"The life of the party has arrived!"

Central Park. Day. Steve

The Avengers had agreed to meet at Central Park to send Loki, who was handcuffed and muzzled, back to Asgard and to say goodbye to Thor. The surrounding area had been blocked off to civilians, probably to prevent any complications. Steve was currently standing next to Daphne, watching as Thor went round to shake hands with the rest of the group. His thoughts strayed to the intriguing woman beside him. Would he see her again? She was wearing a loose, grey T-shirt with an open-buttoned plaid shirt on top and a pair of light jeans with a pair of black boots. She was tapping her foot on the pavement. She was still radiant.

Is there anything she doesn't look good in? He froze. Whoa, where did that come from? He shook his head of the reprimanding thoughts.

When the demi-god made his way up to the two, he gave Steve a nod and a handshake and he then attempted to do the same with Daph. She denied his brief goodbye and decided to make it more interesting.

"Nope, Thunder Buddy," she started, crossing her arms with a smirk. "I refuse a simple handshake."

Thor looked very confused by this point, much to Steve's amusement, who was watching the encounter with a smile.

Daphne lifted her fist up in front of Thor. "Come on, blow it up."

This did not do much to clear up Thor's puzzled look.

She sighed heavily and grabbed the demi-god's hand, closing it into a fist for him. She bumped their fists together and kept them together. "Now, make a 'blowing up' motion." She demonstrated what she meant and motioned for Thor to do the same. Once he did, Daphne squealed in happiness, a sound that Steve found he liked.

"You Midgardians have strange methods of greeting," Thor boomed.

Steve laughed. "No, I'm pretty sure that's just Daphne." He smiled fondly at the brunette, feeling a warmth spread through him when she beamed back.

"Aw, you know me so well."

Thor walked off towards Loki, preparing to depart as Stark opened the Tesseract's case. Banner took the powerful cube out and placed it inside of a glass tube which the God of Thunder was holding. He held the other end of it towards his brother, who took it reluctantly and they both stepped into an energy beam, disappearing.

Steve glanced around at the other Avengers, seeing them ready themselves to depart. He was thinking of visiting Peggy again, wanting to check that she was okay. He wanted to tell her about the mutant woman, hopeful that she would want to meet her.

He looked up to see Tony strutting towards him and Daphne. Rolling his eyes, Steve expected the billionaire to say some crude or sarcastic remark.

"Hey Kitty," he greeted Daph with a grin.

She laughed at his expression. "Tony, I don't like that look on your face."

He placed his hand across his arc reactor, gasping out. "You wound me. Anyway, I have a question for you."

"No, I will not be your full-time pet," she replied instantly.

"Cute," Stark remarked dryly. "Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to stay in Stark Tower."

"Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"It'd be fun," he answered simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Daphne seemed to think for a moment. "Eh, why not?" She laughed.

Tony then turned to the super soldier next. "Wanna take up the offer as well?" He questioned, which surprised Steve.

He contemplated the idea. Him and Stark together would not be a good mix, though a nagging voice in the back of his head whispered that Daphne would be there. That nearly swayed his judgement.

"I'm going to be visiting some friends for a while. Thanks, but I'm good."

Stark nodded once, walking towards his expensive car where Bruce was waiting, calling out for Daphne to join them when she had finished talking.

Steve thought he saw a look of disappointment flash across her face, but it was gone in a second. He shook it off, deciding he must have imagined it.

"Visiting some friends? Do you mean Peggy?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, but I also figured I might try and find out if any of my old team mates, from the Howling Commandos, are still alive."

She smiled at him. "Well, good luck. If you want, I could do some research on them. Two heads are better than one, right?"

He grinned happily at her, grateful that she had offered help. "Thank you." He took out a SHIELD-issued mobile phone from the front pocket of his trousers. "May I have your number to contact you?"

She giggled at his tone. "Ever the gentleman." She took the mobile from his grasp, swiftly typing in her own number and saving it. She then pulled out her mobile and saved his number onto hers. "There you go," she said, handing him back the phone.

He glanced at the device, snorting a laugh when he saw her contact name. "'The Awesome One'? Your modesty is astounding."

She shrugged nonchalantly, grinning the whole time. "Well, what can I say? But don't worry, I named you 'Spangle Buddy' on my contacts. That's nearly as cool."

