As Tony walked in the door of his summer home, hand in hand with Pepper he was greeted by a dark skinned man.

"Tony." The man gasped. "You son of a bitch! Seriously man. What the fuck?"

Tony gasped by the sight of him. "Rhodey." and he let go of Pepper, only so he could step towards his life long friends and the two hugged.

"You're crazy man." Rhodey hissed as he sniffed. "You need to stop this bullshit, you're giving me so many heart attacks. I hope you know that."

"So-Sorry." Tony swallowed as he stood back, drying his eyes.

Just as another person came out, a woman with hair that looked mostly blond, but the red was growing out revealing its natural color as she looked at him.

Tony's eyes widened in surprise. The last time they had seen each other they had not been on good terms. "Natasha." he breathed.

Natasha held up her hand. "Mister Stark." she addressed him in a professional tone. "First I feel like I should inform you that I am here as a representative of Shield, we have a couple of questions we need answered."

"Oh, of course." Tony's nodded. "Now that I think about it, kind of weird Nick Fury isn't the one here." he joked slightly.

Natasha went silent, they all went silent.

"What?" Tony looked around.

"Nick Fury was among the half who didn't make it." Natasha informed and Tony turned to her.

"What?" Tony asked. "Oh shit." he looked in front of himself trying to grasp it. Nick Fury hadn't even been on his mind as one of the people who… But of cause it could just as easily be him. It was at random, half of all people. Then he looked up. "Who else?" he asked.

"3.5 billion people on earth Tony." Natasha informed him. "Even if I started listing them now we wouldn't be done for another year."

"I… I know. I didn't mean to." Tony swallowed then turned to Pepper. "I just… You know erhm."

"Happy didn't make it." Pepper informed Tony in a somber voice. "Vision was killed by Thanos, Wanda was one of the people who disappeared. Maria Hill is gone too. Dust."

"Fuck." Tony closed his eyes.

"That does lead us to one of our first questions." Natasha admitted. "We know you vanished to space alongside the superhero known as Spiderman. We also know that Spiderman is in fact a teenage boy called Peter Parker." she looked up. "Do you know what happened to Peter Parker?"

Tony's eyes were closed then he swallowed. "I… I'm sorry." he whispered. "He… He didn't make it. I.. I held him when." he hissed grabbing his face. "He turned to dust while I held him."

"Oh god Tony." Pepper put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

Tony glanced up and saw Natashas sorrowful eyes.

"I'm sorry." Natasha spoke. "We should probably go sit down before we continue our talk." then she halted. "And erhm Tony. Off the record but… I really am very glad to see you." she then breathed. "It's a miracle… I.."

Tony swallowed then nodded. "It's good to see you to Nat." he said. "I was worried about you."

Natasha nodded, a sad smile on her lips. "And erh… Steve is very happy too. He didn't think you wanted to see him. But he's really glad you made it back."

Tony gasped, then he swallowed. "When… When you see him. Could you tell him, erh. Thank you." he stated. "And I, not right now. But I would love to erhm… Talk. You know, just not. Right now. But soon, I would like to talk soon."

Natasha nodded. "I understand. I will tell him that." she assured just as a Thunder god entered with his arm wrapped around the shoulder of his younger brother.

Natashas eyes widened by the sight. "What in the world?!" without any warning she pulled a gun and aimed it straight at Loki.

"No no! WAIT!" Tony rushed to her and grabbed the gun. "It's okay! We're okay!"

Thor as well seemed to realize what was going on and pulled Loki into a protective hug, turning his side to Natasha so his own body was covering Loki.

"Just, hear us out. Okay?" Tony asked. "Loki is cool, I couldn't have made it back to earth without him. He's not out to hurt anyone, just lower your gun." he asked still a hand on Natashas gun and then he slowly removed his hand.

Natashas eyes were on Loki and Thor, then she lowered her gun and put it back into her belt. "Thor, I am afraid I have to remind you of the deal we made after New York. Earth gave Loki up for Asgardian custody in trade for the scepter he wielded and on the promise earth would have no further dealings with him. If Loki was to be spotted on earth again, we would have a right to arrest him on sight. Do you remember? You signed the agreement yourself as Asgards representative."

Thor closed his eyes, then looked up again and he nodded. "I remember." he admitted. "But things have changed, you're not taking him!"

