It's a nice Saturday afternoon... Until Peter wakes up.
Happy Father's day!
Peter had been sleeping for most of the day, which Tony found unusual, but he wasn't complaining. Steve was out running errands with Scarlett, possibly catching up with Thor, as well. It was a glorious day for science.
...That is, until Tony heard stirring within Peter's room. His ears perked up as he lay his soldering gun down, the sounds coming from the baby monitor becoming increasingly loud. And then he heard it: a whine.
"Shit," he said, rushing up the stairs towards Peter's room. It was too late, however, because by the time Tony had picked Peter up, the baby was wailing uncontrollably. Tony knew Peter was probably hoping Steve would come pick him up, because that daddy always knew what Peter wanted. This daddy, however, was as lost as they came. Tony tried making funny faces at Peter, tickling his stomach, hiding his own face with a hand in a last resort effort; Peter seemed to only cry louder.
Giving up, Tony carried Peter to the playpen in the living room, his eyes scoping the apartment for his cell phone. He picked up the phone and set Peter down, giving him his favorite stuffed lamb, and dialed Steve. The lamb seemed to make Peter calm down slightly, but still, tears fell from the toddler's eyes.
"Yes, Tony?" Steve's voice came from the other line. "Steve, Peter's up. What do I do?" Tony heard him laugh slightly. "Well, he just woke up from his nap, so I'm going to guess he's hungry."
Tony looked at Peter, and saw him smiling; he must have heard Steve through the phone. "Right," Tony continued, "hungry. What do I do?"
"There should be some pureed pears in the baby cabinet," Steve said, voice laced with slight exertion. "If he refuses to eat that, you can always try giving him a bottle. I boiled a couple last night and put them in the fridge."
Baby cabinet? Boiling bottles? God, is it even normal for a man to have this much of a maternal instinct? Tony thought, uncapping the jar of puree and grabbing a spoon. "Stay on the phone; I'm going to try feeding him," he said, returning to the playpen. Peter smiled and grabbed the bars, hauling himself up as Tony stood above him, seeing the jar of precious food in his hands. Tony scooped a bit from the jar and held it in front of Peter, who nearly took the whole spoon, as if to feed himself. "Be careful, Tony," Steve warned, "he's beginning to grow a little bold. He might try and take the spoon from you."
Tony chucked. "Yeah, Cap, he just tried to." He scooped some more food out of the jar and held it in front of the toddler once more, though this time Peter managed to actually take the whole spoon from Tony. Tony scowled as Peter clenched and unclenched his fists in Tony's direction, probably silently asking for Tony to give him the jar.
"I'll be home soon, Tony," Steve said. Tony didn't answer; he was too busy glaring at the little boy in front of him, who was now whining for the jar of pureed pears. "Tony? ...He got the spoon, didn't he?" He could hear the Captain laughing. "Yes, Steve, he managed to take the spoon."
Tony finally handed the jar over to Peter, who took it greedily and shoved the spoon straight into it. A bit of puree came over the top, but not nearly enough to spill onto the floor. Peter sat down with his meal, in front of Ms. Lamb, and proceeded to feed himself and the stuffed animal.
"I'll see you in a bit, Cap," said Tony, smiling at the sight before him as he ended the call. Perhaps fatherhood wasn't all that bad of a thing.
But I came up with this idea of a kind of AU thing that Loki was found in the same fashion Thor was in the Thor movie, and someone took care of him and noticed him, etc. Idk. Just a short little thing.
Loki had told her how he lived a lie for millenia, believing he was truly an Aesir. It was only until recently had he learned the truth in who he was, that he was nothing more than a monstrous frost giant, a Jötunn, snatched from his kingdom when still a babe as a war heirloom that would hopefully one day bring about peace between Jötunheimr and Asgard. Heather listened with the widest of ears and the kindest heart. The feeling she gave him made him feel odd at first; it was a warm, bubbly kind of feeling. Was it comfort and one of belonging? Loki didn't speak to her much until the feeling subsided, and she never pressed him to speak. Maybe she took his taking care of the apartment while she was at work as an unspoken act of gratitude for being so patient. There was much ice around his motionless heart, though he felt it melting more and more by the passing day.
