Hey everybody!

So, I'm currently self-isolating because a friend of mine who I was with just last week called me up and informed me that he tested positive for COVID! So ain't that lovely. So far I feel totally fine, but I'm having to remain in my room in case I'm asymptomatic. It's not a huge bother though because I pretty much just stay in my room all day anyway. Thought I'd take the time to go ahead and write the chapter you've all been waiting for though! ;)

I hope you all enjoy this very long chapter! :D


Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish

Chapter Thirty-One: The Sweetest Hue

The twins' second birthday had been celebrated two days ago and the toddlers hadn't really understood why everybody was paying so much attention to them, lavishing them with gifts of toys and pretty clothes, or why they were allowed to eat so many sweet treats, but they certainly didn't complain. Amelia had been fretting over the condition of the childrens' teeth while Loki had seen no problems with it.

He declared that the twins could eat what they wanted on their birthday, and Amelia had cynically responded "yeah, sure, are you gonna clean up their vomit or do I have to?"

"A maid will," Loki responded dismissively, either not picking up on her sarcasm - unlikely - or just simply ignoring it.

Predictably, Aster had eaten a few too many sweet cakes and thrown up all over the new dress she had received; Amelia had shot Loki an 'I told you so' glare across the table as maids had stepped forward to clean the girl up while Aster whined in discomfort, probably still suffering from an achy stomach.

"Oh dear," Loki had stated, giving his daughter a sympathetic look, like Amelia hadn't warned him hours prior that she was on-track to throwing up. That was when Amelia had stepped up and stopped Kari from eating more treats, lest he were to end up just like his sister, which of course had caused the boy to start crying because from his perspective, there could never be enough food that would leave him satisfied.

Amelia was convinced that if she hadn't stopped Kari, he probably would've thrown up and then just continued to eat. It was a wonder the boy hadn't ballooned to the size of a small elephant given how much he was prone to snacking, but Amelia figured it was more than likely to do with Loki's genetics. Loki similarly could eat a lot, but never seemed to put on weight. Maybe Jotuns just had a very fast metabolism, and perhaps the kids had inherited that from their father.

Anyway, that had been a couple of days ago. Today, Loki was attending a meeting as Thor's chief advisor, talking about expansion and concerns and various other discussions that happened to pop up with the monarch. It was secret stuff, Loki either wasn't allowed to explore those matters with her, or he chose not to. It didn't bother Amelia, though, she had enough on her plate raising her two children, she didn't need to hear about any concerning issues beyond her control within Asgard.

Since Loki had told Amelia his meeting would take some time, she had decided to take the children outside for a short while despite the very cold temperatures. It was below freezing and there was a soft, white blanket of snow covering the ground in the palace gardens, so she had had the children bundled up in warm furs from head to toe, along with scarves, mittens and bobble hats just to be on the safe side. They deserved to experience snow for the first time up close and personal, but she didn't want them to be too cold.

It was amusing, watching the bundled children waddle along the path - in their current attire, it wasn't easy for them to move around so much, but their curious little minds didn't let that stop them. It was adorable to watch.

At first, they just stared at the white snow in confusion, wondering what it was and why it had replaced the colourful green of the grass and the many different hues of the flowers that had been there months prior, and then they took their first steps atop the snow and listened to the slight crunch of it beneath their boots.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Amelia whispered, speaking quietly because she felt that talking any louder would disturb the peacefulness of the gardens. It was beautiful outside, with the bright white snow upon the ground and the sun showing its face in the sky, everything just felt like it was shining and vivid.

"It pretty," Kari parroted, the words slightly muffled from behind the scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face.

Aster stepped onto the ground where the grass was soft beneath the snow and had more give, her little boots sinking in a little more than they had on the path, and immediately she began moving excitedly from one foot to another, crushing the snow beneath her feet and giggling as she did so.

It was too sweet.

Amelia sat down on the nearby bench, watching her children play in and discover the snow for themselves; it seemed a positive experience thus far if their enthusiastic happy noises were anything to go by. Amelia herself pulled her gloves on a little more tightly and sunk into her cloak, wrapping it firmly around herself to try and keep the cold from permeating through her. There was no way she could stay out here with the kids for too long, her cheeks were already on the way to becoming rosy and she already missed the warmth of the fireplace in her and Loki's bedroom.

"Having fun?" a soft, feminine voice called, and Amelia looked up to see Signy approaching. She was dressed similarly to Amelia, wearing a big cloak and gloves and a bright smile on her face.

Amelia patted the bench beside her, inviting the Asgardian woman to sit and join her, which Signy did with a shiver; the woman copied Amelia's method of keeping warm, which was to wrap up tight and pray that her body heat didn't escape.

"I see you take to the cold as well as I do," Amelia observed with a snort.

"Oh," Signy smiled, "yes, myself and the entire population of Asgard. We aren't acclimatised to these kinds of temperatures. The palace on our homeworld was situated in an area of perpetual Summer, so we didn't really feel the cold all that much. We've had to start getting used to it now, though." She made a noise of dismay and shivered again.

