Epilogue - Absolutely

Dinner was a boisterous, exuberant affair, though it was decided to keep it family and friends only for the time being—for Sophie's sake. Odin sat at the head of the king's table, Frigga at his left. At his right sat Thor in his favorite, silver-embroidered, red tunic that set off Loki's green and black formal clothes quite well. On Frigga's other side sat her other four sons; Bellalyse was in their midst, seated beside Víðarr. Further down the table were Sif and the Warriors Three, as well as the three assembled Avengers and Coulson.

But beside Loki sat Thea in her shimmering green woman's tunic, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders, silvery-blue eyes sparkling with joy as Loki leaned over a little to whisper something in her ear. Her quick, bright smile brought Loki's own flashing to the fore.

Between them sat Sophie on an ensorcelled cushion so she could see over the table and wouldn’t fall off the bench. Children didn’t normally eat at the king's table, but tonight was a special occasion. Every few minutes Sophie would look up at Loki with adoration on her face and babble something Thor couldn’t comprehend. Loki would lean down to catch every word, nodding seriously, and reply back with utmost gravity. His daughter would laugh and touch his cheek or his chin, and he would kiss her small hand and call her suetyng or älskling or min flicka. Then he would look at Thea with such devotion it made Thor wish fiercely for Jane. He had so much to tell her. Something important to ask her. But what would his parents say?

It didn’t matter. He would have Loki on his side. After all that had happened, after bringing Thea and Sophie here, the crown prince knew he could count on his twin brother to help him win over their parents regarding Thor's plans for Jane. Of course, he'd also have to win Jane over…but judging by how she'd kissed him before their parting, he wasn’t too worried.

It was growing late and the others had grown quiet with good food and drink and warm firelight when a very sleepy Sophie suddenly looked across the table at Frigga and asked, "Are you Gandma?"

Everyone turned to observe the interaction between the tired little princess and the queen, who smiled and said, "Yes, I am your grandmother. I am your…" Frigga hesitated over the unfamiliar word Sophie used for Loki. Finally she continued, "Your daddy's Mumma."

Sophie nodded. "Oh." She looked at Odin. "You udder Grampa?"

Odin smiled. "That's right, little one. Your other grandfather." He gestured to Tyr, Hermod, and Balder. "And these are your other uncles."

The child nodded. "'Kay." She yawned, covering her mouth with both hands. She looked up at Loki, blinking slowly. Reaching out with one small hand, she wrapped her fingers around a bit of his tunic. Gave it two tiny tugs. Loki smiled down at her. "Daddy?" Sophie mumbled, yawning again.

"Yes, my darling?" Loki's fingers just brushed the top of her head. Sophie closed her eyes and leaned against his side, sliding her arms as far around him as they would go.

"I love you," she whispered.

Loki's hand froze where it hovered above her head. A look of something too intense to be mere joy and too sweet to be pain flashed across his face as he gazed down at his daughter, who yawned again without opening her eyes. He let his hand cup the top of her head. "I love you, too, min älskling." But Sophie had actually fallen asleep sitting up, using her father for a pillow. Thea grinned. Bellalyse and Frigga made soft "awww" noises.

"I think it's time little princesses went to sleep," Thea said softly. Loki nodded.

"It is late," Thor agreed after a surreptitious glance from his twin. "It has been a long day for most, if not all, of us." Everyone rose slowly from the table. Loki was last, carefully folding his arms around Sophie so that he might lift her up as he stood. The little girl slid her arms around his neck in sleep. Thor gazed at her fondly before looking to his brother. "She is a wonder, Brother."

He nodded, unable to look away from his sleeping daughter. "Yes. She is." He kissed the top of her head. Then he looked at his parents, his brothers, and Bellalyse. "Good night, Mother, my brothers, my sister." Then he looked at Odin and murmured, "Good night, min fader."

Odin's eye widened. Then he smiled slowly and nodded to his son. "Good night, min sönne."

The two of them had made it to the corridor with Sophie in Loki's arms when a hearty voice called Loki's name. Both adults stiffened and turned to see Sif and the Three approaching. Sif stopped closest to them, looking at Sophie with soft eyes. The Three eyed Thea with avid interest. Their smiles toward Loki seemed genuine, however.

Sif murmured, "Loki…she is beautiful."

One black brow winged upward. "Do you mean my daughter, Lady Sif, or my wife?"

To Loki's surprise, Sif smiled. "Yes." He blinked when her meaning clarified. "And I wanted to say something, as well…my friend." Loki's brows rose higher. Thea narrowed her eyes. Her reception of Sif and the Three after her initial reunion with Loki had been markedly cool. "I am sorry for that day. I had no right to speak as I did. I was angry, but it was not your fault. And I should never have doubted you."

Hogun broke in with, "We should never have doubted you."

Fandral nodded. "We were upset about Thor's banishment, but that's no excuse. You're our friend. We…we betrayed you."

Volstagg cleared his throat and sighed before meeting Loki's astonished emerald gaze. "We are sorry, Loki. Please, forgive us for ever doubting you."

Loki hesitated, unsure in the face of this strange and new remorse whether to believe them or not. Why would they feel sorry? What had changed? Why should they believe what he'd said to Thor about the days leading up to his fall from Bifröst? Of course they couldn’t doubt Thea's existence any longer, but that didn’t necessarily mean—

His wife nudged him, a gentle press of her slender elbow against his ribs. It had been too long since he'd felt that small nudge. He turned to Thea, so beautiful in the hallway torchlight. She smiled at him. "Pudding," she murmured.

He chuckled, though the others looked baffled. He knew what she meant: apologies were like pudding; he should always take one when it was offered. So he nodded to Sif and the Three. "Of course. Forgiven." In truth, he was lucky to earn their forgiveness. He knew that.

"Your wife looks quite fetching when tired," Fandral added with a wink. "You should take her where she can get some sleep." From the sly tone, Loki knew sleep was likely the last thing the blond Asgardian thought they'd be doing. But sleep was the only thing on Loki's mind. He wouldn’t allow himself to consider any other possibilities, because the last several times he'd been alone with Thea, he'd hurt her.

Bidding the others good night, Loki and Thea headed for his chambers, Sophie in his arms.

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Loki gazed down at his sleeping daughter curled up in the little trundle-bed that had been brought to his chambers that morning. Via letters and through Thor, Loki and Thea had decided that for the first few days in Asgard, Sophie would sleep in an antechamber attached to Loki's bedroom. That way she could be close to both her parents. Neither Thea nor Loki said this aloud, but both were leery of letting their child too far out of their sight in Asgard just yet. Three guards posted at the doors to Loki's chambers both eased some of that tension and added a different sort to it.

Loki loved his family…but he knew that if they ever believed him to be a danger to Sophie, they would take her away from him. He knew his sanity was still mending. He knew there were potential pitfalls in the future that stood between him and being as stable as he once had been. But he also knew that losing his daughter a second time would destroy what was left of his mind. So Sophie slept in the windowless antechamber, a few small seiðr lights glowing near the floor to hold back the dark.

Emerald eyes drifted over the sleeping child. Sophie snuggled beneath the jade velvet blanket, cuddling Bear. Butterfly sat propped up by Sophie's pillow, and Mini-Hobbes stood guard at the foot of the bed. The dim glow from the seiðr lights barely illuminated the small face.

"She's so beautiful," Loki whispered as Thea slid both her arms around one of his. "I can barely fathom how…how I could be so blessed after all I have done…that she should have survived…that she should be here…"

Thea pressed her forehead against his upper arm. "You saved us. Both of us." Then she gave his arm a tug. "Come on, it's late. We should let her sleep."

He nodded, still gazing at his little one. "Of course. Good night, my little Sophie."

In his bedchamber, Thea went to the green satchel she'd brought from Midgard and hefted it. Loki fought back a sharp, quick stab of fear at the inexplicable thought that she might be leaving. She couldn’t leave. She had to stay with him, he'd only just found her, she couldn't…But then he saw that she only meant to retreat to the bathing room. The snarled knot of tension inside his chest loosened.

She left the door slightly open so she could talk to him while she did…whatever she was doing in there. He went to a clothespress against one wall and flipped it open. It had been a long time since he'd bothered to wear sleeping clothes instead of just falling into bed half-dead from exhaustion in whatever he'd worn that day.

"Do you think Sif and the Three really meant that apology?" Thea asked. Loki heard the twist of crystal gliding against metal, then the tumbling gush of water pouring into a marble sink. There was a small splash. Then his wife added, "Or will they be a problem for us?"

"I don't know," Loki replied, lifting a pair of black sleeping trews from the ebony clothing chest on the floor. He pulled out a matching tunic sparsely embroidered in emerald thread. "Thor will not allow them to hurt us, though. Or our daughter."

Thea said, "I'm not worried about them hurting Sophie. They betrayed you, but I don’t see them targeting a kid. Any kid. Of course, if anyone ever tried to hurt our baby, I'd go after them like a radioactive, rabid mother-hyena suffering from 'roid-rage, but I don't think we need to worry about them like that. But Thor says everyone's still suspicious of you here."

Divesting himself of his formal clothes and tugging on the sleeping trews, he said, "They have their reasons. It has always been so." And he was still half-mad. His sanity was as shaky as a cracked crystal chalice under pressure. Odin and the rest of Loki's family knew that. They had reason to worry.

His wife made a sound of derision. "Whatever. Now that I'm here, they'll realize you're as rockin' as chocolate-cherry cheesecake frozen yogurt. They'll see how much fun you really are." Then her voice grew soft, hesitant. "Speaking of fun…how long has it been?"

He knew what she was asking. "One year, eight months, six days," he murmured. His fingers convulsed in the black material of the sleeping tunic, scrunching it into a ball. "But who is counting?" He added with a flat attempt at humor. One year, eight months, and six days since he'd been able to touch his wife without fearing he might hurt her. One year, eight months, and six days since they'd made love for the last time.

In the short four weeks after, before the invasion, he'd been so afraid to touch her, so afraid to let himself want her. Every time he'd touched her after that, the twistings and fracturing of his mind had incited him to leave bruises when he gripped her wrists or shoulders, draw blood when he kissed her with too much ferocity, bring tears to her eyes when he frightened her with his savagery. A few kisses, a few brief touches were all he'd allowed himself in the short month before he'd gone to Midgard. And now she was here, in his bedchamber. They were alone. And he wanted her.

