I didn't get as many comments on the last chapter. I hope I get more feedback on this chapter - I made it one of the longer ones ;)

For those who did comment on the last chapter, and those of you who comment on EVERY chapter, I just want to say a big heartfelt thank you for doing so. It gives me a boost of serotonin whenever I see a new comment, which absolutely keeps this fic afloat. If it wasn't for you all, there wouldn't be four fics in this series :')

I hope you all enjoy!


Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish

Chapter Twenty-Three: I'll Be Right Here

It began the next morning, where, like most other mornings, both Kari and Aster roused from their slumber and began to whine and cry. Their cries were usually for a multitude of reasons - whether they were hungry, needed changing, wanted attention, or were still a bit sleepy - but they always tended to calm down after most of these needs were met.

Aster would usually stop crying first, because she was generally the quieter of the two and was only wailing because her brother was being too noisy, and then Kari would calm down and become his usual happy self.

This morning, however, Kari just didn't stop.

Unless his mother was holding him.

After Loki had failed to calm him, he had handed the boy to Amelia, and Kari had been promptly soothed. Loki had rolled his eyes after Amelia joked that Kari liked her better, and had turned his attention to Aster instead, dressing her in a light green onesie as she sucked on a pacifier and wriggled around in a lively sort of way.

Once Amelia felt it was time to get out of bed and get changed, she gave Kari a little boop on the nose and then asked Loki to take him while she got herself dressed. Unfortunately, when Loki placed Aster safely back in her crib to take Kari from his wife, the boy began to cry again, practically the second Amelia's hands were no longer touching him.

"Maybe he really does like you better," Loki supposed, quirking one eyebrow as he gazed down at the clamorous child, rocking him back and forth in an attempt to calm him.

"He's just a mama's boy," Amelia responded, feeling the pressure to dress a little quicker so that she could take Kari back and soothe him once again.

Loki tried holding Kari upright to his shoulder instead, but it only succeeded in causing the screaming to enter directly into his ear; he frowned at the baby, lips pulling into a subtle pout, and attempted to talk to him, "It's just me. Why are you crying? I'm not an ogre."

Kari only screamed louder.

"Okay, okay, give him back to me," Amelia instructed, rushing to button up her jeans before holding her arms out. As they had predicted, Kari's deafening cries ceased immediately as he was once again placed in the care of his mother.

"I see how it is," Loki remarked with false offense, returning to Aster's crib to pluck the girl up; she held up her arms in anticipation of being held by her father, an action that Amelia did not happen to miss.

"Hey. Aster clearly likes you better. She's just quiet about it."

Loki snorted in amusement, kissing his daughter's forehead tenderly. He and Amelia were, at that moment, blissfully unaware of the day they were about to have.

By lunch time, Kari's tearful disposition was becoming quite the problem. Amelia couldn't hold onto Kari every minute of the day - she needed to be able to go to the bathroom or cook a meal or simply have a few quiet moments to herself, and she couldn't do it all with a baby in her arms. Which meant, inevitably, she had to put up with intervals of inexplicable wailing.

Presently, Amelia was sitting on the couch in the communal room, slumped forward with her elbows leaning on her knees, staring at the screaming baby who was sitting in his carrier right in front of her at her feet.

"Baby, I'm right here," Amelia murmured, still completely uncertain as to why Kari was inconsolable whenever he wasn't in mama's arms. He'd been needy for attention before but this was just a little bit ridiculous, and it was beginning to worry Amelia that there might be some sort of underlying problem.

He refused to suck on a pacifier, spitting them out whenever one was placed in his mouth, and no amount of soft, cuddly toys or rattles could soothe him either.

"Maybe he's tired?" Tony suggested with uncertainty, which garnered weary looks from both Amelia and Loki, "Uh, or not? Just… putting out ideas." He had to raise his voice to speak over Kari's clamorous volume.

"We've tried everything, he's never cried for this long," Loki pointed out, peering down at Aster to check up on her. She was also in her carrier, a big frown on her face, probably getting a little put off by the racket her brother was making; it was likely only a matter of time before it became too much for her and cause her to start crying too.

"And he's definitely not hungry or in need of a new diaper?" Steve inquired.

Loki merely glared at the man, answering his question wordlessly. Of course they'd tried changing and feeding him. His diaper was clean and he'd drank his fill of milk, but the moment he was out of his mother's arms, the weeping began anew.

