"I know how to cook, in theory," Tony said with a shrug. "I just tend to get bored half-way through and go do other things. And they are sentient, they just don't have the necessary arms to do all the cooking themselves."

"Nope, come here, you're going to fry an egg all by yourself," Elaine said. "If you can make an edible fried egg, we'll consider the morning a success and you can be on your merry caffeinated way."

"I have no interest in cooking, that's what take-out and other people are for." Tony remained stubbornly seated.

"Just one egg," Elaine said. "So you can tell Kae when she gets home that you accomplished something not relating in any way to technology."

Tony sighed again but grumbled to himself, fetching a pan. The stove turned on before he could touch it, and he absently patted the side.

"Medium heat," Elaine said. "Wait for the pan to get hot first." Carefully, she walked him through how to fry an egg, pointedly not commenting on the sentient appliances. Because she noticed he hadn't touched the stove when it turned on.

Tony did manage to fry the egg, though the white ended up a bit rubbery and the yolk wasn't cooked all the way through. But it wasn't burned to a crisp, either, so he was counting it as a win.

"There, satisfied?"

"Very," Elaine said, cracking a couple more eggs into the pan for herself. "Go make yourself some toast and eat your breakfast."

Tony snorted and put the toast in. He didn't bother to set the toaster, since it knew how he liked his toast, and then he sat down to eat.

Things in the tower went on like that for another two days, until Kae finally came back. Elaine was very glad to see her friend again.

Kae grinned as she dropped her bags in her room before heading up to the living room. She'd opted to come back Thursday morning, since she'd been too tired Wednesday night, but she'd gotten back fairly early. Now to see if the kitchen was in one piece...

Natasha was the only one in the kitchen, sipping quietly at a cup of coffee when Kae walked in. Natasha looked at her, gave a small nod, and went back to her coffee.

Kae nodded back and made sure there was enough coffee for everyone else when they eventually got up before she started on pancake batter. She figured that would take long enough for people to get up on their own.

Clint was the next one to walk in. When he saw Kae, he grinned brightly.

"Finally," he said. "Do you have any idea what breakfast was like for the last four days?" He sat down at the table, although he was grinning enough that it was clear he was mostly joking.

Kae laughed. "Let me guess, everyone fending for themselves and Tony nearly setting the kitchen on fire." She grinned and started cooking pancakes for him.

"Pretty much," Clint replied, nodding.

Kae laughed again and went back to cooking, shaking her head.

She did look over when Steve came in from his morning run, though, and he grinned at her.

"Welcome back," he said, looking at the pancakes. His shower could wait until after breakfast.

Elaine walked in a couple minutes later, grinning.

"I knew I smelled real breakfast," she said. She went over and hugged her friend. "Welcome home."

"Thanks." Kae hugged her back and then nodded to the table. "Sit and I'll bring over more pancakes. Clint's already had three, I'm waiting to see when he finally gives up."

Elaine grinned and did so, sitting next to Steve. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she caught a quick picture of Kae at the stove and sent it to Tony.

Tony was up in the kitchen in under two minutes, practically drooling at the stack of pancakes.

"It's about time," he said, though he did nudge Kae in passing. "Breakfasts here are horrible without you."

"I'm sure." Kae grinned briefly. "So now we're only missing Thor and Bruce."

"Thor went to visit Jane for a couple of days during a break in her science," Clint said around a mouthful of pancake. "Bruce is... somewhere around here."

"And don't believe Tony, he managed to cook himself an egg and everything," Elaine added, taking some pancakes.

Kae nodded and sent a quick text off to Bruce.

There's pancakes if you come up to the kitchen, dearest.

"I missed you, you're not allowed to leave again," Tony said after he'd swallowed about half of a pancake. Kae just laughed and cooked more pancakes for them all.

Bruce was busy meditating when the text came, and he initially thought it was Tony trying to get him into the lab again. When he looked at the message, though, he smiled.

Be there in a moment. Welcome home.

With that, he got up and headed for the kitchen.

Kae had just finished when Bruce came up, so she dumped the bowl in the sink and walked over to kiss him quickly.

"Hey there," she murmured.