Long, slender fingers tightened further in the black material bunched in his hands. Loki cleared his throat. "Thea…I expect nothing from you." His eyes fixed on the patterns embroidered in silver and emerald on the dark blanket across his bed. The door to the bathing room swung open in near-silence. He added, "I know the last time we were together, I…I frightened you. You must know I expect nothing. I know it has been a long time." So long, he thought, too long. "I am content with your presence only. To know you're here, safe, is enough."

Fabric rustled behind him. Her warmth seeped into the flesh of his bare back as she drew close. Soft fingertips brushed over his shoulder blade. A tremor shivered through him as her touch seared. He clenched the sleep-tunic so tightly his knuckles turned white as bones. With infinite care, her palm pressed against the space between his shoulders, just slightly to the left, where his heart beat mercilessly back and forth.

"Turn around, Loki," she whispered. But he couldn’t move. He could barely breathe around the jagged clutching in his throat. Panic whispered through his veins and he fought to shove it down. Heat pierced him like a knife when Thea's lips pressed against his left shoulder blade. "Turn around."

Taking a deep breath into lungs gone impossibly tight, he turned. His eyes widened. His mouth fell open. The tunic slipped from suddenly limp fingers as he stared at his wife. He barely processed the words black lace and green ribbons floating across his mind before Thea took his hands in hers, bringing his hands up to cup her face, and his thoughts shut down completely.

Her eyes were impossibly blue, misted with silver, as they roved over his face. He could count every freckle. She pressed her palms to his chest. His heart thundered against her right palm as she stepped just a touch closer so that the thin, ebony robe she wore brushed against him. Her left hand slid up over his chest, over the ridge of his collarbone, to curve at the nape of his neck. Her fingers whispered against the tips of his dark hair. The smallest pressure against the back of his neck had Loki bending his head toward her.

"I love you," he breathed. "Thea, I…I do not wish to…to hurt you, I—"

With a low laugh that slid over him like a touch, she grinned and said, "Ohmigawsh, you paranoid schizophrenic, I love you, too. Now shut up and kiss me." And she pulled his head the rest of the way down so he could cover her mouth with his and lose himself.

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Several hours later, at the makeshift lean-to sheltering the golden, seiðr-fueled lock that kept the Bifröst closed, Heimdall stared out at the cosmos. Dawn would be coming soon; it was perhaps half an hour away. Stars wheeled overhead and below his feet, galaxies expanded across the cosmos. Planets spun in their orbits, whirling around their suns. The Nine Realms carried on the drama of life.

But beyond them, beyond the light of the universe, far beyond the last reaches Heimdall's sight could pierce, he sensed the darkness gathering. Growing. Waiting for the right moment to strike. The Chitauri. He had no doubt of it.

In the Realm of the dökkálfar, the treacherous Algrim and the cruel Malekith bided their time. The Asgardian Gatekeeper had felt their forces massing, though he hadn’t been able to see them. He didn’t know why he could not see them, though. For a moment his mind flitted to Prince Loki within Odin's palace—Loki had learned to shield himself from the Gatekeeper's sight and taught Laufey and a few other Frost Giants to do it, also—and then Heimdall's mind took his sorcerous vision to the green-eyed prince's chambers.

In a small room attached to the main bedroom, Princess Sophie slumbered peacefully, sucking her thumb and cuddling her stuffed bear. That was as it should have been. A small smile curved one corner of Heimdall's usually stern mouth at the sight of the child. There had not been a child in the palace since Hermod and Balder had been young. Now there was one again…and soon, if Princess Bellalyse's behavior earlier that morning was any indication, there would yet be another.

Moving his sight from Princess Sophie, he found Prince Loki in bed, huddled beneath the blankets, though not asleep. Princess Althea lay with him. He pressed his forehead against her collarbone, holding her as if he thought she would disappear at any moment. The princess ran her fingers through the prince's hair.

"It's okay," she whispered. "We're okay, now."

"I still fear this might be some dream," Loki murmured, squeezing his eyes shut. "That I will fall asleep and when I wake, you will be gone. It has happened so many times, Thea."

She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I'm not going anywhere, Loki. Ever." She smoothed her fingers over his cheekbone. "I'm never going to leave you. Not ever. I love you so much. You're stuck with me," she added with a grin that brought an answering smile to the prince's face. "Forever. Like a bad penny. Sorry."

Prince Loki smiled and kissed her. "I love you. I will do anything to protect you, I swear it. Nothing will ever happen to you again." He kissed her once more, deeply, and Heimdall withdrew his sight. No, Prince Loki had not helped Malekith and Algrim. He would never put Princess Althea at risk in such a way. He loved her—needed her—far too much to ever risk her safety, much less the safety of the little princess.

But the dökkálfar were coming. Not tomorrow, nor the day after, nor in the next moon…but they were coming to Asgard. And the Chitauri were by no means finished with the Æsir, either. May the Norns forbid the Chitauri and the dökkálfar ever becoming allies.

Heimdall wasn’t certain what would happen if they ever did…but the thought filled him with a terrible foreboding.

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Morning light crept through the cracks in the curtains of Loki's bedchamber as Thea cuddled against him sleepily. He'd fallen asleep perhaps two or three hours before as dawn had been coming, only to awaken in an icy sweat from a nightmare of blood and screams and an empty bed. No Thea. And when, in the nightmare, he'd gone to find his daughter, the trundle-bed had been empty, too.

But that had been at least half an hour ago. After he'd checked on Sophie—still sleeping—Thea had helped him make absolutely certain that she was right there with him. Now he stroked back her hair as she stretched languidly, contented as a cat. His fingers drifted over her face and she kissed his fingertips. He chuckled softly. When she stretched again, displacing the blankets and giving him a too-tempting view of her bare stomach, he found he couldn’t resist the urge to tickle her.

"Ah!" She squeaked and wriggled, laughing. His fingers danced up and down her ribs so she couldn’t bear to hold still. "No! You stop that! I'll get you back for this!" Smothering her laughter behind her hand, she poked Loki in the chest. "Payback will come, Loki Odinson…Loki?" Thea frowned as Loki stared at his hand, which lay palm-down against her belly. "What? What's wrong?"

"Shhh," he mumbled. He'd felt…something. The faintest echo, as if he were hearing something in the next room and couldn’t quite make it out. Baffled, he focused on that odd stirring echo, following it with a line of seiðr. Was it a spell on Thea? The inexplicable beginnings of innate seiðr? No, that couldn’t be it. So what had he sensed? It was so very faint, almost a ghost…His fingers smoothed over her belly, searching for whatever whisper of magic he'd felt. A flaw in the Bifröst repairs had left some residue, perhaps. But then his palm stopped just over her womb as a slightly stronger wisp of something tickled his seiðr. His mouth fell open. "That is impossible!"

Clearly worried now, Thea pushed upright. "What? What is it?" When he said nothing, only stared at his hand on her belly in utter shock, she shook him by one shoulder. "Um, hello? You can't just do that. You can't be like, 'OMG,' and not expect me to freak out about…chest-busting tentacle things."

Green eyes lifted to her face, shifting with a thousand flavors of hope, panic, disbelief, and wonder. "Thea…you're pregnant."

She jerked back, confused. "What? No, I'm not. I can't be. I haven't had sex with anyone since Sophie was born except you. Last night. I mean, we had sex like, eight times last night, but that was it! Well, and the three times this morning. Mmm, this morning…but yeah, just you! There is no way I'm pregnant."

But Loki smiled, wondering if this were a dream because it was too good to be true. Wondering why the thought terrified him so much that Thea carried…that as of sometime last night, she carried…A flick of power wrapped the small life within her in protective seiðr, just as Loki had done to Sophie when he'd first learned of her. Then he leaned over and kissed Thea, still smiling as fear and joy twined within him.

"He is mine," Loki murmured against her lips. "So new. Barely a few hours old. Only seiðr could have detected it. Thea…you carry our son."

Now it was Thea's mouth that fell open and she stared at him as tears welled up in her eyes. "We're going to have another baby?" She stared down at his hand covering this newest of new life. A single tear spilled over. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I can feel him, his innate seiðr, like a little ghost against my own. I can feel his heartbeat like a hummingbird's wings." He swallowed hard, then grinned at her. "We are going to have a son."

Thea let out a whoop that could have woken the dead and threw her arms around Loki's neck. "Yes! Yes, yes! Awesome! Yes!" She showered kisses over his face, crying, "You are the best chocolate otter-penguin pastry to ever exist in the history of ever! I love you, I love you, I love you! I need blue balloons!" Then she slid out of bed and raced to the satchel on the floor beside the bathing room door.

"What are you doing?" He asked, smiling at the view.

"Getting dressed. I'm hungry and I want to go tell Phil…" She trailed off. Reaching over, she picked up a frothy, black lace thing with green ribbons off the floor and then stopped, just staring at it and the black silk tangled up with it. She shot him a look. "You broke my bathrobe," she said. "And my lace bra." Then she joggled the other black lace thing. "And my underpants. You broke my underpants."

He canted his head. "I may have been a bit…overenthusiastic last night."

She tried to scowl but could only smile. "I'll get you. After I put clothes on."

Which took two minutes. Loki dressed slowly, lazily, feeling stronger and more stable than he had the night before. He'd fallen asleep and woken to find Thea was still there. She wouldn’t disappear. She and Sophie were truly with him at last.

As if thinking of his daughter had conjured her, the doorknob of the antechamber turned and the door swung open. Sophie stood there, rumpled and sleepy, rubbing her eyes. Bear dragged on the floor behind her by one arm. Yawning, she turned to her mother, who was stuffing her feet into a pair of black boots. "Mommy," she mumbled. "Gotta go to bafroom."

Thea pointed. "In there, baby." Sophie stumbled into the privy and closed the door. Loki raised his brows. Thea shrugged. "She's potty-trained. She's fine." As if to illustrate her point, a few moments later there came the sound of running water and then Sophie emerged looking a little more awake. She climbed onto Thea's lap and sort of slumped there. Her small head pressed against her mother's ribs. Thea stroked her hair. "Good morning, sleepy Sophie."

"Moaning," Sophie mumbled. Then her eyes alighted on Loki and she smiled and held out her arms. "Daddy!" Grinning, Loki picked his daughter up and held her to his chest. Sophie cuddled against him. "Moaning, Daddy."

