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Here we see the aftermath of what happened…

With his head spinning and horror thumping through his veins Tony pulled Evie behind himself, his fingers closing over the smooth wood of the staff that Loki had dropped. It wasn't a weapon he was familiar with using but right now any port was welcome in a storm. He could see that Thor was already struggling to his feet and a sudden panic swept through him.

They knew!

This thought helped force him up to his own feet, one arm holding his daughter back so that he was shielding her with his own body and the other holding Loki's staff out in a defensive position.

"Stark…"

"Stay back!" He swung it clumsily in Thor's direction as the God took a wavering step towards him. His vision was blurred and legs unsteady but by damn he was not going to let them anywhere near Evie!

"Stark…Tony, you are bleeding." Thor took another step forward, stopping again as the staff followed his movement. He raised both hands placatingly at Tony's angry snarl.

The man was an absolute wreck, whether he had realised it or not. Blood was dripping down the back of his neck from the cut hidden by his hair and more was smeared around the numerous lacerations caused by the flying glass. And yet, despite a severe concussion and possible broken ribs he stood on unsteady feet holding a weapon he didn't know how to use and all because he believed that his friends would harm his daughter.

"Tony, you need medical aid." The God tried again, his voice softer than usual and more calming.

"No! Stay back!" Tony swung the staff again hopelessly, and Thor caught the end of it, pulling it out of the man's grip and tossing it aside. "No!" The protest became more frantic as Ironman twisted his body to fully shield Evie where she stood clinging to his leg and sobbing.

"Listen to me!" Thor caught the weak punch aimed unsteadily at his head and held the wrist in a firm grip, more to keep Tony upright than anything else. "Tony! You are injured, your daughter is not in any danger now and you need to calm down." The human's wild gaze finally met the God's and a little of the panic fell away to a calmer suspicion.

"But-"

"The priority right now is to make sure everyone is okay, all discussions and explanations can wait."

"But-"

"It can wait. Evie is safe for now and you are badly injured; you are in no position for a fight. I will make sure no-one demands explanations until you are able to stand on your feet without swaying. Do you understand?" Thor's grip on Tony's wrist loosened and he moved his hands to rest on the man's shoulders instead. "Do you understand?"

Tony was in a considerable amount of pain, terrified for his daughter and badly concussed, but he was still able to see the determined expression in the thunder-god's eyes; Thor was trying to tell him that Evie's parentage could remain hidden for a little while longer – long enough for Tony to receive the medical treatment he needed.

"I…Yeah…yeah, I get you. Thank you." He rested a hand soothingly on his daughter's head as he felt her sob again against his leg. "Why?"

"Because I look after family." Thor's gaze darted down to the crying child, trying to find the similarities he now knew to look for. "I don't pretend to know or understand what has happened here, but I will keep the attention away from you until you are more able to stand upright."

Tony had to smile at that, just before his knees gave out.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

It took a long time to sort out the injuries sustained in the surprise attack – if it could even be called an attack.

A fail-safe had been in-place for years that meant should there be a power-failure to the tower each and every Avenger would be alerted. This meant that Steve, Bruce and Fury were all at the tower in double quick time.

They knew better than to ask questions straight away – rather, concentrating on fixing up the injuries of their comrades.

Natasha had a broken ankle and sprained wrist, but since the break was only a hairline fracture she let Bruce splint it and wrap her arm then immediately hobbled back to the lounge to help start on the tidy-up. Knowing Natasha it was probably a coping mechanism to the shock she was undoubtedly in, but no-one stopped her on the grounds that what a severely shaken assassin wants to do a severely shaken assassin gets to do.

Clint was less easy to deal with. His left arm had been impaled through-and-through, only narrowly missing the bone. Luckily the blade had been left in the wound which had stopped him from bleeding out before Bruce could deal with it and the doctor had time to save the limb. It did mean, however, that Clint had to be put under some very high-end painkillers and was therefore less than clear about what was going on around him.

Pepper was easy to clean up – Steve insisted that he be the one to make sure she was alright – since beyond scratches caused by the flying glass she was unharmed, and Captain America did a lot of good for a bad case of shock.

It came as a surprise to Tony that Nick Fury knew anything about first-aid. If asked he would have said that the director could manage putting a plaster on a paper-cut and little more. He hadn't ever realised that Fury had been fully trained as an army medic.

