Chapter 2

To no ones surprise the only person happy with Loki staying at the Avengers mansion was Thor. He was hovering around his brother like he was the father of the baby, completely doting and missing the irritated looks Loki kept throwing him. When he wasn't ordering Thor to go get something for him. Let no one say that Loki wasn't going to milk it for all it was worth. Tony had to draw the line when Thor had brought back a tiger into his house. The resulting argument had not been pretty and Tony was not looking forward to replacing his living room furniture.

Steve as well seemed to be torn between freaked out and chivalrous. When he allowed himself to forget that the pregnant woman living with them was in fact a completely unhelpless sorcerer, he acted like the poster boy for the round table. Loki had actually taken to smiling at him, and Tony kept catching himself for looking for hidden meanings in those smiles, like maybe Loki was actually going to try to sleep with Steve too. Steve would probably be a good father. Even if he was a bit dim.

The rest of the Avengers kept their distance as much as they could, because a pregnant Loki apparently meant someone not above magically welding their doors to the wall to keep them in their rooms if he was not in the mood to deal with them. Which seemed to be all the time. Thor during those moments seemed to be caught up in some sort of fond childhood nostalgia.

Tony on the other hand had already run and rerun every DNA scan that he could think of. And had Jarvis do an X-Ray when Loki had walked near the garage. None of the results disproved any claims to what Loki had already told him. In fact the baby seemed to be maturing at a rapid rate, which Loki claimed was probably down to his magic. None of his children had ever been normal pregnancies. After looking online Tony had gone to bed with nightmares of a four legged snake calling him 'daddy'. But as far as the X-Ray could tell, the baby looked completely normal.

Thor had of course not let up about the idea of marriage. If he wasn't pestering Loki with it, he was threatening Tony. Who'd locked Thor out of access to the garage. He knew it wouldn't keep him away long, he'll be finding hammer shaped holes in the glass any day now, but it gave him a little peace and quiet from the sudden chaos that had become his home. More then it usually was since Tony had the misfortune of becoming an Avenger.

"Sir, Agent Fury is arriving inside the house. He does not look happy. Would you like me to detain him." Jarvis' voice announced, breaking Tony away from the book on babies he was reading. He quickly hid it under a pile of papers and groaned. They'd kept it from Fury as long as they could, but eventually he was going to learn that Loki was living with them. Coulson wasn't going to keep something like a genius magical baby a secret for long. The three weeks it had been quiet had been more then Tony had hoped for.

"Sure Jarvis. And while we're at it, just try to brick me up in here would you? Make sure no one can get to me."

"I would sir, but you would also not be able to leave."

Tony just sat there tinkering with odds and ends. He wasn't going to go up. If Fury wanted to talk, he could damn well come find him. He wanted to delay the confrontation as long as he possibly could. Even if it was just for a few minutes.

A few minutes lasted into thirty and Tony was starting to get nervous. There was no sound of crashing, and Fury hadn't turned up yelling at him yet. What was taking so long? He was suddenly assaulted with visions of agents arresting Loki and Thor swinging his hammer at them all and gulped. Maybe it would be best to go up and find Fury himself.

He regretted it when he got to his kitchen. Fury was there alright and so was Thor. Holding what looked like a wedding planner book. What the fuck?

"What's going on here," Tony asked, looking back and forth between Thor and Fury. Fury for his part was looking at Thor as if the man had run over his pet puppy and the book like it was toxic waste. He seemed to have been waylaid from reaming Tony out by the ever persistent Thor as of late. He had a hand on Fury's wrist, keeping him from moving up off the kitchen chair.

"Stark. The better question is what is this I've heard about Loki staying here? I'm quite sure I must have been hearing that wrong because there's no possible way that any of this could be true." Fury didn't even seem to notice that Thor had now almost had a death grip on his wrist. Tony swore he could hear bones creaking.

