Chapter Eleven

Three weeks passed and neither Britney nor Loki had heard a peep from Emily and Thor. They had been secretly living in the palace, cooped up in Loki's room while Frigga was having an awfully hard time with Odin. Heimdall had reported to Odin that Loki was no longer in Midgard and Frigga's inquiries about moving Loki from his cell to his room upon his return had aroused suspicion in him. Although it wasn't that big a deal, because the big idiot never thought to search Loki's room for Loki and it made Frigga awfully happy that she'd married a moron.

Loki had been growing restless in his room and up until the week in question he'd often suggested to Britney that they venture out and explore Asgard, though she deemed it dangerous. This week however Loki was particularly worried about Britney and wanted her to go nowhere. She could hardly keep her eyes open half the time and she'd been throwing up an awful lot the last week. Finally one morning they were laying in bed with one another and Britney rolled over on her stomach and cried out a bit.

"What is it my love? Do you think you're going to be sick again? How many times do I have to ask you to seek the royal doctor?" Loki looked so worried and distressed that Britney couldn't help but laugh.

"No actually, it just really hurts to roll over my boobs feel like they've been packed pull of ice." Loki's eyebrows knitted together and he made her sit up, lifting Britney's shirt over her head.

"Loki I'm not in the mood for sex, I feel like shit." Loki shook his head.

"No, look at your breasts darling." Britney didn't really see a difference, but Loki did.

"They're a little swollen, and you've been awfully ill, I mean, do you think—" Britney immediately seemed to pale.

"You think I'm pregnant." Loki nodded.

"It's mid February, Loki, I probably just have a cold." Loki shot her a knowing glance.

"Maybe if we were still in New York, but it's a good seventy degrees and hotter in Asgard all year round, you can't blame this on the supposed cold." Britney sighed.

"Well, we would have conceived around February first if I remember correctly, is that far enough back to have symptoms already?" Loki tried and failed to hide the smile breaking out on his face.

"It's been three weeks to the day, I'd say that's long enough." Loki's smile was infectious, and Britney would be lying if she said the possibility didn't make her slightly giddy.

"Well now I'm curious, damn you, take me to the royal physician." She said with a laugh, Loki's eyes twinkling with happiness as he helped her to her feet. She pulled her shirt back on and Loki concentrated on his mother as if he were going to teleport.

"Mother is coming this way, I'll step out and get her, she can take us there." It wasn't long before Frigga made her way to Loki's room with a tray of breakfast she'd secretly made them.

"How does she fare, Loki? Is she feeling better?" She asked upon opening the door. Loki opened his mouth to answer when the smell of the food she'd brought wafted into Britney's nostrils. She dry heaved all the way to the bathroom, nearly not making it and Loki, whereas he'd usually be very concerned, chuckled.

"Well believe it or not I'm no longer worried, as I'm almost certain now more than ever that she's not the least bit sick." Frigga's forehead creased with worry.

"But honey, she's been throwing up frequently for several days." Loki winked at his mother and his face gave it all away. Understanding washed over her features and she sat the food tray on the bed, grabbing the blanket Britney had been wrapped in and whacking him with it.

"Loki Odinson!" She screeched, refusing to call him the son of Laufey.

"How dare you take the innocence of a woman that you don't intend to marry!" Loki laughed harder with every swat of the blanket she swung at him.

"But I do intend to marry her! I intended to do so before we even did anything, I swear it!" Frigga took a deep breath.

"Oh but my darling, why didn't you wait? I'm very pleased to be having a grandchild, but my son, I just…I feel like a young woman wants to marry in a dress that makes her feel beautiful, not one that has to fit her just right because she's with child." Britney brushed her teeth and flushed the toilet, walking out and smiling at Frigga.

"I don't mind getting married round with Loki's child. I've never been given anything that's made me this happy." Loki's face shone with love and pride, and despite her earlier comments, so did Frigga's. She wiped a tear from her eye and walked quickly to Britney, pulling her into a hug.

"Thank you for taking the time to get to know him. He deserves to be loved by someone that knows who he really is and sees it no matter what he may do. It's that kind of unconditional love that lasts forever." This seemed to embarrass Loki slightly, as he turned his face away from them, but a goofy smile was still plastered there.

"U-Um, Mother…we still need confirmation. Let's try not to get our hope up until we see a doctor, yes?" Loki interjected, an obvious attempt at a subject change. Frigga's eyes twinkled.