"Thor." Loki spoke softly as he laid a hand on his shoulder making Thor look at him, then Loki took a step freeing himself from Thors arms and now stood right in front of Natasha with nothing between them. "I have been running away from taking responsibility long enough. I do not wish to reflect badly on Asgard. Agent Ramonoff, I am willing to give myself over to your custody and I am willing to negotiate freely with you. All I ask is that my prior actions does not affect how you view Asgard nor how you treat or negotiate with them. They suffered enough."

For a while they stood in front of each other, Natasha looking on guard. Loki though, just looked very very tired.

Then finally Natasha sighed deeply. "You were given to Asgardian custody." she said. "There's a piece of land here on earth now which belongs to Asgard and they have sovereignity at that place. When our talk is over, go there. At that place only Thor has rule over you. If you wish to be free on earth you're not going to leave that place until we talked further in the future. And yes, negotiated terms."

Loki exhaled deeply. "You're very gracious Lady Romanoff, I thank you." he bowed his head for her.

"I am counting on Thor to keep a constant eye on you. Thor, as long as Loki isn't at New Asgard, you are going to be with him. When he is in News Asgard he is not allowed to leave until we agreed otherwise. Are we clear?" Natasha asked Thor.

"Aye Lady Romanoff. Thank you." Thor bowed his head for her too.

Rhodey for all this time had just wide-eyed been starring at Loki, he wasn't the only one. Pretty much everyone in the room were doing it. But then the next attraction came with Nebula through the door and everyone gaped while Nebula just stood.

Her face expression as stone cold as ever.

Tony sighed deeply. "Well guys, this is Nebula. Yes she's an alien cyborg. And yes I build those limps for her. I know, they are ugly as sin. I'm going to fix it soon. Nebula, some of the guys. Who needs a drink? I need a drink. I have needed a drink ever since that spaceship with Squidward in it came to earth. Get us some drinks, going to the living room. Come on gang." he sighed as he grabbed Pepper and walked in the direction of his big spacious living room. The rest slowly following.

Seriously Tony was in no mood to talk. He was tired, he was overjoyed and he was sad. He was back, but people were gone.

Happy, Nick, Maria, Wanda, Vision, May Parker, Laura Barton and her kids. And Tony felt the guilt overwhelm him, so many people and he hadn't even paid a lot of them to much mind.

"I'm sorry Tony." Natasha spoke. "How-ever when this is over, you wont have to bother with it anymore."

"I know." Tony groaned rubbing his face.

It couldn't really surprise anyone that Loki was seated next to Thor. And that there was a Shield agent right behind him with a gun in his belt that could be pulled in a moments notice.

Tony was not going anywhere that wasn't next to Pepper so she was next to him, and Nebula on his order side.

Drinks had been served up as requested, but only very thin ones on Peppers order. Tony was clearly underweight and hadn't been drinking for a long time, he probably wouldn't be able to handle much. So it was basically a virgin Gin and Tonic Tony got, but damn it tasted good anyway.

"Okay, Tony." Natasha who sat in front of him spoke. "Take your time, there's no rush. I have as many hours as we need. Just tell us from the start, what happened?" she asked. "New York was attacked by an alien ship and you responded alongside Spiderman and what seemed like some sort of magic user."

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Peter and Doctor Stephen Strange." he stated. "Thanos were after these six magic stones he needed to do his snapping thing. Strange had one of them around his neck so Thanos's guys took him and Peter and I pursued. Next thing we knew we were in bloody space."

Natasha nodded seriously as Tony continued and just then noticed how fucking weird his story was.

It was a weird sentence to say. "So then me, the wizard, this insect looking alien woman. Oh and there was a guy who looked pretty human. And a blue dude, and we fought the big grape colored Titan and Nebula was there too!"

Natasha was remarkable patient with all of this, they all were.

"So this chick Supergiant, she was nuts!" Tony informed. "She said we had been chosen to live and she took us to this moon. It was completely hollowed out and erh, we were put to work in there." he informed. "And that's where I ran into the Lokester."

Thor turned to Loki whom sighed.

"Thanos had promised that he would punish me severally if I failed the mission he had given to me earlier." Loki commented and Thors eyes widened. "New York." Loki elaborated. "It was Thanos who send me back then. I was the bring the Tesserect to him and he would set me free. That was our deal. He would even allow me to rule earth as long as I stayed loyal to him." he shook his head. "Yeah as if that was going to happen even if I had won." he sighed.

"Loki." Thor gasped.

"Anyway, I failed that mission. Obviously. I managed to keep myself hidden until…" Loki swallowed. "Until he found us at the Statesman. He had promised me punishment, that's why he didn't kill me. He didn't want me to get off that easy."

