This chapter is angst. Yep, that's pretty much all it is.

/

"Look, I'm pretty sure I'd remember sleeping with Loki of all people."

"Apparently he can shape shift," Fury answers. He's leading Tony and Steve to the medical wing, agents quickly moving to the side for him to pass. Clint has gone off somewhere claiming some half valid excuse, but Tony really can't blame the guy. He wishes he could be running from this too.

"Of course he can," Tony mutters to himself.

"He is currently in a female form," Steve adds. "You probably didn't recognize him when you slept with her…him?"

"Well I see our pronouns are going to be fucked up for awhile, but that's not the point. The point is I haven't slept with any woman besides Pepper for almost a year now. Me, one woman, an entire year, that's an achievement you should be proud of me for, folks."

"I'll be sure to give you a medal." Fury opens a door and waves them inside a room. Natasha and Coulson are already there, staring through the window into a room where someone lays propped up against a bed facing away from them, a cheap show of privacy. He can just see the top of raven dark hair over the pillows. Voices from the adjacent room can be heard over an intercom as a doctor converses with a couple of nurses.

Tony recognizes this room even though it's gone through a quick renovation from surgery to delivery. He'd had surgery on his arm in that very room only a few months ago after a part of Doctor Doom's Doombot went clean through his arm. Given what was in his arm SHIELD had taken over, wanting to keep their gain a secret. That was the thing with SHIELD, everything, even surgeries became secrets. He remembered thinking before that the window reminded him of an interrogation room. Now that he is standing on the other side of the window, yep, still an interrogation room with medical instruments.

"Mr. Stark."

Tony takes his eyes away from the window as Coulson comes to stand beside him. Behind him Steve and Fury have gone over to Natasha and are speaking in hushed tones. "Your nose looks better."

Coulson actually looks slightly sheepish. When Tony had walked into SHIELD HQ a month ago Coulson had been sitting at their meeting table with his head tilted back and blood running down his face. Clint had apparently been torn between happiness and anger at seeing that the SHIELD agent was alive. Right after hugging Coulson the archer had promptly broken his nose. Tony had commented loudly while smiling that he would have done the same if Clint had not beaten him to it.

Whatever Coulson is going to say to him is cut off when Tony sees the woman's hands as a nurse sets up an IV. Tony knows those hands. He's dreamed of those hands for months now, tracing over his flesh, holding them down against the mattress…

Tony cuts off his train of thought, going to the door that separates the surgery room from the observation. Cries of "Tony!" and "Stark!" follow him but are easy to ignore. Those hands are not supposed to be real. The nurse and the woman on the bed look up in surprise at his sudden entrance. Tony only focuses on those green eyes. There's no denying the woman on that bed, that absolutely impossible woman, is the woman from his dreams. There's no denying that woman is Loki. He sees it now, and it sends him running from the room, through the observation station, and into the hallway. He pulls out his phone and calls her before he even knows what he is doing.

"Hey, Tony." Pepper's voice is light and happy, and he's about to ruin it. "Already done with your Avengers thing? The meeting ended well. I was thinking about heading to Malibu tonight if you were busy. If not we can go have din-"

"Pepper," he cuts her off. "Pepper I need you. Please, I need you here."

There is a moment of silence before she answers, voice now serious. "Of course, Tony. I'm on my way."

/

Pepper arrives exactly 45 minutes later. SHIELD security does not dare stop her. She held onto Tony's hand, or Tony held onto Pepper's, he isn't sure anymore. It is Coulson who explains the situation to her. For once Tony's mouth refuses to work. To her credit, Pepper just takes a deep breath and squeezes Tony's hand tighter. She does give him a look that makes it clear they will be talking about this later. Tony knew it was coming though. He'd be insane not to know it was coming. Still, he's just glad Pepper's staying by his side.

After that the only sounds come from the surgery room where the doctor is instructing Loki. "I've given birth before, you stupid woman. Go away." He wants to live in denial about Loki being in that room, but things like that are making it hard.