"It's colder here than in Manhattan," Amelia informed, "this is my first Winter in Norway, and, uh, it's pretty dang cold." While Winter was beautiful in and of itself, Amelia missed the colours of Summer flowers.

"I'm sure it'll warm up before we know it," Signy replied optimistically, also yearning for the days where one could comfortably walk about without a big furry cloak on their shoulders.

"Hopefully."

"What about them?" Signy nodded her head towards the little ones, smiling at them as they played contentedly ahead.

"Well, it seems that they don't really mind the cold," Amelia scrutinised her children closely, watching for any sign of discomfort from the chilling temperature of the air. She raised her voice slightly, "Kari, Aster, are you warm enough?"

Kari replied airily with a simple 'yes', more focused on creating footprints than anything else, while Aster was squatting down and flattening the snow with her mitten-covered hands, paying no attention whatsoever.

"Aster," Amelia repeated herself, waiting for the girl to acknowledge her, and then signed with her hands alongside her verbal speech, "are you warm enough?" It was to prompt the girl to respond with the sign language she had been learning for the past six months. It was slow moving, but progress was being made, both for Amelia and for Aster.

Aster made a fist and moved it up and down at the wrist, the word 'yes' in American Sign Language. Amelia gave the girl a pleased smile and nodded her head as the little girl went back to her snow-flattening experiment.

Amelia turned back to Signy, "I think they get it from their father. The cold doesn't affect him. He could walk around out here in nothing but his underwear and it'd be like nothing was different to him."

Signy chuckled in amusement, "Well that's an interesting mental image."

At the ensuing lull in conversation, Amelia glanced over to her friend, watching her curiously as the Asgardian woman smiled fondly at the children. "So," Amelia began, a slight air of coyness in her tone, "your sister and the King."

Signy glanced over at Amelia, eyebrows quirked in surprise at the princess's playful tone, "My sister and the king?" She repeated dumbly, like she didn't know what Amelia was probing for.

Amelia smirked, "What's the hot gossip? Do I hear wedding bells approaching?"

Signy gave a small huff of a laugh, her breath escaping her mouth in a little white cloud, and shook her head. "What makes you think I would know how those two are getting along?"

"Um, because Inga is your sister?"

"Well, yes, but-" Signy paused, "She doesn't tell me everything."

"Well, what has she told you?" Amelia asked. She was desperate to know where Thor and Inga were at in their relationship; it had been roughly two and a half years since they had first met and promptly made heart eyes at each other. The flirting came soon after and the rest was history. Amelia knew Thor had been looking for somebody, and he had found somebody who seemed to match with him perfectly.

The problem was, they were very quiet about their relationship. Secretive and reserved. Amelia was pretty sure that nobody beyond the king's advisors, except for a few guards, were in the know about Thor and Inga. They kept it private and far away from the eyes of the Asgardian populace. Amelia wasn't sure why.

"Well, the other day Inga was telling me that she thinks the king's beard is too sharp," Signy emphasized the last two words with an oddly embarrassed grin.

"Too sharp? What's that supposed to mean?" Amelia looked confused, wondering exactly how such a problem could arise.

Signy looked at her for a minute, eyes wide as her cheeks reddened from something other than the cold weather, "Yeah… you know."

Amelia blinked and frowned, "No. I don't?"

Signy pursed her lips, staring at Amelia for a few drawn out moments with a look that begged her to figure out what she was talking about, but Amelia had no clue at all.

"Are you actually gonna make me repeat what my sister told me about…" Signy trailed off, realising that Amelia wasn't faking her obliviousness, and she blushed further, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her giggles, "Amelia- wow, I thought… I really thought you'd know what I was talking about."

"Tell me already!" Amelia pleaded, feeling embarrassed that she didn't know what her friend was talking about.

Signy sighed and spoke very quietly, "You better not repeat this to anyone. My sister said that she didn't like how sharp his beard felt when they were, um, being intimate. Said it scratches her thighs." She covered her mouth in an instant, as if guilty that she had let such a thing slip.

Amelia stared at her friend in confusion, "Wait, wh- ...How does it scratch her thighs when they-" she froze, cutting herself off promptly as she realised what Signy was insinuating. Oh. Inga had just casually been telling her sister that Thor's beard hurt her thighs during oral sex.

"Mm-hmm," Signy hummed.

Amelia covered her face briefly, mortification setting in, "Okay, wait- why was she telling you that?" Amelia couldn't even begin to imagine ever confiding in her brother about personal details of her sex life, perhaps Asgardians were a little less reserved than she initially thought.

Signy let out a sharp, loud laugh, "She didn't mean to- she was asking if I knew of any lotions that could soften beard hair, and I thought that was a strange question-" she paused to inhale through her laughter, "so I kept asking what she meant, why she was asking that, until she got really embarrassed and told me exactly why." She finished with a snort.