"Oh do you need to be taken to the Physician? Why my dear child, why didn't you say so? Come along, I can get the doctor to keep his mouth shut. Loki, try to stay hidden okay?" Loki rolled his eyes.

"I'm very good at evasive maneuvers, don't you worry about me, Mother." Frigga chortled.

"I know, my son, how else did you even get in here?"

Meanwhile, Tony was having a lot of fun with Michaela and that bottle of Brandy. She was sitting on his lap and J. A. R. V. I. S had decided to power himself down for a while, not really wanting to see what he was sure was coming. It was never good when Master Stark drank.

"So what's the occasion, baby? You never said." She asked, twirling the bottle in her hand. Tony shot her a shit-eating grin and sighed in a successful sounding manner.

"Well, Dr. Banner is coming over and I'd previously spoken to him about the machine I'm building yes? Well he told me he has a pretty significant piece built himself as an exchange for something he wants me to build for him. If he gives it to me, I only have a small bit left to do and then I can get that Asgardian Grease Monkey off my back." Michaela snorted.

"I love the way you talk about him, you're so mean." She teased.

"He deserves it. That's my only regret about building this machine…you're going to remember all the pain he put you through." Michaela leaned in for a chaste kiss.

"It'll be worth it. I'll get to remember how noble and heroic you were when you saved my life." Tony smirked and raised his glass to that.

"Cheers, babe."

Now on the subject of Emily and Thor, they had traveled back to Midgard without so much as a goodbye to Frigga. Thor was a little upset that he didn't see more of his mother, but he knew Emily wasn't fond of his home right now or who was currently residing in it, so he left well enough alone. Emily had been having a better three weeks than Britney in the sense that she wasn't throwing up every hour on the hour, but she, unlike Britney, hadn't been given any good news to lighten her mood. Emily had been awfully depressed and the whole situation left Thor with a bad taste in his mouth. He was angry that this had gotten as out of hand as it had and he wished with his entire being that Loki was different. Angry as he was though, the constant bad mood Emily was in was driving him mad. Every day she either complained about Britney, Loki, or the fact that she'd gained fifteen pounds since the last time she'd seen them, or even a combination of all three. Thor was a pretty lax guy, but it had finally reached the point where he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Emily love, would you come into the living room for a moment?" Emily walked in with a pout, as he had interrupted her while she was cooking dinner.

"What's wrong, Thor?" He sighed and played with a loose strand of his hair nervously.

"Maiden, I've told you this before, I'm concerned for your well-being." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, and I've told you that I didn't want to hear any more about it. I'm over it, what's done is done, Britney made her choice. Her relationship with your brother is obviously more important than I am." Thor gazed over at her, his eyes searching her face wearily.

"What would you have done had the rolls been reversed? If I had killed in your defense and Britney had gotten angry, what would you have honestly done? She loves him Emily, and you may not understand it but this is a very good thing for him. He's been down the wrong path for a while now and damn it if Britney is able to bring my real brother back to me then I don't care what happens in the process!" Thor had gotten carried away with that last part, not meaning to raise his voice at her at all. Tears began to run immediately down her face and Thor was not prepared for it at all. He'd known her for about four months or so now and he had never seen her cry before, not once. His bright blue eyes widened in panic and his face contorted into utter shame.

"I'm sorry, maiden, honestly I didn't mean—" Emily cut him off by flinging herself into his arms.

"I'm s-so sorry Thor! I don't mean to be such a bitch, I really don't, but I've l-lost my best friend and she doesn't even c-care!" She wailed, clutching his shirt and burying her face into his chest. Thor quickly wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Shhh, angel, it's alright. I know what she means to you, which is why I even brought this up. You're not going to be yourself again until the two of you make this right. We have to go back to Asgard." Emily pulled away abruptly.

"No! I don't want to be around her and her self-serving psychopath of a boyfriend, if she wants to apologize she can come here to do it, I'm not going back to Asgard!" Thor was a little startled at her shouts, but she'd been particularly unstable the last three weeks and he decided that he should just try to get used to all these mood-swings until he could figure out a way to set things straight.

Back in Asgard, Frigga had successfully gotten Loki and Britney in to see the Physician and she was rubbing goo on Britney's tummy to perform an ultrasound. Loki was holding his breath, praying that she really was pregnant and she wasn't severely ill, which in his mind could've easily been right as the doctor hadn't spoken in a long while. He petted her hair absent mindedly and watched the screen of the device intently. Only the doctors of Asgard had such machines, as you know by now that Asgardians don't use much technology in their day to day lives, and Loki was quite uncertain what he was looking for, but he stared nonetheless. Finally the doctor smiled and restored some hope into Loki.

