A/N: Okie dokie, so here is the second half of the chapter! Sorry it took a bit longer to get out then I intended! I wanted to make sure it was done right! I want to thank everybody again for the continued support that this story has gotten so far! It's been down right amazing so far so please do me the favor of keeping it up it means the world to me!

I think that is it, happy reading everybody!

Disclaimer: I own nada!

Of New Developments

Part 2

Stephen

As he was about to take his turn in the dice game, Stephen suddenly felt a spike of extreme anger coming from Irena and he was immediately worried. He could sense that something wasn't quite right. Dropping the dice on the tray, he got up and left the room without looking back. Exiting the lounge, he went to go find Irena before something really bad happened. He entered the foyer and heard Sam talking to somebody. He couldn't hear all of the conversation just bits and pieces but what he could hear horrified him. He could make out the words "whore" and "slut" and instantly he knew that Sam was talking about Irena in that way. He could feel the bond exploding to life and the need to protect her almost overwhelmed him. He was shocked to see Irena dart from the bathroom at top speed. She was moving at a speed that he didn't even know a tiny woman as pregnant as she was could move at. She was in front of Sam before he could blink and the blue magic was just crackling around her from, the anger dripping from her was like nothing he had ever felt before. He knew things were about to get very messy, very fast.

He had to stop her before she either accidentally hurt herself or their little treasure. He knew that she would never ever forgive herself if something happened to their little treasure. He wasted no time in running to her.

"Irena!" He yelled.

Unfortunately, she was so lost in her anger and her magic that his voice didn't even register with her. Before he could reach her, she tried to release the built up magic within her but as she did so something abnormal happened. He heard her yell and then she collapsed clutching at her swollen belly. He could feel her pain. He could sense that she was fading and his worry increased exponentially. Just as he reached her, he could sense that she had passed out. He wasted no time in crouching in front of her. He immediately checked for a pulse and was extremely relieved to feel a faint one. Next he let his hand caress her swollen belly and felt even more relief when he felt the magical pulse he loved so much. It was punctuated by a small kick and he let out a breath that he didn't even realize he was holding. Knowing that both Irena and their little treasure were okay, he turned back around to face Sam and the bond exploded to life once more. He was determined to make sure that the threat to Irena and his unborn child was eliminated for good. Just as he was about to fire off a spell at Sam, something grabbed onto him and he tried to shake it off. He continued to growl and snarl and fight off whatever it was holding him back but no matter what he did he just could not free himself.

Tony

Watching Merlin's retreating from, he fought the urge to snicker a little bit. Even the slightest blip in the force sent him running to Irena. Well seeing as Merlin was going to be gone for who knew how long, he decided that he would take his turn. Just as he was about to roll the dice, he felt something familiar. He knew exactly what it was too. That feeling that everything gets somehow electrically charged whenever Irena lost control of her powers. He realized instantly that something wasn't right. He dropped the dice into the tray with a clatter and wasted no time in leaving the lounge. Of course everybody followed him to see what the matter was. He couldn't believe the sight that greeted him. Irena was passed out on the ground and Merlin looked ready to fry birdie boy extra crispy. He realized very quickly that Merlin was 'hulking out'. Shit, this was very bad! Immediately, he jumped into action.

"Legolas, Grease-lighting, we have to stop Merlin before he fries birdie boy extra crispy!" He ordered.

Instantly, Legolas and Grease-lighting jumped into action. They each grabbed into him effectively hindering his ability to cast spells and he tried desperately to get Merlin to focus on him instead of birdie boy. While he did this, Pepper and the girls looked after Irena.

"Come on Merlin! Focus on me and forget birdie boy!" He yelled.

Nothing he did was working at all. Merlin continued to snarl and growl in the grip of Legolas and Grease-lighting. He inwardly sighed; he couldn't believe what he was going to do but desperate times call for desperate measures. He had to do something to stop Merlin from 'hulking out' even if that meant that he had to be serious for once.

"Stephen, look at me!" He tried again.

Hearing his given name seem to help a bit, Stephen looked at him but was still unable to fully understand what was going on it was a start in the right direction though. With both of his hands in the surrender position, he approached Stephen carefully and slowly. He was still struggling but his focus seemed more on him now than Sam thankfully.

"Stephen, you have to put the bond away right now. I know you think that you are protecting Irena but murdering Sam won't solve anything. Irena needs you and your baby needs you. How can you be there for them with murder hanging over your head? Believe me I know what it does and you don't want it." He coaxed.

He gestured for Thor and Clint to force him to face Irena passed out cold on the floor.

"Look, they need you now. I know it's hard but you have to let it go." He said soothingly.

