Chapter Four:

Tony Stark hated Thanksgiving. He'd never had much use for the holiday before, being the solitary creature that he is, before joining up with the Avengers, Pepper would order in a dinner and they both would eat, sometimes Rhoadey would join them if he wasn't busy. Now his house had been invaded by multiple mouths to feed, a Pepper who actually wanted to home cook the meal, and a Thor, who could eat enough food for four people and still have room for more. His kitchen was a disaster, there had been fights over food and he was pretty sure if he never looked at another turkey it would be to soon.

Thor had remarked that this holiday reminded him of the great feasts of Asgard, which were frequently depending on what remarkable feat of strength any warrior performed and that he should introduce the custom of giving thanks to his people. Loki had rolled her eyes at her brother and replied back that the Aesir needed no excuse to be gluttons. That had turned into an argument resulting in Thor saying that Loki ate like a bird anyway and two hours of chasing around a large, Thor turkey that was running around his kitchen the next minute. Clint and Bruce had been no help, too busy laughing their asses off and if Pepper hadn't been freaking out about feathers all over the food and the kitchen, Tony would have sat laughing as well. Until the Thor bird had started to angrily peck at everyone. He eyed the scratches left by the birds claws all over his hands.

He wanted everyone to leave. For all of them to bugger off and go back to wherever they had been staying since Loki had moved into the mansion. He could still hear their voices shouting from where they were having dessert in the living room. He buried his head in his pillow.

Hands ran up his back, causing him to shiver. Feather light kisses were being placed against his neck, causing him to sigh. He could feel her straddling his waist, rubbing at the muscles under his skin. "Shouldn't you be downstairs, wrestling your brother away from the food?"

"I've done that enough for any lifetime. Let him eat himself into a coma. He will regret it in the morning," she said, swinging her legs off him to sit down next to him indian style. He looked at her through the corner of his tired eyes, she was holding a piece of apple pie.

"Should I be worried. I've read myths. I take one bite and I'm tied to you forever," he joked, taking the plate and fork from her.

"Hades and Persephone. Lovely people. Quite good in bed too. Like a little adventure in their marriage."

Tony gaped at her completely straight expression with his fork halfway to his mouth. Well if Norse gods were real, why not others? He really hoped that sex thing was a lie.

"You are joking right? Have I got some weird alien sex disease now?" Loki smirked at him and his eyes squeezed shut. He should have Jarvis check for alien STD's. How does one even check for those? And he had thought he was a playboy. His track record was probably nothing next to someone who'd lived a thousand years. What if he was horrible in bed? A low notch on Loki's bedpost.

"Eat the pie. I made it," she insisted, not answering him but playfully placing her feet on his lap.

"Will it cure alien STD's?" He ate a bite. It was really good. Probably the best apple pie he'd ever had and he didn't even really care for apple pie to begin with. Loki could cook, who knew. Or maybe he'd just conjured it up from thin air.

"Yes. And impotence." Tony growled at her, and tugged at her feet, drawing her closer, playing with the buttons of her shirt.

"I am very far from impotent," he pouted. She plucked the fork from his hand and stabbed at a piece of pie on the plate, wrapping her lips around the fork. Her tongue came out in little kitten licks after she'd swallowed her morsel, licking the sticky bits clinging to the metal. Her could feel himself hardening and knew it was poking into the back of her thighs. She smirked, handing the fork back to him.

"No, you're not." She kissed him and he could taste the apples on her tongue. He tossed the empty plate on to the floor and placed his hands on her hips, not really caring anymore about alien STD's.

The noise downstairs had tapered off into nothing, his expensive suit that Pepper had painstakingly had dry cleaned for him was somewhere on the floor and he had a lap full of a pretty, naked god after having not gotten off in near to a month with anyone but his own right hand. So he could totally not be blamed for not hearing his door being opened until Loki's lips were gone from his and he saw her looking too calmly at the doorway.

"Starkson! Brother!"

Fuck.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...Thor knew they'd had sex before. The proof was staring him right in the face after all and Tony certainly didn't want to think about how Loki made no modest sibling like attempt to cover herself. He himself was just thankful her lower half was covering his. Thor looked like a gaping fish actually.

"Cover yourself Loki," his voice had dropped to a low tone Tony had never heard before, "Leave. I must talk to Anthony Stark." What? Leave? Leave him alone with Thor. Of all the times Loki really didn't need to listen to her brother, it was right now. He gripped her hips tighter. For about two seconds. She was gone the next. Traitor.

