Tony was waiting in the sittingroom of the compound for you when the portal materialized. /Told you we should have set the portal to my apartment/ you grumbled at Loki when Tony barreled into you, yanking you from Loki's grip as he held you tightly to him. You couldn't help laughing at Tony, though. He would never change.

"Kat! We were so worried. You guys were gone for so long with no word!" Tony exclaimed, panic in his ton.

You sighed and finally got free of his arms. [There was trouble] you signed at him. He had lived here and been friends with Veronica too, of course, since this was his tower. He'd actually been friends with her before you had moved in to the tower, before your parents had died. He may have even had a crush on her at one point.

"What trouble? Why are you signing?" Tony demanded, automatically signing along with his words. Veronica hadn't been gone long and the habit stuck from living with her. Old habits died hard.

You looked over at Loki. /Can you tell him what happened? It will take me forever to sign the whole thing/ Loki nodded his reply. /Thanks, I want to see if Veronica is home. Can you two survive alone together that long?/

/We will be fine, darling/ Loki answered with a smile. The smile was supposed to be reassuring, but you didn't trust Tony not to punch Loki in the face again.

[Loki will tell you] you signed to Tony. You used magic to change back to human clothes. You had missed your jeans in Asgard. You got used to wearing dresses there, but you were still way more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. You kissed Tony's cheek, then kissed Loki which earned you a growl from Tony, then went to see if Veronica happened to be in the tower. She wasn't officially part of the team anymore, but she still had suites here and stopped by often to visit. Instead of knocking on her door, she had a doorbell that would flash the lights inside. You pressed it and waited. You only had to wait a moment before she came to the door. [You're here!] you signed excitedly.

[Kat!] she replied with a grin. You had been friends in the couple years you had both lived in the tower together. She tried to hide how lonely she was, but she had become your friend when you made an effort to sign out the conversations around you, and be her voice when she wanted to jump in and the loud supers weren't noticing.

[Can you come in? you need help] She stepped back to let you in with no hesitation. [Thanks]

[What trouble?] she asked. Even though she wasn't officially on the team right now, due to her very pregnant belly, she was still one of you and jumped right back in to emergency mode as easily as any of the rest of you. You briefly explained about your lack of ability to speak.

[Do you have any ASL books I can borrow?] your ASL was still really good, but you needed a wider vocabulary and needed to brush up on it. She pulled a few volumes from her bookshelf and handed them to you. You made your apologies after that. You had left Tony and Loki alone for too long already. She laughed at that and shooed you away to go rescue one or both of them.

She was right to shoo you off. You got back to them just in time. Loki was finishing his story about your kidnapping and how you had saved yourelf. "You were supposed to protect her!" Tony roared. You sighed and set the books down on your end table before calmly walking up to the boys. Tony pulled his hand back to punch Loki in the face. You swept in between them, shoving Loki back a step. Tony pulled his punch in time. You wouldn't have let him hit you, but you were glad he stopped anyway. That meant his temper could be dealt with. "Don't protect him, Kat," Tony snarled at you, reaching to shove you out of the way.

[Stop trying to hit him] you signed angrily. [This isn't his fault]

/Please do not do that again, darling. u\I would hate to have to hurt him for punching you/

/He won't punch me/ you thought back at Loki. /Not when he's mad at you. Besides, you won't protect yourself and I don't want to have to heal your nose when he breaks it. I like your nose the way it is/

"The hell it's not!" Tony roared. His hands were too busy singing his reply as he spoke that he couldn't form a fist again. That was a good thing. "He was supposed to protect you. You were supposed to go there and heal!"

[I did heal. You know Balder is bad. This is Balder's fault. If you want to hit someone, hit me for getting kidnapped] you weren't comfortable using telepathy with humans. You had burned out someone's mind once already and didn't want to hurt someone you loved like that, so you were sticking to sign with the humans, unless telepathy was one of their powers. Loki promised to help you later learn how to speak to the others via telepathy.

Tony just pulled you into a hug instead. "Like yI would ever hurt you, imp," he replied. "He says they are researching how to fix this," you felt him gesture to Loki when he said that. You nodded against his chest. "We should tell Fury..." he hedged. You sighed, but nodded again. The three of you went to find Fury. He was in his office, so he wasn't hard to find.

