A squeal from the bathroom off of the living room woke Hermione up the next morning. She walked out of Tony's bedroom and found a muttering and swearing Ginny stomping out. According to the fuming, someone had left the toilet seat up and she'd fallen in because she hadn't been paying attention when she sat down. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and put her hand over her stomach as she briefly battled the nausea that tried to battle its way up her throat.
"Are you ladies safe?!" Thor came out holding his hammer by his side. Hermione and Ginny stared at him with wide eyes, sparkling with amusement, there were sparkling beads in his beard, pink and purple ribbons braided into his hair and his hammer had been bedazzled with sparkly beads.
"Yeah" Hermione spoke slowly, she looked at the redhead and they both tried to hide their amusement "Ginny just...fell in the...my god!"
"What the fu..." Ginny exclaimed "Bruce, what the hell?" Banner had walked out of their bedroom, his eyebrows were gone and replaced with colorful beads that matched Thor's hammer. The exclamations started to bring the other Avengers out of their rooms, the next more amusing than the last. Steve had been completely painted in pastel colors, Tony came out wearing womans lingerie and had a highly unamused expression on his face and then Jarvis came out looking royally pissed off though Hermione couldn't figure out why, that was, until Luna joined them. She was making humming noises and pointing at her face, Hermione moved closer to get a better view before bursting out laughing. Luna's mouth had been magically changed into a muggle electrical outlet. The only person that didn't seem to find that amusing was Jarvis, even Astoria and Ginny who didn't know what it was on her face or what it was used for, were laughing like mad.
"Fix this!" Jarvis hissed "Now!" Hermione smiled and walked forward removing the charm that had been placed on her.
"Was that a muggle electrical outlet?" Luna asked, rubbing her jaw.
"Yup" Hermione answered and even the blonde chuckled a little at the innuendo.
"Why was that so amusing?" Ginny asked "What was that thing?"
"It's something that muggles use to plug in electrical things" Hermione explained, when Ginny continued to look confused she went on "You know...to plug in a computer...get it...sexual...Jarvis was a computer system...he plugs in...you know..."
"Oh!" Astoria burst out laughing and Ginny followed suit "That is hilarious"
After Hermione took all the charms off of Tony's clothes she was forced to lay back down. She felt drained though she'd literally just woken up, she felt sick to her stomach and hot. It was December and freezing out, but she felt like she was going to explode, then she felt cold, she was hungry but felt like if she ate, she'd throw up everything. After an hour-long nap, Hermione woke up feeling much better and she smiled when she saw Luna sitting next to her with a cup of muggle Ginger Ale. After downing the cups contents, Hermione got up and showered, Tony, Banner and Jarvis were already at the office according to Luna and she was just heading in so together they went to Visi-Ban.
"Jarvis is in a bad mood" Luna warned.
"From the mornings pranks we woke up to?" Hermione guessed and she sighed.
"No" Luna sighed "Jarvis asked me last night if I wanted to have a baby" Hermione turned surprised eyes to her "I think having Astoria around and pregnant is making him realize his limitations in our relationship" They slid around in the snow outside the building for a second "Anyway, he suggested that maybe we break up and I find someone who can give me a child when I want one"
"What did you say?" Hermione asked as they got into the elevator.
"I told him that when I wanted to have a baby that I would get pregnant from a donor that we pick together and then we would raise it together" Luna answered her, they stepped out of the elevator and made their way to Hermione's desk. Liss was back to school, she worked on her vacations and then long weekends that she took away from University. Unfortunately, Hermione came into a mountain of memos, things flying around her office and something that was smoking.
"So" Luna said "How is your relationship with Tony, I know its only been almost two months but still...how's it going?"
"Better than I could have planned on" Hermione admitted "He's stopped being so crazy jealous but he's still very passionate" She smiled at her friend "I've got to get to work"
This was the last day before they took a week off for the holiday's. Hermione was sure that if she had a family this would be more exciting, however, she had plans to do some shopping in Diagon alley with Luna, Astoria and Ginny then Tony said that he wanted to go into the muggle world to do some shopping with her as well. They were going to have dinner with the Weasley's on Christmas Eve and then after opening presents together they were going back to the Burrow for presents there and a big dinner. Tony told her that after all that, he wanted to take her to France to ring in the new year and that made her heart flutter and set a whole flock of butterflies flying around her stomach. It made that last day before their week off and extremely long one, but she was making her way through it, slowly.
~~~/ /~~~
"So, Ginny's not pregnant?" George confirmed with Loki who smiled sadly and nodded "The only barren Weasley in the history of Weasleys"
"She's dating and sleeping with a man that ingested so much Gamma Radiation that he turns into a monster" Loki pointed out "I highly doubt any of his...swimmers, actually do much swimming nowadays"
"And Luna?" George asked, he still wasn't entirely sure what Jarvis was and no one explained it to him, even the prank of transfiguring Luna's mouth into that muggle contraption was over his head but Loki assured him that it was truly hilarious and harmless.
"Her "boy" friend is a robot" Loki said "There is no way that he could get her pregnant"
"How depressing" George pulled Loki towards him on the bed "Why would she want to be with someone who couldn't get her pregnant?"
"Two men can't have kids" Loki pointed out "And here we are..."
"Men can have kids in the magical worlds" George said, looking at Loki like it was common knowledge "Just have to take a potion to grow a uterus and then continually take a potion to maintain the pregnancy...they don't have that in the muggle world?"
"No, babe" Loki snorted "That's just a magical thing, I think"
"Oh, don't look so horrified" George snorted "I seem to remember a story about you turning in to a mare and giving birth to your own child in that form"
"Oh shush" Loki pulled him against him and kissed him, shutting him up for a moment before George pulled away and smiled brightly.
