"Everyone seems more... mellow," Elaine commented to Kae when she found her friend in the kitchen. "Something happen while Steve and I were gone?"

"Natasha took off for a few days," Kae said with a shrug. "Bruce has been pretty relaxed. I guess everyone just relaxed after things got back to normal with him."

"Seems so," Elaine said. She leaned against the counter. "Steve and I had a good weekend away. We needed it."

"I know, I could tell." Kae grinned. "You both look more relaxed. Seems like for once everything is smooth sailing."

"Yeah," Elaine replied. She grinned at her friend a bit. "Though you look like you're in here taking refuge for the moment. The guys being all hover-y again?"

"Yes. Yes they are." Kae huffed. "They're hovering and fussing and being infuriating and they won't stop."

"They're just worried about you and the baby," Elaine soothed. She grinned a bit. "Though Loki should know better."

"Loki hasn't been hovering, he's been making me tea and letting me vent at him." Kae grinned. "And threatening to teleport us out for a while."

"An empty threat," Elaine said. "At least, I think so. I don't think he can teleport right now, or else he would have already." She paused for a moment. "I know this is probably the last thing you want to hear, but how are you holding up with the baby?"

Kae rolled her eyes but shrugged. "Fine so far. Being treated very carefully, which is kind of driving me nuts, and I can't get around as fast or stay up as long as I normally could. But that isn't so bad." She smiled a bit. "I have to admit I'll be glad when the little one is born."

"I bet," Elaine said. "And you know everyone will try to spoil him or her rotten." She paused, hesitating, but didn't say anything else. She figured Kae was sick of people touching her stomach without asking, or touching in general, so she didn't say anything.

Kae could tell anyway, because she knew Elaine that well and her X-gene was kicking into overdrive, so she snorted. "The baby's not awake at the moment," she said. "But next time he or she is awake, I'll let you know and you can feel. She'll probably try to use your hand as target practice, happens with Bruce all the time."

Elaine blinked, and then flushed slightly.

"Was I that obvious?" she asked.

"No, not really. But I've known you for how many years now? Besides, apparently my normally fairly low-level empathy has been kicked into overdrive while I'm carrying this kid." Kae shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"Still, you must just be so sick of people trying to touch by now," Elaine said. "I don't want to make it worse. I've been trying to keep my hands to myself."

"Nah, you're fine. But if Tony tries to touch me again today I'm going to smack him." Kae rolled her eyes at her cousin. "I swear he's been worse than Bruce in some ways."

"Kind of can't blame either of them, though," Elaine pointed out. "It's Bruce's baby, and Tony's little cousin."

"I can blame them," Kae muttered. "They can fuss all they want over the little one after she's out of me."

"She? So it's a girl?" Elaine asked, curious.

"I don't know, I've just started calling her 'her'. It seems wrong to refer to him or her as 'it'. And saying him or her all the time is kind of wearying." Kae shrugged. "I'll find out soon enough."

"You can probably find out at this point, right?" Elaine pointed out. "So you know for sure."

"Yeah, I could find out," Kae agreed. "But I don't think I want to find out just yet. You know Tony is just going to buy everything once the little one's born anyway."

"True," Elaine said. "Not too much longer, right? A few more months?"

"Two months. Give or take." Kae shrugged. "Not that I'm counting down the days or anything."

Elaine snickered.

"No, not at all," she teased. She was quiet for a moment. "I wonder if the little one is going to end up with the X-gene."