However, training or not, it was difficult to treat Tony when he had a lapful of hysterical seven-year-old.

Something that Tony did know about Nick Fury was that the guy was surprisingly good with kids. There's nothing a young child likes more than to be made to feel older than they actually are, and Fury could do just that; in this case by calling Evie a nurse and having her help him patch her father up.

Tony had a cut at the base of his skull where he'd hit the bar which thankfully didn't require stitches, but was definitely the cause of his swimming vision and nausea. Yeah, concussion from hell. On top of that he had fractured ribs and more lacerations than he wanted to count. Bless her, Evie sorted these out with Hello Kitty plasters.

The child was shivering, and the moment Fury gave him the all-clear, Tony scooped her straight back up in his arms, hugging her tightly. He sorted out her cuts and bruises himself, his hands shaking with silent rage as he gently bandaged the cut running along her throat.

"Daddy…"

"It's going to be okay." He already knew what she was going to say, and tried to alleviate her fears sooner rather than later.

"But, Möhdy…But…" Evie began sobbing again

"It's going to be okay, little bird, we're going to get him back." Tony hated how his own voice caught as he said it. How the hell was he ever going to get Loki back?! It wasn't like the chitauri lived on the moon; they were from another universe! Even if he could somehow magically trace them there was still no way to get there. But he couldn't tell their daughter that; couldn't tell her that in all truthfulness he didn't have a clue how to make good on the promise he'd screamed out as the trickster had been hauled away.

"He'll miss my birthday…"

"I know, I'm sorry." It was all he could say. Nothing was going to fix this, nothing was going to bring back Loki, so all he could do was hold Evelyn close and try to tell her that everything was going to be okay when in truth it felt like the world was falling down around them. "It's all going to be alright, little bird, it's all okay."

It wasn't.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMW

It was much later that evening – so late that 'evening' didn't really apply any more – that the Avengers were finally sat down together to discuss what the hell had just happened.

They didn't have an official debriefing room in the tower so had usually used the lounge as such. With the room a complete bombsite they had improvised and utilised the home-cinema and it's ridiculously comfortable chairs. Said chairs weren't fixed to the floor so they had dragged them into a rough circle, although Tony had refused to turn the lights up any higher than a dim glow due to his pounding head. In an ideal world they would all be asleep, but Fury had decreed that anything to do with the chitauri should be construed as an international threat and they needed to discuss if further action was to be taken.

It was first time Evie joined them in a debriefing, although not as a participant. It was well past her bedtime by this point, but she was far too upset to leave Tony's side, and there was no way her father was going to let her out of his sight anyway. The Avengers hadn't argued when Tony pulled two of the plush chairs together in the corner of the room and tucked her up in a bundle of blankets, giving her his Stark-player to listen to her favourite music to fall asleep to. He didn't leave her side until she was fast asleep, and even when going over to join the others he made sure he was sat where he could keep an eye on her.

Natasha started the whole thing off – sitting in an uncharacteristically lazy manner with her bandaged foot resting up on Clint's lap. She told the story with little embellishment, explaining what had happened with great detail but making sure she only covered what she considered to be important. She did, unfortunately, include Evie's strange familiarity with a certain Norse God.

The news that both the chitauri and Loki appeared to be back didn't go down well with Fury or Steve, and Bruce had gone pale. The Director sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead with his knuckles.

"Okay. Does anyone have a theory of what the hell happened? Or-" And here he levelled Stark with a penetrating stare. "Why did the chitauri decide Evelyn was more valuable than any of the superheroes in the room and why did Loki turn up and give himself up for her? Anyone? Any ideas?"

Tony deliberately looked away, but that just meant he was caught in Thor's line-of-sight instead. The God raised an eyebrow pointedly at him, making it quite clear that it was time to start talking. He responded with a small, pleading shake of the head. Usually he was the king of bull-shit and winging-it, but right now his brain was drawing a blank and there was just no way he could talk himself out of this mess. He needed time to think, time to prepare a way of explaining himself that wouldn't result in them immediately killing him and taking Evie.

"Stark." Thor's voice brooked no disobedience as his gaze became a glare. "It's time to explain yourself and your words earlier."

