Bergamot
Chapter Two: Bergamot
Tony was by Eris’ side from the moment Eris woke up the next morning. He hovered around Maria as she cradled Eris and fed her – which Eris was mortified about – and jumped at the opportunity to hold her when Maria was finished. Tony had read as many baby books and parenting books as he could the moment Eris had fallen asleep the night before and he was excited to put it all into practice.
“Would you mind taking her back to the nursery,” asked Maria, with a gentle yawn.
“Sure,” grinned Tony.
Standing up, he gave Maria a quick kiss on the cheek and strode from the dining room, Eris bouncing in his arms. Jarvis and the maids were rushing around the mansion, only stopping for a second to acknowledge Tony and coo at Eris before they were back to work.
“So,” beamed Tony, when they entered the nursery and sat down in the rocking chair, “what shall we read today?”
Please not a baby book, I will cry loudly if you grab a baby book. Please.
“I mean, we read Norse Mythology last night, and the books all say that reading books helps…” he trailed off.
Before he had a chance to regain his train of thought, the siblings could hear Howard calling for Tony with a voice full of annoyance and impatience. Groaning, Tony gently placed Eris into her crib and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.
Yay, left alone to do absolutely nothing! All I can do is stare at a fucking ceiling, I mean it’s a very nice ceiling, expensive but yeah, just a ceiling. Wooooow.
Eris was lying in her crib for about an hour – well it felt like an hour, in reality it was about ten minutes – before someone came in to check on her. Jarvis strolled through the door, a bottle in his hand and a book under his arm. Putting the book down, Jarvis scooped Eris into his arms and fed her with a smile that screamed kind and comforting.
Maybe my dad was like this … my first dad, not Howard. Mum always did say he loved being with me when I was a baby before he died. Iraq, I think… mum never could bring herself to talk about it…
“What shall we read today, little one?” hummed Jarvis.
Jarvis’ voice was mesmerising to Eris’ baby brain. It was warm and gentle, like a father, yet there was still the regal air of professionalism that was expected of the butler. She could feel the way his chest rumbled as he hummed a jaunty tune to himself.
“Anthony has informed me that you liked Norse mythology so shall we continue?”
Eris attempted to speak but only small sounds came out making Jarvis smile as he sat down where the Norse mythology book was waiting.
~Stark~
Loki had scoured the library, using as much magic as he could to keep himself hidden, searched for books on followers and the bonds between Gods and their Priests. It took him days to find the correct section – despite knowing the library back to front – and when he finally did, Loki was annoyed to notice a barrier around them. Thankfully, the barrier was old meaning it was easier for Loki to poke a hole in it to remove the books he required.
Returning to his chambers, Loki activated his locking runes and spread the books over his desk. Taking a deep breath, Loki dived in, reading through every book at his disposal, noting down everything in a journal he’d keep hidden later.
Half-way through the third book, Loki found exactly what he was looking for: a gazing spell. It was a spell that would allow Loki to peak through the barrier between realms, allowing him to keep an eye on his first follower. Thankfully, he had everything that was required for the spell and Loki was anxious to complete it, wanting to know what his first ever follower looked like.
Setting up the scrying bowl, Loki completed the ritual and waited. And waited. And waited.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the water in the bowl began to shift and change. The water glowed like the rainbow bridge and then a blue sky filled the bowl. The sky then changed until it showed a mansion, it then changed again showing a nursery. With a raised eyebrow, Loki continued watching, thinking that his follower was possibly a mother or father with a small child.
Imagine his surprise when the scrying bowl focused on the tiny form of a Midgardian baby gently snoozing in a beautiful crib. He waited with a held breath for the image to change again but it remained perfectly still, focused on the baby.
She’s a baby? My first follower is a baby! I’m the patron God of a baby!
Pacing back and forth in his room, Loki attempted to calm his racing thoughts, but found himself unable. Groaning, he grabbed the remaining books and flicked through them, trying to find an explanation, or at least something he could use.
It took another two books for him to discover something that seemed to be of use: it was a set of instructions that would allow Loki to gift his priestess with different abilities. Grinning a grin that usually made people nervous, Loki read through the instructions as carefully as he could, noting down everything, before he stashed all of the books in one of his bags to return to the library.
Gazing again into the scrying bowl, Loki took another deep breath and began going through the instructions. He could only gift his priestess with one thing per year according to the books – specifically it said, he could gift something as a reward for each year of devotion – and so Loki decided to gift her the ability to grow quicker each year.
It was the least he could do.
~Stark~
Eris was woken from her peaceful slumber by a yellow light that seemed very familiar. Two seconds later, two figured entered her room and began looking around at everything. Eris continued to pretend to be asleep, keeping her ears out and waiting for the right moment to cry out, knowing Tony would come sprinting into the room the second she made noise.
“This is your dangerous variant?” Loki’s voice mocked, close to her crib.
She knew he was hovering over her, feeling his cold breath on her uncovered cheek as she tried not to squirm. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she realised what was happening, fear rushing through her as she realised that she was going to be erased – after all, she wasn’t supposed to be there.
“Shh!” ordered Mobius.
“Why?”
“Baby monitor!”
“Oh …”
She could hear them moving around and beeping as well. She remained perfectly still and did her best to keep her excitement at seeing Loki down so she didn’t give herself away. The fear was getting worse as she beeping got louder and closer to her.
“Eh, Mobius, this says she’s not a variant.”
