"Hey yourself," Bruce murmured back, returning the kiss. "Welcome home." He pulled her close.

"Thanks." Kae smiled a bit, staying there for a few moments until Tony snickered at them. Then she shifted back a bit. "There's pancakes."

"I see them," Bruce said. He didn't let go of her completely, though. Tony could snicker all he liked, as far as Bruce was concerned.

Kae let him keep hold of her, settling in next to him and leaning against him.

"Good pancakes," Steve said before Tony could comment again.

Elaine nodded her agreement, although she didn't add anything to Steve's comment. Kae knew by now how much better her cooking was than Elaine's.

Kae just grinned and relaxed there. "Well, I can tell you this is much quieter than breakfast with a mansion full of teenage mutants."

Elaine snorted.

"No kidding," she said. "I can imagine that's a bit... chaotic."

"A bit? A lot." Kae grinned. "Lots of noise and running and about half a dozen people trying to make six different meals at the same time."

"Fun," Elaine said, grinning. "I got Tony to fry an egg, I consider the week a success."

Kae laughed at that. "Well, I see the kitchen survived," she teased while Tony spluttered indignantly.

"That's because he didn't try to make toast with the laser again," Bruce commented, grinning just a bit.

Kae started laughing. "Oh my, a laser Tony? Really?"

"I hadn't slept in over 48 hours," Tony grumbled. "And it was faster."

Bruce just grinned a bit and pulled Kae closer. He'd missed her very much, and wasn't about to let her go.

Kae didn't mind in the least. She just nestled into his side in contentment. This she could get used to.

Bruce kept an arm around her. Nope, he wasn't about to let her get very far at all.

"I hope you don't have any plans for the next few days," he murmured to her, smiling a bit. "Because I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Kae grinned. "None at all," she said with a brief grin. "Except maybe practicing telekinetic stuff. Oh, speaking of, the professor said I'm actually an odd and unique blend of telekinesis and something else. Apparently normal telekinetics can't form invisible walls with their minds."

"Did he say what that something else was?" Bruce asked, interested. He trusted Xavier's word on the subject, all things considered.

Kae shook her head. "He wasn't quite sure, he just knew it was something else mental." She snuggled into his side a little more. "Actually he said to see if any of you had ideas."

"I'm sure we can do some research," Elaine said. "We'll figure it out."

Kae nodded. She wasn't all that worried about finding out, because she know she'd find out eventually. But maybe it would give Tony something to do for a bit.

Time passed quickly once a routine was established. Elaine ended up spending the week leading up to Christmas with her family, getting everyone up to speed on the unclassified details of the Avengers. Predictably, everyone was starstruck at the idea, and she hoped she wouldn't have to give them a magic demo as well. But things were ready on the evening of the twenty-third when everyone began to really show up for the holiday.

Tony arranged for cars for all of them, so they could all get there in one go. He'd brought Pepper, Thor had brought Jane and Darcy (who Tony still couldn't think of as his daughter), and Coulson had been dragged into the fun too.

Kae was the first one in the door, leaving the others to come in their own good time and greeting the Clan like family. Which she kind of almost was.

The Clan did indeed greet Kae like family, and welcomed her in almost immediately. Then an awed sort of silence fell as the Avengers filed in. Elaine's cousins stared with rapt attention as the most famous people in America came into the living room, and Elaine had to work at not face-palming. This was exactly what she hadn't wanted to happen.

"Dude, how big is your family?" Darcy finally blurted out, breaking the silence. "Cause, seriously, can I just be adopted now? This is awesome."

Kae snorted. "I don't think this is even quite everyone," she said, surveying the group with a critical eye. "Stick around long enough and you'll be absorbed into the group."

Tony snickered, completely at ease, and slung an arm over Kae's shoulders. "Well, start making introductions, minion."

"Call me minion again and I'll zap you." Kae was grinning though, and almost without thinking she reached over to Bruce to make sure he was still okay.

Finally, the Clan silence was broken by one of Elaine's older cousins; apparently, Kenny had regained his wits faster than the rest.

"Steve," he said, grinning and going over to shake Steve's hand, "welcome back. Always good to see you."