Hermione finished eating when Natasha finished plaiting her hair. Natasha cleaned up everything before taking her back into the bathroom to get her washed up. Turning on the tap, she carefully lifted Hermione up so she could reach the sink. Setting her down, she took a clean washcloth and dampened it so she could wipe her mouth clean.

Natasha was about to get her started on brushing her teeth, but then she thought of something else. "You're not going to sleep are you?"

Hermione shook her head.

"That's okay, you've slept more than enough. What do you want to do?"

"Go home."

Leaning against the marble countertop Natasha tapped her fingers against the polished surface."I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

Hermione looked down her shoulders slumping. "Why not?"

Natasha knew better than to try to answer that question, so she deflected."Do you know what I like to do when I'm feeling sad?"

Hermione looked up at her with a mildly curious expression.

Natasha leaned down and whispered, "it's a secret, but I'll tell you."

Natasha stood with Hermione at the top of the last flight of stairs that led down to the foyer and front door.

"Remember, do not let go of my hand unless I say so," Natasha reminded Hermione knowing the first rule of having children was not letting them out of your sight in public places. Being a spy gave her an ugly perspective of the world and cultivated a healthy distrust of people in general.

Hermione nodded and took Natasha's hand.

Natasha placed a finger to her lips to indicate that they have to be quiet as they descended the stairs in the dark because for some reason children really liked games where they need to be sneaky.

They made it to the door when Tony turned on the lights. "Where are you going?" For all the times he complained of being tired earlier, his need to control everything and overall paranoia won out.

Natasha looked over her shoulder. "For a walk."

"This late at night? With Hermione?" His tone really made it known that he didn't trust her.

She turned around to face him."She's slept for at least two days straight. I thought I could take her somewhere fun. You know, a distraction." Her face gave nothing away. "I'm also not asking for permission."

"I don't trust you. Just earlier today Fury and Hill were here trying to take her."

"What?" Hermione piped up picking up that they were talking about her.

"No one is going to take you, sweetheart," Tony cooed at the child before glaring at Natasha.

The kitchen door swung open. "I'll go with them," Bruce volunteered. He came out wiping his hands on a towel after finishing the dishes because he was a good houseguest. "I could use a walk after all that pizza and beer."

Natasha picked up Hermione and balanced her on her hip. "That works for me." She unlocked the front door and walked out without waiting for Bruce.

"You better bring her back by dawn!" Tony called after her like a disgruntled parent.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Bruce said as he followed her out.

It was not a very long walk by New York standards. Most of upper Manhattan largely survived unscathed from the invasion in Midtown, part of the reason why Tony chose this particular house as free Airbnb lodging for his new colleagues. To Banner's surprise, they stopped in front of a dance school.

"Are we breaking and entering?" Bruce whispered holding Hermione. They really needed to get her proper shoes and clothes.

"It's not breaking and entering if you have a key," Natasha said coolly. "My friend owns this place." Sure enough she did have a key and the code to disable the security alarm. "I come here to practice when I have time. And with my schedule, it's sometimes in the middle of the night," Natasha didn't explain any further.

Bruce looked around and behind him still feeling very conspicuous before following Natasha inside.

Natasha flicked on the lights illuminating the empty space. The studio was just large enough to accommodate twenty or so students given the price of real estate in New York. "Go ahead, pick whatever you want to wear," Natasha gently prodded Hermione to go into the open closet in the back. It was filled with tutus and dance costumes, while Natasha connected the speaker adapter to her phone. Soon the small studio was filled with the melodies of Tchaikovsky.

"Wow, I didn't know you danced," Bruce said surprised. He was half expecting to end up at a gun range for target practice, but this oddly made sense too. Natasha was so poised and composed that even her ass kicking looked like moving art.

Natasha went to her locker and pulled out a clean change of clothes before disappearing into the back dressing room. "Well, we've only just met," she half yelled from behind the closed door. She came out in fitted black lululemon leggings and a relaxed fit tee. "And not exactly under the best circumstances. This is more of a fourth or fifth date reveal."

Bruce let out a nervous laugh not sure if she was actually flirting with him. She was constantly surprising him. He watched as she sauntered back to her locker to grab a pair of worn pointe shoes before sitting down gracefully on the ground to put them on.

"Hermione?" she called in the middle of her warm up and stretches.

Still wearing Jane's t-shirt, Hermione scampered back out onto the dance floor with a blue green colored tutu skirt bound around her shoulders with one arm tucked underneath the layers of tulle making her look like a small lopsided christmas tree.

