TW: Pregnancy loss
There was no way to describe the fear and dread she felt as Lauren held her only brother's only son as tightly as she could, struggling against the young boy as he wailed and cried. The clip played over and over again.
The US Government was going to use a nuclear missile on the city of New York.
Millions of people were in the fallout zone, Peter and herself included.
And Tony caught it like it was nothing and guided it gracefully up and out of an impossible hole in the sky. Then the camera feed fell.
Anchors on the news were talking, giving updates of rumors being heard on the ground, yet nothing was confirmed. The camera footage they had ended as Tony disappeared from view, still carrying their deliverance on his shoulder.
"Shhh. Peter. Please." Lauren begged, stroking the boy's dark hair, "You have to breathe."
"Is he dead too?" Peter screamed through sobs.
"Shhh. Baby calm down."
"Dad died. My daddy- he died." Peter continued to croak.
The tears streaming down her own face fell hot on her arm, where she had Peter wrapped close in to her.
"We don't know anything Peter. People keep saying they saw him come out. Be brave sweet boy. Don't think the worst until you hear the worst."
Peter began to quiet, his screams fading into thicker, rougher sobs as the fabric of Lauren's sweater absorbed both their sorrow. Five minutes passed with no update.
Ten minutes.
Half hour.
Peter had became so still that his aunt thought he'd cried himself to sleep, but he jumped at the sound of the 'BREAKING NEWS' chime and announcement come across the television and a reporter Peter recognized as having interviewed him before was standing in the distance away from where the battle was taking place in New York, but close enough that you could see much of the carnage. Maggie, Peter remembered her name, was a kind field reporter who covered special interest stories for WNN in New York often. She was so close to the action that concrete dust had turned her normally deep chocolate braids sickly gray with the spatter of concrete dust, and she was wearing an N-95 mask for her protection as she spoke into the camera.
'This just in, WNN has received footage shot from the cell phone of a witness on the ground that confirms the Hulk saved Ironman as he fell from the sky. In this unbelievable footage we can see that Ironman, AKA Tony Stark falls freely from the hole over Manhattan, and it is unclear as to how much Stark can control his suit, or if the delivery of the intercepted nuclear payload caused a malfunction in the Avenger's armor. Take a look now as we go to the clip-'
Shaky, grainy footage began to roll, though at first it is hard to see due to the dust. The person recording can be heard praying aloud for the safety of the Avengers in Italian, and several people scream as Tony falls closer to the ground before a loud bellow sounds from behind the camera, causing the person filming to fall for a second and the picture to go shaky again before focusing in, allowing the viewers to now see that Hulk had caught Tony and was slowing them both by dragging his hand through the exposed framework of a destroyed building. Hulk falls onto a nearby car and places Tony on the ground where Thor rips his helmet plate from his face. Steve can be heard screaming indistinctly as he runs over, and he puts his ear to Tony's face, as if to listen for breath sounds. Steve looks up to Thor and Hulk, face deathly pale and his gives a small head-shake.
Peter started to cry once again, but Lauren squeezed him close.
"No." She said firmly and nodded back to the television.
Hulk, seeing his friends so distressed, himself gave a bellow of heart-shattering grief, and somehow, Tony's arms flail as he gasps for air and the camera owner can be heard cheering as the feed cuts off.
Peter and Lauren instantly turned from despair to joy and relief at seeing him alive.
"I told you!" Lauren beamed at her nephew, the spitting image of the brother she's just watch nearly die.
"I can't believe Uncle Bruce caught him like that. Oh my God that was sick!" Peter laughed, elated at his father's rescue.
"I can." Lauren smiled sadly. "Bruce loves your dad so much little one. He and the big guy both do. They have always had each other's backs." She reminded him.
"Can we go to him?" Peter pleaded. Lauren smiled once again sadly.
"No sweet one, its dangerous. Even with the hole in the sky closed, there are still rogue aliens, hazardous building collapses... they're still saving people buddy."
"Oh." Peter peeped quietly. He sat for a moment, then a smile broke out again on his face.
"But soon right?"
"Soon," Lauren nodded. "You can have your dad and your Pops very soon."
It should've only been joy.
Lauren knew she should only be happy when she could hear the purring of her brother's yellow Corvette and the distinct rumble of Steve's Harley as they both came into her drive. It had been three long, hard days on constant on the ground action looking for survivors and leading the start of clean up in what was now being called 'the Battle for Manhattan', and it was time for Steve and Tony to be there for their son. For her.
Except every major news station had been covering the press conference and subsequent, ever stylish, get-away that Tony pulled, as he pulled Bruce into the car with him and they drove from sight of the cameras.
He looked amazing.
Skin kissed by the sun from wherever it was he'd been in hiding, curls falling just onto his forehead. He and Tony had an arm wrapped around each other as they smiled and laughed with the crowd around them and their fellow Avengers before seeing Thor and the now Captive Loki off.
Lauren didn't want to see him. Or she did, more than anything. But not now.
It had taken quite a bit of negotiation and bribery to get Peter to promise not to tell his parents of her medications, and the port in her arm was taped down and covered in a long sleeve sweater. Other than this, Lauren took no mind into preparing her appearance. She was exhausted, in pain, depressed.
More importantly she was at home, and none of the men who were about to join her were strangers to seeing Lauren Stark's 'worst'. Lauren took a hair tie from the bowl she kept odds and ends in on her coffee table and put her long dark waves into a large frizzy blob of a bun on top of her head as Peter ran to be waiting at the door.
Tony burst in with mirroring excitement and scooped Peter into his arms, giving his son a strong squeeze before passing him first to Steve, then to Bruce in turn. Lauren could hear them in her entryway from her spot on the couch, but she remained planted in place.