"Words?" Fury looked between the blonde and the inventor in confusion. Natasha had missed out Tony's scream in her retelling – possibly she had been concentrating on the chitauri pinning her down in those last moments to have heard the man call out to Loki. Thor, however, had heard it all too well it seemed.

"You promised my brother that you would search for him, that you would find him." The God folded his arms like a poker-player laying down a royal flush. "I believe there is a lot you need to tell us."

"Thor, I…" Tony glanced over at his sleeping child hopelessly. This wasn't something he could hide. Thor already knew enough to guess the truth and if this was all going to come out it would probably be better if he did it himself rather than let the God throw half-baked theories around.

"Tony?" Pepper was watching him in concern, and he sighed heavily.

"Fine. You guys are going to kill me anyway when you find out; I might as well get it out in the open." He leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees, ribs protesting at the movement. "Evie is Loki's daughter."

There was a very long moment's silence. It was quite possible that that was the last thing any of them had ever expected to hear from him. Only Thor looked unsurprised and instead sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"Stark. Please repeat what you just said, and pay attention to the words coming out of your mouth because I think I just heard some serious bullshit."

Tony winced. He had heard Fury in all manners of pissed off, but the icy coldness was a whole new level of ire.

"No, you got it right the first time. Evie is Loki's daughter." He glanced up as Clint shifted in his chair.

"How?!" The archer was sitting up straighter, looking more confused than angry, but that was probably due to the amount of painkillers he was on. "She looks like you – how can he be the dad?"

"He's not." Thor answered before Tony could, his gaze moving to the sleeping child who was blissfully unaware of what was being discussed. "She called my brother Möhdy, the Norse term for mummy."

The room exploded.

Again.

Thankfully only metaphorically this time.

The statement had caused the obvious burst of confusion, disgust and outrage as people questioned how the hell something like that could biologically happen, what the hell Tony was doing with Loki anyway and everything else in between. Fury was on his feet and Pepper had that terrible look of betrayed trust on her face that always made Tony feel of less worth than a cockroach. However, the sheer overwhelming noise of insults and questions infuriated him.

"Right! All of you just shut up!" Tony Stark was not a tall man, especially when compared to Thor or Steve, but when angry he had the uncanny ability to seem much larger than he actually was – natural charisma or something probably at work. This time he used it to full effect as he yelled over the noise his team-mates were making.

"If you all just shut up for a few moments I'd be able to explain and then maybe I'll have answered some of your questions!" He cast a wary glance at Evelyn, but the Stark-player headphones were noise-reducing and she hadn't woken.

However, his angry roar had caused a cessation in the argument, and Fury gestured at him with an open-handed sweep. "Go ahead then, Stark, please explain how the hell you and our number one enemy happen to have a child together!"

Tony slumped back down into his chair with a huff of irritation. "Enemy is probably the wrong description, you know." He glowered at the director. "He's been on Earth ever since he escaped Thor's custody, that's ten years and none of you knew. There wasn't so much as a hint that he's been on our planet in a decade – what does that tell you?"

"That he's a sly manipulative bastard who's good at playing long-cons." Clint's answer lacked spite due to the heavy medication he was on, but he still sounded pissed off. He shrugged when Thor glared at him for his usage of bad language. "Pout all you want, big guy, your brother's a dick."

"He is not!" To their surprise the snarl came from Tony, not Thor. The inventor glared at Clint, then moved his gaze to take in the others. "Let me make one thing quite clear here: all of you don't know squat about Loki, including you, Pointbreak!" He shook his head slightly, wincing as it aggravated his headache. "And I'm quite sure that didn't make grammatical sense, but I still mean it; this is a situation that none of you have the first clue about and I will not have any of you judging me, him and certainly not Evie until you at least know the fucking facts!"

"So tell us the facts, Stark." Fury sat back in his chair, folding his arms as he met the man's irate gaze head on. He held up a hand as Steve tried to speak. "No. Everyone do as he says and shut up. Stark. Start talking."

Start talking.

Huh.

Now that he had a room of accusing glares that was suddenly a much harder thing to do. Where did it all start? Probably that moment he had offered Loki a drink, facing down the God without armour or weapons. They still jokingly referred to it as their first date.

No. A sudden stab of pain through his chest made him acutely aware that there was no 'their' anymore. No 'them' or 'both' or any other plural. Loki was gone.

