Kae was quiet for a few moments. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I get that." Not that Bruce would let her get any closer, she thought with a touch of bitterness. But she didn't begrudge Elaine and Steve that at all.

"I hope whatever this is gets fixed soon," Elaine said softly.

"Yeah, me too." Kae let out a quiet sigh before she shook herself. A store employee came over to help them, and soon Kae's arms were full of wriggling puppy with huge paws. She was grinning hugely.

"Okay. I think we can go soon."

Elaine nodded.

"Good," she said. She grinned a bit. "I have a pair of boys to teach in the art of caring for kittens."

"And I get to teach Bruce how to care for fish, and Steve how to train a dog." Kae grinned and headed for the front to check out once she was sure they had everything they'd need.

It wasn't more than a couple of days later that the babysitting finally ended. Because the boys had all wanted to sleep in a blanket fort again, Elaine had decided to supervise and sleep on the couch. She had been sleeping pretty well, right up until someone shouted. It startled her awake so badly that she flailed herself off of the couch and onto the floor.

Steve woke as soon as he heard Tony's startled yell (and really, who would have thought Tony would be the first one up?), and he rolled to the side, almost landing on Bruce. Scrambling backwards, he managed to put his back to the couch, pulling Elaine upright.

"What the hell?!" Tony yelped again, extricating himself from between Loki and Bruce. They were all in what he would call a massive cuddle pile (if he was someone else and they weren't the Avengers and goddammit he did not cuddle!). And he was very confused.

Elaine flinched slightly when someone touched her, until her brain caught up enough to remind her to turn on her eyes. Once the world came into focus around her, she looked around to figure out what was going on. When she realized exactly what happened, her breath caught in her throat.

"Steve..." she squeaked. She latched on to him, hugging him tightly.

Bruce blinked and looked around when he realized just where he was. This wasn't normal at all... Carefully, he slipped out of the pile.

Thor was also confused as to what was happening. He didn't remember how he got there, but he had a feeling that it wasn't the first time.

Steve let out an oof but didn't object, instead hugging her just as tightly. He pulled her almost into his lap, looking out over everything. The memories were coming back to him slowly but surely.

Kae emerged from her room to see what was going on, still looking rumpled. She blinked when she saw them all as their normal selves, and she had to restrain herself from checking on Bruce. But she did sidle closer to him.

"...Did we really end up in a pile?" Tony asked, sounding mildly horrified.

"As I recall, Stark," Loki said, smug as he got up and brushed himself off, "it was your idea."

"You're not exempt, Loki," Elaine broke in. "As I recall, it was your idea to agree and beg for more blankets." Even as she spoke, she cuddled closer to Steve and sighed softly.

Loki shrugged and smiled a little as Checkers, the black and white kitten, ran over to meow at him. He scooped up the kitten easily, holding her and petting her. Tony looked mildly disgruntled.

Smudge, the little calico, came skidding around the corner after Checkers, still wanting to play. The kittens ended up waking the dalmation pup as they went.

Elaine just rolled her eyes at Tony and Loki and went back to snuggling Steve.

"I missed you," she said to him softly.

Bruce, on the other hand, was quietly going through the memories coming back to him. He glanced at Kae.

"I apologize if I scared you at all," he said quietly to her.

Steve smiled a little and pulled her closer. "I... well, I can't say I missed you since I didn't realize the difference, but I'm sorry you had to suffer through that." He kissed her briefly.

At least until Bucky, the Dalmatian pup, barked as he woke up, consequently waking up Bran, the wolfhound puppy. He scampered over to Kae for reassurance.

"No, no, you didn't scare me," Kae assured him hurriedly, putting a hand on his arm. "Really, it's fine, you just surprised me once or twice. Don't worry about it, Bruce."

Elaine returned the kiss.

"You were cute as a kid, though," she teased him gently. "And very snuggly."

"I just wanted to be sure," Bruce said. "I... wasn't able to keep my temper, I know."

Steve smiled a little and pulled her closer. "I'm not sorry," he said with a grin. "I am, however, very glad to be back to normal."

Kae shook her head. "No one blames you," she said quietly, stepping closer to him, still rubbing his arm.

"I'm glad you are, too," Elaine replied. She rested her head on his shoulder.

Bruce didn't say anything to that, just looking down a bit.

Steve stayed there, holding her close in a way he hadn't been able to for a while. He'd definitely have to find some way to make it up to her.

Kae frowned and looked at him. "Bruce, no one else is blaming you, so don't start blaming yourself," she said sternly. "Seriously. Don't even."

"You have to admit," Bruce said quietly, "it is kind of my fault to begin with. You can't argue that point." He carefully didn't mention that he'd been provoked both times while he was 'not himself.'

"Bruce," Kae said, giving him a Look. "Both times the Other Guy got out, you'd been provoked. It's not like you just threw a temper tantrum. The others goaded you into it." She paused there. "Okay, yeah, maybe it is your fault that the Other Guy exists, but you've done a fantastic job keeping damages to a minimum so far. You didn't hurt anyone, you didn't do anything irreparable over the past month or so, there's nothing for you to worry about or try and blame yourself over."

Bruce didn't say anything. It would likely take a long time to change how he thought about the Other Guy. He did, however, give her something of a wry look as he sifted through more of what happened.

"Goldfish?" he asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Hey, you said you wanted goldfish. Said they were calming to watch. I figured it couldn't hurt to let you get some fish." Kae shrugged. "Besides, fish is better than the kitten Tony and Loki are sharing, or the puppy Steve got."

"They're sharing a kitten," Bruce repeated. He sighed slightly and shook his head. "I can't see any good coming from that."

"Neither can I," Kae admitted with a grin. "But it should be entertaining."

She was quiet for a moment before she picked up her, puppy, cuddling him for a moment. "Oh, and this is Bran. This one's mine. I figured I should introduce you two again." She grinned briefly, even as Bran wagged hopefully.

Bruce couldn't help but smile a little as he offered his hand for the puppy to sniff. He couldn't deny the little furry thing was cute.

Kae grinned and let him and Bran get reacquainted, the puppy wagging more vigorously and licking his hand.