Author's Note: HELLO EVERYBODY :) It has been like eight months or so since I last updated and the reason so is because I am having my major exams this year and thus I am unable to update :( Also, my computer broke down, but fret not, I have managed to get it repaired! ...and have conjured up a new plot because of plot bunnies. I will not leave any of my stories unfinished; I will require a bit more time to write new chapters, though. Don't expect an update anytime soon, but I promise I will try to do so as much as possible. My major exams end in 60 days and I'll be able to party and write as much as I desire :-) Anyway, enjoy! :-)

TADAH I UPDATED SO IT WOULD BE A LITTLE LONGER HEHE :-) Next chapter will probably be soon or maybe after my major exams! :P Stay tuned and do drop me a review! :-) I really appreciate it!

Two months.

Two slow, whole months had passed, and the lapse in time had done nothing for Loki's troubled mind – if anything, he'd grown more worried, and most of his time was spent fretting. This was rather unlike him, he'd reflected once. Wasting his time worrying about Stark – about Tony – and two whole months at that. True, two months was nothing but a mere, barely noticeable bump on the road in comparison to how long he'd lived so far, but honestly? Loki had never worried this much before, and the time that he'd spent locked up in his room in the mornings, not even opening the door to Thor, was starting to show. Despite the fact that gods did not require as much food as the mortals, Loki wouldn't go near food, much less look at it. He didn't sleep much, either. Thor was still convinced that he'd heard Loki sobbing quietly once when he had passed Loki's room – no, scratch that, Tony and Loki's room – on the way to the elevator, although Loki would never admit that he'd been crying.

The rest of the team had tried everything they could to get the Man Of Iron back. Clint went out on nightly patrols with Natasha, leaving at eight in the evening and only returning back to the tower at one or two in the morning, taking the initiative to explore a different part of New York City every night just to see if there was any sign of Tony. Despite his initial dislike for the God of Mischief – after all, Loki HAD controlled his mind for a short period of time – Clint took to making it his duty to care for the grief-stricken god, along with the rest of his team, occasionally bringing Loki a bowl of marshmallows (which Loki rejected), some cereal (that was rejected as well), or some soup in a cup (of which Loki took the smallest of sips, but it was still considered a victory for Clint in succeeding in making the god drink something). Bruce, on the other hand, had taken to utilizing SHIELD's state-of-the-art technology, as well as some help from JARVIS, to run island-wide scans to locate anybody that could potentially be Tony. Thor was Loki's main caretaker, although his brother refused most of his help except for the occasional cup of water. Fury had directed most of SHIELD's resources in aiding Bruce in the search for Tony, despite the Council's protests. And Steve – nobody saw Steve around the Tower lately, the Captain staking and checking out places which Bruce had alerted him that might have any clues of Tony's whereabouts. So far, no luck.

It was scary. It was so fucking scary to have Tony disappear without a trace, from the surface of the earth. The last time he'd seen Tony, Loki had been departing for Asgard, his father having summoned him for a task that required much skill in magic. The god could still remember how he'd wrapped his hands around Tony's still flat stomach, whispering a 'be safe' before stepping through the portal. And then he'd received that message from Thor that Tony had disappeared. They'd checked the security cameras – apparently Tony had stepped into his lab at nine hundred hours on a Thursday morning, two months ago, but he never did come out. His absence was discovered by Steve when the super soldier had come down to call Tony for lunch. It was an insurmountable thought, of how Tony could have just vanished into thin air in his lab, and how nobody noticed until Steve came down. There was no sign, even. Bruce had scoured the lab, dusting for fingerprints, looking at every vantage point that intruders could sneak up on Tony without being noticed, but nothing in the lab was misplaced. If – no, when they got Stark back, Loki was going to have him install security cameras in his lab, too, not just at the outside, for Tony wanted his own privacy in "the one place I can actually be myself".

They'd checked with JARVIS, but whoever had managed to break into Stark Towers had temporarily disabled JARVIS while they were at it, successfully capturing Tony. Bruce had brought JARVIS back online, but the technological wonder had absolutely no idea what had happened in the time that Tony had stepped into his lab. Loki had cursed, but it hadn't helped in the slightest, of course.