"Tony?" Pepper was the one who prompted him, curled up in her chair like a cat as she stared at him with an expression that begged for an explanation. It was easier to direct the story to her rather than face the others.

"It was that day Thor told us Loki had escaped custody. I'd had a shit day anyway, and to hear that the guy who'd tried to destroy the city was on the loose didn't help." Tony kept his voice low, a subtle ploy that meant no-one could interrupt without missing what he was saying. "I did what I always did back then; I found a bar somewhere and attempted to get as drunk as humanly possible. Of course, just my luck that it was the same bar a certain God of mischief decided to drown himself in too.

"I remember practically nothing of that night, but Jarvis helpfully documented the evening for me. I woke up the next morning with the worst hangover of my life – which is seriously saying something! – and a hungover super-villain in bed with me." Tony raised a hand up at the barrage of comments that statement drew. "Hey, if you guys talk over me I'm not going to continue."

Fury sighed irritably and waved the interruptions down. "Let the man talk."

"Thank you." Stark almost managed to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "So, yeah. We woke up together in bed and it was obvious what had happened. He tried to blast me into oblivion, I think, but all that happened was a crappy fizzle so I ignored him and made Jarvis play us the security footage from that night. Turns out he'd enjoyed himself as much as me." He shrugged at the disgusted snort he heard from Clint. "Hey, if you think two guys having a bit of fun is icky, that's not my problem."

"Two guys isn't a problem, it's Loki in that situation that's revolting." He rolled his eyes as Thor glared at him. "What? Don't tell me you aren't grossed out by the thought of your brother doing the dirty."

"I'm well aware that my brother is far more adventurous than I have ever been – at least this time he chose a creature with compatible anatomy."

"Do you mind!?" Tony practically spat the words out. He didn't necessarily care about the insult that had been insinuated there, but this was his best chance to tell the story before they could all form their own opinions on the matter. He didn't appreciate interruptions. "I am willing to explain this once, and only once. So either listen, or shut up and get the hell out!"

Clint raised his hands in mocking surrender, a dark scowl on his face. He did stop talking though.

"Anyway!" It was a very petulant tone of voice, but it got Stark's point across. "So. We'd had an accidental one-night-stand that looked like it had been bloody good fun and I was left rather wishing I hadn't been so drunk that I couldn't remember it. Seems he was thinking the same thing since I went back to the same bar the next night and he was there again. We both ended up only slightly rat-arsed and came back here again. After that he just started turning up in my bedroom at random times."

"How long for?" Fury sounded like he was only barely keeping a lid on his temper whilst hearing that Shield's number one enemy had been cavorting around the Avenger's base so freely.

"That went on for about two years." Saying it quickly was like pulling off a plaster in one go – get it over with and hopefully the repercussions won't be as painful. Tony ignored the director incredulous gaze and continued ruthlessly. "After that things slowed down when we were caught. I won't say who walked in on us-" Everyone looked at Pepper anyway, who else would keep such a secret for Tony? "-but needless to say they made me stop seeing him. But hey! I'm Tony Stark! Once I've found a good lay I'm not going to say no if he keeps on turning up regardless, which he did. Well, up until he didn't. For about eight months."

There were surreptitious glances towards Evie – no surprise why Loki had vanished for such a specific amount of time.

"So he turned up with a baby one night?" Bruce's softly spoken question was a pleasant change from the accusations and harsh words the others had been throwing at him and Tony managed a small grin.

"Not exactly…" He directed the next part of the story at his fellow scientist. "Rather, I had the God of mischief turn up out of the blue after an unexplained eight month hiatus and tell me that he was pregnant."

"And what? That he was dumping the baby on you?" Clint was still sounding sour, but slightly more engaged in the tale by this point. At least he was paying attention.

Tony spent the better part of two hours talking. He explained about Loki's decision to give up the child to protect it, and his own choice in keeping it. The team were understandably shocked at the realisation their resident crazy-scientist had successfully acted as midwife at the birth of his own daughter and to the God of mischief no less.

He didn't hold back from telling them all the little things Loki had divulged to him either. At the time they had been told Loki had assumed that only Tony and maybe Evie would ever hear the confessions. However, anything Tony could use to his advantage to show the trickster in a better light, he used.

