So sorry for the gap between the last chapter and this one! The weather here in England has been so unbearably hot and it's so difficult to write when I'm physically cooking alive in my stuffy little bedroom with awful ventilation. And the fact that I cannot stand even the slightest rise in temperatures.

It's a 20 celsius today so I was able to finish this one off! I hope you all enjoy!


Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish

Chapter Twenty-Four: Watching Over You

Aster was sick.

Amelia had noticed during her daughter's morning feed that her nose was steadily running, and that the snot was slightly yellow in colour. No amount of wiping her face with a gentle tissue was enough to stop it. That had been the first indication, and it had taken Bruce all of two seconds to deduce that the poor thing had a cold coming on.

Loki had been taken aback by the realisation, "They aren't immune to Midgardian illnesses?" He had naturally assumed that his innate immunity would be passed down to his children and that it wasn't something they would have to worry about, but clearly this was not the case.

"Apparently not," Bruce had responded before pressing the back of his hand to Aster's forehead, "She doesn't appear to have a fever. Nothing too concerning, but definitely let me or one of the other medical staff know if anything changes. For now, just make sure to be careful when she feeds - she might have trouble breathing if her nose is completely stuffed up."

Amelia watched Aster like a hawk the entire morning, checking almost every five minutes for signs that the baby had caught a fever. The running of her nose did not let up, and her nostrils had turned a sore red by midday; Aster's discomfort was clear from the way she whined softly every so often, just on the precipice of crying.

"Oh, my poor baby," Amelia cooed as she stroked Aster's head, running her fingers through the thin hairs there. Her daughter looked up at her with a very disgruntled expression on her little face, eyes squinting tiredly, and Amelia hoped she would not be afflicted by the cold for too long.

With any luck, it would last only a few days, no longer than a week, and it would remain a mild inconvenience rather than progress to something more severe.

Thankfully, Aster managed to sleep easily most of the day, and Amelia was glad she could slumber through the discomfort rather than be forced to endure it while awake. She just hoped Aster would continue to rest through the night.

It was clear that Kari was confused by the fact he was being kept away from Aster - they were at least trying to save him from coming down with a cold as well - and that the break in the norm was upsetting him. Usually Kari and Aster spent a lot of their waking hours in close proximity playing with, or chewing on, their toys together. That day, however, Kari did not get his typical playtime with his sister, and was being entertained by either Loki or Natasha - it didn't stop the baby boy from looking around searchingly to try and catch sight of Aster.

Amelia insisted she nurse Aster back to health, despite Loki's offer to closely watch his daughter; Amelia didn't quite want to let the baby go, the motherly instincts within her told her to keep the girl close at all times, even though she absolutely knew that Loki would dutifully ensure the child's comfort.

In the afternoon, Aster's breathing grew a little wheezy and she let out little coughs every now and then, though she still hadn't shown any signs of being feverish, which was relieving; Amelia cradled her as she sat on one end of the couch in the nursery while Loki sat at the other end, Kari sitting upright in his lap with support.

The boy gurgled and babbled and grumbled endlessly in dismay at being held apart from his sister, occasionally shaking the rattle clenched in his little fist, as if trying to get Aster's attention. It was incredibly endearing and sweet, the two of them would no doubt be thick as thieves as they grew up.

Loki seemed worried about Aster; the insistent lines on his forehead and the furrow of his brow giving his feelings away plainly.

"She'll be okay," Amelia assured her husband, "colds usually last no more than a week or so, she will be fine after that."

"What if she falls ill like you did?" Loki inquired gently, grabbing Kari's free hand playfully and running his fingers through the boy's thin curls with his other hand by way of soothing him.

Amelia knew he was referring to the illness she contracted when she was pregnant, the one that put her in the infirmary with a high fever. Loki had transformed into his Jotun form to keep her temperature down, likely saving her from what could have been a very bad situation - his fears weren't unfounded.

"Well, that was a severe case," Amelia pointed out, "so far Aster just has a snotty nose and a slight cough, no fever. If she had a fever, then we would have reason to worry, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Besides, if she did develop a fever, we have some of the best doctors in the country just a quick call away, and we can always contact Inga if you think she would be more helpful than human doctors."

"I would be more at ease if we were in New Asgard, where we could have Inga present in less than a minute if need be," Loki went on to say. Amelia knew that if Loki had his way, they'd live in Asgard permanently.

"I know you would, but we can't go running to Inga at the slightest little problem. What next? We go to Inga because Kari gets a splinter in his finger and you only trust her to expertly remove it?" Amelia spoke teasingly, smirking as Loki glared wearily at her, "What I'm saying is, we're going to need to learn how to look after them when they're sick. We need that level of independence, just in case we're ever in a situation where we can't just hop onto the Bifrost and get off at the stop closest to a healer."

If Aster was showing signs of a more severe illness, then it would be different, but for a runny nose and a slight cough, she felt it would be a little silly to waste a doctor's time when she knew more or less what they would suggest anyway. Amelia fully understood Loki's fears, it was normal for a parent to worry about their young child when they were sick, but she was confident Aster would turn out to be fine so long as they kept a close eye on her.

