The Rules of Living with the Avengers

53. Don't let the Avengers babysit part 2

"Okay, don't panic! Don't panic! Don't panic!" Steve yells, running around.

"You're the one panicking!" Tony screams back.

"Where's the goddamn baby!" Bucky shouts. Bruce looks under his chair and falls onto the floor. I look at Thor whose dress is bursting at the seams and Loki who is on his phone, texting someone. It's up to me to save the day.

That thought does not comfort me.

"Look, where did we leave her last?"

"I'm..did we bring her home?"

"You mean our best friends' baby is lost in New York City?" I yell. Oh crap.

***
It's almost midnight and we still haven't found her. Loki and Thor have gone back to Asgard to ask Heimdall for his help. Tony and Bruce are checking the police stations. Bucky is asking his homeless confidantes (he thinks he's Sherlock Holmes, it's actually hilarious) and Steve is searching places we've been today.

I wander through Central Park, actually considering calling up SHIELD and asking them to help. Then I hear a baby crying. "Carrie!" I yell and run through the dark. Creepy. Creepy. Creepy. Cre- "oh, hi."

A man with silvery blonde hair and a small smile is pushing a pram. Carrie! Oh God. I feel like I'm in the start of a crime show. "I'm guessing this is yours?"

"My friends. Sorry. Yeah. Um, hi. I'm-" shut up, Potts. "Can I-"

"Oh, sure, sorry." He has a slight accent that I didn't notice before. He hands me the pram and I breathe a sigh of relief. This is less CSI and more romantic movie. Ish. "How did you lose a baby?"

"I'm friends with idiots."

He laughs. "Well, I'll see you around."

"Bye." I'm turning around when he speaks up again.

"Can you give me directions to Stark Tower?" He asks. I frown at him and he explains, "I have a score to settle with Stark but this is my first time to New York. I kind of ran away."

"Sorry, I don't know where it is. I'm new here too," I lie. "Thanks for...you know."

"No problem."

"Hope you find him," I add and walk away.

"Yeah, I hope so too," I hear him say quietly.

At least I have Carrie back...heh...

**
"So she was just at the park by herself?" Tony asks suspiciously.

"Yep. No-one else there."

"But-"

"She's safe, isn't she?" I scowl. "Now shut up."

Natasha and Clint come running in, smiling. "Baby!" Clint yells and scoops Carrie up from where she's rolling round on the floor. "Have you missed me?" She gurgles at him and he laughs, throwing her up in the air.

"Were there any problems?" Natasha asks, looking worried.

"None! Nope!" Bucky says and starts nervously laughing.

"It's all been fine. Ignore him." Steve kicks Bucky and Bucky falls on the floor.

"There was one problem..." I say sheepishly. "Thor spilt beer and a cheeseburger on your dress...then it broke."

Natasha stares at us then shakes her head. "I'm not even going to ask."