"Avengers, wrap up the mission; you're needed at home," Fury said over their communicators.
"What's the rush?" Clint asked, taking out another attacker with his arrow. "We were just starting to have some fun."
"You may be having fun, Robin Hood, but I'm bored," Tony replied, circling the fighting before landing in the thick of it. "There's not enough people for us all to fight."
"We have been here a while, Stark," Steve commented. "The fight's ending. What's the rush, Director?"
"Pepper's gone into labor. She wants Stark and probably the rest of you back in New York now," Fury said calmly.
All heads snapped quickly toward Tony, their expressions filled with shock. Tony's eyes had widened in surprise and a little bit of fear. 'She's two week early; she couldn't have gone into labor,' Tony thought frantically, breaking into a cold sweat. 'He's my son; he's supposed to be fashionably late, not early.'
"We'll be done in the next thirty seconds," Natasha replied as the first person to regain control of their vocal chords.
"Transport is waiting for you, ETA one minute," Fury stated.
"Wait, how do you know Pepper went into labor? Why didn't she call me? Is she okay? How's she going to get to the hospital?" Tony questioned quickly, his heart thudding in his chest.
"Pepper had Jarvis hack into SHIELD's phone system to contact me and order me to bring you back to New York," Fury explained, a hint of amusement in her voice. "How many times have I told you not to hack into my database with your computer system?"
"Why don't you stop making it so easy?" Tony muttered as the last enemy fell. Almost immediately after a plane landed a few yards from them, waiting for them.
"Get home, Stark. Your wife needs you now," Fury said, rolling his eyes. "Good luck."
Phil was able to handle super soldier frozen in a block of ice for seventy years, a pair of mentally and emotionally damaged master assassins, a gamma rayed created rage monster, a self-obsessed billionaire with the world's most powerful suit, and a god from an entirely different universe, but he was not prepared to handle taking care of a woman in labor.
"Phil!" Pepper screamed as her contraction hit, her nails digging into the car handle with one hand and gripping Phil's hand with the other.
Phil resisted the urge to wince in pain, focusing his attention on driving them to the hospital. He called in one of the many favors he had at SHIELD, having guards set up around the hospital and on the floor Pepper would be placed on. Once people got wind that the child of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts was going to be born, it would be pandemonium. "Keep breathing through it, Pepper," Phil said, dodging between cars in his haste. "Remember what your doctor said; you need to calm your breathing.
"You try to keep calm when your stomach is being torn apart!" Pepper yelled back, trying to regulate her breathing like she was taught. As the contraction eased, Pepper sighed in relief, loosening her grip on Phil's hand. "Where's Tony, Phil? He needs to be here; he can't miss this."
"He's gonna be there, Pepper; don't worry," Phil assured her. "He's just coming from quite a distance that's all. We sent the best jet out there to get him though; he won't be too long. They're all going to be here in time."
"They're all okay?" Pepper asked, rubbing her hands worriedly across her stomach. 'You need to wait for your daddy, little guy. Please please please don't come before your daddy gets home or he'll be very upset,' Pepper thought.
"Yeah, they're all fine. No medics were needed when they got on the jet. Odds are they're just anxious to get back to you in time," Phil replied, pulling into the emergency parking in front of the hospital. As Phil got out of the car and walked around to Pepper's side, another SHIELD agent slid into the driver's seat. "Can't forget the bag," Phil muttered to himself, grabbing it from the back seat as he wrapped an arm around Pepper's shoulder. "Come on; let's get you into the hospital before the next contraction hits."
Pepper nodded in agreement, watching the car speed off before waddling into the hospital with Phil's help. "Hello," she said to the nurse standing at the reception desk. "I'm Pepper Potts; I'm in labor and I desperately need a bed to lay down on."
"Alright, Ms. Potts, I just need you to fill out these forms," the woman replied, sliding a stack of paper across the desk to her. "And then we'll put you in a room."
"Is there no way I can get a room and then fill out the forms?" Pepper asked tiredly.
"Sorry ma'am but those are the rules; you have to-"
"This woman is the wife of Tony Stark and is the President of Stark Industries. She runs the company that supplies all of your technology and medical equipment for free. It would be smart of you to give her a room on the seventh floor of this building," Phil said curtly.
"Oh-oh of course!" the nurse said, almost tripping over herself in her haste to find Pepper a private room in the computer system. "Can I get an orderly over here please? This woman needs a wheelchair; she's going up to the seventh floor."
Pepper sighed in relief as a wheelchair was brought over, nearly collapsing into the chair. "I'll take care of Ms. Potts," Phil said, brushing off the orderly. "A Doctor Mallard should be here within the next five minutes. Make sure you send him up to Ms. Potts's room immediately; he's her personal doctor."
"Of course, Mr. uh," the nurse paused, unsure of his name.
"Mr. Coulson," Phil replied, pushing Pepper's wheelchair toward the elevator doors.
PHIL TO THE RESCUE! Reviews please