He had Jarvis play the clip where Loki had described the effect the fall through the void had had on his mind – Jarvis did a masterful job of cutting the frame since that particular conversation had been had whilst the God was in labour. However, the small declaration of the adverse mental effects (putting it mildly) and bad handling by the chitauri (putting it very mildly) had Tony's audience both hooked and dismayed.

"They tortured him?" Thor was predictably the one to give the name to what had happened, sounding as horrified as only a big brother can.

Tony snorted in reply. "What did you think? That a species you'd never heard of just gave him command over their army like that? You at least should know that he is fascinated by humanity – he'd never have willingly wanted to destroy it."

"Uh, fascinated by humanity? Don't tell me he's the one behind all those alien-abduction-probing incidents." Clint was still the one putting forth all the smart-arse comments, but at least the disgust had left his tone.

Tony rubbed his hand over his eyes. He was exhausted, in pain, and just could not be bothered to explain this part.

"Jarvis, just play the footage, I can't remember his exact words. Follow it directly with his description of what the chitauri did."

"Sir, you were in rather compromising positions during both of those conversations."

"No we weren't. They were both pre and post-coital, as long as you don't play the porn that happened in between I'm sure these guys can cope." Were he feeling better he would have felt amusement at how sickened Steve looked.

"Very well. I shall monitor their reactions and edit accordingly."

"Whatever, Jarvis, just play the damn clips."

The large screen flickered to life – Tony cast a glance at Evie, but she was still sound asleep – and began running the footage from the previous Christmas. The camera angle was static but had filmed in superb quality that was more appropriate to cinema than security footage; Tony Stark did not stint when it came to technology.

The film was showing Tony himself sat on his bed, back against the headboard. Loki was straddling his lap, hands running through the man's hair as he stared at the inventor with a piercing expression.

"Because. Because humanity is everything that we Gods can't be." The trickster leant forwards to rest his forehead against his partner's. "For half a million years I have lived in Asgard and seen nothing change. Oh, we war and squabble and forge treaties with other realms, but we never move on, we never learn and we never grow as a people or culture. When I first saw humanity I was astounded! All you seem to do is change. Your very existence as a species is built upon growing and adapting, evolving, living every day with the knowledge that you may never see another. You learnt and discovered and built and created all based upon your mortality. Not just new thoughts but new ways of thinking. Humanity fashioned such things as have never been seen in Asgard in such brief life-times: skyscrapers, the internet, cathedrals, the Mona Lisa, the pyramids, the Great Wall of China! All this from a race of monkeys!" He stopped his rant with a deep sigh. "I followed humanity because I realised that in truth you are more than we deities-" The word was almost spat. "-Could ever be."

The footage changed, this time zooming in much closer. It was immediately apparent that the close-up was due to Jarvis trying to hide the fact that the two men in the clip were both naked by focussing only on their shoulders and heads. They were talking quietly now, Loki explaining about his thoughts and motivations towards his brother during his brief and fateful reign of Asgard, and then of his intended suicide from the bifrost. His voice grew softer as he spoke of the damage that had occurred to his faculties as he fell and how by the time he reached the world of the chitauri his mind was nearly gone, broken into pieces so small that it would have been thought lost forever.

"I don't remember everything that happened." He admitted quietly. "But every memory I do still have is nothing but pain. My mind was almost gone, so they made sure to send it the rest of the way, breaking my body so many times that I couldn't even remember my own name." It was telling how much these memories still affected the God by the way his hand shook as he drew it through his hair. "Towards the end I had no will left. Nothing mattered any more, all I could do was obey; lest the pain began again."

"But you broke free in the end."

Loki smiled at that comment, although this time there was a tinge of darkness to it.

"The sceptre. It was intended to help control me – the wretched thing had a direct link into my brain so that the moment I began to stray from the agreed plan a bolt of pain would be sent through me as a reminder. I grew used to it enough not to show it after a while." The trickster said softly. "But I was slowly regaining my sense of self, not just following the script they had laid out for me. That was how I had Selvig add the off switch into the machine, and hence why I abandoned the sceptre during the fight."

"You were trying to let us win."

"I was doing my damnedest to help you win."…

The clip stopped, leaving silence in its wake.

Tony was surprised to find that he was shivering. It had been harder than he'd thought to watch the poignant reminder of that conversation. Sure, what Loki was saying was a hard thing to listen to, but the inventor found that it was seeing the way they had been curled up together that was hurting so much. Whilst he was well aware of Loki's expressions when they looked at each other, he had never seen his own face when returning the God's gaze. They looked so happy together. They were so happy together.

