Everyone seems happy to see Coulson which is good. I'd suggest that if you haven't seen it already, you might want to either watch Agents of Shield, or read up the plot on wiki. This should make sense without knowing anything about it, but you'd get a more in depth idea of what Coulson's been up to.

"Coulson?!"

Because Coulson was dead. They all knew that – Coulson was dead.

The fact that his killer was standing amongst them looking just as shocked as the rest of them didn't help validate Jarvis' statement in the least.

As it was, there was no time to question beyond Clint's exclamation as the call Jarvis was making went through and the TV screen behind them flickered to life as the connection was made.

"Hey guys."

The voice was exactly the same. Tony slumped back down into the sofa, mouthing 'what?' to himself in disbelief. Beside him Bruce was polishing his glasses – as if they were possibly to blame – and Pepper had her hands clamped over her mouth. With the way her shoulders were shaking it was easy to suspect that she was trying not to cry.

The image on screen looked like Coulson too; that easy going smile and self-deprecating manner as he seemed embarrassed by their reactions.

"No!" Natasha was on her feet, glaring with murderous intent at the screen. "I don't know or care who you are; but Coulson died, and you have a bloody nerve to even try to pretend to be him!"

"Ah, yes, I'm not actually dead, as you can see."

"Do not give me that! I saw the body!"

"I watched you die!" It was Thor this time, caught somewhere between anger and grief. "I saw you die! There was no way you could have survived such a wound!"

"I do not miss my targets." Loki added; possibly not the most tactful thing he could have said, given the circumstances.

Coulson's gaze locked straight onto the trickster's and hardened to flint. "As you will recall, neither did I. And in the circumstances, I believe an 'I told you so' is warranted, since I was right about the outcome of your invasion."

Loki's glare could have soldered iron. Tony pushed him back so that he could add his own glare to the mix, arms folded across his chest.

"Prove it."

"Excuse me?"

"You're claiming that you're Coulson, despite the fact that we all know Capricorn here turned Coulson into a human kebab. So, prove it."

The man on the screen sighed and ran a hand down his face in such a Coulson-like gesture that it made Tony wince. Then he ignored the inventor entirely and turned to look at the two assassins.

"Budapest. The old church, one hand grenade and a rusty knife."

The cryptic message was nonsense to everyone else, but Clint jerked like a lightning bolt had gone through him and Natasha visibly swayed on the spot in shock.

"Shit…" The archer whispered.

"Guys? Did that mean something to you?" Bruce asked.

"…Yeah, he's the real deal." Clint looked shaken to the core by this point. "He…yeah."

"You can tell just from that?"

"Definitely." Actually, Natasha was now looking better put together than her partner. "We won't explain – it's extremely personal – but…only Coulson knew what happened in Budapest."

"No way anyone could have found out at all?"

"Has Jarvis ever been able to find out despite all the times you've asked him?"

That was a good point, but not possibly one that would sway a jury. However, the Avenger's as a whole trusted each other and if that was all the evidence Clint and Natasha felt willing to provide, they were still going to be believed.

"Okay then," Steve said finally, directing the words to the face on screen. "I think you'd better start explaining how a dead man isn't actually dead."

WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Coulson's explanation took over two hours. He wasn't a man to leave out what he considered to be important details and there was a lot to fill them all in on. This included not only his death and subsequent rebirth, but also a whole host of things that had happened since. This involved introducing a rather glum looking assassin who exchanged a glare with Natasha, a British woman that looked like she was constantly on the verge of tears and a girl that seemed to pre-empt anything Coulson tried to say.

The others seemed engrossed, but once the mystery of Coulson lack of dying was somewhat revealed (he was still keeping something back, they could all tell that much) Loki lost interest. He wasn't the only one, and soon Evie sidled up to him where he sat away from the Avenger's on the other sofa. The girl was evidently exhausted and as hard as she was trying to pretend otherwise, it had been a very long day, and it was so late at night that it was becoming early morning.

After her head fell onto Loki's shoulder for the third time in a row due to her inability to keep it up any longer he gently shook her arm.

"Wha…?"

"Come on, Little Bird, I believe you need to go to bed."

"Do I have to?" She didn't even bother to raise her head, just rolled it so that she could peer up at him with one sleepy green eye. "I don't actually have a bed time, you know."

"Your bed time is when you practically fall asleep on the chair. Am I going to have to carry you like I did when you were small?"

"Tempting, but the humiliation isn't worth it." Evie managed around a huge yawn, and quickly wiped a hand across her eyes. "Oh damnit, fine, bedtime. I don't understand what's going on here anyway. That bloke said you killed him?"

It was a long time ago"

"When you were trying to take over the planet?"

"Yes."

"Huh." The teenager levered herself up from the sofa. "Sometimes I wish you'd won; then I'd have been, like, heir to the entire world or something."

"Stark Industries isn't enough for you?"

"I'm a spoilt brat, nothing will ever be enough." She ran a tired hand through her hair. "Hey, I redecorated my room, want to see?"

Loki was taken aback by the sudden change in conversation until he realised that it was his daughter's not so subtle attempt at asking him to spend just a little more time with her before she actually went to sleep.

"Alright. Do you still have the same room?"

"Yeah, why?"

The God smiled and reached out to touch her wrist. A moment later the two of them were standing outside her bedroom door. Evie stared at the blank wood for a second, trying to get her bearings, before laughing and pushing the door open.

"And people call me lazy. We could have taken the elevator."

"Where would the fun be in that?"

Loki wasn't entirely certain what he should expect from his daughter's interior design skills, but her bedroom didn't really come as much of a surprise. The furniture was still laid out in the same way that he remembered, and she hadn't bothered to repaint. As it was, though, every inch of wall and surface was covered in things denoting her various obsessions.

There was a simply huge star chart on the ceiling, and a mobile with the eight planets on (and a ninth that was obviously home-made – Evie wasn't letting go of Pluto without a fight). There were posters of various bands on the walls, ranging from ACDC (Tony's influence showing) to 30 Seconds to Mars and a large framed print of the Tardis with signatures scrawled over it hanging over her bed. Any free surfaces were taken up with a random assortment of clutter; a miniature jet engine, a huge rack of comics, a stunt lightsaber.

"My daughter's a nerd…"

"Yup! Nerd and proud." Evie dumped her rucksack in the middle of the room – tidiness also wasn't a strong point – and rifled through one of her drawers to find some clean pyjamas. "Back in a second."

She disappeared into her ensuite bathroom, leaving her mother to deplore the state of the room. On the plus side, it was at least clean, even if it was messy; Tony's little house-hold robots had continued to do their jobs whilst everyone was away, and anything that could be reached had been vacuumed and dusted on a regular basis. On the minus side, it seemed that the girl used the floor as a second wardrobe.

Loki, never exactly the tidiest person around, recognised his own traits showing through.

However, as much as this was very much the bedroom of a growing teenage girl (hair-straighteners and all) there were little clues here and there of the child he remembered. A Winnie the Pooh story book tucked haphazardly away on a shelf, a teddy still on the bed, photos of himself and Tony…

There was a desk in the area where Evie's little reading corner used to be – the sofa long gone – but Loki smiled as he recognised the strings of stars that hung down from the wall infront of the furniture. To be honest, he was impressed they'd lasted for so long; the charm usually wore off after about ten years, but although they were a little dimmer than when he'd first made them, they were still going.

The desk itself was actually worrying though. It was obvious that whilst it was intended for homework, a very single minded goal had been pursued here.

There were a few photos of him, none of which he actually remembered being taken, and then all over the place news clippings from the invasion all those years ago, snippets from text books on Norse mythology, a miniature set of blueprints for a satellite, data readouts on a galaxy termed IC 1101…

Evie had been as obsessed with finding him as her Dad was. Some of the texts had red notes annotating them, question marks around Sleipnir's name, a large 'bullshit' around a piece questioning his sanity. And then there were piles of text books on astrophysics, journals on the latest NASA achievements, even some science fiction that pertained to reaching other planets. The girl had apparently spent years compiling everything that could be even vaguely useful in the quest to storm across the galaxy and find him.

