Eagle (A Loki love story)

Chapter 155

Steve's POV

Loki's composure just crumbled when Pepper said Mira's name.  He fell against the wall, his entire body shaking as he wept.  Dreyma startled with the impact and looked around, her eyes wide with fear.  In that moment, she was a spitting image of her mother.  I didn't realize I was moving towards them until I was there, sliding my hands under Loki's.  He relinquished Dreyma without a struggle, but then sank to the floor.  Natahsa knelt beside him, her movements hesitant and awkward, but she got him back on his feet and led him away.

"I'm so sorry." Pepper murmured.

"How much do you know about what happened?"

"Not much.  The news was showing footage of people vanishing off the streets, just fading away and–"

"Yeah." Rhodey cut her off, "Thanos got all the stones.  And he used them to wipe out half of all life."

"Oh my god."

"Yeah." Dreyma seemed to be adjusting to me.

"We need to start making calls.  We have to assume the governments are in shambles."

"I never thought I'd say this," Bruce began, "But we should call Fury."

"I agree.  I'll go start pulling security footage."

"I'll help with that." The raccoon–and I thought I'd seen everything–ran after Rhodey.  The others seemed to scatter as well, off towards the bedrooms.  I hung back with Pepper.

"Where's her crib?"

"She doesn't have one here.  Loki and Mira dropped her off with me and left.

"Ok.  I'll change and go to the store, see what I can find."

"I'll come with.  I need some practice baby shopping.  I'll have to do it soon enough." My heart stuttered a bit.

"You're not..."

"Yeah," She had a smile on her face and a hand on her stomach, "I am." But there were tears in her eyes, and I realized it was because Tony was missing.

"Congratulations." My tone sounded hollow, even to me.  Now, even if Tony was gone, both Pepper and Loki would have precious treasures from their loves.  I would have no such thing.  Not that I wanted children of my own, being a godparent to Dreyma would've been more than enough, but it still hurt.  The rings in my utility belt, the ones I'd been trying not to think about the entire flight back here, suddenly weighed more than the Earth itself.

"Here." Pepper handed me a tissue.  I hadn't even noticed I was crying.  I adjusted Dreyma to accept it, "If you don't feel like going right now–"

"No!  No." I added more calmly, "Let's go now.  Then we can come back and get to work.

The world was more of a mess than we thought.  The roads were littered with abandoned cars, and there were hardly any employees in the store to help us, but three hours later, it was dark out and we were back at the Compound with baby supplies for Dreyma and lots of food for the rest of us.  But that was the silver lining.  Upon meeting Rocket, we were informed that both Nick Fury and Maria Hill had dissolved.  And apparently, Rhodey had seen something in the footage that made him run out in his War Machine suit to the location.  He wasn't back yet.
Natasha had managed to distract Loki long enough for Bruce to sedate him, he'd be out until morning, or so Bruce thought.

As a team, we were able to assemble the crib, put Dreyma in her newly-washed pajamas, and get her to go to sleep.  According to Thor, she couldn't sleep alone, so we put her in my room for the night.  We'd consult Loki in the morning, but right now, he needed to rest.