"Good morning, min flicka."

"Guess what, Sophie?" Thea asked, propping her elbows on her knees. The sparkle in her eyes and the grin on her face told Loki exactly what she intended to tell their daughter. "Guess what? Mommy's got a surprise for you."

"A sa'pize?" Sophie echoed, yawning.

Thea nodded. "Now that me and Daddy are together, guess what's going to happen?" Sophie looked blank. "Guess what's going on right now in Mommy's tummy? Can you guess what's in Mommy's tummy?"

Sophie's gaze dropped to her mother's stomach. She frowned. "Bekfist?"

Thea grinned wider. "No, no breakfast."

Sophie stared hard at her mother, as if trying to puzzle it out. Then her eyes widened and she gasped, looking from Loki to Thea, back to Loki, and then at Thea again. Wriggling and bouncing, she cried, "Baby? We has a baby? A baby?"

Thea's eyes shone as she nodded. "That's right. We're gonna have a baby."

"Yay!" Sophie reached for her mother. Thea obligingly scooted closer so that Sophie could be close to both her parents. Chattering excitedly, Sophie cried, "We gonna has a baby. Is a boy? Or girl? I wanna boy! Can we has a boy baby? Pease?"

Loki kissed his daughter's head. "We can absolutely have a boy."

"Yay! Yayayayayay!"

Silvery blue eyes fixed on Loki's emerald gaze and Thea leaned in to kiss his lips very gently. Smiling, she murmured in a voice that seemed to wrap warm fingers around Loki's heart, "Absolutely yay. Are you happy?"

He pressed his forehead to her temple. "Yes. Yes, I'm happy, my love. Absolutely."

"Good. Me, too."

The End

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If you liked "Darkness There, and Nothing…" look for the sequel, "The Edge of Darkest Devotion," followed by "Nor Waves the Cypress…Now Folds the Lily," coming for Christmas 2013.

27 - Lost and Found

The moment she got to the top of the stairs, Thea arrowed not for Sophie's room, but for the room next to it. A small wooden sign, painted with pink letters and yellow flowers, read Ashley's Room. Thea yanked the door open and swept into the room, Thor and Víðarr on her heels. The moment the two little girls—huddled together and hugging each other on a small, low sleigh bed—saw her, they jumped off the bed and scrambled to her, throwing their arms around her legs. Thea knelt and somehow hefted Sophie and Ashley both. Sophie curled her arms around her mother's neck. Ashley wrapped her legs around Thea's waist and her arms circled Thea's neck as well from the opposite side. Both little girls pressed their faces into Thea, crying.

Thor and Víðarr looked around, scanning the room. Besides the small, rounded bookcases against the soft mauve walls, the sleigh bed, a tall white lamp, and a little light sticking out of the wall in the shape of a red-haired fairy in a pink petal-dress, there was nothing. Nothing that could have frightened the girls so much.

But Thea was staring out the window even as she gently bounced her daughter and her niece, a wrinkle forming between her brows as she frowned. When Thor touched her shoulder, she jumped. Sophie and Ashley wept harder. Thea focused on Thor.

"Ashley had a nightmare and got scared," she said over the crying. "Which scared Sophie. But she had a nightmare for a reason." She stared out the window again, which gave the three adults a view of the street. "Something was here. I picked up the tail-end of an old thought as I scanned the area. Whatever it was, it wasn't human." She flicked a glance at Thor. "And I'm feeling…tainted seiðr. Sophie's shields, the ones she puts up around the house, she's connected to them. That might be why she's so freaked out right now—we've figured out that if something pushes on them, it makes her uncomfortable. Makes all of us a little uncomfortable. And she and Ashley are so in tune with each other…like siblings, you know?"

Thor nodded. He did know. He and Loki had such a strong connection, they always had. He'd attributed it to being twins, but finding out Loki had been fostered meant it was simply that the two of them were connected, loved each other, were raised together. And while he wasn’t so close to his other brothers, Thor had always been able to tell when something was wrong with one of them.

"That's probably what gave Ashley her nightmare," Thea muttered. She grimaced when Ashley tightened her grip. "Thor, can you take Ashley for a second?" Without waiting for his answer, Thea swiveled to offer him the four-year-old. Carefully, Thor extracted the little girl from Thea. Ashley wailed until she saw who was holding her. Then she gulped and stared up at Thor with wide, wet eyes.

"Now, then, suetyng," Thor murmured, tucking her in against his side. He'd learned how to hold a child after Balder and Hermod had been born. "Did you have a bad dream, then?" Ashley nodded and scrubbed at her face. More tears leaked from her eyes. "Everything is all right now. Nothing can hurt you while I am here. Understand?" She nodded again. Thor glanced at Thea.

The former mortal had taken the opportunity to soothe her daughter, who now sniffled and hiccupped, letting her head rest against her mother's shoulder. Thea rubbed Sophie's back in soothing circles, still bouncing. "Let's go downstairs, okay, baby?" She murmured. Sophie nuzzled her face against Thea's collarbone. "Okay, let's go downstairs. High-ho, Silver!" Thea added, giving her daughter a slightly harder jounce. Sophie giggled through the last of her hiccupping tears. "Away!"

The five of them made their way downstairs. Cleo had come out to stand at the foot of the stairs, but Thea sent her back to her room to do finish her homework. Thea put Sophie in a pink plastic seat situated on one of the dining room chairs, which had slots for both legs. It gave her the ability to sit at the table, but prevented her from possibly falling out. She and Ashley were unusually quiet as Thea pushed their snack plates in front of them. Ashley didn’t perk up until she took a bite out of one of her sandwich triangles. Then she smiled wanly and started eating with more enthusiasm. Sophie sipped meditatively from her cup of apple juice, watching her mother with solemn green eyes. Thea hoisted herself up on the counter and picked up the spoon she'd used to put the apricot jam on the sandwiches earlier from where she'd set it on a small saucer. She stuck it in her mouth and sucked on it with the same vacant, thoughtful air as Sophie sipped her juice. Suddenly her nose twitched. Ashley looked over, half a sandwich triangle sticking out of her mouth, before turning back to her plate.

"They think we're just standing here not talking." Thea broke the silence. Pulling the spoon from her mouth, she added, "I don't want to scare them. They're freaked out enough as it is. But Thor, Víðarr…I think the Chitauri are looking for us again. Or someone using their technology is. That could be possible, too. I've always thought the little cockroaches had some three-eyed, three-horned, flying purple spy-weasel on Earth somewhere. How else did they get all the human food I liked?"

Víðarr frowned. "The human food?"

Thor's eyes widened. "Yes. When you carried Sophie. The Chitauri always had things you wanted, such as peanut butter and—"

"And candied orange slices," she concluded. "Yeah. I always wondered about that. I told Phil and Director Fury about it, too. They agree that the Chitauri have some kind of spy-thing going on down here. They're keeping their eyes peeled for whatever or whoever it might involve. But why could they possibly want us now?"

"Because Loki is still alive," Thor said quietly. Thea's eyes flashed to his face and she raised both brows. "The Chitauri know he is alive. Not only that, but no doubt they have learned through whatever nefarious means they employ that Loki has been released from prison, that we of Asgard know now of his wife and child. And if we know, and we accept you as kin…perhaps they seek to try their old tricks once more. Perhaps they mean to use you and Sophie as hostages, to force our hand. To force Loki's hand once more."

Thea shook her head. "But that doesn't make any sense. Loki failed them before. You guys defeated him."

The Asgardian prince nodded. "True, but Loki could have escaped at almost any time after his capture by the Avengers. He did not for one reason and one reason only: because he believed you and Sophie were dead, and thus he had nothing left to fight for."

"But then…then why tell him we were dead when we obviously weren't…" Her eyes suddenly widened. Her mouth fell open. "Those jerks. Those…demon-roaches from a leper colony. They couldn’t use us anymore, so they couldn’t use him. We'd escaped…so they broke him by telling him we were dead. Those low-down sons of bi—" She shoved the spoon in her mouth to stifle the profane word poised to leap off her tongue. She snarled something unintelligible around the spoon, then sighed, yanking it out of her mouth. "I need to call Phil, let him know what's going on. But that's so weird."

"What?" Víðarr asked.

Thea frowned. "It's just…well, our dog. He's very territorial and bizarrely smart. He should've noticed those things hanging around here. I mean, whatever was pressing against Sophie's shields was watching our house. Tramp should've given us some kind of alert."

Thor raised an eyebrow. "Tramp?"

She flapped a hand in dismissal. "It's a reference to a movie about a stray dog that falls in love with a cocker spaniel. Sophie loves it. I—" Her words were cut off by the sound of scratching at the kitchen door. Thor and Víðarr tensed, but Thea held up a hand. "Oh. There he is." She twitched her nose, taking down the illusion she'd placed over herself and the two Asgardian warriors as Ashley moved to the door. "Ah-ah! Ashley! What's the rule?"

Ashley hunched her shoulders. "Don't open the door," she murmured.

"Good girl. Hang on, let me check the peephole." Peering through the brass-ringed hole in the door at eye level, Thea smiled. "Well, look who came to see what all the fuss was about." Sliding back the four dead-bolts and unhooking the security chain, Thea opened the backdoor. A massive, dust-gray dog stepped inside, carefully avoiding Ashley as he cleared the door. Warm brown eyes peered up at Thea and the dog whuffed softly. "Hi, Tramp."

"Tamp! Tamp!" Sophie wiggled in her seat, trying to get loose, then huffed. "Mommy!"

"Hang on, Sophie-girl," Thea said, grinning. She lifted Sophie out of the special seat and set her on the floor. "Go give Tramp a hug."

"Tamp!" Sophie rushed to the dog, which sat down on the white tile floor and let the little girl fling her arms as far around his massive body as far as she could while Ashley hugged him around the neck. His tail dusted the floor back and forth. "Tamp, Ashy had a bad dweam."

"Yeah," Ashley murmured, cuddling the dog. "Monsters chased me, Tramp." Almost as if the dog understood, he made a dog-noise of concern and gently licked Ashley's ear. The little girl giggled.

Leaving the girls to the dog, Thea moved back to the two men. Víðarr frowned at the beast. "What sort of dog is that?"

