Author's Notes: Okay, loyal readers, in a future chapter Natasha and Clint will be debating names for their baby girl to be. My PM box is open for your suggestions! I need silly choices as well as serious ones, please!

… …

"Why was Darcy Lewis in the middle of those reporters?" Kara asked their driver, a pugnacious looking chap that Stark had incongruously addressed as 'Happy'.

"I think she was getting pictures for your FacePage and Chatter accounts, ma'am."

"My what?"

"Well, Prince Loki's really. They're good ones, lots of fans commenting all the time."

"Oh my God."

Loki stared at her, a bit bemused. "Yes, I am, but what is a FacePage and Chatter account?"

"Not...never mind, you know I didn't mean you. They're social media. Places where you post photographs, comments, videos and such that you want to share with whoever is interested in looking at it. Lots of celebrities use them as marketing tools. Oh. Well, of course they set them up for you. I'd better look at them before you do."

"And why is that, love?"

"I don't want you storming off and getting in anyone's face over it if you don't like it."

"I never storm, that's Thor's thing." He grinned at her censoring glare. "I will promise not to get bent out of shape over anything I see, as I believe the phrase goes. But why me? Why not Thor or Tony, or even Steve?"

"They've got one for Mr. Stark and for Captain America too, sir," Happy told them.

"But not my brother. Curious."

The driver shrugged. "The people already see him as a hero, sir. No offense."

"None taken; I am no hero and never will be."

"Well, they're settin' you up as what book writers call an anti-hero, that's kind of a romantic figure that has problems and surpasses 'em and is admired even more because of it." The man grinned at the mirror. "The anti-hero is usually the guy that ends up getting the girl, and you sure did that."

Loki had to chuckle. "I certainly did."

… …

"Holy crap," Kara muttered as she scrolled through the images on the holographic display Stark had installed in the 'office' section of their new living quarters.

"That bad?" her husband/fiancé asked as he unbuckled more of the decorative pieces of his armor that he'd worn to dinner. They did make him look even more sexily dangerous than normal, but without his magic, they were a pain in the butt to put on and take off.

"No, actually…it's just these people, wow. Somewhere, somehow these women need to know you're not available and that if they make a move on you anyway that I will hurt them."

"My lovely lady is possessive, hmm? I think I like that."

"You would…oh, this is good. They've got a picture of us in New Mexico. You were trying to convince me of something and were down on a knee ever so earnestly pleading your case. It looks so romantic, but if I recall correctly, you were just trying to get me to agree to not reset Jarvis again the next time Tony used a snarky nickname."

Loki leaned over shoulder and nuzzled her cheek. "Speaking of which, you reset it again."

"I did. I wasn't kidding, it's getting really creepy. You're very imaginative, so could you just cancel that part of the programming and find something else to use to retaliate? This 'Anthony' thing is getting old."

"You might like my other choices even less."

"Then just let it go. It doesn't bother the rest of us, and if he does use one that is over the line, we're all adults and are fully capable of calling him on it for ourselves."

"Very well, I'll change the programming and unless he uses something egregiously offensive I'll let it go."

"Thank you." She tilted her head up and kissed him briefly before standing to finish fastening her jeans. "I need to go talk to Jane," she told him as she headed for the door.

"Why?"

Kara sighed and frowned at him. "Loki, your brother just dumped her. You married me in Asgard and proposed to me on Midgard. There's going to be wedding preparations and all of that going on in the Tower. How do you think that's going to make Jane feel?"

"It will intensify her hurt, I imagine."

"Yes, and who is she going to subconsciously blame?"

"Ah. You."

"Exactly. So I'm going to try and nip that in the bud before it starts. I've only spoken to the woman a few times, and we didn't really connect, but I don't want her to hate me when I don't deserve it. I also don't want her hurting worse than she does already."

"Understood, darling. Go chat with the mortal, I'll finish getting this all put away." He groaned and glowered at the various pieces of armor. "How much longer is it until I may have my magic back permanently?"

"Forty thousand, one hundred and fifty-one days and ten hours."

"I begin to see the attraction of Midgardian clothing," he grumbled.

… …

Jane dragged herself out of her bed to go answer the door. For some reason Jarvis had not announced the visitor that had knocked the old fashioned way. "Please, God, don't let it be Thor again," she groused. "I am such an idiot. Jarvis, who is at the door?"