"So much for your sister not telling you everything!" Amelia snapped, sharing in the embarrassment. Well, at least Signy's words gave her a good, accurate insight into what level Thor and Inga were at in their relationship, "I feel like you shouldn't even be telling me this."

"Pft," Signy smirked, "it's payback for all the times Inga teased me as a child. Besides, I thought you would figure out what I was implying anyway."

Amelia groaned, hiding behind her hands again and gently murmured, "Loki doesn't grow facial hair… I don't have that problem."

Her words seemed to make Signy's joy return anew as she let out another bout of chuckles, trying desperately to stifle them. The children were glancing over with puzzled looks on their faces, wondering what mama and her friend were laughing so much about, heedless and unaware of the conversation that was going on.

"Look, I was asking about whether they were thinking of getting married, not details on their sex life," Amelia quietly reprimanded good-naturedly. Her face wore a smirk as she fought through her bashfulness, "Thor always avoids the subject, I don't get it. I thought he wanted to get married."

"They do," Signy pointed out after composing herself, finally shedding some light on her sister's relationship, "they definitely do want to get married, but they're nervous. And royal weddings take months and months of planning - sometimes even years, and the King is caught up in his duties, and my sister is intimidated by the idea of being queen of Asgard," she shook her head, "there's plenty of reasons."

"Okay," Amelia nodded, "nervous about being queen, that's understandable, but you can't be telling me weddings take years of planning when I got married to Loki like three weeks after he proposed."

Signy shrugged slightly, grinning down at her boots like she was thinking about responding sassily but second-guessing herself, "Well, I think Prince Loki was feeling unusually impulsive after you were almost taken away, plus learning you were pregnant… I think he just wanted to make you his as fast as impossible."

Amelia smiled subtly, glancing over to check on her babies, "I was already his."

Signy rolled her eyes almost teasingly in response.

"Still, I hope Thor and Inga figure themselves out and get hitched soon," Amelia thought aloud, "I see the way they look at each other… the way they interact in the presence of friends. They love each other so much."

Signy nodded and murmured, "That they do," in agreement.

There was a beat of silence and then Amelia asked, "What about you?"

The question took Signy off guard, her eyes widening as her mouth fell open, "Wh- what do you mean?"

"You seeing anyone?" Amelia's eyebrow quirked impishly, "You jealous that your sister is the king's romantic interest?"

"Pft," Signy snorted in genuine amusement, "Not even. I remember when all the girls would fawn over Prince Thor, looking for any reason to start chatting with him - and he'd chat to all of them, mind you," she shook her head, and then seemed to pause, a flicker of mischief appearing in her eyes, and then she offhandedly continued, "Actually, I had more of a crush on Prince Loki when I was younger."

Amelia coughed and spluttered, caught in chortling surprise, and then her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly, "Is that so?" She didn't quite know how to feel about the information that her friend had a crush on her husband, but Signy saw her expression and began to cackle all over again.

"Gods, you are so easy to wind up," Signy pointed out playfully as she pushed back a strand of blonde hair that had fallen from behind her ear, and Amelia rolled her eyes, realising that she'd fallen for a silly prank, "I never crushed on Loki. I've never really had a crush on anyone, to be honest." She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm happy being unattached anyway, I find myself caught up more and more in my work, sewing all day long. I find it therapeutic, you know?"

"Mmm. I wish I could sew like you can," Amelia said. Signy's creations were always immensely beautiful and had so much love and detail poured into them.

Signy shined at the compliment, "Why, thank you."

The conversation fell for a final time and Signy declared that she had to get back to her workshop. Amelia watched her go with a fond smile - the Asgardian woman had gotten so bold since they'd first met, and Amelia was truly glad for it. Signy had been timid and reserved after Eruk had taken her, but now she was loud and bubbly and surprisingly waggish. Amelia was glad to have her as a friend.

Amelia watched her children. Kari was picking up handfuls of fluffy snow and throwing it in the air while Aster twirled around, dancing in it as the snow fell down. Amelia couldn't help but think they'd be further dazzled if they saw the snow falling from the sky in real-time. It was unfortunate the current blanket of snow had fallen in the silence of the night.

"Are you both still warm enough?" She called out.

"Mama, look!" Kari shouted, continuing to throw snow up into the air and watch it fall, as if Amelia hadn't been watching him do that already.

"Wow!" Amelia played along in amusement, "How high can you throw the snow?" Her question prompted Kari to try and throw the snow higher and higher while Aster watched in awe.

Amelia smiled. They were fine. The cold really didn't seem to bother them.

A dark figure in Amelia's peripheral quickly drew her attention with a flutter of anxiety, until she realised it was her husband creeping up the path towards them, and she fully relaxed, giving him a wave. He didn't wave back, but he seemed glad to see her, and as he came closer, Amelia could tell he was just a little bit stressed out. It was incredibly subtle on his face, but Amelia picked up on it with ease - she knew her husband like the back of her hand.

