It took Stark quite some time to explain the situation that they were currently in to Pepper, who just sat there with an emotionless expression on her face. It was this emotionless expression that really worried Loki. Anger was okay, and even sadness, but you really had to watch out for a complete lack of emotions. Stark took his time, gently explaining anything to do with his and Loki's relationship to Pepper, trying to help her understand what was going on. He explained everything from when she left to Loki saving Stark's life to the Avengers working on getting rid of the Chitauri. He showed her how his arc reactor now glowed green thanks to Loki's help. It was a grueling process, and Loki could tell that he was really worried and he really did care what she thought.

"And that is why he is still here with me," Stark finished, exhaling in relief that it was all out and off of his chest.

Pepper stood up, looking from Stark to Loki, her expression still clear, and then she hid her face in her hands with a dry sob. Stark stood up hurriedly and went up to her.

"Tony, don't you dare touch me," she growled, removing her hands from her face to show that she was angry.

Stark froze, not knowing what he should do next. "Pepper, I-"

"No, don't," she said sharply, pointing a finger at him. "There is always something with you. Something new that I have to cope with, something that is completely outrageous that I just go along with and tell you that it is not outrageous. Well, I am tired of it."

Loki stood up slowly, wanting to help but not knowing how.

"Pepper, you have never seen it from my point of view. You don't know what it is like," Stark said to her, fists clenching at his sides.

"And Tony, you have never seen it from my point of view. Do you ever once think of me when you get mixed up in stuff like this? Ever?"

"I would like to tell you, Ms. Pepper, that all of this is not entirely Stark's fault," Loki said softly. Pepper rounded on him and he stepped back a tiny bit.

"And what are you trying to get out of this? Tony may be too blind to see it, but you are definitely up to something," she said to him, her eyes narrowing in hatred and distrust.

Loki held up his hands in surrender. "I am not trying to get anything out of it," he mumbled, his sliver tongue leaving him. He felt suddenly and terribly alone under this ferocious woman's glares and accusations. She made him feel like he was doing something wrong, ruining something that had worked, which Loki realized he kind of had. If he had not pushed his way into Stark's life then maybe these two would be back together and happy.

"I don't know what sort of sick production you two have going on here, but I want out of it," she hissed, and she turned to leave. Stark grabbed her arm.

"Pepper, wait," he said urgently. "Maybe if you just took some time to actually get to know Loki you would understand. I am picky when it comes to the people I hang out with, you know that, so maybe if you just saw things from my point of view?"

Pepper was glaring at him, and even Loki could see the cogs turning in her brain, trying to figure out what the right thing to do was. "How do I know he won't just kill the both of us?" she asked.

"Pepper, he saved my life and then helped to get rid of the same aliens that he had brought in the last time. Fury even trusts him now. Isn't that enough?"

"How do I know that he isn't mind-controlling you? You could just be one of his mindless minions, telling me all of this stuff because he told you to."

Loki stepped in at this point. "There are a few reasons that make it impossible for him to be under my control right now. First, I do not have the scepter with the tesseract power; that is the only way that I was able to control people. Second, his eyes would be bright blue if he was under my power, and that is definitely not that case. Third, I was not able to hypnotize him when I tried it back the first time I was here on Earth. His arc reactor makes it impossible."

Pepper just stood there, arms crossed, trying to figure out what to do. They had given her a really hard decision, and Loki could tell that she did really truly care for Stark and that she wanted to do what was best for him. She sagged in defeat.

"Tony, I cannot begin to fathom what goes on in that brain of yours, but I don't think I will be able to be around you right now when all of this is so fresh to me. I need some time to soak this all in," she said, her voice quavering slightly.

Stark nodded, grateful that she wasn't extremely mad anymore and seemed willing to try to make things work.

"I will call you when I think I am ready to see you again and we can meet somewhere," she said quietly, kissing Tony softly on the cheek, and they could see the tears in her eyes.

She walked across the room, her heels clicking on the floor, and boarded the elevator, and the doors closed with a ding of finality.

Stark sat down on the couch in weariness. "Well, that went better than I thought it would," he mumbled, head in hands. "I was sure that she would kill either you or me or both."

Loki sat down next to him in silence, and they both sat in thought for a few minutes. "You know, that woman has built up quite the 'Tony Stark preparation' kit. She handled it quite well for someone she has known for quite so long," Loki said.