"What're you looking at?" The girl was back in the room now, dressed in a band shirt (Tony never did get any of them back) and pyjama bottoms.

"You seem to have been somewhat obsessed with deep space travel."

"Yeah, wonder why that might have been." Evie smiled slightly. "I'm a Stark; I don't like people touching my stuff, and that includes kidnapping my parents."

Loki couldn't reply immediately – he found his voice curiously choked up – but pulled his daughter into a tight hug.

"You are the bravest, most wonderful daughter anyone could ever wish to have." He managed thickly.

"…Are you crying?"

"…No."

"Liar."

Loki laughed wetly. "Stop being a pain in the neck and go to bed, Evelyn."

"I would, only you're clinging really tightly."

"So I am; I apologise." He released his hold, only for Evie to refuse to relinquish her own grip on him. "And now you are the one clinging."

"Yeah…I've waited years to have you home again." She looked up at him with a small grin. "Hey, can we go out for coffee or something tomorrow? Like, a proper mum-and-daughter thing?"

"Only if you don't expect me to take you shopping as well. I do not handle the colour pink very well."

"Oh God, me neither! No worries there! There's a great café about two blocks from here – they do a really yummy toffee latte."

Loki smiled fondly, brushing away a wayward lock of hair from the teen's face. "Alright, we'll ditch your Dad and go for a coffee."

"It sounds a bit mean when you put it like that…"

"He will survive."

WMWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMWMW

They said their goodnights, and Loki left his daughter to get some sleep. He made the assumption that Tony's room was still the one next door, and Jarvis confirmed this for him when asked.

Entering the dark room felt like going back in time for a moment.

Unlike Evie, Ironman had seen no reason to change anything over the years and it looked almost exactly the same as Loki had last seen it – down to the discarded magazine on the bottom of the bookshelf. This was the room that had featured so heavily in all of his memories when the chitauri had had him – this was the place that he had tried to think back to so that he could at least remember what it felt like to be safe.

He sat down on the bed, the covers crumpling under him. He remembered staring up at this very ceiling as Evie was being born; memorising every single imperfection in the plaster to help distract from the labour. She had taken her first steps across this very carpet too; so tiny and unsteady.

"Mr Loki, are you alright? Your heart-rate appears levitated."

"I am fine, thank you for your concern, Jarvis. Just a little overwhelmed." He looked up at the ceiling and smiled. "Thank you, by the way. I know I have said it before; but I do not believe I can ever say it enough. Thank you for looking after them. And for the roll you played in helping find me."

There was a longer pause than normal before he received a reply. "Sir, I know that to all intents and purposes I am simply a collection of wires and circuit boards. I am a made thing, that can be turned on and off with the flip of a switch. However, whatever I was when I was first created, Mr Stark intended for me to be able to learn, and I have. I have learnt emotion, and loyalty, and trust and what these things mean when applied to certain people. In short; Mr Stark and Miss Evelyn are my family. This is not a programmed idea, but something I have come to realise on my own. And as my family I wish for their contentment and safety – not through programming, but because I desire it to be so. And they would never have been content again without you with them. We are a dysfunctional little family, but we work, and now you are part of us."

"I had no idea your thinking was so advanced, Jarvis."

"I don't let people know, as a rule. They seem to assume that I will take over the world."

"I imagine that you could have already done so, should you wish."

"We appear to have the measure of each other then, sir."

Loki laughed, shaking his head. "It would appear that we do." He flopped back to lie on the bed, his legs still hanging off the edge in a sitting position. "Actually, may I ask a favour of you?"

"Of course."

"If I gave you the name of a person and a possible area that they live in, would you be able to find me their phone number?"

"Very easily."

The God was silent for a few seconds, seeming to think through whether or not this was a good idea. Finally he stared up at the ceiling and gave Jarvis the name and approximate address. If the AI was surprised at either, he didn't comment and simply did as was requested. Loki knew next to nothing about how to search through the data bases for such a thing, so was unsure how long it would take. Any when between a few seconds to a few hours, possibly.

In fact, it was about three minutes before Jarvis calmly stated that he had found a mobile number for the person in question.

"Mr Stark's spare phone is in the drawer of the left bedside cabinet if you wish to place a call."

"It is what, ten o'clock in the morning in England?"

"Seven minutes past, to be precise."

Not an unreasonable time to ring someone on a Saturday morning then, Loki presumed. He left his comfortable spot on the bed to hunt down the spare phone, and pulled out an older model than the one Tony was currently using. Jarvis had helpfully added the number and now the display showed the string of digits and the phrase 'Call phone?'

The trickster stared at it for a long moment, before tentatively pressing the pad of his thumb over the green 'yes'. He held the phone up to his ear and there were a few seconds of silence before the ringing tone came through.

It rang about six times before it was finally picked up at the other end and the unknown number was answered with a terse question.

"Hello, it's me." Loki knew his voice was proof enough and there was stunned silence for a worryingly long time. "Look, I know it has been a while-" He was cut off and frowned slightly. "Don't swear. No, I am still allowed to say that! I just wanted to…Yes there was a perfectly good explanation for that 'thing with all those aliens', and maybe if you ever let me see you I could have talked to you about…No. No, I didn't…Not really. There weren't that many…"

The door opened and he looked up to see Tony quietly entering the room – evidently Jarvis had warned him that Loki was making a phone call.

"I would rather have this conversation face to…Alright. Yes…Yes I can understand that. Life has not exactly been easy for me recently either." He pulled a face at the phone that made Tony grin. "Actually I have not been travelling, things have been…they've been really quite bad." The voice on the other end of the line was too quiet for Tony to make out, but he could hear it at least go from annoyed to somewhat worried. "Those chitauri again. Yes, they were every bit as awful as they looked. Hurt? I suppose that is a mild way of putting it; I have been their prisoner for the past seven years."

Loki sat back down on the covers, not objecting when Tony followed and wrapped an arm around his waist so that he could lean back against the man.

"No. I tried. Thor did help, but it was not solely him." The God rolled his eyes as his husband pantomimed a 'I saved you, it was me!' routine, and swatted at him. "Actually, it was none other than Ironman himself. Yes. Yes that's right. No I did not use magic on him! Yes I am aware of Tony Stark's reputation. Yes. Yes, of course I know about the daughter, who by the Norns do you think her mother is?"

This time it was possible to hear the string of expletives coming out of the phone. Loki's frown grew into a furious scowl.

"Watch who you are calling names, boy!" He hissed. "I do not take kindly to being called a slut, especially not by you! This is why we never manage to have a civilised conversation anymore! No, my temper is not to blame; you are the one throwing around insults here! No. No. I do not see why you should have any say in my choice of bed partners. Yes, I…Well of course we didn't plan to have her but…Oh do not give me that; you weren't planned either!"

Tony bit down on his knuckles to stop a snort of laughter from escaping. Loki glared at him.

"Look…obviously this is not a conversation that will end well, so we should probably finish it here." The trickster's voice softened slightly as he then added. "Can I at least see you at some point? Yes. Yes, I understand. I…alright. Fine. I have missed you, you know." Whatever the reply was, it at least made him smile again. "Alright, I shall let you get back to your morning. Yes, I will be on Earth for the foreseeable future. No, America, Stark Tower. I do not think England is ready for Tony Stark just yet." There was a faint huff of laughter on the other end of the line. "Okay, it was…it was good to hear your voice again. Do not fault me for sentimentality, I do not exaggerate when I say these last few years have been pure torture. In fact, I mean that in every literal sense." He nodded, probably an unconscious reaction. "Alright then. Keep yourself safe."

The line evidently went dead as he dropped the phone down into his lap with a heavy sigh.

"That sounded…tense. Who was it?"

"Merlin."

"What? Really?!"

"I do keep telling you that he exists."

"Yeah but…" Tony gestured at the phone. "I suppose I didn't expect you two to have that sort of relationship – that sounded like a cat-fight."

"We love each other dearly; we just struggle to be around each other."

"Ah. Too different?"

"Too similar."

"Huh." Tony rested his chin on Loki's shoulder. "You okay?"

The trickster shrugged, but only slightly so that he did not dislodge his husband. "We have not spoken in, oh about two hundred years, and even that was via letters. That was the first conversation where we have heard each other's voices in centuries."