You hadn't been in his office since you were grounded for turning all of the Avengers' costumes pink one summer. You weren't glad to be back either. That was almost as unpleasant of an experience as the day you got grounded for an entire summer for escaping your guards for an entire day. This place did not have good memories. "Soldiers," Fury greeted you when you entered.

"We have a report to give, and we're not soldiers," Tony announced. You and Loki wisely let him take charge. He was highly regarded by Fury and much more used to dealing with him. Even if they did manage to piss each other off most of the time.

"Then give it," Fury replied curtly. Tony told the story this time. You were glad you didn't have to do it. Loki chimed in additional details when they were needed. Fury looked at you when they were done. "You know what I'm going to ask, Kat," he told you gently. Fury wasn't usually gentle, but he had experience with uncontrollable powers in the past. You nodded, you knew exactly what he wanted. There was only one thing he could ask for at that juncture. You shoved Tony into one of the chairs. You didn't want to have to catch his heavy ass when he passed out. You saw the glimmering green shield around Loki. He'd be safe.

/Careful, darling. They are human/ you nodded and opened your mouth, whispering just loudly enough for them to hear you. They were both unconscious slumped on Fury's desk a moment later.

It took them a few minutes to come back around, during which you were teaching Loki the annoying hand-clapping game you had taught to Thor. There was nothing to do but wait for them to come to, so you might as well have some fun.

"That was...educational..." Fury commented after he had come around. You went over to them now that they were awake and healed their bleeding ears. You could have done that earlier, but you hadn't wanted them to think you was exaggerating. "I will put R&D on looking for a solution. In the meantime, your classes start again day after tomorrow. We have told the university that you were on a mission for us. You will inform them of this development and that Loki will be accompanying you as translator. You will also be sticking to a work schedule from here on and the number of emergency healings you get called on will be very strictly monitored. I do not want the incident of a couple weeks ago to happen again," Fury ordered. You nodded meekly, not daring to go against his temper. "Dismissed, all of you,"

You swept from his office as quickly as possible. None of you wanted to be there longer than you had to be. You tapped Tony's arm to get his attention. [You ok?] you asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That's some curse you got from Balder..." he added. You rolled your eyes. That was an understatement.

[How's Pepper? Did she heal?]

"She was a whiny baby for a week," Tony whined. "She claimed she couldn't do anything for himself and demanded I take care of her. For everything." you laughed at his put-upon tone and Pepper taking advantage of Tony. "She's in the office this morning, but she'll be back by dinner." you nodded your understanding. "Oh, your actor friends will be here tomorrow. Fury is actually letting Tom and Kelly into the compound for your birthday party," you nodded and grinned. It was always fun getting to see your nice normal human friends. They just happened to be famous actors. You really couldn't do anything normally if your only human friends were actors.

You and Loki spent the day pouring over the ASL books. You could study a whole lot faster now that you were soulbond. Everything one of you learned, the other did too. It was a great side effect.

Tony kept checking his watch as the afternoon wore on. You smirked at how adorable he was, waiting anxiously for Pepper to get back. Right before dinner, Pepper returned. Tony jumped up from the couch to go greet her, wrapping Pepper in a too tight hug. You laughed at Pepper's yelp of pain. You took pictures of them to immediately post to Facebook. "Tony! Let go!" Pepper yelped, a cat-tail appearing on her and puffing up. She was still getting used to having magic and didn't always control her shapeshifting. Tony didn't let go until Pepper had kissed him. You was glad they were more comfortable with their relationship being in the open. Pepper came over to you when she saw you. You stood and hugged her too. "Kat! You're back!" she greeted you. You nodded. "How was your trip?" you started signing a reply, but then stopped when you remembered that Pepper hadn't lived here long enough to have learned.

/Lo?/ you called, drawing Loki's attention from his book.

"Sorry, Pep," Tony jumped in while Loki was getting to his feet to come see what the trouble was. "I forgot you don't sign. I'm sorry! Everyone here learned when Veronica was living here permanently. I forgot you haven't been here that long. It feels like you've always lived here!" Tony added at Pepper's puffed up anger. Pepper was always around, but not around around and hadn't known Veronica well. "Anyway, Kat can't talk. It's nice to hear the quiet, actually," Tony stuck his tongue out at you. You reached up at grabbed it, glaring at him. Stupid uncle. Tony made a protesting noise, and spluttered, but couldn't get his tongue back from you.