"Yes, Your Highness, Loki's beloved is indeed with child." She stated cheerily, glad herself that there was nothing wrong with someone that was obviously close to the Queen. The moment the goo was wiped away Britney sprang into Loki's arms, and he showered her with kisses. The doctor laughed.

"My goodness, in all my years at the palace I've never seen Master Loki so happy." Frigga nodded.

"I know, isn't it wonderful? If only I could convince Odin to let Loki stay, then he'd see how different things are now." Of course, Frigga didn't know about Loki's plans regarding Midgard, but it was true, still, that he had indeed changed. Loki pecked Frigga on the cheek and shot her an elated and radiant smile.

"Mother, I am going to celebrate with my darling in the den nearest to my room, please see to it that no one finds out and we aren't interrupted. I should like to at least show her a little more of her new home than just our room and the doctors quarters." Both Frigga and Britney were both surprised and filled with bliss to here that this would be Britney's new home, and Frigga wasted no time in agreeing to it. The more she stayed in Asgard the more it seemed to Britney like Loki was forgetting his plans for Midgard. Everything about Asgard seemed so solid, like they'd soon be raising their child there. Unbeknown to her this wasn't the case at all. Loki often thought of their plans to conquer Midgard, but he had figured that Britney was going to stay here during the final leg of the plan due to giving birth, and he wanted her to feel like the palace was close enough to a home to do that in. Besides, they were going to have to stay there for a long while anyway, since the murder of Miles Declan was all but forgotten.

The den closest to Loki's bedroom was a marvelously large room with a fireplace and so many book shelves it reminded Britney of a library. Loki led Britney to a large scarlet comfy chair near the fire and had her sit down, leaning in for a quick kiss. He looked at her with more love in his eyes than she had ever seen there since the day they met. His usually cold and perfectly calculated demeanor had melted into a warmth Britney was sure he'd only had with her. He ran a cold slender hand through her hair and pressed their foreheads together.

"Rule Asgard with me." He whispered. Britney giggled and nuzzled against him.

"First Midgard, then the world?" She teased, earning her favorite chime of a laugh, followed by a shrug.

"Mayhap." Nothing more was said until he suddenly dropped to one knee and pulled a small black box from his pocket.

"I've been um…well, we've been talking about this since the night we conceived our little one there," He began, gesturing briefly to Britney's midsection.

"and I bought this for you last week, not sure when the time would be right to do this…I mean, I was going to wait a few months so we'd be comfortably dating by the time I asked but with a child on the way I figured my mother was right. You want to feel like a princess when you get married, you don't want to feel uncomfortable with your body. Plus, I'd be lying if I said that waiting until we were comfortably dating was the plan because I wasn't ready, I was ready the moment I decided I was in love with you, I just figured it would look better to your family if we'd been together a while. I want to make a good impression when I meet them." He admitted, smiling coyly at her.

"Britney Alaine Erhardt, fairest maiden in all the nine realms…even if I kind of took your maidenly title, would you do me the immense honor of being my wife?" He opened the box to reveal a glittering silver engagement ring with a large emerald diamond in the center. Her brown eyes misted over and her mouth hung slightly ajar, momentarily unable to process what was happening. He was really serious this time, it wasn't just playful banter. His eyes, emerald as the stone of her ring, sparkled with mischief as he gently pressed his lips to hers, their mouths molding together perfectly as if they were missing pieces to each other's puzzle. A few tears trickled down Britney's cheeks as she nodded, Loki using this thumb to brush them away.

"It would make me very happy to be your wife, Loki." He grinned widely and pressed a kiss to her nose, sliding the ring on the third finger of her left hand and reaching up to kiss away the stray tears his thumb had missed.

"Don't cry, fair one. It's unbecoming of a queen." He teased. Britney giggled and pulled him into another kiss by his hair, causing a small growl to escape from his chest. He kissed her hard as he made his way from the pouty duvet of her lips to her slender neck, biting and suckling the way he knew she liked it. He marked her every spot he could, taking pleasure in showing off that she was his. The rough savage kisses continued for a few moments, as Loki highly enjoyed the noises they evoked from his fiancée, until he reached her stomach. It was there that his lips against her flesh were light as a feather, as if she were being tickled by a ghost.

"My queen and my heir." He mumbled, lost in a sea of happiness that he'd never felt before in all his years.