Loki was dressed in his Asgardian leathers, which didn't look like the warmest outfit in the world, but as Amelia had been thinking just moments ago - her husband didn't even feel the cold. His gaze looked over the kids as he reached the bench and he sat beside Amelia, who immediately scooted right up to his side and laid her head against his shoulder.

"Heyyy," Amelia sighed, her tone vaguely sing-song in nature, "You look upset. Everything okay?" She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes, examining his face. He looked radiant as the snow reflected off his pale skin and brought out the beautiful green of his eyes, his black hair a stark contrast cascading down below his shoulders. Ugh, he was so pretty even when he looked kinda disgruntled.

He stared at her as she stared at him for several moments, and then he sighed, "I hate the snow."

Amelia gave him a small smile, "Well, your children appear to love it." With a fleeting glance, Amelia found that Kari had discovered that the grass was still present, just trapped beneath the layer of snow, and he was playing the part of a snow-plow, trying to kick up all the snow to free the nature underneath.

"Yes. I noticed." Loki's tone was clipped.

"Okay, tell me what's going on," Amelia said plainly, eyeing her husband with a knowing eye. It wasn't just the snow that was bothering him.

Loki surveyed his wife's face, his lips turning up at the corners only slightly, and he pulled off the leather glove that covered his hand. He reached up and pressed it to Amelia's cheek - she instinctively flinched, knowing that Loki's hands were always cold. But this time, Amelia found after a fraction of a second of contact that his hands were actually warmer than the air around them. She covered Loki's hand with her own, pressing it more firmly to her icy cold cheek, and sighed.

"You're too cold," Loki stated, "Perhaps we should go back inside."

"The children are having so much fun, I can bear it a little longer. Now, stop avoiding my question, what's up?"

Loki gave a slightly sarcastic huff of a laugh, "Alright, but first answer me this. Why did Signy just burst into fits of laughter as she passed me in the corridor, and why did she remark that you are lucky I don't grow facial hair?"

Amelia pursed her lips to stop herself from smiling, her cheeks warmed up just marginally at the embarrassment of what had occurred a little while ago, and she shook her head, "Trust me, you don't want to know." She didn't think Loki would appreciate hearing about what Inga and his brother were getting up to in the privacy of the king's chambers.

"Hmpf." Loki rolled his eyes, pulling his hand away to once again cover it with his leather glove. "The king's advisors are all a bunch of morons, that's why I'm upset," he said the word sarcastically.

"But you're one of the king's advisors."

"I mean apart from me, love," Loki mumbled.

Amelia paused, moving to rest her hand on her husband's thigh in a comforting way. She could have left her line of questioning there, but her curiosity compelled her to ask why exactly he was criticising those who joined him in advising the king.

"What happened, babe?" Amelia asked gently, preparing for her husband to bring the conversation to a stand still and diverge to another subject entirely, but surprisingly, Loki actually offered her some intel.

"The librarian did an inventory check on all the books in the library this week and found that a couple of the books had been replaced with fake copies - the insides of the pages were completely blank - and that the last confirmed checkout for those books were roughly nine months ago," Loki began wearily, "They were two books on dark, prohibited magic, and as such, were kept in the restricted section under lock and key, which means at some point in the last nine months, they have been stolen."

Amelia frowned. Somebody had stolen books from the library? And not just any old books - dangerous books? And they intended to cover their tracks by placing fakes in their place? That did not sound good. "Right… so…?" Amelia prompted tentatively. She knew it was bad, but why was Loki so infuriated by the advisors for bringing this to attention?

Loki gazed at his wife expectantly, "So," he grumbled, "they immediately accused me of being the one to steal them."

Amelia's eyes widened, "Uh, what?"

"They threw their allegations at me, pointed their grubby fingers in my face and told my brother I couldn't be trusted, without any evidence supporting their theories, I might add," Loki was practically seething, his tone snappy and vexed.

"Wait, hold on," Amelia lifted her hands in front of her and shook her head, "what- and Thor believed them?"

"No," Loki said at once, "Thor is less of an idiot than his advisors, he didn't think for one moment that I would do this. It's stupid, one would only need to use a single brain cell to deduce that I was not responsible for this mishap," he spoke, "after all, I have clearance to check those books out, why would I need to steal them in order to view their contents?"

Amelia raised an eyebrow, "You have clearance?"

Loki's eyes narrowed slightly at Amelia's surprised look, "Well, yes."

"You have clearance to check out books about evil magic?"

"Dark magic." Loki corrected tightly, "I don't like your tone."

Amelia laughed, "My love, I am not accusing you of anything. I am just curious, what kind of spells constitute dark magic?"

Loki looked almost pouty for a moment; Amelia could tell he had really been riled up in the royal advisors meeting given the fact he was acting all snippy with her.

