A/N: I'm super excited that everyone's happy this is back! I'm happy that it's back! And a special shoutout to devoted fan GreenLoki! I hope that i can get this done by your birthday, because I'm not gonna stop writing until it's done So you can just look at this like one big extended birthday present. And don't worry, I think you'll be happy by the end of the story. ;D
The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head, and Kaia, Gabby, and Nathan. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.
Tony walked down the street with Kaia, he thought back to the years before he met Loki, before the Avengers, and wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. Women were really into men with kids, if the stares he were getting were any indication. Kaia started to swing his arm back and forth a little and the women seemed to melt on the spot of how cute it was. When Tony glanced down at his seven year old daughter over his sunglasses she just looked back at him and grinned. And he knew that grin.
Tony started to laugh. "You are a chip off the block, kiddo."
"Whatever do you mean," Kaia smiled innocently.
"Come on you little heart breaker," he opened the door to the office building and she walked through first, still holding onto his hand. "Let's pick this stuff up and then we'll go get you some more art supplies." Kaia squealed a little and Tony snorted through his smile.
Pepper had the weekend off but had made sure to remind him that there were some papers he had to sign and contracts to read through, and she had left them up in the office. Kaia was eager to go with him because she had never seen the office that her Daddy worked in when he wasn't flying around with the Avengers.
"Now the office is nothing special," Tony told her as they got on the elevator.
"It's not the office that's special," Kaia told him as she rolled her eyes. "It's what you do in the office that makes it special." Tony raised an eyebrow. "You run a business and are a superhero, not many Dad's can boast that."
"Did I ever tell you that you got some brains?" Tony ruffled her hair a little. Kaia rumpled her nose a little at the gesture and they stepped off the elevator when the doors opened.
Tony sat on the edge of the bed, fingers rubbing the hem of his shirt, eyes focused on nothing. Color had slowly started to return to his body, but he wouldn't be strong enough to walk on his own for a while. His body had been through a lot over the past couple of days. Tony heard the door quietly shut and the bed dip a little.
"How are they?" Tony asked quietly.
"They'll be fine, the healers are with them, but there was no damage," Loki answered him. "We'll be able to find out more when they wake up." Tony nodded a little. Loki reached over and took one of his hands. "You're going to wear a hole in that shirt."
"There was this one time, I took her to my office, she was so damn excited." Loki turned his head a little to watch Tony talk. "There's nothing exciting about my office, it's a mess. I don't know where half of anything is in there, the only thing clean is the desk so Pepper can put papers there. But I'll be damned if that little girl didn't have fun."
"You know we're going to find them." Loki was rubbing Tony's thumb the same way he had been rubbing at his shirt. "Heimdall is searching now. Thanos has been captured, the rest have been dealt with, and the tesseract is no longer inside of your body."
"When did things start going to hell?" Tony glanced up at Loki's face.
"The days that we were born." Tony snorted. "We'll get Nathan and Kaia, they're questioning Thanos now, it's only a matter of time."
Tony licked his lips a little. "I just have a bad feeling this time. I'm not going anywhere for a while, and you're still not 100%." He looked over and saw that Loki wasn't looking at him anymore. "Loki?"
"That's not all that happened," Loki admitted after a moment. "I saw Balder during the fight."
"Balder?" Tony frowned. "Should I know him? This isn't some side effect from forgetting earlier is it?"
"Balder is our brother, Thor's and mine," Loki told Tony. "Well, half brother really, but semantics. He's always been a bit of a, how to put it, free spirit? He liked to spend a lot of time on earth, found you mortals fascinating."
"And he disappeared? You wouldn't be telling me this if he had been hiding in his room for a week." Tony straightened a little, leaning on Loki's shoulder.
"More recently he had been spending his time on Midgard, he had actually fallen in love." Tony smirked a little, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yes, it seems to be a recurring theme. He had a family, three children." Loki looked at Tony and spoke a little slower. "A set of twin boys, and a younger daughter... Brant-"
"Potts," Tony finished, eyes a little wide.
Gabby hopped down the steps to grab her keys so she could get the last part of Jak and Marcus's christmas presents, and stopped when she heard voices, soft voices. She dipped down a little when she recognized them as Tony and Banner's. She frowned a little but couldn't understand what they were saying. When she got back up she purposely made a little more noise before she reached the bottom.
