Catherine woke up the next morning not particularly refreshed. For half a moment, she wondered where she was, but quickly regained memory. She rubbed her eyelids, then sat up, recounting all the horrendous things that had happened last night. Stretching, she dragged herself out of the bed and slid her feet into her slippers. She hadn't taken off her bathrobe last night, choosing to remain with one of the last remnants of her home.

The woman walked over to the door, hesitating a moment before trying the handle. It was unlocked. She slowly slipped into the hallway, heading towards the close-by end of it. Tony was in the bar area, leaning against the counter as he gazed listlessly across the room. Catherine put a hand on the trim where the hall ended, waiting to see if she was still welcome. Sure, she was still angry with him, but she really had very few options. She had run through them during the night and realized how uncomfortable and unsafe it would be to sleep in her car. In a way, she was grateful that Tony had stopped her.

Her brother glanced over, as if feeling her presence. She noticed how many lines had been added to his face since last time she had seen him, and how many hairs had turned to gray in her absence. They had nothing to do with her, he was a forty-two-year-old man with a stressful job. Stark Industries was a big company and took a lot to run.

"Hey," he said, standing up straight. "I thought you would sleep later."

Catherine shrugged. "Couldn't." She wanted to tell him that she really did love him, but saying that would only mean the conversation would come back up again and they would most likely renew the arguing.

"All right, well, I've got... pop tarts."

A tiny wisp of a smile curved her mouth. "Great." She sat at a bar stool while the man fetched them for her, placing the box in front of her with a hard thump. "Thanks." She knew he was still upset about last night as well. Maybe it was time to address it. "You locked me in my room."

"Couldn't let my sis spend the night on the street."

"Yeah, that would have looked bad in the papers."

He glared at her. "I'm trying to protect people now, you included."

Catherine ripped open the pop tart packet and took a large bite of her breakfast to choke back the impending unpleasing argument. After a moment, she took a deep breath, calming herself. "I didn't want to argue. I just needed a place to stay for the night. I'll make a withdrawal from the bank, request a new credit card, and get a hotel."

"That'll drain your small resources too quickly, there won't be much left for getting an apartment." Catherine shifted her jaw, irritated by his constant mention of her poorer living style. "That reminds me, why didn't you get a better job? You had the world at your feet and you decided to work at a small dentist's as a receptionist? Doesn't add up, Kate."

"It pays the bills," she said. "Unlike you, Tony, I don't use my name to get everything I ever wanted. I had it changed as soon as I left so I could make my own way and not have to follow the path our father's name carved. I had no experience doing anything, the dental office was accepting people with little experience, so it was one of the only jobs I could have gotten. Eventually I grew to like the people and just never got around to finding a higher-paying job. Money isn't everything to me."

"I never thought I would hear a Stark say that," a clear, sly voice said, tinted with a British accent. Catherine jerked in her seat from the surprise announcement, glancing over to see who was there.

A tall, handsome, black-haired man casually stood where the hall emptied into the bar/living room. He was dressed in loose pants and an untucked t-shirt with no shoes. His sharp green eyes were trained on Catherine, a small smirk on his face.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry," the woman stammered. "I didn't realize Tony had guests." She glanced at her brother, who was watching the other man.

"Just him," Tony told her without moving. "But there's nothing to worry about. He's not a threat anymore."

"A threat? What do you mean?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Catherine recognized that man. The Invasion of New York had been the most terrifying thing she had ever lived through. She and the other residents of her apartment building had hidden in the basement of said building, brandishing guns or whatever they had on hand to protect themselves if ever an alien showed its face, all the while following the battle on the television. Catherine had turned away as soon as she saw that Tony was involved with the fighting, but had watched for long enough to recognize the ringleader behind the entire invasion. Loki, the mischief-making Norse god.

The moment she realized who he was, Catherine jumped out of her seat and stood by the short end of the bar, putting the entire length of the counter between her and him. "What is he doing here?!" she hissed at Tony. "I thought he was taken away."

"Asgard didn't want him," shrugged her brother. "So they sent him back to Earth for punishment. He's serving out part of his time here, helping me build some homes for people who lost theirs during the Battle." He glowered a little at the other man. "Believe me, it was not my decision. But I have complete control of him, so there's no way he can hurt anyone. I've got his magic disabled by that band on his wrist, Jarvis has several different protocols installed if he goes berserk, and he can't lift a finger against anyone without being very aggressively shocked. He's next to harmless now. Isn't that right, Rudolph?"

