Baby's day out

"She stays here!" Loki snarled at Thor.

Thor took a small step backwards. "Brother, he will understand," Thor tried to reason.

"I cannot lose her, Thor. You have no idea how important she is to me."

Vígdís' big green eyes stared at her Papa in fear. She had never seen him like this before.

"I have seen how important she is to you. But father has ordered that she be brought to Asgard. She has to…"

"No," Loki cut him off, "It will just be the two of us. Tony, you will look after my child until we return. If anything happens to her…"

"Yeah I know. You'll throw me out my window again."

"Oh it will be far worse than that." Loki walked towards his daughter who was still sitting on the counter with a frightened look in her eyes. He took her face into his hands. "I will return soon, I promise." He kissed her forehead before wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off the counter. "I love you, my little fawn." He pulled away from her but wrapped one of his hands around hers. He waved his free hand through the air quickly. A piece of paper appeared before him. The paper zinged across the room and hit Tony in the chest. "Instructions." He squeezed Vígdís' hand before letting go and walking back towards Thor. "Let's go."

Thor opened his month, about to start protesting again.

"We will meet with him this time with just the two of us. In the future, considering how our meeting goes, I will think about allowing him to meet her."

Thor closed his mouth without another word and led the pair to the landing deck. Once outside Thor raised his hammer to the sky and the pair disappeared in a flash of light.

Víg stared at the empty spot for a while. Her big pretty eyes began to well up with tears.

"Oh god please don't," Tony pleaded looking rather uncomfortable.

Banner walked towards her instead. "It's ok Víg, he is coming back," he placed a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"I have never been apart from him," she scrunched up her eyebrows and took deep breaths trying to prevent any tears from falling. "I don't understand what I am feeling, I don't like it," she lost the fight and began to sob.

"Has he ever broken a promise to you?" Banner asked as he pulled her into his chest and caressed the thick waves of her hair.

"No," she spoke into his shoulder.

"Then that means he won't break this promise. He will come back."

After a few minutes her breathing evened and she pulled away from him. "Thank you," she sniffled.

"Sheesh, Banner. Explain to me again why you and Natasha won't adopt? You're pretty good with kids," Tony glanced at him then back to the paper in his hands. He shook his head before approaching the cabinets. "Why don't you have a seat while Banner and I figure out a game plan," he pointed to a stool in front of the breakfast bar.

She wiped her face and sat down. Banner moved to stand next to Tony on the opposite side of the counter. Tony opened the nearest cabinet and pulled out a large red bag of animal crackers. He opened them and sat them in front of her. She looked at them, then at him, then back at the bag. "Go ahead," he pointed to the bag. She reached in and took a single cookie. Banner took the sheet of paper from Tony's hand and read it over quickly.

"Tony, what are you doing?" Banner looked up from the paper just as the girl had placed the cookie into her mouth. She chewed slowly, experimentally, then swallowed. A small smile creeped across her lips as she reached into the bag for another.

Banner looked back down at the paper. A long list was laid out in elegant script.

'Under no circumstances shall you allow Víg to consume any processed foods' was at the very top.

"These are wonderful!" she giggled happily before putting a handful into her mouth.

"They are just animal crackers, kid."

"Mo, mh pa hab neber giben vem to mh bebore." She said with a full mouth, a few animal legs came spilling out of her mouth and she grinned sheepishly.

Tony poured her a glass of milk. "Drink this then say that again."

She takes a swig, chews, takes another sip and swallows. "No, my Pa has never given them to me before."

"Yeah I now," Tony smiled mischievously.

She took another handful and is about to stuff it into her mouth when Banner grabbed her hand.

"Slow down Víg. Tony," he warned.

"Well if we have to babysit her until Daddy and Uncle Thor get back we are going to try more than just animal crackers." He took the paper back from Bruce and gave it one more glance before crumpling it and throwing it into the garbage. "Get ready Bruce, we're going out."

"Tony we can't. Loki was very specific that we not take her anywhere outside of this building."

'She is to remain inside Stark Tower until I return for her, or else'

"Don't worry Bruce. No one even knows she exists, therefore no one is going to be paying that much attention to her."

