She started having nightmares.

Every night, the children would wake to her tossing and turning in her bed, tangled in her sheets. They would wake to moaning and pleading and screaming and they didn't know what to do.

When they tried to wake her, she would gasp and her eyes would shoot open. She would thrash around until she saw them gazing at her anxiously and she would inhale and reassure them, her breaths ragged.

Pepper, it seemed, was falling apart.

She feared failure. She always had, even as a small child. She thrived on success, even if it meant wearing herself to the bone.

But the stakes were even higher this time.

If she failed, the children...

She couldn't lose them. She couldn't lose Tony.

She was working harder than ever and they couldn't fail to notice the paleness in her face or the deep bags under her hollow eyes. She didn't care, didn't focus on her own welfare, it all depended on making Loki trust her, and S.H.I.E.L.D.

But progress was slow, and stress was tearing her apart.

Tony took to crawling into the blankets with her and cuddling up to her, almost desperately, as if he was the one requiring comfort, not her. He would pat her hair and wriggle in close to her and she would calm down, still breathing hard, but her taut face would relax and she would wrap her arm protectively around him.

The children grew at an alarming pace. Each night, it seemed they had aged another few months, and after a week, they appeared to be about six or seven.

Pepper knew she had to work fast.

Loki was loosening, relaxing, but he still narrowed his eyes whenever she even mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D. and turned away angrily whenever she suggested hesitantly that he had something to do with this.

She was growing desperate. She began trying to bribe him, giving him cookies and letting him choose the channel on TV. The other children grumbled a little, but they must have retained some sense of sensibility and on the whole they were cooperative.

But although Loki was growing more trusting, it wasn't enough.

It wasn't long before the first child grew ill.


A/N: The tone has changed, the style has changed, the plot has changed. It's very different and it's going to get darker. Also, there's a reason it's called 6.5; it's too short to be a full chapter but I wanted to end it here; adding more would have ruined it for me. And I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while ;_;