Tony returned a few hours later with several bags and three boxes. When Catherine jumped up from the couch to ask him what all of that was he replied, "your new stuff."

"I asked you to get me clothes and shoes for today," she said disbelievingly. "Not a whole new wardrobe."

He rolled his eyes. "It's just the beginning of your new wardrobe. I wanted to get you a head-start." Catherine clamped her mouth shut. Her heart was touched with the fact that he had thought to help her out more than she had expected. She wondered if this was his way to start making amends.

"Thank you," she said gratefully. "That's very..." she stopped, realizing what she was about to say.

Tony grinned. "Come on, you can say it."

"It was very kind and thoughtful of you," she finished a little reluctantly.

"There you go," he said, please. "How did you and the reindeer do?" He glanced at Loki who had been watching the entire conversation with interested eyes.

"Um, good. For a... well a prisoner, he's very well-mannered." She smiled at the raven-haired man. She came back around the couch and sat on the floor in front of Loki to start going through the things her brother had purchased for her. Tony sat on an armchair not far away. As she went pulled each item out, Catherine gave the appropriate appreciative noises, hoping she didn't sound too fake. A few of the things she was a little iffy on, but she didn't dare tell that to Tony, not after he had gone out to buy all this for her. At the end of the bags and boxes, she turned towards her brother, tucking a hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Tony. I really appreciate this."

He shrugged. "Let's just call them gifts for all the birthdays I skipped out on."

"If you say so," she replied, gathering up the things to take to her room.

"Here, allow me to assist you." Loki stood, taking a few of the bags. She smiled at him gratefully and led the way back to her room.

After all the bags and boxes had been stowed on her bed, Catherine touched her stomach. "I'm hungry, is it lunchtime yet?"

Her assistant glanced at the clock. "It's ten forty-five."

"Oh," she made a face. "Well, it's never to early to think about lunch. I'm gonna find out what Tony was thinking." She went to the living room and asked, receiving pizza as the answer to her query. "Great! It's been a while since I've had pizza."

"Yeah," he smiled a little. "I remember that you hated it for a while. It was all we ate after...." He didn't finish the sentence, but she knew how it would end. After our parents died.

Catherine bit her lip. "Yeah. I don't think I've had it in months though, so...."

"Great." Neither of them knew what to say. "So..." Tony began after a few moments of awkward silence. "You and Loki. When did that happen?"

"What?" Loki had returned to his room a few seconds ago, so she could only hope he wasn't listening.

"Gotta admit, you work fast. Not as fast as me probably, but still."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You guys hook up while I was gone? Does the couch need sanitized?"

Catherine's cheeks burned. "Tony! No! Ugh! What's wrong with you?" She got up and looked in the fridge for something to cool her flaming face.

He followed her, sitting on a bar stool. "No need to be ashamed, we all make mistakes. He's good looking enough, in his own, greasy sort of way. I mean—"

"Tony!" Catherine jerked out apple juice and put it down with a loud, angry thud. "Stop it! It's not like that, I'm not you. I don't need someone with me all the time to make me feel like an accomplished person!"

He threw his hands in the air. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, maybe it's just that every time I was forced to hear something about you, you were dating another woman! You're as faithless as a Greek god and twice as arrogant! You don't care for right and wrong, especially when it comes to women. All you care about is what makes Tony happy for the next five minutes, regardless of anyone else's feelings! How many girlfriends have you had in your life? More than you can count, I'm sure. You're turning out just like Dad and that means you'll probably die like him too!" Catherine spun around and retreated to her bedroom, leaving the apple juice and her brother behind. She threw herself onto the bed, grabbing the pillow into a crushing hug before allowing herself to break down into bitter tears.

She heard Loki come out of his room and inquire what was wrong. She couldn't hear most of Tony's answer, but his tone was heavy. Catherine didn't know what to think, she didn't want to think. She just wanted life to be simple for once.

"Catherine?" There was a soft knock at her door. It was Loki. Tony was probably either too scared or too ashamed to face her.

The brunette didn't think she was ready to talk, but she didn't want to refuse her new friend. Her indecision stretched out into a silence that lasted too long. Loki knocked again.

"May I come in?"

She groaned, rolling over to face the entrance. "What is it?"

He took that as an implied "yes" and opened the door, shutting it again when he was fully inside. "Are you... all right?" The question was so quintessential, but heartfelt when it came out of his mouth.

