There was a burial ceremony a few days later, and Odin was laid to rest. It was a huge spectacle that involved the whole city. Thor and Frigga both spoke at it, saying their final words.
Thor was crowned king and Frigga officially abdicated. She agreed to stay in Asgard for a while to help oversee rebuilding and issues, but then she was leaving with Vilda for Vanaheim.
Darcy was not needed by anyone, so she spent the days with Ellie and Nathan, who were very impressed by the little bits of magic Vilda had taught her.
Time passed and she kept waiting for homesickness, or of some small hint of missing Boston, but it never came. Asgard was fascinating- infuriating at times, but fascinating. Vilda, Jane, Darcy, and the kids would go out some days and Vilda would show them the sights and give them history lessons. Sometimes Frigga would join them for an hour or two, desperate to get away from the constant grind of court and responsibilities.
The people of Asgard didn't quite know what to do with them- they were the only mortals in the whole realm, and the first to be there in hundreds of years. Many had never even seen one before. And not only that, but both their marriages had become public knowledge- and as their husbands were princes of Asgard, tradition said that Darcy and Jane were princesses. But there had not been princesses in Asgard. Odin had ruled for a long, long time, and Thor and Baldr were the only children he'd ever sired. So there was no precedence for a princess of the realm, let alone ones like Jane and Darcy. Jane, who was mortal, and Darcy- who had been mortal.
After Thor's coronation, Jane was, technically, queen alongside him, but Thor hadn't pushed the issue. She was pretty much just a figurehead at the moment, and Frigga was still acting as queen even though she'd abdicated.
Jane confided in Darcy that she was afraid that Thor thought she wouldn't make a good queen, and that's why he wasn't insisting on it. She felt so guilty, knowing that Frigga didn't want to be doing the job anymore. There were a lot of responsibilities and expectations of a queen, and Jane knew nothing about them. And with Thor being called on so often out of the capitol to oversee things, she hadn't been able to talk to him hardly at all.
The people were confused by her position. The queen that wasn't a queen.
Darcy, on the other hand, had a very different issue. It was well-known that Loki had been the cause of a battle that had devastated not just Asgard but the people of Vanaheim and Svartvalheim as well, and it was generally agreed that he was not worth the air he breathed. They hoped he would stay in Hel and not come back. And yet.
They loved her. It was astonishing, really. She couldn't go out without coming back laden with trinkets and fabrics that they kept thrusting at her. And they doted on the kids. Almost as soon as they got downtown there would be a group of children inviting them to play ball, or whatever their favorite game of the moment was. Even Nathan had come out of his shell a little and taken to playing with them.
"Come, give me your hand," an older woman beckoned Darcy closer, gesturing for her to open her hand. She proffered a beautiful gold and jade bracelet. "Please."
"Oh," Darcy said, guiltily accepting it. It was cool and heavy in her palm. "Thank you so much, that's so sweet..." She had altogether just stopped trying to convince people not to give her things. They got so confused and, she suspected, offended by it.
"Your colors," the woman smiled, satisfied.
"Okay," Darcy said, not really understanding. Apparently gold and green were her colors? Multiple people had told her that. "It's very beautiful. I appreciate it."
The woman beamed back at Darcy, clearly pleased.
Beside her Vilda snorted, eying the woman with a slightly acidic humor. "What, no gift for me?"
The woman narrowed her eyes at Vilda. "You are not a princess. You pay."
"I could have been the queen," Vilda muttered under her breath, shaking her head. "Or co-queen, anyways. But instead I'm letting that brilliant opportunity by so I can get insulted by peasants."
"I can do better than insult you," the woman said, drawing her meaty frame up and sending Vilda an intimidating glare. But Vilda just ignored her, turning away and sauntering towards a booth that had caught her eye. The woman quickly calmed at Darcy's apology, but still sent a look of disgust aimed at Vilda's back.
"Vilda!" Darcy huffed angrily. "Can you please try and be civil for once in your life? Jesus."