"Bruce could you help her with that? There's also shoes in the back for the kids." Natasha said without looking up. Her face was pressed to her knees in a seated forward fold.

Bruce pulled her other arm through and readjusted the skirt so it fit around Hermione's waist. "Look at you. You look like a little princess," he said cheerfully. She waited patiently while Bruce scanned the shelves where there seemed to be endless boxes of shoes. Out of his depth he called for Natasha, "uh, I'm not sure which ones will fit her."

Natasha came in a picked up a box that had Hermione's exact size. She helped her into the new ballet slippers. "You ready?" Natasha asked.

Nodding yes Hermione took Natasha's hand and they went over to the barre together. She had just started a few ballet classes back in England. Her parents wanted her to be well rounded and activity oriented thinking that too many parents let their children go to school and come home to only do homework and watch television. Those families were of course mostly working class, but not the Grangers though. They've been trying lots of different classes from piano, gymnastics, swimming just to see what sticks. Her mum had been a pretty accomplished concert flautist and her dad played football all the way through uni.

Natasha and Hermione faced each other at the barre which was attached to full length mirrors. "Arms up. First position," Natasha instructed. Joining her heels and turning out her toes, she formed a circle with her arms like she was hugging a beach ball.

Hermione mirrored all of Natasha's movements.

"Back straight, extend your neck, good. Raise your arms a little more." Natasha counted out cues timed to the beat of the music as they ran through drills moving back and forth from first and second position. "You can come join us, Banner. If you want," Natasha said not missing a beat.

"Uh..no thanks." He was fine just watching. "I'm not the dancing type."

"Doesn't matter. Ballet is an excellent discipline. It teaches you lots of things, namely discipline, coordination, form, control. It builds strength, stamina, flexibility. Keep your toes pointed, Hermione. Perfect. In. Out. Stretch and close. Demi plie." Natasha continued to call out the moves performing them with her. Some children need structure to thrive, and she had a hunch Hermione might be one of them. This what she needed, Natasha thought. A good distraction, something to keep her mind off of her parents. That was her plan anyways because she was not sure what she would do if Hermione started crying. Of the six of them, Clint was most well equipped to handle children, so this was going to be a challenge for all of them.

Bruce caved and took a spot behind Hermione at the barre and attempted to follow along. He winced when he squatted too deeply in a plie. There were a few audible cracks and pops, but it was worth it for Bruce to see Hermione laugh as she watched him struggle in the mirror.

"I'm bored," Hermione said after a while. Natasha was expecting that. "Do you know why we do these exercises over and over again?" She had not intended to make this a bigger lesson for her, since they were supposed to be having fun.

Hermione shook her head, but continued to follow Natasha's movements.

"They make you stronger and ready to do the really fun stuff," with that said Natasha went on pointe and bourree away from the barre. She did a few horizontal jumps, arabesques, and finished with a triple pirouette landing in fourth position.

Bruce and Hermione clapped. Awe-struck Hermione tried to follow her example and frowned when she couldn't do it. Her grand jete had no lift and she lacked the balance to complete the turns. Natasha caught her as she came out of a spin. "See, you're not ready yet." Her tone firm, but not critical.

Hermione pouted slumping into Natasha's arms.

Looking down at her, Natasha sighed,"alright, we can have a little playtime on the floor."

Hermione's face immediately lit up.

Natasha taught her the remaining positions and how to do some proper turns. She was not ready to learn them yet, but tonight was about having fun, so she guided her through some showier moves and played with a few lifts. Even Banner joined in for those. Mostly Hermione pretended to be an airplane while they took turns hoisting her over their heads. They even got a few more smiles and giggles out of her.

Eventually, Natasha gracefully collapsed onto the ground having done too many fouettes on demand. Hermione seemed to really like those. Sitting in a wide straddle position she lowered her stomach and chest onto the floor to get in a satisfying stretch. Resting her head on folded arms on the ground she got a sideways view of Hermione turning with one leg tucked. She had the technique expected of a fire year old novice and a very determined look on her face as she spun like a lopsided dreidel.

"I think we should head back." Bruce had surrendered himself to exhaustion laying himself down on the floor long before Natasha did. They were both enhanced individuals, but they both have had a very long day."After falling out of the helicarrier twice and fighting an army of aliens, I'm actually kinda tired."

Natasha flipped her head over to look at him. "Sleep would be nice," she agreed. "Do you want to tell her that we have to go now?"