Loki stared blankly at the floor, his fingers gripping the bedclothes. Tony was with child. Tony was with his child, wherever Tony was, he was probably injured, assuming he was even alive in the first place, and their child was probably dying, and so was Tony, both of them injured and dying alone (technically alone because neither could see the other) and Loki would never get to see his lover again, neither would he catch a first glimpse of their only child…

Loki had been on Asgard when he'd received the news from a yellow-and-pink butterfly that had landed by his bedroom window, the god immediately recognizing the magical creature as one of Thor's messengers. This had to be something important, for Thor rarely sent his messengers all the way from Earth to Asgard – in fact, he barely used his messengers at all, only to pass messages with highly sensitive content from himself to another trusted friend or family member of his. Letting the butterfly attach itself to his thumb, the god's green eyes focused on the magnificent wings of the tiny creature, flapping with a remarkable frequency, conveying a coded message through wingbeats that Thor knew only Loki could decode.

Come to Midgard immediately. There is urgent news.

Loki had slammed his book about the Bifrost shut, hurriedly shelving it, slotting it between two books with covers that had similar patterns. 'Urgent news' could only mean that something had happened to Tony, or his brother, and he did not wish to lose either of them. Barreling through the large double-doors, he pushed past some warriors in the corridor, ignoring their dirty glares and their snorts, making his way to Odin's throne room where he needed to seek permission from the Allfather before departing for Earth.

Once Odin had consented to his departure, Loki left immediately, teleporting himself straight to Stark Towers, without even bothering to use the proper portal, not even heeding the voice at the back of his head which reminded him how much energy his teleportation could drain out of him. He materialized in Tony's workshop – which was surprisingly empty, and hurried up the stairs, not even bothering to use the elevator. His brother or Tony had better be in serious trouble if he was called all the way from Asgard to Midgard, or he'd wring Thor's muscular neck with his bare hands.

He found his love in the recreational room, lying outstretched on the couch, head turned sideways towards the television screen – it was slightly bigger as compared to the last time he'd seen it, Loki mused, Tony must have gotten it replaced – and his callused hands resting atop his muscular stomach. Tony was dressed casually in a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting shirt – how very different from how he dressed when he actually had to go outside. Beside him, the Black Widow sat curled up on the floor, hugging a cushion, and her trademark .22 by her belt. Raucous laughter that reverberated throughout the room told him that Hawkeye was nestled somewhere on top of a cupboard that held all of Tony's Wii games, while Doctor Banner was seated comfortably on the loveseat, munching popcorn. His brother appeared to have claimed a second, smaller sofa that matched the one Tony was lying on, occupying eighty percent of the space, while Captain Rogers had somehow managed to squeeze himself into the remaining twenty percent of seating room on the sofa.

"You better not have summoned me all the way from Asgard just for a movie, dear brother," Loki snapped as the temperature in the room lowered steadily, and all heads pointed in his direction, "or I will tell everybody here about the time when you –"

"I called you for a purpose, brother," Thor interrupted, cheeks coloring and his heart lifting with relief at the fact that he'd managed to stop his brother before Loki could announce to everyone about how he'd…oh, it was too embarrassing to even think about it. "However, we must talk about it in private." Rising from the couch – which now had a large butt imprint on the velvet cushions – he motioned his brother to join him in an adjoining room, eyes darting to Tony, silently requesting his presence in the mysterious matter.

"Yes?" Loki scowled impatiently, once they'd been settled comfortably in the kitchen.

"Uh," Thor's eyes darted uncomfortably to the ground, "I think Friend Tony should say it."

"The reason I told you to help me with this talk was because I had no idea how to manage it," Tony hissed, kicking Thor in the shin lightly.

"Perhaps you should have realized I am not very good with words. The last time you told me to order pizza –"

"Yes, I'd rather not think about that anymore, thank you very –"

"Honestly – you called me all this way here just to bicker over Italian food," Loki rolled his eyes in frustration, although his right arm slipped around Tony's waist, pulling him closer. "I care not for who delivers the news, but please note that I have just travelled some seven hundred and fifty trillion kilometers, so do spill the beans soon or the anticipation will suffocate me."