"What," Vilda said, unimpressed. "I wouldn't bother yourself with what that lot think of you, dear. They are the ficklest birds. They will abandon you when the excitement of having mortal pets wears off."
Darcy rolled her eyes. "Well, for one thing, I'm not actually mortal- and anyways, I'm not worried about what they think about me. I'm just tired of you calling them peasants to their faces and- Jesus!"
"Darcy, I- you."
And just like that the atmosphere in the marketplace went hostile and tense.
Loki had just materialized in front of Darcy, and he'd made the most incredible change from overjoyed to barely-contained-rage that Darcy had ever seen.
"Now, Loki, I know you're probably confused-"
"You don't speak," Loki snarled at Vilda, jaw tense as he swept Darcy behind him and squared off with her. "You don't go near her."
"Umm, Loki, what the fuck is going on?"
"This woman is dangerous." The words came out mangled through Loki's gritted teeth.
"Vilda?" Darcy snorted, still trying to get a grip of the situation. She tried to come out from behind Loki but he pushed her behind him again, saying, "Darcy, please," and there was such a note of actual pleading that she stilled even though she hadn't meant to.
Vilda studied her nails, projecting an air of cool nonchalance even as the whole marketplace crackled with tension. Everyone was watching the exchange. Everyone.
It was silent for long enough that Darcy felt compelled to try again. "So you're back I guess. There's some things I don't think you're quite caught up on. One of which being-"
"Her name is not Vilda," Loki interrupted. "Her name is Agda, and she is a powerful sorceress. Whatever she told you is a lie."
"Ah. Yeah, but here's the thing-"
"No, Darcy, it's true," Vilda drawled. "I've even been lying to Freya the whole time. Because she's so easy to fool. And-"
"Vilda!" Darcy snapped. "That is not helping."
"Freya?"
"Frigga."
"Vilda!"
"Mommy?"
All their head jerked to the little girl standing by the crowds.
"Ellie," Nathan hissed, grabbing her hand and tugging at her to step farther back into the crowd.
"Kids, it's okay," Darcy assured them, glaring at both Loki and Vilda, and finally stepping out from behind Loki, smacking his hand away in annoyance when he put up resistance to letting her go. "Your dad's just confused at the moment and being a bit of an ass about it."
Loki knew Vilda, and how much of a threat she was, what with him still being -yet again!- without his magic...and yet he couldn't take his eyes off them. Nathan...and Ellie.
In Hel he'd started remembering bits of his past. Of his real past. The fake and real massing together into a tangle of inconsistencies and confusion, but the overwhelming feeling of love that he knew he'd had for his son was a constant. And his daughter...He hadn't even known he had a daughter. Or, if he had then he hadn't reacquired the memories of it yet.
They were stunning. Ellie was a miniature version of Darcy, except those were his green eyes, and the clearly protective way Nathan was trying to contain Ellie...
It snapped him out of the surprise of seeing them.
"What do you want, Agda?" He said, finally making himself face her again.
She smiled. "Your firstborn son."
"Vilda!" Darcy smacked her shoulder. "Can you please behave yourself?"
"What!" Vilda cried indignantly. "It's what he expects so I'm just telling him what he's going to hear no matter what I say."
"It is not. He's going to hear the words coming out of your mouth, and he's going to respond with some goddamn patience because his intel is prehistoric."
Loki stared at Darcy, impressed by the growl in her voice.
Vilda harumphed, but remained silent. What was she playing at? He could barely believe her audacity- she was actually meddling with Darcy. What was she trying to do?
"I know Vilda has done some regrettable things," Darcy started, and Loki raised a brow unbelieving the words he was hearing come out of her mouth. "But she has a perfectly fine reason for it. Now, I'm not saying what she did was good," Darcy hastily amended, seeing Loki's expression. "I'm saying it wasn't just for kicks, okay? She had a reason. And it's all worked out. Or, mostly, anyways."