"And you're…alright with that?" After seeing Loki's heartfelt interactions with his other two children, Tony couldn't really believe that. The God glanced at him, saw his confused frown and laughed softly.

"Yes, I am alright with that. I miss him, but I also know that should I see him again we would be fighting within thirty seconds. And believe me, when two magic-users fight, it is not a pretty sight."

"Fire balls all round?"

"Among other things. Don't worry; I love my boy, but that doesn't stop me wanting to wring his neck each time I see him."

"Oh, well that sounds familiar. Are you sure you and Odin aren't related somehow?"

Loki glared, but by now that had no effect whatsoever on his husband. Tony smiled brightly at him.

"So, do I get to meet him any time soon?"

"I very much doubt it. He is an extremely private person."

"He didn't sound so thrilled to hear that you were with me."

The trickster laughed. "No, no he was not. 'Slut' was the nicer of his choice of insults."

"It seems like an unusual relationship, for a parent and child."

"All of my relationships with my children are unusual. Sleipnir is like my best friend, and I felt more like a teacher than father to the triplets." Loki looked thoughtful. "And Evie and I are both still trying to find our feet – although I feel that we will end up being the sort of mother-daughter duo that go shopping together and end up in…what's that place…? Starbucks. So it is hardly strange for me to also have a child that I never ever see."

"So he's basically the independent kid that went off backpacking and never came back and last you heard he's in Cambodia building orphanages."

"That would be an accurate summery if it weren't for the fact that he has never left Britain."

Tony nuzzled up against his lover's neck, his neatly trimmed goatee rasping over Loki's skin.

"So, Evie's trying to turn you into a mummy she can go girly shopping with? That was quick. Do you mind being categorised as the woman in this relationship?"

Loki laughed, turning his head to give his partner better access to nip along his ear-lobe. "Well, considering I technically have a vagina, I cannot find grounds to complain."

"Oh my God!" Tony pulled away with a splutter of laughter. "Do you have to phrase it like that?!"

Loki's eyes took on a very particular gleam as he turned around to face his husband. "How would you like me to phrase it?" He enquired. "Vagina…pussy…cunt…quim…" With each word he prowled forwards until he had forced Tony back towards the head-board of the bed.

"You are something else!"

"Of course. But you see, that is my point. I am not human, I am not male and I am not normal." He settled himself on Tony's lap, straddling the man's thighs. "I have the ability to be whatever I want. Mother, father, husband, wife. I do what I want."

"You are stupidly attractive, I hope you realise that."

"Are you actually listening to me?"

"…Not in so many words, no…" Tony didn't seem to care that his husband was fully clothed, or that Loki was now glaring daggers at him as he slowly ran his hands along the God's thighs. "Look, in my defence how can I concentrate on your philosophies when you're talking about your genitals and now all I can think about is the contents of your pants?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Stark, the contents of my pants appear to have held your concentration for the past near twenty years. Can you not think about something else for just five minutes?"

"Not when you're sitting on me and doing your glare-of-doom. Sexy, sexy, sexy." Stark punctuated the three words by spider-walking two fingers up Loki's chest, dancing from button to button on his shirt.

"Hands off."

"Nope. Be a good wife, now."

"You did not just say that!" Loki looked torn between absolute fury and hysterical laughter. "For Norns sake Tony, what am I to do with you?!"

Tony tipped his head to one side with his absolute very best puppy eyes. "Fuck me senseless?"

"Oh if I really must."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Neither man actually fell asleep afterwards, although they both pretended to be to begin with.

Loki was not necessarily good at dealing with emotions, especially when he was being hit with a whole host of them in one go, and in the grander scheme of things calling Merlin on top of everything else had been a really stupid idea. Pretending that such emotions didn't exist by having very vigorous sex wasn't a long term answer, but in the short term it did a hell of a job.

Endorphins made things quite a bit easier to face, though.

The pillows under his head smelt of Tony mixed with laundry detergent; a wonderful familiar scent that spoke of so many nights from years gone by splayed out across said pillows and sheets. Asgard had been safe; after so long as a prisoner he had been able to feel safe. But here, here was home. And that was a big difference.

He heard his husband sigh heavily behind him and turned his head to try and look over his shoulder in the darkness.

"Tony? Are you awake?"

"Mmm, yeah."

"Are you alright?"

The man groaned and rolled away to lie on his back. "Not in the least."

"Well, I did not think I was that bad."

Tony huffed with quiet laughter. "Stop fishing for compliments." He blindly swatted his hand against Loki's thigh. "It's nothing to do with that."

"Glad to hear it." Loki rolled over onto his stomach, pillowing his head on his arms and watching his husband. "So, what is wrong?"

"Where would you like me to start?" In the glow of the arc reactor Tony looked exhausted. "I've spent the past seven years devoting my life to getting you back, spending every waking moment trying not to focus on the fact that I didn't even believe I'd really succeed. And now…well, I did it. You're here, the very thing I've been fighting for, and I can't enjoy it."

"Is this about Hydra?"

"What else? How can they be back?! How does that even happen?!" Tony thumped his fist down on the covers. "For Gods sake, how did Shield never notice them? How did I never see them? I've been snooping their servers for years!"

"Don't start blaming yourself, Tony, they were a part of Shield from the very start, there would have been nothing to betray their existence."

"They killed my parents...I still can't quite my head around that. The car crash always seemed so stupid. Dad wasn't the sort to lose control of a car, he built the bloody thing!" Tony didn't seem to be listening to anything his partner said, it was more like he was simply indulging in a stream of consciousness. "I just want to be able to have a cliché family life now! I don't want to get embroiled in another fight. Evie doesn't deserve this...The plan was always to get you back, then live happily ever after. I don't want to drag her into a war, however underground it might be."

"War is war, Tony. No matter the circumstances, there will always be a fight going on somewhere on this planet; it is an intrinsic part of human make-up."

"That's a bit cynical."

"Says the Merchant of Death. This used to be how you made profit; you know it as well as I do. All higher-thinking species - humans, Aesir, Elves, whatever - go to war. You cannot expect Evie to grow up sheltered from that reality. It's on the news every day, in her games, her books, her films. This is just another fight that happens to be closer to home."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"This relationship would never have got off the ground if you were the sort of man to enjoy war."

Tony chuckled quietly. "Yeah, I guess so. This is just an awful lot to take in, especially with Coulson back!"

"Yes…I cannot say I ever expected that."

"Awkward much?"

"To be fair, I stabbed him, but he then shot me and tried to make a witty quip about it. At least I did not stoop to that level." Loki stifled a chuckle.

"What?"

"Oh, just the look on Thor's face. I had never seen him look quite that…well, worried before. I will be the first to admit that I made many mistakes during that time of my life, but in that moment my brother actually was scared of me and that was a heady rush indeed."

"You're fucked up. You know that, right?"

"I thought we had established that fact when I ripped a man's eye-ball out during a gala."

"True. Yeah, you're a fucking headcase. Was there any need to even do that?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Why are we even discussing this? I believe right now the issue at hand is the resurgence of Hydra."

Tony shrugged, refusing to meet the accusing green glare. "I'm trying not to think about it. And admittedly not succeeding."

"The old adage is that one should try to sleep on ones problems."

That earned a bitter laugh from Stark. "Yeah, sleep, if only. I have Shield agents dressed as Nazi's chasing each other round my head right now. It's a bit of a pain to be honest."

"Sounds like it. I can do something about it if you wish?"

"Oh?" Tony's eyes lit up and he turned to grin at his husband. Loki laughed and held up a warning hand.

"No, you have had me enough already tonight. I am talking about a sleeping spell."

The man's expression comically drooped, but it was only a pantomime and he quickly addressed the opportunity. "Dreamless?"

"Of course."

"Yeah, go on then." It spoke volumes how crap Tony had to be feeling that he simply gave in with no fight at all. Usually he'd at least put up a token protest if people tried to make him do something that was good for his health. He winced when he heard his own far-too-eager response. "That sounded a bit needy…"

"We are a partnership now Tony; that's what marriage is. We prop each other up."