They both laughed together, stopping when they heard Tony yelling her name. Daphne created a stream of gold, making it float towards a still-shouting Tony, closing her eyes. When Stark suddenly pitched forward in a face-plant, the two Avengers couldn't help another laugh at the fallen genius. Steve even caught a glimpse of Bruce coughing to smother his amusement.

When they had calmed down, Steve brought Daphne into a goodbye hug, inhaling her floral scent. As they pulled away, he almost didn't notice the large mark that had been covered by her top. The sleeve had bunched up during their embrace, displaying a recent scar in the shape of... A hand print? That hadn't been there before.

"How did that happen?" He asked firmly, gesturing the scar.

She stuttered, pulling down the sleeve quickly. He could see that her mind was whirling with excuses and he crossed his arms, looking down at her unrelentingly. "Daphne? Don't think about lying," he warned her.

The mutant woman sighed heavily. "It's a small problem. Don't worry, I'm dealing with it."

"What problem?" He didn't give up.

"Don't worry about it, Steve. I've got it under control."

"Daphne." He crossed his arms defiantly. His gaze was unrelenting.

"Steve," she mimicked, copying his tone and posture.

His expression softened slightly when she looked into his eyes. "You know you can trust me right?" He asked tenderly.

"I know," she whispered. "But right now, I need you to trust me. If it gets out of hand, I'll tell you."

He nodded, his eyebrows drawn in thought. What problem could she be dealing with? And why would it leave a hand shaped scar on her arm? Who would hurt her?

Daphne chuckled quietly, lifting her hand to smooth the frown away. He looked at her in confusion. "You'll get frown lines," she explained, laughing.

"See you soon," he murmured, leaning in to place a gentle kiss on her forehead before he could stop himself. He quickly turned and walked towards his motorcycle, still feeling concern for Daph.

Daphne

A small smile made it's way on her face when he kissed her forehead. His lips had been so soft- Woah, woah... No, Daphne. She shook her head as she watched Steve walk off to his motorcycle before mounting the bike and driving away. She inhaled deeply, briefly touching the new scar underneath her sleeve. She cleared her mind before any morbid thoughts could develop, turning towards Bruce and Tony, who were waiting for her. The billionaire scowled when she approached and she answered it with a bright smile, ignoring the glare.

"Did you really have to do that? It hurt," he complained childishly.

Her smile didn't waver. "You were yelling. It seemed like a good way to shut you up." She started walking towards Tony's expensive, ostentatious yet beautiful Acura NSX Concept car.

"Ah, ah, ahhh," he chastised her, grabbing hold of her elbow. "Not so fast. I saw that little forehead kiss there. What's going on between you and the Capsicle?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, nudging her arm with a smirk.

Daphne's face instantly heated up. "Oh, that? That's nothing. We're not- I'm-we-no. Nothing's going on between us. Why would you think that?"

"Your reaction, for one. Also don't think I haven't noticed how our resident human ice cube looks at you, and you at him," he chuckled.

What is he talking about?

"What?" She was genuinely confused.

Tony looked up to the sky with a groan of annoyance. "Why is everybody blind?!" He yelled to nobody in particular.

She chose to ignore him, thinking he was just speaking nonsense. She looked around, noticing her two favourite assassins were missing. "Clint and Natasha left without me! Can't trust those assassins. They're probably doing some SHIELD-y stuff," she commented, mostly to herself before addressing the two men. "Anyway, I need to go back to my apartment for my stuff. I'll meet you guys at the Tower."

Bruce had climbed into the car, while Tony just stared at her in annoyance. "You mean to tell me that I waited here for nothing."

"Yep," she beamed exuberantly, laughing. "I'm trying to build up your patience. It's working already."

He glared at the smiling woman, conjuring different methods of revenge. She just continued to chuckle, which frustrated him more, much to her delight.

He turned his back to her and slid into his car, facing her through the window, still glaring. She waved at them enthusiastically as they left.

Daphne glanced around at her surroundings, seeing that she was the only one around and liking the peace. She decided on walking back, wanting to have free time to think.

As she weaved through the still-ruined streets of New York, occasionally bumping into careless people as they bustled through, her mind wavered to Phil. He had been an incredibly influencial person in her life and she struggled to comprehend that he was gone.