Loki could think of nothing to say to that.
"There," Darcy beamed at him. "You're doing great. See? A little patience gets you everywhere."
He stared at her. She wasn't stupid. He knew how clever she was, but she had never met Agda before, and Agda was adept at manipulation.
"Darcy..." he began. "Agda is not-"
"My name," Agda said, eyes fixed on her nails again as she buffed them. Loki's own eyes narrowed on her. He knew the power she wielded. So why was she being so remarkably un-threatening? Just how deep of a game was she playing? "My name is Vilda."
"You're lying to one of us."
"No," she snapped. "I was lying to you for most of your life." And then she...winced?
"For which," she sighed as if in pain and then looked him in the eye. "I'm s..." She mumbled, looking away again.
Darcy smacked her shoulder once more. "What was that? I don't think we quite caught it. You'll have to speak up."
"Sorry," Agda said. "I said I was sorry."
Loki stared at her, perplexed. What was she trying to do? As if she knew what he was thinking, she grinned. But it didn't reach her eyes.
"Not trying to pull anything, Loki. I'm trying to make up for the past. I know it's a lot. I'm not asking for everything right away."
"You're not asking for everything all at once," Loki repeated, rolling the words off his tongue. "Why this sudden change of heart? Your conscience weighing down on you finally?" His voice turned bitter and sharp at the end, as he felt bitter, and sharp. But she didn't react to it.
"My heart was never the problem. We do what we have to do, no matter how hard it is." She turned to Darcy. "A little gratitude wouldn't be amiss though, I don't think."
"Vilda," Darcy shook her head. "Come on. It's too soon."
"Gratitude!?"Loki spat. The old anger and betrayal rose to the surface quickly. This was the woman who had taught him much of what he knew. This was the woman who had been perhaps his closest confidant for many years, and this was the woman who had then turned around and tortured him for years. And for what? "Gratitude?!"
"Way too soon," Darcy mumbled.
"I'm supposed to thank you for what you did to me? For the way you- ?" Suddenly he needed to move- he needed to- do- something, anything... The memory of those years chained to that rock, the agony, the helplessness, he couldn't-
A warm hand took his and held it firmly. He looked up, into the steadiest pair of brown eyes in all the realms, and he felt the tightness inside of him ease just a bit.
"It's okay, Loki," Darcy said, and he wanted to believe her but how could he?
"Darcy, you don't know her," he tried to explain; all the little deceptions that this woman had woven over him jumbling together so that there was not one thread of truth to her name. Whatever that name might be. "She'll say anything to get what she wants. She'll-"
"I know. Honey, I know. Hey," Darcy place her free hand on his cheek turning his head from Agda so that he was looking at her face instead. "Look at me. I know who she is. I know what she did to you, and I'm sorry. Loki, I'm so sorry. It's going to be okay though."
"Darcy..."
"Shhh. This isn't one of her games. She's done with them."
"Well, I wouldn't say that-"
"Vilda," Darcy's voice was steel, though her eyes never left Loki's. "You're done with that. Where Loki is concerned, where I am concerned, where anyone in this family is concerned, you are done with games."
"...Fine. Calm down," she huffed.
"See?" Darcy smiled at Loki. "She just wants to act like your mother for once."
"My what?"
Darcy bit her lip. "Goddamn it. I meant to do it somewhere a little less public," and suddenly Loki was incredibly aware at the audience they held enthralled by their dramatics. He scowled darkly at them and they slowly went on about their business, reluctant to leave the scene entirely. "But yeah. Loki, this is your mom. Vilda."
Loki stared at Agda. He wasn't even insulted that she'd tried something so ridiculous, which was strange. He would have thought he'd be enraged. But it was just too incredible to be believed. He snorted. "Right."
Vilda shot him a look, and he was reminded with a pang of other times she had shot him a look like that, of times long in the past and now tainted with bitter history. "You could manage a little more enthusiasm."
"Riiiight," Loki drawled, drawing the word out.
