When Sleipnir and Jormungandir woke up the next morning, Loki was waiting for them, sitting with Sigyn on the couch. Gandhi woke up, and wandered out into the living room, eyes bleary, and dark hair sticking up in odd angles. He stared in sleepy confusion at Loki, not a flicker of recognition on his face.

"Morning, Gandhi." Sigyn smiled. "Can you come here for a minute, please?"

Gandhi nodded, and padded his bare feet over to Sigyn, crawling up into her lap. He didn't take his eyes off his father the entire time, but didn't seem to be worried or frightened.

"Sweetie, this your Father." Gandhi explained. "Can you say hello?"

Gandhi gave a small wave, glancing at Sigyn's face, but then resuming his piercing stare at Loki. "I'm Luke."

"Luke?" Sigyn smiled.

"He's my father." Gandhi smiled. "Darf Vader."

Loki smiled softly at Gandhi, who started humming the Imperial March not exactly sure what to say. Sleipnir appeared in the doorway, clad in Elsa pajamas, and rubbing her green eyes sleepily. "Mother, can I have waffles for breakfast?" She asked, not really paying attention to Loki in the least.

"Yep." Sigyn's eyes sparkled.

"Really?" Sleepy looked up. "You don't say yes to waffles! Who's he?"

"Today's a special day." Sigyn explained. "So, yes. We can eat waffles."

Gandhi looked up, dropping the tune. "What's today, Mofer? It somebody's birf-day?"

"No." Sigyn smiled. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Best told over waffles." Loki put in.

"Who is he, Mother?" Sleepy asked again.

Gandhi grinned, slipping off Sigyn's lap. "He's Darf Vader!"

"No, he's not." Sleepy contradicted. "And it's Darth Vader."

"What I said." Gandhi crossed his arms. "Darf Vader. You better hurry, or I'll steal all the blueberries."

The two children bolted into the kitchen, leaving Loki and Sigyn alone together. "I really hope this goes over well." Loki stated.

"Yeah." Sigyn sighed through her nose. "I know. I do, too."

They walked hand in hand into the kitchen, where their children were fighting over the amount of waffles they were allowed to eat.

"Two waffles per person." Sigyn announced, breaking up the fight.

Sleepy looked at Sigyn and Loki's intertwined fingers. "Is he your boyfriend, Mother?"

Sigyn glanced at Loki, and shook her head. "Alright, kids, sit down."

They both scrambled to the table, sitting down in the chairs as Sigyn inserted their waffles into the toaster. As they were cooking, Sigyn sat down at the table, Loki hovering behind her nervously. "Sleepy, Gandhi, I'd like to introduce your father, Loki Laufeyson."

Gandhi made Darth Vader noises into his hands.

"He's not Darth Vader." Sigyn laughed.

"Told you." Sleepy grinned triumphantly.

"Can we pretend he is?" Gandhi asked hopefully. "I can Luke, and she can be Leah!"

"I thought he died!" Sleepy protested. "He got stabbed, all the way through, when he fought Malekith! Vali told me, it's true!"

"My death was… greatly exaggerated." Loki explained, sitting in the chair next to Sigyn. "By Vali, most of all. He did have to defibrillate me twelve times, after all, so he does have the right, if anyone does."

Sleepy frowned. "Are you his father, too?"

"Yes." Loki confirmed.

Gandhi crossed his arms. "Why'd you show up now? Where have you been?"

Loki chuckled. "I'm pretending to be the king of Asgard, and it's extremely time-consuming. I've only been able to be around at all after your bedtimes, and then, only a few times a month. But, in light of certain events, I've decided to take you and your Mother to Asgard with me."

"Asgard?" Sleepy asked. "That's where Vali lives!"

"It's where we used to live, before Sleepy was born." Sigyn informed. "And it's where we're going to live, now."

"Bro, you use a lot of really big words." Gandhi pointed out.

Sleepy elbowed him. "Don't call him 'bro'! He's your Father!"

