Lily got to the tower wearing her comfort hoodie. With cracked lips, puffy eyes, she somehow managed to get herself up. Last night's events replayed endlessly in her head. Never giving her a moment of rest. Despite not sleeping at all that night, she mustered up the energy to leave the apartment. Her grandfather was still asleep, which she was grateful for. He didn't need to see her like this.
Lily stood just outside the doors of the tower. She had told herself that she wouldn't let the Avengers down. That she wouldn't let Loki down. Despite the taste of her own sick stained into her mouth and her almost green complexion, she had made it to the tower. Her stomach was empty and she hadn't dared to eat anything for breakfast in case it made her vomit again.
As soon as Lily took another step towards the tower, a heavy wave of dizziness plummeted onto her. She tried so hard to hold herself together but failed miserably. She had never heard of coke going off, but it was the only thing that tasted strange about her meal.
Lily shook her head of her cloudy vision.
"Shit." Was the first thing she heard from the Avengers when she made it to the living room.
"You're going home." Tony pointed at Lily, leaving no room for argument.
"What?" Lily stood still in shock, "I'm fine. I feel better now, I just had a rough night."
"Lil, you look like a ghost." Natasha rushed over, placing a hand on the young girl's forehead. "You're burning up, if you don't rest you're going to pass out."
"I walked here so I've just worked up a sweat." Lily reassured. "I'll be fine once I get going."
"No, the only place you're going, is back to bed." Clint stood, raising his eyebrows, the parental side of him coming out. "I'm driving you home myself."
"Clint, Tony-"
"Look kid, I admire your work ethic. I really do. But you're going to get into Clint's car before he carries you over his shoulder." Tony ordered, determination written on his face.
"Come on Lil. My back is playing me up this morning so don't make me drag you to the car." Clint placed his hand around her shoulders.
"Thank you." Lily said quietly, guilt washing over her at putting the Avengers out of their way. "You don't need to drive me, I walked here so I am more than capable at walking back."
"Loki's stubbornness is rubbing off on you. Get in the car." Natasha and Clint demanded at the same time.
Lily reluctantly agreed, relieved at the thought of finally getting some sleep.
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Clint escorted Lily to her apartment door, making certain she rested like she was told to.
"Lily, whatever is the matter?" Jason rushed over as soon as she got back home. His eyes grew wide at the dark bags underneath her eyelids. "Lily?" He asked again, his worry increasing with every second.
"Nothing Grandpa, I'm just not feeling well. I'm just going to go back to bed. Thank you Clint, for driving me home." Lily hobbled upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her as Clint nodded his head. Jason stood dumbfounded, Lily had never missed a day of work before. Even when her Grandfather had practically begged Lily to stay at home when she kept passing out. Lily refused.
Jason understood she needed her space, she had never liked to be crowded when she was upset or unwell. He decided that he would check on her later on in the day, giving her time to rest.
Meanwhile Lily curled up in her bed, the covers clutched to her chest in her hands. Goose rubbed his head on her cheek before cuddling up next to her in comfort. Lily gladly accepted the wave of exhaustion, and settled into a deep and uninterrupted sleep.
A little over an hour had passed when her phone buzzed, startling her from her trance. Lily hesitantly picked it up. She read the caller ID and breathed a small sigh of relief when it read Tony Stark.
Answering the call, she was met with Tony's worried voice. "Lily, how are you feeling? I was supposed to let you rest but I just had to call and make sure you were okay."
"I'm alright, I think it's just food poisoning. Something did taste funny in the meal I had yesterday. I'll be fine by tomorrow."
"Alright, just let me know if there is anything I can do for you and take another day off tomorrow to rest." Tony hung up, not wanting to keep Lily long on the phone.
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"What did she say? Is she alright?" Steve sat upright, twiddling with his thumbs as Tony paced the living room in the Avengers tower.
"She said it's just food poisoning but something seems off. I've never seen anyone get that ill from food poisoning." Tony rubbed his hand across his face and sighed. He shoved his phone in his back pocket and took a seat opposite Steve.
Natasha looked up, concern evident in her voice. "I've seen her file, she's never missed a day of work. I'll call her tomorrow, It'll give Lily some time to rest and sleep it off."
Tony nodded and clapped his hands together, gaining the attention of all of the avengers. "Now," He started, "who wants to babysit reindeer games?"
"I have training with Steve," Nat answered quickly.
"Yes," Steve replied, catching on, "and I have training with Nat." Natasha face palmed at how bad Steve was at lying.
"I have sciency things to do." Bruce's eyes darting around to try and find a better excuse, "in the science lab." He added.
"I promised Pepper that I would spend the day with her." Tony excused.
All of the avengers then looked to Hawkeye. Clint shook his head quickly, "No, no ,no, absolutely not." He repeated. They continued to look at him with pleading eyes. "No." He said again.
So the team ended up turning to the last person in the room. They knew that if Thor did babysit Loki then they would most likely end up having an argument. A big one at that. "I can't watch Loki." Thor said with wide eyes.
"He is your brother." Tony shrugged.
"Thor, It'll only be for a couple of days." Steve bargained, desperation clear in his voice.
"Fine." Thor sighed heavily, "But Stark, you're buying me pop tarts for the rest of your life."
"Deal." Tony replied without a second of thought.
Thor did hold up his end of the bargain. While everyone else refused, Thor stuck by Loki's side despite all of the insults he threw at him. Let's just say that it ended up with Thor throwing his shoe at the glass - which did nothing. And Loki egging him on in hopes that the glass would break.
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As the sunrise rolled, Natasha was first to wake. She pulled out the phone Tony had given her and dialled Lily's number. Nat couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness inside of her.
The phone rang and rang and Natasha began to think that she wouldn't answer. Lily picked up on the 6th ring. "Hello?" She asked cautiously through the phone, not knowing whose number it was due to it not being saved on her phone.
"Hey Lily," Natasha greeted with sympathy.
"Natasha, It's so good to hear from you." Lily replied, her mood already lifting when she realised Nat had took the time to check up on her.
"How are you holding up? And no lying, I'm a trained assassin." Nat reminded sternly.
"I'm doing much better thanks, I'm coming in today." She refused to let the avengers down a second time.
"No way, Lily you are staying at home. You need to rest!" Natasha scolded.
"Nat I'm fin-" she started.
"Don't tell me you're fine. Because you're not. I can hear how exhausted you are from just speaking. It was true, Lily had never felt so awful. Her body acted as though it was fighting itself. The scorching headache was the worst, as though her brain was on fire. She was never eating at that restaurant again.
Lily relented at Nat's persistence, "My head just feels like its on fire, I've tried paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspirin but nothing is soothing it."
"Lily, are you sure it was food poisoning?" Nat asked suspiciously.
"My drink didn't taste right, but apart from that there was nothing wrong with meal necessarily. I must have been something I ate there, I can't think of anything else it could be." Lily admitted.
Natasha sighed, feeling completely and utterly helpless. "Well, I do hope you feel soon Lily. If you're still not well by midday then come back to the tower and I'll get Bruce to give you a check up."
Natasha had her suspicions, Lily hadn't mentioned the date with Grant. But of course Natasha knew about it, she had the highest espionage scores after all.