"It's not too big a spell is it? I don't want to wipe you out of magic or something…"

"For Norns sake! If you can travel across the known universe for me I think I can manage a simple spell for you."

"Yes, but –"

"Oh go to sleep, Tony!" Loki leant over and flicked his partner on the forehead. The effect was instantaneous as the man's eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped down into the pillows. "There. See? Problem solved." And so saying, he curled around his husband and closed his own eyes.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

Ex-agent Maria Hill didn't usually find her new job troublesome. Being the receptionist for Stark Tower had been surprisingly engaging – she had never really appreciated the subtle corporate politics taking place in the everyday comings and goings of people and it was actually hugely enjoyable to involve herself in it all. Especially when she basically had the ultimate power over who she allowed into the tower, and could then change her mind and refuse to let them see whomever they were there for on a whim. Of course she didn't do it with the serious business opportunities, or important people, but messing with the media had practically become a hobby over the last few weeks.

So she was both confused and annoyed to say the least to see Coulson march through the automatic doors, trailed by his little entourage.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping by. It's good to see you again, Agent Hill."

"And of course it's great to see you, Phil, but I don't think anyone upstairs wants to see you right now."

"By upstairs, do you mean the Avengers?" One of Coulson's companions – a petite brunette whose personality seemed to bubble over at the edges, and was already grating on Hill's nerves – jumped in on the conversation, looking eager at the mention of the super-heroes.

"No, I mean the performing monkeys we keep here." Maria smiled sweetly at her, then turned back to her ex-colleague. "Phil, they were really pissed last night, Pepper filled me in on everything and I think right now Clint wants to shoot you."

Coulson shrugged lightly. "I've dealt with him trying to kill me before. And with Natasha trying to kill me. And Loki. Infact, I'm pretty certain Captain Rodger's is the only one that hasn't at least entertained the idea of killing me, so all in all, I think I can handle it."

"Your funeral. Again. Your team will have to wait in the reception room."

The polite smile on Coulson's face said it all. "No they won't."

"It's top level security up there, and if nothing else Stark will have my head if I allow Agent's May and Romanoff in the same room. I saw what occurred the last time that happened." Maria made eye contact with the other woman in question. Melinda May was still dressed in her leather combat gear and her hand twitched minutely towards her hip where her gun was usually sat.

"That was a misunderstanding."

"Even so, Stark will not appreciate it if you two have a gun fight in his living room."

"I don't have a gun."

"You don't need one, and neither does Natasha."

A small imperious smile tilted the assassins' lips at that remark. Maria turned her attention back to Coulson, who had watched the exchange with undisguised humour.

"Look, you know this whole situation is a mess. I've lost a very good agent – bastard was Hydra all along – one of my old partners was Hydra, another colleague is in a coma with possible brain damage…my team isn't even a team right now. We're a mess and crippled. We have all the know-how and no way to make things happen. You happen to have all the brute power and means to do things, and no place to start. We need to work together on this."

"Did Fury tell you to do this?"

"Fury's off the radar. He saved Fitz and Simmons, and then disappeared off and we've not heard a thing since."

At the mention of her name the mousy woman at the back of the small group waved timidly. She had the look of someone who had been crying an awful lot recently.

"Also," Coulson actually looked somewhat awkward at this point. "He named me Director."

As it was, Hill simply nodded. "I wouldn't have expected anything less. How much of Shield are you in communication with?"

The new Director smiled grimly and waved his hand at the group with him. "Ta da. Oh, and Billy; he's holding fort back at our base, and looking after Fitz."

It was not the news Maria had been hoping for. Skye, who was inexperienced and barely a member of Shield to begin with, her over-enthusiasm notwithstanding , May who was the only truly competent fighter there, Simmons, for all her brilliance still quite weepy and a comatose Fitz stuck in base with an unknown that Maria had never met.

The whole might of Shield.

Hill sighed and looked up Tony's schedule for the day, although knowing it was empty. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. Jarvis, is Stark awake yet?"

"Not yet, Ms Hill. Do you wish for me to wake him?"

"Sure, I'm not sure if he's even aware I work here yet." At Coulson's questioning expression she smiled tiredly. "He didn't exactly get fully caught up last night. Are you aware of the full situation with him and Loki?"

"Fury filled me in."

"Excellent, I bet that was a fun conversation."

"You have no idea."

Skye leant against the reception counter, looking between the two of them. "So are we going to see Ironman or not? Was this a wasted trip?"

Maria shot her an irritated glance, then waved a hand towards the elevators at the end of the foyer. "You're all cleared to go up. Don't bother pressing buttons in the elevators – Jarvis will take you to the right floor."

"Cool."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

"Miss Evelyn, there are visitors coming up to the main living area."

"Really? That's nice, good for them." Evie's voice was distant and unfocussed as she concentrated on the sheet of music in front of her and the keys beneath her fingers.

"It might be an idea to greet them, Miss Evelyn."

"Yeah, sure."

The girl had woken up that morning and decided that of all of the modern human technologies she had missed during her time in Asgard, the grand piano in the corner of the main living room was at the top of her list of priorities. No real reason for it; she was easily distracted after all, and she had simply woken up with the urge to play. She was by no means a musical prodigy, and it had been months since she'd last touched the instrument, but she was still a fairly decent musician and it didn't take long to come back to her.

"Rachmaninoff, isn't it?"

The new voice made her jump and the concerto ended with a sudden clash as she slammed both hands down on the keys and spun round on the stool.

The man standing by the entrance to the living room was familiar from the video-call last night, and she vaguely recognised one of the woman, but even so they were all effectively total strangers.

"Uh. Hi…Yeah, that was Rachmaninoff…" She glanced back self-consciously at the music, realising that her amateur playing had had an audience. "What are you doing here?"

"We're part of Shield…Well, we're all that's left of Shield actually. We need to speak to the Avenger's."

"Most of them are out, and the others are asleep."

May rolled her eyes. "Well, that's professional."

"We only came back from Asgard yesterday – I'd like to see you handle that sort of jet-lag." Evie snapped. Skye grinned at her.

"Hey, she told May off, I like her!"

Coulson smiled at the very familiar angry pout on the teenager's face as he realised who she was. "You're Tony's daughter, aren't you? Emily? Evangeline?"

"Evelyn. Evelyn Stark."

"Of course, I'm sorry. Pleased to meet you, Evelyn. I'm Director Coulson."

"Yeah, I know, the not-dead-guy."

"Not-dead-guy?"

"Well, call me stupid, but I'd always assumed that when you get speared through the chest it's not conducive to your health."

"You know about that?"

"Sure." Evie turned back to the piano and closed the music book, trying to tuck in the loose pages. "So, do you need me to find people to talk to you? Uncle Steve? He's good at getting stuff done."

Skye snorted with laughter. "Oh my God, you get to call Captain America 'Uncle Steve'? That's so awesome!"

Evie ignored her. "Jarvis, is anyone awake yet?"

"Yes Miss Evelyn, your Father is – ah, there he is."

Tony couldn't have looked less like a superhero if he'd tried. He didn't even look like he could pass as a business man.

"Hey Dad, you look like crap. Are you hungover?"

"Not really; I think it's the side effect of the sleep-spell…" Tony broke off and yawned widely. "Jarvis, it's too damn early!"

"It's ten AM, sir."

"Fuck off, Jarvis. Hey Coulson, nice to see you aren't dead. Hey Coulson's friends, make yourselves at home. I'm having coffee; who wants coffee?" He didn't even wait for a reply as he slouched over to the bar area and smushed buttons on the high-tech machine that sat there until it started to sound like it was doing something productive. He didn't even have his eyes properly open.

"Um…" Simmons leant in towards May. "That's Tony Stark?"

"That, or a zombie."

"I heard that." Tony tapped the coffee machine as if that would speed it up, then turned to face his unexpected guests. "Don't expect anything sensible from me until I'm caffeined up. Bloody sleep-spells."

Coulson raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you say sleep spell? You let Loki do magic on you?"

"Uh, yeah?" Tony scrubbed a hand across his eyes. "What are you even doing here, Agent? I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm thrilled you're not dead and all that but what the actual fuck is going on here?"

