Dr. Banner came over as quickly as he could and brought along with him two birth certificates and a death certificate that he had acquired from the local hospital. He was a little bit frightened, he was a scientist not a medical doctor, but Steve believed he was smart enough to get Loki the help that he needed. It was raining heavily by the time Bruce made it to the apartment and he struggled to bring everything he needed inside. Steve was covered in blood and cradling a squealing baby when he answered the door, his skin was paler than normal and his eyes were wrought with worry.
"Jeez, Steve, are you sure you aren't the one in need of a doctor?" Steve ignored the comment and cleared a space for Dr. Banner to put his things. While Bruce examined Loki Steve took the birth certificates and began filling out everything he could. Hair color blonde, eye color green…born on October 3rd 2013 at 9:36 PM. He glanced over at Loki from the paper work, wishing he was awake so he could get it all done. What would this child's name be? What time was her brother born? He didn't know.
"All of Loki's vitals are normal. I know he lost a lot of blood but he isn't still bleeding, so he should wake up very shortly. I just need to give him some iron supplements that I picked up at the store. Iron helps transport oxygen through the body and replenishes red blood cells, which will help tremendously believe me."
"So he'll be alright?" Banner nodded and sighed with relief, he didn't like being under so much pressure…it wasn't good for…well, The Other Guy.
"Oh sure, he's gonna be fine. He will need his rest for a good while though, you might be stuck watching after that baby for a while. Which brings me to my next point, Rogers…what the hell is a pregnant Norse God doing in your apartment?" Steve honestly didn't know what to say, it had all happened so fast. He shrugged.
"Well clearly he isn't pregnant anymore…" Banner shot him a look and Steve took a deep breath.
"Look, he needed my help. I found him half dead in an alley about five blocks from here and his son was already dead…what was I supposed to do let him and his daughter die too? In what universe would that have been right?" Dr. Banner seemed to think for a moment. He understood where Steve was coming from, he probably would have done the same thing had he been the one to find the god. However, it wasn't that Steve had saved him that worried Banner, it was the protective look that had manifested in Roger's clear blue eyes.
"I understand, I just need you to remember that he is an intergalactic terrorist before you going getting yourself emotionally attached to the situation. I've seen this happen before with people who deliver someone's child, it is a very intimate act." Steve narrowed his eyes at Bruce, a defensiveness building in his chest though he wasn't one hundred percent sure why.
"Wait a sec, you think…you're afraid that I'm gonna…" Steve couldn't even say it. Back in the '40's Steve had had romantic feelings for his friend Bucky, though he never expressed them because it had been something incredibly taboo for the time period and he hadn't wanted to scare Buck away. Now that he was living in the present he was aware that times had changed, but there was something inside of him that felt like they hadn't.
"I'm not gay, Bruce." Banner didn't seem too convinced but he didn't press the issue, noticing that Loki was beginning to stir a little.
"I probably shouldn't be here when he wakes up, last time I saw him I smashed him into the floor repeatedly so…just follow the directions on the iron pills and you'll be fine." Steve nodded though his eyes were glued to the god anxiously.
"Thanks." Right as Dr. Banner closed the door Loki's forest colored eyes very slowly fluttered open. His face was so serene, like a porcelain doll. His lips were parted, pouty, and his long beautiful hair was resting delicately past his shoulders. Steve damned Banner's comments, as he was now suddenly hyperaware of the attraction he had to Loki, it was making his mouth dry and his throat hoarse. Steve just wanted to be a helpful guy, he didn't want all this extra stuff.
"St-Steve?" Steve approached him slowly and kneeled by his side, earning a weak and feeble laugh from his enemy.
"Who'd have thought a year later I would get you to kneel." Loki joked, a light chuckle rising from Cap's chest before he could stop it. He gently placed the baby girl in her mother's arms and was quiet for a moment.
"So what's her name?" Tears came to Loki's eyes as he looked on his little girl for the first time. Her cries quieted and she curled up on his chest, his hands protectively curling around her tiny body.
"I do not know. I can't even give her a proper last name, I would die before bestowing her father's name upon my precious girl." He spat bitterly, his face filling with absolute pain at the very thought of Thor. Steve was at a loss, he didn't know who had fathered the baby, and Loki could guess easily enough by his confused expression.
"Thor…m-my adoptive brother…he…bedded me, very angrily as part of my punishment before I was imprisoned. I was bound, gagged…joke was on him though, I suppose, because he had no idea my species was able to procreate like this. When he found out he couldn't even look at me." Steve's eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head in disbelief.
"That sounds an awful lot like rape…I didn't take Thor for the kind of person who would do something like that. I'm sorry." Loki shrugged.
"Thor wouldn't dare be ungentlemanly to a woman, but I am no woman…he gave to me what he felt I deserved after what I had done. I guess he was right to." Steve shook his head and a look of pure disgust crossed his face.