He realised that the rest of the group in the room were staring at him and shrugged listlessly. "Yeah. That's all I got." He seriously just didn't want to deal with this right now! "I've been seeing him for nearly ten years, we have a kid together and now he's gone and I don't know how the hell I'm going to get through this!"

Oops. He hadn't intended to let his emotions out there too. Pepper was looking at him with this awful pitying expression and that helped turned the despair back to anger.

"What? Are none of you going to say anything?!"

"Why did you keep all this from us?" Fury was predictably the first to speak. "If you had all this so-called proof that Loki was less to blame than we thought why did you never try to tell us sooner and enlist our help?"

The glare Tony laid on him could only be described as withering. "Because I trust Shield as far as I can throw them and didn't want a single one of you buggers knowing that Evie isn't fully human." He spat. "I've seen the experiments that were done on Bruce; there was no way I'd risk that ever happening to my little girl."

The director scowled. "You think that we'd-"

"The council nuked Manhattan." Tony cut across him. "If they'd had their way every one of us would now be dead, perhaps excepting Thor. And God knows what more radiation would have done to the Hulk. But the facts remain that they nuked a city with the intent to kill millions. Forgive me if I assume that they'll take the view that research is important enough to warrant taking my daughter and using her as a lab-rat." He folded his arms. "Not happening. I don't trust Shield, Loki doesn't trust a single one of you; we weren't going to take the risk."

The reactions to such a statement were mixed at best.

Thor was, predictably, quite devastated that his own brother had filed him in the 'untrustworthy' category and Pepper seemed hurt that Tony had done the same to her. However, the main body of the Avengers seemed to at least understand where the father had been coming from, even if they believed his assumptions to be wrong.

"And what, precisely, are you planning to do now that we know the truth?" Fury's voice rang out across the hubbub as he met Tony's gaze head on. "How do you intend to protect Evelyn from the council now that you don't have your pet God to help?"

It was almost possible to feel the temperature in the room drop at that inflammatory question. Even Pepper could honestly say she had never seen her boss look at someone with such loathing and disdain.

"Believe me; I've planned long and hard for such an eventuality." Tony didn't raise his voice; he didn't shout or snap. He just spoke slowly and coldly as if every word was being etched into lead by the tone of his voice. "Should anything happen to either myself or Evie, no matter how mundane or accidental it seems, Jarvis is primed to destroy Shield." He smiled, a thin little expression that didn't really suit him. "I implanted Jarvis into the Shield servers years ago and he is integrated throughout the system. There's no point hunting for the programming, you'll never find him. Even if you strip the entire system down you won't get rid of him."

"And I presume you'll wipe our files?" Fury asked with equal venom.

"Where's the fun in that? I'll leave every single file, data point and spread-sheet intact. Jarvis will just take out your firewalls." He paused to let the implications sink in.

The immense bank of data Shield had collected over the years was an absolute gold-mine for experimental weapons, serums, chemicals, elements, anything and everything that – no matter the reasons for its collection – would be happily snapped up by every terrorist group and army on the planet. There was information on all of the mutants, all of the experiments on Bruce, data on each and every Avenger, names, addresses, contacts, research. It wasn't just the weapon capabilities that would be released; all of the Shield assassins would be unmasked, spies inside various governments and organisations, every type of person that they didn't want named would be broadcast to the world.

"That would destroy your own team, Stark." Fury said quietly.

"Take into account that this will only happen should Shield touch Evie. If she's left alone, I won't unleash hell." Tony countered. "And if she's taken then I don't give a damn about the team, Shield, or anything else. I've spent a long time going over what the repercussions would be should I give Jarvis the signal and I'm not exaggerating when I say it could easily lead – eventually – to a world war."

"That's ridiculous!" Steve seemed shaken out of his stupor by the word 'war'.

"Hardly. Imagine the world's reaction when they see the sheer amount of information that Shield has been hiding – did you guys know they've got the cure for AIDS squirrelled away? – and has not been sharing. Do you really think that they'll stand for an American organisation holding all this? China? Russia? The Saudi's? Hell, even Britain would be up in arms."

Tony sat back in his chair, speaking flatly as if he genuinely didn't care that he was talking about single-handedly unleashing world war three.