"Uh," Tony appeared at a loss for words. "Okay, please don't freak out at whatever we say next."

"You might wish to take a seat first, brother," Thor gestured to the kitchen counter.

"I'm fine. I doubt anything you say can surprise me, anyway. Get on with it," Loki waved a hand.

"I'm carrying," Tony blurted, his eyes locking onto Loki's, his brown pupils trembling and revealing the vulnerability.

The silence dragged on for a while before Loki heard something come out from his mouth, despite already knowing the answer to the question. "Carrying what?"

"Your kid. Stupid and impossible as it sounds, I'm pregnant – in simple terms."

A child? Huh. Loki had always wanted kids of his own. Those human stories about him birthing an eight-legged horse were lies at best, so he'd never really had a child that he could call his own, despite having no experience in taking care of one. A daughter that he'd always give in to, that he'd spoil thoroughly. A son, that he'd take with him on trips to Asgard and teach him how to play pranks on others without getting caught. He would feel a warm feeling seeping into him – happiness? Excitement? Perhaps a mixture of both. Oh, gods above, he was a father. Despite all the destruction he'd caused in the past, he promised there and then that he'd be a good father to his son – or daughter, whichever gender he didn't really care. And Tony, Tony would make the perfect father, even with his flaws. A family. It sounded odd, but he knew this child would be someone whom he would love and treasure as much as Tony – the only two people in the world whom he had such immense love for. He hadn't even seen his child, and he knew he loved him or her already.

"Loki?" Tony's voice was worried, when he noticed that the god had suddenly gone very quiet.

"A kid," Loki finally unleashed his trillion-dollar smile, to which Tony responded by giving a relieved smile of his own. "That is amazing news." It was a whisper, but both Tony and Thor could hear more than just happiness in his tone.

"Do the others know?" Loki questioned, the smile still sticking on his face and refusing to fade.

"Oddly enough, they were rather unfazed at this strange piece of news," Thor lifted a hand up to his chin. "Brother Banner did confine himself to his lab for thirty-eight hours, most of which was spent questioning the existence of science, I believe. Also, Brother Barton laughed so hard he pulled both hamstrings. I do find it strange that they have reacted in such a calm manner. I do believe impregnating a male on Midgard is supposed to be biologically impossible. Perhaps it is because they have seen many strange things. Your affair with Brother Tony is one, I believe."

Loki rolled his eyes, making a mental note to deal with Hawkeye later. Pulling Tony closer to him, the motion causing Thor to murmur, "I shall take my leave, then" and Tony gasping in shock, he hadn't even bothered to wait till Thor had left the kitchen before entwining his fingers with Tony's and claiming his lips. Tony had smiled that brilliant smile of his, even chuckling a little, and it was just the both of them, there, all time having stopped. To Tony and Loki, nothing else mattered.

No. He did not believe that Tony was dead. He'd have felt it if Tony was really gone. Loki huffed, looking out of the glass window that replaced one wall of their shared bedroom, for once not appreciating the grandeur of New York City's sunrise. The rising sun was a golden half-semicircle atop a brown skyscraper, and the light flooded his senses, shining on his splayed fingers and arms. Under normal circumstances Loki would have commented to Tony how pretty the sunrise was, but Tony was not here now. Tony was gone.

Loki spent mornings in the room that he used to share with Tony, just sitting and watching the sunrise, albeit without appreciating the magnificence of it. His afternoons were usually spent with Bruce in Doctor Banner's lab, looking through news articles of kidnappings, going through recordings and just looking for Tony's whereabouts. His nights were spent on night patrol, although he often took a different route from Natasha and Clint, in order to ensure that a greater amount of land was covered. And still no luck. He'd tried the hardest, never sleeping, not even stopping to break. His brilliant green eyes were a dull grey now, black rings around his eyes from the lack of sleep – hey, gods weren't human but they needed sleep, too – and if he stood shirtless in front of a mirror, you could count his prominent ribs, his body wasting away from not eating.