Loki barely twitched a muscle at the apparently incriminating name. "Of course. I wouldn't dream of stepping out of line."

"Yeah, you can sit back down now," Tony told his sister. "Nothing to worry about."

"You always say that," Catherine retorted, sinking cautiously back into her chair. She took a nervous bite of her pop tart.

"Well this time it's true." Tony tossed a pop tart packet at Loki, who dexterously caught it. "Eat up. Fury would be upset if I let you waste away to nothing." The previous threat to Earth opened the foil, took out a pop tart and nipped off a corner. He made a face at the taste of it, but kept eating. "I'm going to get you some clothes." For a moment, Catherine thought her brother was talking to Loki, then realized he meant her. "What size are you and what do you want?"

She was about to protest, to say she could get her own, but quickly recognized that she really couldn't. "I'm a small in almost everything. Get me a plain t-shirt, a pair of leggings and a skirt. I can barely shop for jeans on my own, they make it so hard. Oh, and a pair of sneakers, size seven." She would have offered to pay him back when she got settled, but she knew he would refuse her. "Thanks."

"Great. J.A.R.V.I.S., I'm going out. Keep an eye on Loki."

His almost humanoid A.I. responded instantly. "Yes, sir."

It suddenly hit Catherine that she would be the only other person left with Loki. "Wait, wait, wait," she scrambled after her brother, who was already halfway to the elevator. "You're going to leave me alone with..."

He didn't stop walking until he was at the elevator and pushed the button. "J.A.R.V.I.S is here."

"J.A.R.V.I.S is a voice," hissed Catherine in a low voice. "You can't possibly expect me to stay with a psychopath. I thought you wanted to keep me safe!"

Tony stepped into the elevator. "Like I said, he's perfectly harmless. Don't worry!" The doors closed on his smug face, leaving the woman staring at a thick sheet of metal. She turned around and stared at Loki for a moment, who smirked and raised his hands harmlessly.

"As the man repeated," he said. "Don't worry."

Catherine shifted her jaw, despising her brother for leaving her alone with a criminal. She didn't say a word to Loki, only returning to her breakfast. After a moment, he came and stood across from her, never taking his eyes off the woman.

"What?" asked the brunette irritatedly, tilting her head up to look into his eyes.

"I never would have noticed the resemblance between you and Stark except that you were right next to each other." His voice was a little bemused as he studied her face. "You are his sister?"

She grimaced. "Only by blood."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Tony and I are so different that sometimes I can't believe we're family. How well do you know him?" It seemed strange, talking to the man who had attempted to take over the world about her family problems, but it had been a long time since she had anyone she was willing to talk with about it, that it all began spilling out.

Loki tipped his head to the side in an almost endearing way. "I know he is rich, spoiled, selfish. He likes his drinks and his women and being the center of attention, but I don't know him all that well."

"You've pretty much summed him up," sighed Catherine. "All he wants is to be rich, popular and happy. He never made much time for me when we were younger, and we've always argued like cats and dogs because we're almost as different. He likes drinking, I hate the smell of beer. He's always had a woman at his side, I've never had a boyfriend in my life. He wants more money, I want to spend time with family. He's always been in the middle of everything while I stand off to the side. He has a super tech brain and I'm just above average." She glanced up and saw Loki's mouth tilting up. "What?"

"From what I can tell, you're anything but average," he said smoothly before turning and getting a tea cup out of the cupboard. "When I walked in, you said money isn't everything to you. And it seemed, from your conversation, that you were having a more difficult time paying your dues than your brother." He put some water in the cup and placed it in the microwave. "Which means you are either a frivolous spender or your parents left you very little money." He turned back to her, an eyebrow raised.

She snorted a little through her nose. "How about neither? I left my inheritance with him because I didn't want the life he had."

His brows pinched together and those green eyes glowed with interest. "So you left your family?"

"Tony was really the only one left." Catherine said cryptically.

For a few moments, the only sound was the microwave turning the cup in a circle. It beeped, and Loki took his now-heated water out. He took a tea bag from the cabinet while she finished her pop tart.

