Chapter 7 It's a...Shower?
Loki and Tony had found themselves at Dr. Joy's office once again, but this time it was a special occasion, Loki was finally five months and the couple would finally find out the sex of their child. Tony didn't know if he was more nervous or excited. This news was just one more step into his giant leap into fatherhood and he had prayed that he was ready.
The doctor walked into the room, he was wearing a light blue tie with little jellyfish on it. "Good morning, I trust that everything has been going fine." he looked over Loki's chart, the couple nodded "Good, good you've picked up quiet a bit of weight good. How's your appetite?"
"Voracious." Tony said bluntly, earning another jab in the side "Ow, what did I say." but the god shushed him
Dr. Joy turned to the couple, holding a bottle of ultra sound gel and a scanner "Are you ready to find out if it's a boy or a girl?"
Natasha and Clint were fifteen minutes early this time. This was an important appointment and they didn't want to be late. Natasha yawned resting her head on Clint's shoulder. He rubbed her arm for support glancing at her bump every now and then. He still couldn't get over the idea that his was going to be a father. "Miss Romanoff, the doctor is ready to see you now." Natasha pushed herself up "This is it." She smiled up at Clint
Thor was not sure whether he liked the idea at first, but Jane could convince anyone of anything. So here they were on their way to the OB-GYN to find out the sex of their twins. Things had be running smoothly, Jane finally picked up some weight. She no longer looked like a stick with a tumor on it, she reminded Thor of his mother so mature so regal. Dr. Jeffreys squeezed the couple in for a five o'clock appointment and they checked in, waiting happily in animal themed waiting room.
-Swish swish swish- The sound of the ultra sound machine filled the room. Dr. Joy moved the handle around delicately, looking for his target. "Where are you," he stopped the device and froze the frame "Ah, there you are." The anxious couple stared at the doctor, like children waiting to open up their Christmas presents. "Well?" Loki urged. The doctor smiled at the couple "It's a boy."
Dr. Lee-Jackson twisted and maneuvered the hand held device around Natasha's belly. Her stomach was nice and round from hours of careful work out, Natasha grabbed Clint's hands as the doctor froze the frame. Pointing to a small area between the unborn child's legs "It's a girl!" The couple hugged each other, the doctor moved out of the way to jot some notes on her chart, leaving to two to talk about possible baby names.
At five on the dot Dr. Jeffreys called Jane and Thor to the back. They were lead to the small room they always used, which made their visits more welcoming. Jane undressed much to Thor's pleasure and sat up on the padded chair. The doctor knocked and entered "Good evening, how have you been feeling Mrs. Odin-fosterdottir" the doctor was still getting use to her new name now that she was married. Jane had no complaints to tell her doctor, honestly for her first pregnancy things were going great. "Alright then, lets see what you have." Dr. Jeffreys set up the ultra sound equipment like he had done a million times before, searching for the tell tell signs of male or female. "Alright, the first bundle of joy is," he paused as he searched "It's a boy." Thor stared in amazement as the doctor pointed to the child's little genitals.
"For the next one," The doctor had to reach around Jane's belly for the second twin, they were facing in a weird direction "It's a girl" Thor and Jane were overjoyed. Thor hugged Jane gently, kissing her on the forehand, thanking her for baring him two wonderful children.
That night back at the tower, everyone partied, well partied as much as a bunch of expecting parents could. Clint got black out drunk, while Natasha filled up on nachos. Loki, Steve, Bruce, and Tony got involved in a very intense game of Chinese Checkers. While Jane, Thor, Phil, and Darcy played Just Dance on the Wii.
"I won!" Tony shouted
Loki couldn't believe his eyes, he looked at the board "you cheated!
Tony pecked his loved on the cheek, before taking another large sip of his drink "Nope."
Steve and Bruce just laughed at the fuming couple, Tony was doing the two step and tripped over nothing onto the floor, spilling his drink all over his shirt. After putting Natasha and Clint to bed, Steve, Phil, and Darcy settled into a movie. Jane, Thor, and Bruce retired shortly after leaving Loki and Tony alone in the kitchen.
"Everything alright?" Tony asked, he was more sober now, noticing the small beads of sweat forming at Loki's brow
"Yes, I'm fine just a little tired." Loki gave one of his token smiles.
The next couple of weeks flew by like crazy. Clint was back to missions again, along with Steve. While Bruce and Tony were knee deep in research for SHEILD. Apparently there was some activity some where on the planet and Fury needed information on it ASAP. Jane decided to take the next couple of months off to prepare for her baby and the shower next week.
Natasha and Loki pretty much left the planning up to Jane. All Natasha asked was that there was something she could hit or shoot at the party because caring this child was driving her crazy. Loki only wanted chocolate cake, simple enough. They had settled on a theme of baby animals and balloons. It reminded Jane of the movie Up, which was one of her favorites. Darcy sat with her helping her plan the shower.