Eris released a small, unnoticeable sigh of relief and she slowly snuggled further into her blank, making both men hesitate for a moment as they didn’t want to wake her up.
“What? Give me that.”
Another load of beeps.
“That’s – not – possible. She isn’t in the sacred timeline – or any other timeline. How is that possible?”
“I thought you had all the answers,” Loki mocked.
“This has never happened before. The TVA says she shouldn’t exist but there isn’t a protocol for this, for her. In fact, there’s even a notice saying NOT to remove her… I don’t understand.”
“So … we’re leaving?”
“We’ll have to.”
Eris waited a few seconds before opening her eyes and seeing the room completely empty. Instead of making a noise or trying to figure out what was happening, Eris felt herself falling back to sleep.
~Stark~
The next morning, Eris was awoken by Tony almost silently pushing her nursery door open and came padding inside. He was trying to be as quiet as possible as he came further towards the crib and looked inside. Tony was surprised to find her still awake and staring at him with the cutest look Eris could muster making him coo as he gently reached down and pulled her – blanket as well – into his arms.
He swaddled her as best he could, muttering the steps he had looked up while doing so, and beamed as he slipped her into his arms again and carefully opened the windows. He shielded her from the sun’s harsh glare and then opened the window, allowing cool air into the room.
Once Tony was assured that the room would be properly aired while he and Eris were out, he walked out of the nursery – closing the door behind him – and walked downstairs where Maria was waiting, eating a healthy meal at the dining table as Jarvis explained the plans for the day.
Reluctantly, Tony handed Eris to their Mother and sat down in the at across from her, his eyes focusing on Eris the entire time. Maria simply smiled at his overprotectiveness and handed Eris back to him the second Maria was sure that she had finished eating.
“What are you planning on doing today?” asked Maria, sipping her tea.
“I was going to take Eris into my workshop, introduce her to her nephew DUM-E.”
Maria smiled softly at him and nodded in acceptance, responding with nothing more than a quick: “Just make sure she’s safe.”
“Don’t worry, I already baby-proofed everything, even DUM-E has rubber stoppers on his fingers. I think he likes them to be fair.”
Jarvis had also made sure that the workshop had been baby-proofed, though he hadn’t needed to do anything except install a small playpen that Tony had asked him to put next to his desk.
I’m going to see Tony’s LAB! SKREEEEEEEEEEE.
Carefully, Eris was pulled close to Tony’s chest – where her hand met the place that his arch-reactor would be – as he walked, almost silently, towards his workshop. Eris could hear someone crashing and banging from a large, metal door to their left and assumed that it was Howard, probably working on a new version of the Super Solider serum.
Tony took her right past the door, his face twisted with anger and annoyance before smoothing out again, and towards another door just like it, one that was painted in Iron Man colours – not that Tony knew it. He was very gentle when it came to unlocking the door and opening it, wincing as it creaked as he looked down at Eris to make sure it hadn’t either scared her or caused her to cry.
Eris would have gasped if she had the ability when they entered the workshop/lab. It looked like a downscaled version of the lab from Iron Man 1. Tools and schematics were sprawled around all over the place in Organised Chaos and Eris noticed the small playpen that Jarvis had set up by Tony’s desk.
The playpen looked expensive – incredibly so – and was filled with educational toys and pillows. It also looked like Tony had installed a heater and cooler next to it so he could control her temperature and make sure Eris was completely comfortable at all times. The playpen was also reinforced with metal rods that Eris assumed was to make sure she couldn’t knock it over or DUM-E couldn’t knock it over. There was also a bottle warmer on the desk as well as several baby books and research that Tony must have done after – or before – she was done.
“I hope you like it,” said Tony, softly. “It’s all stuff the books said I should get and do and I’m going to keep improving it but this will do for now.”
Hesitantly, Tony settled Eris down on her back in the playpen, making sure that she couldn’t turn over or move and that he could see her at all times. Eris looked around as best she could with her lack of mobility and she honestly wanted to squeal as she took everything in.
“All of the books said to be careful when introducing an Infant to a pet, especially one that is bigger and stronger than the infant so – so we’ll do this slowly and I’ll make sure that DUM-E doesn’t get too close.”
He was talking mostly to himself as he opened one of the books and began scanning through the page he had already marked. Upon hearing his name, DUM-E began to chirp and hum as best he could causing Tony to immediately looked up and turn his attention to both the bot and Eris to see how she reacted to the noise. Eris did her best to smile, forcing little babbling sounds out as best she could as she attempted to raise her tiny arms and wave.
Tony was happy to see Eris was so intrigued by DUM-E and motioned for the bot to get closer as Tony gently moved her towards the plastic screen he had put in the pen for this purpose. DUM-E came rolling forward and Tony turned on his lamp so that Eris could see him properly.
“Slowly, DUM-E,” ordered Tony, “we don’t want to scare her do we.”
DUM-E chirped in response and slowed down even more until he was completely under the light and Eris could see him fully. Eris squealed at the sight, clapping as best she could and reaching out for DUM-E who moved his claw towards the plastic and gently tapped it, chirping and beeping with his own joy.
Tony beamed, his face alight with joy, filling the room with delight and making everything seem so much better. He didn’t pick her up, though, and instead allowed the pair to interact through the screen. He had already planned to keep the barrier for at least a week, just to make sure that everything would be fine – and that’s what the books all said – so he’d keep to the plan.
Making sure that Eris was safe and happy, Tony turned back to his work and began throwing himself into his project.