"Bucky," said Steve over the phone when Bucky answered after only one ring.
"Hey man," said Bucky, looking at his watch. "It's getting late."
"I know, is Emmy okay?"
"She's tired. I think she's sad-is that even possible for a human so small to get sad? She keeps sniffing though, so maybe she's not sad and just sick. I don't know. She doesn't talk! How the hell am I supposed to know if she's okay or not?"
"Give her the phone," said Tony, snatching Steve's cell out of his hand and putting it on speaker.
"What part of 'she doesn't talk' do you not get, Stark?" growled Bucky.
"Buck, please," said Steve, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Don't argue right now. Just put Emmy on the phone for a minute."
"Fine," grumbled Bucky as he looked down at the lapful of toddler he had. "Emmy, your fathers want to talk to you."
Emmy took the offered phone and put it right up to her ear.
"Hey Ducky," said Tony. "You giving Uncle Bucky hell?"
"Daddy!" squealed Emmy.
"Tony!" chastised Steve.
"What?" said Tony innocently.
"Daddy," repeated Emmy, clearly wanting her fathers attention again.
"Hey sweetie," said Steve.
"Papa!"
"Yeah," said Steve with a smile, never tiring of hearing her say his name. "Sorry we're so late, honey. Daddy and I got held up. But Uncle Thor is going to stop by soon to pick you up and bring you to us. So when he gets there I want you to be a good girl for him, understand?"
Emmy nodded, although she knew they couldn't see her.
"We'll see you soon, Ducky," said Tony. "I love you."
"I love you too," added Steve. "Now give the phone back to Uncle Bucky please."
Emmy handed the phone back up to Bucky with a smile, her purple eyes bright. Bucky took the phone and listened to Steve explain what was going to be happening as thunder started to roll in the background. Emmy went back to playing with the fork leftover from dinner. They were still at the diner but Emmy hadn't made a fuss all night, content to sit and color or play with the things on the table. Bucky was impressed because she was better behaved then most adults.
"Okay, yeah, I see him now," said Bucky, looking out the window as Thor approached. "I know, I got it. See you later."
He hung up the phone, picked up Emmy, threw some money on the table without actually counting it, and left the diner, ignoring the well wishes of the friendly waitress who had tried to flirt with him several times. Turned out that having a kid made him approachable.
"Greetings," boomed Thor, his red cape waving in the self-created wind. "I've come to collect Emmy."
"Don't drop her," was all Bucky said as he handed the girl over.
-Winging It-
"What do you mean you can't find him?" yelled Steve. "He went with one of you agents fifteen minutes ago!"
"Captain," said the young lady, looking at Steve as if he had grown two heads. "No one summoned Mr. Stark."
"Excuse me?"
"What did the agent look like?" said the young agent, her entire demeanor transforming from young and impressionable to all business in her suit. "Male or female? Height? Distinguishing features? Had you seen them before? What exactly did they say?"
"Male," said Steve, shocked. "About six foot. I hadn't seen him before but Tony seemed to know him. But that's not really saying much, Tony seems to know everyone."
"What did this agent say exactly?"
"He- he said, 'Mr. Stark, Agent Coulson needs to see you in the bull pen,'" said Steve. "He had a tattoo on his right hand. Blue, some kind of eye."
"We don't use the term bull pen," said the agent. "I'm going to find Agent Coulson. You stay here in case he comes back. I'll send Agent Barton to you. If anyone comes to talk to you who is not Agent Coulson or Agent Barton, keep them here under any means needed."
Before Steve could respond the agent left, leaving Steve all alone in the lab where he had been keeping Tony company on the helicarrier.
"Rhodey is going to kill me," groaned Steve, running a large hand down his face.
"Why?" asked Clint, walking into the room, his hair ruffled as if he had been asleep-which he probably had although he looked awake and alert. "What did you do to Tony this time?"
"We can't find him," admitted Steve, sitting heavily on the floor.
"Oh, is that all?" laughed Clint. "It's Tony, I'm sure he's just off seeking out a decent cup of coffee. It's a futile mission but if anyone's going to accomplish it, it's your husband. That man is insane."
