Elaine rolled her eyes at Kae, but went over to see what the boys were up to.

"What are you two doing?" she asked, going up to the kitten display.

"Looking at the kittens," Tony said with a brief grin. "They're cute."

"They're small," Loki said, blinking at one of the kittens, who was bating at the glass. "And silly."

"They're just babies," Elaine pointed out. "They're going to be small and adorable for a while." She tapped the glass gently with a fingernail, watching the kitten bat at it.

"I like that one." Tony pointed at the little black-and-white kitten that clearly figured his mini Arc reactor must either be a toy or a heat source and was currently attempting to get to it.

"Me, too." Loki grinned as he watched the kitten's tail flicking and twitching.

Elaine nodded at the black and white kitten, but her attention was really grabbed by the little calico napping in the corner. It was absolutely adorable, and her heart melted a bit.

"Can we get this one?" Tony asked, looking at the kitten.

"Please?" Loki added, turning his own set of pleading eyes on Elaine.

Elaine raised an eyebrow.

"You both want the same kitten?" she asked. "Cats aren't like dogs, you can't train them."

"So?" Loki shrugged. "It can spend time with both of us."

"Yeah!" Tony grinned. "It won't be as needy as a dog, either."

"Do you promise to take care of it?" Elaine asked. "Cats aren't as needy as dogs, but they do still need care."

Loki and Tony both nodded eagerly. "We will!" they chorused.

Elaine looked at them, and then nodded.

"Alright," she said. "I'll go talk to the people in charge. Go pick out a set of bowls, some toys, scratching posts, and a collar." She paused for a moment. "Get two sets of everything you pick out."

Tony and Loki exchanged looks before they grinned and nodded, running off to go find Kae, since she had the cart, and go get things. Kae just smiled in amusement and helped them pick things out, though she did make sure Bruce wasn't far.

It took a bit of coordinating, but everyone ended up with the pet they wanted. Although, Elaine would admit that she couldn't leave the little calico kitten behind; it was the last one and all alone without the black-and-white, and she just couldn't leave it.

Kae ended up going to take a look at the puppies, since she saw that Steve had a puppy. She froze, looking at a little Irish wolfhound puppy. She sighed, looking longingly at the puppy, and she noticed Elaine looking at the kitten.

"You know, it's been way too long since we've had pets," she offered.

"Keeping pets was too hard before," Elaine pointed out. She sighed slightly. "I'm such a marshmallow. No willpower at all."

"It's okay. I don't have any either." Kae turned wistful eyes back to the wolfhound pup. "Oh, what the hell. We deserve a treat after all this. Even if the treat comes in the form of pets we haven't had in years."

"Did your cousin tell you he's sharing a cat with Loki?" Elaine asked, grinning a bit.

"Yup, I saw that," Kae said with a grin. "That is going to be the most spoiled cat on the face of the planet, I think."

"Only if it ends up more spoiled than mine," Elaine replied, grinning. She pointed at the little calico. "I just can't leave her behind by herself."

"Of course you can't." Kae grinned. "Hey, can't leave the little Dalmatian without a playmate," she said, nodding to the Irish wolfhound pup.

Elaine smirked just a bit.

"Fury's going to want to strangle us," she commented.

"He can want all he wants," Kae said primly. "He can't get anyone else to babysit them, whether they're normal or like this. We're indispensable now."

"This is true," Elaine replied. She glanced around making note of where all the boys were, and then sighed. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, though," she admitted softly.

"I know." Kae grimaced. "Maybe we can convince Coulson and Natasha to take a day and we can take a day off and go to a spa or something? Just do something relaxing. Where there aren't small children that need watching."

"It's not even that," Elaine said. "I don't mind babysitting. It's just..." she trailed off. "I miss Steve," she finished softly.