"Your visitor has requested anonymity, Dr. Foster," the AI told her.

"That much I figured. I'm not going to answer the door unless I know who's there."

She waited a moment while Jarvis consulted with the visitor. "Princess Kara wishes to speak with you, doctor."

"I do not need this shit." Jane pulled the door open and stared at the woman with the multi-shaded red hair. Her expression was serious. "I guess you want to come in," she said tiredly and gestured her in and over to the small table and chairs by the window.

"Thank you," Kara offered. "I'm sorry for intruding on your privacy, but we need to talk before things get moving tomorrow."

"What things and why would I want to talk to you about anything? You've got your happily ever after."

"I know I'm not your favorite person right now, but I'd appreciate you not blaming me for someone else's mistakes. You're hurting, Jane, but that doesn't give you the right to lash out at people who had nothing to do with that hurt."

"Didn't you? Thor was all over how seeing the way his brother loves you made him think he didn't love me enough."

"And how is that my fault? I'm to blame because I exist?"

"Because you were good enough for a god and I'm not. What makes you all that?"

The other woman closed her damn spooky eyes and sighed heavily. "Do you honestly want to be me? Do you really want to go through all of the absolute shit I've gone through in my life? I don't have a happily ever after, I have a finally kind of happy at the moment. But if I did have a happily ever after, I would have damned well earned it."

"Sure you did."

"You don't know anything about me, do you?" Jane didn't bother to answer. "Great. I've spent the last fifteen years having people just use me without seeing me as a person. Let me tell you why I deserve to be happy, why Loki and I deserve to be happy together."

"Do I really have a choice?"

"No, no you don't. So get comfortable, it's a doozy of list." Jane rolled her eyes. Kara shook her head. "Please don't piss me off. I'm a lot more deadly than Bruce when I'm angry."

"Is that a threat?"

Kara sighed. "No, just listen to me, please." Jane shrugged. "First, did you know I was raped by three men and left for dead when I was thirteen? No, didn't think so. That's when my pyrokinetic abilities emerged and I accidentally combusted my rapists. Then my parents handed me over to a lab for experimentation and they used drug cocktails on me to mess with my nervous system, that's what caused my projective empathy. The doctors used one too many on me, and it was so excruciatingly painful that I couldn't not project the pain of it. They're dead too. Then I got lucky. I was fostered to a nice couple that helped me get my act together and get my degrees. Everything was fine until a bad spate of wildfires in California one year. My foster father had been a firefighter and after a few CDF firefighters died, I started stepping in to help contain the wildfires. That got S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention and Fury blackmailed me into joining them."

"He blackmailed you too? Wow, that son of a bitch. His people took all my equipment and research after Thor came here nearly two years ago so I was forced to contract with them if I ever wanted to get my doctorate."

"Yeah, he's for the greater good, but his methods suck. They were afraid of what I could do, so they used the containment system Tony and Bruce had designed to use on Loki around me for a while. I'm not a god, so it did permanent and escalating damage to my nervous system. I was dying and didn't even know it at first."

"That's…irresponsible to say the least."

"So, then Loki entered the pictured, all but dead. I managed to save him. Then he was attracted to me but was convinced I was using my projective empathy to make him feel something he didn't. I was already falling for him, so that hurt like hell."

"Asgard must be full of idiots."

"Sometimes I think so. Their dad pisses me off on a regular basis. Raj convinced him otherwise and Loki decided to apologize and was shocked to discover he really did have feelings for me. So we got together. Then, of course, Thor came to take Loki back to Asgard. By this time I was so crazy in love with him it wasn't even funny. I also knew I was dying, and I was certain I'd never see him again. It was game over for me."

Jane impatiently rubbed her eyes. She was not going to cry over this woman's experiences. That was just stupid. She listened quietly as Kara continued detailing the absolute hell she and Loki had gone through. Despite her best intentions, she was mopping up tears of commiseration when Kara finally trailed off after explaining that Loki had asked her to marry him according to their customs so that she could have a real Earth-style wedding and all of the celebrations that went with it. The ring was gorgeous. Jane sighed. "Was it worth it?" she finally asked.