"Then you haven't heard it," Tony responded, sweeping past to inspect the rest of his kitchen. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. There was a stack of magazines with wedding dresses on the cover that Loki had left there as a joke the other day. Tony hadn't thought it particularly funny the way Thor had jumped enthusiastically at the sight of his sibling looking through it, only to start another argument when Loki revealed the contents actually held cooking recipes.

"This is no laughing matter. I've got villains up to my ears all over this country, I've got to deal with you and 27 dresses here, and now I've got to deal with having Loki living where all our plans are stored in your damn super computer. I want him out and in custody!" Fury, through what had to be great strength of will managed to wrench his arm away from Thor's grip.

"I've explained, my brother is no threat at the moment. Rehabilitation is no good for expecting mothers. Loki would be a bigger threat to you incarcerated at the moment then having me take care of him," Tony inwardly rolled his eyes at Thor's delusions of taking care of his younger brother, "His mood at the moment is akin to a mother lion. He would raze S.H.I.E.L.D head quarters to the ground just to get ice cream if so inclined." Tony smiled picturing the look on Fury's face if that happened.

"And I've got to be the one to explain why a pregnant super villain is going around like a regular citizen. Which he's not. Other criminal mothers' have their babies taken away!"

Tony cringed, not liking that. From what he'd read up on myth, Loki had enough of his children taken away. Likely why he was so eager to stay off the radar away from any villainous allies he might have and his own parents. Fury should probably be damn thankful the expecting mother wasn't actually in the room at the moment or he'd probably be a blood stain on the floor.

Thor frowned at Fury, "My brother has had enough grief. This child will be legitimate. Father will have no reason to take it away. I will see to that. And if I have to prevent you from leaving this house to see to that as well, I will son of Fury."

Tony leaned back against the counter, biting into an apple in a bowl near the sink. Thor and Fury were sitting back arguing, voices increasing in tone and he looked around, wondering where everyone else was off hiding too. He was going to have to deal with these two nut cases on his own. Even if he was very inclined to back Thor at this moment.

"I do believe that my brother will be needing reconstructive surgery on his throat soon, he keeps up this screaming." Tony jumped at the sound of Loki's feminine voice next to his ears and looked. She was standing just to his right, leaning up against the counter and smirking with viscous enjoyment at her screaming brother. Her black hair was curled and pulled back with a rubber band and she was dressed in what looked like one of Pepper's button down shirts. Her stomach was just starting to show, rounding out slightly over the jeans.

Tony blinked. Fury and Thor hadn't turned at all at the sound of Loki arriving in the kitchen, they were still arguing. It was like they couldn't see her at all.

"They can't. Just you," she smirked, fading from his sight for a few seconds before popping back. "Not really here."

"So, where are you," he whispered, trying not to look like a loon in case they ceased their arguing for a few minutes.

"Around," she replied cryptically. Fury had thrown his hands up in the air by now, the image reminding Tony of a 14 year old throwing a tantrum.

"Fine! But I'm installing camera's all over this place. He steps one hair out of line I'm hauling his ass in so fast the speed of light would be slower! Fucking complicating my life up more. Goddamn Stark. Make him pay for my therapy bills." He left, just barely managing to not make it seemed like he was stomping off.

Loki was gone again by the time he turned his eyes away from the departure. Oh well, least he hadn't had to deal with Fury then. Should send Thor a thank you gift. Thor had gone back to looking at the wedding planner. On second thought, maybe he should just try to sneak back to his garage.

Loki was lounging in his computer chair by the time he finally escaped Thor and made it back downstairs. How long she'd been down there hell only knows. It seemed like Loki could find ways around Jarvis' security if she felt so inclined. If Tony could he would put her DNA under a microscope because the things she could do were fascinating.

She smirked over the top of the baby book he'd been reading before Fury arrived, "Planning on being a father? I was just thinking you were going to be offering monetary support."