Her eyes narrowed on him. "I don't appreciate your tone."
"I'm not surprised."
Darcy threw up her hands. "You are both being so fucking annoying right now. Not to mention childish. And that's me saying that. Me. Ellie, Nate, kids we're going back now. I am not dealing with this right now. I've reached my quota of annoyance for the day."
Ellie glanced at Loki curiously as Darcy took her hand. "Is that my daddy?" she asked Darcy, her voice sweet and soft.
"Yep. I wish he was in a better mood honey, cuz then you might be able to get to know each other a bit. But he's having a tantrum right now."
"Is he going in time-out?"
"Umm. In a way."
Ellie nodded and leaned toward him. "I have to do it too sometimes," she confided, and he felt his heart melting. "Don't worry. Mommy might give you a treat if you say you're sorry."
Loki turned to Darcy, grinning wolfishly. "Will she?"
He chuckled as she blushed. "Oh shut up, you," she rolled her eyes at him. "Come see us when you've decided to listen."
Nathan gave Loki a long, measuring look before following Darcy, and Loki felt a sense of foreboding and loss. It was not the look of a son who had just gotten his father back. It was the look of someone who isn't happy with a new development but also isn't sure what he can do about it.
"This is getting boring," Agda said. "I don't know how to make you believe me."
"You can't," he said simply. There are some things that can never be forgiven. "The thing that most confuses me though, is where you came up with this 'mother' thing."
"Everyone has a mother, Loki."
"Enough," he said, shaking his head. "Just- enough."
He strode past her, after Darcy, leaving her in the middle of the marketplace where everyone was pretending not to star at them.
And it wasn't even until he reached the Palace courtyard that it occurred to him that he'd had Agda within his reach and he had not- even once- done anything about it. All his months of obsession over revenge, over making her suffer as he had suffered, making her pay... He'd had that within his grasp and all he'd been able to think was... I don't have time for this.
He had waited so long. So long. He just wanted to be with his family.
Darcy was talking to Frigga in the garden when Loki found her.
She was luminous. So beautiful his heart ached from it. She had always been gorgeous, but it was something more now. She was wearing a modest Asgardian dress of deep green, and it made the gold sheen of her dark locks pop.
"-have to talk to him, cuz I'm in way over my head," Darcy was saying frustratedly. "I can't even begin to imagine what's going on in his head right now, you know? I mean, she did lie to him for...like...a really long time, and shit happened, and now..." Darcy trailed off, noticing Loki. "Talk to her. Please," she said to him, and then turned and left.
Loki took a step after her, unwilling to leave her, but Frigga said, "Loki. Please." And he stopped. "Come. Walk with me." He stared after Darcy longingly, but he complied.
"What is going on, Frigga?" Everything was a mess. He still had conflicting memories driving him crazy.
Frigga, putting him in a closet. "Don't do magic again, Loki." The door shut. It was so dark, it was so... But no, hadn't she told him stories? Hadn't she told him beautiful stories?
She gave him a long, searching look, her face softer than he remembered. Stern. Always she had been so stern. But maybe being married to Odin did that to you.
"You used to call me mother," she said finally. "When you were small."
"But you're not." His palms started sweating. Why was he nervous all of a sudden? He picked a flower restlessly, and started pulling the petals off. Frigga pursed her lips but didn't mention it.
"I did not carry you in my womb," she said instead. "But I consider myself to be a mother to you. Your birth mother though..." She trailed off, smiling a smile that was sweeter than he'd ever seen on her face before.
She looked...younger. Like a weight had been lifted.
But Odin was dead! What right did she have to a smile such as that?Conflicting emotions and memories thrashed about within him. "Grief becomes you."
The smile faded somewhat, though did not vanish. "I will not pretend an emotion I do not feel."
"Do you not care?" He asked sharply. Odin had not truly been his father either, and yet he and Frigga had shaped him more than anyone else. He had been pleased when Odin died. In the the thick of battle, the blood fever raging through his veins, half out of his mind...he had been pleased. But when it wore off the conflicting memories prodded at him insistently , and he found that he wasn't pleased at all.