"These invitations are bad ass" Darcy took another bite of the sample cookies All About Babies sent them
"You think so?" Jane eyed the stack of invitations.
"Yeah girl, mind fucking blown," Darcy held up the card, the front had a basket of cute baby animals floating through the sky and inside had a picture of each of the couples with clouds in the inside for the black ground "look at this," Darcy read the contents "Dear friends and family you are invited to share the wonderful journey of child birth with your dearest friends," Darcy skips through the names "look at this, it even comes with confetti" she threw the colorful pieces of paper up into the air
"Yeah I guest you're right," Jane marked off a few more things on her check list "Hey you got the guest list?"
Darcy searched the floor "yeah"
Jane looked up and back at her matching list "Read off the names."
"All of them!" there was at least two pages
"Yeah"
Darcy sigh dramatically "I am never having kids."
The Avengers were awoken by Thor's hollering followed by a loud thunderous crash. The alarm was sounded when JARVIS reported four strange people on the roof with the god. Tony and Steve were the first to arrive. "Friends!" Thor shouted, waving for the two wary avengers to come over "Tony, Steve, I would like to introduce you to Lady Sif," she bowed "Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim, and Volstagg the Valiant!" the other three warriors bowed. "Pleasure," Tony held out his hand hesitantly, but Volstagg pulled him into a hug.
"Very interesting friends you have here," Fandral laughed, patting Steve on his back
"Please, let us go inside and I will introduce you to the rest." The group followed Thor into the tower.
Tony looked at Steve "It's going to be a long day."
The occupants of the tower were busy running around getting ready for the shower. It could have easily
been the event of the year, with all the money Tony spent on it, but the playboy didn't mind. He was Tony Stark and no expense would be spared for the ones he cared about. In the den, there were mountains of gifts, from company partners, friends, and family. Pretty much all of SHEILD was going, they even managed to convince Fury to come. Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Clint did most of the heavy lifting, moving of the gifts to the cars and back. Jane and Darcy had left an hour ago, to take care of a few last minute things for the shower. Thor was busy showing his friends from home around, and Loki and Natasha just sat around relaxing.
"That's the last of it." Tony squeezed the brightly wrapped box into one of the company vans "Thanks
guys" he slammed the door shut
"No problem Tony," Steve wiped the sweat off his brow
A total of fifteen cars arrived at All About Babies for the shower and most of them were filled with gifts.
No surprise there. Happy had drove Tony, Loki, and Pepper and what interest conversations were had in the Stark car. Clint and Natasha drove by themselves and so did Bruce. Steve, to his distress, drove Thor and his friends and Phil, Agent Hill, and Fury drove by themselves. Tony hopped out of the car, lifting up his sunglasses "Not bad,"
All About Babies were located on the outskirts of town, in a quiet little shopping center. Despite being in a strip mall, the building was huge. Roughly the size of a Chunky Cheese's. The inside was clean and filled with home made toys and organic baby foods. In the back was where they hosted baby showers and birthday parties. Upon arriving the shower staff rushed to the cars, greeting the expecting parents and gathering up the gifts. A thin red head, meet the couples at the welcome desk, while the rest of the quest filed into the activity room.
"Welcome expecting parents," She looked at the couples "I'm Jena Rockfort and I will be your hostess for your very special day, if you need anything, anything at all please don't hesitant to ask."
"Can I get a drink?" Tony joked, Loki jabbed his arm "Tony!"
Jane and Thor laughed, Ms. Rockfort smiled warily hoping the playboy was jokinh.
"Hey I'll second that!" Clint joked wrapping his arms around Natasha who could also use a drink but held
her tongue because she was carrying
Ms. Rockfort gave a nervous laugh, "It's a joke," Clint added
"I'm not joking," Tony looked around at his friends, Loki rolled his eyes "What, a scotch, a beer that's all I ask?"
The couples followed Ms. Rockfort into the room and the party began. The event was fully catered,
tables lined with food and drinks were served all non-alcoholic to Tony's distress. The hostess rushed around to each table handing out party favors and chatting with the guest.
"And I once killed a beast with my bear hands" Volstagg held out his hands and made strangling motions with his hands
"Aye, I remember, it passed out from your stench." Fandral interrupted "I have slain fifty beast, with a single arrow." the blonde winked
Ms. Rockfort's smiles weaned "That's very nice, if you'll excuse me."
The first game of the day started, each member had to name a character from popular children shows.
"How am I to know, that a sea sponge lived in a fruit under the sea," Loki snapped, eating yet another
chocolate cookie
Jane patted his shoulder "It's okay, you'll get the next one." Everyone laughed and joked, Loki did not find it very funny and continued to eat his cookies.
