A/N: Time frame wise, this is set 8 years after Burning Curve, for reference. :)
So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com
I don't own The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.
Tony was on his back on the couch, watching his 17 month old daughter curiously. Her little tongue was sticking out of her lips a little and she was concentrating heavily. Concentrating on his stomach with her ear pressed to it. Every so often she would make a squeak when the baby would push her foot up. Every so often she would talk quietly, putting her lips up against Tony's stomach, then put her ear back down.
"Hey munchkin? Whatcha doin?" Tony had let her stay there for the past half hour because it gave him time to get off of his feet, and it kept her occupied.
"Talking to her," Melisande said simply. "She's telling me her name." Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Is she now? Is it a pretty name?" Melisande nodded and smiled. "Are you going to tell me what she wants her name to be?" Melisande nodded again, but didn't say anything for a couple of minutes.
She sat up and looked at Tony with the most serious look she could summon. "She said that she wants to be named Aurora Keyri. And she wants to be called Key, like how Sander calls me Melli." Tony noted that Sander and Eir must have been working with Melisande on her speech.
"Why does she want be called Key?" Tony ran his hand through her growing hair as she put her ear back to his stomach.
"Cause I told her you call Dad Key sometimes." Tony blinked a little at the reasoning. "I tell her about Dad, so she'll know him when he comes back." Tony swallowed and bit his lip a little.
Loki huffed out a breath and threw a cup at the image that was in front of him, but it didn't go away. Every time that Loki thought he was gaining some ground in his spells, in coming up with some shadow of a plan, Adir would threw a cog in the gears. This time he wanted to make sure that Loki saw what was happening with his family.
"I see that you're also messing with the time flow," Loki muttered under his breath. His daughter was growing quickly, getting taller, getting smarter. Tony looked only a few weeks from being due, but Loki knew that he hadn't been gone for two months yet.
"Shall I show you what else you're missing?" Adir's voices crackled through the air. Loki grit his teeth, but didn't worry yet. If he wasn't seeing Adir it meant that he hadn't found him yet. He still need to collect some ingredients from his old rooms on Asgard for his spells.
"You can show me the secret to silencing you," Loki retaliated. He carefully wrapped some of his mixing bowls in some soft leathers before placing them in a bag. He'd need to find a place to gather some herbs after this. Adir let out a chuckle and Loki sighed when he heard the soft crackle of another scene playing out behind him.
"I'm almost surprised that Alex isn't here for this one." Loki couldn't help but turn his head to look when he heard Sander's voice.
Tony glanced over at Sander, Melisande asleep and tucked into his side as they sat on a big couch. "I don't think you're brother wants his cousin's partner delivering his baby. Anders and Chris have a special relationship, and there would be endless teasing and crude jokes about Alex and Elpis, and the such." Sander snorted.
"That doesn't surprise me in the least. At least they chose a hospital with a damn nice waiting room." Sander stretched his legs a little and let out a yawn. "I still think that three am is too early to have a baby."
"It usually is," Tony nodded. "With any luck I'll be able to make that nice appointment set for the morning." Sander looked over at him. "I know, we don't usually have a lot of luck in this family."
The door to the waiting room started to open and Sander sat up first, Tony moving a little more slowly with Melisande in his arms. A foot slid through and the door slowly opened, Eindride sliding through, a smile on his face and a bundle of blankets in his arms.
"Let's see, let's see," Sander bounced a little on the couch. Tony pushed Sander's leg a little and started to slide Melisande over to him. He let out a little sigh, smiling, and took his little sister. He knew that his Dad would want to be the first one to hold him.
"His name is Cyrus," Eindride said as he walked over to them. Tony sat up as straight as he could and took the newborn from his arms. "I have delivered a grandson to you."
"It's about time," Tony said softly as he looked down at the little boy. "Let's hope he takes after Elpis at least." He let his thumb gently rub the little cheek, and saw little eyes open. "Damn, you're gonna be a good looking kid, you know that? And when you realize that you can thank your Dad, but he doesn't get all the credit. You need to come to me and your Grandfather and thank us. We made your Dad look good, okay? So we should really get most of the credit. Some credit goes to your mom, cause she's pretty too, but your grandparents on your dad's side? Yeah, we get the credit." He gave Cyrus a small smile. "Sorry to say you can't thank us just yet, we're still waiting for your Grandfather to get back, but don't worry, he's coming."
Loki caught himself staring, shaking his head a little when his vision became a little blurry. Their first grandchild, a healthy baby boy.
"And you missed it," Adir's voice sounded again. Loki growled loudly and stood up straight. "I'm not sure if I should commend them for thinking that you're coming back, or find it exceedingly sad for life forms such as themselves."
Loki let out a yell as his hands started to glow. The ground shook as a loud rumble sounded through the area. Loki clenched his fists tightly and bursts of green power shot up through the ground into the ceiling. The image disappeared and Loki could no longer feel the lingering magic of Adir searching for him.
He breathed deeply, letting the rush of anger course out of him. He slumped down into the chair that was next to him and closed his eyes. He was going to kill Adir, there was no other option.