Chapter 11:

Everybody ran at top speed to the medical room where they had left Verity. Loki still had handcuffs and his mussel on, but no muttering came from him, making Tony frown very deeply at him.

Fury stopped in front of the door, which had been locked. For a moment, nobody did anything, then Loki tried to say something which Thor translated to, "'Knock on the door.'"

Fury nodded and knocked a couple of times. They waited. Then a doctor wearing a white mask came out and said, "We can't have visitors right now. She's giving birth!" With that, he whisked back into the room, closing the door behind him.

Everybody was about to sit on the seats in the hall, before they heard screaming coming from the room. All of their spines turned to ice as they heard that scream, that was dripping with pain. Great pain.

Loki yell and started to pace up and down the hall, shaking his head and muttering. Thor stared at his brother with wide eyes, making everyone wonder what Loki was saying.

"That is not so, Brother." Thor said, making Loki stop in his tracks. He walked over to him and placed his hand on Loki's slim shoulders, saying, "The doctors here are very good. And Man of Iron tells me that many have given birth at such a young age."

Everybody stared at the two gods. Loki muttered something, making Thor bite his lip and turn to Tony, asking, "Has anyone given birth the age of 14?"

Tony thought for a second, before nodding slowly. Thor gave a bark of laughter and turned back to Loki, saying loudly, "There! You see? There has been births at that age."

Again, Loki said something, making Thor's face fall. Tony swallowed and asked, "What did he say?"

Thor glanced at him, before telling him, "He would like to know how many of them have survived?" Now it was Tony who was biting his lip before saying in a small unsure voice, "A few."

Loki gave a muffled yell, before shrugging off his brother's hand and sitting down on a seat, placing his head in between his arms. Everybody shifted uncomfortably on the spot, before sitting down as well, but a tiny bit away from Loki who seemed to be grieving.

An hour later, Clint came wondering into the hall, stretching and yawning while saying, "Hey guys. How long have you been here?"

"About an hour." Natasha answered, moving so that he could sit next to her. Tony was sitting next to her, watching Loki over the lap of the sleeping Thor, whose snores seemed to vibrate through the floor. Clint glanced at Loki, asking, "What's up with him?"

Natasha also looked over at Loki, before saying, "I'm not sure. I think he's sulking."

Clint gave small nod, leaned back into his chair and stayed like that for a while, before sitting up again and asking, "Why are we all just sitting here?"

"Because Verity is giving birth, and we're waiting to hear what happens." Steve, who was staring at the ceiling, told him with a dull voice, like he was bored half to death.

Again, Clint nodded and lent back in his chair.

***2 Hours Later***

Everybody was either asleep, or falling to sleep.

Steve's head was resting on the back of the chair with his eyes closed, Bruce was nodding, but trying to stay awake, Natasha was stretched out on the seats, while Clint was doing the same on the floor beneath her. Thor was in a state of deep sleep, with Tony still watching Loki's every move. But Loki hadn't moved an inch since he sat down, he was so still you would almost think that he was asleep.

Fury was pacing in front of the door, waiting for any kind of news. He was about to sit back down, when the door opened and the doctor popped his head out.

"How's it going in there?" Fury asked in a hushed voice. The doctor looked behind him into the room, before closing the door and saying, "Everything's fine Sir."

Fury gave a small sigh of relief before asking, "How's Verity?"

The doctor tried to give a small smile, saying, "She's resting. Straight after the baby was born, she fell asleep. A lot of her energy is used up, so I can't let anyone in there for a while."

"I'll get her transferred to Stark's tower." Fury said. He bit his lip slightly before asking, "What about her baby?"

"Ah," The doctor shifted uncomfortably on the spot, trying to think about what to say. "Well... The baby's healthy, very healthy. But..."

Fury raised his eyebrow at him, asking, "But... what?"

The doctor cleared his throat before saying, "I don't see how long he's going to survive without his mother's milk. Sir... I don't know what to do. I mean... this is a child born from a different race than us, I don't know what he needs."

Fury sighed heavily, looking over his shoulder at Loki, who had risen his head slightly, meaning that he was listening. Fury looked back to the doctor, and saying, "Just look after him the best you can. I'll have to have a little talk to some gods."

The doctor nodded before going back into the room, leaving Fury behind to deal with the teenagers in front of him.

Tony stood up and said, "Will you need the others awake, or are you going to talk to Thor while he's asleep?" Fury opened his mouth but heard muffled speech, and looked at Loki.

"What did you say?" Tony asked, placing a hand behind his ear. But when Loki stared at him with red, burning eyes, he placed his hand down again. Loki grunted, then turned his head so that he was staring at Thor.

For a while, nothing happened. Then Thor woke so suddenly that he fell off his seat, waking everybody else that had been asleep, while sending vibrations through the floor.

Thor quickly got to his feet, looking around him with an invisible weapon clenched in his hand. But, when he saw where he was, Thor put his hand down cleared his throat, and asked, "What happened?"

"What happened is," Fury began looking at all of the teenagers in front of him, "Verity has given birth, and she's resting easy now."

"Ah!" Thor gave his bark of laughter, turning to Loki and saying, "Did I not tell you that Lady Verity would be fine, Brother?" Loki mumbled something, and Thor chuckled to himself, turning to Fury and telling him, "Go on."

"Well," Fury continued, getting everybody's attention, "while she's asleep, we're going to transfer her to Stark's tower."

"What?!" Tony gave a strangled shout, before clearing his throat and saying in a small voice, "That's fine."