"I loved Odin," Frigga returned just as sharply; forcefully. "Never say that I do not care. I loved him." She glared at him until he held his hands up in apology.
"I'm sorry," he said, chastened. Of course she did. Of course she did. He knew this. It was the memories, tugging at each other in a terrible tug-o-war. Of course she did.
Frigga nodded stiffly, accepting. "I loved your father. But I was never...in love with him." It was nothing Loki had not long suspected, but it still came as a surprise to hear Frigga say it. Frigga, who did not share things with anyone. "When I was a young girl I fell in love, and I never managed to quite fall out." She gave a short, bewildered laugh that he had never heard from her before. "Despite everything."
Loki raised a brow.
"Do you remember the tale of the nymph and the soldier?" Frigga asked. He nodded. She had told it to him and Thor often as children.
"What about it?"
She ignored that. "The nymph and soldier fall in love. But soldiers are not meant to be with nypmhs, and they are separated by the very people who say they love them most." She smiled wryly. "It's not just a story, Loki. It's my story. Mine and your mother's."
Loki blinked. "Umm."
Frigga smiled. "I know. Of course, at the time, you were not conceived, let alone born. I did not even know you were her child until we were reunited a few months ago. It's important for you to know that Loki, because I would have told you if I knew who your mother was. I would never have kept that from you."
"Umm."
"As you know, Asgard would have a lot of trouble accepting that two women loved each other. Back then though, it would have been near suicidal. And even had it not been...I was promised to Odin, to end war between him and my father. I had a duty, as a princess of Vanaheim." Her face hardened, clearly lost in memories of the time. "My heart was never my own to follow. But now..." A small, brilliant smile briefly lit her face again. "I abdicated the throne to Thor. I want to go home. I want to go home, and to be with the woman I love. Finally."
"Umm. I... what?"
"It's a lot to take in. Especially with the history between you and Vilda. A history which," she said disapprovingly, "I was not aware of either until recently. But-"
"Who is Vilda?" Everyone kept talking about Vilda! Vilda this, Vilda that...
"Darcy knew her as Dr. Whitman on Midgard. You knew her as Agda here."
Ah. So Agda had convinced Frigga as well. But Frigga was not easily...it was very unlike her to...
Suddenly he wasn't so confident. What if it really was Loki who had gotten it wrong?
But she wasn't his mother. He knew that. She couldn't be. No mother could possibly treat a son as she had treated him.
"I need to..." He had to think this through. This was too much to process. "Just keep her away from Darcy. Keep her away from the kids."
Something suspiciously close to sympathy entered Frigga's eyes, and Loki wanted to growl at her to just stop. "I think the bigger problem would be trying to keep Darcy and the kids away from her. They love her."
"Not anymore," Loki said firmly, and Frigga raised a brow.
"She loves them too, Loki. I understand your concern, but it really is unnecessary."
Loki dropped the stem, the petals all having been torn off, and stalked away.
His head was throbbing, trying to think of scenarios that would explain this latest curve-ball, but he couldn't focus. All while he'd been gone he'd been thinking of his reunion with Darcy. Would she be happy to see him? Angry? But she'd barely reacted at all. As if he hadn't even been gone. Gloom settled thickly over him.
She certainly didn't miss me, the way I missed her...
"What are you doing?"
Loki had been deep in his own thoughts, and the small, curious voice made him jump. He'd been absently carving an ice flower, and he stared at it now in disgust.
"Nothing," he said quickly, throwing the flower away from him. It hit a statue and shattered. The little girl gasped, her mouth forming an O of loss. An unfamiliar nervousness shot through him. Was she going to cry? What did one do with crying children? There were distant memories of soothing a young, distraught Nathan, but the actual process of it was lost to him.
