Author's Note: Ahhh I'm being horrible with updates lately! I wish I could say I had an excuse for not updating the other day, but the truth is, I simply... forgot. So here. I'll give you twenty two today, and you can have twenty three tomorrow. Two updates in a row. I only hope that makes up for my tardiness. So here you are! Read and review, please! (And yes, the title of the chapter will make sense later.)

Not a week later, Rose had invited Bruce and me to their house for dinner. To be honest I actually really liked the Tylers, not to mention I couldn't turn down free food. So we found ourselves at the door of their little (or, not so little) suburban dream nestled in upstate New York.

"Wow… this place is huge!" Bruce said as we rang the doorbell.

"Well, what did you expect? I bet they didn't even pay for it, Loki prob'ly just made it appear out of nowhere." He chuckled.

"Maybe it's made out of gingerbread."

"You wanna test that theory?" Just then, the door opened, and Rose was standing there, looking pleased to see us.

"Hey! So glad you could make it, come on in!" We stepped inside the house to find it was… well, it was smaller on the inside. Oh yeah; reinforced walls. The floor plan was open and airy, with a staircase leading up to a sort of loft/hallway, with doors all along it. "I heard you're a part of the team now, Wendy! Congratulations!" She looked genuinely excited to have me join.

"Er, where's Loki?" Bruce asked.

"In the nursery, trying to get the kids to calm down. They're learning to walk now, and it's been interesting to deal with. Dinner's on the stove, it'll be a while, if you don't mind."

"Oh, no, that's fine." I said. "So, what were you two doing in Asgard, anyhow?" She scratched the back of her head, looking a bit guilty.

"Well, the thing is, before the other day, Odin and Frigga hadn't actually known they had a daughter-in-law. Or grandkids. More grandkids, anyhow."

"Ooh. Didn't go over so well, huh?"

"Actually, no. They were overjoyed. Frigga loved me, and Odin didn't kill me, which I take as a sign that he likes me too. Oh, sit, sit! You're probably tired!" She led us over to a couch in the living room and we sat down.

"Rose!" We heard Loki's panicked shout. "Have you seen Madison?"

"You lost her? Again?" No reply. "Well, where did you last leave her?" I heard a coo from my left, and a mess of ginger hair popped up behind the couch arm. I smiled and reached around, picking Madison up from under the shoulders and lifting her onto my lap. Rose turned and saw her, smiling in relief. "Astrid-Madison Tyler, what are we going to do with you?" She said. Madison just gurgled happily and grabbed one of my fingers, putting it in her mouth. It was adorable, until she bit down.

"Ouch! What the h-" I stopped myself. "What the heck?" I could see Rose struggling not to laugh at my self-censorship.

"Sorry." She said. "Jotun teeth. They come in earlier and sharper than human kids."

"You're lucky you're adorable." I said to Madison, bouncing her up and down on my knee. She really was a beautiful baby. Loki had her dressed in a little green onesie, of course. It did compliment her emerald green eyes nicely, though not so much the hair. Wait a minute… the hair… "How is her hair red?" I asked. That's when Loki appeared on the steps, one blonde-haired little tyke under each arm, like footballs.

"Do not tell them, Rose." He said, walking carefully down to the first floor.

"Oh, but what's the harm?"

"You promised!" Rose ignored him, and turned to us.

"That's his natural hair color." She said, pointing to Madison. "He colors it with magic because he thinks he looks silly ginger."

"Damn you, Rose."

"I know, dear. I know." Loki set the other two down on the ground in front of the couch, and sat down in an armchair. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt today. The longer I knew him, the less he seemed to wear his Asgardian finery. I'd bet my boots it had something to do with Rose. "What's for dinner?" Rose asked.

"Oh, just a roast, nothing fancy." Rose turned to me.

"So when's the due date?" Loki and Bruce both groaned. "Oh, if you can't bear to listen to us, just go off and talk about football or racecars or whatever." They both stood up. "And take the kids with you." Loki rolled his eyes, but offered no more complaints as he picked up Madison and Eric and put one under each arm.

"Get Eira, would you?" Bruce obliged, and followed Loki back up to the nursery.

"Well then?" Rose looked at me expectantly.

"It's supposed to be December thirty-first." I said. "Just four months to go!" She smiled.

"Do you two have a house yet?"

"We think so, yeah. A nice little townhouse in Manhattan, not too far from Central Park."

"One question; is it reinforced?"

"What?"

"You're having the children of the Hulk and... Tesla, was it? You might want to think about it." I made a mental note to bring that up with Bruce. "Oh, I'm loving this! When I was having the triplets, I didn't have anyone to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"What was it like?" I asked. She bit her lip.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a normal pregnancy. Half-Jotun children inside a human womb isn't a good combination. I was in a coma for the last few weeks of the pregnancy." Wow… that sounded terrifying. "Imagine waking up in a hospital bed and the first thing you realize is that you're in labor."

"Yikes."

