A/N: Quick warning: Mild language (references to strong language) and angst.
Pepper was used to overworking.
She worked for Tony Stark. Of course she was.
But although her job often involved stress, she had never been under so much pressure. The worst part was that it wasn't just professional pressure this time... It was personal pressure.
The bags under her eyes were now so deep that they were more like caves. They took up an enormous portion of her face, leaving her looking not unlike a panda. She was rather gaunt and unkempt, and her face was hollow.
The children would have been worried... But they weren't awake to know, or care.
The only ones who hadn't succumbed were Thor, Loki and Steve. Steve had the serum going for him, of course, and Thor and Loki weren't even human. But, judging by their behavior, it wouldn't be long until they too lay twitching and moaning.
Thor tripped dazedly towards his brother, murmuring incoherently. Loki appeared almost equally confused, and Pepper's tired mind observed that they seemed almost to be drunk. Steve, too, was doggedly attempting communication with Loki, and had been for several days. He was clearly growing weaker as well, and Pepper marveled at the fact that he hadn't collapsed from exhaustion alone.
They were clearly made of stronger stuff than she had thought- well, no, that wasn't true. She had always known they were tough, resilient. They had to be, of course.
It would have seemed strange to an outsider that Pepper was so tired. There wasn't much for her to do, they would have argued. There was nothing she could do, really, they were beyond treatment, or cure. All she had to do was make them comfortable, and try to stop them from kicking the bucket entirely.
The problem was that it wasn't the amount of work that was eating away at her health, both physical and mental. It was the worry, the stress, the pressure, the sense of panic that threatened to consume her entirely. She couldn't even imagine losing them, and yet, if she failed, that would become the reality.
She was focusing her energy almost entirely on the sick children, barely having enough left over for Loki. She hoped vaguely that Steve and and Thor could manage.
Thor was probably the weakest of the three, she admitted sadly. The knowledge of Loki's unconditional hatred had had a terrible impact on his resolve and well being, and he was deteriorating at a frighteningly rapid pace. She didn't know how long it would be until it was five sick children instead of four.
She resumed her care taking. Stroking Tony's hair, she sang softly to them, trying to keep her voice from dying. She wasn't sure, but they seemed to relax slightly when she sang. Being the overachiever she was, she had been singing practically day and night, and her voice was just about gone. Still she continued.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine... When you're not happy, my skies are grey... You'll never know, dear, how much I love you... Please don't take my sunshine away."
Her voice cracked and she swallowed a sob.
"Please... Please, don't take my sunshine away," she repeated, not singing, but pleading.
Tony's head shifted. "Pep...per..." he croaked.
"I'm here," she whispered. "Tell me that you are, too."
A ghost of a smile appeared on his face.
A cough behind her drew her attention. Thor coughed again, and blood spattered the floor.
Loki's eyes widened.
A second sound distracted Pepper again. She turned and watched in alarm as Steve grabbed at his throat, emitting a frightening choking sound.
"They're dropping like flies," she murmured, terrified. She sprang into action and scooped up a child under each arm, depositing them gently in bed and trying to calm them down.
"Shh, shh," she soothed, rubbing Thor's chest and patting Steve's to clear his airway. Gradually, they relaxed, but almost immediately tensed up again.
"Stop!" roared Thor, his face screwed up.
Steve said nothing, but his eyes widened behind their lids and a look of complete horror took over his face.
Pepper looked at the anguished faces of the six heroes, and her heart tore in two.
She glanced desperately at Loki, who was staring at Thor with something like dismay.
"Please," she croaked. "Please. Tell me what you know. Tell us all." Her voice broke.
He looked at her, his expression unreadable once more.
Tears of anger, disgust and desolation spilled over in her eyes. "How could you do this?" she cried at him. "Your own brother, his friends, how can you sit there and watch them die?"
"I cannot help," he said coldly, and turned away.
Perhaps she was losing her mind.
She didn't know. It felt like it.
Her memory was getting worse- not that she needed it, now.
She felt sick, although that was possibly due to not having eaten in several days.
She spent all day at the sides of the children, zipping from bed to bed, soothing fretful movements and quieting sudden vocalisations. The only thing that occupied her thoughts was that they must get better, and that she must help them. Nothing else was more important.
Surprisingly, Loki helped her. He would fetch things for her, he would assist her in calming the unwell heroes, he would even pat her arm awkwardly when her feelings became too much.
It appeared that the children were getting worse every day. Their cries and thrashing grew feebler and feebler and their breaths were shallow and ragged... Until Pepper could hardly tell if they were breathing at all.
Weaker and weaker, day by day, and Pepper's mental health dropped like a cannonball from the sky. The six were almost completely still by the end of the week, only a faint twitch to show that they were still alive.
Tony worried Pepper. He was the weakest of them all, not a glint in his closed eyes to show for his old bravado. He would have looked calm if not for the heat rolling off him in waves or the sweat that had almost soaked through his mattress. He would have looked peaceful if not for his sunken eyes and yellow complexion, and the bones that were as visible through his skin as the nose on his face.
Pepper spent more and more time by his side, checking his temperature hopelessly and trying desperately to rouse him. Loki pretended not to see the tears that dripped off her nose, and pretended not to hear her pleading with him, sobbing inconsolably.
And then one day, his breathing was so faint that she could barely feel it on her cheek, his fever so high she couldn't bear to touch him, his pulse so weak, so slow, that she wasn't sure it was there at all.
"Please, Loki!" she screamed, her voice shrill with despair. "Please! You have to help me, please..." She broke down and sobbed loudly and unabashedly. She pressed her forehead to Tony's bed, wrapping her arms around him, wracked with pain and fear.
"I cannot help!" Loki said, and he seemed to be fighting to remain calm.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?" Pepper howled. "WHAT THE-" Loki winced as she swore- "-DO YOU MEAN, YOU CAN'T HELP? You're the only one who can, you- You-" She gulped, trying to get a grip on herself. "You are the one who started the blasted situation, you have to HELP me or they're going to EFFING DIE! You were the one to de-age them, leaving ME to CLEAN UP AFTER S.H.I.E.L.D.'s EFFING MESSES, AS ALWAYS, and I have had it UP TO HERE trying to convince you to trust us..." There were tears in her voice now, tears of anger and frustration. "And I am going to make you help us if it's the last thing I ever do, because GODDAMNIT, I love these kids, I love them so much, and I love Tony so much that if he dies I don't know what I'm going to do with my life." Her breath ran out and she took a long, rattling gulp of air. "So I don't care what I have to do, I don't care if I have to threaten you, bribe you or be your effing slave for the rest of my life, just help the kids. Do it now. Please."
Loki looked greatly conflicted.
"Please! Haven't I shown you how desperate I am?" she begged him, defiance battling with desperation in her eyes.
"I want to help you," Loki said, his voice low. "I do. But I can't. Wait-" He held up his hand before she could continue. "I can't. I can't because I don't know how. I didn't do it. I wasn't involved. You've got the wrong man. I cannot help!" he cried, and tears began to pour from his eyes.
Pepper opened her mouth to utter the disbelief that had opened a big chasm in her heart, but she stopped, her eyes wide in shock. Her breath caught, and with a terrifying jolt, she realised that Tony's heart had stopped beating.
Second A/N: Please don't kill me. If you kill me, I can't update. Feel free to yell at me in your reviews ;A;