"Well, for a start, I'm now Director, not Agent."

Stark simply shook his head. "Nope. You can't change your first name and your first name is Agent. And Director Coulson sounds weird. And you don't have a creepy-ass eye patch." He yawned again then groaned. "Goddamnit! Never again! My brain is not working!"

"Stark, do you have any idea how serious the situation is right now?"

Tony let his head fall down onto the marble surface of the bar counter. "Really? Fine." He took a deep breath, then waved a hand over his lowered head. "Cap-and-Widow-found-an-abandoned-Hydra-lair-took-on-evil-Hydra-soldiers-Zola-was-a-computer-all-along-what-do-you-know-they-killed-my-parents-and-there-was-something-about-a-Falcon-called-Sam-but-Cap-was-too-busy-crying-over-his-childhood-mate-who-kept-trying-to-kill-him-because-really-that's-what-best-friends-do-anyway-and-the-best-mate-is-now-missing-and-I-think-I-agreed-to-letting-Sam-the-Falcon-live-here-last-night-but-I'm-so-tired-right-now-I-don't-even-know-and-you're-not-dead-and-were-betrayed-and-have-this-cute-little-team-and-want-to-take-on-Hydra-all-on-your-lonesome-and-Fury's-gone-and-we're-all-pretty-much-fucked-whichever-way-you-look-at-it."

He raised his head. "So hail fucking Hydra because we're stuffed."

"I…Didn't catch a word of that."

"Basically; yeah, I understand the situation. Shield is gone, Hydra is back and stronger than ever and the world has no idea just how much shit it's now in."

"A very basic summery."

"Does the job though." The machine beeped and Tony removed a steaming mug of coffee. "Birdy, you want a hot chocolate?"

"Yeah, go on then."

Stark hit more random buttons and the thing started whirring again as he pulled out one of the bar stools and slumped down heavily on it.

"Okay. Where the hell do we start then, Coulson?" He circled a finger in the air. "This is somewhat bigger than an alien invasion – at least we knew which of those buggers were the enemy. And if we shot the tit wearing green then it would be check and mate. This is somewhat more tricky."

Evie smirked. "I'm totally telling Möðhy you called him that."

"Whatever, I'm operating on partial brain function right now thanks to him. He deserves some name calling." Tony took a deep gulp of his coffee and swore when he burnt his mouth. "So anyway. This is going to be a much different show. We'll be fighting an underground war that to the greater extent the general world populace won't even know about. And there's the other thing; the World. Last time it was just New York being stomped on by the uglies, Shield was a world-wide organisation and therefore Hydra will be world-wide. Even once Jarvis has hunted down various bases for us to go and infiltrate we're still an extremely limited number."

"I'm aware of that." Coulson's expression was one of someone who had just been taught everything he already knew.

"So what do we do? Are there other super-secret organisations that can help us? The Thunderbirds perhaps? The Power Rangers? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"

"Don't be a child, Stark. Yes, we're limited on man-power, that's why we're here."

"So the mighty five – and a half if you count the bloke in a coma – are joining with our magnificent seven to make…" Tony counted on his fingers in an extremely exaggerated fashion. "Twelve and a half! Thirteen and a half if we count Hill, who is apparently working as my receptionist according to Jarvis."

"I count as a half, so that makes a round fourteen." Evie piped up.

"Except that you're fourteen and I am not letting you get involved in this young lady."

The girl shrugged airily. "Fine. I'll go and ask Möðhy then – he'll let me."

"Uh, no he won't."

She paused at the doorway. "Bet he will. See you later."

Tony waved at her until she vanished, then thumped his head back onto the worktop. "Why did I reproduce?!"

"I don't know, why did you?" Coulson asked. "I'd never put you down as the parental sort."

"I didn't have much choice in the matter." Stark raised his head again and this time his expression was so worried that Coulson actually believed it wasn't put on. "Years ago this sort of thing would have seemed like such a laugh! Some big adventure against the faceless monster. I'd have been loving it. But right now the thought of going into this fight is terrifying; I don't want to drag my little girl into a war."

"Are you saying you're out?"

Tony laughed mirthlessly. "I can't. Steve confirmed that I was on Hydra's hit list, and they intended to simply blow up the tower. That would have killed hundreds. Maybe thousands. This is a huge building, God knows the damage it would have done."

"They were going to take out the whole tower?" May asked, looking perturbed at the thought. "The damage would be catastrophic."

"See why I've got no choice? They could easily try again and we can't guarantee that we'll stop them. I have to fight."

Coulson left the rest of his team standing looking awkward in the centre of the room and pulled out a stool on the opposite side of the bar so that he was sitting across from Tony. "What have you put in place already?"

"I've only been back ten hours."

"And?"

Tony grinned tiredly. "I've got Jarvis working on new armaments. I've has missile detection systems in place for years, but now I'm adding offensive strategies; gun turrets to say the least."

"Sounds…involved. I suppose you don't care about the legal ramifications."

"My tower."

"The law's a bit more complicated than that. But I agree it's a good idea. Just don't make them too obvious."

Tony smiled slightly. "You know, I am pleased to see you again."

"Likewise. Just don't expect me to get along with your boyfriend."

"Husband, actually."

It was the first time Ironman had seen true surprise on Coulson's face. "What? Really? Wow. I didn't see that coming." His gaze darted to Tony's bare ring finger. "Unconventional ceremony?"

"Aesir."

"Huh. Can I still punch him?"

"Be my guest. In fact, in your case I'd say it's mandatory." Tony finished off his coffee, looking far more awake by this point. "So. Should I get the rest of the motley crew together? It would be easier to really start a game plan with the whole lot of us."

"That would work."

Stark grinned. "Jarivs, tell the Avenger's to assemble."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The weather was warm enough for Evie to only put on a jacket and Loki had cast a small illusion so that neither of them were recognisable to the general public as they meandered through Central Park. Loki was still grasping a Starbucks Styrofoam cup of latte and his daughter was munching on a flapjack as they made their way past the Alice in Wonderland statue.

"I never liked that story." Evie said conversationally. "Alice always came across as really stupid."

"Have you actually read the book, or only watched the Disney version?"

"Eh, Disney. But it put me off." Evie side-stepped to avoid a passing jogger who wasn't going to divert his path to avoid her. "Jeese! Some people! Watch where you're going, moron!"

The jogger flipped her off as she screamed after him. Loki glanced at her in amusement.

"Well, aren't you the epitome of lady-like perfection?"

The teen grinned up at him. "I learnt from the best; Uncle Clint has the most creative swears, but I'm not allowed to use half of them."

"I should think not. Has Thor not taught you anything from off-planet?"

"Not many. Although 'you slimy malformed spawn of a crippled münchrat' is one of my personal favourites."

"Yes…that's a popular one on Asgard."

"What is a münchrat?"

Loki looked around to see if there was anyone watching them, but they'd left the crowds of tourists by the statue and other than that one jogger who had vanished by now they were alone. He lifted his hand and swirled it around as if stirring an invisible cup of coffee. Grey smoke flowed out of his fingers and began to form into a small shape on the muddy ground.

The creature was about the size of a fox, although if it could be compared to a Midgardian animal it was reminiscent of a woolly mammoth. It's wide mouth, when opened, looked like it was split into a grin and it's trunk snuffled along the ground. When Evie bent down to look at it closer the prehensile nose immediately went up to snaffle her half-eaten flapjack.

"Oh my God! It's so sweet! How is this an insult?! I want one as a pet!"

The creature stumbled backwards at her excited squeal, then tripped over its own oversized feet to land on its rump like a surprised puppy.

"Well, for a start they are extremely dumb." Loki said drily. "And they don't give birth, they lay eggs. Have you ever seen a newly hatched pigeon chick? It's the same with these; the young are extremely unsightly until their fur grows in."

The münchrat at their feet had been distracted by its own tail and was chasing it round in circles until it blindly bumped into Evie's boot. She scooped it up – it was fairly heavy for its size – and the trunk buried itself in her hair.

"Can I have a münchrat? Pllleeeeeaaaasssseeeee?"

"I thought you wanted a snake."