Thea shrugged. "No idea. He's a stray. We call him ours, and we bought him a collar and a tag so he doesn't get picked up by the pound, but he doesn’t actually live here, though he sleeps on our porch sometimes like a hobo. He lives in the park nearby. We just make sure he's got his shots, we take him to the vet four times a year since he lives outside, keep him free of ticks and flees, and we feed him. We'd keep him inside all the time but he doesn't like being cooped up."

"Why do you care for him?" Thor asked.

"He saved Sophie's life," she replied softly. "And Ashley and Cleo's. The three of them were outside a few months ago when one of our neighbors' dogs got loose. The thing was vicious. It eventually got put to sleep, I think. I'm not sure. All I know is the neighbor moved away and we never saw that dog again.

"But it tried to attack the girls. Cleo couldn't get Sophie and Ashley to the house—they were out in the middle of the backyard, at the top of the playground, and the dog wouldn't let them down. Sophie got so scared and she kept backing away whenever the dog would jump at her. She eventually lost her balance and fell. The dog tried to attack her."

Thor's eyes widened and he glanced at Sophie, who was cuddling Tramp. There were no scars from bites. "What happened?"

"Tramp showed up. We'd seen him around the neighborhood, and he was always friendly. Sophie and Ashley would give him treats when they saw him, pet him and stuff. Sophie screamed when the dog lunged for her. I picked all this up from her memories later. I wasn’t here," Thea added bitterly. "I was busy with SHIELD, dealing with that whole mess.

"But Sophie screamed, the dog came at her, and suddenly Tramp just body-slammed him out of nowhere and knocked him back. He got between the dog and Sophie, started snarling and barking. This was before SHIELD decided we probably needed round-the-clock government protection—we've had some trouble, though nothing the boys in black couldn’t handle—or an agent would have dealt with the problem, I think. Anyway, they fought—the two dogs, I mean. Tramp got torn up, but he was okay. Obviously. He chased the other dog off, though. At first Cleo thought Tramp would do something bad to them after the other dog left, but he just came over to Sophie and started smelling her, then he licked her face and got her to stop crying. Sophie named him," she added, smiling at the dog patiently enduring the girls' stroking and fawning. "He's a good dog."

"He is an ugly dog," Víðarr muttered.

Sophie heard this. Pulling away from Tramp, she glared at Víðarr. "Dat's mean, Unca Vyder. Tamp is bootiful."

Thea smiled. "Sophie, Mommy's gonna go make a phone call, okay? Stay here with Tramp and Uncle Thor and Uncle Víðarr, please. You, too, Ashley."

"Can we go outside?" Ashley asked.

Thea opened her mouth, ostensibly to say no, but Sophie touched her cousin's arm. Ashley looked down at the nineteen-month-old, who gazed up at Ashley with big eyes and shook her head. Ashley's eyes grew round. She looked at the closed kitchen door, then squeezed the dog again and pressed her face into his fur. Sophie patted Tramp's head carefully.

The blond Asgardian glanced at Thea, who bit her lip. She sighed. "Sometimes," she whispered, "I think Sophie and Ashley know more about what's going on than we want them to." Thor wondered if Sophie somehow knew instinctively—perhaps because of her uncontrolled seiðr shields—that something dangerous lurked beyond the walls of her house. Loki had always had a preternatural sixth sense for danger, as well, even as a very small child. "Let me go make that phone call." Excusing herself, Thea went into the living room, leaving Thor and Víðarr with the little girls and the dog.

While Thea was on the phone, Ashley and Sophie ate the rest of their snack—except the carrots. Where Sophie devoured her tiny chopped carrots, Ashley fed hers to an all-too-willing Tramp. They were nearly gone before the two men realized what the little girl was doing. When they told her to stop, however, she didn’t throw a tantrum as they expected. She just sighed and said, "Okay." Then ate the last of the carrots herself while Sophie giggled and the dog wagged his tail.

.

Thor and Víðarr stayed until it was time for Sophie and Ashley's bedtime again. This gave them the chance to play with Sophie again—both she and Ashley had insisted on braiding Thor and Víðarr's long hair and adding little, brightly colored plastic clips on the end, which had delighted them through lunch; they'd put the little plastic clips on Tramp, as well, who'd simply yawned and wagged his tail.

When the girls decided they wanted to play dress-up by themselves, it gave Thor and Víðarr a moment to fix their appearance just before Agent Maria Hill and Coulson arrived in response to Thea's call. They learned that the final discussions about Loki's amnesty from the German government had concluded, and that everything was settled in that area. Though it would be unwise to have Loki parading through the streets of New York City where the average citizen might recognize him, he was a free man as far as the Midgardian authorities were concerned.

SHIELD had also decided that if the Chitauri were possibly targeting Thea and her daughter, they would need more than regular SHIELD agents to protect them. At Coulson's urging, Agent Hill called in Captain Steve Rogers and Agent Clint Barton. Thor wasn’t certain that was such a wise thing to do. Barton, the Hawkeye archer, had a grudge against Loki—and rightfully so, all things considered. Could he really be trusted with Thea and Sophie's safety?

But Agent Hill said, "Barton's got a soft spot for damsels in distress who walk on the wild side. One of these days maybe you should ask him how he and Agent Romanoff met. And he's good with little kids. He used to work with the circus."

While they waited for the young captain and the archer to arrive, Thor reminded Thea of Loki's letters. Thea had already read Loki's letter to her, but she needed to read the one he'd written his daughter aloud to Sophie. So just before naptime, with Sophie snuggled into her crib hugging the magical butterfly—Bear was in Thea's lap to keep the singing-spell from activating too soon—Thea had settled into a rocking chair next to the crib holding the letter. Sophie had requested Thor be present, just as before. He leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his broad chest, and watched as Thea reached through the crib bars and smoothed down Sophie's hair.

"Guess what, baby? Mommy's got a surprise for you."

Sophie yawned and wiggled. "A sa'pize?"

"Mmm-hmmm. Guess what?" Thea held up the piece of paper. "Daddy wrote you a letter." Sophie gasped, half-sitting up, but Thea said, "Lie down, honey. You want me to read it to you? Like a bedtime story?"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Then lie down, baby." When Sophie was horizontal, watching her mother with bright eyes, Thea said, "Okay. Here's what Daddy said. You ready?" Sophie nodded, and Thea began to read the letter aloud to her daughter. Thor had to fight not to lean forward in his eagerness. He had wondered ever since getting up that morning what his brother might possibly have written in the letter to his young daughter. He wasn’t certain what sort of man Loki was with Thea, much less with Sophie.

"My dearest Sophie,

My most beloved daughter, I cannot wait to meet you at last. I
have heard so much about you from your Mumma and your Uncle
Thor. They have told me what a sweet girl you are. They told
me you are also very smart. Your Mumma says you can already
count to ten. You must show off for me when I see you. I want
to know all the wonderful things you can do."

Thea broke off to glance at Sophie with a sly smile curving her mouth. Blue eyes dancing, she asked, "Are you gonna show off for Daddy when we see him?"

Sophie nodded. "Yeah. I gonna do it."

Her mother laughed. "Good girl. Okay, where was I? Oh, here we are.

"Your Mumma and Uncle Thor say that you and your bear are
very good friends. I am glad that you like him, and that you like
your tiger. Your Mumma says you also like butterflies. I wanted
to give you a present, so here is your very own butterfly. Hold
her up to the sunshine and say her name and you will get a
special surprise. I hope you like her. I know that nothing will be
as wonderful as Bear, but that is all right. I think you will like
what your butterfly can do."

At this, Sophie held up the butterfly. Its wings shimmered in the sunlight streaming faintly through the curtains of her window. The little girl stared at the stuffed toy for a long moment, as if studying it. Then she smiled and murmured very slowly and carefully, "Budderfwy." At the sound of the word, a rainbow prism of new colors rippled across the surface of the cloth wings, glistening like jewels. Sophie and Thea both gasped. Even Thor had to admit the show of color was quite impressive. Sophie giggled and clapped her hands.

"I like it," she said, hugging it to her cheek. "Is pwetty!"

"That is pretty," Thea murmured, gazing at the butterfly with a wistful expression on her face. Thor was beginning to recognize that look—it meant she was thinking longingly of his brother, wishing for him. "Now where were we? Oh, Sophie, he talks about your pictures."

That caught the little girl's attention. "Pitchers?"

"Mmm-hmmm." Thea cleared her throat and held the letter up a little so her daughter could see the carefully scripted words in Loki's strong hand, penned in green ink so dark it was nearly black.

"Thank you so much for the pictures you drew and painted. They
are very beautiful and I look at them all the time. Did you know
your Mumma gave me pictures of you, too? I can hardly believe
what a big girl you've grown into. I know you will be good for
your Mumma and take care of her until I can see you both.

"Never forget that your Daddy is very proud of you and loves you
very much. I cannot wait to meet you. Be good. I will see you
soon. Love always,

"Daddy"

Sophie smiled at the close of the letter. "I like it," she said decisively, then yawned. She hugged the butterfly, kissing the top of its head. "I like Budderfwy, too." Another yawn, which showcased her tiny white teeth. Thor realized she only had three or four molars. No wonder Thea had cut her food up so finely for her wake-up snack. "Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"I wanna do letter," Sophie mumbled. "For Daddy."

Thea bit her lip and closed her eyes, bending her head. Thor wondered if she were struggling to hold back tears. She raised her head after a moment and nodded to her daughter. She blinked rapidly; Thor saw her eyes gleamed wetly. "You know, sweetie, I think that's a great idea. You're so smart. We'll write him a letter after you get up from your nap, okay?"

"'Kay," Sophie murmured, eyes drifting closed. At that, Thea pushed Bear through the bars of the crib. Sophie found him without having to look and pulled him to her chest, snuggling him. "Nigh-nigh, Mommy."

"Goodnight, Sophie. I love you."

"Love you…too…"

.

Thea took some time during Sophie's nap to reread Loki's letter and write her own in response. Thor, bless him, left her alone in the den, going to talk to Captain Rogers and Agent Barton, who'd arrived during the reading of Loki's letter to Sophie. Now Thea sank into her desk chair in the den, switched on the desk lamp, and opened the three-page letter from her husband, trying to keep from crying as her eyes traced over the words.

"Althea, my dearest, my love,

"I, too, am at a loss for words. I never expected to know peace
again, never expected that you could have survived what the
Chitauri did to you. I sensed such pain, such terror…I never
thought I would see you again. And now Thor tells me you are
alive, and well, and that our daughter is alive also. Alive and
healthy and happy. Now I have a letter—an entire box of
letters—when I never thought to receive another sweet word
from you in this life. Now I have the chance to see our
daughter, to see you again…it is more than I ever believed
possible. More than I ever dared dream.