"What if he's in pain?" Amelia murmured anxiously, reaching down to caress Kari's cheek. The baby clung to the offered hand, his bawling stalling for just a moment before he realised she wasn't going to actually pick him up.

"I don't think that's it," Bruce spoke up, "I don't know a lot about babies, but if he was in pain, surely he would continue to cry even as you hold him. The fact that he only cries when you put him down suggests to me that he... well, he just doesn't want you to put him down."

"But… but why?" Amelia worried her lower lip between her teeth, "I don't understand why he's just started acting like this today. He was totally fine yesterday." He had been a bit snivelly before bed the previous night, but they'd managed to get him to sleep without too much trouble.

"Maybe it's colic," Bruce shrugged his shoulders, "but that usually doesn't progress past four months, and tends to begin a few weeks after birth…"

"What is colic?" Loki frowned.

"It's when a baby cries a lot for no apparent reason," Bruce explained succinctly.

"Well, that certainly seems to be the case here," Loki stated with a hint of frustration, motioning an accusatory hand toward the screaming infant.

Amelia groaned in agitation - she didn't want to have to deal with a moody Loki as well as a moody baby, so she gave in and picked Kari up into her arms, sighing in relief when the child grew quiet and content. The sound of a baby's cry was just so distressing and difficult to ignore, and she felt awful just watching Kari whimper and whine.

She held Kari to her shoulder, rubbing his back with gentle circles, and Kari began to babble in a much happier way.

"Oh, yeah. He definitely just wants to be held by you," Tony concluded from what he had just witnessed.

Amelia was half hoping Clint would magically turn up and do his little baby-calming trick he had done the other day to get Kari to stop crying, but both he and Natasha were away on a minor mission and wouldn't return to the tower until late that night. She wasn't entirely sure she had the willpower to hold out until then.


Loki placed down his mother's old journal with a sigh of resignation; he'd been hoping to find answers, that maybe there had been a time where he had spent hours inconsolably crying as an infant, and that his mother had found a solution, but there wasn't any indication upon the old, frayed pages that such a thing had occurred.

He glanced to his left, where Amelia was sitting upright against her headboard of the bed, eyes closed, while Kari slept in her arms, and wondered for a moment if he'd get away with taking the child to his crib without causing him to stir. Amelia was exhausted and in dire need of restful sleep, but they could only manage to get Kari to sleep for less than an hour before he woke up again searching for his mother, unless he was sleeping in her arms.

Loki shifted gently, rose from the bed and walked around to the other side with the intent of taking Kari from his wife's arms, but as soon as his fingers brushed Amelia's, she spoke rigidly.

"Don't, he'll wake up." She opened her tired eyes, blinking miserably up at Loki.

"You need to get some sleep, love," Loki argued softly, waiting expectantly for her to acquiesce, but she shook her head.

"I won't be able to sleep if he's crying."

"And you can't sleep while holding him."

"I don't know what to do," Amelia tearfully admitted. Loki was well aware the sound of Kari's cries was practically painful to her, and that was why she was so unwilling to hand the boy over, because she would have to endure the sound of Kari's desperation and need while unable to provide the constant attention he desired.

"I'll figure something out," Loki decided, "I'll go for a walk, see if I can find some way to soothe him. You just worry about getting some sleep, alright?" In a way, Amelia was lucky that Loki wasn't Midgardian, because if he was mortal, he may have been as exhausted as Amelia looked, and then they both would've been at their wit's end.

That wasn't to say Loki was confident he could figure out what little Kari needed, but he hoped that if all else failed, Kari would slowly tire himself out on their walk through the city - Loki had heard from multiple sources that background noise was good for sending children to sleep, so he hoped it would work on this occasion.

Amelia seemed hesitant, but ultimately nodded her head and allowed Loki to take Kari, she tensed in anticipation, waiting for the crying to start, but blessedly the boy did not stir immediately. It was only a matter of time though, Loki knew full well, so he gently placed Kari in his carrier seat and slipped into the disguise he'd started using in public.

There had been an incident the previous week where he had almost been recognised while he was out with both Amelia and the children, which would have been disastrous in his mind, so Amelia had suggested a light disguise would work. A simple hair tie and a pair of glasses were what she had given him, and when Loki had questioned if such a flimsy veneer would actually succeed, she cited something called the 'Clark Kent Effect' and appeared confident that it would.

