It took a long time, in human terms, to destroy Hydra. They had many resources, most of which were unaware they were supplying an international terrorist organization, and it wasn't easy to cut them off from all suppliers. Loki wasn't given much to do. Fury said this was because they were saving him for "big things." Loki knew it was because they just didn't trust him. It was all right. He had more time than they did. He was fine with waiting.

Coulson, grudgingly on Loki's part at the very least, became something of a friend over time. As close as Loki had ever come to having "friends." Once he gave up trying to maintain the aspect of the consummate professional it became very easy to make him laugh, and once upon a time that had been Loki's whole thing, making people laugh. It felt good, hearing laughter again. And Coulson – Phil – surprisingly, turned out to be a pretty good listener, on those rare occasions when Loki felt moved to talk. It was a surreal experience, because Loki could still remember jamming the Mind Staff through the man's chest from behind in the original timeline. Of course, this version of Phil had not experienced that.

One day Phil stopped him and said, "Have you gotten Judah a gift yet?"

"For what?" Loki asked.

"His birthday."

"Birthday? Didn't we just celebrate that?"

Phil shook his head. "It's been almost a year. His birthday's in a week."

Loki shook his head too. "Time moves too swiftly here. I cannot keep track of it. How old will he be now?"

"Eight."

Loki's eyes went wide. "Eight? I thought he was just five."

"No, he turned seven last year. Remember?" Phil took in Loki's look of shock and added, "And six the year before that…"

Loki staggered over to lean against the back of a nearby chair. "He's growing up so swiftly," he said, breathing faster than normal. "Where is time going?"

"As I understand it, this is a common problem for parents," Phil said. "You… might have it a little worse than the average, being an immortal on a fast-time planet."

Loki sank slowly into the chair, his eyes distant. Phil wondered whether his slightly faster breathing constituted hyperventilation for someone whose heart only beat once every three minutes. He contemplated calling for a medical technician, then realized there weren't any in the building who knew anything at all about Asgardian physiology. Maybe he should call Thor.

"I always knew…" Loki said, in a breathless sort of voice. "I always knew he would grow up, grow old, die… all before I had grown another year older by my reckoning… What I hadn't really realized was that I would… care."

"That's always a danger," Phil said, feeling a familiar prickle of annoyance. He did like this most untrustworthy god, he did, but he could very easily find himself pissed off at him. He seemed bound and determined to deny himself capable of any caring or sentimentality whatsoever. Phil didn't know if he was psycho or just hurting in some way. There had been talks, rare, brief, that suggested the latter, but there was a lot more to suggest the former.

Loki looked up at Phil, his eyes jewel-bright. With unshed tears? It seemed impossible. "He's going to die," he said, hopelessly.

"Not for a long time yet," Phil said, trying to be soothing.

"Maybe by your standards. Not by mine. By mine, if he lives to be a hundred and twenty it will still be as though I woke up tomorrow and found him dead in his bed."

"He'll have kids, grandkids, great-grandkids…" Phil offered, feeling lame.

"They won't be Judah," Loki snapped.

Phil stood still for half a second, thinking, then threw up his hands. "Listen, I'm not going to comfort you over a loss that hasn't happened yet. Just enjoy him while you have him, why don't you?"

"Oo, when did you get salty?" Loki said.

"I think all this time I spend with you is rubbing off on me," Phil said, with a crooked grin that wasn't quite humorous. "Now, what are we going to do about Judah's birthday party?"

"What did we do last year?" Loki asked.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember a red puppet creature and cartoon dogs dressed as firemen and policemen."

"Elmo, that was his sixth birthday theme. Paw Patrol, that was his seventh birthday theme. I think this year we should do dinosaurs. He's really into dinosaurs."

"He always was. What's different about this year?"

"He says he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. Do you know nothing about your kid?"

"Judah says a lot of things. Last I knew he wanted to be a ballroom dancer."

Phil's grin was much more natural this time. "That's been a while ago."

"Perhaps Judah moves too swiftly, as a mortal, for me to cope with him as a parent."

"I bet your parents had a hard time keeping up with you, too," Phil said.

Loki nodded. "There… may be some truth in that. I remember one year I wanted to be a blacksmith, an alchemist, a tavernmaster, and a professional gambler… all at once."

"Yeah, I bet you were a handful. Judging by the fact that you still are."

"What is a 'paleontologist' anyway?" Loki asked.

"A scientist of pre-history," Phil said, scratching the back of his neck uncertainly. "Someone who goes out and studies things that existed before humankind. Dinosaurs, in other words, but some of them look at plant-life, sea life, things that existed on earth even before the dinosaurs even."

"What an odd concept. Of course, to an Asgardian, 'pre-history' is an odd concept, our history goes back so bloody far you can hardly find anything that goes back farther."

"But there is something?" Phil said.

"Oh yes, gods evolved the same as any other being."

Phil's eyes widened. "Gods are products of evolution? How long did that take?"