"I have read your letters, älskling, and they are filled with news
of our child. She is so much more than I ever believed possible.
So bright, so clever. I thought it impossible to love her more
than I did when you carried her, but it seems I was wrong. She
is beautiful, Thea. So beautiful. I have watched the recordings
of her over and over again, enchanted by her. She is so happy.
She has your laugh—joyous, carefree, infectious. The way her
eyes light up when she laughs reminds me so much of you. Yet
it is so strange that I see some of my own family in her. My
mother's grace. Thor's determination. The twins' gentleness.
Tyr's reckless courage. Víðarr's humor. She is a wonder. I only
wish I could have seen her grow into the bright, happy child she
is now. I, too, cannot wait until we are reunited. I have missed
you and Sophie more than I ever thought possible. My heart has
been hollow and dead in my chest until Thor brought me the
recordings of you and our daughter…and only then did I dare to
hope a little.

"Then I read your letters and watched the rest of the recordings.
I could scarcely believe it. I could scarcely understand that,
where I had thought the world empty and cold because I
believed you gone from me forever, I now had the hope of
finding you once more. Of being with you once again. My love, I
will wait for you, and I will reforge the Bifröst with my own two
hands if I must, if that is what it takes to reunite us. I will do
whatever it takes, Thea. I promise you.

"I wish Thor had not told you of my attempt to end my life. I
would have spared you that knowledge if I could. Please
understand…for many months now, I have known my foster
family wished me far from Asgard. I knew my former friends
wished me dead or gone. I had nothing left to fight for, to live
for, but to die…to die and find you again…that would have made
it all bearable. Even if I was only allowed a glimpse of you, even
if you despised me and cast me aside, it would have been worth
it. I would have at least been able to see you one last time. And
in my mind I so often heard you calling to me, urging me on,
demanding justice for our child. Madness, perhaps, but it made
sense. I had failed you, failed our daughter. Why should you not
demand justice for my crimes? And if I paid with my blood and
my life, and then came before you, perhaps I would have earned
your forgiveness at last for all my sins against you.

"Yet you have forgiven me already. Forgiven me for the invasion,
for the innocent blood on my hands. Just as you forgave me for
giving the Chitauri leverage against you when I got you with
child. Althea, my love, how could you forgive me? Through my
selfishness I endangered you, endangered our little one. Why do
you never place the blame with me, Thea? Why do you always
forgive? And I, selfish as I am, will take that forgiveness, even
though I do not deserve it, even though I have not earned it.

"Verily, älskling, if you bid me to die, I will dare even death in
order to do as you ask. I would do anything for you. Yet you
have bidden me to live, my beloved, and so I will live, and I will
see you again. Until then, come to me in my dreams, and then
by day I shall be strong and well until the night, when I can see
your face again in slumber.

"My Althea, I miss you. I long for you. You haunt me, in sweet
dreams and dark nightmares as well as in waking. Every time I
close my eyes, I see your face in my mind. If I concentrate, I
smell the scent of the lotion you always used—althea blossoms
and white orchids. I hear your laugh, see your smile. And in the
deepest part of the night, if I clear my mind of everything else, I
can still taste your kiss. Does memory compare to reality?
Perhaps when I see you again, when you come back to me, I will
know the answer. Until then I cling to the only pure memories I
have left—my memories of you and of Sophie.

"Thor seems enchanted by her, you know. Almost as enchanted
as I am. I wonder what my other brothers will think when they
see her. What will she think of them? And my mother and Odin—
what will they think of our little one? Will they adore her as
much as I do? Can they possibly? She is such a darling. Such a
treasure. I have read all your letters a dozen times over already
and wish I had more so that I could read more about her. Tell
me of our daughter, Thea. Tell me about Sophie. Fill my mind
with her so that I can know her. I can yet scarcely fathom the
miracle of her. She is just so beautiful…just like her mother.

"When I think of you, my love—of your beauty, your heart, your
soul, your mind—I am always reminded of that poem you love so
much. 'There is a lady sweet and kind, was never face so
pleas'd my mind. I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her
till I die.' You once told me that you would love me forever.
That I was the one you'd been searching for all your life, that
your soul looked into mine and said, 'Ah. So there you are.' It
felt the same for me that day…but my dearest, I am not the
man you once knew. I am not the man you knew, the man you
loved. That man is gone, Althea. The Chitauri burned him away,
turned him to ash and charred bones. In his place is only…only
myself. I offer myself to you, my love, with the feeble hope that
you will love me now as you loved me then. I know I haven't the
right to ask it of you. I know that I have done so many things,
committed so many sins. I know that so much blood stains my
hands. Yet your letters give me my first glimpse of hope that
you could love me yet. Is it true, Thea? My Althea, is it possible
you could yet love me as I am?

"You, too, have changed, my dearest. Your spark is not
diminished, but it has been tempered. You are yet the valkyrie
who stole my heart, but a shadow hangs over your head. Am I
the cause of that shadow? Is it the blackness of my sins that
dim the light in your beautiful eyes, or is it the absence of me? I
would erase that shadow if I could, my love. What can I do to
bring your light back? Simply ask it of me, and it is done.

"Do you remember that song you used to sing to me? Not often,
only when things seemed darkest. Only when you allowed me
those rare glimpses of your innermost fear and doubt. I can still
hear your voice, soft and sweet, with that soft tenor of sorrow
beneath it.

"'Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Will you still love me when I've got nothing but my aching soul?

I know you will. I know that you will.'

"I will, you know. I do. I will always love you. But then, you
have always known my heart better than I could myself.
Somehow you saw into me, saw past the walls of ice to my soul
with such ease. Perhaps because you took the time to know me.
Perhaps because I let you. I do not know. It does not matter
now. But I never thanked you for seeing me so clearly, Thea.
Allow me to do so now—thank you. Thank you, my love.

"Älskling, I love you yet, and will until the end of eternity, until
the coming of Ragnarok. Until I die, and even beyond that, I will
love you, dearest. Always. Forever. When I thought you dead,
torn irrevocably from me, I thought myself doomed to wander
the rest of this life alone, cursed to half a life without you. Yet
now you are returned to me in some small measure, soon to be
with me again. I will always be grateful to my brother for that.
For giving me back my life. For restoring the pieces of my
shattered heart.

"Farewell, my beloved. So many words crowd my mind, surging
up in my throat, demanding to be spoken…but the hour is late,
and tomorrow I must begin repairs on the Bifröst, so that I may
be with you and our little Sophie soon. I miss you still, my
Althea. I count the days, the hours, the minutes until we are
together again. And until we are, until I can look upon your face
and know you are real, that you are more than cruel phantasm
birthed by sorrow, I remain yours wholly, eternally,

"Loki"

She touched his name on the page, sighed. Swiped at her eyes when she felt a few tears escape. Sighed again. She cried so often these days. Would she embarrass herself by sobbing her eyes out when she saw him again? Probably. She smiled then. Four days. She would see Loki in just four days. The thought made her heart pound. It had been so long since she'd seen him. More than a year. How had he changed? She had changed; she knew that. Would it bother him?

Thea grabbed her notebook from the desk drawer. She had a letter to write. She could panic about how she looked later. If her sisters had anything to say about it—and Joie and Cleo had both told her they were taking her shopping tomorrow for something nice to wear for the "reunion," as her family was calling it, and they had every intention of dragging her to the salon the day after to guarantee she looked gorgeous—so if her sisters had anything to say about, Thea would look spectacular. She needed to stop thinking about it and write her letter. And then when Sophie woke up, she'd let her daughter dictate her first ever letter to her father.

She hoped Loki would like it.

.

Thor and Víðarr bid the young captain farewell that night after the children were put to bed. Thor carried another box of letters, recordings, and pictures from Thea—this one included something called "photographs," small magically lifelike portraits and paintings—as well as a small, green velvet drawstring bag and the letter dictated by Sophie. He knew his brother would love that. With a salute to the taciturn Barton, who hadn’t made his opinions clear one way or the other about this newest assignment, Thor and Víðarr caught the currents of seiðr that would take them to Asgard.

"I think you are getting used to this, Brother," Víðarr said cheerfully as Thor fell to his knees near the edge of the Bifröst. He almost dropped the box, just barely managing to hang onto it with fingers that tingled with pins and needles. "That is twice now you haven’t retched."

The crown prince drew a struggling breath through restricted lungs. "Your praise is noted," he said sourly, but smiled when Víðarr offered him a hand in getting to his feet. Víðarr clapped him on the back.

"Go give our brother this latest gift. He will…Thor." The younger prince shook his brother's shoulder and gestured with one hand. "Thor, look!" Puzzled, the crown prince turned to see what his brother pointed at…and froze, shock rendering him immobile.

Loki stood on the very edge of the Bifröst, the wind ruffling his long black hair. He'd had a haircut. Mother's doing? Gone were the ragged, stringy black locks. In their place was the short, neatly trimmed style from before his fall from the Rainbow Bridge. His loose green tunic and black trews were half-covered by one of his emerald, sable, and gold coats. The crystalline Bridge lit up beneath his black boots as he strode back and forth along the shattered edge, which appeared to have smoothed out quite a bit. Was the Bridge remnant longer, or was it Thor's imagination? No. No, it was longer. Several yards longer, Thor realized when he looked toward the city of Asgard. They stood at the edge, but the edge was a great deal further away from the city than it had been when he'd left that morning.

Heimdall walked with Loki, bending to listen as the fostered prince—tall, but still a good deal shorter than the massive Gatekeeper—murmured something to him. Loki gestured to a gleaming object being hammered at by two squat, burly svartálfr, and Thor realized the swarthy dwarves were repairing the golden "lock" that would hold Heimdall's gold-hilted greatsword when the Bifröst was fully completed. The Gatekeeper nodded at whatever Loki had said, then turned and gestured to Thor and Víðarr. Loki looked over at them. His eyes lit up when he saw the box in Thor's hands. Smiling—a true smile, barely shadowed; a smile Thor hadn’t seen in over three years—Loki jogged toward them.

Thor grinned and raised his hand in greeting. This felt right. It felt normal. This was how things should have been between him and Loki all this time. This was how things had been, once. He strode to meet his brother.