The hours drag on as Loki continues to yell at nurses, and Tony receives judgmental looks from Fury. (Possibly Natasha as well, but her face is too well schooled for him to get an accurate read.) Apparently someone told Bruce because he arrives sometime around the forth hour with lunch. Tony barely touches his food. Bruce places a hand on his should and nods before leaving. Going to set things up in the lab he says. It's not much, but Tony is grateful for the show of support.

Eventually he tugs on Pepper's sleeve so that she'll sit down next to him. He's aware the others have fallen silent. He knows they'll listen in no matter how low he whispers, but he needs to tell Pepper, needs her to understand somehow. "She was supposed to be a dream, Pep. I thought she was a dream."

He can see Steve's forehead crease out of the corner of his eye, but it's Pepper's lack of a reaction that worries him. "Later, Tony," she whispers back.

If she is going to say anything else it's cut off by a crash and scream from the surgery room. Loki had overturned the bed and positioned herself against the other side of the room, wielding the IV pole as if it is a spear. Tony cringes when he sees how it is pulling on the needle in her arm. He always hated IVs.

"What's going on?" Fury shouts into the intercom in the same moment a nurse pokes her head through the door.

"I was just about to give her an epidural when she freaked out. She hit Nancy in the head with the IV pole and shouted that she wasn't going to let us take her baby."

After a moment Fury voices what they are all thinking. "What?"

Steve moves toward the door but Coulson shakes his head. "The last time she saw you she was being taken back to Asgard. I don't think she's going to calm down if you go in there."

Steve relents after a moment, but looks less than happy about it. "Miss Potts?"

Tony turns around just in time to watch Pepper walk into the surgery room. She's the perfect picture of calm. The CEO tips the bed back up and gathers the pillows off the floor. The entire time she ignores Loki even as the god glares at her. The look does not soften, but the pole drops ever so slightly from the white knuckled grip. When Pepper is done arranging the pillows she finally turns toward the trickster. "It was an epidural. It's a painkiller. If you don't want it they won't force it on you, but you really should come back to bed."

Everyone is holding their breath during the tense moment it takes Loki to completely lower the IV pole. Pepper suddenly takes a quick step forward and Loki's fingers wrap tightly around the pole once more. Just like that the tension is back to a peak and their ready to run into the room. Steve even has a hand on the door handle.

"Loki, you're bleeding." Tony can't see her face, but he knows from Pepper's tone that her eyes will be wide and lips slightly open in shock.

Loki's eyes follow Pepper's down, in the exact same moment Tony's do. Beneath the hem of the gown Tony can see blood running down Loki's leg. It has already begun to pool on the floor around her feet. There's a lot considering the short amount of time Loki has been standing there, which means she is losing it fast.

Loki allows Pepper to take the IV and lead her back to bed. She refuses to look at the other woman but she keeps Pepper's hand gripped tightly in her own. That, more than anything, let's Tony know Loki is scared, and that means something is very, very wrong.

'It would be wonderful if that's the worst thing that happens,' Tony thinks. Of course things just go downhill from there.

/

Tony knows he should go in, that it should be him in there and not Pepper, but he does not move. Loki is losing so much blood, she is so pale and feverish he does not want to watch, but he cannot seem to pull his eyes away.

Pepper is trying to comfort her, and hell, she's giving a good effort. After all, what else could you do when a super villain is giving birth to your boyfriend's child? But Loki doesn't seem to realize Pepper is there anymore. And just as Tony thinks he might be getting the courage to go in she begins to ramble, and that damn intercom pick up every word.

It starts with a dark laugh turned cry halfway through. "I finally have a chance to keep one and I'm going to die before I even get to hold him."

"You're not going to di-"

"Do you think he knew? Is that why he promised me? He's taken all of them, every single one throughout the millennia. Why should this one be different?"

Scream. Push. Gasp.

"Not even the mortal ones were safe. Arrows shot without bows, opponents suddenly stronger than mortal men, houses catching fire, illness. Illness. Oh, the ones with magic, those were the worst. Poor Ao. He was so little. It started as a rash. I told him not to scratch it, but he wouldn't listen. And then the boils. They bleed and he was in so much pain, and my magic couldn't cure it."