And now, he found himself sharing a bed with the mortal woman.
She didn't move to touch him, or even look him over; she'd had a rough day at work (Loki could see it when she came home), so he invited her into "his" room for the night. It was the least he could do given how compassionate she'd been to him. Heather fell asleep almost immediately, yet Loki caught himself eyeing his new bedmate.
Mortal women weren't much different from Aesir, he discovered. They weren't as muscular, but their bodies retained a similar shape. He somewhat enjoyed the softness of their skin and the larger swell of their hips and breasts. She was beautiful, not a single fiber of doubt could be found within his being. Loki then wondered why she had no mate.
He saw no pictures of men around the apartment, aside from one or two involving an older man (Heather explained that it was her father). His mind then moved to the possibility of her being untouched, and he violently shook his head. Heather stirred slightly beside him, causing Loki to tense up and curse himself for his recent action. She settled moments later, and Loki's muscles returned to their slack state. He'd have to ask her some day.
But, wait: why would he want to ask her? She was a mortal, and he a demi-god. It shouldn't have mattered to him at all, though he felt a twinge of what might be called possessiveness when it came to Heather, as if she were already his. He shook his head again, this time more calmly, and let sleep slowly claim him.
She turned as Kaidan walked through her cabin door, the door shuffling closed behind him. She nodded and signaled him down to the lower level, taking a seat on one of the couches across from her bed. He sat down on the adjacent couch, legs apart with his arms dangling between them.
“Yeah, Kaidan, there is.” She ran a hand through her red hair; Jane knew this was going to be difficult, but she also knew it had to be done. “There’s something I should have told you a while back, but because of the time and the fraternization rules, I kept it to myself.”
Jane watched as Kaidan shrugged his shoulders, looking to the side momentarily. She took that as her cue to continue. “Well… you remember the night before Ilos, right?” Kaidan leaned back into the leather couch, a giant smile stretching across his face. “Of course I do, Jane. I’ve already told you that night meant everything to me.”
She smiled back at him, the night replaying itself in her mind, then sighed. “Yeah, I know it did. It meant everything to me too, to finally be able to put the mission aside and give in to what we may have never had the chance to do.”
“To what was building since the first day our eyes met,” Kaidan added. He caught her smiling again, maybe even saw a faint blush beginning to spread across those freckled cheeks. “I’m not usually one to fall in love at first sight, but with you…” he continued, “God, my whole world did a one-eighty when I met you. I’d never met a woman who was so strong and in control, let alone another person who seemed to go into everything without a single doubt.”
“You know I have doubts, Kaidan. Stop trying to put me on a pedestal. I’m human, just like you and everyone else suffering on Earth right now.” He shuffled closer to her, a hand coming to rest on her knee. “Jane, you don’t ever give yourself proper credit for things.” With his free hand, Kaidan cupped her chin and turned her face towards his. “You’re an amazing woman, Jane,” he said as he rested his forehead against hers. “Stop selling yourself short.”
He planted a soft kiss on her lips. Jane smiled into it, murmuring a soft “thank you” as she broke it. “The pep talk isn’t the reason I called you here, Alenko.” His smile turned flat as she spoke, and he moved back to his original position on the couch. “Right,” he coughed out, “so, what is it you needed to tell me, Commander?”
Jane stood up with yet another sigh and stood before the wall aquarium. “We didn’t use anything that night. No barrier.” She looked over her shoulder slightly and caught Kaidan’s face in her peripheral vision. She could tell he was a bit confused, but even so, he was silent. She had the floor now. “Not long after defeating Saren and sorting out the issue with the Council… I started to not feel too well,” Jane pressed.