"So anyway." Tony cleared his throat. "I met with Loki there. And then Loki, Nebula and I worked on a plan to escape and ahem." he coughed into his hand. "Blow up the entire thing as we left."

Natasha lifted an eyebrow. "What? Blew up your prison?" she asked.

"The prison was a hollowed out moon and we…" Tony halted. "Blew it all to bits when we left, the entire damn moon. And erh, then we flew from there… To here."

Natasha frowned. "You are leaving a lot out of that story aren't you?" she asked.

Tony looked defeated at her. "What do you want Nat? That place was a prison and slave camp. It employed torture for training. The bitch who ran the place was a complete psycho with mind control powers. Even when Thanos died, they insisted on keep on running their weird cult and make weapons for his army. They even talked about him returning some day like fucking Jesus or something. So we blew up their factory, and that psycho." he sighed deeply.

Natasha nodded. "Okay, I have enough." she assured. "You don't need to tell us more. At least for now. If I have more questions I will contact you. The same goes for the two of you." she looked at Nebula and Loki. "Loki, our deal is you are with Thor until you enter New Asgard. Then you wont leave there until other is agreed. I will imagine I will have more questions for you and I will exspect your full coorporation. Nebula, I must insist that as long as you are on earth. We must know of your location, that is until other is agreed upon."

"I shall stay close to Stark for now." Nebula replied. "He has promised me new limps."

"Good." Natasha nodded. "So when I contact Tony you will be nearby?"

"I'll keep her close." Tony sighed deeply. "Can I sleep now?" he asked and leaned towards Pepper. "I want to sleep for-ever… Pepper join me." he asked.

Pepper quieted.

"Peps." Tony looked up.

"Yes of course, there's just… erhm Tony." Pepper swallowed. "There's something I should tell you. I don't know how. And maybe I should wait saying it until you rested more, but that also seems unfair."

There was something in the tone of Peppers voice and Tony didn't like it, his stomach was turning to ice as he slowly sat up. "Peps?" he asked.

"I… I just." Pepper stammered. "You remember before you vanished into space?" she asked. "I… I had stopped taking birth control remember?" she asked. "And, I didn't find out before a week after you left."

Tony quieted, absolutely quieted as he tried to wrap his head around Peppers words. Wait, was this going where he thought it...?

"I named her Morgan." Pepper informed. "That's the name you wanted wasn't it? You talked about it, right before you went away. So it felt right, Morgan Potts Stark." she said.

Tony was still, absolutely still.

"To-Tony?" Pepper asked.

Tony blinked. "Pe-Pepper. Are you saying that… Are you telling me that." he swallowed. "That you." he pointed at her. "That I." he pointed at himself. "That we… That we have a… a…" he stumbled over the words.

Pepper nodded. "A girl yeah, she's just six months. And… She looks so much like you. She has your eyes!" she informed pulling out a cell and started scrolling. "See." she turned the phone to Tony.

Tony halted, slowly his eyes turned to the phone and saw a picture of Pepper holding a confused looking baby with deep brown eyes looking at the camera. "Oh my god." Tony whispered as he took the telephone with shaking hands. "Oh my god… She's… Pepper she's beautiful." he gasped. "And you're saying that she's…"

"Just look at her face." Pepper pointed in a soft smile. "There's no doubt, even if it wasn't for the fact you're the only one I have slept with for years. But yeah, that's your daughter Tony."

Of all the things that had happened recently, all the longing and fear. The joy and confusion, this was the most overwhelming thing and Tony's eyes squinted as he started to shake, his voice was broken he could barely even speak words as tears spilled. "Where." he spoke in a broken voice. "Where is she?" he asked. "Can… Can I see her?"

"She's with my mother." Pepper informed gently. "Don't worry, she's safe. We can go when you rested." she assured.

And then Tony grabbed Pepper and held her tight in a hug, his eyes squinted and tears flowing freely.

Natasha smiled softly. "I'm happy for you Tony." she said.

Tony was unable to answer just nodded furiously.

Even Loki was smiling softly, Nebula looked a bit uncomfortable as she looked the other way.

"Do you need to rest brother?" Thor finally asked Loki.

"I would rather appreciate that." Loki admitted. "Tony?" he asked.

Tony was unable to answer at the moment and Pepper looked up as she was holding Tony. "We have plenty of guest rooms, take which-ever one you like."

"I'll show you." Rhodey stood up. "Come on." he walked to the stairs then halted. "Shesh I am showing Loki around. Only Tony… Only Tony." he shook his head but lead the gods with him and the rest left one by the other. Offering Pepper and Tony privacy.