"What is the matter, Tony?" Loki asked pleasantly. "Does a cat have your tongue?" he asked with mischief in his eyes. You saw the flash of green magic and suddenly Pepper was roaring in laughter. You looked over your shoulder at Loki, raising your eyes in question, until you felt the cat-ears on your head. You let go of Tony's tongue to reach up to feel them.

/Loki!/ you shouted indignantly. Loki just laughed and kissed you.

"I could not help it, darling. The joke was too good," he explained when he broke the kiss.

"Stop that," Tony growled at you. "Just because you're dating doesn't mean you want to see it or know about it." You just gestured between himself and Pepper. "That's different," he growled. You rolled your eyes. Stupid uncle.

/Put it back/ you thought at Loki.

"I will not," he replied pleasantly. you glared at him.

"Tony, her ears are prettier than mine!" Pepper whined, tugging on Tony's sleeve to get his attention. It wasn't like Pepper, but sometimes the cat instincts took over, which was adorable, no matter how much she hated it. You looked over at them at laughed. A minute later your phone dinged. Pepper had taken a picture and posted it to Facebook. You giggled and immediately made it your profile picture.

"Never, Pep," Tony replied exasperated. He pulled Pepper to his side and started petting Pepper's fluffed up cat-ears until his fiancé calmed, or forgot that he was joking. Pepper was such a handful and it amused you to no end that she's the one Tony fell in love with.

"I will show you how to remove them yourself," Loki placated you. He took your hand and magically showed you the process for shapeshifting. "I suggest you do not try to shift forms without me around until you get the hang of it," he added. You nodded, closed your eyes, and concentrated. The cat ears were gone in a moment later. You grinned at Loki when you had successfully done it. He gave you a smile in return. "Well done, darling,"

Your phone dinged again a moment later. You reached into your pocket. You had a text from Tom, the actor who played Loki in the Avengers movies. -It looks like you're back in town. Nice cat ears. Kelly and I got here a day early. Want to meet us for tea?-

-Of course we do. Just let us know where- you typed back. You showed your phone to Loki so he could read the messages.

"What?" Tony asked.

"It appears we are going out to meet our friends for tea," Loki explained. He used magic to change his clothes to jeans and a button down shirt. It was the closest you got him to casual when we were going out. You did manage to get him to wear a t-shirt out of the compound when we went to the amusement park, but that had been stupidly hard work. You stepped up on a box made of air so you could reach Loki's hair to tie it into a manbun for him. You left the magenta-red streak free, tucking it behind his ear. Loki turned around to kiss you when you were done. "It is nice to kiss you when we are the same height," he commented.

"Stop that!" Tony snarled, but you couldn't help but laughing when Pepper kissed him a moment later.

"Also, what's with your hair? Did you try dying it again?" Tony demanded. You shook your head.

"Lady Kathryn has gifted me with a lock of her hair, and I have done the same. It is a sign of love. Do not make fun, Tony," Loki explained, speaking firmly to defend you. You smiled and reached up to touch the lock of Loki's hair which grew among your own hair, tucking it back behind your ear.

Your phone dinged again when you stepped off the invisible box you had been standing on, which you promptly vanished, this time with the location of the coffeeshop Tom wanted to meet you at. "Kat, don't stay out too late. The kids want to watch Superhero Musical in honor of your return," Tony told you when you showed Loki the text.

You nodded. [We won't] you signed at him. Loki offered you a hand. You placed your hand in his and teleported the pair of you from the room before Loki had the chance it. You grinned at him when you arrived, proud of yourself. He laughed and leaned down to kiss you in reply.

You entered the coffeeshop and saw Tom and Kelly already waiting at a table for four. They had drinks for you already too. You waved and made your way through the crowded shop to sit with them. Loki pulled out your chair for you. Always the gentleman. Well, except for yesterday, but that was different.

"How have you been? We heard you were on a mission for the Avengers. It's been all over the news, people speculating on what it was," Tom asked you once you were settled.