Gandhi looked guilty. "Um… what's defib-def-debefil…"

"Defibrillate?"

"Yeah." Gandhi nodded.

"It's a method of re-starting a person's heart after it stops beating." Loki explained. "Using electric shocks."

"Ooh…" Gandhi was impressed. "You got zapped twelve times?!"

"Yeah." Loki nodded. "I only felt the last one, though."

"Because you were dead?" Sleepy guessed.

"Ssssort of." Loki allowed.

Gandhi wasn't finished. "What fing happened?"

"What thing are you referring to?" Sigyn asked.

Sleepy butt in. "He said 'in light of certain events' that we all go to Asgard. What happened?"

Sigyn grinned ecstatically. "You two are going to have a new younger brother or sister, soon."

"Really?" Sleepy grinned. "I want it to be a girl! Can I hold her and feed her her bottle and get her dressed, and brush her hair?"

"it might be a boy, Sleepy." Sigyn laughed at her daughter's enthusiasm.

"Where is it?" Gandhi asked, glancing around the child was sitting on the counter, somewhere.

"It's still inside me, Honey." Sigyn smiled.

"Inside you?" He looked horrified. "You swallowed a baby?!"

"No, that's where the baby grows until it's ready to come out." Loki explained.

Gandhi wrinkled his nose. "That's weird…"

"I suppose." Loki shrugged.

"How long until she comes out?" Sleepy asked.

Sigyn smiled. "About seven more months. Now, after breakfast, I want you to pack up your clothes and any toys you can fit into your backpacks, and we'll leave after lunch."

"When are we coming back?" Gandhi asked.

"If everything goes as planned, We're not." Loki explained.

They stared at him in shock. "Not?" Gandhi breathed. "But… what about Tony? And Rhodey? And Vision? We can't leave 'em all behind! Fey're our friends!"

"You'll make new friends in Asgard, I'm sure." Loki smiled. The toaster dinged, and Sigyn went to fetch their breakfast. The two children ate the waffles in relative silence, and then shuffled away to pack up their belongings. Loki glanced at his wife. "I think I may have broken their hearts."

"They'll live." Sigyn assured him. "And they'll love it on Asgard, I'm sure! I mean, who doesn't like living in the golden realm?"

"Me." Loki pointed out. "I would rather live… anywhere besides Asgard, but it seems I have very little choice in the matter."

"Muspleheim?" Sigyn narrowed her eyes.

"Alright, maybe not Muspleheim." Loki admitted. "But you get the idea. I don't like Asgard. It's… never felt like home to me. Even Nidavellir has a special place in my heart, Asgard… there's nothing there for me."

Yep." Sigyn sighed, rising to her feet. "You wanna help Gandhi, and I'll deal with Sleepy?"

"Very well." Loki nodded slowly. "I don't think they particularly like me."

Sigyn shrugged. "They'll learn, Melleth. They'll love you in no time."

"Are you sure?" Loki sighed in discouragement. "I never loved my Father figure. Looked up to him, yes. Adored him, craved his approval for everything I did, of course. But I never loved Odin."

"True, but he never loved you, either." Sigyn patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Never even tried."

Loki sent her a grateful smile, and slipped down the hall to Gandhi's room. The little boy was standing in the middle of an enormous field of clothes, his backpack clutched tightly in his hand.

"May I offer my assistance, Gandhi?" Loki asked quietly, nervously, he realized. Gandhi looked up in surprise. "Uh, yeah. What's it mean?"

"Assistance means help." Loki explained. "I'd like to help you."

"Oh…" Gandhi glanced down at his hands. "Um… how many shirts will I need?"

"No more than two." Loki shrugged. "We'll be fitting you with new clothes as soon as we get to Asgard, so you'll need one for tomorrow, and one in case something happens to it. I would say the same rule applies for all your clothes."

Gandhi frowned. "But… what about my toys? I like my toys! Are you gonna get new ones for me, on Asgard, too?"