"Why did you do that?" She asked. Her eyes were so wide and brown and confused. For a moment he was brought back to a memory of himself near her age, eager to show Frigga his new trick. "Mother? Look what I can do!" He'd been picking flowers from the garden again, which he knew he wasn't supposed to do but this time mother would be so surprised that she wouldn't mind! Because he'd picked a rose and the most astonishing, the most glorious thing had happened- it had frozen. But mother hadn't been pleased after all. It wasn't long after that incident that he'd stopped calling her 'mother' at all... "It was so pretty."
"It wasn't really."
"Yes it was," she said indignantly.
"Oh," Loki said, a bit at a loss. "Well I guess I could...make another one?" What did she want from him?
"Can I make one?" she asked. "I want to try."
Oh jeez. Didn't kids cry when they didn't get what they wanted? What was he going to do with a crying child? But it's not like she could actually make one. He was a frost giant. Still, he decided he'd try humoring her. It seemed the safest thing to do.
He patted the space on the bench next to him and she sat eagerly. "Now, don't feel bad if you can't do it, okay? Most people can't."
She gave him a Look. "I can."
She was so breezily confident as she talked down to him that he had to smile. "Okay. Cup your hands like this," he showed her with his own and she copied. "Very good. Now..." He struggled, trying to find the right way to describe the feeling in a way that a small child might understand. "Imagine a... dragon. A huge, beautiful, powerful dragon. But instead of breathing out fire, it breathes out ice crystals. Can you picture that?" She thought about it for a moment, and then a delighted smile lit her face and she nodded enthusiastically. Her grin was infectious, and Loki found himself grinning as well. "Good. Now bring your hands to your mouth. We're going to pretend to be that dragon. Can you feel the cold at the back of your throat?"
Her face scrunched up. "I'm not sure."
Why am I doing this? he wondered. She's going to be so disappointed... But he couldn't stop now. "You're a dragon, remember? And you've got that coldness all through your body. Even your tail."
"My tail?" She asked, eyes wide.
He nodded solemnly. "But do you know where the cold is strongest?" She shook her head. "The back of your throat. It's so cold that when you blow out-" he blew, and a ball of soft, moldable ice crystals appeared in his hand. Ellie gasped. "You'll have something to work with."
"I want to try it!" she exclaimed.
"Feel the cold then," he said. "Feel it and embrace it, then blow." Her hands eagerly cupped to her mouth the way he had done it. "But remember, a lot of people can't do it, especially not the first time." Or ever.
She blew, her cheeks puffing out as she did. "Oh," she said, disappointment thick in her voice. Her hands were empty.
But Loki was intrigued- because he had seen...something. And there shouldn't have been something. "Try again. Remember- the dragon is one with the cold. And you are one with the dragon."
Ellie nodded, her face screwed up in concentration. Once more she blew, her cheeks puffing out like balloons. "Oh! Look! Did you see that?" A wide smile lit her face and she turned to Loki with delight, hopping up and down eagerly. "It was snow!"
Loki felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him. His daughter. A Frost Giant. Oh fates...
"I made it snow!" she repeated happily, unable to sit still on the bench. She took off, running in circles around the flower beds shouting her victory. "I made it snow!"
Loki couldn't help chuckling even as he wondered about what this would mean for her, growing up. His own childhood had been...darkened, by the birthright. But hers will be different, he thought fiercely. She would have someone who knew what she was going through. Someone to support her, rather than try to stifle her.
Did Darcy know? How was Nathan doing with it? He was older; it was likely he would have been dealing with this for a while. But back on Midgard it would have been unacceptable. Had he been dealing with it in secret?
Ellie came running back, her cheeks rosy and wisps of her hair escaping her two braids. "Aren't you proud of me?" She grinned cheekily.
"Very proud." Somehow the words came out normal even around the ball of emotion in his throat. He was proud of her. It was such a rusty feeling that it had taken him a few minutes to recognize it. "That was very good for your first time. I'm impressed."