He could tell it was finally working and Stephen was finally starting to come back to himself. He was staring at Irena with his face pinched in pain. Knowing that Stephen was mostly back to normal now, he got Steve and Bucky to escort Sam from the building. As he watched Stephen go to Irena, he let out a relieved sigh internally. That was one hell of a crisis averted. Looking around he realized that everybody was now staring at him like he suddenly grew little purple hairs all over his body. He fought the urge to roll his eyes. Great now his reputation was ruined and everybody knew that Tony Stark did in fact have a heart.

Steve

Steve felt completely sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe that somebody he considered to be one of his best friends talk to and about his little sister in such a horrible way. He had no idea what to do at all. When he was just thawed and so confused about the new world he was suddenly dropped in, Irena had been there to help him adjust. He didn't know he would have gotten through that period of his life without her but Sam was one of his closest friends, not in the way Bucky was but still very close and he didn't want to have to choose sides.

He looked at Sam who looked positively stricken. He realized very quickly that something wasn't quite right. He knew that Sam was a lot of things and he knew that Sam was still a little bit jealous of Stephen. He also knew that Sam still had some feelings for Irena but he was trying so hard fix his relationship with her so that they could be friends, not make it worse. He just wasn't the type of guy to say things like that. Sam turned to him and Bucky and gave both of them a pleading look.

"Steve, I was trying to make things better not make them worse I swear. I don't even know what came over me. I got in there with the gift it was like a switch had flipped and something happened to me. I was suddenly so angry at her and I don't even know why!" Sam tried to explain.

Both he and Bucky looked at each other and frowned. Something was definitely not right at all.

"Okay what else did you do today? Anything else out of the ordinary?" He asked seriously.

He watched as Sam tried to think hard.

"Well, I sort of had to psych myself up before I came here so I went for a run in the park. I did a couple of laps in the park. On the second one, I saw a little old lady sitting on a bench. She was staring at me and smiling, like really paying attention to me but I didn't really think much of it." He explained.

Hearing this caused him to frown immediately. Bucky also had a frown on his face too. As of late, Irena had been complaining about this old lady that always seemed to be sitting on a park bench staring at her whenever she was at the park. She kept on saying how much it creeped her out but Stephen didn't seem to think that it was anything to worry about. He wondered if there wasn't something fishy going on. He knew that this was something that he really needed to talk to Stephen about. He gave Sam a reassuring pat on the back.

"Don't worry Sam, we will figure out what is going on, I promise you. Why don't you go back home and try to decompress okay?" He suggested.

Giving him a look of extreme relief, Sam nodded.

"That sounds like a great idea right about now. Please tell Irena I'm sorry okay?" Sam said softly.

He smiled at him and gave his shoulder another reassuring pat.

"Of course I will!" He reassured.

After parting ways with Sam, He and Bucky went back into the tower. He was not shocked to see that Irena was no longer on the floor and assumed that she was moved back into the lounge where she would be more comfortable. Sure enough, he and Bucky entered the lounge and she was lying on the couch still out like a light surrounded by everyone. He could see that Stephen's magical friend Wong was there doing what he assumed to be some kind of magical diagnostic…thing on her. Poor Stephen looked completely distraught not that he could blame him. He walked up to Stephen and put a reassuring hand his shoulder. Bucky also gave him a reassuring pat on the back with his metal arm.

"Don't worry Stephen, Irena is stubborn as hell. This won't keep her down for too long." He told Stephen reassuringly.

Stephen gave both him and Bucky a reassuring look back.

"I know and…thank you, both of you." Stephen said gratefully.

He nodded at Stephen and then looked at Irena. Hopefully, she would wake up sooner rather than later. She had a whole family worried sick about her.

Stephen

He couldn't help but continue to look at Steve gratefully. Honestly, having a support system was really going a long way in helping everything right now. As he looked at Steve, he sensed that Steve had something in back of his mind that he wanted to talk to him about. He would ask him about it later though; Irena was his main priority at the moment. He was so worried about her, she was so passed out that he couldn't even feel her through the bond and that didn't sit well with him at all. He felt like he wanted to go mental all over again. Thinking about going mental reminded him of just how much he owed Tony. If it hadn't been for him he would have murdered Sam right on the spot. Tony was right, he wasn't a murderer by any means and there was no way he could live with himself if he had actually murdered Sam. He didn't even know Tony managed to reach him when he was so lost to the bond but he was sure glad that he somehow managed to do it. He owed Tony big time.

Sensing that Wong was finished with his magical diagnosis, he shook himself out his thoughts and gave Wong his complete attention. He could sense Wong's relief and knew instantly that she would be okay and that their little treasure was going to okay, thank god for that. The relief that he was now feeling was indescribable.

"Okay, so first things first, she's going to be fine. She somehow went into some kind of a magical overload hibernation mode. Now, I'm not exactly sure why this happened but I do have a theory. Irena's magic is extremely strong on her own, never mind the baby's magic. I think because her magic is currently bound to the baby's, it's just way too much for her to wield right now. She has enough magic pumping through her system right now that would tear a normal sorcerer apart. Clearly, her body has some kind of built in defense mechanism in case something like this happened and she lost control of it so she and her baby would be protected from it. So, right now all that can be done now is to make her comfortable until she finishes sleeping it off." He explained.