Even he had found his reflection to be so unlike himself that he decided very quickly it was worth trying, and since then he had not had a single person double-take in his direction; it was like he was invisible without actually being invisible. A very useful facade.

Loki was certain that Amelia had already fallen asleep in the two minutes it had taken him to retrieve his shoes and coat, which was clearly indicative that she was finally relaxed after being on edge all day long. He paused to lean over Aster's crib and brushed his thumb softly over her temple as she slept, musing that she was far more composed than her brother, but he wanted to get Kari out of the room before the boy inevitably woke up and, by extension, woke Amelia up with his crying, so he did not waste another moment. He carefully lifted Kari's carrier and exited the room.

He was halfway down the stairway to the bottom floor when the telltale noise of whimpering caught his attention, and Loki glanced down at his stirring son. He was disappointed but not surprised, a small part of him had hoped Kari wouldn't wake at all and that whatever had ailed his mind all day had been cured, but it was simply not going to be.

"Your mother is sleeping, little one. She's exhausted after the day you've given her," Loki explained in a quiet tone, "I'm just taking you for a walk, feel free to go to sleep if you feel the need."

The boy answered his assuring words with, surprise surprise, a whine that grew steadily in volume until it became piercing screams. Loki sighed and continued through the foyer and out the door, ignoring the looks he received from the receptionist and the guard staff.

It was 8:12pm when Loki left the tower and the sun had not yet dipped below the horizon, leaving a dim blue light to set across the city. It would have been quite serene, were it not for the tumultuous noise coming from the tiny boy in his carrier. How could such a small being make so much noise?

He walked fast but steadily towards Central Park, thinking that perhaps there was a chance little Kari would appreciate the greenery of the surroundings, and received a multitude of looks from the people he passed by - thankfully no looks of recognition. The humans mostly sent him sympathetic or amused looks which he paid no mind, but an annoying few did pin him with suspicion. Gods, they better not think he was kidnapping the boy; while it wouldn't have been a problem for Loki to escape some cops, he had no interest in playing cat and mouse while carrying his young, screaming son.

He just wanted some damn peace and quiet, he didn't need any foolish midgardians making things more difficult for him.

Loki had almost managed to drown out the sound of Kari's cries by the time he arrived in the park; he found an isolated bench and sat down, paying no mind to the few people who stared at the baby as they walked by, and positioned Kari's carrier to face him, giving the boy a drawn out look, searching his face as if he'd be able to communicate with the boy telepathically.

"How are you still crying?" Loki asked, "Is your throat not hurting?"

He suspected Kari's throat was hurting, but his reason for wanting his mother apparently overloaded the need to not have an awfully sore throat.

"If you keep crying in my face like that, it's going to hurt my feelings," Loki joked, but Kari found no amusement in his jesting.

Loki frowned. His son looked so helpless and upset, and Loki lamented that he couldn't just give the boy exactly what he needed - it wasn't fair on Amelia, she needed to be able to sleep instead of holding onto Kari all night just to keep him from wailing. They had to find a better solution.

He tried rubbing his fingertips in soothing circles over Kari's scalp, and while it dampened his cries very slightly for just a moment, it was not sufficient enough.

Loki wondered whether there was an emotional reason for Kari's state as opposed to screaming out of necessity for basic needs. His endless cries had started that morning - had something happened overnight to prompt such a reaction? What if Kari had had a bad dream? Did babies as young as four months even have bad dreams? Infants interpreted the world around themselves a lot differently to adults, but perhaps it was still possible that he had dreamed up a nightmare that left him in such a way only Amelia could soothe.

"I don't know if you're scared or worried about something, but you don't have to be afraid, little one. I am here, and I always will be," he spoke gently to the boy, holding onto his flailing arm, "I'll always protect you."

It was no use. Kari was not assuaged.

Loki sighed, leaning against the back of the bench and pinching the bridge of his nose. It wouldn't do very well to return to the Tower without having alleviated Kari's problems.

A few rough minutes passed as Loki tried to think over the volume emanating from his son's lungs, and was soon interrupted by the voice of a midgardian woman who had been going about her evening.

"Let me guess, you a new parent?"

With tense shoulders, Loki looked up at the woman who appeared to have stuck her nose into his business and made assumptions about him - it didn't matter that the assumption was, on this occasion, correct - he still did not care to entertain the woman's nosy inquiry with an answer.