"Why would we ever be in a situation where the help of Asgard is not readily available?" Loki challenged, one eyebrow raised.

"Gee, I don't know," Amelia began in a playfully mocking voice, "we could get kidnapped and taken halfway across the universe in a mysterious spaceship or something."

Loki eyed her for a moment, a serious edge to his gaze despite the fact that Amelia had very clearly been joking around, and then he quietly spoke, "No. Never again... I won't be so careless as to let something like that happen again."

Amelia sighed. The incident with Eruk almost a year prior had been out of Loki's control, she knew that, but he failed to see it that way. He always had and probably always would personally blame himself if anything bad ever happened to his family. Amelia also knew that if she tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, he would not accept it, so instead she reached over and laid a hand on his knee, squeezing comfortingly.

"Aster's gonna be fine. She'll be back to her energetic, determined self in a week or less," Amelia assured him.

Loki placed his own hand over Amelia's, giving her a small smile in acknowledgement of her words.

Unexpectedly, Kari pressed his rattle down over both their hands as if he'd been trying to copy the gesture but was unable to do so with his short arms. The action caused both Amelia and Loki to laugh aloud.

"Oh, you sweet little pumpkin," Amelia giggled. She couldn't express just how much she loved her beautiful children; some days she simply stopped to ponder just how incredible it was that she and Loki had created such lovely little beings. She couldn't wait to watch them grow up.

Aster coughed a little more steadily, a helpless little raspy noise that pulled at Amelia's heartstrings; she lifted the girl to her shoulder and rubbed her palm in circles on Aster's back, giving her gentle pats to help her clear the mucus from her throat.

Amelia sighed sadly when Aster's coughing subsided only to be replaced with crying. The little one was in pain, and Amelia just wanted her to be healthy again, it was difficult to listen to Aster whine and weep in her discomfort.

"I can take her," Loki suggested, "you've been holding onto her all day, so it would give you a break."

Amelia paused in her hesitance to hand the baby over to her husband, but ultimately decided that it was unfair of her to cling to Aster all day long when the child might find more comfort in her daddy's arms.

"Alright," Amelia stood and placed Aster in her nursery crib, "let me just wash my hands and change my shirt before taking Kari. Don't want him to catch her germs." After cleaning up a bit, Amelia returned to pick up her son, who gurgled excitedly and shook his rattle, and Loki came to Aster's rescue, picking her up and shushing her gently.

He performed the same circular motions on her back that Amelia had, and this time Aster was pacified more quickly, despite the continuing coughs expelling from her throat. She wasn't crying now that Loki was cuddling her, but Amelia didn't take that personally.

Loki hummed the lullaby his mother used to sing for him, and before long Aster was blinking tiredly and nodding off while Amelia entertained Kari until he too settled down for a nap. It was approaching 9 o'clock at night by the time Aster once again made her displeasure audible and began croaking and crying in her crib.

Her noises quickly woke Kari, who cried along with her, as he tended to do, and Amelia once again felt the pangs and twinges of Aster's affliction deep within her soul. She needed to do something.

"I'm gonna take Aster into the nursery and feed her, and then see if I can get her to sleep more comfortably," Amelia explained determinedly, knowing that keeping her extra hydrated would aid well in her recovery, "this is gonna be easier if we settle them separately, so you deal with Kari, I'll be back when she's asleep."

Loki could hardly argue with somebody who sounded so resolute, even if he knew he could soothe Aster faster than Amelia could, so he simply nodded his head and did as his wife suggested.

"It's okay, sweetpea," Amelia murmured to her daughter as she picked the girl up out of her crib, "we're gonna make you feel better, alright?"

She left the bedroom, walking down the hall to the adjacent room which had been set up as the nursery, and rocked Aster gently in her arms. The baby paused her crying only to cough, the sound of mucus trapped in her throat was dismaying and Amelia lifted the girl to her shoulder, patting her back gently as she had done that afternoon.

Amelia sat on the recliner and cradled Aster, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead to check her temperature. She seemed warm but not worryingly so; her cries seemed raspier, but Amelia figured that was probably a result of a sore throat brought on by the hacking. A little milk would probably soothe it.

"Alright, little one," Amelia spoke calmingly, opening up her robe so that Aster could feed; the child began to drink quickly, revealing that she was clearly thirsty, and Amelia took special care to make sure her airways were clear every few seconds, otherwise Aster would struggle to get a breath in.

While Aster drank, Amelia hummed songs in the hopes of lulling the girl into a more serene state. Kari usually appreciated his mother's voice more than Aster did, but it seemed to work this time. Aster's eyes drooped somewhat as she suckled and Amelia smiled, a swell of victory at the fact she had managed to calm her daughter without Loki's help. Success.

"That's it, sweetpea. Mama's got you," Amelia whispered, shifting the child into the crook of her elbow as she seemed to be done feeding. She kept Aster's head elevated a little but not quite upright, to help stop the mucus from pooling in her throat again.

Unfortunately, the movement seemed to knock Aster out of her trance-like state and she looked up at Amelia, sniffled, and began to whine as a precursor to more crying.