Bruce lifted his head to see Hermione still practicing very badly, but with the same intensity from before. He laid his head back down and sighed, "only if you carry her home."

Standing on top of the stoop, Pepper shifted all the bags to one hand so she could fish out her key. It was still early in the morning. A blue grey tone light bathed the beautiful white stone facades of the upper west side while the bright morning sunlight just peaked out behind the taller buildings. Opening the door and walking inside she called out, "hello?"

Minutes later Tony jogged down the stairs muttering something about five stories and no elevator. Pepper dropped the bags on the ground and hugged him. "Don't you ever do that again Anthony Stark!" she slapped his chest a few times.

"What? Save the world?" he said cheekily. Then he kissed her.

"That was reckless," she said, knowing that it would not stop him from doing it again. She dug through the bags. "I was able to get into Barney's before they opened today. Surprisingly, the aliens missed all of Madison Avenue. They didn't have a huge selection, but I got a few things and some extras in different sizes. Where is she?"

"On their way back. Banner just texted me."

Pepper took a deep breath,"there's something else you should see."

They walked into the kitchen where there was a small tv and turned it on.

Tony scratched his beard. "I had expected this much."

"Renowned Nuclear Physicist Heinrich Schafer has survived the attack and is in a stable, but critical condition at Germany's top hospital. Others were not so lucky."

"German authorities are still searching for the missing girl. She disappeared the same night as the attack that killed both Evelyn and Jonathan Granger. Two English dentists on holiday with their daughter and friends in Germany."

"Until a body is found, we will continue searching."

"In other news, the death toll continues to rise in the aftermath of the invasion."

"There are so many unanswered questions."

"We're back," Bruce poked his head through the kitchen door. "What are you watching?"

Tony shut off the TV. "The news. Did you have fun?" Tony asked his attention directed toward Hermione.

Still clutching Natasha's hand, she nodded shyly. Her demeanor changed when she saw yet another unfamiliar face.

Pepper approached the three that were still by the doorway. She bent at the waist and smiled. "Hi, I'm Pepper." She looked at how haphazardly dressed she was and her heart broke a little remembering why she was here.

"Hi," she replied swishing her tutu skirt. "I'm Hermione."

"I think she's tired. We let her stay up all night." That translated to I'm tired. I stayed up all night on Natasha's usually unreadable face.

Pepper rose to her full height to speak to Natasha. "I bought her some clothes. I think they'll fit." Pepper walked out with the two of them back into the foyer, while Bruce stayed behind to discuss with Tony what they were planning to do that day with the tesseract.

Pepper picked up the shopping bags next to the staircase.

"What do you say?" Natasha prompted. She took the bags from Pepper.

"Thank you, Ms. Pepper."

Pepper smiled, "you're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else."

"An elevator, maybe?" Natasha's lips quirked into a subtle smile.

Pepper laughed. "Tony has complained about the same thing ever since he inherited this house." She ran her fingers along the dark wooden bannister. "Even after all the extensive renovations, he still won't put one in. Maria Stark was adamant about maintaining the historic integrity of the house."

"That explains it," Natasha said as she helped Hermione up the stairs. When they reached the third floor where the master bedroom was. She opened the door and found the bed undisturbed.

The stairs creaked as Jane descended them dressed in comfy pajama pants and a t-shirt. She heard the arrival of Hermione and Natasha and went down to meet them.

"So much for saving your spot," Natasha glanced at the fully made bed. "Where's Thor?"

Jane rolled her eyes, but smiled. "He left early this morning to go look for…" She stopped herself when Hermione peered up at her.

Natasha understood. "We had a big night too."

"We did ballet!" Hermione twirled. "Oops." She put a hand to her mouth. "Sorry that was supposed to be a secret." She looked at Natasha apologetically.

"That's okay. Jane is trustworthy."

Jane smiled at Hermione, "that must have been fun. I love ballet. Maybe I'll come with you guys next time." She lifted her gaze to meet Natasha's. "How about we let Natasha get some rest?"

Natasha looked a Jane tiredness crept into her body. "Do you mind? I think I'm going to crash."

"No, of course not," Jane took Hermione's hand and the Barney bags. "Get some rest."

"Thanks," Natasha went inside the bedroom and closed the door to catch up on much needed sleep.

"Let's see what's inside of these bags," Jane said as they climbed yet another flight of stairs to get to Jane and Thor's room.

The house was quiet for the rest of the morning.