"Hey, I'll be back, I'm gonna,... go..." Gabby trailed off when she saw the looks they gave her. She knew those looks, she had seen it on the face of her father when she was ten. He didn't know how to tell his three kids that their mother wouldn't be coming home anymore.
"Gabby,..." Tony looked at her and she started to back up.
"No," she held up a finger. "No, you're not gonna say anything. I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna run my errand, and when I get back you're gonna say that this was all some stunt." She started to shake her head. "I don't accept bad news anymore."
Tony frowned a little and walked over to her, taking her wrist before she could walk away. "It was a car accident." He could see her breathing speed up and he quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry." After a minute Gabby pulled away, looked up at him and nodded once, and turned around walking out of the room.
It was Loki that found her later, sitting out by an outcropping, listening to the water that surrounded part of the mansion. He sat down wordlessly and they both just looked out at the water. He was reminded of when she was younger and wouldn't talk, how they were able to communicate without words. Gabby closed her eyes and threw herself into Loki. He nodded a little and rubbed her back, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
She let out a breath and leaned against Loki. "He was probably driving out to the airport," she started. Loki dare not interrupt her if she wanted to talk about it. "Jak, horrible at keeping secrets, hinted that Dad was gonna surprise me by flying out to Malibu. I can't blame him, it would have been the first Christmas with all three of us in college. Must have been quiet at home." She turned a little and Loki wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into him, letting her cry.
"I don't know who's going to be more surprised and upset," Tony commented. "I mean, I feel like I should be pissed as well, that you and Thor knew that he was a god and didn't tell me."
"You are horrible at keeping secrets," Loki said quietly. "And at the time the information was not truly important. When he died here we lost all contact with him, we thought that something must have happened and that he was traveling. He would do anything to keep his family safe."
"That's a problem all you Odinson's have." Loki snorted a little. "But now he's back?"
"As far as I could see, I did not see him after the battle so I was unable to talk to him. I don't think that Thor saw him either." Loki let out a breath. "I will be the one to tell Gabby."
"This family really doesn't do thing half way do they?" Tony let out a sigh, letting his eyes droop a little.
"We don't, but now you need to rest." Loki turned a little to help move Tony further onto the bed. "You're color still has not come back enough for my liking, and you can hardly move." Loki put a hand on Tony's shoulder when he opened his mouth to talk. "There's nothing that you can do at the moment, but I shall wake you the second I know anything. Sleep, Anthony."
"Ouch, you pulled out the full name." Tony grabbed Loki's hand before he walked away The two just looked at each other for a second before he let go. "Go, have your meaningful conversation. I'll be here when you get back."
Loki walked into the Healers quarters and drifted off to the side to avoid the hustle and bustle of the room. Sometimes he would find himself in here to help, but he didn't feel that he would have the energy to help all the injured warriors at the moment. Heading towards the back he made his way to the private rooms, the little group of guards parting to let him in. He nodded to Thor as he walked over. Odin was sitting by Frigga's bed. "Any news?"
"Thanos' punishment will be decided by the Norns. Mother woke," Thor frowned then. "It was not Thanos that was responsible for Kaia and Nathan's disappearance."
Loki let out a sigh and nodded once. "I had a bad feeling that it might have been her. Did you see our other sibling around here?"
"Balder?" Thor raised an eyebrow. "No, I have not seen him since i got a glimpse of him at the battle. Are you going to tell her?" Loki nodded and Thor squeezed his shoulder a little. "I wish you luck then. I shall go and check on the others I do believe that Banner and Rogers were going to check on Tony."
"Good, because I doubt that he is actually sleeping. This way he won't leave the room at first." He moved to walk away but Thor kept his hand on his shoulder. "I will be fine, Thor."
"But you will no doubt be better once we find the children. We are focusing our attentions on the search now."
Loki nodded. "Thank you." He took a breath and walked over to the second bed, pulling a chair over to the side. "How's your head?"
"Achey," Gabby replied, eyes still closed. "She hit us with something, I didn't see it all, though." She opened her eyes and looked at Loki. "Did she take them?" Loki let out a breath and Gabby sank back into the pillow. She glanced at him and frowned. "I don't like that look, I've gotten it three times in life. What is it?"
"You shouldn't be the one to have this conversation, brother." They both looked up and Gabby felt the breath catch in her chest. Balder walked over as Loki stood up. "I owe my children an explanation."