Thor had decided it was time to let Tony and the others know if they had any chance of him helping them with the Loki situation, and he also really needed to know what they were planning to do to Loki and Britney before he decided what he was and wasn't doing about this situation. However, he unfortunately didn't know about the unfortunate events taking place at Stark Tower and how much danger he was potentially putting his girlfriend in.
Tony had managed to scramble to the stairs before a rather large hand decided to help him a bit, his body tumbling harshly for what seemed like forever before his body finally hit the floor. He bolted for the door, aiming to run out to the back of the house to make sure his armor had reached his wife in time. When the door swung open Thor and Emily were already approaching and he frantically waved his arms in the air.
"Go away! Go, get out of here now!" It was then that hulk busted out of the tower, smashing the mainframe of the door with his hands as Tony whined under his breath about tower destroyers. He raced to the back of the house quickly, going mad with fear. He didn't care what the hulk did to him, didn't care if he died or was grievously maimed, hell, he could even care less if his entire house was demolished again. All he needed to know was that Michaela and their baby were alright.
He finally got a visual on Michaela, suit wrapped all the way around her, and he silently thanked God. That was all he had time to do before there was monstrous breathing down his neck and he knew his time was up. Tony turned around to face the hulk like a man, chest puffed out and face full of as much confidence as it would be if he was in his suit. If he were to die, he would do it proudly and in a way that would leave his family with honor. Too bad his extra suits weren't functioning right now, he thought with an ironic chuckle to himself, stumbling backward and onto his back as the hulk neared him. He was wondering why he hadn't made a move yet, why he was still allowing him to live. It seemed the screams of Thor and Emily were distracting Hulk, which Tony didn't appreciate. If he was going to die he wanted it over with. Thor's hammer was thrown and bounced right back off of Hulk's skin, a roar like none other ripping from his chest. It was enough to make the green guy begin to turn around, but Tony wasn't going to let him hurt another woman, Thor had been an idiot to gain the monsters attention with his girlfriend present.
"Hey, dickweed, leave them alone, I'm the one that pissed you off." Tony grumbled, lifting his leg and managing a kick at Hulk. Hulk picked Tony's entire face up with one of his hands, Tony's body dangling like it was a mere piece of string.
Well at least I can say I kept them safe. I love you, Michaela, and you too little…oh what would we have called you, I wonder? Isen for a boy and Neva for a girl? Yeah, I like that. Tony was so deep in thought that he hardly noticed the commotion that was going on around him.
Emily had ran to Hulk, despite the warnings from a distraught Thor. Her arms were wrapped around one of his as best they could be, and she was dangling there for dear life.
"Come one Bruce, Tony is your friend. I know you're in there, and I know that you don't want to hurt him either, Hulk. I don't know what he did, but I do know that you're going to regret this later. Come on, put the man down, his lady is injured. Think if it were Meredith." Emily's voice was soothing and she was gently caressing his arm, grinning from ear to ear as Hulk slowly started to release his grip on Tony. Tony's body hit the ground with a thud and Hulk turned his attention to the petite woman clinging to him, bending down so that her feet could touch the floor.
"E-Em-il-y. Em-il-y frag-ile, not in dang-er any-more." He sat down in the grass and Emily's mouth about hit the floor at how docile and strangely sweet he was being. She hesitantly approached him, placing her tiny-looking hand in one of his massive ones.
"Thank you." Hulk simply shot her a look and grumbled inaudibly a bit, a ghost of a smile gracing his big green lips. He began to shrink back into Dr. Banner, much to Emily's disappointment and Thor's relief as he ran to her.
"Maiden! You could have died!" He bellowed, more anger seeping out towards her than he'd ever shown before. While Emily and Thor exploded into an argument on how she put herself and their children in danger and whether or not Tony was worth that, Tony found the strength to get up and run to Michaela.
"Michaela, angel, are you alright? Say something, anything, baby please!" He shouted, tearing away the Ironman armor piece by piece until her broken and bruised body was able to be recovered. She said nothing and he picked her up out of the suit and cradled her in his arms.
"Thor, we need to get to a hospital quickly, she's still breathing but barely." Tony barked, trying to sound calm and collected, as if he had everything under control. She wasn't doing well, he was so scared she was dying in his arms. She was scratched and bleeding all over the place, over eighty percent of her body a purple-ish blue color. Thor stopped bickering with Emily long enough to call Heimdall and request access to the bifrost.
"Thor what are you doing? She needs a hospital not a trip to see your family!" Meredith interjected.