"Not long. Giants were born of the explosion at the start of the first time, existed for a bit, then started giving birth to gods. Punctuated equilibrium. Evolution happening suddenly."

Phil cocked his head. "But why?"

"Asgard. Asgard is soaked in cosmic power, born of that first creation of the multiverse. The first beings created were mundane giants, but they absorbed that power swiftly, and their offspring were born as gods, not simply giants with power but an actual unique species. Giants and gods can crossbreed but the offspring is always a bit off in various ways."

Loki grinned. "All right, let the boy have dinosaurs. But tell me we don't have to eat those horrible dino-shaped chicken chunks."

"Nah, Judah's outgrown those, more or less. He prefers the taste of more realistic chicken now, thank goodness. No, we could have something else for the dinner party. But definitely a dinosaur cake."

"Dinosaur cake? Where are you going to get one of those? They're extinct. Plus I can almost guarantee it would be tough and gamey. They're closely related to chicken but I don't think it would taste like chicken at all. Odin used to hunt dinosaurs… I don't think he cared to eat them."

Phil held up one finger. "A cake… decorated… with dinosaurs."

Loki grinned wider. "I know. That was a joke."

"Oh. One can never tell, with you."

"And I lied, some dinosaurs tasted quite delicious, at least according to father."

"Good to know if I'm ever starving in the Jurassic."

"I think I know what to give Judah for his birthday, but I have to go to Asgard to fetch it. I hope the Bifrost is fixed."

"Thor's been going back and forth for a couple of weeks now."

"He has? Nice of him to tell me."

"I don't think he thought you were interested in going to Asgard. Or in talking to him, seeing as you really haven't said much of anything to him over the past three years."

"Three mortal years is nothing to us, I just finished telling you that."

"Well then maybe he just hadn't gotten around to telling you it was fixed."

"Oh possibly."

Phil took a step closer and put his hands in his pockets. "What are you going to give him?"

"Something my father gave me when I was a child. Judah will like it, I think, and it's doing no one any good growing dusty in my room in Odinhall."

"But what is it?"

Loki's eyes sparkled. Phil couldn't tell if it was mischief or madness. "You'll see."

Loki went onto the Quinjet landing pad and called to Heimdall for a lift back to Asgard that very afternoon. He felt the rush of the Bifrost as the super-light speed ray closed around him. Soon he was standing in the fully restored Observatory, with the familiar feeling of slight upset in his head and stomach that, he knew, would pass in a few moments if he just ignored it.

"Welcome home, my Prince," Heimdall said, withdrawing the sword from the mechanism and closing the bridge. "What brings you here today?"

"Birthday shopping," Loki said curtly.

Heimdall nodded and said nothing. Loki knew he knew exactly what he was after. It was a wonder the god had even asked. Heimdall saw and heard everything, after all, or at least he did if Loki didn't actively work to keep him from doing so.

Loki walked the long road across the Rainbow Bridge into the city and on to Odinhall, past lines of neat, orderly Royal Guards who did not even blink at his passage, and on into his rooms, stopping to speak to no one. He did not have to dig to find what he was looking for: it stood out. He took it and made the long trek back. It was not a particularly heavy load for one who was capable of carrying upwards of fifty tons, but it was certainly awkward. He'd thrown a blanket over it so it could not be seen accidentally by prying seven-year-old eyes.

As usual, as he came in off the Quinjet landing pad, Tony Stark, nosy person extraordinaire, was there to greet him, scotch in hand, and ask exactly what the fudge he was carrying.

"It's not, like, a nuclear bomb or something, is it?" he said, half laughingly, half anxiously.

Loki sighed and flipped up a corner of the blanket so that Stark could see just what, exactly, he had in his arms.

"Oh. Wow. That's… nifty. Why is it white?"

"What?"

"White. Why is it white?"

"Have you ever seen a purple one?"

"No, but I've never seen one so fresh and pretty, either."

"It's been in Asgard."

"Ohhhhhhh," Tony said, nodding as if he understood, which he didn't entirely. "Why do you have it?"

"Judah's birthday."

"That's his present? Dayum. Even my parents just got me, you know, Erector Sets. That's got to be worth, like, thousands at least. Maybe millions, given that it's… you know… white."

"What difference does the color make?" Loki asked.

"Well you're not going to find one like that on earth. That makes it unique and unique is valuable, especially where those are concerned. How did you get a hold of that anyway?"

"My father gave it to me."

"And how did he get a hold of it, if I might ask?"

"Hunting trophy. Father used to be into that kind of thing."

"He hunted that."

"Yes."

"Are Asgardian hunting expeditions the real reason they're extinct?"

"We're not as stupid as humans, you know."

"Is that an answer or an evasion?"

"We're very careful conservationists, thank you very much."

"You're conservationists, but you do sport hunting."

"They don't have to be mutually exclusive."

Stark shook his head as though to clear it of thoughts that just didn't fit inside it. "Oookay, I'm gonna let you be about your business. Tell Judah I said happy birthday."

"Judah doesn't know who you are," Loki said, and went on his way.