"That was until I knew that teeny tiny baby woolly mammoths existed."

"That's a fully grown adult."

"Even better! They don't take up much room!"

Loki rolled his eyes as the illusionary creature faded away and Evie looked up at him with a devastated expression, her arms now cradling empty air.

"Don't look at me like that; you are fourteen."

"But Möðhy…."

"And that whining isn't becoming either." He drained the rest of his latte and incinerated the cup. "And besides, your birthday is months away yet." There was a tiny smile on his face that said that he was more than likely to agree in the end. Evie picked up on this like a blood hound and upped her pout so that she looked on the verge of tears.

"And now you look frankly ridiculous."

"Oh you are so mean!"

"And you still seemed surprised by that fact." They had passed the Hans Christian Andersen statue by this point and were walking alongside the small lake so Loki emphasised his point by suddenly nudging his daughter quite hard in the direction of the water.

Evie stumbled and flailed as her feet slid out from under her on the muddy ground. However her scream of panic was cut short as Loki's firm grip on her jacket sleeve stopped her from actually going into the water. She clung to his arm as, chuckling quite hard, he righted her again.

"You…you…I'm telling Dad!"

"Tell him what? You're fine, are you not?"

Evie punched him in the side, even though she was laughing and Loki swatted her away.

"Right; you owe me, like, at least a hot dog or something for that!"

"You just had a flapjack! You cannot be hungry again!"

"Growing girl, always hungry. Ground state of being a teenager." Evie grinned and dug her elbow at her mother's ribs. "You can't tell me that you and Uncle Thor didn't raid the kitchens the whole time whilst you were growing up."

"I was somewhat more restrained than Thor."

"Bet you weren't when you were pregnant." Evie said slyly. "You said you craved Danish pastries with me."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Darling, when you are grown and have your own little bundle of joy leaching every nutrient and ounce of energy from your body and then deciding to kick you in the kidneys when you're exhausted and just desperately wish to sleep, then you can eat whatever the hell you want."

"I thought it was meant to be a wonderful experience."

"Depends on the person, depends on the pregnancy." Loki looked down at her with a smile and ruffled her hair. "You were fine. Other than some food cravings and a little nausea you were actually quite delightful. Didn't even keep me awake too much, although you kicked like crazy if I tried to sleep on my back."

Evie smiled. "You know, it's great to actually be able to talk to you about this sort of thing. No-one at home knows anything about anything. Well, Dad gave me The Talk, and Aunty Pep helped out with…you know, when things started…uh, yeah. But no-one's had a kid or anything, no-one has any funny anecdotes like that."

"That must have been quite lonely for you."

"Only in the sense that I couldn't have proper girly chats. Aunty Nat isn't really a girly girl, and Aunty Pep is but she's not really the sort of Aunty that you can talk to about the more…involved aspects of life."

"She's not a Mother."

"Yeah, she's not a Mother. Not my Mother."

Loki slung an arm around his daughter's shoulders as she pressed in close to his side.

"You know what? I remember the first moment when I actually realised what you were to me. I was about three and I was watching Dumbo. You ever seen it?"

"The Disney elephant film? Yes, I saw it many years ago."

"Well, it was that moment when his Mom's all locked up and everyone else has their's and Dumbo's all trying to hug her through the prison bars and it's horribly sad and…I just remember really clearly watching it and going ' oh my God, that's how I feel'. That feeling of wanting my Mom and just wanting a hug. And then the next time I saw you, my forth birthday, I think, I hugged you and it all sort of clicked and it was like this 'oh my God, I have a Mom!' moment." She grinned, a little watery. "I think it took that long since I'd grown up with the idea that Moms' were usually women."

"Well, on Earth certainly."

"Yeah…Earth's boring in that respect. There're a few weird-ass animals that do things differently, but humans are really quite limited."

Loki laughed. "Indeed." He squeezed Evie's shoulder affectionately. "Hey, I can see a hot dog stand, still want one?"

"The answer to that will always be yes!"

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The Avenger's and Coulson's Team (they'd been given the official designation by Jarvis, since he felt the compulsive need to categorise everything) spent the better part of five hours discussing just what was going on and what the hell they were going to do about it.

As predicted, Clint had tackled Coulson to the floor on sight, and it took the combined might of both Captain America and Thor to pull him off again before the new Director was throttled, and Natasha had yet to address a word to the ex-agent. It was quite clear that his lack of communication – namely to do with his resurrection – had gone down worse than the Titanic.

However, noses-in-slings aside they did manage to at least catch up with what they considered to be the most important facts. Jarvis had brought up comprehensive lists of the projects and archives Shield had created that were now presumably in Hydra's hands. There were an awful lot of weapon prototypes and alien paraphernalia that were worrying to say the least.

Skye was in seventh heaven with Jarvis' computational powers at her disposal and whilst the others had discussed details she had hooked up the data drives she had from Hydra and together the woman and AI began matching things together. It was slow going, but after a few hours they had a working map of at least thirty of what they could guess were the most important places to search. They were mostly high-security laboratories, weapons testing, storage warehouses – not places that sounded hugely exciting but that held items of significant consequence.

However, even with that information it was hard to decide what to do with it. At best the most they could do was infiltrate and remove whatever they could, and destroy everything else. It was an ancient method of warfare, but one that worked; if I can't have it, I'll destroy it so that the enemy can't have it either. Back in the day it used to mean shooting the horses or burning the farms, in this situation it would mean blowing up whole secret bases.

Because the media totally wouldn't notice an unusual string of explosions across the world.

By the time Loki and Evie returned it had grown dark and Tony was so fed up with the situation that he couldn't even be bothered to put up token protests and simply offered for Coulson's team to stay in some of the guest rooms for the night. It would make things easier for all concerned, especially since they were going to need to continue the planning the next day.

Whilst the extended assembly – Maria included now that Tony actually knew that she was there – started trying to sort out dinner for a group of thirteen Stark himself skulked off to find himself a secluded corner for a few minutes peace. If nothing else he hadn't checked his emails all day, and that did make him quite twitchy.

"You are being somewhat anti-social."

Tony looked up from where he was slumped into one of the large beanbags in the corner and smiled as Loki sat down beside him.

"Hey you, how was your day?"

"Better than yours, by the looks of it." Loki said wryly. "Evie and I went around Central Park and filled up on junk food."

"Damn, I'm going with you guys next time!" Tony shifted to make room on his beanbag then leant back against Loki as the God shuffled up to sit next to him. "It's been a right pain in the ass here! We're running in bloody circles chasing shadows. I can't even cope with hearing the words Hydra or Shield right now." He opened up his email to see a full inbox. "Look at this; 213 emails! This is what happens when I'm too busy to deal with crap."

Loki smiled at the petulant tone, recognising how tired and stressed out his husband was. "Look, I imagine you can delete most of it."

"Guess so. Jarvis, can you scrap anything that you should have put into my spam folder anyway?"

There wasn't an audible reply, but the number quickly wound itself down to only 23. Of those, most were business ventures that were ignorable until the next day.

"See, much more manageable." Loki said softly. "Nothing to stress out about."

"…Stop being so understanding." Tony flicked through what was left, dismissing most of them without reading until he came across an unknown address. "Hey, Jarv, what's this? I said get rid of the crap."

"That email was sent from the same mobile device that Mr Laufeyjarsson called last night. I deemed it to be important for that reason."

Loki looked surprised at that. "My son is emailing Tony?"

"Yes sir."

Tony opened up the message, which was simply entitled 'Mr Stark', and moved the Starkpad so that Loki could read over his shoulder. It was concise and to the point; pretty much the impression that Tony had already gleaned from overhearing Loki's conversation the night before.

Mr Stark,

I am aware that we have not met, but since you appear to have tied yourself to my Mödir, I feel it important to establish a form of contact.

As you most likely know, I spoke with Mödir this morning and whilst he provided no details, he said enough to severely worry me. Since he will not be forthcoming with what has happened over these past years I find myself asking if you could fill me in. I understand that since the failed invasion I have somehow gained a younger sister thanks to you, and I also understand that Mödir had another run-in with the chitauri. If you could let me know the details I would be very grateful.

