They were about an hour into their four hour plane ride back to New York. Most everyone was either asleep, or nearly there. The only two awake were the owners of the jet. Tony sat on the couch-seat in the back of the cabin with his girlfriend stretched across it, her head resting on his lap.

"You really shouldn't be traveling right now." He whispered, playing with her bangs. "You know, you were shot with an arrow a couple of days ago…and wasn't it you who broke your ankle?"

Pepper smiled and rolled her eyes. "I'm fine Tony." She assured him. "I just really wanted to help Nat with this. It was a really good idea."

"Yeah, if you want to call it that." He shrugged.

"What?"

"Nothing…I just…" He sighed before looking down at her lovingly, "I worry about you…constantly. Ever since we started dating, I've been terrified about what could happen if one of these…bad guy—villains if you want to call them that—find out how much you mean to me. And now we're bringing in two more women? Two more people who are very valuable to these men, but also to our enemies. It just…unnerves me a bit."

Pepper stared at him in shock. She had no idea he was so concerned for not only her safety, but for Jane and Betty's as well. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Would it have stopped you?"

"Well…no…" She smiled when he let out a tiny chuckle, "But if it bothered you so much, you should have told me so I could tell you that we are grown women, and we can take care of ourselves." She poked his chest, right next to the Arc Reactor.

"Sure, you say that, but have you seen how close these guys have come to killing Iron Man? Pretty damn close." He reminded her, pulling her up a bit so he could hug her closer, the subject alone had him on edge. "The thought of one of them getting their hands on you makes me sick, and I can tell you that that goes the same for Thor and Bruce about them." He gestured towards Betty and Jane who were sleeping on in adjoined seats on the opposite end of the cabin.

"Tony, I promise you, we'll be fine." Pepper took his face in her hands. "Now, you're tired, and emotional. You need sleep." She pulled him down for a quick kiss.

"I'm not emotional!" He scoffed, but relented when she gave him an incredulous look, "Fine, I guess I could use a few hours' rest." He kissed her once more, before laying her back down and covering her with a blanket from under the seat.

He watched her doze off, before resting his head back and surrendering to dreamland as well.

/

"This is weird…" Bruce muttered awkwardly as he and the others walked into the dimly lit room.

"I thought you said we were going to headquarters." Steve whispered to Clint, his eyes wide as saucers.

Barton could only smirk as he looked around, "This is Headquarters."

"Clint this is a strip club." Bruce stated the obvious as a scantily clad waitress walked in front of him.

"Yeah it is!"

"Oh great gods of Asgard!" Thor exclaimed as he watched some pole dancers nearby. "Why are those maidens only wearing undergarments?"

"THOSE are undergarments?" Steve pointed at the lacy material skeptically.

"Clint, why are we here?" Bruce sighed looking at the elated archer.

"We need to hire some strippers!" Clint exclaimed. "For the party! Come on, this is a Tony Stark party right? Nat told me he was s lady's man!"

"Yeah, one lady. Pepper." Banner reminded him. "And I can think of a couple of ladies who would KILL us if they saw a stripper in that ballroom."

"Yeah, Maria would definitely not appreciate it!" Steve couldn't tear his eyes off of the women on stage.

"Come on! You already vetoed the bouncy house! We have to have something besides a string-quartet and an ice sculpture!" Clint resembled a toddler in a toy store, stomping his foot and whining when he didn't get his way.

"We can negotiate on the bouncy house." Bruce relented with a sigh, "But we are NOT hiring a stripper. That is the last we will discuss of it. Now get Thor away from the stage and let's go get lunch."

He walked out the door as the other two turned to see the Norse God standing right at the edge of the stage and staring up at the dancers in awe.

/

"I'm nervous." Jane whispered as they piled into the limo at the airport. "Do I look okay?" She gestured the yellow summer dress she had changed into on the plane.

"You look great." Pepper assured her as Tony set her down on the seat that stretched along the side of the car and climbed in next to her. "Both of you do!"

"I just can't wait to see him!" Betty pushed her hair behind her ears nervously. "I hope he recognizes me."

"Why wouldn't he? It's only been like, five years right?" Nat asked in confusion. "You couldn't have changed too much."

"I don't think I have…I mean my hair might be a bit longer. I don't really get a chance to go to the salon given that I'm living in the mountains, and I'm always so busy with my research and…" She trailed off when she realized they were all staring. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling."

"You're nervous, don't worry about it." Pepper smiled at her as they pulled out of the parking lot. "Now, when we get there, I want you girls to hide in the penthouse until we say so. We need to figure out the best way to surprise them."

"I know where we can get giant cakes for them to jump out of." Tony suggested. When the four women simultaneously glared at him he deflated, "Never mind."

"We'll figure it out." Natasha growled, trying her best to ignore her former employer.