"You know… the kind of magic that ignores things like morals and ethics. Necromancy, mind control, thought and memory alteration, spells that steal life from others and absorbs into the caster… intrusive spells that allow the caster to see into the minds of others." He listed them off with a shrug of his shoulders.

Amelia soaked up the information and looked thoughtful for a moment, "So who is on the records as being the last person to check the books out?"

Loki's expression went blank, "...I was."

Amelia gave her husband a sardonic look, "Are you kidding me?"

"Look," Loki began, his voice quiet but forceful, "I have my reasons for researching into that kind of magic, and I assure you none of those reasons are nefarious. Do you honestly think I would do anything to harm this kingdom?" He spoke hotly, truly distressed at how everyone seemed to be putting the blame on him, and Amelia shook her head immediately, dropping any playfulness and teasing she'd been harbouring in her expression.

Loki was not in a joking mood, that was obvious.

"No, love. Absolutely not. I know you didn't steal those books. I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were this upset." Amelia put an arm around her lover, leaning into his side again, and Loki visibly relaxed, looking just a little bit abashed that he had gotten over-emotional and thought there was even a chance his wife didn't trust him.

"I thought after all this time that they trusted me, but I suppose I'm the first to be suspected when anything unusual happens," he sounded exasperated, and then quietly added, "perhaps I shouldn't have spent my whole life playing pranks on them."

Amelia chuckled lightly, shaking her head at the situation Loki had found himself in, "Hey, listen… Thor trusts you. That's what's important. Your brother knows you, and I'm sure you'll all find out who the real culprit is, and then those advisors will be sorry they pointed fingers at you."

Loki turned his head, pressing his lips against Amelia's forehead and letting them sit there, "We've no clue where to look. These books could have been missing for up to nine months, any clues potentially left behind would be long-erased by now."

Amelia thought for a moment, feeling her husband's hot breath against the side of her head, "Is this something that… could be dangerous?" The thought of someone stealing those restricted books left her feeling uneasy - the books were prohibited for a reason, which meant there was a chance whoever took them intended to do harm.

Loki was quiet for a minute, which worried Amelia, and then after a short while he told her, "I'm the most powerful sorcerer in the kingdom, if anybody were to try and bring harm to the people of Asgard, they would not be able to overpower or outwit me. You're safe," he told her assuredly, "We're safe."

Amelia smiled softly. Loki's affirming words always made her feel so safe and secure, she didn't know what she would do if she didn't have him protecting her and the children. At the thought of her little ones, she turned her head slightly from where it was buried in Loki's neck and shoulder, and looked to Kari and Aster.

And she froze.

The twins had taken off their mittens, which lay forgotten at their feet, and both of them knelt on the snow-flattened grass, their fingers dug into the icy mounds that Kari had kicked up earlier in his attempt to reveal all the grass again.

It wasn't the fear that their little digits would contract frostbite that had Amelia holding her breath. It was the fact that their hands and wrists had turned a vivid royal blue from the icy contact. Amelia swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry with shock, and a million thoughts rushed through her head at once. Her mind was so filled with too many overlapping, indistinct notions that she could barely even figure out what she was thinking, but one thing rocketed above the rest of the white noise.

Loki.

He hadn't noticed yet. He may have assumed her sudden tautness was owed to the small gust of frigid air that blew through Amelia's hair and crawled down her neck, because his arm tightened around her minutely.

Amelia's mouth twitched as she rushed to form words, but her mind had yet to catch up as she struggled to figure out what to say in that moment. What could she say? Don't look now, love, but the kids are looking a little blue. There was no way she could gently inform him of what was occurring before them, in any way, without triggering any sort of negative reactions from her husband.

She knew Loki all too well. She knew that he always had and probably always would hold a grudge against the Jotun side of himself, no matter what Amelia did to try to convince him that it didn't define him and that there was nothing wrong with his birth form.

All Amelia knew in that moment was that things weren't about to get difficult and emotional.

"Don't freak out, Loki," Amelia breathed, the words rushing out of her mouth timidly.

There was a beat of puzzled silence, and Loki shifted, moving his face away from where he had been nuzzling her hair; his green eyes scanned her apprehensive face obliviously, a trickle of worry setting into his features as his eyebrows furrowed. He was about to question her seemingly odd request but his eyes flickered to Kari and Aster.

Amelia knew the moment it clocked. Loki's face slackened in shock, his eyebrows shot up and his mouth hung open. His eyes glazed over with something akin to fear.

"Loki…" Amelia spoke gently, in the same way one might address a frightened animal, "Just… it's okay…" She didn't quite know what to tell her husband to get him to calm down, she wasn't even quite sure he could hear her as he didn't react to her flimsy attempt to compose him.

"Mama, look!" Kari interrupted, using his favourite phrase to draw his mother's attention; he was stumbling over, his now-completely blue hands raised in the air, and Amelia wished in that moment that she'd had the foresight to grab onto Loki's arm to force him to remain still.