"You wouldn't." It was the first time any of them beyond Clint had really heard fear in Natasha's voice.

"I would. I've just lost my partner; don't think that I wouldn't burn the world if it meant keeping my child safe."

"You sound like my brother." Thor said softly.

"Yeah, I probably do. See, he'd do anything to save his child too. Infact, he willingly gave himself up to the chitauri to save her, despite having run from them for ten years."

Pepper uncurled slightly in her chair, staring at Tony with an unreadable expression.

"You love him."

The three softly spoken words silenced any other comments people might have made and all heads turned towards the inventor.

"Yeah, I do." He didn't hesitate and didn't stammer. It was the first time he had ever verbally admitted to the emotion and it felt like a dam breaking inside. He loved Loki, and was only confessing it after losing him… "So I hope none of you are surprised that Stark Industries is about to embark on a Deep Space Voyager program, because I will do everything and anything to get him back." He gripped the arms of the chair and levered himself to his feet with a groan. "Now, I'm assuming all of you want to discuss whether or not you want to kill me or kick me off the team, so I'll leave you to it and put Evie to bed."

There was a barrage of comments at that, but he ignored them all and brushed past Steve who tried to grab his wrist. Evelyn was still fast asleep, and didn't stir as he carefully picked her up, glaring at both the Captain and Thor – who were out of their seats and still trying to ask questions – until they moved out of his way.

The six year old – well, seven really, it was gone midnight so it was technically her birthday – wasn't heavy, but Tony still took the elevator up to the family floor.

"Sir, are you okay?" Jarvis didn't have much of an emotional range, but could contrive to sound concerned.

"I built you to be a genius so I'll let you puzzle it out; do you think I'm okay given what's just happened?"

There was a moment's silence before the AI spoke again. "I'm sorry, sir. Is there anything I can do? Hot chocolate perhaps?"

Despite it all Tony had to smile. "Sometimes hot chocolate isn't the answer to everything, Jarvis." He glanced down at the bandages wrapped around Evie's throat – an eerie reminder of the wounds Loki had once turned up in his lab with. "But I won't say no to one."

"I suspected as much. I will assume that I needn't ask if you want whipped cream and marshmallows."

"Good assumption." The elevator stopped and Tony stepped through the open doors onto the landing. Evie's room was the nearest door and Jarvis helpfully opened it automatically so that Tony didn't have to try to shoulder it open without waking his daughter up.

The room was generally quite tidy – at the very least there weren't any pieces of Lego waiting to destroy his feet – and he tucked Evie up in bed. He decided to not turn off the Stark-Player that was still running after checking what it was playing (New World Symphony on repeat) and untangling the headphone wires so that she wouldn't roll over and tie them round her neck.

"Can you send one of the Scutters in with my pillow and duvet, Jarvis?"

"You're sleeping in here, sir?"

Tony sat down on the sofa that made up Evie's reading corner. "I'm not going to leave her alone tonight. I currently don't trust anyone or anything. Except for you, of course."

"Of course, thank you sir. I will send in Scutter Two directly. Do you wish for your tablet too? Your vital signs show that you are unlikely to fall asleep any time soon."

"Yeah. Sounds good." He looked up at the soft lights that lit the small corner with a small smile.

Strings of stars hung from the ceiling, twinkling gently as they turned on invisible threads. They had never gone out since the day Loki had given them to Evie as her first Christmas present and she had refused to ever put on real lights when she could use the magically created ones.

He was distracted by the whirring of the door opening and the little house-hold robot, Scutter Two, entered dragging his duvet and pillow behind itself and carrying his tablet and a mug of chocolate on its flat body.

Wrapping the thick quilt around his shoulders and settling the pillow so that he could sprawl out on the sofa comfortably the man turned his tablet on. Without bothering with the usual email checks he instead opened up one of his private experimental folders and scanned it quickly to ascertain how complete it was.

"Jarvis; I want you to initiate this program and start integrating yourself into my spare suit."

"Sir, the programming is still incomplete."

"So complete it." Tony scrolled through the document then closed it again. "I only insisted on doing it myself as something to do; now it just needs finishing. I want you to be able to fully command and operate an empty suit incase there's another home-invasion and I can't get into one."

"I see. I will finish the basic programming, then, and allow you to add what you want to it at a later time."