Right now, it was nearly ten, so Loki smoothed the bedclothes and got ready to join Bruce in his lab again, looking for any sign of Tony. He'd skip breakfast most mornings, too, and the mornings that he did eat, it was usually some week-old leftovers from the fridge – when Loki ate, he acted as if it was a chore, shoveling food into his mouth. Usually he managed about three spoonfuls before declaring that he had no appetite for the rest of the meal. He had his fingers wrapped around the doorknob, just about to twist it open, when the teal door slammed open, knocking the god into the wall and causing Loki to slump to the floor, clutching his abdomen, gasping for breath and rubbing soothing circles around his stomach, where the blasted doorknob had hit him.

"Brother!" Thor bellowed, rushing into the room. Without even a word of apology, he hoisted Loki up on his feet, putting a firm hand on the god's bony shoulder. "Brother, this is important. Brother Banner has discovered Brother Tony's whereabouts! He has asked me to summon you and – oof!"

The rest of the sentence was lost on Loki as the younger god had practically barreled out of the room, pushing past Thor and teleporting himself down to Bruce's lab, not even bothering to wait for his brother.

Tony has been found.

"I was looking through his lab again, the place where Tony last disappeared, before I came upon the old arc reactor, the first arc reactor that Tony ever had, back in Afghanistan. I remember he told me that when he constructed the second one – the one that he's using now, I mean – he used a piece of vibranium. There's vibranium in his chest, the same material that the Steve's shield is made out of. And that's just it. JARVIS has written a computer program that will allow us to scan an area as large as the whole Northern Hemisphere – using SHIELD satellites, of course, for locations of pieces of vibranium. Vibranium is incredibly rare – in fact, there are only two spots on the scanner now. The first location is here, in the Tower, which we will not heed because it's more than likely detecting the vibranium in Steve's shield. And the other piece of vibranium is located in Afghanistan. Tony is in Afghanistan."

Loki nearly collapsed on the floor with relief, breathing heavily, leaning on Thor's shoulder. Tony, I'm coming. Tony's nightmares started in Afghanistan, and if he has been kidnapped, it is unlikely he will survive in there for long. "I will kill whoever has taken him away from me. Not even their entrails will remain recognizable." If my child is dead, I will make sure that Tony's captor endures rigorous tortures before I deal the final blow. If Tony is broken to the point where he cannot be put back together, a shadow of his former self, they shall have to answer to me.

"We'll need a Quinjet with fully-loaded weapons, and a well-equipped medbay," Bruce turned to Fury. "I suspect there will be much damage to him and the baby. A couple of medics would be good, too, since the Other Guy will probably still be smashing up the place when Tony is rescued, and he won't stop till he is contented with the amount of collateral damage dealt."

"Quinjet's on the way," Fury grunted. "The rest of you, suit up, and then to the helipad immediately." Loki had not even realized that the rest of the team had also gathered in the room. "Doctor Banner will explain the mission details along the way. Romanoff, pilot; Barton, copilot. Before you open your damn mouth to complain about being the copilot, Barton, I'd like to interject we don't really have much time to spare because every moment could be Stark's last. Move!"

The hooded silhouette stared at the whimpering prisoner. Bending down, a hand emerged from the silken robes to touch the prisoner's face gently – a stark contrast to how that same hand had previously slapped and punched the prisoner repeatedly, drawing blood from pale flesh.

The prisoner jerked his head away, groaning at the movement, for he was weak. His trembling arms wrapped around his knees, withdrawing into himself, trying to protect his torso. His once-brown eyes were now dull, squeezed tightly shut so the prisoner wouldn't have to look at his captor. The one who'd caused him so much pain, coaxed out many screams from his painful larynx. His voice was now gone, and his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, such that when even the smallest bit of light from outside the cell seeped in when the door was opened, the prisoner would hiss and cover his aching eyes.

"Face it," the man snapped. "They won't be coming for you, not anymore. It's been two months, Tony Stark."

Tony didn't react at that harsh statement. He'd grown numb. He didn't even notice the stinging slap that his captor delivered, nor the cell door slamming shut as his captor left him.