"Thor," Loki said, and Thor marveled at how his brother had changed just from this morning. He'd had some sleep, the crown prince realized. Real sleep, it seemed like. Well, the dungeons were closer to Odin's Treasure Room, and thus the tesseract. His chambers were farther away. Distance could only help. And he'd been working with seiðr, something Loki loved. "What news from my lady?" His eyes dropped to the box, with the small velvet bag and Sophie's letter carefully fixed to the top.

His twin brother handed the green-eyed prince the box. "Good news from her," Thor said, smiling. "More letters, if you have time to read them." Loki gave him a look, as if to say, Don't be stupid. Of course I have time. "Photographs this time, as well. More recordings. And a letter dictated by a young, green-eyed princess of our mutual acquaintance.

The look in Loki's eyes almost stopped Thor's heart. Loki swallowed. His voice came strained when he murmured, "From Sophie?" Thor nodded. "And what is that?"

Thor grinned. "You ought to know. You asked for a token from your wife; there it is."

Green eyes snapped wide and Loki snatched up the green velvet bag, handing the box back over to Thor. Thor saw his fingers tremble as he fumbled at the knotted gold cord that held the bag closed. Finally managing to open it, the prince reached his long fingers into the bag. The Asgardian noticed Loki's knuckles were still scraped and scabbed, the shallow wounds angry and red. Then his brother was pulling a small, slender brown braid perhaps ten inches long—tied at both ends with a length of slim, emerald satin ribbon—from the bag. The scent of flowers drifted up as well to tease the two brothers' noses. Loki brought the braid to his nose and inhaled the floral perfume.

"White orchids," he whispered, eyes drifting closed. "Althea blossoms. Surtur's blade…" His eyes fluttered open and he stared at the length of silky hair, rubbing it gently between his thumb and foremost two fingers. "It's hers."

"Did I not swear so?" Thor asked, voice gentle. "She lives, Brother. And you will see her and your daughter in but three days."

Loki's thin lips twitched into an incredulous smile as he gazed lovingly at the braid. "It's hers," he repeated in a whisper. "I can scarcely believe…" Then he frowned and looked into the bag. "What is…" Thor frowned as well when his brother reached in and pulled out a slip of thin, lined paper. Blue ink filled several lines with delicate, feminine, but casual handwriting. Suddenly Loki grinned. "Oh, my clever Althea." Thor peered at the written words on the paper.

"To Amarantha

"'Amarantha, sweet and fair,
Ah, braid no more that shining hair!
As my curious hand or eye
Hovering round thee, let it fly!

"'Let it fly as unconfined
As its calm ravisher the wind,
Who hath left his darling, th' East,
To wanton o'er that spicy nest.

"'Every tress must be confest,
But neatly tangled at the best;
Like a clew of golden thread
Most excellently ravell'd.

"'Do not then wind up that light
In ribbands, and o'er cloud in night,
Like Sun's early ray;
But shake your head, and scatter day!'

"Richard Lovelace"

Tied to the bottom of the paper was a much smaller braid, half the width of Loki's little finger and about that long, also tied with emerald ribbon. But these baby-fine, wispy locks were black as sable, black as Loki's own hair. Loki's breath caught in his throat when realization struck. He touched Sophie's braid with a gentle fingertip, then sighed, the sound heavy with longing.

"Three days cannot come fast enough," he murmured.

.

And so the next three days progressed in a similar manner. Thor would stay with Loki long into the night, watching recordings of Sophie playing baseball; riding the flat, three-wheeled vehicle known as a beginner tricycle while Ashley rode her own, much bigger tricycle; making cookies with her mother, both of them covered in flour; playing dress-up with the costumes Thea's sister Joie liked to collect; reading picture books with Thea; playing with Tramp. Every morning, Thor and Víðarr would take another letter to Thea, visit with Sophie, and talk to Coulson and Steve about what progress might have been made concerning whomever or whatever was watching Thea's house. Thea would have another small box of letters and recordings for Loki, and Sophie would have another dictated letter; the little girl was delighted by the fact that she and her father wrote letters to each other.

Twice Thor and Víðarr watched a movie with Sophie and Ashley—one day it was about a penguin in search of a magical engagement pebble, and another day it was about the adventures of a talking stuffed bear in a red shirt—while Thea went out with her sisters. The first time Thea left, she returned with pink and crimson bags full of something her sister Joie took from her and hurried with upstairs. The second time, the day before the predicted completion date of the Bifröst, Thea returned looking…different, somehow. Thor couldn’t put his finger on it.

"Your hair is different," Víðarr commented.

Thea smiled and nodded. "I got it trimmed. Joie said I looked like Sophie had taken a weed-whacker to it. Do you think…" She hesitated, touching the tumbling brown locks that reached nearly to her waist with nervous fingers. "Do you think Loki will like it?"

Thor scoffed. He had courted enough women to know the proper response here. "If he doesn't, he is blind."

Thea laughed.

And then at last, the day finally came.

.

Loki's calculations had been one-hundred-percent accurate. The Bifröst was finished. Heimdall had tested it just that morning. Thor was already dressed, his üru mail gleaming in the spring sunlight, his best red cape freshly cleaned and showing bright against the silver armor. This was an occasion; he would dress like it.

He would be the one to bring Thea and Sophie to Asgard. Though Loki had his amnesty, it was a tricky proposition, bringing him to Midgard. He wasn’t yet completely sane. Thor had no fear of him harming Thea or their daughter, but anyone else…especially as SHIELD had insisted on having a presence at this meeting, and Coulson, Steven, and the other Avengers would be there. Nicholas Fury wanted Loki offered a place on the team as soon as he'd been reunited with Thea. Thor suspected that Fury believed that was the best moment to approach the Frost Giant, since he would be so happy at seeing his wife.

On top of that, everyone else wanted to meet the by-now legendary Princess Althea Odinson, wife of Prince Loki, and see the daughter of Loki Silvertongue. The idea of Loki, of all people, with a child of his own…Gossip had reached every corner of the Asgardian court by now. Rumors ran rampant. Some said Sophie was a demon-child, an abomination, the dread spawn of Asgardian and Jötunn blood which should never have been birthed. Frigga had put a stop to that rumor very quickly. Others said the child was a trickster already, just like Loki, despite her tender years. Many doubted the child's paternity—this Thor had heard from Sif and the Three—because of claims that Loki lacked the natural appetites of a man and couldn’t perform with a woman, being ärgr. Sif had put a stop to that.

Thor had told Thea that the court was curious about Sophie, as well as about Loki's wife herself. Thea had lifted her chin, eyes flashing, and said, "Okay, then. Bring it on." Then she grinned and added, "Wait until they get a look at the love goddess. They'll worship her with their thoughts…which is only proper."

Standing at the door to the impromptu Bifröst Gatehouse—a hastily erected shack surrounding the golden "lock" for Heimdall's massive sword, which would activate the Rainbow Bridge—Thor turned to Loki.

His brother had gained back his healthy color over the last few days. His eyes no longer gleamed feverishly, and his torn mouth and the scrapes on his fingers had mostly healed. He'd put on a little weight, as well. He no longer looked like a starved scarecrow. Good. If Thea had seen him even a week ago, she would have done her best to bring Asgard crumbling to the ground, thinking the Asgardians had been abusing Loki. Thor hadn’t seen Thea's gifts in the heat of a battle, but he was unsure he even wanted to.

"We shall be back within half an hour at most, Loki," Thor assured him, gripping his little brother's shoulder. "I promise, I will bring your lady and your daughter to you." With a reassuring smile, the prince added, "Thea will be most glad to see you again. Now go on. You should get ready if you wish to impress your wife."

Loki scoffed, but it was without malice or anger. "Impress her." He shook his head. "How shall I impress her, exactly? None of my clothes even fit."

Thor had to agree with that. Even Loki's smallest tunic still hung loose on his slender frame, made even smaller from how he'd been starving himself over the last nineteen months. But Thor knew Frigga would take care of his little brother. He clapped Loki on the shoulder. "Talk to Mother," he said. "She'll look after you. And do not stare at your reflection in the mirror for an eternity like a vainglorious peacock."

Loki took a good-natured swipe at his brother, a rueful chuckle rumbling in his chest. "I? I am not the one who spends hours a day brushing my long, flowing golden locks or polishing my feathers."

"Mmm, because polishing your cow-horns is so much better."

"First of all, they are goat-horns. Secondly, Thea always said my helmet was quite handsome and…what was the word she used?"

"Bovine?" Thor hazarded.

His brother shot him a mock-affronted look. "Virile."

Thor choked. Eyeing his brother, he muttered, "No she did not. She did not use that word."

Loki smirked. "Yes. She did. Now go," Loki murmured, his expression softening as he looked toward the Bifröst and Heimdall. "Go, Thor, and bring my beloved back to me."

.

Thea was fidgeting with impatience as the Bifröst beam faded away from Thor, leaving him standing in the midst of the Asbrü signature carved into the ground in front of him by the seiðr-fueled Bridge. Tony, Banner, and Steve stood with Coulson on the porch, but Thea stood further out near the driveway, Sophie in her arms. Her dark hair had been elegantly styled, and she wore a shimmery green tunic over black trousers and boots. Sophie wore a green dress with a lace collar and ruffles. Thor smiled. When the three of them met with Loki, they would match. He wondered if Thea had done that on purpose. Was she making a statement? We belong to the green-eyed prince. Perhaps.

"My sister," Thor said as he approached her. Smiling at his niece, he added, "Sophie." He raised a hand in greeting to his comrades. "My friends! The Bifröst is repaired at last." Dropping his gaze back to Thea, his smile widened. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Time to bring you home, Sister. You and your daughter."

"Uh, we're coming too," Tony called, coming down the porch steps. "Just so we're clear."

Sophie wriggled in her mother's arms, reaching for the Man of Iron. "Tony! Tony, Tony, Tony! Tony!"

The mortal warrior made a face, clearly discomfited by the child's enthusiasm, but a smile tugged irresistibly at his lips all the same. He lifted a hand and brushed Sophie's cheek. "Hey, kiddo. You look real pretty." Sophie beamed before snuggling against her mother. "So, yeah, we're tagging along. Wanna see the reunion between Miss Memory here and the Rock of Ages."

Raising an eyebrow, Thea asked, "What do you expect to happen? Fireworks?"