Loki jumped up and took a few staggering steps backwards, away from the bench, as Kari came to a stop before Amelia. Close up, Amelia could see the deep blue hue creeping up Kari's neck and begin to completely engulf the normally pale skin of his face.

"H-hey, bug," Amelia stammered with uncertainty, and lifted her gloved hands to press against the boy's cheeks, "um… are you cold?" Through her woolly gloves, she could feel the chill radiating from his cheeks.

"No mama!" Kari confidently proclaimed, waving his hands before Amelia's eyes. He paused, looking at his fingers curiously, touching his skin searchingly, "Look… look. Why blue, mama?"

He didn't seem afraid at all, looking mostly confused that his skin was changing colour - the boy was oblivious to his father's distress and his mother's apprehension, turning his hand over as he examined it with much interest, asking the innocent and unmindful question about why he was changing.

Kari blinked his wide eyes, looking up at his mother, and Amelia watched as his bright green eyes bled into red. Amelia was bewildered, but not for the reasons Loki was probably thinking she was. He hadn't said a word, standing a few steps back stock-still and silent as he stared with a piercing gaze at his children.

"I-I don't know, bug," Amelia murmured, unsure of how to address the subject, but she knew immediately that she couldn't let her children think this was a bad thing, "Um… probably the snow! How strange, that hasn't happened before." She forced a playful note into her voice for the sake of her little ones and glanced at her husband out of the corner of her eye. Still no response.

He was driving her crazy. Amelia needed him to say something and break the icy - no pun intended - atmosphere at once; she had no point of reference for how to deal with a situation like this and, well, she supposed Loki didn't really have one either. But he was always so quick to say the right thing after all the tens of parenting books he'd read through and learned from that it was so utterly nerve-wracking when he didn't seem to have an inkling for what to say.

Please, Amelia begged, say something. Anything would suffice.

Loki faltered, taking another half-step back, looking between his two children with a pained expression, and then three words fell from his lips, so quiet that Amelia almost didn't hear him, "This is wrong."

Anything but THAT.

Amelia's mouth hung open as she stared at her husband despondently. How could he possibly say such a thing?

Unlike Kari, Aster looked worried. She was a tad more perceptive, it seemed, because she knew this was unusual and completely out of the ordinary. Her face was also in the process of turning blue, her eyes growing red, it was a little more difficult for Amelia to detect the emotions flicking through the young girl's expression, but she was sure it all amounted to anxiety.

Aster turned to her dad and moved her arms around herself in an 'X' formation, sign language for the word 'hug', and Amelia drew in a breath, looking to her husband pleadingly. Go to her and pick her up, Amelia begged in her mind, and felt her throat tighten when Loki didn't immediately move to cuddle his daughter like he always did.

Aster noticed her father's hesitance. She lifted her arms expectantly, choosing another non-verbal way to request a hug from her dad, but again he didn't move, merely stared at her with that jarring look on his face.

Amelia bit at her lip, fighting the urge to snap at her husband, because from her point of view this was completely unacceptable.

Then, Aster walked towards him, arms still outstretched, waiting for her father to pick her up and hold her, but he didn't.

Loki backed away suddenly with a few sharp steps, holding one hand out to stop her in her tracks; he didn't want her coming any closer to him. He didn't want his daughter to step any closer. Amelia couldn't believe her eyes. Could Loki see himself at that moment? Did he understand how cold and callous he seemed? Did he understand how much that action could hurt Aster?

Aster looked heartbreakingly baffled.

Amelia glowered at her husband, who turned to look at her with an expression that was devoid of any composure. His face was scrunched up like he was trying hard not to cry, and underneath the surface there were waves upon waves of shame rolling off of him. He didn't hold Amelia's gaze for long, because moments later he turned and fled, walking fast with desperate strides out of the gardens and back into the palace.

Amelia couldn't believe what had just happened.

Aster's arms lowered slowly as she stared down the path where her father had just left her in a hurry. She suddenly looked very fearful, so she did the only thing she could think to do, which just so happened to be crying very loudly.

Kari looked between his sister and his mother in concerned puzzlement, his little face suggesting he was unsure about what had just happened, but perceptive enough to know that it definitely wasn't good. Amelia pursed her lips and let an exhale out through her nose as she fought to control her emotions in front of her children. She wanted to cry and shout out of frustration, more specifically - she wanted to shout at Loki for what he had just done, but she didn't want to lose her temper in front of Aster and Kari, so she tried her best to quash it.

Holding out a gloved hand towards her daughter, Amelia coaxed her to come closer, "Aster, come here sweetie." The girl took the invitation immediately and approached, her red eyes glossy with moisture; she joined her brother, hugging against her mother's knees in a bid for comfort, and Amelia leaned forward, cuddling them both tightly. She could feel the waves of confusion rolling off of them and it pained her.

"Daddy just got confused, okay? We'll go talk to him and figure out why he got upset, yeah?" Amelia assured them lightly, carding her fingers through Aster's hair. Oh, she intended to talk to him, alright. She just hoped she could do so in a calm, composed manner. Amelia truly couldn't remember the last time she had been angry at her husband.