Loki is crying, and Tony's not sure why he isn't, because they're listening to Loki recount the deaths of her children. She's feverish and babbling, and all she can think of when bringing new life into the world are the children she has already lost. He's a statue again, but beside him Steve, Bruce, Natasha, and Fury are as well. None of them have been trained to deal with a situation like this.

"I told him not to go, but he couldn't accept that my boy was dying. He took him on the Silk Road and it spread like wild fire. It spread to Europe. They all contracted it. It sought them out. Millions dead just so seven children would die without suspicion."

Pepper is crying now. He should go to her.

"Is she talking about the plague?" Bruce whispers in horrified disbelief.

None of them answer. He shakes his head and makes a weak excuse about work before leaving again.

"I begged Isidoros to come away with me, to escape. I knew… I knew as soon as I saw that stupid wooden horse that the city would fall. Isidoros loved that city. He did not wish to leave, but I begged him, begged him not to leave his mother. He relented. He came with me, but the tunnel collapsed on us. We were so close too. He was gone before I could reach him."

"She's talking about Troy." They all turn to stare at Steve.

"You know Homer?"

"Yes, I do. I don't see how that's more surprising than Loki just telling us she was there, or that one of her children died there."

"She could be lying," Natasha says.

"She's not," Tony manages to whisper. He should not be feeling this much sympathy for one of the Avengers' worst enemies.

"And you would know."

Tony didn't retort only because Loki begins to talk again. "He had to make them look like accidents, see. Suibhne was one of the first. He just vanished. I refused to return to Asgard. I searched for so long, long after his mortal life would have expired." She is laughing again. "I called his name and it scared the mortals. They thought I was a death omen. I held fire in my hand when I looked for him at night. They thought I was luring them to their deaths within the bogs. I just wanted my son back."

It's Coulson who finally goes in, and Tony has no idea when he even left the observation station. Pepper gives him a grateful look before fleeing the room. Tony sticks around just long enough to see Loki try to focus on Coulson's face. "Did I not stab you?"

"I got better."

"Good."

/

Tony finds Pepper in the women's bathroom. He doesn't hesitate as he pushes the door open. Her hands press down on the counter, holding her up as she weeps.

"Pep-"

Suddenly Tony has an armful of strawberry blonde. "Tony, I don't, I just don't know what to do."

"I know, Pep," he says, rubbing circles on her back. "I don't know either." He hates it, this feeling of helplessness. He knows Pepper hates it too. She is the only one he'll admit it to though.

Pepper takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She does not let go of Tony.

"Pep, what am I supposed to do?"

"Bruce will run a DNA test when the baby's born, just to make sure."

There's a sudden moment of jealousy at the thought of someone else touching Loki, but he quickly suppresses it. That emotion had no business being connected to the trickster. "I think it's mine."

Pepper just nods. "So, you're a father then."

"That kid is screwed."

"Tony."

"What, Pep? You know me. I'll be a horrible parent. There's a reason I don't have kids."

"Tony," she says again, this time more sharply. "You are not your father."

Those five words do not reassure him, but they do change something. "I should be in there, huh?"

"Yeah, you should."

/

Loki does not seem to realize when Tony comes in and Coulson leaves. She looks absolutely exhausted.

"You need to push."

The god manages to shoot the doctor a look that promises death before collapsing back into the pillows.

"Hey," Tony says, "I know you can push. You pushed me out a window after all."

She rolls her eyes at him, but the motion looses it's intensity from the delirious look that refuses to leave. Tony can feel the heat from her skin without even touching her. "I threw you. There's a difference."

"Not that much of one."

"Stark, shut up."

"Not until you push."

"I hate you!" She screams, and with one finally push Tony's son comes into the world.

Loki collapses back again, but this time her eyes close. The machines hooked up to her suddenly start screaming alarms. There is a definite moment where they all share a look, where they hesitate. It would be so easy to let Loki die now, to never have to worry about her blowing up the city or trying to kill them ever again.

And then Tony's son is placed in his arms and a nurse is dragging him away while the doctor starts shouting orders.

/

Yes, Coulson made a Monty Python reference.