Kaidan’s eyes snapped open. Realization washed over him: he'd infected her with something, or so his mind told him. “Jane, I’m sorry, I didn’t know I had anything! It’d been so long since I’d been with someone, I thought that if I did have something it would have clear-” He stopped as Jane waved her hand and shook her head. “No?” he asked, voice still in a slight frenzy, “You mean, I didn’t give you anything?” She laughed at his statement. “No, not in the way you’re implying, Major. May I continue?”
“Aye… Aye-aye, Commander.” Kaidan slumped back into the couch. Once again, Jane had the floor. “I went to go see Doctor Chakwas and…” her voice began to break, “Kaidan, goddammit…”
The image of the little boy she’d been seeing in her recent nightmares began to float around her head. She screwed her eyes shut as an image of her holding the boy in her hands, ruffling his hair and kissing his forehead, danced behind her eyelids. She could see Kaidan so clearly, almost as clear as he was across the room, standing some feet away with a camera, telling her and young boy to smile. Suddenly she felt warm arms enclose her from behind and a hand stroking through her hair.
“You were… pregnant. Right, Jane?” His voice was soft, almost on the edge of breaking like hers was. She turned and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on as if she would fall and never come back. She began to sob into his uniform; strong yet gentle hands began to stroke her back, and Jane heard threatening rumbles from Kaidan’s chest. “So… as I watched you get spaced…” He couldn’t continue; the pain had rooted itself within his chest.
Jane released herself from Kaidan’s embrace and wiped her eyes. “Chakwas was able to predict what he would have looked like,” she began. She smiled as her eyes focused on the floor beside Kaidan’s feet. “Silky raven hair, like his father, and eyes as blue as Earth’s sky, like his…” she choked, “Fuck, Kaidan, I keep seeing him!” Her fists grabbed at clumps of red hair, panic striking her gentle features. “Every time I close my eyes, he’s there. Smiling at me. Runningfrom me. Cowering in fear. Hugging me. Speaking to me!” Jane shook her head frantically from side to side. “I can’t take it, Kaidan! I can’t do it anymore!”
She slumped to the floor, Kaidan not far behind her. He held once more. “Jane, look at me,” he said through clenched teeth, trying to gain control of himself. “You did the right thing, not telling me.” Her eyes began a slow accession towards his. She was obviously confused, having felt so horrible about keeping this all a secret from him for so long. “I mean, really, Jane. Had you told me you were pregnant as soon as you found out, and what happened with the Collectors happened…” Kaidan sucked in a sharp breath, eyes narrowing, a thumb finding its way across her cheek, “I don’t think I’d be here right now.”
“Kaidan, no-” Jane tried to say, but one of his fingers silenced her. “I’m serious, Jane. I was serious then about how that was the best night of all of my thirty-two years, and I’m still serious about it now, in all of my thirty-five years.” His lips grazed hers. “I only wish I was able to share with you the grief I went through those two years. I was so close to letting go, Jane. Do you have any clue how many times I thought about it? How many times I’d drink myself into oblivion and stare out over my parents’ balcony, thinking about how all of my pain would go away if I just jumped?”
“You’re too stubborn to do that, Kaidan,” Jane said, punching his shoulder slightly. He laughed and moved some strands of hair from her face. “Heh, me? Maybe, but that might have just been enough to push me over the edge, you know?” He lifted himself off the floor. He offered his hand to Jane, and guided her to sitting at the edge of the bed. “It wouldn’t have just been you I lost;” he continued, “it would have been you and our son.”
Jane nodded her head, the few strands Kaidan pushed back falling into her face once more. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess it was a good thing I kept it from you,” she agreed. A hand stroked his knee, and Kaidan leaned slightly against Jane, placing his head against hers. She kissed his temple, and a slight groan of approval rumbled in his throat.
Tonight would have no intimacy: only deep affection, which there was so little time for. Laying with a partner in bed, skin-to-skin, spoke volumes over any sexual act Kaidan and Jane could think of. To them, it showed the depth of their relationship; the hardships they endured, and how, even through all of them, they still found themselves together.