"She needs a doctor now, she'll die before we make it the nearest hospital here, and what would our story be, exactly? That's what I thought, now come on." Thor knew he was being rude, but too many things were happening so quickly, he didn't have time to assess his manners right now and his nerves were already fried from earlier. They were all in Asgard in a matter of moments and Thor helped Tony push passed people and obstacles to get to the hospital chambers as quickly as possible.
"Master Thor, I'm seeing an awful lot of you lately…" The doctor commented in concern. It seemed like ever since Loki came back more and more people Thor cared about needed medical care. They got Michaela hooked up to a ventilator and ultrasound machine, an IV drip getting inserted next and a heart monitor being hooked to one of her fingers. Tony was pacing back and forth and Emily and Thor were trying to explain to Banner what all had happened. The tension in the room was absolutely awful, and even the doctor was itching to remove herself from this situation.
"I think I'm going to have to ask everyone but Mr. Stark to leave the room." The doctor finally said after a long hard silence, raising the fear level in the room to a maximum level. Once they were alone, Tony approached her with a shattered expression.
"I know you didn't want us to be alone for no reason, what's the damage, Doc?" The doctor looked at the floor for a moment before meeting Tony's gaze with remorseful eyes.
"She's hemorrhaging." Tony swallowed hard and his eyes screwed shut in an attempt to not cry. Tony Stark doesn't cry.
"H-Hemorrhaging where? Can you stop it?" In all this particular doctor's years working at the palace, there had never been an issue with an unborn child she hadn't been able to fix—until now. The doctor burst into tears and shook her head sadly.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark. She's hemorrhaging from within her uterus, that's where the blood is coming from. I think she's miscarrying, sir." Tony's face reddened and he gripped the lady by the shoulders, panic consuming him and guilt written all over his face.
"You can stop it though, can't you? You caught it early…there…there has to be a way!" His eyes bore into hers, searching for any and all signs that there was some hope. He shook her hard, his body beginning to tremble.
"Answer me!" The doctor flinched.
"I can stop her cervix from dilating to expel the baby from her body, but it would be a moot point, the baby's heart isn't beating anymore. It's been dead for about an hour now." She sobbed, attempting to dry her eyes while Tony still had a grip on her shoulders. His hands dropped away and every ounce of light and life in his eyes and face dropped with them. His skin paled, his now dull brown eyes were leaking the tears he'd promised he wouldn't cry, and he found himself staring at the ultrasound.
"No, no…I've only known for two days, just two. I've known my child for two fucking days! I'll be damned if it's gone! Pregnancy begins technically two entire weeks before conception…so she's six weeks pregnant, our baby has a heartbeat. That begins at week five. I want to hear it." The doctor's eyebrows knitted together.
"Have you misheard me? I said the baby's heart stop—" Tony's expression grew grave and his tone suggested he was moments from snapping as he cut her off.
"I want to hear." The doctor quickly pulled her stethoscope from around her neck, handing it to Tony.
"You see that little ball in the picture on the ultrasound? It's the dark spot the size of a pomegranate seed just above her belly button? That's the baby, press there." Tony pressed gentler than he'd ever touched anything in his life. He moved the instrument around in little circles praying to hear anything, anything at all, but there was silence. Tony was about to throw up, his stomach twisted and his heart felt as if it were shriveling and dying. He was about to storm out of the room when his favorite voice in the entire world stopped him dead in his tracks.
"T-Tony…what h-happened?" Michaela was so frail sounding, so small and innocent. How was he supposed to tell her this? He turned to face her, flinching as she grabbed her midsection and groaned.
"Ouch…God, I shouldn't be cramping like this. Is that normal in pregnancy?" She asked the doctor, becoming alarmed when there was hesitation.
"I think you need to talk to your husband. I'm not the one who should say, sweetie." Michaela's eyes filled with tears.
"What is she talking about, Tony?" Tony took a deep breath and tried to steady his breathing, turning to the Doctor and scratching the back of his head.
"Could you um…could you give us some time alone?" The doctor nodded and walked up to Tony, whispering something in his ear before gingerly patting him on the shoulder and exiting the room. Tony pulled a chair up to Michaela's bedside and took a seat, reaching for her hand and lacing their fingers together before pulling it up to his lips for a tender kiss.
"Angel, I have some pretty bad news." Michaela was about to ask what when another terrible cramp ripped through her. This time she cried out a little bit, a few tears trickling down her cheeks.
"There's something wrong with our baby isn't there? These are worse than just cramps Tony these are what I'd imagine—" She choked up, unable to finish that sentence or the horrible train of thought her mind was venturing on.