"Thanks." The man continued to flick through various programs, too distracted to truly focus on anything. He sipped at the chocolate, but for once the sweet drink sat heavy in his stomach and he put the mug back down without finishing it.

"Sir."

"Hmm?"

"There is a message for you on the servers that I was instructed to play."

"Message? Who's it from?"

"Loki, sir." Jarvis waited for a few moments, but when there was no comment he continued. "He filmed it the night of Miss Evelyn's fifth birthday and asked that I should show you upon the eventuality of the chitauri catching him."

"Oh…"

"Should I play it, sir?"

Tony tried to reply, but found his throat curiously dried up. Instead he nodded, relying on the security cameras to catch the movement. His tablet pinged and opened up a video file that began to play automatically.

The small screen showed Loki sat at Tony's desk, facing the camera (Tony guessed he had used the webcam on the laptop that lived on said desk). He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders that made the man suppose he was probably not wearing all that much underneath it.

"Hi Tony." The trickster's smile was soft, fond even. "I know that if you're watching this then Jarvis has been good to his word and done as he promised. This was his idea, infact." He folded his hands in his lap, sitting up straighter and his expression turning serious. "I also know that if you're watching this then the chitauri have won, and they have me.

"I desperately hope that that never comes to pass and that you won't ever see this, but since it is a possibility I feel that I should make plans for the eventuality." He closed his eyes with a sigh. "Tony, I know this will be hard for you, but can you promise not to try and find me? Our little bird will need you; you have done a phenomenal job of raising her, and I can never thank you enough for insisting that I have a part in her life. However, if I am taken by the chitauri she will need you to be there for her.

"So don't look for me. She deserves every iota of love and devotion, every second of your time and I don't want you to waste a moment by searching fruitlessly for me." The trickster's posture changed as he drew his one leg up to his chest, arms folded over his knee. "I know that you will want to argue and fight this promise, but I have my reasons and knowing that Evelyn is safe and happy will give me the strength to face whatever the chitauri wish to do to me." He glanced away, seeming to collect his thoughts. "I can't say I'm not afraid – I've been running for nearly ten years; I'm very afraid – but I want Evie safe, and I want you safe. I'll do anything to keep you both from harm." With a deep sigh he turned back to face the camera.

"There are three little words that we've both been too afraid to ever say, either of us. We've spoken of 'sentiment' but never called it what it is and if you're watching this then I've still not said it, and for that I can never forgive myself." He smiled then, sad and hopeless. "It's taken me half a million years to find someone I want to express this to whilst truly meaning it, but I love you, Tony. You've tried to blow me up, I threw you out a window, we've fought and argued and hated and somewhere along the line I fell in love with you." The God raised his hand, leaning forwards so that his palm appeared to be pressed against the screen, trying to reach out. "So please, don't search for me. You are mortal. You won't live forever and I want to die knowing that you will have lived out a long and happy life continuing to be an amazing parent to our daughter. I don't want you to waste the years you have on a useless search. Live, love and be amazing." He smiled again, brokenly. "This is farewell, Tony Stark. Tell Evelyn that I love her and take care of yourself. I love you."

The recording ended.

Tony realised that he had placed his hand on the screen, covering Loki's palm with his own as if they were looking at each other through a window. The image had frozen and he almost subconsciously traced his finger down his partner's cheek; following the path that tears had run.

"God, Loki…"

"Sir, Loki wished me to inform you that if it will be of any help he is willing for you to show this to the rest of the team."

"I…What? The team?" Tony tried to unscramble his emotions enough to formulate a reply. Would this be any use? Well, it would show them the side of the trickster that they obviously didn't believe existed, despite the other footage he'd given them.

To be honest he just didn't care by this point.

"Are they all still in the cinema?"

"They are, sir."

"Show them."

"Yes sir."

Tony pulled his duvet up around his shoulders, staring at the tablet screen even though his sight was quickly blinded. He wasn't a man who cried, as a rule, but there were always exceptional circumstances. Having to see his daughter terrified and hurt whilst he could do nothing, and then losing the man he loved in a bid to save her was enough to make anybody give in to tears.

So Tony Stark curled up under the quilt and wept.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Until next time then, my lovelies!

(and anyone wondering how a kid could sleep through that argument, believe me, they can. Kids can sleep through anything!)