All in all, Phil was happy that Thor knew about the plan, and he was fairly certain that the God of Thunder would act quickly – Thor wasn't a god to procrastinate. He was, truthfully, more than a little worried about Loki's reaction to Thor's coming up to him and, doubtless, demanding he rethink his plans, whatever they might be, but if anyone could keep him from killing innocent people (Phil), and that was a big if, then it was Thor.

And truthfully, Phil hadn't trusted Loki to ever speak to Thor about his plans, no matter what he'd said about doing so. Phil wanted to keep him alive almost as much as he wanted to stay alive himself.

Phil returned to the party with a relatively light heart. He still worried; Thor was not tactful, Loki was damnably sensitive, and even if everything went perfectly Phil was looking at losing a friend and… well, Judah called him "uncle" but while Loki was being a good father, a startlingly good father all things considered, perhaps because of Loki's forgetfulness Judah felt very much more like a son to Phil than a nephew. Phil knew, if Judah went to Asgard, he would be very lucky indeed to ever see him again. It was just the way things worked up there. Thor made frequent trips back and forth but Loki wouldn't be that way. Thor had a mortal girlfriend and enjoyed working with the Avengers but there was nothing on Earth to draw Loki back except, perhaps, some type of mischief. And Loki would forget how much time was passing on Earth as mere days went by on the other side of the Bifrost. That was probably why the Vikings eventually decided that the gods had abandoned them and converted to Christianity. The Asgardians paid them a visit one day and then just forgot to come back for a thousand years or so.

Phil had a good idea that the next time Loki thought about paying him a visit, he would be long dead in his grave, of old age if nothing else.

"Brother, Judah tells me you plan to move home to Asgard," Thor said in his biggest, most booming voice. Phil cringed over his slice of ice cream cake. "I wonder if you have thought it through completely."

Phil wondered if Thor had ever thought anything through completely. Saying something like that to Loki was like lighting a match and tossing it into a swimming pool filled with Sterno.

Loki ate his bite of cake and carefully lay down his fork. "I have given it some thought, Brother," he said in a tight voice.

"Judah made it sound very sudden."

"My plans often come across as very sudden, because I do not tell people about them until I am ready to put them into action."

"Do you then have some idea of how to get Father to acquiesce to making Judah immortal?" Thor said.

"Of course. I will simply offer him whatever he wants in exchange."

"What if he wants nothing?"

"Then I shall punt. But have no fear: everyone wants something, especially Odin."

"What if what he wants is your incarceration, Brother? He is still very angry with you."

"Then I shall go to the dungeons with my head held high."

"What good will that do?" Thor said, a little desperately. "If you are in the dungeons it doesn't matter if Judah is mortal or immortal."

"Yes it does."

"Why?" Thor said, pleading with Loki.

"Because he's my son!" Loki shouted, his pale face turning momentarily red. A lick of flame curled out of his mouth, but perhaps that was an illusion. He clamped his lips closed and seemed unwilling to speak further, but apparently he had more to say. After a moment of silence he said, in a carefully moderate tone of voice, "I do not care what happens to me. That is not important. What is important is that Judah has a chance to live and to learn and to be for the world, mortal or immortal, whatever he wishes to be. Whatever it is, I know it will be something good. And yes, perhaps, if Judah does grow up to be what I perceive of him, whether it be a doctor or a dancer or a sorcerer or a scientist, I can find a modicum of vicarious redemption in that way."

"Leave it to you to bring selfishness into altruism," Thor said.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to think too well of me," Loki said.

Most of the party-goers were staring at the brothers now; the rest were carefully looking anywhere else. Judah was looking down at the plate of cake he held. He didn't look overly happy.

"I'm… sorry I snapped at you, Brother," Loki said, eyes now on Judah. "I'm trying to watch my bad temper, but it gets the best of me more often than I like."

"I never thought I'd hear you apologize for anything, Brother," Thor said.

"Yes… well… that, too, is something that needs to change, I suppose."

For the second year in a row, the mood of Judah's birthday party was disturbed. This time, Phil didn't know how to help it recover. Loki, however, seemed to have some idea.

"Phil, perhaps you can help me with something. I've had it in my head for the longest time, and I simply cannot remember. Do you recall the old show, Captain Kangaroo? What was it that Bunny Rabbit used to try and get the Captain to say all the time?"

Phil should have been wary. Hell, he should have known what to expect. But he was so surprised to hear Loki ask a question about a long-gone television show he should, by rights, know nothing about that he momentarily forgot who he was dealing with.

"Ping pong balls?" he said.

A cascade of ping pong balls, thousands of them, rained down from the ceiling as though his words were a trigger while Loki laughed like a maniac. The guests sat in shocked silence as they were bombarded with soft missiles. Judah rolled on the floor and giggled.

"Oh, every time it rains it rains," Loki sang, as the downpour continued. How many ping pong balls did he have up there? "Ah, those have been up there for months."

Natasha was the first of the party-goers to start laughing as the rain of balls continued, then Bruce Banner joined her. Soon everyone was laughing, scooping up ping pong balls, and tossing them at each other.

"I hope I don't have to clean this up," Phil said, even as he laughed.