"It's all right Tony." Pepper assured. "Things are going to be all right."

"What… What is she like?" Tony asked. "Morgan."

"Well first off she's just a baby." Pepper commented amused. "But she's very energetic, extremely curious. I have to keep any area clear, she'll grab what-ever she finds and if there is a way to pull it apart she'll find it. You can't keep her down."

"Pepper…" Tony whispered. "You need to keep me in check, or I will spoil that girl rotten."

"Yeah I figured." Pepper admitted. "I'm really glad you came home, I honestly didn't believe it. I missed you, and I wanted Morgan to know her father. So much."

"Pepper… Can we get married?" Tony asked. "I don't care about weddings, I just want to be married. To you." he informed.

Pepper smiled amused. "Sure. I already said yes didn't I?" she asked. "Let's get home to Morgan first. Then we can book a date at the court house."

"Oh you know just what to say." Tony sighed closing his eyes.

Loki barely even took notice of the room Rhodey showed him and Thor, it was big, it was roomie, it was bright. But most importantly it had a bed.

Without a single word Loki just walked over to the bed and fell face first down into it. Then didn't move any further.

"You have a check on it from here Thor?" Rhodey asked.

"Aye, thank you." Thor nodded and Rhodey left. Thor glanced at Loki who was laying in bed. "Excuse me brother, I need to make a call."

"Mmmm." Loki replied.

Thor sighed then pulled out his own cellphone, soon after it was buzzing and it was picked up. Loki could clearly hear the female voice in the other end.

"Thor." Valkyries voice clearly spoke. "Did they make it?"

"Aye." Thor swallowed. "Tony and the others are here."

"And the Asgardian?" Valkyrie asked.

"Right here." Thor assured. "He needs rest, but we will be heading for Asgard very soon."

"I'm glad to hear it." Valkyrie sighed deeply. "Do you know who he is."

Thor halted and Loki glanced up. "Aye… I know him very well." he said.

"Oh?" Valkyrie asked.

"Valkyrie…" Thor breathed. "It… It's Loki."

There was quiet for a bit.

"What?" Valkyrie asked.

"Loki… He survived Thanos's attack. But Thanos had broken his neck so he couldn't move back then. Then he was taken to some kind of prison camp where he met Tony. They worked together to make an escape."

"Oh my god." Valkyrie gasped. "Are you… Are you serious?"

Thor sniffed as he nodded.

"Thor she can't see you." Loki murmured.

"Loki? Was that Loki?" Valkyrie asked and Thor looked at Loki.

Loki sighed as he reached out a hand, offering to take the phone and Thor replied giving Loki the phone and waddled to the corner to try and collect himself.

"Hello Valkyrie." Loki sighed.

"By the norns." Valkyrie breathed. "Lackey…"

Loki groaned slightly.

"I… I really thought Thanos had." Valkyrie breathed.

"If he had truly wanted me dead, I would have been very dead. Believe me." Loki sighed. "So you made the cut huh?" he asked.

"Yeah." Valkyrie sighed. "I was guiding the Asgardians towards earth when suddenly… half turned to dust."

"I'm sorry." Loki replied sadly. "How erhm… How are. You know, those who are still there?"

"We're alive." Valkyrie said. "And that's… Well I guess that's it. We're getting along. Building some houses. Catching some fish…. Building houses." she repeated the same sentence again. "We could really need some help."

Loki quieted.

"I'm afraid we wont be able to hold much of a feast for you as you return, but at least we can open a couple of mead barrels." Valkyrie said.

"You… want me to come?" Loki asked.

"Of course, didn't you hear me. We… We need help." Valkyrie admitted. "Is Thor with you?"

"In the corner." Loki glanced up.

Then Valkyries voice lowered. "He's not doing well Lackey." she whispered. "And I don't know what to do. Maybe you…"

Lokis eyes were still on Thor who stood with his back to him. He sure looked like Thor, and right now they were all super high on emotion. Even Loki was a mess of tears currently. "Can we talk about it later?" he asked.

"Of course." Valkyrie asked. "Just… Look after him will you?" she asked.

"Sure." Loki replied.

"I'll leave you to it, make it back safely." Valkyrie asked. "Call before you arrive, we'll have the mead ready."

Loki smiled lightly. "Thank you. I'll be seeing you." and he turned off the cellphone then threw it at the bedside table and laid back down as he groaned.

Damn he was so tired… So very very tired. And finally, Loki drifted off to sleep.