"It's always been worth it; Loki and I belong together. I don't think anyone but him could have reached me and I don't think anyone but me could have understood him. We complete each other, it's weird and that all sounds pretentious, but it's true."

"I would have bailed, I think. At the very least, I would have given up at some point." Kara nodded at her comment and Jane flinched. "Oh my God; I don't love Thor enough any more than he loves me enough."

"Kind of puts it into perspective, huh?" Kara asked.

"You can say that again. Geez, Kara. It still hurts but…If I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that I couldn't have done all of that for him."

"And visa versa. That's why he broke up with you. You both deserve someone who loves you enough to go through whatever it takes to be with you." Jane nodded miserably. "Are you going to be okay with all of the wedding hoopla going on in the Tower, or should I ask Tony to make arrangements for you to live in one of his other properties until it's over?"

She sat and thought about it for a bit while Kara waited patiently. "I'll stay. I can't promise I'll participate in everything, but I won't be a wet blanket. If I'm feeling bad, I'll just take off." She shrugged. "I'm not exactly big on socializing anyway; I'm more of a hang in my lab or out in the field doing research kind of person."

"Not a problem. You're invited to everything, you'll get official invitations. If you're not up to it, just decline, or don't show if you change your mind. We'll understand and we won't push you on it."

"That's fair." They stood and Jane escorted Kara to her door. "Thanks for being so patient with me. I'd like to think I could have done the same for you, but somehow I doubt it."

"I'm an empath, Jane, and a very powerful one. I know exactly how bad you feel, that gives me the patience. I wouldn't have it otherwise, I promise."

She had to laugh at that. "Okay, okay. Hey, thanks. I guess it doesn't get any easier having to talk about all of that."

"No, it doesn't. But sometimes it's worth it. We all think you're worth it."

… …

Darcy found herself giggling. It was kind of whacked out, she wasn't a giggler, but Jane's expression of bliss as she was massaged and oiled by a pair of hunky masseuses was just hysterical. She got the bliss, all right. The foot massage, or reflexology as the guy doing it called it, was equally heavenly. Even though he was just touching her feet she could swear she felt pressure all over her body. Nice. Taking a deep slurp of her margarita she glanced over to where Kara was being massaged by a strong looking woman. She'd told the masseuse to go heavy on the pressure and the woman was giving it her all, but Kara was pretty much falling asleep. "Hey, Kara, wake up. Your 'rita is melting," Darcy teased.

The funky eyes shifted colors and patterns as they focused on her. "It's relaxing," Kara told her. Darcy stifled another giggle as the masseuse's jaw dropped. With all the effort she was expending it must have been a shock to have it described as 'relaxing'. Kara looked back over her shoulder at the woman. "Sorry, but it is. My tissue, muscle and bone density is a lot more than a normal person's. That's why I asked for heavy pressure. You're doing great, thank you."

Pepper's head turned slightly so as not to dislodge the cucumber slices that covered her eyes. Her body was wrapped from neck to toe in herbal infused linen. "Maybe we should have requested a male masseuse for you?"

"Please. Can you imagine Loki's reaction to that if he heard about it? I love the man, but he has issues."

"How about a gay male masseuse who couldn't possibly be interested in you?" Darcy had to suggest.

"Hmm, that might work."

"Doubtful," Natasha interjected. The former assassin was enjoying a sugar scrub. In this private venue, no wraps were required and Darcy had a clear view of the woman's stunning physique. Every muscle was sculpted, yet her hips had a great curve and her breasts were fairly full, not to mention perky as all hell. She looked down at her own rack. Yeah, the redhead didn't have nearly her quantity of boob-flesh, but it was all quality.

She looked over at the lone true blonde in the group. "Hey Beth, wake up!"

Blue eyes blinked sleepily, then turned in Darcy's direction. "Oh, wow, Darce. I was in the middle of a great dream."

"Really? Did Steve do you in it?" She grinned as Beth's eyes widened. "Oh, geez, I was just teasing and I nailed it. Damn I'm good. Was he any good?"

Beth's blush was hysterical. "I don't ask you if Bruce is good," their doctor to be finally muttered.

