to get the kids home," Natasha said, rolling her eyes at the arguing men. She faced Niki and Ember. "Thanks so much for taking care of them, I hope we can all be good friends later on down the road."

Niki nodded. "I do hope so too. Good night and have a safe trip."

As soon as the door shut behind the Avengers she turned on her sister with a glare. "What in the world did you do to make friends with the kids of the Avengers?!"

"I don't know," Ember said defensively. "I got to class, someone said hi, and the next thing I know I'm sitting with them at lunch! I didn't even know their parents were the Avengers until tonight!"

"Alright, alright, fine," Niki sighed. "Just, go do your homework or something while I recover from this heart attack."