"So" He dragged the word out as the darker man started to kiss his throat, moving his hand over the redheads hip, pulling him close enough to rub against "My mum wants us to come over for Christmas eve dinner and then Christmas presents the next day...we can probably spend the night there if you wanted to"
"And any hope you had of getting a blow job is now gone" Loki announced as he laid back, making a face at the thought of being at the burrow "It's not that I don't like your parents...it's just that, I mean they're so..."
"Good?" George offered "My mother loves you, especially after the whole stone thing, she just wants you to be part of the family...which means you're going to get a Weasley sweater"
"Oh god no" Loki looked horrified "I can't...no, please no" George smiled, knowing that was the closest to an agreement to going to the burrow for Christmas he was going to get from his lover, and he leaned over and kissed him.
~~~/ /~~~
Hermione laid on her back on the couch and watched the magical television as it showed live action How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Tony, Bruce and Jarvis were out Christmas shopping in the muggle world, Astoria was visiting her mother and Ginny was hanging out with Bill and Fluer at Shell Cottage. Steve walked out of his room and looked at her for a moment before braving her anger and sat down next to the witch. She glared at him, then sighed and thought that maybe her anger at him was something she needed to change.
"How has your day been" Hermione asked him, he looked over at her in surprise.
"Good" He answered "I read a whole book in a few short hours, how about you?"
"I'm good now" She answered, patting her flat stomach absent-mindedly "Was a bit sick this morning"
"You know why?" Steve asked, he wasn't stupid or blind, not like Tony apparently. She heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes before nodding slowly as she rubbed her belly with a worried glance "Are you happy about it or not?"
"Kind of planned on being married before I got pregnant" Hermione admitted with a small snort "But I guess fate has different plans"
"Do you think that the baby will have magical powers?" Steve asked "How far along are you?"
"I counted it back" Hermione answered "Wednesday will make it five weeks, it had to have happened one of the first times we had sex" Her face turned red "Wow, it feels strange talking about my sex life with you"
"Does your stomach feel different?" Steve asked, his eyes were filled with wonder, like he'd never been near a pregnant woman.
"Not yet" Hermione said "Around eight weeks I guess it may start to feel harder but right now...you may be able to feel something but I don't really know"
"Can I?" He asked, holding his hand out a little and she nodded, lifting her shirt a little so he could press his fingers into her skin but didn't feel anything out of the ordinary and he frowned.
"Don't worry, Steve" Hermione laughed "When my stomach starts to get hard or get bigger I'll let you touch it all you want"
"Really?" He looked hopeful as he gently rubbed her stomach which oddly made her stomach feel better "I always wanted to be a father, but I guess that ship has sailed"
"You never know" Hermione said softly "Sometimes ships come back"
"I don't think so" He frowned.
"Well don't you two look comfortable?" Tony's voice came from near the front door "Was he getting to second base?"
"Cute Tony" Hermione said, as Steve pulled his hand away from her stomach and she pulled her shirt down "Need help bringing stuff up...or wrapping?"
"You're only offering because you know your presents are in here" Tony accused, while he was trying to appear to be comfortable with what he walked in on Hermione could tell that he was anything but.
"Maybe" Hermione said, she walked over and pressed her lips against his "Did you have fun?"
"Apparently not as much as you were" He answered, glaring over at Steve and she rolled her eyes.
"With that nice sentiment" Hermione said, storming over to the closet and grabbed her coat "I will just be..." A knock interrupted her words, Hermione glared at Tony and swung the door open to see Narcissa Malfoy standing on the other side. Her white-blonde hair was twisted in an elegant knot on her at the back of her head, she wore a beautiful black dress that was low-cut in a tasteful fashion and had long sleeves and there was a vail pulled to her chin. Hermione could see the tears on her pale cheeks and she already knew what the older woman was there to tell her.
"Hermione" Narcissa's voice was soft and choked "Lucius died this morning" Hermione guided her into the apartment "Draco wanted to tell you but he's...he was so close to his father"
"Narcissa" Hermione said, trying to hold in the sob that wanted to rip its way from her throat "I am so sorry, is there anything that I or Visi-Ban Industries can do for you or family?"
"Please" Narcissa whimpered, Steve walked over and handed her a tissue then sat close to the talking pair in case they needed something "Just be with us, I know that things between you and Lucius went sour but to me you were a friend...you were like a daughter to me"
"I'll be there for you guys every step of the way" Hermione promised, she embraced the older woman and rubbed her back as she sobbed "When is his..."
"It'll be in January" She answered "We're going to try to enjoy the holiday before the funeral"
"We will be in attendance" Hermione promised as Tony sat behind her and gently rubbed her back. Narcissa only stayed a little longer before telling her that there were things that needed to be done and left.
"It's sad about Lucius" Tony said "I feel bad for Draco"
"Tony" Jarvis said as he sat down on the couch "This may seem like a cold thing to say but now would be a good time to put a little pressure on Malfoy, Inc." Hermione looked horrified "Just saying..."
"Don't!" Hermione snapped back at him, Luna shook her head at him and put her head on his shoulder "Oh, this is going to be a terrible Christmas!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A/N: I haven't written for this story in so long but I am happy to be back. Now, readers, I ask for your opinion on something. The next chapter and POSSIBLY the one after that will be dedicated to the holiday because there are multiple characters to touch on and new possible relationships. I am thinking about introducing the Scarlet Witch as a love interest for Draco but I'm not sure, however I am curious if you guys wanted me to have Thanos in this story or not? Please review or PM me and let me know!