"He appears to be in a rural area." Bruce's hand shifted to the left, and the hologram of Afghanistan magnified itself by a hundred times, zooming in to a little red spot amidst blue, shimmering hologram hills. "It's a dry area here. The quinjet is moving in stealth mode, fully camouflaged so that Tony's captors will be unable to detect us when we near Afghanistan."

"We'll go in teams," Fury interrupted, and Bruce stepped behind, allowing the black-clad man to do the planning – what Fury was best at. "Thor, Captain Rogers and Banner will be in the first team, while Ms Romanoff, Barton and Loki will be in another. I will be staying back at the jet to give directions and prep the jet should we require a quick getaway. Thor, Captain, and Doctor Banner, your main objective will be to create a diversion. Clear a path through the base. These hills are pretty small, and underground is solid granite – I doubt any organization based in Afghanistan has the resources to build their way underground and drill through solid granite. Loki, Romanoff – locate Stark and bring him back to the quinjet, do not even bother to wait for the rest. Captain Rogers, you'll lead the diversion, and Barton will alter his roles when backup is needed. Keep this a clean job, if you will, Thor." Despite having only one good eye, the glare Fury was shooting the god could melt diamond. "The last mission with HYDRA ended in thirty-seven deaths because somebody did not take heed that a human would not survive a blow from a hammer, especially not a hammer like Mjolnir."

"My sincerest apologies," Thor begin (though he did not look one bit sorry), "but they were about to murder Brother Steve. It is not in the blood of the heir to the throne of Asgard to merely sit by and watch as my Shield Brother dies."

"I had the situation under control," Steve grumbled, looking and sounding very un-Captain-like as he slouched in his seat, folding his arms around his massive shield.

Loki paid no heed to their banter. All he could feel now was the relief that Tony was still alive, that Tony would be his soon, that he would see Tony once again. Tony, Tony, Tony. He'd had Tony's captors' deaths written in stone. There was no way he was going to show any mercy toward someone who'd taken what belonged to him away. And if Tony was found harmed, in any way, his captor would suffer much before Loki dealt the killing blow.

"We really shouldn't be doing this."

"You're afraid of being seen with me." It was a statement, not a question.

"You're supposed to be my enemy! I'm not supposed to be here with you, in the toilet, half naked," Tony protested, a frown marring his perfect features. Looking away from Loki, he threw up his hands. "Oh, gods above. We're supposed to hate each other, what would everyone else think if they saw us doing this?"

"You would prefer not to do this."

"No, dammit Loki, I need you, but we really shouldn't be doing…this. You know. The sex thing. I mean, you've only just tried to take over the world a year ago, and we've started seeing each other for only six months. And keeping a secret is…hard, as much as it takes for me to admit that. We're not supposed to do this, I'm not supposed to be doing this with a murderer who took eighty-something lives in two days, I'm not…I'm not supposed to fall in love with you!"

Loki conveniently ignored the murderer part, and focused his attention on Stark's last sentence. "Huh, I knew you always had feelings for me, mortal."

"Of course I have feelings for you. I wouldn't be so committed if I didn't," Tony rolled his eyes, leaning against the oak door. "Truthfully, Loki? I've never given so much in a relationship before, not even with Pepper. Wait…are you just understanding that now?"

"Of course not," Loki murmured, moving closer. "If anything, I have the same feelings towards you as you do toward me." Nuzzling Tony's neck, he whispered, voice dropping several octaves, "do you want me to go away? Do you want to stop doing this?"

"No!" Tony replied immediately, without even doubting his words, and Loki could see it in his jet-black eyes that what he was saying was the definite truth, etched in stone.

"Then why question this?" Loki moved to claim Tony's lips, and he could feel Tony tense underneath him before relaxing into his embrace.

"We'll need to be subtle," Tony mumbled against his pale lips. "Until I find a way to break it to Fury and the rest of the team. Fury's gonna have a heart attack when he hears about this, and Bruce is probably gonna hulk out and destroy half of my tower."

"Subtle works with me," Loki mumbled, moving his arms to wrap around Tony's slim waist. "Subtle works just fine."

A/N: Next chapter, the heroes find Tony! YAY :) Stay tuned and please drop me a review, I love reading your comments.