[Can you tell him what happened?] you signed to Loki. You hadn't appreciated how difficult this meeting would be. You extra couldn't use telepathy on Tom and Kelly. They didn't have powers.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked, signing the words as he said them. You gaped at him. You hadn't expected him to know how to sign, especially not ASL, BSL maybe, but not ASL. He laughed. "It's a skill I picked up over the years. It seemed useful at the time." you laughed again.

[How are you not married already?] you signed at him. He was very nearly perfect. He looked away with color in his face. You jumped on him. [Who is she?] you demanded, all excitement. He just looked at Kelly.

"Do not tell the press," he told you firmly. You nodded and made the age-old gesture of zipping your lips. He laughed. "So, what happened while you were gone?" you sighed, but explained how you had been cursed with a power that hurt people when you spoke. Loki jumped in to add that it was Balder who had done it. Both Tom and Kelly appreciated that. They knew who Balder was from his actions here on Earth. "All your magic and you can't fix this?" Tom asked Loki.

Loki shook his head sadly. "Not yet. We are researching, but we do not know how Balder did this..."

[I'm fine. It's just a little inconvenient] you reassured them.

You chatted about your lives and what you'd been up to for an hour or so before you all had to go. You got delayed when the press got ahold of the fact that all four of you were there. You got stopped and had to take pictures. You posed nicely for exactly one picture. The rest of the pictures just included you being silly goofballs. You escaped before you had to sign every single slip of paper people could find.

When you arrived back in the commonroom, the group was already gathered for the movie. "C'mon, you two!" they called when you reappeared. You laughed, and you and Loki both used magic to change into pajamas for the movie. Everyone else was already in their pajamas. Tony growled when you were only wearing a tank top and pajama pants, but you glared at him in reply. He was only wearing pajama pants. Everyone was wearing pajamas, including Loki once he had seen that that's what everyone was wearing. You made your way over to Pepper first, while Loki settled himself on the couch. You looked over the scar on Pepper's chest, you could see the top of it just above the top of her tank top. It was light, not nearly as bad at the one on Loki's. You touched it gently, investigating it as a healer.

"I'm fine, Kat. You saved my life that day. I can handle a little beauty mark," Pepper reassured you, laughing. You sighed. You should have done better.

"Don't you dare start thinking that you should have done better," Tony snapped at you, knowing you too well. "You nearly died saving her life. I love you both and I am so grateful you both survived that day. You would have died, Kat, if you had done any more," Tony reminded you. You nodded, but still went to curl up with Loki. You touched the scar on his chest too. Both wounds had been made my Balder. Tony had been wounded in the exact same manner, but you had enough power that day to heal Tony without a scar. Loki you had healed in the middle of battle, his scar was deep and obvious.

"You saved both of our lives that day, darling," he told you softly. "I wear the proof of our battle with pride," he added gently.

"Enough being sad!" one of the super kids called. They started the movie a minute later. Loki pulled you onto his lap and wrapped a blanket around the two of you. You laid your head on his chest so you could watch the movie in peace and listen to all of the kids sing along.

You sat up and stared when they all started signing along to the songs. Most of them were clumsy and missed half the words, except Veronica who was leading the sign-singing. It was amazing that they were willing to try, willing to make you feel included. You laughed and wrestled your arms out of the blanket so you could join along. The duet was hilarious with everyone trying to both sign and sign along to their parts.

Loki used magic and made two clones of himself, one male and one female so he could lead the song. You laughed the loudest at his antics. He also got the loudest applause when the song was over.

You stayed up late with our friends watching Avengers movies to the point where everyone fell asleep in the common room in a big heap of blankets, pillows, and tangled limbs. The Facebook page was overflowing with comments from the community the next morning. You blamed Fury for the pictures, especially when Tony, Loki, and you were the only ones whose faces could be seen in the pictures. You were the only ones whose secret identities were compromised.

That didn't mean you didn't have a separate Facebook page for your superhero alter-ego. You had to give the fans a safe way to contact you for fanmail or they got weird. All of you had social media pages for our superhero alter-egos. Except Loki, who didn't bother with an alter-ego.

You didn't have to worry about Fury's pictures that night, though. It was a comfort to be surrounded by your silly super family, cuddled between Loki and Tony in your heap of pillows and blankets. You were pretty sure your frozen toes were on Tony's stomach too. He didn't complain. He was just glad to have you home.