"Bruce isn't good, he's grrrreat!" Darcy crowed. "And surprisingly cuddly. You know, he's really the best boyfriend I've ever had. Do you think maybe he could fall in love with someone like me?" She bit her lip, hating the plaintive tone that had crept into the question. Darcy Lewis didn't do plaintive. She'd rather taser someone's ass than be all sappy and moon over some guy. But Bruce…aw, shit. "Never mind, stupid question."

"A very stupid question," Kara agreed. "He thinks you're amazing and can't believe you're even giving a fuddy-duddy like him the time of day let alone the key to the candy store."

A silly grin crept across her face. "Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better, right?"

"Do you see the way Steve looks at Beth when he thinks no one is looking?"

"Um, yeah. He's so Captain Obvious that he's bonkers over her."

"Bruce uses that expression on you…but there's a little more wonder in his eyes, probably because of his issues."

"Wow. He never says anything like he sees me as something serious."

Natasha snorted softly. "He doesn't believe he can have something serious. If you want it, you'll have to tell him.

"I think you should go for it, Darcy," Jane said as she turned over to have her front worked on. "I know my track record is kind of damning, but I'm still going to go with the nothing ventured, nothing gained approach. Otherwise you could miss out on the right thing when it comes."

"Damning, my ass," Darcy retorted. "So you fell on your butt once. Big whoop. How many times did I get rejected summer before last when we were in New Mexico? And then how many more times when S.H…uh, the shitheads were moving us all over the place? No pain, no gain. I like the attitude, by the way. Nice one. Yeah, I'm going to have to venture it with Bruce, I think."

… …

"Dr. Gunnarssen, what's it like being engaged to a god?" the reporter from the New York Times asked.

She did her best to keep her eyes from rolling. "I don't know what you mean. I've never been engaged to anyone before, so I really don't have an answer for that."

"I think what we want to know is how you feel about it," Marco Lopez, from Tonight's Entertainment asked with a dimpled smile.

"Ah. Well, I love Loki, so I'm thrilled that he loves me enough to put up with all of the hoopla of our wedding ceremonies and such. But remember, we're already married according to Asgard's laws, so it's not a new relationship or a new depth of the relationship for me."

"Was this all his idea?" a female reporter asked. Kara had already forgotten the woman's name and credentials.

"Well, he'd asked the Avengers for their advice on what he could do to make up for my missing out on all of the traditional wedding activities. Pepper Potts suggested that since we were not married according to Migard laws that he might want to just start from scratch here, so Tony Stark helped him get the ball rolling, so to speak."

"You're on Earth, why are you calling it Midgard. Are you an Asgardian wannabe? Do you think you're too cool behind those wraparound shades?" She narrowed her eyes at Bill Rosen from Cox News…and she was using the word 'news' loosely. What an ass. Glancing at Pepper she noted the woman's slight nod and the feeling of satisfaction. This idiot had handed them the opportunity to bring this up.

"When Odin bound Loki's magic as a punishment for interfering with Earth's fate, he had to bind it to someone that could release it when it was needed to further protect the planet. The problem was that the binding was permanent and a human being just doesn't live a hundred and ten years, let alone that long plus however old they were when the binding was done." She paused and took a breath to prepare herself for the shit storm that was about to be released. "So in order for that to work, he had to change my DNA. Right now I'm a human/Æsir hybrid. My DNA is still changing and eventually I'll be fully Æsir." She pulled off the gold metallic lens sunglasses and let them stare at her ever-changing irises.

Instead of the explosion of excitement and outrage she had expected, silent shock reigned. Finally the patently adorable Marco spoke up in an awed tone. "Can anyone become Æsir?"

"Unfortunately, no. My nervous system was expanded due to experimental drugs that were used on me when I was in my early teens so I was able to survive it without too many problems. The process would kill most humans. That's why you don't usually see Asgardians hooking up with humans. They know they'll end up losing them either to old age or to the conversion process and it's just too painful."

"But didn't Loki fall in love with you before he was sentenced? Did he know you could survive it?"

"He did, Marco, and no, he didn't know I could survive it. Loki was convinced there could be no future for us; he'd resigned himself to losing me, but loved me anyway. I guess it was just meant to be." The expected murmurs of appreciation for the romance of it spread through the room.

"The dossier provided by the Avengers states that you are a pyrokinetic and an empathic healer. What does that mean, really?" New York Times guy…Scott Taubman asked.