She picked her children up with a little difficulty, balancing one on each hip, "You two are getting too big," she remarked almost forlornly - they were growing up too fast. Or maybe she needed to lift weights. Either way, it was a bit awkward carrying them both when she was used to carrying one while Loki carried the other. Another pang of irritation went through her at the insensitivity Loki showed when he simply left the children with her.

Holding the kids close to her body made her shiver, but she ignored the cold permeating through her clothing in favour of carrying the little ones back into the palace and heading straight for her and Loki's chambers. She became antsy as she passed guards and maids who stared openly at the children even after she had passed, she could feel their eyes burning into her back and she fought the urge to swing around, give them a terse warning glare and ask 'what do you think you're staring at?'

Instead, she didn't react to their gawping, and carried on as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, but Amelia was sure the Asgardians could tell she was in a mood from the very loud thuds of her boots as she walked.

When she reached her and Loki's bedroom, the guards - Svend and Ulfric - faltered at the sight of the children and then opened up the doors to the room, sensibly acting like nothing was out of the norm, and Amelia walked through in a huff, a bit too worked up to remember her manners and thank them for holding the door.

The room appeared empty, Amelia noted hesitantly, but upon further inspection, she noticed Loki's gloves had been thrown haphazardly onto the floor, which meant he was here somewhere - Amelia surmised he was probably in the bathroom. With a sigh, she stood awkwardly in place by the door for a moment, noticing the mystifying looks she was receiving from her children. Aster was still tearful, but had calmed down on the way back when Kari had grabbed and taken hold of her hand in a soothing way.

Amelia didn't want to confront Loki with her kids in her arms if it meant a shouting match could ensue, so she reluctantly looked back to one of the guards, "Excuse me, I need your help."

The guard - Svend - nodded and stepped into the room, "Of course, princess. How can I serve you?" He looked piercingly at Amelia's face with his bright blue eyes, and she could tell that he was trying with every bone in his body not to look at the children. It only served to agitate her even further.

"I need you to just watch my children for a minute - five minutes tops," she mumbled, crossing the room to place her children down on the bed amongst the cushions and soft furs. She dipped down to press a kiss to Kari's cold forehead, pinching his cheek playfully, drawing out a smile from the boy, and then did the same with Aster. Amelia wiped the girl's tear-stained cheeks with her thumbs and spoke softly, "Don't cry, little one. I'll be back soon with daddy, okay?"

Aster sniffled, moving to sit closer to her brother, who was quick to hug her. The sight sent a boost of tranquility through Amelia and calmed her just a tad; she stroked her hands through their hair, giving them an assuring smile, and stepped away from the bed. Amelia looked to Svend, who had followed her tentatively and was looking at the children warily.

"Oh for God's sake, they're not gonna bite." Amelia grumbled, and Svend immediately straightened, looking bashful and apologetic at once.

"Sorry, my princess. I would be happy to watch them." He stood by the bed showing a lot more confidence than before, and Amelia nodded in gratitude. She gave her children a playful little wave before circling around the bed and walking up to the bathroom door, which was thankfully ajar rather than locked.

She stepped in, pausing at the sight of Loki standing at the sink with his back to her, saw that his knuckles were white where he clutched the ceramic edges, and slowly closed the door shut behind her.


A few minutes ago...

Loki walked fast through the palace halls, his face stony and inscrutable. He ignored anybody who greeted him as he went, managing to remain completely unreadable outwardly, except for the rather aggressive footsteps that echoed down the corridors. The journey back to his and Amelia's chambers seemed awfully long, but once he made it there, he barked at the guards to open the doors and practically flew through them.

He tore his gloves off and threw them down carelessly before storming into the bathroom where he slammed the door behind himself. However, the faulty latch was already down and made an angry noise as it hit the locking mechanism and bounced back slightly, leaving the door to hang slightly open.

Loki didn't care enough to close the door properly. Once he was in the privacy of the bathroom, he let the mask drop off his face and released a shuddering breath, moving slowly towards the sink to stare at himself in the mirror. His complexion was white as a sheet and his eyes were dark and layered with unshed tears as he tried to choke down his shock and dismay at what he had discovered.

He should've known. He should've known that his children were just like him. Forever cursed with deep blue skin, bloody red eyes and a chilling touch; he grit his teeth and shut his eyes tightly as he thought of the realm he had been born into. Cold, desolate, a wasteland of ice and snow, completely devoid of any love. He'd been abandoned as a helpless infant for being nothing more than a runt, and subsequently lied to his whole life because of what he truly was, and it all sickened him.

He hated it, hated what he was. He wished he had been born into Asgard, at least then he wouldn't have to look in the mirror knowing that his magic was forever covering up the visage of a hideous, loathsome monster. But now it wasn't just that, now he had to look upon his children and be reminded that this was something he couldn't escape from - that there would never be a time where he could pretend he was truly just a prince of Asgard.