"No, no he wasn't. No one is deserving of something like that, I don't care what you did in the past." Loki was surprised to say the least by Steve's outburst and the two stared at one another for a while, neither sure of what to say. Steve was the first to break the silence, awkwardly gesturing toward the birth certificates.
"Well…I don't mean to be forward, but you could use my last name if you would like. That way, if I sign the documents no one will be able to tell you the kids can't stay here. They'll legally be citizens of both this country and realm so…SHIELD won't have a say in whether or not you have to go back to Asgard." Loki had to look away from Steve, fearing he would cry if he held the gaze any longer. This was too much, Rogers's kindness had no bounds and it wounded the god.
"You would do that?" Steve's eyes were glued to that poor, sweet baby girl. She was so small, and so frail…so perfect.
"Under the condition that you straighten up, pull your life together for your daughter. Give her the normal life that she deserves, no more running or destroying or trying to play king…just be her mother. That's all I ask." The tiny child made a squeaking noise against his chest and Loki's heart swelled…it amazed him how much love he could hold in his heart for one little being upon first seeing her face. It was as if everything in his life up until this moment was meaningless.
"I give you my word." Normally every instinct in Steve's body would be telling him to not trust the god of mischief and lies, but there was something in Loki's voice and eyes that made him believe him. Nothing would have been able to convince Steve that Loki was lying, not while he was looking at his daughter like that.
"I will call her Valkyrja, for her Asgardian name. However, in gratitude I would like for you to pick her middle name, something of his world that she can be called if we are to stay here. Would you, please?" Steve smiled gently and thought for a few moments. He had always thought that if he had had the opportunity to be a father he would call his daughter Katherine. It seemed he would probably never have a daughter of his own now that Bucky was dead and he'd yet to find another partner, so he freely gave the name to Loki.
"How does Valkyrja Katherine Rogers sound to you?" Loki laughed, his eyes scanning his daughters face before looking up at Steve from under his eyelashes. She really could pass for Steve's daughter with that blonde hair.
"I think it suits her." After asking how to spell Valkyrja, Steve completed her birth certificate and signed under 'Father's Signature'. It looked weird to him, he certainly didn't feel like a father. He handed it to Loki to sign and make it official.
"I think this technically makes me her adoptive father." Steve said suddenly, looking a little uneasy as the realization donned on him. Loki hadn't thought of that either and his expression was almost smug as he took notice of the discomfort on his new friends face.
"Are you prepared for that…Daddy?" Steve knew that Loki was kidding, but the comment made something fuzzy flutter about in his chest.
"Are you going to…um…stay here? With me?" Loki looked around at the small apartment. It was much smaller than what he was accustomed to, and in the past Loki would have turned his nose up, especially since it was a Midgardian dwelling. However, Loki didn't see himself as having another option at the moment.
"I have nowhere else to go, if you'll allow it." Steve nodded, grabbing for the other birth certificate and the death certificate.
"You and Kat can take the guest bedroom, I'll pick her up a crib or something on my way out later." He smiled brightly, trying to soften the blow as he handed the last two documents to the new mother. The brightness behind Loki's eyes diminished, gazing at the end of the couch where his son lay still…lifeless. It wasn't fair. Loki didn't have to think very hard about naming this one.
"Tårar…tell me, Steven, what is your middle name?" Steve blinked stupidly for a moment before answering.
"Um…Grant." Loki nodded.
"Tårar Grant Rogers. Born October 3rd 2013 at 9:05 PM…black hair, green eyes…died October 3rd 2013 at 9:15 PM." Loki silently signed both papers and handed them back to Steve, who gloomily hesitated with his hand over the signature line. Signing these papers made it feel almost like he had lost a child too, though he knew that he hadn't. He signed them and sat them with Katherine's certificate on the coffee table, picking up the iron supplements and shaking two into his hand.
"Here, take these. It will help with the blood loss." He urged gently, standing to get Loki a glass of water as the taller man popped the medicine into his mouth. Handing the glass to Loki he went off in search of his cell phone, which Tony Stark had just taught him to use a few weeks prior.
"Do you mind if I call my buddy Tony? I know we all had our differences, and Tony isn't too forgiving sometimes but he also isn't too righteous, so I think he'll be able to see passed everything and help you out on funeral arrangements and burial. Tony has more money than god, he can make it happen fast." Loki almost wanted to laugh at that, he WAS a god and this mere mortal man of iron surely did not have a wealth greater than his own, though he nodded.
"I would be appreciative, thank you." Thunder rolled outside and both Loki and Steve jumped half way out of their skin. A distrusting and slightly angry look crossed the soldier's face, thinking about Thor and what Loki said he had done. Steve had no clue what he was going to do about it but he knew one thing for absolute fact, when he saw him again a certain Avenger was getting the beating of his life.