"If you want them." Loki nodded. "But I'll also be teleporting all our belongings to our rooms once we're settled."

With that, Gandhi set about packing two outfits into his backpack, and all the toys he wanted to take on the journey. Loki had a bit of a hard time convincing his son that his Nintendo would be entirely useless on Asgard, since there was no way to charge it besides borrowing Thor for a few seconds. Besides, Thor was gone. After about an hour of debating with a five-year-old, they'd finally gotten everything they needed into Gandhi's backpack. He followed the little boy to Sleipnir's room, where she'd apparently been ready for quite some time, and was sitting on the edge of her bed with Sigyn, chattering excitedly. Gandhi stomped into the room, making strange growling noises. "Mother, look at me! I'm a dinosaur!"

"Yikes!" Sigyn jumped up. "What's a dinosaur doing in the house?"

"Raaaaah!" Gandhi roared, running toward Sigyn, and wrapping her legs in a hug. "What's for lunch?"

"Lunch?" Sigyn laughed. "It's only been an hour since breakfast!"

"Rats…" Gandhi sighed, jumping up onto Sleepy's bed, and humming a slightly familiar tune. It seemed extremely familiar to Sigyn, as she rolled her eyes.

"Not this, again…" Sigyn sighed, giving her husband an exasperated grin.

Sleepy looked up, and began to echo her brother with an impish grin.

"Is that…" Loki narrowed his eyes. "Are they singing the hamster dance?"

They looked up at their parents with twin evil grins, and promptly finished the melody. Only to repeat it, again.

Loki face-palmed. "They are singing the hamster dance. Who taught them that?'

"Clint." Sigyn shrugged. "For a very short while, he had Sleepy convinced it was the national anthem of the United States."

Loki rolled his eyes. "That sounds like him."

Gandhi grinned, and jumped to his feet, bouncing happily on the bed as he sung.

"Alright, that's enough." Sigyn rolled her eyes again, and scooped Gandhi up into her arms. "No more hamsters."

"Da da dee da dee dah doh doh…" Sleepy grumbled.

Sigyn gave her a sharp look. "I said no more hamsters."

"Yes, Mother." Sleepy sighed compliantly, but there was still the beat going on from Somewhere.

"Sleipnir Greenleaf Lokidotir." Sigyn raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry!" Sleepy looked up guiltily. "I forgot about the beat!" The beat was promptly silenced. "Thank you." Sigyn sighed.

"Wait a minute, she was procuring the beat?" Loki asked, his eyes wide in excitement. He turned to Sleepy in wonder. "You can make audio illusions?"

She nodded nervously. "Mother taught me…"

"That's… That's fantastic!" Loki grinned. "Is it all you can do?"

Sleipnir flicked wrist, a shower of sparks appearing over her head, and hovering there like fireflies. "Not much besides that, though. I'm best at making noise."

"Wonderful…" Loki cupped Sleepy face in his hands. "That's absolutely stupendous, Sleepy."

"Thanks…" Sleepy grinned, displaying her missing tooth. "Can you teach me more?" She asked hopefully.

"Oh, for sure!" Loki nodded. "I'd be delighted!"

"I can do stuff, too, Father!" Gandhi raised his hand excitedly. "Look at me!" Gandhi closed his eyes, and with a little concentration, glowed yellow, slowly transforming into a small green snake. It reared its' head proudly, looking up at his father. Loki knelt down, and held out his hand as Gandhi slithered onto it, wrapping around his fingers. "Total shape-shifting, not just illusion work…" Loki breathed in awe. "That is a very rare gift, little one. I can't even do that."

"And I didn't teach him that." Sigyn nodded proudly as Gandhi transformed back into his normal self, dropping the two feet to the floor.

"I'm so proud of both of you." Loki smiled at his children, who, despite only having known he was even alive for an hour and a half, both seemed to sit up a bit straighter, and were extremely gratified.

"See?" Sigyn smirked. "They love you!"

TheOnlyHuman.