"I was hoping you would continue that story on your own, but now I see that I must ask." He turned to her. "Why did you leave your brother, house and money?"

Catherine hesitated. "It's... kinda of strange to someone else, I think."

He smiled a little. "You don't know strange until you've heard my own story."

She sighed. "Well then, let's sit on the couch. I don't know how long this will take, it's been a while since I've told anyone about this." She took one end of the couch while he claimed the other, both their knees held against their chests while facing each other. "One question before I start though. Is it true that... that you can't hurt... anyone?"

"Yes," he said, holding his tea close. "I would never imagine hurting you, even if I wasn't restrained." His voice was soft and even his eyes were a little gentler than before.

Catherine swallowed, then opened her mouth to begin her story, but he hastily inquired as to her name before she started. "Catherine," she told him. He nodded and sat back again. "There's a ten year difference between Tony and I, and I've always felt that come between us. I wasn't very old when our parents died, but Tony was old enough to know that I needed comforting. Yet he didn't. When we got the news, he started crying and saying 'mom's gone, mom's gone'. I remember watching my big brother collapse on the couch, crying for his mother. I walked up to him to ask where Mommy and Daddy went to and he snapped at me. 'Don't you get it?' he said angrily. 'She's dead. We'll never see her again.' then he ran to his room without so much as a comforting word or touch.

"One of our helpers had to explain what had happened to them, that both my parents were dead. I cried for them, of course, but I was also upset at Tony because he had never cared about Dad. Mom was the only person in our family that he really loved.

"As I got older, Tony and I started arguing more. I've always been angry that he never mourned for Dad and got more so as I grew. I also realized what kind of person Tony was becoming and I was not impressed. He was practically an alcoholic, he was hardly ever home, when he was all he did was spend time in the garage making something. He never made the slightest effort to get to know me even though we lived in the same house.

"By the time I was eighteen I was getting fed up with him. He was twenty-eight then and had a life that was far different from mine. I saw what he was doing, and hated how he used the Stark name to get whatever he wanted. Wherever he went, people rolled out the red carpet, and I could have done the same if that's what I wanted. But it wasn't. I wanted real friends, real family, real things. In Tony's world, everyone was faking it and just singing through life on a bottle of wine and a bunch of green paper. I realized I wanted no part of that. I wanted people to know me because they wanted to know me, I wanted to earn the money I made, I wanted to achieve life, not just have it handed to me on a silver platter.

"So, when I turned twenty-one, I left. I packed one suitcase of clothes, one of things I wanted to bring with me, withdrew enough money to lodge me until I was on my feet, then transferred the rest to Tony.

"He was sleeping when I came up to him with my suitcases. I woke him up and told him that I was leaving, and I didn't want to see or hear about him again. At first he was confused, then he got angry. He accused me of abandoning Mom and Dad but if I wanted to leave it was fine by him, it didn't affect him anyway. We argued for several minutes before I finally just turned and left, burning with anger.

"I didn't see him for eleven years. Whenever someone mentioned the name Stark, I either walked away or closed my ears. When I saw him on TV, I turned it off. I didn't read the newspapers because he was almost always somewhere within them. My life was calmer without Tony, in a sense. Instead of worrying, arguing or thinking about Tony, I was concerned with my job and bills. I still think I chose the lesser of two evils.

"But then my apartment burned down and I had nowhere else to go but here. So far, I've regretted almost every minute of it. Oh," she winced. "How much of us arguing did you hear last night?"

His eyes were a little guilty. "As soon as you started shouting. But you left behind your fame, fortune and family just to live an ordinary life? You were right, it is a bit strange."

She smiled wistfully. "You don't understand what Tony is like to live with."

Loki shrugged, looking around. "I have been living with him for the past few weeks. He always makes it a point to try and aggravate me just so I'll be shocked or something of the like."

"Yep. That's exactly the kind of person Tony is." Catherine shook her head. A thought hit her and she laughed a little. "I just spilled my heart out to a stranger, a prisoner no less."

"Life is odd that way, isn't it?" Loki also smiled. She looked up at him and saw the previous coldness in his eyes was replaced by openness and sympathy with maybe even a hint of something else in those green orbs. Catherine felt herself blush as she realized that she had same feeling held in the depth of his eyes. Her cheeks started burning with a fire she had never felt before.