Flying through the air Thor spotted his destination and landed on the roof of Tony's house.

"THOR!"

Thor walked over to the edge and looked down where Tony was yelling at him.

"I saw you! You better not have left scorch marks on my roof! Now get down because the door's locked up there."

Thor jumped and landed next to Steve and Tony, who were both carrying shopping bags.

"Any leads?" Tony asked as he unlocked the door to let everyone in.

Natasha greeted them near the door having just grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen and was making her way back upstairs.

"No, it was a fruitless search," Thor answered tonelessly frustrated that his brother had outwitted him again. "What were you two doing?"

"Toy shopping. We had to go all the way to Brooklyn. The Toys R Us in Times Square was destroyed because those Chitauri are such joyless assholes. That and Amazon has done a number to retail stores the last couple of years, so toy stores are a thing of the past," he said that as if the entire trip had been a chore for him despite having gone a little crazy like a kid in a toy store.

"That's quite a haul, Stark. Did you buy the entire toy store?" she tapped her fingers against the ceramic cup she nursed in her hands.

"Rogers here only wanted to buy her dolls and tea sets. I'll give you a free pass since you slept through the second wave feminist movement," he turned to Natasha the only female in the room. "I can say that because my girlfriend runs my company."

Natasha rolled her eyes while sipping her coffee.

"I on the other hand bought puzzles, a Nintendo DS with the trifecta, Pokemon, Mario, and Zelda. And every kid's favorite toy." He stuffed his hand down one of the bags and dug out a box of, "legos."

"The owner of the store was kind enough to help me pick out some books," Steve added.

"Hm..Yeah, who wouldn't want to help this set of muscles here. She was pretty star struck at Captain America being in her store. I'm pretty sure she wrote her number on the back of that receipt." Tony glanced at the long sleeve of paper that stuck out of one of the bags

Steve folded the piece of paper and hastily stuffed it in his pocket. "Anyways, these books that we bought should explain death to her in a way that is appropriate and easy to digest for someone her age. I think we can do better than what happened on the helicarrier." He pulled out an assortment of books with illustrated covers that had titles like The Goodbye Book, When Dinosaurs Die, Waterbugs and Dragonflies, and The Invisible String. "So...Who wants to go read to her?"

"I'll go," Thor volunteered to everyone's relief. He took the stack from Steve. "Where is she?"

"In your room actually. She's with Jane." Natasha started up the stairs.

Natasha and Thor went up together. They found them on the bed watching old episodes of Magic School Bus on Jane's macbook. There were papers strewn on the bed since Jane was also going over some of her research. She did feel a little guilty parking Hermione in front of the laptop even if it was educational just so she could get some much needed work done. They had spent the morning trying on her new clothes and looking at satellite photos of distant galaxies Jane had captured for her research, so she was behind.

Jane lit up when she saw Thor. She had been waiting for him to get back. "Hey, look who's here, Hermione. It's Thor."

Hermione glanced up from the screen since Jane hit pause with an almost vacant expression.

"I just got a call from Erik and they need me at the lab. You'll watch her, right?" Bruce and Selvig were already at Stark Tower working with the tesseract.

"I'll drive you," Natasha offered.

"Thanks, I'll be back," Jane reassured Hermione, who was not happy that she was leaving. She closed her laptop and shoved it into her bag. "We'll finish this later. You have fun with Thor."With a smile she brushed her fingertips across Hermione's forehead tucking some stray strands behind her ear and giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She gave Thor a quick peck on the lips before following Natasha out.

Then it was just the two of them again. Hermione stared at Thor. Their previous interaction had been tense, and it was clear she preferred Jane and Natasha.

Thor set the books down carefully on the bed as if he were making a peace offering to a hostile animal. "These are for you. I hope you like books." He smiled at her hopefully.

Hermione loved them. Curious, she grabbed one and started reading out loud flipping through the pages until she realized what it was she was reading. She stopped mid sentence and turned her head towards Thor.

"Mummy's cat Dingy died from cancer." Dingy, full name Schrodinger, was the Granger's 15 year old Maine Coon. He had long grey fur like a tattered wash rag and was their baby before Hermione was born. "We buried him in a box under his favorite tree in our backyard." She looked up at him, "are they going to bury my mum and dad in a box?"

Thor didn't know what to say. He was not too familiar with their specific customs, but he was aware of the overall cultural difference of how death was perceived. Humans lived much shorter lifespans and often viewed death as something fearful and tragic while Asgardians see it as a celebration, an end to a long full life, and an honor to die especially in battle.