"You don't need to answer, I can tell you're a new parent," she snootily replied to his scathing silence, "I've got five little rascals myself, aged three to eleven, so I guess you could say I'm experienced in the field of parenting."

Loki really did not care.

The woman was already grating his nerves. She was a fair bit older than Amelia, maybe by ten years or so, with blonde straw-like hair and stress lines on her forehead. Her voice was high-pitched, but not in a cute way like Amelia's, and she wore strikingly red lipstick and purple pigment on her eyelids. In Loki's opinion, her makeup did not look good in the slightest.

"Good for you." Loki's retort was dismissive, a perfect reply that any normal person would interpret as the ending to a conversation, but this dumb midgardian woman continued to stick her nose where it wasn't wanted.

"Do you want some advice? You seem to be struggling with your baby."

"I don't need your advice."

"Hmpf, how rude. I'm just trying to help." The woman probably thought she was doing him a big favour, but she was so very wrong.

"No, you're making things worse. Stop talking to me," Loki said outright. It was true, the prying woman's presence was clearly agitating Kari even more. His cries had grown stronger and were beginning to sound like a plea for help to get him away from the infuriating woman.

"You shouldn't be so ungrateful!" The woman snapped.

Loki scoffed at her, unclipping Kari's harness so he could pick the child up out of the carrier and hold him protectively to his chest, hoping to ease his perturbation a little. Kari's fists curled around the fabric of his coat, another indication that he was upset by the woman before them.

"I was just going to tell you that when they're crying like that and they're not stopping, you shouldn't give 'em attention cause it'll only make things worse. You need to put 'em in their cribs and ignore 'em, let 'em self-soothe and they'll quit crying for long periods of time."

Loki was appalled by the woman's words. He would never in a million years leave his children alone crying in their cribs. The very idea rubbed him the wrong way. He gently rubbed Kari's back, promising never to treat him in such a way. Infants may have been difficult to communicate with but they were still people.

He let his lip curl up in disgust and kept his voice level, "I truly pity your five children."

The woman went red in the face and raised her voice, "How dare you! You don't know anything about parenting! You're not even holding your baby properly!" She made the error of gesturing with her hands a little too closely to the infant in Loki's arms, looking very much like she was about to reposition him.

Loki swatted her hand away in the blink of an eye and stood, rising to his full, intimidating height as the woman stumbled back slightly, "Keep walking, or we're going to have a very big problem." His voice was a low hiss, and the woman appeared to sense the threat below his words, cause she clutched her hand to her chest and rushed away.

Any curious pairs of eyes from the humans within earshot smartly averted their gaze as Loki surveyed them with a glare, daring them to make the same mistake the nosy woman had. He was all wound up tight from the encounter and wanted to return to the tower.

As he moved to grab Kari's carrier with his free hand, he suddenly realised that the boy's screams had mostly ceased. Loki looked down at the baby in the crook of his arm in surprise, eyes wide as he tried to figure out what had possibly calmed him. Kari was still a bit whimpery and had yet to release him, his little hand clutching the lapel of his coat.

"You feeling okay now, little one?" Loki inquired tentatively, worried that the child could be set off again at any moment.

Kari blinked a few times slowly, and then opened up his mouth in a big yawn; a smile pulled at Loki's face, along with a feeling of relief that settled in his chest. "I'm not surprised you're tired. Sleep, Kari, I'll take you home." Loki elected to carry the boy home in one arm instead of placing him back in the carrier, lest Kari found it to be unsuited for falling asleep in, and walked steadily back in the direction to the tower.

By the time he arrived back at the Avengers Tower, Kari was sound asleep, lulled by the distant hum of tires on tarmac several streets away, and Loki revelled in the sound of peace and quiet. Amelia would be happy to know he had managed to soothe the boy. However, he was a little bit frustrated that he still did not know what had caused Kari's day-long outburst in the first place.

Babies were truly a mystery.

Loki didn't want to risk riding in the elevator in case it disrupted Kari's sleep, so he took the stairs up to the communal floor and made his way down the hallway past the living quarters.

The sound of voices gave him pause. He halted at the entrance to the room and spied Romanoff and Barton talking to Stark - they must have just returned back from their mission as they still appeared to be wearing their fighting gear.

"Oh, hey," said Stark upon noticing him, "you got the kid to stop crying? Hallelujah."

Loki glanced down at Kari, nodding his head in assent. "At least."