Tony and Steve were going to be staying, along with Peter, while the Tower they called home was repaired from the battle. It was a given, but also Bruce had invited them, and it was technically also his house, so Lauren had already prepared their favorite guest room for the couple.
Where Bruce thought he'd be sleeping, she was curious. Anger flared up hot and hard in her, and she had to close her eyes and take several deep breaths as the group approached.
"Where is my favorite sister?" Tony's voice boomed down the hall.
"You only have one." She called back flatly.
The men of her life had made their way into the living room, but she sat stony still, eyes still closed tightly.
"Hey Doll." Steve greeted, taking a seat next to her first, placing a friendly kiss onto her temple. "You feeling okay?"
"Making it." She replied quietly, wincing as Tony flopped onto her opposite side, gracelessly knocking her cushions about as he did.
Lauren did not have to open her eyes to know Bruce was standing back near the entryway. She sighed inwardly and opened her large brown eyes to meet her brother's.
"We could've used a little light show out there, ya know?" Tony teased, pulling her into a tight, quick squeeze.
"You made it just fine without me." Lauren smiled weakly. Tony's brow furrowed with deep concern.
"Lauren?"
"Tony."
Tony sighed and looked over the back of the couch to where Bruce stood awkwardly by. He shook his head and looked at his feet.
"I'm going to go see if we need any more towels or anything, okay?" He gave as an excuse, knowing how fake it sounded, before shuffling off toward the stairs.
"Why don't you go help Uncle Bruce, Pete?" Steve suggested, his tone letting his son know that the suggestive tone was not actually up for discussion, and the young boy nodded and trailed off without argument.
"Tell him, Lauren." Steve said gently. "I want to help you better, and part of me being able to do that is letting my husband know. Your big brother."
"How'd you get Bruce to come home?" Lauren ask, ignoring the Captain's question. She looked from Steve to Tony then back.
"Steve asked you something first." Tony retorted.
"Tony-" She sighed deeply. "I don't know how to say the words again. It gets harder to gag out every single time."
Tears slowly slid down the small brunette's cheeks. Tony looked up at Steve. Steve gently squeezed her hand.
"Do you want me to?" He ask his sister-in-law. She nodded slowly. Steve took a long, deep breath and blew the air slowly out of his nose, his icy blue eyes fixed on his husband's warm brown ones.
"Just tell me!" Tony pleaded, the worry soaking out of him.
"Lauren suffered a thirteen week placental abruption. She lost a baby and was hit was a fairly sizable doze of gamma radiation in the process."
"You lost a baby?" Tony all but whispered, his voice breaking. "Fuck Lauren... I didn't even know you were going to have one." He pulled her into his arms as a sob wracked her thin body. In this embrace, Tony could feel just how much weight she'd lost. "And you've been suffering alone?"
"I didn't know what else to do." She sniffled. "Bruce left the morning I got home from the hospital. Just packed a couple bags and told me he couldn't look at what he'd done."
"That motherfucker-" Tony growled through gritted teeth. Steve put a steady hand over Tony's arm.
"He is hurting, too, Tony. He lost his child, too." Steve reminded him.
"Which makes leaving her like this alright?!" Tony demanded. He pulled back and helped Lauren sit up so they could see eye to eye. "Tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it."
"Don't do anything." She replied firmly.
"Why?" Tony bristled.
"Steve's right. I didn't lose a child, Tones. We lost a child. He blames himself for all of it. My being sick, the baby dying. Everything. I needed him, he needed me, but I think there was part in both of us that couldn't face that. We cannot help what we need to do grieve, Tony. So please, please, I am literally begging you, don't do anything."
"He ask for my blessing to marry you and I gave it to him, Lauren. Bruce is my best friend. He promised me he would take care of you." Tony snarled, fave reddening from anger.
"I'm still very sure that is exactly what he thought his leaving was doing." Lauren replied quietly. "So, please. You're going to be here a few months- don't get involved."
Tony looked at her with hard eyes for a long time before giving a small nod and kissing her forehead.
"Okay." He nodded again. "I think I will hit the shower. Steve?"
"Not while Peter's up." Steve teased and shook his head.
"Gross." Lauren teased with a small laugh. "Go on. Steve and I will call in some food for dinner while you freshen up."
Tony hurried up the stairs and rounded the corner, very nearly knocking into Bruce, who had somewhere along the way, lost Peter.
For a moment, the two mean simply stood. Tony's eyes searching Bruce's face, Bruce's own on their shoes. He didn't have to be looking Tony in the eye to know he was beyond angry, so when Tony stepped forward silently and pulled him close, crushing his ribs in a fierce embrace, Bruce was nearly frozen in confusion.
"I'm so sorry, Brucie." Tony whispered. "I am so, so fucking sorry."
Bruce said nothing, his own attempt at words choking him in his throat, so he simply nodded as his best friend held him there for a moment.
"You could've told me." Tony said softly, finally pulling away. Bruce still refused to meet his eyes.
"No, I really couldn't." Bruce muttered.
"I wish I had something to say right now." Tony said, scratching at the back of his neck. Bruce nodded again, his jaw locked and eyes firm on the floor.
"Yep." he finally replied.
"Don't- Bruce don't let this be the reason you lose everything you love." Tony pleaded.
"I don't know that there is anything left to lose, man." Bruce replied, finally stepping to the side of Tony and continuing down the opposite hallway. He made his way to the further most back guest room and entered, shutting the door with a soft 'click' from the lock. Tony shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Fuck." He breathed, continuing on his path toward the shower.
Totally forgot about this account- hooray ADHD- but I'm doing the whole stay at home mom thing now, so I'll being writing again.
Please be sure to review this. It is my first attempt at something so emotional and raw.
Thanks! Be sure to follow for updates!