Tony shrugged. "Nick asked us to 'observe.' He used the word 'observe' because it sounds less voyeuristic than 'watch,' and he doesn’t want to come across as a major creeper," he added faux-earnestly. "Besides, I haven’t seen Loki in almost two years. I'm curious."

"About the effect of suffering on a Frost Giant?" Thea asked softly. Tony gave her a look and she sighed. "Sorry. That's probably Nick's reason. It's just annoying; he still has some doubts, which is just dumb. That’s why he wants you guys to tag along. But that's okay. I've gotten kind of fond of you three."

Banner laughed as he and Coulson came to join the group. Steve remained on the porch. Thor frowned. "Is the captain not accompanying us?"

Tony and Bruce exchanged an amused glance and Tony said, "He's waiting for Joie." Thor cocked his head, baffled. Tony grinned. "There's a little something-something going on there." Banner opened his mouth and the other man added, "You think I'm just guessing but don't act like you haven’t noticed the hurr-durr-durr effect she's got on everybody's favorite Capsicle. She…there she is."

Thor and the others watched as Thea's sister came out onto the porch. Steve smiled and drew close. No one could hear what the two adults were saying, but everyone noticed how Ashley squirmed in between the two of them and took the captain's hands, twisting back and forth as she stared up at him with solemn eyes. And no one missed the little girl's delighted squeal when Steve bent down and hoisted her into the air, giving her a little toss that made her laugh hysterically. Bringing her back close to his chest allowed Ashley to lean in and kiss his cheek.

Then he was setting her on the porch and she was racing toward the group, calling for her cousin. Sophie looked down. Tapped Thea's shoulder. Thea set her on the ground. The two little girls hugged, kissed each other on the cheek.

"You always like me best, right?" Ashley asked. Sophie nodded and hugged her cousin again. "An we be best friends forevers, right?"

"Yeah. All da time," Sophie replied. "Love you, Ashy."

"Love you, too. Come back for my burfday. An Fourth of July an Halloween an Thanksgiving an Christmas an…an…" A tear leaked from one of Ashley's big, brown eyes. The little girl sniffled, swiping at her face. "Bye, Sophie."

Sophie wiped at her eyes with one fist. "Bye-bye, Ashy."

"Hey," Thea said, bending down and putting her hands on her knees. "You guys are gonna see each other. Don't cry. Everything's going to be okay. We'll come back and visit in a couple weeks, okay, Ashley? Me and Sophie and Sophie's daddy, too, if he can come. Okay?" Ashley nodded, still looking woeful. Thea slipped an arm around her shoulders. "And Steve will be back in a couple days. Okay? Come on, gimme a kiss." Ashley gave Thea a peck on the cheek. "I love you. Did you say bye to Grandpa?" Ashley nodded, slipping her fingers around Coulson's. He smiled down at her. Thea asked, "What about Steve? Did you say bye to Steve?"

Steven, approaching with Joie, smiled and said, "No, ma'am, she did not." Ashley covered her face with her hands, peeking at Steve from between her fingers. "What's with the shy act all of a sudden?" He heaved a melodramatic sigh. "I guess no one wants to say goodbye to me—"

Ashley lunged for Steve's legs and hugged him. "You come back in two days," she ordered imperiously. She held up two fingers. "This many days."

The captain offered her a lazy salute. "Yes, ma'am. I'll do my best."

Tony nudged Bruce. "I told you. The kid's got him whipped and Joie thinks it's hysterical." To Ashley, he added, "See ya around, midget." Ashley smiled, hanging from Steve's wrist by both hands. "Now let him go."

With a sigh, Ashley released Steve. Joie picked her up before she could attempt to latch onto him again. "Okay, Thea," Joie said. "You guys got everything? You got Bear, Butterfly, and Mini-Hobbes?" Thea nodded, hefting the canvas pack slung by a single strap over her left shoulder. Joie kissed Coulson on the cheek. "Bye, Daddy. Watch out for Thea and Sophie, okay?"

"I will," Coulson replied. "They'll both be fine, though. Loki'll be there to look after them. I'll be back in a couple of days at the latest, all right? Keep your mom away from the freezer. There's a chocolate silk pie in there that Cleo got for her. It's for tomorrow night if I'm not back yet."

Joie nodded. "Will do."

Coulson kissed Joie on the cheek, murmuring, "Bye, hon. Bye, Ashley. You look after your mom, okay?"

Ashley nodded. "Okay. Bye, Auntie Thea! Bye, Grandpa! Bye, Steve! Bye, people!"

Thor grinned at the child's final farewell and led the group toward the Asbrü circle. Once they were gathered in the center of it, Thor checked the street. No one around liable to run into the circle and be swept up by the Bifröst. The houses on this street were spread out, and those who were outside had already witnessed Thor's arrival and were now eyeing the Asgardian warily. Thor looked up to the cloudless spring sky.

"Heimdall," he called. "Open the Bifröst!"

Dark clouds suddenly thickened overhead, appearing as if from nowhere, swirling like the beginnings of a tornado. A brilliant light broke through the storm-dark clouds, shooting toward the ground. Just as the shifting, shimmering light of the Bifröst was perhaps two or three feet away from the tops of their heads, a dusty gray form shot out from behind the house and bolted into the midst of the group about to be hit by the Bifröst light. Before anyone could say anything or even react, the beam of light slammed down on the ground, whisking the entire group—including Tramp—to Asgard.

.

"The dog came with us," Tony said for the fifth time. Everyone stared at Tramp, who sat on the Bifröst with his tongue lolling out, wagging his tail, while Sophie cooed at him, nuzzling his neck with her face. In case no one had heard him, the Man of Iron added, "The dog came with us."

Thea rubbed her temples. "Tramp, you scoundrel. Well, we can't send him back now."

Tony eyed her. "We could."

"Sophie might have hysterics," Thea mumbled. Then, frowning, "Actually, probably not. But still, why send him back? At least this way she won't be lonely while she makes some friends. And this way she's got an extra guard or whatever." Before Tony or anyone else could argue, Thea whirled toward Thor. "Where's Loki?"

Thor shook himself. He'd been startled by the presence of the scruffy hound. Now he focused on the moment and nodded. "Yes, of course. Loki. You wish to see him. He is with the rest of our family in…" He trailed off, realizing he didn’t remember where he was supposed to bring his brother's wife and child. Thor turned the Gatekeeper, who watched them all with impassive golden eyes. "Heimdall, where is my brother?"

Heimdall flicked his coppery-gold gaze to the crown prince. "Loki is in the throne room with the rest of your family, my prince…as well as Lady Sif and the Warriors Three."

Beside Thor, Thea stiffened. "Lady Sif and the Three are there, too?"

The Gatekeeper nodded. "Yes, Princess. I believe they wish to bear witness to the reunion between you and Prince Loki."

"I'll just bet they do," Thea muttered. She looked to Thor. Forced a smile. "Let's go, then."

The walk along the repaired Bifröst took a little longer than Thor expected because Sophie was fascinated by the way the crystalline Bridge lit up in a rainbow prism whenever she put her feet down. She danced along the Rainbow Bridge toward the city, her little black shoes tapping against the hardened seiðr. The adults surrounded her to make sure she didn’t inadvertently stumble and fall off.

Once they reached the city, two open-topped horse-drawn carriages awaited them. Thea knew how to ride a horse, but Sophie was very young, and none of the others except Steven knew how to ride. Thor helped his brother's wife into the carriage, handing Sophie in after. Thor made a point to ride in the carriage with Thea, Sophie, and Coulson (with Tramp sprawled at Thea's feet). Steve, Tony, and Bruce rode in the other carriage. As they wound their way through the sprawling city streets, Asgardians stopped on the sides of the roads or came out of their homes and shops to catch a glimpse of Prince Loki's wife and daughter.

Thea kept a polite but warm smile on her face. Sophie peered over the sides of the carriage and waved at people they passed. Thor grinned when some of the Asgardians waved back with kind smiles. Sophie laughed and clapped when several maidens and children threw flowers. Thor caught a pale blue wildflower from the air, handing it to his niece, who smelled it and bounced up and down in delight. Thea had asked that their arrival not be made a big event, so there was no parade, no musicians, nothing extravagant. But some of the people of Asgard felt her arrival was something to celebrate, and so they threw flowers and waved, clapped and cheered sporadically. Luckily the noise was such that it didn't upset Sophie or hurt her ears. Rather, it seemed to excite her, though Thor noticed a hot blush flooding Thea's face.

Upon arriving at the palace, Thor helped Thea and Sophie from the carriage. The prince noticed Thea's eyes darting around. Realized she searched for Loki, almost as if she couldn’t help herself. Coulson lifted Sophie into his arms. The little girl twined her arms around her grandfather's neck and laid her head on his shoulder. The grandness of the palace seemed to cow her, bringing back the shy child Thor had first met. To the prince's surprise, Víðarr and Bellalyse were waiting at the palace doors to greet them.

Thea relaxed a little at the sight of Víðarr. The Avengers all called greetings to the prince and shook his hand when they came together. Víðarr introduced his wife to them, and Tony and Bruce both kissed her hand. Steve did a sort of half-nod, half-bow, murmuring, "Ma'am." Coulson nodded to her, but couldn’t shake hands, as he held Sophie in his arms. Then Bellalyse hugged Thea.

"You have no idea how good it will be for the queen and I to have another woman in the palace to deal with these…overgrown boys," Bellalyse murmured, smiling as she drew back from Thea. "And I have always wanted a sister. I was stuck with nothing but brothers for the longest time, and then I was saddled with even more when I married this one." She offered Víðarr a playful nudge. Víðarr batted his eyelashes at her and Thea laughed. Then Bellalyse focused on Sophie. "Hello, little one."

Sophie blinked solemnly at the beautiful blond woman in the silver dress. "Hi," she whispered, then pressed her face into Coulson's shoulder. Tramp placed himself squarely between the child and the Asgardian princess. Bellalyse cocked her head and stared down at the dog.

"You're name is Tramp," she murmured. Sophie picked her head up, eyes huge in her face. "You belong to Sophie. You are her protector." The dog whuffed and wagged his tail. "That is why you came to Asgard." The dog whuffed again. Thea stared at him. Bellalyse turned to Thea. "That is no ordinary hound," she said.