The next game started, all the dads had to race to see who could change a diaper the fastest on a teddy
bear. Ms. Rockfort held up her hand "On your mark, get ready, go!" It was a sight to see, Thor, Tony, and
Clint running down the room to their designated teddy bears. Tony nearly ripped the diaper off, sending the bear flying in the air. He took three steps back tripping on his heel to catch the bear "It's okay! I got him." Loki faceplamed. Thor spent a whole five minutes fighting with the baby powder before it exploded in his face. Clint managed to get the diaper off but could not figure out which way to put a clean one on. Tony put the diaper on, holding the bear in the air. "Oh Yeah!" he did a little victor dance, blowing kisses at Loki, the god blushed.
They took a quick break from the games, to clean up Thor who was pouting about to diaper incident, to
eat and socialize again.
"You throw knifes?" Darcy took another sip of her punch and smirked at Ms. Rockfort, who looked
somewhere between horrified and surprise
"Yeah, though I prefer guns" Natasha rubbed her tummy
"That's awesome," Darcy eyed Ms. Rockfort again, who politely excused her self
Thor, Loki, and Volstagg had set up fort at the food table. Jane and Pepper talked about work, while most of the men sat around talking about which dad would crack first. Next, everyone settled down to open up gifts, to keep it short each couple decided to open up gifts from each other. "Before everyone begins All About Babies would like to present you all with one of a kind made in America, hand made teddy bears." another staff member rolled in a cart with four boxes on it. She picked up each box and handed them to the expecting mothers.
Natasha opened up hers first, it was a chocolate colored bear with a pink ribbon bow on the right ear. It was a black nose and beautiful brown eyes with a hand made red lacy dress. "Awwwwww," she showed Clint. They decided when they opened their bears they would open up their two gifts from the other couples. Clint handed Natasha her gift from Thor and Jane. "Awww, thanks guys" she held up a box of baby blankets with little caterpillars on it. She opened upTony's and Loki's gift next "Ah, thanks" she held up the large bottle of scotch and a small rage doll. "That doll is enchanted with magic," Loki beamed "It will protect your child from nightmares."
Jane opened her box for All About Babies first, she received two bears one for each child. The first bear was a golden honey brown and sported a lovely pink dress. The teddy had a light brown nose and
beautiful sandy blue eyes. The second brown was sandy brown with a blue t-shirt with a sail boat on it.
The bear also had a light brown nose and sandy blue eyes. "Thank you, they're wonderful." Jane placed
the gifts back in the box and reached for the gift from Tony and Loki. "Wow," she pulled out a giant barrel of mead and a gift card for Macy's "Something a little special, for you know, after the baby." Tony added "The mead is from me," Loki winked at Thor who could not have looked happier. Jane opened Natasha's and Clint's next "Thank you," it was a box of blocks and a blue on the go play mate. The couple nodded
Tony and Loki went last, Loki eyed the box with the bear in it careful, then tore off all the paper. The
fluffy bear inside was jet black, wearing a green t-shirt with a smiling sun on it. It's nose was as black as it's fur and so were the eyes, so glossy and deep. "I like this, teddy bear toy. Thank you" he directed to the hostess. Tony handed him the present from Clint and Natasha first "Hahahaha," Loki could barely contain himself as he looked at the green and red Iron Man and Loki dolls. "Thought you might like them," Clint commented "Yes, Thank you." the god opened the gift from his brother and sister in law next "Thor-how did you get this?" He held up the long green silk blanket, it was Loki's baby blanket, "Mother and father sent it," Loki looked like he was about to shad a tear.
After the gifts were opened the guest continued to enjoy the party. Natasha showed off her marksmen skills with a game of shot the tail on the donkey. Thor introduced Jane to his friends and Bruce, Tony, and Steve played baby trivia. They shower ended well, all the guest and expecting parents were happy and thanking the host for her hospitably.
Everyone headed back to the tower, deciding that they would unload the cars later. Loki and Tony were the last to get back, because Tony wanted to have a quick look around the store first. Tony hopped out of the car to open the door for Loki. "Enjoyed the shower?" The god nodded and sled out of the car. "Hey, lets take the stairs, they VA door is busted."
Loki groaned "Tony,"
Tony walked ahead of him to the stairs "come on, it's only three flights."
The god warily wobbled to the stairs, he looked at the steps accusingly, and sighed. Taking each step one at a time. Suddenly Loki felt a tight pain in his stomach "AHHHHHHH" the god gripped tightly to his underbelly and holding onto the railing for support.
When Tony heard this he spun around and headed straight for Loki's position "Loki!" He turned the corner finding his love hunched over and pain, his pants stained in red. Tony snapped out of shock and rushed over to him.
"Tony" Loki collapsed into the iron man's arms
"Loki! Loki! LOKI!"
O.O Oh Dear! Loki's in danger, will Tony be able to find help in time, stay tuned!