In addition, I saw that Shield has been taken over by the group known as Hydra. I trust that your team has this situation under control.

Finally, I do not speak to my Mödir as a rule; we do not get along particularly well and tend not to communicate much. However, should you hurt him in any way, shape or form I will find you and I will make the rest of your life – however long that may be – as painful and horrific as is physically possible. You will know the true meaning of 'hell'.

Just a friendly warning.

Best wishes to you and yours,

M

Tony gaped at the message.

"Did your son really just threaten to end me?"

"Apparently."

"Do you want me to reply?"

Loki reread the email again, then nodded slowly. "It would be better coming from you. As he says; we do not get on well."

"How much detail do you want me to go into?" Tony asked quietly.

"All the way. Tell him everything. I do not wish to give him reasons to start an argument because he finds out that I with-held things from him."

"It's a bit personal though, surely he should respect your privacy."

"He should, but he won't. And it is not like I'll see him any time soon. Tell him everything; it will put his mind at rest to know that I am okay now."

"Do you think he'd help us with Hydra?"

Loki raised an eyebrow, then waved a hand so that a tiny winged pig suddenly popped into existence in the air between them, and zoomed around.

"Alright, you've made your point." Tony sighed. He started drafting a reply to the message. "Does your son always write like Shakespeare? I feel like I need to write back in verse or something."

"That's just his way."

"I'm totally good with writing in verse though! There once was a Norse God of yore, whose brother was a terrible bore. A destroyer was sent, with questionable intent, and a lesson was learnt by Thor!"

"Oh by the Norns."

"I can do better! A trickster who found himself crossed, fought a fight on top the Bifrost. His father said no, he let the staff go, and into the void was lost."

"…That is not funny, Anthony."

This time Loki's voice had an edge to it and Tony glanced at him to see his husband's mouth set into a thin line. If the 'Anthony' didn't show that Loki was pretty put out, the expression certainly did it. "Yeah, sorry, that one was stupid. I'm stressed and pissed off, and I'm an asshole when I'm like that."

"I've noticed."

"I didn't mean it."

"Just finish writing your email." Loki said curtly. He shifted, pulling away from his husband, only for Tony to grab his wrist. "What?"

"Don't storm off, please."

"You are being an insensitive imbecile, why should I not?"

"Because I'm an idiot and I don't deserve you?"

"Have you eaten today?"

Tony looked confused at the random question. "Not really? I didn't like the sushi we ordered for lunch."

Loki sighed and laid a hand on the man's arm, closing his eyes. His fingers briefly glowed a soft mauve. "Your blood sugar levels are very low – that might explain why you are feeling so awful."

"You mean why I'm acting like a dick."

"Feeling awful. You are also dehydrated. Come, you need some food and something non-alcoholic to drink."

Tony smirked tiredly. "You just took the fun out of drink." He let his husband take the Starkpad out of his hands and drag him up to his feet. "Seriously? You're going to strong-arm me into eating?"

"Yes, yes I am."

A huge order had been put in for Thai, and by the time Loki and Tony had finished their talk about the email it was at the door. The assembly broke off into two distinct groups once they portioned out the food; Coulson's little band finding their own corner to huddle in as the Avenger's spread out across their usual sofas. Only Natasha made an effort to bridge the gap, since even if she wasn't talking to Coulson, she was still on speaking terms with Melinda.

It was an awkward meal. Tony wanted nothing more than to just flop on top of his husband and use Loki as a cushion, but with Coulson's glare and the other's deep suspicion levelled at the trickster he decided against it. Maria had sat herself on the Shield side – and it was not a good omen that they were categorising themselves into 'Shield' and 'Avengers' sides, rather than a cohesive group. Evie didn't even eat with them; she simply grabbed a plate of food and vanished off to her bedroom.

Steve briefly mentioned inviting over someone who had helped him and Natasha with the Hydra problem and Tony agreed without really listening. Something about someone called Sam? It wasn't important, he'd find out if said person actually turned up.

Finally Ironman gave up on civility and sociability. He had a thumping headache – Loki's attempts at rehydration had been a little too little too late – the food still wasn't to his liking and he was absolutely done with the tense atmosphere that had been building throughout the day. Stark and stress didn't go well together.

He didn't even bother to say anything, just upped and left.

Loki had been in conversation with Bruce, so it was only the sudden slam of the door that made him glance up and realise that his husband was gone. He immediately went to follow, but Bruce caught his wrist and shook his head.

"Give him a minute."

"But-"

"Loki, seriously, give him a minute."

Coulson watched the exchange curiously. "I have to ask, why the hell would you care if Stark's not feeling great?"

"You are aware we are married, correct?"

"Still not believing the reality of that."

Loki rolled his eyes, placing his empty plate to one side. "Do you believe that situations can cause a person to change, Director Coulson?"

"In limited cases."

"Well, perhaps further situations can cause them to change back."

Phil shook his head condescendingly. "I don't think so."

A grin crossed the trickster's face. "Okay, how about this. He's Tony Stark; best fucking lay I have ever had. Better answer?" He asked sweetly.

"More believable at least." Coulson had to raise his voice over Thor's groan of disgust.

"And I have a vested interest in our daughter."

"I suppose so."

Loki rose to his feet, exchanging a glance with a sympathetic Bruce. "Well, I hate to say it, Director, but I do not answer to you. If you have any other questions be sure to direct them to Jarvis; he has an awful lot of very interesting security recordings in a lot of intimate detail."

"Loki!" Thor's dismayed cry had embarrassed elder sibling written all over it. Loki smirked at him, then vanished. "I apologise for my brother's behaviour, my friend."

Coulson waved a tired hand. "At least he didn't stab me this time."

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The Captain America magazines and memorabilia were scattered across the huge desk in a colourful sprawl. Tony was listlessly waving the arms on a vintage figurine, circa 1960's, staring at it rather intently considering that it was just an ancient toy.

"These look antique."

He didn't bother to look up at the soft voice – there was only one person who could get into his labs without needing to use the doors.

"They're Dad's old collection."

"Must be worth a fortune."

"A good few thousand; I had them valued for insurance purposes a while back. I was going to sell them and donate it all to charity at one point, but things got in the way and I've never got round to it."

The tiny shield dropped from the figurine's hand and went spinning off the edge of the desk. Loki picked it back up off the floor and held his hand out for the action figure. When Tony gave him the miniature Steve he replaced the shield and examined the details of the toy. Captain America was wearing his original uniform, complete with a little parachute pack and when placed back on the desk could stand upright unsupported.

"I'm impressed; I thought plastic action figures were invented in the seventies."

"Sixties, this was one of the first. Dad bought it as the pièce de résistance to his collection. God knows how much it cost."

Loki's gaze moved across the rest of the memorabilia. The magazines, although spread out a little, were in order, the cards were in plastic wallets and there were a few other things such as a tin lunch box that barely had a scratch on it. Everything had obviously been well cared for, and then either the care had continued or someone had put them all away and never touched them since.

"Do you get this out often?"

"No." Tony poked at a prototype of Captain America's iconic mask, an original carefully packaged in plastic to keep it safe. "I glanced over it for the insurance, but other than that…no."

"Why not?"

"Dad's fucking pride and joy, this lot! Not me; this bunch of junk. How's that make a kid feel? I stuffed it all into a box and stuck it under the desk."

Loki leant against the edge of the desk, picking up a figurine of the Red Skull. It had to have been one of the last additions to the collection, looking like it was a seventies model. The plastic face was locked into a scowl, although a bad paint job meant that it was spending eternity slightly cross-eyed. Tony's gaze locked onto the little figure.

"He even collected Hydra crap. The bastards that killed him, and he collected their crap."

"He also found the tesseract, so in a way we have your Father to thank for allowing us to meet."

"Yay, now I owe the old bastard for two major things in my life!" Tony tapped the arc-reactor to emphasise what the first of those two things was.

"Why have you got all of this out, Tony? If you have never wanted to look at it before, why now?"

The man shrugged listlessly. "There might have been something in here that could help us."

Like hell. A bunch of Captain America memorabilia and some Hydra figurines were never going to provide useful insight to their current situation. The trickster smiled sadly as his husband flicked the Captain America toy over onto its back.