Everybody let out a collective sigh of relief and he did too. He could sense the tension just evaporating from the room. Wong turned to him; he could sense that he had a few more things to explain to him that were more pertinent to him than anybody else.

"Stephen, we are going to have to help her control her magic even more now. She can't do any more magic while she is pregnant or this will keep happening to her and she might stop being able to wake up from it. She isn't going to like it but it's for her own good. Also, I think it would be wise to keep her here until she is fully recovered from this. I think it's just her magic causing this problem but we should be sure." He added.

He nodded in agreement. She was going to hate it but he refused to let this happen again to her. Once was scary enough and staying here while she was sleeping it off was a good idea. He really didn't feel like going anywhere at the moment. He would rather be safe than sorry and monitor her closely for a bit before bringing her back to the Sanctum. Perhaps, they could just stay in her old room until she recovered. As if reading his thoughts, Tony spoke up.

"Hey Merlin, we can bring her up to her old room and she can sleep it off there. It's shouldn't be any problem." Tony said.

He frowned at being called Merlin once more. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. He nodded in agreement. He could sense that everybody knew the day was done and started filing out of the lounge. He couldn't be more thankful for that. He knew that he had everybody's support but all he wanted to do was be alone with Irena for the time being. Soon, the only people that were left in the room were himself, Wong, Tony, Pepper, Bucky, Darcy and Steve. Wong gave him a reassuring look.

"If you need anything at all Stephen, don't hesitate to call me back here." Wong said firmly.

He gave Wong a thankful look and thanked him profusely. Wong waved him off and then made the familiar movements to open up a portal. He wasted no time in walking through it and it closed behind him automatically. Steve turned to him and gave him a reassuring look. He gave him a brotherly pat on the back and then decided that it was his turn to take his leave and left the room as well. He had a feeling that he would be seeing more of Steve later though. Tony looked at him with a questioning look on his face.

"Hey Merlin, did you need any help with getting Irena to her room?" Tony questioned him.

He shook his head at the question.

"No, I think I can manage but thank you for the offer." He declined.

Tony nodded.

"No problemo Merlin, you just get her to her room. Pepper and I will deal with all this." Tony assured, gesturing to the mess all around them.

Tony and Pepper went off to start dealing with the mess and that just left Bucky and Darcy. He saw that Darcy was sitting with Irena's head in her lap and combing through her dark, messy locks with her right hand. He could sense that something wasn't right was with her and he saw that Bucky realized it too. He could sense that she was extremely upset. Bucky sidled up to her and she rested her head against his metal arm.

"Sweetness, what's wrong?" Bucky asked her softly.

He realized was wrong with her right away, he knew that she and Irena were extremely close but he underestimated just how close they really were. They were truly bonded like sisters and what happened to Irena really upset her. Bucky understood this right away and wound his metal arm around her waist.

"Oh sweetness, Irena is going to be fine there is no need to be all upset." Bucky murmured into her ear.

He saw that she was trying to stop big fat tears from rolling down her cheeks.

"I know but it still scared me. I've never seen her lose control of her magic that before." She confessed.

He could sense her embarrassment at being so scared but there was really no reason to be embarrassed about it. It scared everybody, hell he had been petrified at what happened. He had an idea that he knew would help her a lot.

"Darcy, I can get somebody to notify you when she wakes up so you can come and see her if you want. Will that help at all?" He asked.

She looked at him at with extreme gratefulness.

"Yes please, I would really appreciate that." She said gratefully.

"Good." He said smiling at her.

He watched as Bucky gently coaxed her away from Irena and into a standing position. It took a bit but Bucky finally got her to leave the room. Finally he was alone with her; he wasted no time in crouching down next to her head and pushed her messy hair back from her face. Slowly, he let his hand move from her hair to her face and he caressed her cheek softly.

"Come on, my little troublemaker. It's time to get you into bed good and properly." He murmured softly to her.

Getting up from his crouched position, he gently hoisted her into his arms. He activated his magic a little bit so it would be a lot easier to carry her to her room. He only used a little bit of magic on himself so it shouldn't have any effect on her at all. She was 5 months pregnant after all and knew it would be no cakewalk to get her to her room but he wanted so desperately to be alone with her that this option was the only way to go. He wasted no time in leaving the lounge and getting Irena to her room as quickly as he could. He entered her room and placed her onto the bed. He watched her with affection for a moment as she wriggled around trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. After she settled a little bit, he went to have a little look around the room to see what she had left behind in this place. He dearly hoped to god that he didn't have to go to the Sanctum and get her anything. He absolutely refused to be parted from her right now. He entered the bathroom and was relieved to come up with some essentials like a toothbrush, toothpaste and hair brush. Clearly, she figured that she might have to use this room again at some point so she left some essentials behind here. His little love was such a smart little cookie. It was one of the many things he adored about her.