Thor kept his stony gaze on Tony. "We must talk. I was not aware of you and my brother's continuing relations. Do I have a problem with you Starkson? You will not marry him but he is enough as some...whore? I know of your reputation and I will put a stop to it now!"

Tony could actually feel himself getting irritated, "Your brother is a thousand fucking years old Thor! He does whatever the hell he wants. It's how we're in this situation to begin with! You think anyone could coercer him to do something he didn't want to? No fucking wonder you two have misunderstandings!"

Thor was back to the gaping fish expression. Tony could give a crap. He needed a scotch and wouldn't mind seeing Thor back as a turkey right now. The man was a moron. An overprotective moron.

"You are right...we do not understand each other. But Loki is more easily hurt then you realize. If there are any feelings involved here on his side and he gets hurt...I will visit upon you the greatest of Asgardian horrors." Thor left with that last threat and Tony groaned. He was 100% sure if there were feelings here, they weren't Loki's. He eyed the empty plate he'd thrown on the floor...maybe 90% sure.

"Stark," Tony looked up from where he was fiddling with one of his cars to see Coulson standing in the middle of the room. The man was usually unnervingly stoic seeming but he seemed a bit nervous right now.

"What's up? Something on fire?" He tossed his wrench onto a table and sat trying to get the engine grease off his hangs with a rag, looking at Coulson. He was looking at the ultrasound Pepper had practically dragged Loki too go to a few days before. The god had protested about puny human practices and how she could do better then any ultrasound at seeing if her baby was fine and healthy but went anyway. They had come back a few hours later with a bunch of stuff for baby girls, and an ultrasound that Pepper had shoved at him excitedly. Loki had been smiling as well and had gone up to the room set aside for the baby, bags and toys following behind her without being carried. The ultrasound showed a healthy looking baby with ten fingers and ten toes, a couple of weeks from being full term. Tony could admit to feeling a slight bit of relief at no sign of a tail. He could have had Jarvis do an X-Ray scan himself but couldn't quite bring himself to do it without Loki's knowledge.

Thor had loudly proclaimed his joy at being an uncle to a baby girl and had dragged Steve and Clint and Bruce off to get drunk in celebration. Tony had not gone with them because he and the golden headed god were on thin ice terms lately, since Thor had burst in on him and Loki together. Their conversations were stilted and Thor watched him with narrowed eyes as if one wrong step and he would be within perfect rights to turn him into jam.

"No. Things have still been all quiet on that front. Fury thinks he should start planning for Armageddon. No, I'm here about other matters." Here Coulson stopped and seemed to take a deep breath.

"S.H.I.E.L.D is frankly not comfortable with the situation in which you have placed yourself in. Never the less, they are prepared to offer a discreet hospital for when Loki has the baby."

Tony started at him. He could see the sweat beading on Coulson's forehead and he narrowed his eyes, "How generous. Tell me, would that be before or after Loki blasted them to hell? What kind of hospital room would this be, somewhere she can't leave? And then what, my baby goes bye bye into the system? Or would you actually give her back to me? What then? Because I'll tell you one thing right now, no way in hell do I trust Fury or his higher ups when it comes to my situation farther then Pepper could throw you. So I suggest you leave now before I do something that you will definitely regret Coulson."

"Stark this is not my decision. I am here as the informant, my opinion on this doesn't matter. But you have to face the facts. Loki's not your wife or your girlfriend. She's playing nice now because she needs something from you and the second that baby is born, what happens then? We have to be prepared for the contingencies. This is not some happy Knocked Up story Stark. You have had the enemy in your home for months."

"Get out. Now." His voice was low and his face stony and Coulson left. Tony hoped that he ran into Thor. Hell Tony hoped he ran into Loki.

Loki. He didn't fool himself that she didn't know that S.H.I.E.L.D would want the baby. If she was hiding from Asgard she would defiantely have plans about hiding or dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D. But he didn't think whatever was happening between the two of them was one of them. She knew enough about him to know that he could be a possessive bastard, the baby was still his child whether he trusted the mother or not.

Still...Fury's camera's were still all around. He had wondered why Fury hadn't been saying anything about Tony and Loki's sexual escapades until she explained that she didn't show up on the camera when she didn't want to. She didn't cloak herself all the time. And she wasn't invincible. He grabbed the phone and dialed, "Pepper I need you to get something for me."