"Contractions to feel like? That's what they are. Our baby died a few hours ago, sweetheart. You're miscarrying right now." Michaela's eyes began to lose their shine and mirror Tony's own, which only furthered the pain strangling his heart.
"No, that can't be possible, you don't just star miscarrying…you either miscarry or you don't, if they caught it early can't they stop it?" A loose sob finally broke out of Tony's throat, the glue holding him together was dissolving as he watched her suffer.
"I'm so sorry, I already asked that question, she said there was nothing we could do." He kissed her temple and ran his fingers through her hair in an attempt at soothing her cries.
"What she whispered to me earlier…she said we had a choice. The cramps are your body trying to get rid of the baby naturally. She said we could let it happen and deliver our baby as we would have anyway or that she could surgically remove it for us if we said so in time." Michaela shook her head frantically.
"No, no, they aren't touching our child! I am it's mother, I will give birth to it, it's what's right." Tony nodded, squeezing her hand and allowing another sob to escape.
"Okay, I'll be here baby. We'll have him, hold him, bury him…we'll treat him the way our son would deserve to be treated. I don't care how tiny he is when he's born." A bittersweet laugh rang out through Michaela's tears and she almost smiled.
"Our son? How do you know it wasn't a girl?" Tony shrugged.
"Just what I'm going with." Another heavy cramp hit and she bit her lip hard, a little blood dribbling down her chin as she reached up to pet the side of Tony's face.
"I love you." Tony's thumb gently wiped the blood away and he nuzzled into her hand.
"I love you too." Michaela then began to feel a little bit of pressure around her pelvis and she grabbed Tony quickly.
"Go down there, I think he's coming." Tony walked to the end of Michaela's hospital bed and tried so hard not to flinch at all the blood his wife had been losing while they were talking. She'd bled through the mats the doctor had put there and he was pretty sure the bed was ruined. A lighter cramp came over her, the last one, and unlike birth there was no pushing involved; all of a sudden it all just gushed out. It was a bloody mess, and all it looked like to Tony was a mass of tissue at first, but for his baby he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. He very carefully pushed away what seemed to him to be the placenta and followed a little string to a water-filled sac the size of a golf ball. Inside it was a fetus the size of a pomegranate seed. Tony scooped him up, hands shaking, and carried him to Michaela. The hysterics she flew into once he was in her hand was inevitable.
"Oh my god. Tony he had all his fingers and toes, their so small…but their there…do you see? This isn't…this isn't happening." Tony wrapped his arms around her as best he could, rubbing her and shushing her, promising her everything would be okay. But it wasn't. Tony no longer had any hope for the future, everything good about the world felt dead to him. He called for the doctor and asked for a birth certificate.
"Do you want me to weigh and measure him?" The doctor asked quietly, realizing they wanted this to be treated like any other birth. Tony nodded silently, still holding and caressing his wife as she calmed a little.
"What do you want to call him?" She whispered, her eyes having never left his tiny little face.
"I want him to have a meaningful name, one he'd be proud of. One that would always remind him of who he was. I like Isen. Isen Alexander. It means Iron Defender of Man." Michaela sniffled.
"Just like his daddy." The doctor then walked over and asked to see Isen, so she could weigh him, and Tony filled out the rest of the certificate while they waited. Isen Alexander Stark, born at 2:09 AM on February twenty-fifth. They both signed it and Tony was handed a washcloth to start cleaning Michaela up.
"He weighs four ounces and he's 0.25 inches long." Tony added that to the certificate and the doctor took the liberty of filling out the death certificate herself, as not to trouble the already distraught couple. Michaela blew the little baby a kiss before Tony gently wrapped him in a paper towel and laid him in a shoe box the doctor went and retrieved from her sleeping quarters.
"I'll make a call to have a small casket flown in tomorrow morning." Tony promised as he put the lid on the box.
"Tony, they don't make caskets that small." Michaela reasoned, watching in worry as Tony almost visibly built walls around his heart.
"They do now. I'm not treating my firstborn like a dead pet. He gets a casket, we'll bury him tomorrow afternoon." The doctor laid all the paper work aside and took the box from Tony.
"Why don't we put Isen on the table for tonight, and I'll pull a cot up next to your wife for you to sleep on, hmm? Michaela needs to stay overnight to make sure those ribs set well and that she won't bleed anymore, alright?" Tony didn't say anything, just nodded and stared intently at the box while the doctor was gone. Six weeks and three days he didn't know he had a son, didn't know to love him or cherish that precious time. Two days he did, and now it was all over. His heart would be buried with that baby, he believed that with all he was. Tony only had room for so much pain, and right now, this seemed like the final nail in his coffin. There was nothing of him left.