Fury cleared his throat loudly, "While we're moving Verity, I will allow all of you an hour in New York to buy anything that you'll need. Stark, I presume you have no problem with paying for everything?"

Tony gave a small nod, staring down at the ground.

"Good." Fury turned back to the rest, since he was facing Tony, but before he could say anything, Steve said, "Hang on. What about Miss Verity's baby?"

Loki spoke in his muffled voice, causing Thor to stare at him with wide eyes and saying, "What?" Loki nodded a little, shrugging his shoulders as if he didn't see what the big deal was.

"What did he say?" Clint asked, while rubbing one of his eyes. Thor took a breath before saying, but without losing sight of his brother, "He said that Verity had given birth to a son, and that they'll have to take him with her to the tower."

Natasha gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth, making everyone turn and stare at her. This was so not like her.

Fury cleared his throat and gained all of their attention again, "He's right. Verity and her son will be taken to Stark Tower, while you all go shopping. Except for Loki."

Thor turned to stare at him, crying out, "What are you planing on doing with my brother?"

"We're going to keep an eye on him." Fury said, looking at Loki with his good eye.

"Loki stays with me." Thor said, standing in front of Loki and crossing his arms, showing that he wasn't going to let anyone take his brother away without his approval.

Loki and shrugged and rolled his eyes, saying something. But, as usual, they didn't understand. Fury groaned and said, "Fine. Loki can go with you to the tower. But I'm sending three agents with you."

"That won't be necessary." Natasha said, giving Loki a small smile, which caused him to stare at her in disgust.

Fury put his hands to his temples, almost shouting, "Whatever! If you want to risk being around him, alone, that's fine by me! I'll send agents to the tower on the third day to come and get him once he's back to his grown state."

With that Fury started to walk down the hall, leaving the avengers to exchange looks with each other, and look at Loki uncomfortably.

*** A few hours later***

"Right. Did you get everything you wanted?" Tony asked, walking next to Bruce, who was pushing a trolley, and sipping out of a cup with a straw. Natasha pushed her and Clint's trolley so that they were side by side, saying, "Yeah! I love it here! I can't believe I've never come here before!"

Tony, Bruce and Clint exchanged worried glances at each other. Natasha wasn't herself. Tony looked around at the three other teenagers that were walking towards them.

Steve, who still had the solider serum in his system, was pushing the trolley, which had very little in it, while Thor, who was looking around him in awe, and Loki walked a little behind him. Tony frowned as he saw that Loki, who didn't have chains or a mussel anymore, was staring down at the ground, with his hands on his side.

It looked like Loki was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, which made Tony frown at his behavior. He had been sure that the god would be looking around him like Thor, but he didn't even seem to notice what was happening around him.

"Well, I think we should all go and pay for this stuff." Bruce said, walking towards the counter. Tony went through first, telling the lady there that all of the stuff in the trolleys was going to be paid using the same account.

The woman frowned, but swiped everything. After they had finished paying for everything, they all got into a limo and headed to Stark Tower. They carried everything to the floor where their bedrooms were and started to pack everything away.

"Has anybody seen Loki?" Natasha asked, popping her head out of her door way. Tony ran into the room where Loki was staying, and saw that nobody was in there.

"He might have gone to see Lady Verity." Thor said, without walking out of his room. Tony rushed into the lounge room, where Steve was sitting on the couch.

"Did Loki come through here?" Tony asked, a little out of breath. Steve shook his head.

Tony groaned and ran back down the long hallway. He stopped right at the end, in front of a closed door. Verity was staying in this room. Tony was about to open it, when Thor, Bruce, Clint, Natasha and Steve came and stood behind him.

Natasha pushed in front of him and opened the door, relieving a large room with a double bed and cot at the end of it.

Verity was sitting, crossed legged, on the bed facing Loki who was slumped in the chair that sat next to it. Verity placed her finger on her lips, whispering, "The moment he sat down, he fell asleep."

Everybody made their way around the bed, waiting for Loki to wake. But he didn't. Tony frowned and asked, "Is he normally like this?"

Thor shrugged. Verity shook her head, saying in a whisper, "No. But I think that he has not been sleeping very well for the past two years."

Tony nodded, pulling his gaze away from the sleeping god, and looking down into the cot. A little boy slept peacefully, his hand near his mouth, his right leg twitching every now and then.

Verity slide down the bed so that she was in front of her son. She placed her chin on her knee, looking down at him, saying, "He is cute, isn't he?"

Natasha sat down next to her, nodding while staring at the baby. Tony cleared his voice softly before saying, "Have you named him?"

Verity shook her head. Tony smiled a little, "Great. Because I found a name that I think would suit him."

"It's not 'Tony', is it?" Clint scoffed. Tony glanced at him, before saying, "No. I was going to say Leo." He turned to look back at Verity.

She nodded a little, then smiled saying, "Little Leo. I love it."

Tony smiled widely and puffed out his chest. Natasha giggled again in her wired way, behind her hand, but stopped at once when they heard a soft grunt behind them, then a sharp inhale of breath.

Everybody turned to look at Loki, who was awake and looking around him. Verity crawled back up to the his end of the bed, saying, "Hey. Are you okay?"

Loki nodded very slightly, his left eye dropping a little. Verity sighed, looking down the bed covers. Then she took breath and asked, "Loki. How long are we going to stay like this?"

Everybody stared as Loki's eyes snapped open, as if he were suddenly wide awake. He took a sharp breath, before saying slowly, "Three days... at the least."

Verity popped her head up and repeated, "'At the least'. What is the most then?"

Loki grimaced, saying in a pained voice, "A month."