"I don't know," she sighed, meeting his eyes. "I knew things would be hard if I came back, but I didn't know they would be this confusing." He tipped his head, implying she should expound on her last comment. "I've been angry with Tony for so long that I forgot how much I loved him. Now that I'm here, I remember, but its still so hard to say or show it. He makes me so frustrated with his ridiculous lifestyle, but he's still my brother."

She hadn't expected him to understand, but he nodded. "I know what that is like. I have a brother as well, proud and unrestrained. I've both hated and adored him for a long time now, only its the hate that shows. I don't think he understands how much I really love him as a brother." He sat at the foot of her bed as she rose to also sit straight. "I wish I had the courage to tell him how I truly feel, but I simply do not. Maybe," he risked looking into her eyes. "You have more bravery than I."

She hesitated, looking at him with sorrow in her eyes. "I don't think so," she whispered, tears beginning to pool in those brown eyes.

He cautiously placed a hand over hers. She felt warmth seep from his palm, infusing her with calm. "I believe you do," he told her softly.

Her heart was still burning with anger at her brother, but now it burned with something stronger towards Loki. Something no water could extinguish.

Catherine stayed with Tony for several months per his invitation. She slowly grew accustom to seeing her brother every day again and having Loki by her side whenever she was in the tower. She did her best to steer clear of arguments with Tony and to his credit he tried to do the same. He treated her with more gentleness and respect than he had before, showing her that he really did care.

Two months after their argument about Tony's woman problem, Catherine felt urged to speak with him about it. She had met Pepper Potts, Tony's current girlfriend. She was steady and pleasant to be around, much higher on Catherine's scale than any of Tony's previous girlfriends. But the important part was that she could see how Pepper was slowly having an effect on the billionaire's lifestyle, and she wanted Tony to know that she had noticed.

"Hey," Catherine forced the word out of her mouth as she approached her brother, who was watching football in the living room. "Can we talk?"

He glanced over, then motioned to a spot next to him on the couch. While she sat, he retracted the arm that had previously been stretched over the wood piece across the top of the seat, readjusting himself to easily be able to look at her. "Well?" he said.

Catherine took the remote from his hand and muted the game. "This is important to me, I need you to pay attention."

He raised his chin. "Consider it done."

"Thank you. I wanted to talk to you about the outburst I had two months ago. About you being arrogant and faithless. I'm... I'm sorry. Every since my apartment burned down, you've tried to make me welcome in your house and I only argued with you.

"When I was yelling at you that time I-I guess I just wasn't used to being around you and seeing you again brought up all those memories of our childhood and the night our parents died. I hated that you only mourned Mom and that you never gave two bits about Dad or I. I always wanted to be a part of your life, but you didn't want me, so I gradually joined you in pushing myself away from you. I shouldn't have left the way I did eleven years ago. But back to our argument....

"I could see that you were turning out so much like Dad, and yet you hated him. Your soul is the carbon copy of his and you seemed to despise him for that. I couldn't stand to see you be so like him and yet so angry at the man. I didn't want your life to turn out like his, I just didn't realize that was the problem at the time. I can see now that I was worried that if you acted like him, you would leave the same way he did and I wouldn't have anyone left in the world, so I cut myself off before that pain could hit me again.

"I did everything the wrong way, and I'm sorry."

Tony was silent throughout her whole speech and continued to be so now. She could see his mind processing what had just happened, the same way he processed a set of blueprints. Although blueprints would probably be easier to understand.

"I deserved it," he said at last. "All of it. You were right, I didn't care about you or Dad, or anyone else I hurt. I've always been full of it and maybe I always will be, but I'm trying."

"I know," Catherine told him quietly. "I can see it."

They looked at each other for a moment before Tony broke the silence. "Aw, come here." He leaned over and, for perhaps the first time ever, enveloped her in a tight hug. Catherine blinked, surprised by his sudden show of emotion, then put her arms around him, reveling in the feeling of love between them. She knew they would still argue some, but at least each knew the other loved them.

"Boo!" Loki grabbed Catherine around the waist and spun her in the air. He had snuck up on her from behind while she was looking at books in the library. She shrieked, holding onto his hands while she was aloft. When he put her down, the prince of Asgard wrapped his arms around her body and held her close, his chest against her back, laughing.

Catherine was laughing too, her beau was always sneaking up on her. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and looked up at his face as the giggling subsided, leaving a wake of gleeful smiles. They had been dating for about three months now, he was one of the reasons she hadn't left Stark Tower yet. He was forbidden to go anywhere but the Tower and S.H.I.E.L.D. bases, she couldn't find it in herself to leave him behind while she stayed in another house.