"I can set things on fire with my mind, even things that normally wouldn't burn and I can help heal people or at the very least block their pain while a doctor works on them. I also feel the emotions of others if I don't work at blocking them out." They'd agreed she would not mention the projective empathy; that was her secret weapon.

"The things you can set on fire; would that be things like those aliens that your boyfriend brought to New York?" the Cox News pig asked.

Kara told herself to calm down. They were expecting crap like this, especially from that snide self-righteous son of a bitch. "Like the aliens that Loki was forced to bring to New York, yes. If I'd been part of the Avengers then, I could have helped them win the battle more quickly than they did. The downside is that flaming aliens may have caused more damage than was actually done. My ability is not always good to use too close to structures."

"So while you're potentially very powerful, you're limited in where you can use that power?" the woman reporter from…oh, right, Cable News Delivered, guessed.

"Exactly, I never had a lot growing up and I know how much people's property means to them, so I'm going to hesitate before using enough power to destroy something when there is the potential to cost innocent people every last thing they own. Granted, if lives are at stake I will allow property to be destroyed to save those lives, but otherwise I'm going to let the other Avengers act before I do. I'm kind of a last resort in those cases."

"Okay, what the people want to know is what can force a so-called god to do anything?" the Cox News so-called personality said with a condescending sneer.

"Something we all hope will never reach this planet, Bill, because if it does, we're all in deep trouble. The Avengers, along with our allies in Asgard, Ljósálfheim, Jötunheim and Vanaheim are working to prevent that from happening. I understand why you are being sarcastic with the term 'god' as applies to people like Thor or my fiancé, Loki. In the other realms that term means something very different from what it means here. There it's not religious; it's mostly a title given to the person with the greatest control over or prowess in a certain area."

"So your boyfriend, oh, excuse me, your fiancé is the greatest expert at lying. Oh, now that's a sterling recommendation."

Kara was so damn glad Loki had not been allowed to attend this thing. Holy crap, she was barely restraining herself from smacking this bastard. "He can convince most people of most anything. Fortunately, being an empath, I'm immune. But his true expertise in that area is being able to tell when people are lying to him. If you want him answering questions from you, I don't recommend testing it. It will annoy him and he'll refuse to talk to you thereafter."

The CND reporter, Liz Kaur, that's what her name was, cut off the asshole before he could speak again. "It's obvious what a god of Thunder can do for the Avengers and for Earth. What can Loki do? An expert in whether people are lying to him and an expert in mischief, well, that doesn't seem dangerous."

"He's also the god of Chaos. He used that ability to limit the damage the invaders did. He caused chaos in their ranks and in their plans. The ability to mislead them and make them think he wanted conquest helped him to hide his plans to bring in the Avengers to take them down. He's also an adept in sorcery, he can manipulate the physical world with what we call magic."

"Is that the power that's bound, then?" the woman guessed.

"Exactly. He can still spot lies, perform mischief, ferment chaos without that power. But with it, he can take on a small army and win."

"But not the kind that came here?"

"That wasn't so much the army, Liz, but the powerful being backing them that he couldn't win against. Add to it that he was already badly hurt from an accident when that being captured him and, well, he was not able to defeat them without a lot of help."

"Edward Jones, Washington Post here, doctor," one of the 'serious news' reporters said. "Is there anyone who can fight this being and win?"

She didn't blink as she told a lie that even Loki would have had trouble uttering with a straight face. "I firmly believe so, yes."

… …

"How the hell did that turn from a fluff interview about the LoKara romance to an interrogation about Earth's chances against that Mad Titan joker?" Nick Fury demanded.

"Nick, calm down. Kara handled it," Pepper snapped back. "We knew this was a possibility, but we also knew Kara would be able to deal with it, that's why we allowed the open format session."

"I don't even want to think about how the damned god of Mischief would have responded," the director ground out.

She smiled. It was a wonder Fury didn't suffer from ulcers. He wouldn't have lasted a week in her shoes. Fortunately, dealing with Tony Stark so closely for so many years had inured her to stress over most situations. She might love the man, but she was the first to admit to his many faults. "And that's why Loki wasn't there." Fury ground his teeth again and sat down.