"Well, it was the second time. Is that worse?" She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"No. That's even better." He wanted to hug her, but couldn't.
She gave him a look that said she wasn't buying into that, but didn't contradict him. Instead she said, "Can you braid my hair? Mommy says it's like a politician, because it's so slippery. But," she confessed, "I don't understand that."
Loki smiled. "I've never braided hair before."
"That's okay. Just do what mommy does."
"And what does she do?"
Ellie giggled, rolling her eyes. "You're silly. She braided it." She turned around so he could reach her hair better.
"Right." Loki chuckled. "Well, I'll try." How hard could it be to braid a child's hair?
Pretty fucking hard.
"Maybe your mom should do it," he said a few minutes later, staring at his handiwork with dismay. He wouldn't say she had two braids- more like two twisty, tangly sections of hair.
She ran a hand over them testingly. "It's okay," she said,climbing onto the bench next to him. "Mommy says practice makes perfect. How come I never seen you before?"
Loki blinked at the topic leap. "Oh. Um." What was he supposed to say to that? He'd been being tortured by someone everyone claimed to be her grandmother. "I was far away."
"Why?"
He frowned, trying to remember. "My dad needed to see me." She hadn't been born. He would remember that, wouldn't he? He remembered Nathan, telling him not to go. Darcy, so confused...
"Why?"
"He needed help."
"Why?"
"I'm starting to see a pattern here, kid."
"Nate says you make mommy sad."
Loki stilled. "Is your mom sad?"
Ellie thought about this. "Sometimes. But mostly she just talks about how much she loves us. Nate also says that you're dangerous. Are you dangerous, daddy?"
"No," Loki said gruffly, feeling a little raw. "Not to you. Not ever to you."
"Are you gonna stay with us?"
"Do you want me to?"
"Yeah. You could teach me more about dragons if you stay."
Loki blinked. He must have gotten a piece of dust in his eye because it was watering.
"I would like that very much."
She nodded decisively. "Me too. Come on- I want to draw." She scooted of the bench, holding her little hand out to Loki. His heart near full to bursting, he took it.
"Loki!" Darcy said with some surprise at the figures in her doorway. "Ellie, honey, where did you run off to?"
"I went for a walk," she said, leading Loki in by his hand. "Daddy says he wants to stay with us."
Darcy whipped back around to Loki, who looked a little uncomfortable at that. "Did he." Darcy's heart sped up, shouting yes! Please!
Oh but that sneaky little girl... She turned back to Ellie, who was now rooting through her drawer, pulling out a box of crayons. "Nevertheless, you know better than to go off by yourself. We've talked about this." A lot. Unlike Nathan, Ellie wasn't content until she'd satisfied her curiosity. Ellie just pursed her lips rebelliously and shrugged. Darcy narrowed her eyes, about to pull a lecture on safety out of a hat when Loki interrupted.
"Actually," he said. "I was hoping we might be able to talk."
Ellie was thoroughly engrossed in her drawing now, and Darcy nodded to the door. Loki got the message. "El, I'll be back in a minute honey," and she followed Loki, shutting the door behind them. Some conversations you just didn't want to have in front of your kids.
"So." He said.
"So." His brows were doing this puppy-dog thing that was driving Darcy crazy. She'd never seen him like this before- so...unfiltered. As if he'd lowered his defenses. And I've never wanted to storm a castle more... "You met Ellie, I take it."
He smiled then, the sweetest, most un-Loki-like smile of wonder and happiness, and Darcy's heart clenched painfully. The smile, coupled with the quirk of his brows gave his face such a quizzical, searching quality that was painfully endearing. "Yes." His smile disappeared all of a sudden. The sun, blotted out by clouds. "Darcy, are you aware that she is..." he hesitated, but Darcy knew what he meant, so she said, "Frost Giant? Yeah. I'm aware."
He looked so relieved that Darcy had to smile. "And Nathan-"
She shook her head. "No. It's just Ellie."