Their relationship had progressed quicker than the woman had expected. They were currently at the point of much handholding and quick hugs, occasionally with a small kiss bestowed on one's cheek.

Though she enjoyed his touch, Catherine still wasn't quite used to being so close with a male. Loki felt her discomfort and released her so she could resume her book hunting. "Did you find anything yet?" he inquired.

She shrugged. She wasn't as avid a reader as he, but enjoyed the hobby every once in a while, if she could find the right book.

"If I may," her beau said, pulling a book off the shelf. "I would suggest this one. There is much adventure and excitement, I think you may enjoy it." She took it from him, scanned the title and nodded.

"If you say so." She settled herself onto a soft couch, pulling her legs up to lean them against the armrest. Loki sat in the armchair right next to her, picking up a book he had started that morning. They silently read their books, content in their companionship.

Fifteen minutes later, Catherine got antsy. She stood up and went up to the penthouse floor to get a drink, coming back down with a glass of apple juice. She picked the book up again, slowly slipping back into its world.

Ten minutes after that, she got hungry. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, there was enough time to get a snack before dinner. She ran the empty glass back upstairs, returning with a pack of Oreos to tide her over as she picked the book back up.

Fifteen minutes after THAT she remembered her laundry needed switched and left to do that. When she returned, she couldn't bring herself to pick up the book again. She glanced at Loki, who hadn't moved the forty minutes they had been down there. He had started his book that morning, but he was already more than halfway through it.

"You've been down here too long," she said, crossing her arms. "Let's go do something."

He slowly raised his eyes from the book, lifting the eyebrow. "And what would you propose?"

"Let's get some coffee and go to—" she stopped suddenly. She remembered that Loki wasn't allowed outside the tower, and by the sad look in his eyes, he remembered it too. Her jaw shifted as she considered the situation. "This is ridiculous," she said. "Anyone can see you're not dangerous!"

Loki offered a half-smile. "The past takes time to redeem." She had heard his entire story about his brother, and while she didn't agree that he should have tried to conquer the world, she was empathetic to him, sometimes her own brother made her want to kill someone, usually him.

Eyes dark, she spun on her heel and marched up a few floors of stairs to Pepper's office. She and Tony were in there reviewing some papers. They looked up, startled, when she quickly entered.

"Something wrong?" Tony asked, straightening.

"Yes," Catherine replied, folding her arms. "Loki has been in this tower for too long without being able to go out. I want to take him to the park."

"Um, no," her brother said without hesitation.

She raised an eyebrow. "Um, yes. It's not fair that he has to stay cooped up like an animal all the time."

Tony stepped around the desk, leaning against the front of it. "Look, Sis, I know you like this guy and all, but he's a criminal. You knew that when you started dating him, even though I warned you not to. I'm in charge of keeping him locked up here, so I'm not going to let you take him out anywhere, especially a place with so many people."

"It's winter!" she argued. "There won't be that many people in the park! Even prisoners in federal compounds get to go outside on walks and things."

"No. I hate to say it, but Loki might be using you as a way to get out, and I'm not letting that happen on my watch. He stays here."

Catherine looked away, shifting her jaw and squeezing her arm until it hurt. "He's still a person," she muttered.

"A bad person. A person who tried to kill me. A person who has killed countless other people. He forfeit all rights when he began that Battle of New York."

"He's different now! He's at peace with what he is. Did you ever hear the story from his side? Have you even tried to imagine how he must have felt, knowing he wasn't as beloved as his brother and then finding out he had been lied to his entire life? I can only imagine how painful it was for him. I wish you would do the same." The woman turned and left, not angrily, but still upset.

Tony found her a few hours later, listlessly watching a show. She was tucked up beside Loki, leaning into him while he gently played with her hair, gazing more at her than the TV. Tony cleared his throat and beckoned for Catherine to join him when she glanced over. He brought her over to the beginning of the hallway and spoke in a low tone.

"You really want to take Loki outside, don't you?"

She nodded. "I think he deserves it."

"He doesn't deserve anything," her brother muttered, then held up a hand before she could protest. "I can talk to Fury about it."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you have to ask Fury to do anything?"

"Since when do you want me to break the rules?" he countered.

She gave a sigh, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Never. But if ever I would want you to break a rule for me, now would be it."

Tony's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Loki has really done a number on you," he chuckled. "I like it. I'll see what I can do."

A small smile curved her lips. "Thanks, Tony." It was strange, but she suddenly felt a burst of burning love for her brother, somehow she knew he would always be there for her.