"Yes but you are Iron Man and I'm sometimes Hulk, people will be paying attention to us. It doesn't take a genius to realize where this might go."

"I'll wear a hat," Tony grinned before turning away and heading towards the elevator.

Bruce rubbed his hand across his face in frustration. He knew he would not be able to talk Tony out of this so he might as well just go along with it.

Víg starred at him curiously.

"Come on," he sighs then motions for her to follow him. She grabs the bag of animal crackers before jogging after him.

They met Tony in his garage. "You're a bit too tall for the R8," he glanced at her. "We'll take the Evoque."

"Where are we going?" she asked as she climbed into the back seat.

"We, little godling, are going to have 17 years of life experience in one day," he smiled back at her.

Twenty minutes later they were parking in front of a funeral home. "Tony, what the hell?" Banner asked as he looked out his window at the black and pink sign.

"We're not going there, relax," he stepped out of the car and opened the back passenger door for her. Tony and Víg joined Banner on the sidewalk. "We're going there," he pointed to a much more brightly colored store front to their left.

Banner smiled as he read name, 'Big Gay Ice Cream Shop'. He and Víg followed him into the fairly busy store. Tony walked right to the front of the line, to many others chagrin, and placed a black credit card on the counter. "Ice cream is on me if you let me grab a few cones for my friends first. We have a busy day ahead of us." Tony grinned as no one complained at the notion.

"So much for being under the radar," Banner sighed.

Many had turned to look at him and the young girl. At least one sneaked a photo of the pair. Banner stood there awkwardly for the next few minutes. Víg on the other hand beamed at the people. Banner realized she had never been around anyone besides Loki and the few Avengers she had met.

Tony and one of the workers approached them with hands full of ice cream cones. Each a different color and piled high. Tony gave three of them to Víg. The worker handed two of them to Banner and the final two to Tony. "Thanks Mitch."

"Any time Mr. Stark," he smiled before making his way back to the happily waiting customers.

Víg took a giant bite out of the closest cone to her face before Tony could stop her. Her eyes widened in surprise at the cold at first then she chewed on happily. She took large bites out of the other two in quick succession while Tony and Banner slowly licked their cones. "Part frost giant, of course you wouldn't get brain freeze." Tony shook his head and headed for the car. She smiled in response, a mix of chocolate and key lime dribbled down her chin.

They finished their ice cream as they stood near the car. One of Banners was spicy and chocolaty the other a cool coconut. Both reminding him of his time in India.

Once finished and cleaned off (Tony kept a container of Wet Naps in his glove box in case anyone handed him something) they headed to the next location.

"You eat as much as Thor right? I mean a teenaged God has to eat a lot, right?"

She looked at him through the rear view mirror.

"She's never been around regular people Tony, she has no comparisons." Banner supplied.

"Right, will more things fit in your tummy?"

She shook her head yes vigorously.

"All right then."

A few minutes later they were parking again. Banner recognized this place. Tony had taken him here his first day back from his post Ultron disappearance. Once inside Tony made sure that they were immediately seated. Within twenty minutes 5 waiters were approaching their table with full platters. The table was then filled with dozens of plates of chicken fingers and smothered fries. One plate in particular was covered in fluffly pinks and blues. Tony notice Bruce glance at the plate. "Its cotton candy and its magical."

After an hour Víg had managed to eat more than they had ever seen Thor eat in one sitting. For a few minutes Tony was sure that he had broken her. She had leaned back in the booth, her flat tummy now protruding slightly and her eyes were glazed over. He got her a ginger ale and after a few sips and a few tense minutes she perked right up.

"Now what?" she asked with a grin.

"You can't possibly eat another thing."

"I'm not really hungry but if we are going to try something else I'm sure I could eat."

"Why don't we go walk around somewhere instead," Banner suggested.

And that they did. Tony took them to the MOMA , The Rockefeller Center, The Empire State Building and then to Gramercy Park. The final stop was to Barnes and Nobel. They were driving past when she noticed it and insisted they go in. she sprinted away from them the second they walked in through the doors. They found her an hour later at a small table in the café. Books were stacked all around her. Fight Club was in her right hand while a starbucks cup was in her left. Tony stared at the cup frightened. One where had she gotten the money to buy it and two caffeine, someone had given her caffeine. Sugar was one thing, but giving a one year old caffeine was another. She looked up at them when she noticed they had approached. Her pupils were so dilated that only a small ring of teal green iris was visible.