She soon reached her small apartment, preparing to pack up her possessions. She figured that she would come back at a later time and get rid of the things that she didn't need along with putting her place out for sale. Not that she needed the money. SHIELD paid her very well.

She grabbed two duffel bags, one for clothes and one for the miscellaneous, filling them up. Once she was finished, making sure to put her violin in one of the bags, she took a look around the place that she never really considered 'home' before exiting and locking the door.

Stark Tower. New York. Day.

Daphne drove towards the Tower in her red Audi R8 Spyder, one of her most prized possessions, courtesy of SHIELD's extravagant pay. Being an agent for most of her life certainly had very glamorous advantages, one being, having enough money to be able to buy an unnecessarily high-priced vehicle. She wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

Pulling up to the skyscraper, she quickly got out of the car and grabbed her duffel bags. A large man with dark hair approached her and she stiffened, preparing for an attack. Instead he stuck out a hand in greeting. She put her bags down onto the ground.

"I'm Happy Hogan, driver of Tony Stark," he told her.

She opened her mouth to answer when her phone buzzed. She held up a finger, pulling out her mobile and checking it. "Hold that thought."

It was a text from 'Handsome Genius'. She laughed, realising it was Tony. He must have gotten ahold of her phone somehow. Of course, he would figure out a way to do this.

"Are you here yet? I want to see my new cat x." It said.

Daphne mentally groaned, despising herself for promising that she would turn into a cat for him. She quickly texted him back.

"Yeah. Do you have a driver called Happy? I'd rather not get murdered by a stranger."

A chime sounded. God, he types fast.

"Yes I do. It's fine, he's kosher. And seriously, no kiss for me?"

She didn't answer his text and changed his contact name to 'Moneybags'. Daphne then looked up at Happy, who was still waiting.

"Sorry about that. Hi, I'm Daphne Collins." She shook his hand, smiling at the man. Now that she thought about it, he kind of looked like a life size teddy bear, though she doubted she could ask for a hug.

"Yes, Mr Stark has informed me of your arrival. Would you like me to park your car somewhere safer? Perhaps with Mr Stark's cars?"

She glanced back at her car worriedly, realising that it would probably get stolen if she left it there. "Yes please. But please try not to scratch her," she pleaded with Happy.

He smiled at her. "I'll be careful."

Daphne gave him the keys, picked up her bags and walked through the entrance of the building, hurrying across the main lobby. She strode past the front desk, glaring at the dyed-blonde female receptionist, who had been giving her dirty looks. The woman looked away quickly and the mutant felt smug at herself.

She went into the elevator, pressing the button to the penthouse. Once the doors opened, she noticed that Tony had started construction to fix his beloved tower, and found the two scientists and a strawberry-blonde woman sat on the sofas in the living room. Tony and the woman was watching the news while Bruce was reading a newspaper, his glasses balancing on his nose.

"You guys look like you're having fun," she began sarcastically. "But don't worry, the life of the party has arrived." She threw her hands into the air dramatically, announcing her arrival to the three.

"Oh, Kitty!" Tony yelled, bouncing excitedly like a kid on christmas.

"Not yet," she told him firmly, placing her bags on the marble floor.

"But-" he started to protest.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

He turned towards the other woman, who had made her way closer to the two, pouting. "Pepper! She's being mean to me!" He whined, crossing his arms. Daphne swore she saw him stamp his foot as well.

The woman just laughed and extended her hand to Daphne. "Hi, I'm Pepper Potts, Tony's girlfriend."

The mutant woman took Pepper's hand into her own, shaking it. "Daphne Collins. How do you put up with him all of the time?" She asked, pointing at the billionaire and laughing.

"Honestly, I don't know." The strawberry-blonde answered, giggling with her, while Tony continued to moan.

"You two are ganging up on me! That's not fair."

Both of the females just looked at each other, chuckling as they did. Daphne had a feeling that her and Miss Potts would be great friends here.

Sorry this took ages. I kept on re-writing it and hating each one so I'm kind of okay with this one. This was mostly a filler chapter, no action yet but more to come. Thank you to all who have reviewed, followed and favourited either me or the story, and thank you for the support. Hope you enjoy.

Love you all,

-Jess xo