In Midgard, Thor had decided he'd had enough estrogen for one morning and had gone off in seek of alone time to figure out a way to fix Emily and Britney's relationship. Emily, who in her distraught state took this to mean that Thor was angry with her, decided just to pack her school bags and head to class, although the last three weeks Thor had kept her home in fear of her freaking out on her classmates or something. She had mythology 121 first period, and she thought nothing of it until she got to her desk and looked to her left. Britney's desk was obviously empty, and it put a pit in her friends stomach. Mr. Eckard, their creepy and extraordinarily boring teacher, had just walked through the door.

"Okay class, I would like for you to open your books to page 313, mmkay?" Emily blanched, it grated on her nerves that every other word out of her teachers mouth was always that dreadful "mmkay". He stopped at Emily's desk and looked around, a mock sense of concern filling his beady face.

"Why, Miss Brooks, where is your little blonde friend?" Emily had always suspected that Mr. Eckard was intimidated by Britney, because when it came to school Emily was a lot shyer than normal and Britney had kind of taken up roll as her protector ever since the beginning of their friendship in the eighth grade.

"S-She's um….love sick." Emily could have just smacked herself, she didn't know why she'd said that, even if it were true. Britney would have come up with a better lie.

"Love sick, mmkay? Is that why you've been out so long as well? You know, boyfriends are a bad reason to miss school…as a matter of fact, boyfriends are bad to have in general, mmkay? A woman needs a manfriend. One more absence and you'd have been dropped from the class, good thing you're here. Miss Erhardt I'm afraid, can no longer come back." He leaned across the desk and grabbed Emily's leg, causing her to yelp. Fortunately for her, the principal walked in and Mr. Eckard backed off. Little did she know that this wouldn't be her last unfortunate encounter with her mythology teacher.

Britney was unaware that she was being dropped from any classes, but it hardly mattered, as "Miss Erhardt" would no longer exist in a few short weeks when she was to become Mrs. Laufeyson. That was all that was on Loki's mind, asking Britney what all she wanted and getting his mother to speak with her about being fitted by the Royal Tailor for a dress. Britney was happy to do all this, as she was very excited to be marrying the absolute love of her life, but something else was weighing on her mind. Britney had called Emily to not only invite her to the wedding but to tell her the good news, figuring that it might be enough to call off this stupid war between the two of them. However, Britney was saddened when she realized there was no way to get cell reception in Asgard, and she had to beg Loki to take her back home for a moment so that she could at least call her. Loki was perturbed by this, as he was not ready to go back to Midgard, he wanted to be wed first, and he didn't want to see Emily in the slightest.

"Baby please, can't I just marry you in my home realm, without having to look at the face of the woman that made you sob in my arms three weeks ago? Those weren't just a few tears, darling, she really hurt you, I could tell." She sighed, running her fingers through his hair as he bent down to kiss her stomach again, which he'd been doing periodically since he found out.

"I bet Little One doesn't want to see anyone who hurt mommies feelings either." Britney giggled.

"You're so cute when you want to be, you know that?" Loki chuckled.

"So I'm not cute all the time?" Britney kissed him hard when he stood back up.

"Well you're always gorgeous, but absolutely adorable when you talk about the baby." Britney stifled a laugh, literally watching his ego inflate at her words, it was written all over his face.

"I always knew I was dashing." She burrowed herself deeper inside his arms and sighed heavily.

"Loki, we really do need to go to Midgard. Don't you want to know how Tony's progress is going? We could stop by Stark Tower…" Loki sighed too and lay his chin atop her head.

"You're home sick, aren't you?" He asked gently, rubbing her back in a soothing motion.

"No actually, I love Asgard. It's just that I really miss Emily…she's been my best friend for eleven years, Loki. We used to do everything together, and I know you don't like her much, but she means a lot to me. We don't need to stay long, I just want to go there long enough to make things right. And I would like it if she'd be there to see the most treasured event of my life." Loki pulled back to look at her and her eyes were misted over, immediately making up his mind.

"Oh, love, if you insist. I do suppose I want to see what all Stark's up to, and I want you to be happy." He kissed her forehead before adding "and I want to meet your family." Britney beamed and crushed their lips together.

"Thank you!" Loki chuckled.

"Well if you're going to kiss me like that every time I try to make you happy I should indeed have a very passionate life with you my dear, as I'll never quit trying to make you happy." He then picked her up as if she were already his bride and carried her to the last place he'd seen Frigga, to ask her to make sure they'd be able to return by bifrost.

…TO BE CONTINUED