"No Clint. Someone came in here about 15 minutes ago dressed as an agent and asked Tony to come with him to see Coulson. Just now another agent showed up and said Fury was going to call Tony soon and when I told her he was with that other agent she said that no one had summoned either of us yet. He's missing."
"They only have a 15 minute head start," said Clint, his entire body language going from relaxed but alert to tense and ready for action in an instant. "Tony's smart, he's not going without a fuss. He's not going to make a scene, he's going to put on a Broadway musical. We'd have heard them if anyone tried to take him forcefully."
"But Tony knew the guy!" insisted Steve. "He was familiar with him. If the guy drugged him, Tony wouldn't be alert enough to see it coming to stop it. He's still sick."
"That at least narrows it down. If Tony knew him then he has to work here. We can do a roll call."
"That won't work. Tony knows every single person on board. I swear, down to the laundry crew, he knows everyone. It'll take too long!"
"Well we have to do something. If you have a better idea, Cap, then now's the time to share with the class."
Steve huffed in irritation, worried about his missing husband, frustrated that there wasn't a better way to go about checking for him, but knowing Clint was right. The archer placed his hand on Steve's shoulder bracingly.
"We'll find him, Steve," said Clint.
-Winging It-
When Thor landed on the helicarrier with Emmy, an agent came right up to him. He was a young man, his uniform not fitting quite right.
"I'm supposed to take the child to Mr. Stark," said the agent.
"That's alright," said Thor with a smile, shifting Emmy – who had fallen asleep on the ride – to a more comfortable walking position. "Just tell me where he is and I'll bring the child to him."
"Captain Rogers has requested your presence, actually," said the agent, hands still extended to take Emmy from the god. "It's urgent. Mr. Stark in in the quinjet, ready to take the kid home. Mr. Rogers is staying here and needs your help in planning for the upcoming attack."
Thor still wasn't convinced that he shouldn't take Emmy to Tony first but when the agent persisted that the quinjet was just down the hall and Steve had been waiting for him for a while, Thor handed over the sleeping child and rushed off to Steve.
"Steve," boomed Thor, entering Steve and Tony's guest quarters a few minutes later. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting."
"That's fine, Thor," said Steve, not even pausing in his pacing when the god entered the room. "Where's Emmy?"
"With Tony. So what plans have you laid already?"
"What do you mean, she's with Tony?" asked Steve, turning on the spot and staring at Thor in shock. "You've seen Tony? When? Where?"
"An agent greeted me when I arrived and told me that Tony was waiting in a quinjet to take the child home and that you were waiting for me to lay battle plans. So I gave Emmy to him to bring to Tony before coming here to you."
"You gave her to an agent?" screamed Steve. "You gave my daughter to an agent? Tell me you knew the agent!"
"No," said Thor quietly, the sinking feeling in his stomach getting stronger by the second. "I admit, I didn't recognize the man but he assured me that Tony was waiting just down the hall."
"Great, Thor," growled Steve. "You probably just gave my daughter to the man who abducted my husband as well. Well done. What are you going to do, hand me over next?"
"Steve!" said Natasha sharply from the doorway.
"No, Natasha!" yelled Steve, rounding on the assassin. "He gave my daughter to a complete stranger! My husband is missing, probably at the hands of the same person HE handed Emmy over to! So don't you 'Steve' me!"
"I know that you're upset," said Natasha in her unwaveringly calm tone. "We all are. But if you don't calm down this instant I'm going to force you into the Hulk room and leave you there until this is sorted. Do you understand me?"
Steve glared at his teammates.
"Every moment we spend fighting is another moment they're missing," said Natasha quietly. "I know this is hard but we're better together and right now we need Captain America, not Steve."
With a shuddering sigh, the anger went out of Steve's shoulders and Captain America took over, pushing Steve to the side but not out of the way.
"Alright," said Steve. "Let's go get our family back."
*Greetings friends! I'm sorry to tell you that I am in the process of moving and don't know when I will have internet set up, so I am relying on friends and coffee shops until I figure it out. So if updates aren't as prompt as they have been, that's because I don't have access to internet not because I'm not writing. So here's to posting at earlier hours! Always-Ari