The group ended up heading home after a couple more days. Elaine loved her family, she really did, but a week with the Clan was enough to wear out anyone. She was glad to get back to the relative quiet of the tower.

After they'd been back for almost a week, Kae left the Tower and went to get a few things. When she came back almost an hour later she was looking a little wobbly, and she shut herself in her room for a while.

Elaine didn't notice Kae was home for almost an hour, having been immersed in magic lessons. When she did notice, though, she went to go see what was up.

"Kae?" she called softly, knocking on the door. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Kae said, hurrying over to open the door. "Everything's fine, I just needed to take a nap. Haven't been sleeping well."

"You slept in this morning," Elaine pointed out. She could hear the faint waver to Kae's voice. "What's going on? You sound like something's up."

Kae shook her head. "I just need to talk to Bruce sometime soon." Because she did kind of want him to be the first to know. She just had to figure out how to tell him.

Elaine frowned for a moment, considering that, before the conclusion threw itself at her and she blinked.

"Okay," she said. "He's down in the labs, do you want me to go get him?"

"No. Not yet." Kae shook her head a bit. "I'll talk to him tonight, maybe. Or tomorrow." Because she just wasn't comfortable enough with the idea yet.

"Alright," Elaine said. She looked at her friend. "You know I'll listen, if you want to talk."

"I know. I just, I need some time to think and get my head around this." Kae managed a tired little smile. "But I promise I'll come knocking, probably sooner rather than later."

Elaine nodded.

"Go lay down," she said. "I'll keep the others from bothering you."

"Thank you." Kae hugged her briefly before returning to her room to get some more rest.

She just needed a bit of time to nap and think things through before talking to Bruce.

Elaine returned the hug before heading back to the common room.

Kae came up for dinner, as usual, and cooked for everyone, although she was mostly content to just watch everything else.

Tony, meanwhile, had dragged Bruce into almost half a dozen projects with him, and they were currently bickering over the best way to improve the explosive-tipped arrows for Clint.

Bruce was enjoying the mental challenge, and didn't notice how late it was getting. He and Tony were alike that way; neither of them particularly liked stopping a project once it was rolling.

"Sir, it is after midnight," Jarvis finally interrupted the two.

Tony blinked. "Is it? Damn, it is." He glanced at Bruce with a mischievous grin. "All-nighter?"

Bruce blinked when the time was brought to their attention.

"Ah, not tonight," he said, stretching a bit. "Sorry. I should at least try for some sleep."

"Eh. I tried." Tony shrugged and rolled his shoulders. "Go sleep, then, so we can keep brainstorming tomorrow. Jarvis, save all this but keep it up so we can continue in the morning."

"Of course, sir."

Bruce nodded and waved to Tony, heading upstairs. It was late, so he would have to see if he could slip into his room without waking Kae, or see if she had insomnia again.

Kae was mostly asleep, though she did wake up some when he came in.

"Working with Tony?" she murmured, looking at him sleepily.

"Yeah," Bruce replied softly as he slipped into bed with her. "Lost track of time. Go back to sleep."

"Mmm." Kae settled down again, sprawling over her part of the bed until she was comfortable.

Once Kae was comfortable and asleep again, Bruce settled in next to her. It took him a while to fall asleep, but he somehow managed.

Kae slept in again, and by the time she finally got up Bruce was already gone, back working in the lab. She sighed but went to go make brunch.

Bruce ended up being in the lab with Tony almost all day, only coming back upstairs in time for dinner.