Walking back into the bedroom portion of the room, he sat down next to her on the edge of the bed and tried to figure out what he could put on her for pajamas. He wanted her to be nice and comfortable. He didn't want her to have to sleep in her clothes. He knew that nothing she had in here would fit her now. He thought for a moment and then decided on just giving her the undershirt that he wore underneath his dress shirt. He knew that she would be comfortable in that and that way he wouldn't have to leave to go and get her something. He never slept in much besides his underwear anyway.

Just as he began to start undressing her, the doorbell buzzed and he sensed that it was Steve. He felt his protectiveness spike a little bit. He covered Irena up the best he could. Her body was for his eyes only. Once he was satisfied that she was covered up well enough, he opened the door and in stepped Steve. He looked very apprehensive at interrupting his time alone with Irena.

"Look, I'm sorry for interrupting you so soon after all of this happened but I have to tell something important that Sam told me. I know you are still angry at him and rightfully so but you have to hear me out." He pleaded.

He gestured for Steve to continue. Whether he wanted to accept it or not, he knew that Steve was right. When he was in the middle of 'hulking out', he could sense not only fear coming from Sam but extreme remorse too and he knew that nobody who was saying those awful things just to be an asshole would feel that much remorse after saying it.

"I think something is happening to Sam, I don't know what because I don't know how any of this magic stuff works. Sam told me that he went for a run before coming here to try and make up with Irena. He said that as soon as he saw her he suddenly felt so angry at her and he didn't even know why. He told me that while he was running laps in the park he came across an old woman sitting on a park bench just staring at him. Now, I don't know if any of this means anything but I know that Irena was complaining about being creeped out by some old woman sitting on a bench in the park. I just thought you should know about it is all." Steve explained.

He nodded, he agreed with Steve. He didn't know what it was yet but he knew something was off. He could think of many spells that could change somebody's personality or that could control them. If the sorcerer was strong enough there even a spell that could be used to turn a person into a sort of 'giant periscope' so the caster could 'see' things through them. If it fell into the wrong hands, magic could be a very scary thing. He was grateful that Steve came to tell him this information. If something was in fact going on, he would figure it out but right now Irena and their little treasure was his top priority at the moment.

"Steve, thank you for the information, soon as Irena is well again Wong and I will look into it I promise." He reassured.

Accepting his answer, Steve nodded.

"I know it's hard for you to think so right now but Sam really is a decent human being who just wanted to fix up his relationship with Irena. If something is wrong I want to help." Steve said without hesitation.

He nodded in understanding, he knew that Steve and Sam were close and Steve would want to help figure out what was happening to him if it turned out to be something magical.

"Of course you can." He agreed.

After they finished their conversation, he bid Steve goodnight and Steve left the room. He attention was immediately focused back onto his little love. Taking great care to be very gentle with her, he finished stripping Irena of her clothes so she just in her little panties. Part of him wanted to be very naughty and just leave her like that but he knew that it wouldn't be fair to her in the state she was in and she would probably get cold staying that way anyway. He wasted no time in stripping down to his underwear. With the same gentleness that he used to strip her of her clothes, he maneuvered the tank top over her head and her arms through the arm holes. He tried to tug it over her belly without disturbing her the best that he could. It was far too large for her and left very little to the imagination but he knew that she would be far more comfortable in it than without it.

Letting out a long sigh, he took a moment to just caress her swollen belly. He felt a jolt of emotion surge through him as he felt a little kick and then a pulse it was if their little treasure was telling him "It's okay daddy, I'm still here." He would never ever get tired of feeling those little pulses and kicks. Letting out a tired sigh, he climbed into bed with her and pulled the covers up around them both.

Whatever was happening, he would figure it out with the help of Wong and Maximus. He refused to let any harm come to Irena or his little treasure. They were his to protect and he would do it for the rest of his natural life.

Spoiler

Stephen

Irena had slept through most of the day and it was now late afternoon. Just as he was beginning to become a little worried again, he could sense that she was finally waking up and relief flooded his system. Her mismatched eyes fluttered open and she tried to pull herself up into a sitting position despite her swollen belly being in the way. He immediately came to help her.

"Easy, sweetheart." He murmured into her ear.

He could sense that she was taking in her surroundings and starting to piece together what happened to her. Immediately, he felt her emotions begin to shift and he tried to calm her down because he couldn't have her losing control of her magic again at all. He could sense that the flood gates were going to open up and sure enough she let out a small sob. He immediately started trying to soothe her.

Oh, his poor little love, everything always seemed to happen to her.