"Pepper has had to deal with so much of my crap," Stark responded softly. "It just sucks that now that there is something this important she still thinks that it is more of my crap."

Loki nodded, not knowing how he should comfort Stark, and then deciding that the billionaire was not one that really needed comforting, he liked to handle his emotions on his own.

Loki decided he would go and make some tea, just to give himself something to do. He walked over to the kitchen and realized that Stark was more of a coffee drinker, so maybe he should make him a cup. Was that something that was seen as comforting to a person who had emotional distress? He wondered if he would be able to figure out the coffee machine.

He walked over to the machine and stared at it for a few seconds, wondering if someone could die by using it wrong. He then remembered Stark talking to the AI, who had started brewing the coffee just by one little command. He wondered if it would listen to him.

"Uh, hello, robot-voice JARVIS. Would you start brewing coffee for Stark?" Loki asked awkwardly, not knowing if he was doing it right.

"Under the present circumstances it does seem necessary, so I will start brewing coffee," the AI responded, and the coffee machine turned on and started brewing. Loki smiled at his own achievement.

Then Loki found the tea and heated a mug of hot water in the microwave, which he had figured out much faster than Thor had. The microwave was brand new after Thor had destroyed the previous one, and it was very easy to use. Loki placed the tea bag in the mug and waited patiently for the tea and coffee to be ready. When the coffee machine beeped he grabbed the pot and poured a good amount into a mug for Stark and was about to take it over to him when he wondered if he had seen Stark putting anything else in his coffee. He had watched Stark make the coffee many a morning when they had both woken up early.

No, Stark was one that liked his coffee black. It was only on an extremely rare occasion that Stark would put one packet of sugar in it, and maybe a little creamer. Loki found a packet of sugar and stirred it into the coffee. Stark was down in the dumps and sugar was a great way to pull him out.

Loki walked over to the couch, two mugs in hand, and held out the cup of coffee for Stark to take. He looked up appreciatively.

"Thanks," he said, taking the cup and taking a small sip. He smiled. "You actually managed to make a great cup of coffee. Thor would have blown up the coffee machine," Stark said to him, taking a larger sip now that he knew it was safe.

"I just told your JARVIS to brew it and then added a little sugar because I figured you needed it," Loki responded, sitting on the couch. "And yes, Thor would have either blown up the coffee machine or would have tried to use it to hit somebody with. Unlike him I have a slight grasp on human technologies."

"Obviously you do, otherwise you would not have been able to save me," Stark responded, looking up from his cup and at Loki.

"Speaking of which, are you going to repair your arc reactor? It does still have a rather large crack in it," Loki said curiously.

Stark shrugged. "I don't know. It has unlimited power now, and I don't see why I should waste that," he said.

"Well, you could always just replace the glass in the front instead of the whole thing. The magic will stay in there unless you remove the power source," Loki said. "And you do not want the glass to fall out."

Stark nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that later." He took another large sip of coffee. He looked up at Loki as if remembering something. "Hey, what was up with your teleportation thing?" he asked.

Loki shook his head. "I have no idea. I wanted to go into my bedroom, and usually it happens much faster than it did, but it was almost like I got caught in between realities, and then came out in the wrong place. And I was completely off balance," Loki explained, remembering the slight panic that being caught in limbo had given him, and then painfully landing on that lamp.

"Hmm…" Stark responded, looking into his glass. "Well, I think we should go back down into the lab today. I want to look into this magic some more," he said, gesturing at his arc reactor. He stood up and headed towards the kitchen. Loki stood up to follow him, but his head began to swim and he lost balance, sitting heavily back down on the couch. He felt clammy and weak, and his vision was swimming everywhere. He placed his head in his hands to try to restore some sort of order.

Stark had turned and was looking at him with a worried expression. "You okay?"

Loki took a deep breath, willing himself to try again. He stood up, and this time he was only slightly dizzy. He nodded slowly, keeping a firm hand gripped on the armrest of the couch. "Just a little disoriented," he mumbled, finally following Stark to head down to the workshop.

"You better tell me if there is something wrong, because I do not want to catch some awful Asgardian disease," Stark said, eyeing Loki out of the corner of his eye. Loki just smiled at him halfheartedly as they stepped out of the elevator.

Loki really hoped that his dizziness didn't have anything to do with the bad transportation earlier. He hoped that it was just tiredness or something unimportant. He hoped that it would not return.