Alexis beamed and hugged his neck.

"Thank you, Mr. Captain," she said to him.

Steve melted a little inside and he carefully patted her back, careful not to dislodge her.

"You've very welcome," he said quietly. Thor was the luckiest man on earth.

Alexis grinned, and then skipped off again to go play.

Elaine heard the whole exchange, and nudged Steve a bit.

"You're a pretty good babysitter," she teased him.

Steve blushed. "She didn't exactly make it hard," he said quietly, watching as one of the other cousins came forward with a bit of fan mail. He took it with a smile and a nod.

"You realize, of course, you're coming back next year for Christmas," Elaine continued with a grin. "I doubt they'll let you say no."

"Um." Steve wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Okay?"

"Just saying," Elaine said.

The rest of the visit was fun and relaxing, but Elaine was glad to get back to the tower at the end of the day.

The next month passed easily, and soon it was Christmas time. The Tower had been decorated accordingly, mostly by Steve and the girls, and the girls had decided to make a day of their shopping.

"JARVIS!" Kae said once they were in the elevator. "We have gifts and we need a place to hide them where Tony won't find them!"

"Understood," JARVIS said, sounding amused. "Would you like me to distract them as well so they don't see you?"

"Please and thank you!" Kae grinned.

"We only need a couple of minutes," Elaine added. "Just long enough to hide these. Where is everyone, so we know where to avoid?"

"Captain Rogers is in the kitchen, Agents Romanoff and Barton are in the gym, Doctor Banner is in the lab, and Thor is not currently in the building," JARVIS relayed obediently. "Sir is in the lab with Doctor Banner."

"Excellent. Makes things easier." Kae grinned. "Don't tell any of them we're back for a few minutes, okay?"

"Of course, miss King." The elevator opened. "If you walk down the hallway, you will see panel open. I suggest you put your gifts in there."

"Awesome. Thanks, JARVIS." Kae led the way over to the aforementioned panel.

Elaine followed the sound of Kae's footsteps and helped her hide the gifts. Once they were safely hidden, she went to go see what Steve was up to.

Steve had gotten his shopping done already, and he was once again looking at part of his gift for Elaine. He snapped the jewelry box shut when he heard her move into the kitchen.

"Have fun?" he asked with a smile, shoving the box in his pocket.

"Christmas shopping is always fun," Elaine replied. She grinned. "And Kae said that the salesgirl's face was priceless when she realized what we were asking her to find for us."

Steve laughed quietly. "Sounds like you had a good trip," he agreed. "Got everything in one trip or will you have to go again?" Because it had taken him three different trips to find what he was looking for.

"No, I think we found everything," Elaine said. "A first for us, really."

Steve chuckled. "Yeah. Hey, if you need me to keep everyone out of your rooms for a bit when you decide you need to wrap things..." He trailed off. He could always come up with some excuse to keep everyone in the same room so he could keep an eye on them all.

"I have Kae to do that this year," Elaine said after a slight hesitation. "Otherwise I would have had it done at the mall. Gift wrapping is a bit... complex, when it means I'm trying to do things with my fingers besides seeing."

Steve nodded. "Alright." After a moment, he reached over and gently tugged her closer, folding his arms around her. It wasn't much, but he liked the physical contact.

Elaine sighed softly and relaxed into his arms. She always felt safe and content when he did that, and wasn't about to complain about it.

They got a few moments of peace before Tony and Kae came into the kitchen.

"I told you you're not allowed in the lab," Tony growled.

"Stop glaring at me! I told you, Bruce and I have been working on it!" Kae sounded just a little upset, glancing back at Bruce for support.

Bruce held up a his hands in defense.

"Don't drag me into this," he said, taking the slightest step back.

Elaine sighed a bit, this time more disappointed than anything, and slipped out of Steve's arms when they were interrupted.

Tony deftly changed the conversation. "Oh, sorry, were we interrupting something?" His grin was huge and shit-eating.

Steve just glowered at him, since he knew that Tony knew he was indeed interrupting something. Damn billionaire genius.

Kae huffed and moved over to a cabinet, pouring herself a drink before going into the living room instead.

"Tony, just stop," Elaine said, giving him a Look.

Tony just grinned and sauntered over to get himself a drink and plop down near Kae. When she got up and went to go start dinner instead of sitting next to him, he realized he might maybe have said something somewhat non-intelligent, and he might possibly have screwed up with her. Well crap.

When Kae came back into the kitchen, Elaine frowned slightly.

"Everything alright?" she asked her friend.