"No more open sessions. From now on…"

"We can't do that. Not with the Avengers. What we can do is limit the open sessions to the members who can keep their cool and out-manipulate the manipulators without losing their temper. That means Kara, Tony…don't give me that look, Tony can bullshit them until they're blue in the face trying to figure out whether he's serious or not, Natasha, Steve and Bruce."

"Rogers couldn't lie if his life depended on it and do we really want to set Banner up in a situation guaranteed to make him very angry?"

"Steve is quite capable of frowning at them in a way that will make them squirm and saying 'no comment' if they ask something he can't answer honestly. Bruce would simply smile, shake his head, and walk away if it got to be too much, ignoring the clamoring for him to return. He's gotten very good at keeping a lid on the Hulk. Bruce lives and works in close proximity to Tony, for heaven's sake. If he can handle that, he can handle a half-hour with cutthroat reporters."

Nick held her stare for a moment and then turned to Kara. "What's your take on it, doctor?"

"I think everyone needs to stop calling me that. I can't be one anymore, once I'd drop my shields far enough to work with someone I'd be overwhelmed. But Pepper is right. Eventually Loki will be able to talk to them as well. He just needs an adjustment period and to study the kinds of questions they're likely to ask and the personalities of the reporters. After he's settled he'll be able to lead them around by their noses, seeming to say a lot, but actually telling them nothing at all. And he'll do it with a smile because he'll be having fun working them over with words. But he does need to see this a few times first so he's prepared for how pissed it will make him and can suppress any instinctive desire to twist a certain so-called reporter into a Gordian knot."

"Tell, me, Kara. How badly did you want to put Bill Rosen on his knees?" Pepper asked and chuckled as Kara's expression turned conspiratorial.

"Not at all, actually. What I wanted to do was turn him into a pile of ash. Then I decided that would be too easy a death for him. I've got to tell you, if we ever get bad guys threatening reporters and he's one of them, I won't be saving his ass."

… …

Sif stared at the dripping concoction Nyvorlas was stuffing into his mouth. "That looks disgusting," she told him as he chewed and then swallowed some of the 'chili dog' with a thoughtful expression.

"It's actually quite tasty. Try it," he suggested as he followed Rogers' example and picked up several of the 'fries' and dipped them into the 'catsup'.

Grimacing, she lifted the mess and took a tentative bite. Spicy meat sauce dripped down her chin and would have splashed on the 't-shirt' Beth had insisted she wear if the Ljósálfar hadn't captured it with a deft application of a napkin. "My thanks," she said once her food was swallowed. "It is exceedingly messy."

He shrugged. "But the taste?"

"Surprisingly good." Turning, she eyed Rogers. "I must concede to your choice of food yet again. I am enjoying it."

"Glad to hear it. It's one of my all-time favorites." He glanced out over the pier. "We can get cotton candy for dessert. Unless you'd rather have candy apples?"

She frowned at the Ljósálfar prince who shrugged, looking as confused as she felt. "Why do you have candy made of cloth and fruit?" she finally whispered to Rogers' lady.

Beth laughed. "Cotton candy is spun sugar. It's called that because it looks like balls of cotton floss that were just harvested. Candy apples are apples dipped in a candy coating. Both are very sweet and really delicious."

"Perhaps we might try some of each?"

… …

"How could they treat you thus?" Loki raged to Kara as he paced the room where a video record of the interview was being played for the team. "Do they have no sense of chivalry or at least of self-preservation?"

"Yo, Blitzen, calm down. It was only the one jerk and she was expecting it from him," Tony told the infuriated god. "If he had been polite, we'd have been left wondering what he was up to."

"Stark, do not tell me to calm down. This is an insult not just to my wife but to all of Asgard."

"I take it only as proof the man is a fool, brother. He will simply not be admitted to further interviews and his people will need to send another," Thor said reasonably.

"The next one they send will be just as much of an ass, Thor," Kara told him. "Really, it doesn't matter. All it does is make them look more and more unreasonable and stupid. Let it go."

"I will let him go," Loki muttered darkly. "Straight off of the edge of the nearest building. And that other one…giving you puppy eyes. Does he think to win what is mine?"

Tony plopped down in the armchair and began laughing helplessly. "Oh, crap, Lokes. Seriously? Some guy appreciates your woman's beauty and you automatically think he's hitting on her?" He shot a glance at Kara. "He wasn't hitting on you, was he?"