He scowled and moved to try to snatch the book from her hands. So maybe he had just a little bit been thinking about being a father. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility. He wasn't getting any younger and while he wasn't the most mature or stable man in the world, the kid was going to need some influence in their life that wasn't wacko. He didn't want to be turning on the five o'clock news thirty years from now and see his child throwing some other poor unsuspecting bastard out a window.

His hand went through what felt like air as Loki popped out of existence once again, coming to rest on the hood of one of his cars. He took a moment to regain his balance and turned around to face her, "Does that hurt it? All that displacement? Are you damaging her doing that?" Her? Well better then it he decided.

Loki actually looked serious as she sort of smiled at him, "No, it doesn't hurt. My atoms do not go scattering from place to place to land here. It's more like a shift of reality, my thoughts move me faster then the eye can perceive." That...actually kind of made sense. In a way that didn't really. Loki didn't seem inclined to elaborate any further.

He walked over and Loki didn't move away this time.

"So...why are you reading this? I assure you, whatever it might tell you about mortal babies will not apply in this case."

Tony ran his eyes over Loki's face. It really hadn't changed much as a woman then it usually was as a man. Same green eyes, same cheekbones, the face perhaps a bit rounder to soften out the edges, bottom lip a tiny bit fuller. Breasts so small they could barely be referred to as breasts, nothing like the rack that redheaded reporter Loki had paraded around with, but with legs that went on forever. Nothing Tony would have picked out in a crowd of Malibu fake debutantes.

She was kind of the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen.

And the most devious. Tony was playing with fire here, because he couldn't trust her farther then he could throw her. Without the suit. She was here for purposes that weren't completely known to him, reasons he was sure went beyond just wanting her child to grow up in human comfort seeing as she couldn't go home.

But she was also clever, and more intelligent then anyone Tony had ever met. Just the way she could wrap Thor around her fingers, no matter what she'd done in the past, fascinating him and drew him in like a moth to a flame. His dreams of late had taken on that odd 'expecting father' turn, where delusions like picnics and school plays and seeing their child graduate from MIT at 16 ran through his head during some of his more fanciful moments.

In a flash Loki had wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling a startled Tony closer, "I'm a bit bored. Entertain me." Her slim hands came up to fiddle with the collar of his shirt and his mouth went dry when her fingers caught on the skin of his neck. She was looking at him coyly, dark lashes fanned on her cheeks over her narrowed eyes.

And really, why would he say no? She was hot and willing and Thor was thankfully upstairs where even he wouldn't hear Tony banging his sibling...again. His mouth crashed against hers, tongues fighting a battle for dominance and he picked her up, causing her to tighten her legs grip around him. He might not be a Norse god, but even carrying extra baby weight, her slim form felt like a feather in his grip.

It took him a while to carry her all the way to one of his longer backseats. A comfortable Corvette. They had stopped to tear each others clothes off and he'd gotten momentarily distracted at the sight of her shirtless, rounded stomach evidence of their last tryst, before she'd pulled him into another kiss, gripping his hair roughly.

He dropped her, not entirely gently on to the back seat of the car. She propped herself up on her elbows and smirked, curls a wild mess around her face. His heated gaze took in all of her as he leaned over her, undoing the button on her jeans and pulling them down in one quick move. No underwear. Not a spur of the moment decision then for her. He felt absurdly cocky at the thought that Loki had planned this.

They didn't need any words for this. She worked his own jeans off in a few seconds and then they were a blur of mouths against mouths, teeth sucking and biting marks into the sensitive flesh of breasts and necks. His back stung from where her nails had scrapped him and the leather seat creaked with every thrust he made. He panted harshly and swallowed the bitten off moans she was making, her every move matching him vigorously. His hands landed gently to caress her stomach when he came and she lay, momentarily sated, underneath him. He lazily licked some of the sweat from her neck as he traced patterns over her stomach, maneuvered over to her side on the seat. He almost fancied he could feel something moving under his palm.