He frowned. "Are you sure? Because-"
"I'm sure. Ellie's pregnancy was different. Besides, Jane had a theory on that- she said that when you guys got sent here, you were made mortal, right? And your mom was saying how your guyses' souls or salas or whatever are what make you gods. Ipso facto, if you were mortal than you didn't have your godhood, which means your frosty side was subdued or... I don't know, that's what it sounded like to me anyways. Granted, it was interspersed with more sciency gobbledegook, but..."
Loki took that in. "But even so, blood does not forget. It's in my DNA."
Darcy held her hands out helplessly. "I don't know, man. It's not really my area of expertise."
He nodded, thoughtfully. Cautiously, like he was afraid of spooking her, he took a step closer to her and she automatically backed up herself, pushing her butt against the door. If her heart was beating fast before, it was just going crazy now. It felt like her blood was singing. Excitement and nervousness clashed, and he was staring at her so intensely that she couldn't take the silence even for another second.
"So how was Hel?"
Instead of answering, he said, "I remember you. I remember Nathan. I remember-" he pulled a thin silver ring out of his pocket, his fingers running running over it fondly, "this." And he dropped it in her hand. It weighed hardly anything. She held it up to the light. There was an engraving along the inside: This man is the property of Darcy Laufeyson. Darcy snorted.
"Oh my god. Did I give this to you?"
He grinned, completely catching her off guard. "Yep."
"Oh my god," she repeated, somewhat more breathily this time, unable to take her eyes off his lips. "Who are you and what have you done to the brooding hermit I've grown to know so well?"
"He's here," Loki said softly, voice tinged with amusement. "He's just...overruled. I would rather be with you."
Darcy was astonished how giddy those words made her, and she struggled to remember the reasons that being with Loki was a bad idea. "Um." Had he gotten closer? "I have your magic. You'd get jealous." Okay, he was definitely closer now. How did he move so stealthily!? Although her attention was pretty focused on his mouth... "Hmm?"
Those lips smiled, and Darcy licked her own. "I said, as long as I have you, I don't need magic. Magic was part of me for a very long time and it will be strange if I never feel it again, but you... You are more a part of me than anything. There is nothing I would not give, for the chance to prove this to you."
Oh. Jesus.. Breathe, Darcy, she reminded herself. He was practically touching her now, they were so close. "Umm..." Quick, Darcy! What were the other problems? She was sure there were other problems, but they couldn't have been that important because she was drawing a complete blank, due to the fact that his thumb was now tracing her cheekbone and she wanted to sigh at how good it felt and to draw his thumb into her mouth at the same time and just-
She stumbled back as the door opened in, and Loki lurched forward, steadying her shoulders.
"Mommy, what are you doing?" Ellie asked.
"Nothing!" Darcy squawked, ducking out of Loki's arms. "Not a thing. What are you doing, you silly little bandicoot?"
Ellie gave them both a suspicious look. "I'm done drawing. And I'm hungry."
"Well let's get you food then!" Darcy said with far too much enthusiasm. She was eager for the excuse to get away from Loki and the devastating sexual tension between them. "Let's go outside in the shade. It's so hot in here. Is it hot in here? I think it's hot in here."
Loki smiled knowingly. "I find it quite warm as well, actually."
"Mommyyy, let's goooo."
"Right," Darcy said, snapping out of the daze she fell under after making the mistake of looking at Loki's lips again. "Sorry, Loki," she apologized. "Ah...food...beckons."
"But of course," he said agreeably. Every time he did something like that- was so agreeable, was so...nice, and charming, Darcy found herself falling deeper into a pit of lust. If only he would jump in after her...
"Daddy should come too," Ellie said, tugging on Darcy's hand, suddenly shy.
Oh noooo, Darcy moaned internally. That would totally negate the whole rest and recovery period she was hoping for. But his face just kind of...melted...at the word 'daddy' and she was lost. "Of course he should. Does he want to?"
"Yes," he said quietly. "He wants to."