"Hey buddy, what do you have there?" he pointed to the cup.

"Espresso," she said with flourish. It was one of the larger cups. "ItoldguyIhadneverhadcoffeebeforeandhegavemeatrysoIaskedforacupfullofit," she rushed out then took a deep breath.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit."

"I'll be in the car," Banner said as he turned on his heal and walked briskly towards the exit.

"Ok. How about I get you all of these books and you not tell your mom that you had coffee?" he tried.

"Ialreadyreadthemall," she went to take another sip but Tony snatched the cup out of her hand.

"I think you're done with this. Were there any other books you wanted?"

"Thisone," she shook the book that was in her hand.

"Great. There's a part two as well. Why don't we get both and head back to the tower?"

"OkayI'llgogetit," she sprinted away from him before he could say a word.

She was back by his side a few moments later with the two books gripped in her hands. She was moving in a very unnatural way. Too fast for his eyes to follow so that it looked like she was in a jumpy video. She was a lot like that squirrel in that kids movie he had seen several years ago. He glanced around hopping no one had noticed. Everyone seemed to be occupied with their own books so he gripped her upper arm and led her towards the nearest register.

"Hello, did you find everything okay?" the young lady waiting on them asked.

"Yes, thanks," Tony replied as he pulled the books out of Vígs hands and handed them to her.

"Oh I love these books, I'm sure you've seen the movie."

"There's a movie?" Víg squealed.

"Yes, it's really good. We also carry the DVD if you wanted to purchase it."

Tony lost his grip on her as she dashed away from him. He looked around trying to locate her but didn't see her anywhere. The girl behind the counter, Dani her nametag read, looked at him with wide eyes. She was getting a nice good whiff of Víg's otherness. A second later she was standing right next to him again, shoving the DVD across the counter. The second the movie had been removed from its security case tony grabbed it and the books and shoved a stack of bills at the girl. "We don't need a bag," he gripped a handful of Víg's shirt with his other hand and marched them out the door.

"Look Tony, they have a membership program, we should sign up!" she pointed excitedly at the ad in the window.

"I already have one." He made a bee line towards the car. He swiftly deposited her in the back seat before running to the driver's side and speeding away. "Not a word Banner."

"Hey Bruce, did you now that Barnes and noble has a membership?"

"Yes I did."

"Did you know that theres a part two to fight club?"

"Nope, sure didn't."

"Have you read part one?"

"It's not really my type of genre."

"What's your genre?"

"Books on meditation, yoga, stuff like that."

"I've never done yoga, will you teach me?"

"Sure."

"Tony will you do yoga with us?"

"Sure kiddo."

"Tony, when is my Papa coming home?"

"Very soon, I'm sure."

"Have you been to Asgard?"

"No."

"Have you, Banner?"

"No I haven't"

"Have either of you met Odin?"

"No, he doesn't really vacation on Midgard."

"Papa hates him."

"Loki is definitely not Odin's biggest fan."

"I've never seen Papa that scared before," she mumbled more to herself than to them. "Do you think Odin will come take me like the others?"

"The others?"

"Papa's other children. He showed them to me in the stories."

"Stories? In books?"

"Yes. Papa has several books. He reads them to me every night."

"You read about your siblings in story books?" Tony glanced back at her.

"Yes."

"Those are fairy tales?"

"Papa and Thor and Asgard are in books and they are not fairy tales. Physics and biology are also in books and they as well are not fairy tales."

Banner gave Tony a look that said she has a point.

"FRIDAY,"

"Yes boss?"

"Have every book on Loki and his kids delivered to the tower as fast as possible."

"Aye boss."

"So what's for dinner? Can we stop at Starbucks on the way back?"

"No!" Tony accidently yelled. "No," he repeated a little more calmly. "No more coffee. I'll have some ice cream delivered instead."

She brightened at the idea then sat back to finish reading her book.

