After that small disturbance in the force, Tony upgraded Jarvis to alert him when the rainbow bridge dropped someone in his house and things settled back down. Life went on – the Avengers went on missions and Lucy even became Pepper's unofficially official assistant. It turned out that she had quite the knack for dealing nicely with people when she wanted to.
And then came the much anticipated day when she went into labor… and of course it had to happen in the middle of a board meeting with SHIELD without any warning, and of course every single Avenger had to be out on a team mission across town.
Lucy had been sitting quietly at the back of the room listening to Pepper try to explain away Tony's latest lab fiasco when her water broke out of the middle of nowhere. She gasped sharply, biting back a scream when she realized what was going on. As soon as she and Pepper were done with this meeting… Agent Maria Hill had been sitting near Lucy, and turned to look at her upon her sudden exclamation. The agent's eyes blew wide and Lucy knew she wasn't going to get away with waiting until the end of the meeting.
"Pepper!" Maria exclaimed, cutting the CEO off mid-sentence. "I think we need to go to the infirmary!"
All the people in the room – mostly men – turned to look at them as Pepper asked Maria, "Why? Are you okay?"
"Me? Yes. Lucy? No."
Pepper swore and jumped to her feet as she realized what was going on. Before Lucy could register what was going on, the two women were one on each side of her and leading her towards SHIELD's infirmary while Pepper threw an apology over her shoulder to the people in the meeting.
"Where's Clint?" Lucy asked with an edge of panic in her voice.
Maria replied, "Out on a mission."
"Bruce then?"
"Same mission," Maria said apologetically. "The whole team's gone."
"But I need someone!" Lucy practically wailed.
Lucy was grateful for Maria and Pepper's help, but it wasn't the same, and she didn't want to go through this alone once again.
Heimdall had been summoning Odin whenever there was something noteworthy going on in Lucy Saint's life, but this… this was different. She needed help and support, and Odin would never be the one to give it to her. So Heimdall made a different decision. If the father of Lucy's child couldn't be at her side, then perhaps the next best thing could be provided.
He turned to a guard and ordered, "Summon the queen, and tell her it's an urgent matter."
Lucy bit back another scream, mumbling every curse that came to mind along with the occasional death threat to her lover. Pepper and Maria had gotten her to an out-of-the-way room in the infirmary and were now standing right outside the door, arguing over whether or not they should get a doctor's assistance since the child that was ready to come out of her was most likely a frost giant. Lucy had done this once before, but she didn't know what to do now as the painful memories of Sleipnir's birth came back to her. All she knew was that she didn't want to be alone right now. She wanted someone in this room to help her.
And then someone was there, appearing out of midair. A fifty-something Midgardian with red hair and blue eyes wearing a nurse's uniform. A glad cry escaped Lucy as she realized who it was, and tears filled her eyes when the woman whipped towards her and clasped her hand.
"Hello, Miss Saint," the woman whispered, calm and loving as she pressed a cool hand to her daughter's forehead.
"Mother," Lucy whimpered, relief flooding her.
"Where are your friends?"
"Arguing outside the room."
Frigga rolled her eyes in frustration and marched to the door, throwing it open and hissing out orders to the women outside. Lucy wasn't even really surprised when the duo scampered off to get the materials Frigga desired.
Lucy's mother shut the door and took a deep breath while her back was still turned and then went back to her daughter's bedside, saying with a gentle smile, "Now, my child, you just trust the goddess of childbirth, alright?"
Lucy nodded.
"Are you ready?"
Lucy winced when her body answered that question for her. "I don't think I have a choice but to be."
Clint was standing on a rooftop in the Bronx next to Natasha when Ironman flew over them and stopped, hovering in midair a few feet from the archer, starting to swear viciously before the billionaire asked, "Like now now?" A pause during which Clint realized that someone must've contacted Tony through his suit, since Clint wasn't picking anything up through his earpiece, and then Tony's "well, he's kind of busy, Pep" while Natasha, Hawkeye, and Ironman kept shooting at the huge alien thing who had decided to invade the worst part of New York City. Another pause from Tony and then, "I'm sorry he's so talented at what he does, then, but we need him here!... You're there with her, aren't you?!... Yes, gorgeous, I know you're not him… Alright, alright, stop, Pepper, and listen. Give us five minutes, okay, and then we'll be on our way there. Can you do that?... Okay then, we'll try our best."
"What was that about?" Clint asked him.
Tony shook his head, ordering, "Just keep shooting arrows, Legolas. Jarvis, find me this guys weak spot now, or I'm sleeping on the couch for the next millennium, which means I will end up in my lab, which means that you will consistently be pulling all-nighters with me."
Natasha glared sharply up at Tony through narrowed eyes, muttering under her breath, "If that was the call I think it was, I'm killing him."
At the threat from his creator, Jarvis went to work, and a few minutes later the Avengers were walking away from it all.
"Jarvis, how much time has passed since Pepper called me?" Tony asked as the team climbed aboard the heli-carrier and Clint settled into the pilot's chair.
"Four minutes, fifty-seven seconds, sir."
"Brilliant. Hey, Katniss, take us to SHIELD's infirmary."
"Why?" Steve asked, looking around at the team. "No one was hurt that badly, right?"
"No, but we might be if we don't get to that infirmary soon."
And suddenly it hit Clint – what Natasha had realized five minutes ago and he had just now got.
"Stark," Clint asked in a crisp, low voice as their transportation took to the air. "Is my girlfriend in labor?"
"That depends on what 'crowning' means," Tony answered, shifting nervously. "Because Pepper said that their bossy nurse said that Lucy was close to that."
"Son of a… I'm going to kill you as soon as this plane lands, Anthony Edward Stark, do you understand me?"
"There won't be anything left of him for you to kill, Clint," Natasha said. Clint kept his eyes forward, slicing through the air as quickly as he could, and heard his partner ask, "Thor, do you and Mjolnir want first dibs or do I get it?"