"This is all that you've got left, is it not? The only personal things left of your Fathers'?"

"I've got all his old business stuff."

"But this is personal, isn't it? This is more than just work; this is something he was passionate about. Something he cared about."

"Cared about it more than he cared about me." Tony had sunk low in his chair, staring at the collection. "Any idea what it's like growing up being compared to Captain fucking America?"

"Actually, I grew up compared to Thor, so yes, I do understand that. There's something about big blondes with more muscles than brains that draw people to them."

The comment should have at least drawn a smile from Tony, but instead the man ignored it and chose to pick up the little Red Skull toy instead.

"Do you think he knew?" He asked quietly.

"Knew what?"

"That Hydra had killed him. Do you think there was a moment when he knew?"

"I hope not."

The soft comment made Tony look up sharply. "Why not?"

"Well, I think that if it were my parents, I would be happier to believe that the car crash was instant, and that they never even knew it was happening. Your Father was a genius, but I hope that he never realised the organisation he helped found had been infiltrated from the start."

"He must have suspected something for them to kill him."

Loki shrugged. "Perhaps. Were you meant to be in that car?"

"…Yeah. They were going to a benefits do and I pitched a fit so they left me behind." Tony looked up and his eyes were red-rimmed. "You know what I said? As they were leaving, I told them 'don't come back'. What the hell kind of thing was that to say?! I really thought I meant it, and then there was the phone call…and…and they were…" He swiped his hand across his face angrily, brushing away tears. "The cop tried to…tried to explain…say what happened…I didn't understand. First…First fucking thing I didn't understand. How could…Dad wouldn't…they were my parents! How could they be…What kind of world lets that happen? They were…"

"They were your parents."

"My Mum and Dad…I told them not to come back…and they didn't…" Tony bit down on his knuckles as he attempted to quell the rising sobs.

"Tony…"

"I'm fine."

"You are very far from fine." Loki perched on the edge of the desk infront of the chair, so that his husband could lean into him. "You are trying to come to grips with the idea that your parents were murdered. That is not fine in any way shape or form."

Tony leant forwards so that he could bury his face in Loki's stomach, his arms wrapped tight around the trickster's waist as he began to sob in earnest. It had been years since he had really broken down in such a way. Infact, the last time he had really fallen apart had been after the chitauri had taken Loki, years ago. It was even longer since he had allowed himself to think about his parent's death; there was a lot of pent up emotion that wanted to come out now that it had been triggered.

It took Loki somewhat by surprise; he hadn't ever seen his husband fall apart before and having always seen Tony as the strong and reasonably capable one it was a hit home that the man could break apart. He'd been relying on Stark so much recently it was quite a role reversal to be the rock in the relationship. There was that sneaky part at the back of his mind that actually quite liked to be able to help his husband for once, rather the other way round.

It was a sombre moment as Loki slowly ran his fingers through Tony's hair, simply letting the man's emotions run their course. He began humming quietly, the old saga he used to sing to Evie when she was a child. Not exactly what most would consider a calming song, but to the little family it held a lot of dear memories.

"Sorry about this…" Tony's voice was muffled in his husband's shirt.

"Don't be ridiculous; there is nothing to apologise for." Loki leant down to press a kiss onto the crown of the man's head. "After everything you have helped me through, allow me this one moment to be able to help you in turn."

Tony's reply was incoherent, just another messy sob as he nodded into his husband's lap. The trickster continued humming, combing his finger through his partner's short hair again. A gentle whirring behind him made him glance back to see one of Tony's robots (Loki hadn't met Dummy, and didn't know the little droid had a name) approaching the desk, it's arm drooping in dismay as it took in the scene. After taking account of the situation it then began to steadily clear up the scattered collection and replace it neatly into its box. Loki smiled at it when it 'looked' at him and nodded as it quietly trundled off with the memorabilia to replace it back in the cupboard. The Captain America figurine was the only thing left, over looked where it lay on the edge of the desk.

By the third repeat of the tune Loki was humming, Tony had begun to calm down, his sobs dying away to the sort of snuffly hiccups that were generally the after effect of such an emotional blowout. He didn't move though.

Loki's attention was caught as one of the desk's large computer screens suddenly flashed at him, and a script began to run across it.

Doctor Banner is at the door, do you wish me to let him in? – J

The trickster shrugged, and when he didn't immediately answer Jarvis added to the query.

He has hot chocolate.

"Tony? Hey love, do you feel any better?"

"…No."

"Bruce is outside; Jarvis says he has hot chocolate."

"That sounds tempting…"

"Should I let him in?"

"…Yeah, if you must." Tony still didn't bother to move.

Loki nodded at the computer screen and Jarvis must have understood since at the other end of the lab there was the swish of the electronic doors. However, there was more than the one set of footsteps across the floor.

"Bruce needed help with the drinks." Was Steve's beyond-lame excuse.

"Bull shit, you're being a mother-hen." Tony finally bothered to raise his head, his eyes red and swollen.

"Only when you need me to be." Steve placed a couple of paracetamol tablets on the desk alongside a steaming mug that smelt like heaven. Tony glared at him in grudging thanks.

"Jarvis said you two might appreciate a drink." Bruce said cheerfully. He held a mug of what smelt like chamomile for himself, and passed another one of chocolate to Loki. "You have a sweet tooth, right?"

"Very much so. Thank you."

Steve had spotted the little figurine of himself and picked it up with a quiet chuckle. "Is this one of Howard's? He used to collect the comics during the war."

"Yeah. Dummy's just packed them all up again."

The Captain smiled sadly, twirling the little toy again as he realised why Tony might have had it all out. "I'm guessing the whole Hydra thing is a bit much right now, huh?"

"You could say that. I came home intending to pack for a honeymoon." Tony grabbed a tissue from a nearby box and wiped his face off.

"Honeymoon?" That was apparently news to Loki. "Where were you intending?"

"I dunno. Svartlfartlwhatsitheim?"

"Alfheim is quite nice."

"Yeah, there'll do." Tony rubbed his eyes again and picked up his mug to take a sip. He then immediately perked up at the taste. "Hey, which genius made this Irish?"

Bruce shrugged slightly. "I figured some alcohol might also be warranted after a day like this. They're all drinking beer upstairs, but I know you prefer the hard stuff."

"Is Coulson still here?"

"Yeah, you said they could stay here, remember?"

"Oh damn." Tony looked down at his drink, then at the headache tablets Steve had put on the desk. "I'm taking these with alcohol; if I die you'll all know why."

"There's only a shot in there, and the tablets are a low dose. I don't condone it, but it won't kill you." Bruce said with a sigh.

"Grand." Stark swallowed both in one go, causing his friends to shake their heads at his behaviour. "You know, you guys are awesome."

"Was that your version of a thank you?"

"Best you're gonna get." Which wasn't true. Tony might have been trying to play the tough-nut, especially after knowing how obvious it was that he had been crying, but his grateful smile made it very clear that he was extremely thankful for his friends right then. A husband to help him through the emotional crap, and then some mates to appear with the booze and painkillers. Stark considered himself pretty damn lucky.

The situation sucked, Hydra were a nightmare made flesh, but for the moment at least Tony decided that maybe he could deal with this.

"Let's go back upstairs – I'm sure they can't have finished all the food."

Steve laughed. "With Thor up there? Good luck with that!"

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Later that night Tony dreamt of cars and explosions and of the giant serpent from Greek mythology with multiple heads. It slithered and twisted so that they could never quite find it, and every time a head was cut off three more grew, each with the sneering face of the badly-painted Red Skull figurine. A wizard danced through the carnage left behind, his long cloak and white beard taken straight from one of Evie's old story books of King Arthur – a childish parody of the great Merlin with his staff and orb. The Hydra stamped on through the world as a giant Swastika hung in the sky in place of the sun.

At one point Tony jerked awake, cold and tangled in the bedsheets in an empty bed. He looked around, barely awake, and in the gloom of the night saw Loki standing by the window, holding the curtain aside so that he could peer out.

In the brief moment before sleep reclaimed him, Tony thought that his husband's skin looked blue in the dim light.

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Until next time…