"Oh, no, Aster- it's okay, sweetie," Amelia whispered, the swell of victory quickly dissipating into slight dejection. How exactly did Loki do it? What was it about him that left Aster utterly and completely pacified? It could've been his voice or his scent, or something else entirely, but Aster very much loved her papa over anybody else. Amelia supposed Loki had probably wondered the same thing about Kari.

In a bid to think of something and not resort to calling for Loki, Amelia decided to try and use her magical energy to hush the baby. She hadn't had a lot of time to practise with it since the babies had been born, and she knew already that since the birth, her powers had heavily diminished. Inga had surmised that a large portion of the magic had rooted itself into Kari and Aster instead of remaining in Amelia's body, which was supported by the fact that her attempts to use the magic since were lacklustre to say the least.

Where her magic had once been strong enough to form a basket-ball shaped sphere of energy in her palms, it was now no larger than a marble. Still, not all she had learned had gone to waste - and Loki assured her that with practise, her magic would likely return to the same level it had been on.

For now, Amelia lifted one hand, palm facing upwards, into Aster's view, and concentrated real hard. It was difficult to focus with Aster's weeping as background noise, but Amelia was dead set on bringing the girl some tranquility on her own, without the help of her husband, and that purposive resolve fuelled her energy.

The small, green ball flickered to life, brightening the dimly lit room, and the moment it appeared, Aster paused in her cries, observing the sudden arrival of the physical manifestation of magical energy with a hint of fascination. Amelia smiled again, knowing the girl was very much full of curiosity and an urge to learn.

Aster tilted her head, inadvertently rubbing her snotty nose on her mother's robe, and Amelia gave a snicker, "Thanks for that," before watching as the girl reached out with one inquisitive hand, resting it on her mother's palm.

The green energy pulsed weakly with warmth, and Amelia let her eyes slip closed to pour her concentration into changing the shape of the ball. Loki had shown her how to do it a few times, warping the ball into shapes made of light, creating symbols or animals - it was just another attribute of his illusionary skills.

Amelia turned her marble-sized ball into a butterfly, which fluttered its wings as if it were real, and let out a breath as the magic stabilised. The butterfly flitted to sit on her finger, and Amelia brought it closer to Aster.

The girl was captivated by it, her weepiness and her cold forgotten, and she gently swatted at Amelia's palm with her own, a sweet little action that showed her muted excitement at her mama's magical energy. Amelia giggled, willing the incorporeal butterfly to flitter over to Aster's face. It landed on her nose, and Aster's eyes opened wider, her green eyes reflecting the green magic brightly as she looked up, cross-eyed in awe.

Aster tried touching it, but her fingers phased through the green energy, it didn't seem to bother her that she couldn't pick it up. The butterfly flew up to her forehead, and Aster babbled a few syllables that sounded like "buh-buh-buh," to which Amelia smiled widely and whispered, "Yes, but-ter-fly!"

Amelia was glad that Aster was doing well, her spirits raised to the point that her cold didn't make her so miserable.

After a few minutes, Amelia found herself wonderstruck when the room suddenly filled with butterflies, bright little insects fluttering around the room, making Aster gurgle in amazement; Amelia wasn't doing that - her magic wasn't strong enough to manifest so many of them at once.

Her gaze went to the door that was slightly ajar, and she saw Loki's eyes peering through from the other side. The moment he saw that Amelia had caught him out, he stepped into the room with a smile on his face, the butterflies continuing to dance around the room, leaving beautiful ribbon-like trails in their wake.

He cradled a snoring Kari in his arms, and moved quietly to sit by Amelia's side.

"These are pretty," Amelia whispered, eyes flicking to the stunning magic-made display, and Loki smiled coyly.

"I was inspired."

Amelia grinned at the veiled compliment.

"How is the little one doing?" Loki asked, leaning over to press the side of his head to Amelia's.

"Much better now that she has a lovely magic show to watch," Amelia answered, "she really enjoys magic - she's gonna be a little spellcaster when she grows up, learning all the spells, taking after her daddy. I'm sure of it."

If there was anything that could distract little Aster from the torment of a cold, it was definitely her father's magnificent display of sorcery. Given that the little one had stopped crying and coughing all at once and seemed to be a lot better very quickly, Amelia couldn't help but think Aster might've been putting on a bit of an act - that it wasn't quite as bad as she made it out to be. She had cried for her daddy's attention and it had made her cough more, but now that she was content, the coughing didn't seem to be a problem.

"She's already taking after you in the fact that she's a little drama queen, that's for sure."

Loki shook his head, rolling his eyes with a small mirthful smile.


Please leave me a comment! Does anybody have any ideas they want to see me write because for real, I have so many ideas for things to happen later in the fic when the children get a bit older like toddlers, but I'm not entirely sure what things to write about for the immediate next chapters.

In the next chapter, I'm thinking of skipping ahead a tiny bit and having the babies learn how to crawl! What do you think? They learn to crawl and Loki and Aster have to suddenly be aware that their little ones could zip off without them noticing? ^_^