Predictably, she rolled her eyes. "No, Tony. He was doing what you do, trying to use his charm to get what he wanted; in this case, good sound bites for Tonight's Entertainment. Marco Lopez may be an underwear model on the side, but he's a happily married family man with an adorable little girl."

"Regardless, I do not like it. You will do no more of this," Loki spat.

"Ixnay on the orbiddingfay, buddy."

Loki glowered at him. "She is my wife, I will forbid her what is necessary."

Tony shook his head. "Do you even listen to yourself talk when you're in this kind of mood?"

"It's okay, Tony. I certainly don't listen to him talk when he's in this kind of mood. I most especially won't listen to him talk when he tries to get in bed with me after he's said something so asinine."

"Kara! I simply do not wish you to be subjected to such abuse again."

"Not your call! Until you can get with the program and learn to react reasonably and use your innate gifts to talk circles around these bozos, someone needs to do it. And that someone, right now, has to be me. Your choice." She dropped off of the stool she'd been perched on and stormed out of the room.

"Kara!" Tony shook his head at the outraged prince. "Don't give me that look Tony," he seethed.

"Oh, come on, you had to know she'd react like that."

"Do not presume as to what I do and do not know, Anthony. Why do you act as though this is about me? It is not about me," he spat and took off after his wife.

Tony shook his head. "Can I get a show of hands; how many think this is not about Loki?" he asked. Not one hand went up. "Yep, that's what I thought." He sighed heavily. "I'll go try and talk to him."

"Don't bother," Natasha told him. "Clint already went after him while you were busy being facetious."

"Oh, shit. That should be interesting."

… …

"Loki, wait up."

He was tempted to ignore Barton, but didn't want the man following him all the way back to his chambers. The archer was persistent and would not leave him be else. "I'm in no mood to deal with you, Clint," Loki warned him.

"Yeah, about that mood. You need to adjust it before you try to talk to Kara or you're just going to make it worse."

"Don't tell me how to deal with my wife, Barton."

"Somebody needs to, you're fucking it up." The man rubbed his hand over his face and then through his short hair. "Haven't you learned anything about dealing with strong women? Forbidding them is the one thing guaranteed to make them do exactly what you don't want them to do. Take my advice…"

"And why should I do that?" he snarled. "We all know who tops in your relationship." As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he'd gone too far. All of his knowledge about the relationship Barton had with Romanov was from the use of the Scepter to control the man.

"Damn you," Barton hissed as he grabbed Loki's shoulder. Loki allowed the shorter man to spin him around and slam him against the wall. "You bastard."

"Actually, I'm the only legitimate son amongst my brothers," he spat out. "Yet somehow, the only surviving son who will not sit a throne. How fair is that?"

"What the fuck, Loki. For weeks you've been saying you didn't want a throne. What the hell was that, sour grapes?" Barton shook his head. "Christ, I'm trying to help you out here. Why are you being such an ass?"

"She is my wife. My wife was subjected to abuse by those cretins. How am I supposed to handle it? It's my duty and privilege to protect and care for her, but it seems I must always stand by and allow her to protect and care for me. It's…demeaning." He leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes tiredly. "I am useless to the woman who means everything to me. I cannot…deal, I think the term is, with that."

Barton's hand was on his shoulder again, but this time the pressure felt…comforting, somehow. "Man, I guarantee you she doesn't see it like that. You need to start listening instead of just reacting. I mean, seriously, you had to have talked about you trying to tell her what to do before, right?"

"Yes."

"And I'll bet she made it clear that she wouldn't let you get away with it."

He groaned as he recalled promising he would do no such thing in the future. "She has. Damnation, I'm forsworn."

"Figured as much. Begging works well in cases like this."

"Barton, I do not beg." He frowned as he remembered his words to The Other, The Mad Titan's second in command and then sighed. "Though there is but one being in this life from whom I would beg anything."

"If Kara isn't that one being, I'll eat my quiver."

Loki snorted. "Your quiver and your stomach are safe from such folly. Begging it is."

… …

End Notes: Don't forget, I need baby girl names, PM me! Thanks for all of the reviews and love.

For those that want a 'scorecard', I've changed the TV network/show names. from Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and Fox News to protect the guilty. And, of course, Mario became Marco…he's such a cutie!