"You'd better believe "yikes". I was okay in the end, though. I mean, I'm still here, aren't I?"

"But mine won't be like that, right?" She took a deep breath.

"Well, you never know. I mean, yours isn't exactly a normal pregnancy either." Images came to mind of huge, green babies, babies with sparks flying off them. I shivered. "I don't mean to scare you, though!" She said quickly. "Just prepare yourself, alright?"

"Catch him!" We heard a yell from the nursery upstairs. Then a thump. And a delighted, high pitched squeal. Rose giggled.

"For all the trouble they cause, we get our share of laughs from the kids." She turned back to me. "Are you two engaged yet, then?"

"Um, no, not yet." Somehow that made me feel… I dunno. Guilty, I guess? There was no reason for it. I mean, we didn't have to be married to have a happy family, right? This was the twenty-first century!

"Oh, well that's fine anyway." She said. "I knew a couple back in London, they raised their daughter five years without even getting engaged, and the kid turned out fine. She's in some kind of program now, for genius kids." Heh; I knew there was a reason I liked Rose. We chatted like that for a good while, until a timer went off in the kitchen. "Oh! That's the roast. Loki?"

"I heard it." He came back down the stairs and banged about in the kitchen a while.

"I can cook," Rose said. "But his food is just so much better!" Bruce came down, too, juggling Eira in one arm and Madison in the other. Eric trailed behind him, carefully crawling down each step in succession.

"Come on, careful now." Bruce cheered him on quietly as he made it down the last step. "There you go!" Eric looked proud as he stood on the bottom floor, smiling.

"Oh, what a good boy!" Rose swept him up in her arms and spun him around in the air as he giggled happily. "Who's mummy's little athlete?" Dinner went well. As Rose had said, Loki really was an amazing cook, and the roast was unlike anything I'd ever tasted before. I started to suspect he might have enchanted it! As we ate, he kept the triplets occupied by turning one of the end tables into a dog for them to play with.

"Oi! Eira, that's not supposed to come off!" Well, play with, torture… what's the difference, right? I felt a little sorry for the poor thing, even though it wasn't strictly real, but at least they weren't burning down the house. We ate, (I might have had second helpings. Or third.) said goodbye, and left back to the helicarrier. I had moved into Bruce's room a few weeks before, and we slept in the same bed together. In the morning, Bruce was gone, and there was a little package with a note on it sitting on the end table. I sat up and read the note.

Dear Wendy. Sorry I had to leave, they need me in the lab. This is a gift for you, a congratulations for getting into the Avengers. I hope you like it! Love, Bruce.

I opened the package, and my eyes widened when I saw what was inside; it was the new Evanescence album! Oh, thank you thank you thank you Bruce! I thanked him silently inside my head. This wasn't even supposed to be out yet! I was willing to bet he'd had help from Tony. I looked at the back; there was a special bonus track. Well, no use in just standing around looking at the thing, right? I popped the disc into my CD player and pressed play. I love their music, no joke. They always seem to be singing about exactly what I'm thinking about. This album? All about love and hate, good and evil, right and wrong. I relished every word. Near the end, I was just sitting on the bed, listening, when the special "bonus track" came on.

"Hey there, Wendy Trescott!" I sat up fast. That was the lead singer. And had she just said my name? "We've got a message for you!" She continued. "Bruce wants you to be his wife; whaddyou say?" My mouth gaped open, and I just sat there in shock for a moment. Then I jumped up and went to find Bruce. No need; when I opened the door he was there, kneeling and holding a ring box open in front of me, smiling from ear to ear.

"Bruce?" I said, still a bit dazed.

"What do you say, Wendy? Will you marry me?" I swallowed. I needed to get something out of the way first.

"Bruce, tell me honestly. Are you doing this because you love me, or because you feel guilty for getting me pregnant?" He looked me straight in the eye, and said, with complete sincerity;

"Because I love you, Wendy. And because I want to spend the rest of my life with you, for better or worse." A smile grew on my face, and my eyes began to tear up.

"Yes!" I squealed. I threw my arms around him, nearly knocking him to the ground. "Yes, yes of course I'll marry you!" We stood up, my arms still around his shoulders, and he took my left hand, slipping a ring onto my finger. I studied it. "What is this made of?" I asked. It looked like a motherboard. It was steel, and covered in little electronic designs and symbols.

"It's not just a ring." He said. I listened, curious. "Tony and I have been working on it for a while now. You know you've been having trouble "recharging"? What this does- or, should do, is gather ambient electricity from the world around and feed it into you continuously."

"So… no more Mjolnir?"

"No more Mjolnir." I kissed him, breaking away to look into his eyes. "I love you." I said.

"I know." I smiled.

"Oh, great. I'm marrying Han Solo." I said sarcastically.

"I love you too, Wendy. And I always will." So there it was; the moment every girl dreams of. And sure, I wasn't on a hot air balloon above France, or in a romantic little park with roses everywhere. But it was perfect. So, so perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more.