"Has he been giving you trouble today?" Romanoff asked, amusement prevalent in her voice.

"He's been crying for no reason. All day."

"No reason, huh?" Barton parroted, a smirk pulling at his mouth.

Loki's brow furrowed, "It would seem so."

"And what got him to stop?" The archer continued his line of questioning and Loki fought the urge to blatantly roll his eyes, remembering his promise to Amelia that he would try to be more civil with the man.

"Well," Loki began, taking a breath, "I was accosted by a midgardian woman in the park who attempted to give me unsolicited advice on parenting, which I declined, then she started shouting that I was rude and ungrateful, and accused me of holding Kari incorrectly. Then she tried to grab him."

Barton raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by Loki's unanticipated tale, "...and?"

"I may have threatened her. It's a blur." Loki prepared himself to receive an earful about the morality of threatening humans, but was pleasantly surprised when Barton nodded in apparent approval of his actions.

"Sounds like she deserved that."

Loki blinked and murmured, "Yes." That was unexpected.

"So he stopped crying after that?" Romanoff asked, stepping closer so that she could get a good look at Kari sleeping cosily, his little hand still lightly hanging on to the lapel of Loki's coat.

"Yes. I am still not sure what precipitated his crying, until now he was only calmed when Amelia was holding him. It doesn't make sense to me but… I'm not complaining." Just so long as he didn't restart the cycle all over again tomorrow.

"Sounds like he only felt safe with his mother," Barton suggested.

Loki scowled, "What?"

Barton's hands went up in front of him defensively, "I'm just saying, perhaps he got anxious and the only thing that could soothe him was his mother, because he felt safe with her. Don't take it personally, babies get like that sometimes."

"I wasn't taking it personally," Loki mumbled, the frown still heavy on his face.

"Well, maybe you showed him that he could feel secure with you too, when you got rid of that woman who was bothering the two of you." The archer shrugged.

Loki stopped himself from automatically telling Barton his hypothesis was stupid, because on reflection, it did sound like it could make sense, and Loki knew Barton had children of his own, so his supposition wasn't completely unfounded.

"What would have prompted him to think he was unsafe with me to begin with?" Loki inquired, and he really didn't mean for his tone to sound so despondent, but it came out that way anyway.

Barton shook his head. He didn't know the answer to that one.

"Well, at least he's happy now, huh?" Romanoff pointed out, smiling at the sleeping baby, "I'd like to see him tomorrow when he's awake." This time, Loki did subtly roll his eyes. He was going to have to get used to the fact that everybody in the Tower wanted to hold and play with the babies.

Romanoff left the room, and Stark exited too, on his way to his lab to write some notes about the mission she and Barton embarked on that day, leaving Loki alone with the archer. An awkward silence followed as Loki and Barton stared at each other for a drawn-out moment, before Barton cleared his throat and moved to walk around Loki.

But Loki had something he wanted to ask about, that he admittedly couldn't think of anybody else to ask - something that had been bothering him ever since that woman in the park had poked her nose into his business.

"Did you-" Loki quickly cut himself off, his pride reminding him that Barton was an annoying human who was far from anyone he would call a friend.

Barton stopped, looking back at him with raised eyebrows, waiting expectantly.

Loki quietly sighed, "Did you ever... ignore your children when they were crying as infants? And let them… self-soothe?" He regretted asking immediately, but waited courteously for the archer to acknowledge his question with an answer.

Barton searched his face, seemingly trying to figure out what had urged him to ask such a question, or rather what had urged him to ask Barton a question at all, seeing as they weren't on great terms.

"What brought this on?" The archer sounded curious.

"It was something the intrusive woman in the park suggested."

Barton tilted his head back in understanding, but continued to pin Loki with an almost suspicious look. After a moment of quiet contemplation on Barton's part, he spoke again, "Do you actually value my input?"

Loki loathed to admit his next words, murmuring hesitantly, "As an… experienced parent… you may have beneficial insight."

"I'm sorry, can you say that again?" Barton mocked with a smirk.

"You heard me," Loki hissed, "I don't need to repeat myself."

Barton laughed, his gaze falling to Kari and then back to Loki, "Alright. Here's what I think. Self-soothing is not something a baby can learn. Do you think babies actually cry for no reason?"