Once back at the tower Tony put her movie on in the living room and sat her down with a large bowl of microwave popcorn. He ended up having to refill the bowl every 20 minutes.

"I'm going to need to get another job if her, Loki and Thor are going to be staying here any length of time," he mentioned to Banner as he popped the 4th bag.

By the time the movie was finished a delivery man had arrived with several boxes of books. Tony and Banner spread them out on the table while Víg began to flip through a few. She marked the pages she found particularly interesting before moving on to the next book. After a few minutes she had made it through all the books.

"So where do we start?" Tony asked as he looked over all the books.

"Fenrir," she said. "The great wolf," she waved her fingers and gold light leaked out of the tips. The streams of light landed on a few of the books. An image of a small wolf leapt out of a book near Tony, he jumped involuntarily.

"How are you doing this?" Banner asked.

"Papa taught me."

"FRIDAY, are you getting this?"

"Aye, sir."

"Fenrir was born a small pup, but his size and strength grew exponentially." The small wolf bound around the room growing in size until it was as big as Tony's tv. "The Gods feared him, rightly so. It has been prophesized that he would kill Odin before eating the sun and moon." Odin appeared on the other side of the room and the wolf bound towards him, consuming him in one bite. Images of the sun and moon appeared and the wolf turned towards them. "So the Gods enlisted the help of the dwarfs. They created magical chains to bind him. But Fenrir knew that magic was inside the bindings and refused to be bound. So they tricked him." A man approached the wolf and placed his hand in its mouth. Others approached and wrapped the wolf in thin glowing white chain. Once they were done the wolf tried to break free. When he found that he could not he ripped the man's hand off. Odin appeared again. He pointed to a boulder that had appeared next to the wolf. The Gods wrapped the end of the white chain around the boulder. Others forced the wolf's mouth open. A sword was placed into its mouth so that the tip pressed into the roof. "He will remain bound until the Ragnarok." She waved her fingers once more and the images disappeared.

"The apocalypse?"

"More like an end and new beginning." She flicked her fingers out and a large snake coiled itself around the room. "Jurmungand, the Midgard serpent. Papa said he is so big that he can wrap himself around the entire world." And earth appeared above them and the snake floated through the air and wrapped itself around the planet. It nipped at the end of its tail. "Thor and Jormungand are destined to kill each other in battle during the Ragnarok. As you know Odin loves Thor dearly so he threw Jormungand into the deepest ocean where he will stay until then." The serpent disappeared beneath the water. Great waves billowed out from the spot.

Tony and Banner stared at the image in disbelief. "So it's just chilling at the bottom of the ocean?" Tony asked.

"He's not chilling. He is bound by Odin's magic."

"And your Pop hasn't attempted to get him out?"

"He has attempted, but he can't retrieve him. Odin was able to bind Papa's magic and place him into a cell. Do you not think that Odin could also bind Jormungand with such magic that Papa could not break?"

"Right, ok. Who is she?" he pointed to an image of a girl.

"Hel." Light emerged from her fingers bringing forth an image of a girl. Half of her was black and dead the other half white and very much alive. Odin again appeared with other man and had her bound. There was a flash of light and Hel appeared alone again. But quickly the dead surrounded her. "Odin feared her power so he had her placed in Helheim, where the dead go. I believe she is the only one who is at least satisfied with her prison." A throne rose from the darkness and the girl, now a woman sat upon it looking down at her many charges. "The prophecies for her are conflicting. Hel gets to choose to be like our brothers and cause more destruction, or choose the light and help bring in the new world."

The images disappeared. "Those three were all born from the same woman, Angroboda, a giantess. But my father has given birth to only one other child." A small horse with eight legs galloped out of one of the books. "Sleipnir, Odin's most prized steed."

"Your grandfather rides your brother into battle? Your family is so fucked up."

"Tony," Banner chided.

"I'm sorry, continue your story."

