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.