Loki frowned, glancing down at Kari curiously. He had thought so, earlier that day, after trying absolutely every idea under the sun to get the boy to stop crying, but after what Barton had suggested, about Kari not feeling secure, he wasn't sure.

At his extended silence, Barton continued, "Does Amelia ever cry for no reason?"

Loki quirked an eyebrow, "Yes."

"Tell me an example of when that has happened."

"What does that have to do with babies?" Loki was beginning to think Barton was wasting his time instead of sharing anything particularly insightful.

"Humour me."

This time, Loki didn't try to be subtle about rolling his eyes, "On occasion, Amelia has had bouts of unpredictable sadness. It happened often during her pregnancy. We figured it was hormonal."

"Right," Barton nodded, "so the hormones caused her to feel sad, and the sadness caused her to cry. She wasn't crying without reason, then."

Loki blinked.

"Just because the feeling of sadness had no trigger and was irrational doesn't mean she wasn't feeling sad, right? You gotta remember that children are just small, helpless people who can't communicate. They still have feelings and emotions. They're brains are developing rapidly, especially at Kari's age, and he may experience fear or sadness when there's no clear cause that we can pinpoint. Babies don't cry for no reason."

Loki had felt the exact same way when that woman had spat utter nonsense about her self-soothing method, he just hadn't been able to discern exactly why it had pissed him off, but Barton worded his feelings on the subject perfectly.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Babies don't cry for no reason, and babies don't learn to soothe themselves when they're ignored. They may stop crying, but not because the reason for their crying has passed. They'll stop crying because they realise there's no point in crying if their parents will simply ignore it. That doesn't solve the problem, and it's awful for child development. If a child feels there is no use in crying over emotional needs because they know the parent will not come to help them, what if they choose not to cry for an urgent need? A life-threatening need?"

Barton's explanation was becoming crystal clear. The woman in the park had had five children - when Loki had told her that he pitied her children, he'd just been trying to rile her up, but now he truly did pity her children.

"I see." Loki said.

Barton nodded and then, while smiling almost smugly, added, "Any more questions?"

Loki could tell the archer was revelling over the fact that he had come to him for help, that he had needed Barton's parental advice. With a scoff, Loki responded, "No, that will be all."

"Great," Barton replied flatly, and then walked around Loki to leave the room.

Amelia would not approve of the rather contemptuous way he had brushed Barton off after the archer had offered his guidance on a small matter, and Loki wished he hadn't promised Amelia that he would try to be nicer to the man. His desire to make his wife happy won out over his pride.

"Barton," he said quickly without turning around. Even with his back to the man, Loki could tell Barton had paused in step and was looking back at him. He opened his mouth, and then closed it, and then opened it again, closing his eyes exasperatedly at his own reluctance, and then scathingly breathed out the word, "Thanks."

The ensuing quietness was telling. Barton was no doubt shocked that Loki had shown gratitude, because it took him a full twenty seconds to say, "Yeah, no problem."

Loki waited for the archer to exit the room before curling his lip in dismay. He'd actually shown appreciation for Barton, how mortifying. If the human dared to use it against him in any way, he would- he would-

He wouldn't kill him. Amelia would really hate that.

He would knock him around a bit, for certain.

Loki sighed. The time was ticking and he needed to get little Kari into his crib so the boy could get some restful sleep.

On the way up the stairwell to the correct floor, Loki found himself wondering, if Barton had been right in his hypothesis that Kari had felt unsafe - except in Amelia's arms - then what had caused it? He had been fine thus far, it was only that morning that he had started acting up; the only notable thing that had happened out of the norm was the little argument he and Amelia had had the day before in the nursery.

Could Kari have been affected by that?

Glancing down to the infant in his arms, Loki tilted his head curiously. There had been a few separate occasions in which both Kari and Aster had reacted to the negative emotions from himself and Amelia. Perhaps they were both empaths. It was safe to assume they were both very in touch with the emotions of their parents.

If it was true, it meant Kari had clearly taken his mother's side of the skirmish.

A small smile pulled at Loki's lips. A mama's boy through and through.

"I love you, your sister and your mother," Loki whispered in reassurance to the slumbering boy, "I'll always be right here for you all." It was no empty promise.

Loki kissed Kari's forehead before laying him down in his crib that night, and soon after crawled into bed with Amelia, who was still peacefully sleeping, and kissed her goodnight too.


The name of that woman who chose to go for a late night stroll and worm her way into Loki's business? Karen McKarenson.

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