"I guess not," Thea mumbled. Then again, the world was crawling with mutated Midgardians. Why not mutated hounds or whatever Tramp really was? He sincerely wanted to protect Sophie and Thor knew that was all Thea cared about. Thea shook herself. "Víðarr, Bellalyse…can we see Loki? Please?"

Bellalyse smiled in understanding. "Of course," she murmured, voice sympathetic. "Come along, we will take you to him."

They strode through the halls in a group, Víðarr and Thor leading the way. Bellalyse stayed beside Thea, protective as a mother hen. Sophie gazed around her with her mouth clamped tightly around her thumb. The corridors echoed with the sound of footsteps, Tramp's nails clicking on the stone floors, and the little girl's thumb-sucking. She held Bear, whom Thea had retrieved from the backpack during the carriage ride, tight to her chest.

At the doors to the throne room, which were flanked by two guards, Víðarr and Thor paused. Thor turned to Thea, who stared at the doors with wide eyes. She looked a trifle pale. She swallowed. Thor saw her pulse fluttering in her throat. Reaching out, he took her hand. Her gaze jumped almost frantically from the double-doors to Thor's face.

"Sister," he murmured gently. "Althea. Loki will be overjoyed to see you. He has missed you terribly these last months. Longed for you, for this day. And no matter what you fear may happen this day, you should know that I will always stand by you…and by Loki. And you must know Loki loves you."

After a moment, she nodded slowly. "Yeah. I know that. Okay." She took a deep breath, let it out. "Let's do this."

Thor nodded to Víðarr, who gestured to the guards. Moving with military precision, the Asgardian warriors flanking the door thrust the doors open wide, revealing Odin on his throne, Frigga seated on hers, and the other four sons of Odin—Tyr, Loki, Balder, and Hermod—standing in front of them, with Sif and the Three ranged on one side.

Then Thea walked into the room.

.

Thor was watching Loki closely the moment Thea entered the throne room. Green eyes widened as Loki straightened up, drawing in a sharp breath through barely parted lips. He took a single, jerking step forward. Thea froze in the doorway. Her shoulders rose and fell as she sucked in a breath just as sharp as Loki's. She managed a halting step in Loki's direction. Loki took a second step. A third…and a fourth. His hand rose slowly from his side, almost in supplication. Thor saw that it trembled.

Everyone was watching as Thea seemed to gather her courage and take three quick strides into the room. Loki made a low sound. Swallowed. Managed to match her progress, taking three paces of his own. Thea's breathing quickened as she crept close, closer. Her own hand reached out for Loki. Thor winced when his brother's wife stumbled, but she didn’t stop. Simply kept walking slowly, as if in a trance, toward Loki.

Loki's breath came in shallow, tortured gasps. The haunted grief that he'd suppressed so successfully the last four days surged to the fore as he set eyes on the woman he loved, the woman he'd thought dead all this time. Slowly, so slowly, the two of them ate up the distance separating them until a mere inch pulsed with tension between their outstretched fingertips.

Thor glanced at his family and friends. His mother watched with teary eyes, her hands pressed to her mouth. His father sat still as a statue, as if he feared a single movement would shatter what was taking place in front of him. His brothers studied the tableau before them with watchful eyes, saying nothing. Sif held herself tense and still. Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun seemed…almost surprised. Thor realized the three of them hadn’t really believed in Loki's wife and daughter until this moment. Pushing that realization aside, Thor focused once more on Loki and Thea as that scant inch slowly vanished.

Thea's fingertips brushed Loki's. His brother gasped softly, his hand spasming as he jerked it back a few inches, almost as if he'd touched a ghost. To him it must have seemed that way. Thea kept walking. Loki seemed as if he couldn’t have moved again if his life had depended on it. His wife drew closer until only perhaps half a foot held them apart. Slowly, her hand trembling, she reached up and whispered her fingertips against Loki's pale cheek.

Loki's breath hissed between his teeth as if he'd been pierced by a blade of ice. Thea's fingers flexed; her hand cupped around Loki's cheek. With a soft sound, half of relief and half of unfathomable agony, Loki covered her hand with his and turned his face into her hand, pressing his lips to the center of her palm.

"You're real," he whispered. His eyes squeezed shut. Pain twisted his face; pain, and a shattering relief. "You're real."

Thea's voice trembled when she said, "I'm real. I found you. I told you I would." A hiccupping laugh squeaked out of her. "The love goddess has returned. Go ahead and feel all kinds of lucky." But still the short distance hung heavy between them.

Loki opened his eyes. Gazed down at her. And such adoration suffused his face that Thea drew a shuddering breath. Loki whispered, "I love you."

Those three simple words seemed to break whatever dam had been holding back Thea's emotions. A small cry of absolute joy escaped her and tears spilled down her cheeks as she lurched forward and threw her arms around Loki's neck. Loki's arms flashed around her and he hauled her tight to his chest, burying his face against her throat. His fingers tangled in her hair as he held her to him. A sob echoed in the still room as Thea clutched at Loki, her entire body shaking. For a long minute they only clung to each other, as if afraid that at any moment, they would be ripped from each other's arms.

"You're alive," Loki rasped against her throat. He tightened his grip on her. Thor wondered if he was the only one who heard the tears choking the Frost Giant as he croaked, "Bor's ghost, you're alive. Oh, Thea. My Althea, my love…I thought…for so long, I thought…oh, Thea."

"I found you," she whispered, clinging to him as tightly as she could, her own voice thick with tears. "I found you. You're here. I can't believe you're here."

Loki pulled back, cupping her face with exquisite tenderness between his hands. Emerald eyes darted all over her face, lovingly tracing every feature. His lips moved soundlessly as he simply stared at Thea for a long moment. Thor realized his brother was murmuring Thea's name so softly he couldn’t hear him. He stroked her cheeks with his fingers, traced the arch of her brows and caressed her face with gentle fingertips. His lips trembled. Thor worried for a moment his brother would cry, which would make him feel ashamed, but Thea reached up and laid her hands on either side of his face, cradling it. If Loki wept, only she would see.

"I love you," Loki whispered, dropping his forehead to touch hers. Thea drew a shaky breath. Gripped the front of Loki's tunic in her fists. "I love you so very much, Althea."

In a tremulous whisper, Thea replied, "I love you, too. Loki, I missed you so much." More tears spilled down Thea's cheeks as she hunched her shoulders, pressing her forehead against his collar, and sobbed, "I missed you so much, Loki. So much. I was so scared I'd never see you again, I thought I'd never find you."

"Shhh," Loki murmured, brushing away the freshet of tears with his thumbs. "You found me, älskling. You found me, and I will never leave you again, I swear it. Never." And he lifted her face and kissed her gently, tenderly.

Thor was surprised to feel his eyes sting a little at the sight of his brother treating this woman with such adoration, such reverence. There was no question that Loki loved Thea with all his heart. It was there for anyone to see. The crown prince saw that his mother wept openly, an overjoyed smile on her face. His family was smiling; Sif was smiling; Volstagg and Fandral and even Hogun were smiling, though Fandral and Volstagg still looked a little bemused. It was impossible not to smile.

Loki broke the kiss, reluctance in every movement, only to kiss Thea again, a fleeting brush of lips that had her smiling, too. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, before kissing her mouth once more. Then he said softly, "Thea…where is Sophie?"

Thea grinned.

"Think that's your cue, Coulson," Steve said from beside Thor. The Avengers moved aside to make way for the SHIELD agent, who carried the little girl easily in his arms. At the sight of her, Loki went very still.

Frigga gasped. Fandral and Volstagg's mouths fell open. Sif's eyes widened at the sight of the green-eyed, dark-haired toddler in the green dress. Tyr, Hermod, and Balder grinned. Odin watched his granddaughter with a single, misty blue eye and a soft expression on his face. Coulson set Sophie on the floor. Tramp trotted over to stand next to her, somewhat between her and most of the strangers. One hand on Tramp's back, her other hand at her mouth so she could suck her thumb, and somehow managing to clutch Bear, Sophie stared at her mother standing with this familiar-looking man, eyes wide in her little face.

Thea pulled away from Loki just enough so she could crouch down. "Sophie, come here. Look who I found." Without needing to be prompted, Loki knelt beside her, though he kept a little ways behind Thea. His green eyes glittered with the threat of tears as his daughter toddled warily closer. Thea held her arms out. "Come here, baby. Look who I found." When Sophie was perhaps a foot away, she stopped, head cocked to one side. Tramp laid down on the floor next to her feet and yawned. Thea grinned at her daughter. "You know who this is, don't you?"

Sophie sucked her thumb, then seemed to gather her courage. Popping her thumb out of her mouth, she murmured, "Daddy?" She cocked her head. "Is…Daddy?"

Her mother nodded. "That's right, baby. It's Daddy. Remember I showed you Daddy before? You remember what Daddy looks like."

Sophie considered this solemnly. "Is a pitcher?" She asked eventually.

Thea shook her head. "No, honey. It's really Daddy. We found him."

Sophie's eyes widened and she looked up at Loki, who smiled at her. Very gently, voice thick with suppressed emotion, Loki whispered, "Hello, Sophie." Sophie peered at him as if trying to place him. He murmured, "Hello, suetyng."

Recognition filled the little girl's green eyes like brilliant emerald starlight and she suddenly grinned, squealing. "Mommy! Mommy, you find Daddy! Is Daddy!" She launched herself at Loki, who caught her as she tried to climb him like a tree. He laughed, a laugh torn from him by the sheer delight of the moment, as his daughter clambered onto his legs and wrapped her arms around his neck, bouncing and laughing. "Daddy! Mommy find you! Is you! Is you!"

"Yes," Loki said, smiling, a single tear slipping down his cheek. He hefted his daughter into his arms, kissing her temple. "Oh, yes, älskling, it's me. Your Mumma found me."

He kissed his little girl's forehead. Thea leaned against him, closing her eyes, holding onto him with all her strength. Loki turned to her, and Thea kissed him once on the mouth, then on the tip of the nose. He grinned. Touched his wife's cheek, caressing. Thea turned her face into his palm, as he had done to her not fifteen minutes ago. She sighed, contented.

"We found you," she whispered.

"Yes, my love," Loki said, "you found me." His eyes flicked past them to Thor—his brother, his twin, his oldest and dearest friend, and for the first time Loki's eyes held no shadows, no resentment, no pain, no bitterness. "You found me."

In that moment, Thor knew his brother would be all right.