/

"I am absolutely ravenous! Could we not just eat at the Burgers for Kings again?" Thor asked as they wandered down the sidewalks of Time Square.

"No, no more Burger King!" Clint groaned. "We eat there like, 3 days a week!"

"Yeah, let's try to find somewhere a little less fattening." Rogers agreed.

"How about Pizza?" Bruce suggested.

"What is Pizza?" Thor demanded.

"Oh it's good!" Steve exclaimed. "You'd like it!"

"Where do we find this Pizza?"

"In New York it's a hard commodity to come by." Clint replied with a small smile as they waited at the crosswalk. Thor looked clueless as the others chuckled. Turning, he saw a giant Victoria's Secret billboard on the building behind them.

Given his new fascination with the female body, after his morning in a strip club, he stared at the sign in wonderment as his teammates began to cross the street. When they were almost to the other side, Bruce noticed his absence.

"Thor!" He called, looking around. When he saw the god—clad in cargo shorts and a t-shirt—he looked like any other man leering up at a half naked 'angel' on a billboard. "Thor! C'mon buddy! She's not real!"

The blonde man snapped out of his state, and turned in a full circle before realizing where his friends went. He gave Bruce an apologetic wave before hurrying across to them.

But he hadn't even made it half way across the street, before being struck rather hard by a vehicle—a long black vehicle to be precise.

/

"Dammit! What the hell?" Happy exclaimed.

"Hap! Did you just hit a pedestrian?" Tony asked in exaggerated calmness as he held tight to Pepper so she wouldn't fall off of the seat.

"I had a green light! The dumbass tried to race me!" The driver growled, opening the door and climbing out.

"Sorry about that folks! Apparently—" Tony stopped talking when he saw the look of shock on Jane's face. "What?"

The woman didn't respond. She just swung the back door open and climbed out of the limo less-than-gracefully. She pushed through the swarm of people and smiled when her suspicion was confirmed.

"Uh boss…" Happy called. "I hit the blonde one…"

"The Captain?" Tony perked up.

"No…the other one!"

They all climbed out—Tony carrying Pepper—and pushed their way through the crowd.

Jane sat on the ground with the unconscious Thor's head in her lap. "I knew it was him." She sniffed, looking up at them. "I could tell by the way the car jerked."

"And they said romance was dead." Tony muttered, earning himself a smack in the chest from Pepper.

"Thor? Hey, can you hear me?" Jane whispered, pushing his hair off of his scraped forehead. The man moaned and squinted up at her blearily.

After a moment, realization filled his face, "Jane?" He croaked, sitting up. "Jane?" She laughed as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Yeah, it's me." She gasped as he nearly squeezed all of the breath out of her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am quite alright…why do you ask?" He replied pulling back to look at her with his trademark smile. "You are really my Jane?" He asked quietly.

"I really am your Jane." She promised him with a small kiss.

Betty scanned the—very confused—crowd, hoping that where there's a Thor there would also be a Hulk, or hopefully just his human form. She wasn't disappointed when she saw the nervous ball of energy that was Dr. Banner.

He was staring at the couple on the ground with a mixture of perplexity and concern. "B-Bruce?" She whispered, her voice catching in her throat. "Bruce?" She called, much louder this time.

Hearing his name, Bruce's eyes went up to the opposite side of the crowd. First he saw Happy standing by the limo that struck Thor, then his eyes landed on Tony — who was holding Pepper and next to them was Natasha. He chuckled 'Of course, of all the cars in the city, it would have to be one owned by Tony Stark.'

He waved at them, but stopped when he realized they were all staring at something. He followed their gaze and realized that that something was a someone. And that someone was running towards him.

Dr. Banner wasn't one who startled very often. He seen so much in the past decade, he thought he had been immune to surprises. But when he felt Betty Ross jump into his arms, the utter amazement that ran through his body was unreal. When he felt her kiss his lips, his hands were shaking with joy and astonishment as they made their way to her face.

And when he pulled back to look at her beautiful face, he felt his eyes well up with genuine tears of joy. "H-hi…" He choked.

"Hi." She smiled at him, before pulling him into another tight embrace.

"Well." Nat sighed as they watched the two couples' emotional reunions. "I guess that's one way to do it." She shrugged as she made her way back to the limo.

Pepper chuckled and turned to Tony, who had a look of utter boredom on his face. "I'm sorry there were no giant cakes Sweetie Pie." She cooed, touching his nose.

Tony lips twitched into a small smile. "Maybe for my birthday?" He pleaded giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

"We'll see." She replied, giving him a loving kiss on the cheek.

A/N: Voila! What do you all think? Too much fluff? Not enough? A fair amount? I didn't want to elongate the reunion too much because I want to get on to the party and such sooner. I hope it was okay! Let me know!

Oh, and some of you may have noticed that I went with your suggestions! So thank you for your input, I hope you liked it. If there is anything else you all want to see, let me know!