Hermione turned back to the book flipping to the next page. "I can read on my own."

Thor watched her eyes move across the page and her mouthing some of the words. There weren't any more tears left in her.

"Can you go away now?" she shifted on the bed turning her back to him acting as if he was already gone even though this was his room.

Thor thought about giving up, but then decided against it. He deftly took the book from her closing it and setting it aside before he picked her up.

"Hey," she grumbled but didn't resist. She had been picked up and held by practically everyone now.

He had never encountered such a recalcitrant child before forgetting himself and Loki were quite a handful even for Odin.

"I want you to read to me. How about this one?" He looked through the stack of books Tony and Steve had bought and pulled out a chapter book from the pile. The cover was an illustration of a girl holding a pig surrounded by other farm animals and a spider hanging from its web. Thor thought it would be light and uplifting tale of a girl and her pet pig and not animal husbandry. He would later learn that it was neither.

He sat down in a comfy armchair next to the empty fireplace with her in his lap. "Read it to me," he prompted firmly.

"Read it yourself." She folded her arms but made no move to get off of him.

"But I want you to read it to me. I'm not from here, so my language skills are not as good as yours, and I want to hear this story," Thor fibbed unconvincingly. Lies were best left to his younger brother.

"Fine." Hermione knew he was lying, but couldn't resist showing off her reading skills. She begrudgingly opened the book and started reading slowly. The book was beyond her current reading capabilities. Her mum had started reading chapter books to her as early as age three. Undaunted by the challenge she worked through the sentences one word at a time until she realized that it was the volume of words that was different not so much the words themselves with a few exceptions here and there, which Thor corrected her for further proving that he was lying before.

Nevertheless, Thor did not have infinite patience and eventually fell asleep.

She climbed off his lap and placed the book on his knee page down to mark her spot. Poking her head out the door, she saw that no one was around and made her escape down the stairs. Hermione didn't know how, but she was going to go home.

She reached the door and tried to turn the handle. It was locked, but the deadbolt was beyond her reach. She knew if she just concentrated hard enough or wished hard enough she could make the lock disappear just like last time.

"Where are you going?" It was just Tony, who had a habit of patrolling his hallway. Steve had left with Natasha and Jane. Pepper was busy putting out the PR fire they saw on the news today.

"Home," she said not looking the least bit guilty.

Hands in his pocket Tony looked down and considered his response before he said,"England is a pretty long walk. I think maybe you should eat something before you go so you're not tired and hungry." Tony being a permanent bachelor normally detested kids, but maybe it was because they shared the same trauma of losing both parents at the same time, he seemed to tolerate her. "Come on, I'll make you a grilled cheese on the house."

Tony went back inside the kitchen and got out a non stick skillet. Setting it on the stove, he twisted the knob to get a small flame going. Then he opened the fridge, which was stocked full of food delivered from a nearby deli earlier that morning. He rifled through the shelves until he found some cheese and butter. There was a fresh loaf of bread on the counter Steve had picked up on his morning jog from a bakery closeby. Tony wasn't much of a cook, but having studied rocket science he knew making a grilled cheese was not that. It did help that left on his own he did have a diet of a five year old.

There was some shuffling behind the door before it was pushed opened. She climbed onto one of the kitchen stools to watch. Tony continued to fry up the grilled cheese sandwiches with his back turned pressing his spatula against the bread to get that smushed melted cheesy goodness and evenly toasted in the melted brown butter. He turned off the stove with a soft click and took the pan off the heat. Tilting the pan, the sandwiches slid off the teflon and onto the plates he set out.

"Voila," he said dumping the pan in the sink.

Hermione stared at it. "My mum cuts off the crusts."

"Huh." Tony thought for a moment. "So did my mom." He took out a knife and cut both their crusts off. "I guess I forgot to cut them diagonally too."

"Can you cut mine in half?" Hermione looked up at Tony, "please?" Her English accent made her sound even more polite.

"Sure." He made a diagonal cut for his and cut her's straight down the middle.

"Thank you." Hermione picked up a sandwich half with both hands and started eating.

Tony opened the fridge."Milk?"

"Yes, please."

He poured her a glass.

"Thank you."

They both chewed their sandwiches in silence, while Tony tried to come up with other ways to deter her from escaping. He glanced over at the bags of toys still sitting on the kitchen table where they left them earlier as he finished his sandwich. "Wanna play Mario Kart?"