She gave him a look of slight annoyance before continuing. "The Gods of Asgard hired a giant to build a mighty wall around their home. But the giant asked for grand gifts as payment. Freya, the sun and the moon. The Gods would never give up such things. So they discussed it, Thor and Papa included, and came to the conclusion that the giant would have to complete the wall in three seasons without the help of any other man. The giant agreed, as long as his horse, Svadilfari, could help him. It seemed like a reasonable thing at first. But they quickly realized that the horse was doing twice as much work as the giant. When there were only a few days left of the third season they saw that the wall would be built and that they would have to give him his requested payment. So Papa devised a scheme to halt the process." They watched as Loki appeared before them and shifted himself into a beautiful white mare. The giant's horse took one look at Loki and sprinted after him. "Papa did not realize how fast and strong the horse was. He ran for an entire day but eventually the horse caught up to him. He was unable to shift back before Svadilfari mated him."

"Nope! I don't want to see that," Tony clapped his hands over his eyes. The images of the horses blinked out of existence.

Víg shook her head and continued. "With Svadilfari being gone for the day it put the production of the wall far enough behind that the giant wouldn't have it finished in time. Odin had the giant sentenced to death when the wall was not completed three days later. Papa, however, realized he was pregnant. So he remained hidden and ashamed in the woods until he gave birth. When he returned the castle Odin took Sleipnir from Loki as punishment."

"Punishment for what?"

"A male laying with another male is a grave offense on Asgard. They are not as open minded as they are here. It was also meant as a warning, Papa was never allowed to change sexes again. Papa was deeply saddened when he lost Sleipnir." Víg waved her hands once more. All the books closed themselves and stacked up neatly on the edge of the table.

"You're not in any of these books?" Tony asked.

"I was never a part of the plan."

"There's a plan?"

"Of course there's a plan. But nine times out of ten the plan just ends up being blue prints that get scrapped at the last minute. Life does not appreciate confines." She yawned deeply. "I would like to go to bed now if that is ok."

"Yeah sure. There's a room right across the hall from Thor's that can be yours."

"Thank you. Will you read to me? Papa always reads me a story before bed."

Tony looked at Banner for help.

"Could I read to you instead? Tony has some work he needs to do in the lab."

She shook her head yes and smiled.

"Your room is on the 20th floor. It will have your name illuminated on the door." Tony told her.

"Why don't you go get ready for bed and I'll be up to read to you in a few minutes."

"Ok," she grabbed the small duffle bag her father had left for her and headed towards the elevator.

"You know, Tony, I'm starting to understand why Loki is as crazy as he is."

"Yeah. Odin is kind of a dick."

"Well at least you guys have that in common."

Tony looked at Banner questioningly. "Crappy dads."

"Ha yeah, but at least mines redeemed himself a little," Tony picked up a tablet and headed towards the elevator. Banner followed him. Tony pressed 15 for his lab and hit 20 for Banner.

"Do you think Odin will try to take her?" Banner asked.

"If he sees her as a threat then yes I think he will definitely try to take her. And I think she has the potential to be extremely powerful. So yeah he's going to try to take her."

Banner looked at his feet for a moment. "Tony, I don't think we are a match for Odin."

"Nope we probably aren't. But I kinda like the kid," the elevator dinged alerting them that they were on the 15th floor. Tony stepped out but turned to Banner before the doors closed, "If all else fails I'll just pump her full of caffeine." He smirked and walked away as the doors closed.

A few quite moments later and Banner was on the 20th floor. He knocked on Víg's door and she opened it a second later. Her room had the bare necessities right now. A living room with a single couch and standard size tv, a kitchenette with a small table, a bedroom with a complete bedroom set and an adjoining full bath. Banner had no doubt that by this time tomorrow the room would be redecorated in whatever color scheme she liked. Her closet and fridge would be stocked. And most likely the living rooms walls would be lined with bookshelves and books from Barnes and Noble.

Víg lead him to her bedroom where she clambered into her bed. One of the kitchen chairs had been placed by her bed, a book sitting on its seat. Grimm's Fairy Tales, he smiled to himself. He picked up the book and sat down. She already had a paged marked towards the middle of the book. He flipped it open to the tale of Ashenputtle.

"The wife of a rich man fell ill, and when she felt that she was nearing her end," he began as Víg squirmed around to get comfortable. "She called her only daughter to her bedside and said."

Tony watched the pair from a monitor in his lab until Víg's eyes started to drift shut.