*How the Avengers get a Therapist*

Chapter 5: Can We Keep Her?

Hey-o. I'm back with a new chapter. Here is where the story picks up some more. I'll let you get on to it, but see the end for a note. :)

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They were sitting in silence. They had all gone back to the tower after taking care of everything. And now they were sitting in silence, staring at the girl - Dakota - who apparently was Bruce's niece.

"Every time there's an awkward silence, a smiling baby dolphin dies." Everyone stared at Dakota, who looked on innocently. The silence became even more awkward as everyone tried to process what the heck was just said. It was broken when Clint suddenly laughed. Before long he, Bruce, Bucky, and Wanda were all on the floor laughing. Dakota looked very smug and Steve, Tony, Sam, Rhody, and Natasha were all looking on confused. Finally, Clint managed to roll himself to standing. With tears in his eyes, he reached his hand out.

"Hey, I'm Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. I like you." Dakota grinned and took his hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dakota States, but people usually call me Kody. I'm 16, I enjoy dancing, writing, reading, and making people question their existence."

Clint grinned back at her, then turned to Bruce. "Where did you find her, I want one."

Bruce laughed. Steve, Tony, and the others finally came out of their stupor. "Um. Bruce, I thought she was your niece?"

"It's an adoptive relationship." They said at the same time.

"I'm also his therapist." The Avengers blinked at that.

"You have a therapist?" Tony asked.

"Yup."

"She didn't run away screaming?"

"Nope."

"Cool." Tony paused, "Can I get one?"

Kody laughed. "Schedule an appointment tin can."

---Time Skip---

Kody ended up visiting the Tower several times over the next few weeks. It took some of them time to warm up to her, but eventually, they all came around. They would play games, talk, hair club, train, bake, and ask about school. But they never asked about family, or where she lived, or where she stayed. Until...

"Hey kid," Steve asked, "Where do you stay? Because according to, well... you, you don't have any living family." He trailed off awkwardly.

Kody took it in stride, "At a friend house usually. I switch on and off."

The rest of the Avengers stopped what they were doing.

"You mean to tell us," Bucky said slowly, "That you don't have a home?"

"Not a permanent one, no."

"You're moving in," Tony said. "Saturday. Gather up your stuff. You have two days. Understood?"

Dakota blinked. Then broke into a grin. "Yes, sir!" She mock saluted, but she was touched that they wanted her here.

---Time Skip---

It was a week later, Kody had officially moved into the tower, and she loved it.

Arriving at the tower after school, FRIDAY let her up to the penthouse. She said hello to everyone, and ran upstairs to her room to drop everything off. When she came back down, she expected to see her new family waiting. What she did not expect was to see two new people.

"Dakota, Thor's brother, Loki - " Clint started.

" - God of Mischief. Yeah." Dakota finished for him. "Nice to meet you."

Loki nodded in her direction. She did the same, mimicking his stance and the expression on his face. Loki snorted.

She nodded. They all just kinda stood there looking at each other.

"School was good?" Steve finally asked, trying to break the strangeness in the air.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it was. Tests and stuff..." She trailed off and the room dissolved back into silence. Dakota spoke up again.

"Every time there's an awkward silence, a smiling baby dolphin dies." Kody deadpanned. Loki snorted again. He looked at her and smirked - smiled? - and nodded.

"I like you." Was all he said before teleporting away. The others were giggling now. Before anyone could say anything, FRIDAY spoke up.

"Sir, KAREN has alerted me that Mr. Parker is in distress. Causes unknown."

Tony jumped up. "Send the locations to my suit." He ran out of the room as armor formed around him.

Kody spoke up again, "Who is Mr. Parker?"

"Tony's intern. Or son depends on who you ask." Bruce responded.

"Cool."

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And... enter Peter Parker! This is a PeterXDakota fic, for those wondering. Their relationship will start off slow and friendly. They'll meet soon, don't worry.

Thank's for sticking it out for five chapters! Again I'm going to ask, do you want me to start posting my one-shots as they appear in this story, or do you want me to post them when this book is done? Just let me know, please.

See you on the next page. :)