His heritage was the reason his father would never have allowed him to be king. The reason Odin always favoured Thor. The reason that even now, after so many years, Loki was filled with bitterness whenever he saw his reflection and remembered the man staring back at him was nothing more than a veneer. A disguise put in place to save him the humiliation of showing his true face.

And now his children had to suffer with the knowledge that they too were outsiders, different to all the others around them, that they descended from primitive, ugly, savage giants that their very own uncle had once sworn to massacre out of ardent hatred. Loki ran his hands down his face, scrubbing away the tears that had squeezed out, and then grasped handfuls of his hair till it hurt. What would Thor do when he found out?

What would all the Asgardians do?

The Jotnar were the enemies of Asgard. They were despised across the kingdom, Loki knew that the detestation and fear of Jotuns was still very prevalent throughout the domain, he would be a fool to think otherwise when the realms had been at each other's throats for many, many years.

The only reason the Asgardians tolerated Loki was because he had played a part in saving them from their bitch of a sister, Hela. But would they so readily accept Jotun half-breeds as their prince and princess when they knew the little ones embodied the visage of everything they hated whenever it snowed?

Loki clutched the sides of the sink tightly, refraining from using his full strength as he knew he could shatter the ceramic with ease. Maybe there's a spell, he thought, a spell to hide their Jotun forms forever. So they didn't have to look in the mirror and feel the same self-loathing that he felt.

But Loki knew there was no such spell. He knew all too well. He had searched for a spell like that ever since he'd learned of his true nature. Both he, Aster and Kari would always transform when faced with biting cold temperatures as part of a defense mechanism implanted in their DNA. It was unchangeable.

Loki's shoulders grew even more tense than they already were when he heard the muffled noise of Amelia's voice from the main room; she sounded stressed - well of course she did, she'd just realised that her beloved children shared her husband's freakish true nature. She was probably revolted and panicking, if Loki had to guess; he knew she had told him years ago before the birth of their children that she would love them no matter what colour they were, but that was then, and this was now.

He had felt the way Amelia had gone completely stiff in his arms when she'd seen them, the way her voice had wavered with dubiety when she'd addressed Kari in hesitation. She must've thought it would never happen - that was why she was so comfortable stating that it didn't matter before the kids had been born, because she'd been confident they'd look normal.

The door behind him moved slowly in the mirror's reflection, and Loki forced himself to keep his gaze on his own face, unblinking. Amelia was there to show her displeasure at the development, to beg him to find a way to fix them with his magic, he was sure of it. She closed the door behind herself, ensuring that it closed properly before turning to face him.

"Loki Odinson." Her voice was low and outraged, and she called him by his full name, which knocked him off his current plane of reality for just a transient moment; he didn't think she had ever referred to him in that way before and it was enough to shock him into letting his eyes flicker towards her face fleetingly before once again landing on his own.

She looked enraged.

She's mad that her children are contemptible Jotuns, the little voice in his head told him.

"What is wrong with you?" Loki could tell Amelia wanted to shout, but she kept her voice hushed - try as she might, she couldn't keep the undertone of fury out of it. Perhaps she didn't even want to.

Loki did not look at her, "I should have known this would happen," he spoke quietly and acidicly.

"You should have known it was a possibility, in fact, you did know it was a possibility," Amelia rebuked, "so why this song and dance again, huh? We've been through this already before they were even born, so just what is your problem?" She sounded like she was close to tears and was trying so desperately hard not to show it.

A sour smile pulled at Loki's lips, "Surely it's rather obvious what the problem is, or had you failed to notice our children are blue?"

In her anger, Amelia lifted a foot and stomped on the tiled floor - it didn't have the desired effect of creating a loud bang, offering more of a dull thud instead, so she raised her voice slightly, "I hadn't failed to notice, Loki - and what of it? They're blue, so fucking what?" She made sure to hiss out the expletive so that nobody outside the room could hear it.

Loki finally turned around to face her, staring at her with disbelief, "So what?" he parroted incredulously, "They're Jotun, Amelia. This kingdom thrives on its hatred for my kind. What do you think will happen when all the Asgardians learn of this? How many of them already saw Aster and Kari looking like- that? Word travels fast."

"The Asgardians know what you are, Loki. It's not some big secret. They treat you with respect, why will it be any different with them?" Amelia pointed out tightly, staring him hard in the face with a resolute gaze.

"They've never seen my Jotun form! They never had to address it. Out of sight, out of mind! But now that they've seen them-" He put his hands on either side of his head, grappling with the thought, "Why did you walk them through the palace like that? You should've stayed in the gardens, hidden them from sight-"

"I will NOT hide my children from the world because they look different," Amelia interjected with wrath that would make the Gods quiver in fright. It certainly silenced Loki; he hadn't expected this side of his wife who was usually so quiet and forbearing and demure. He stared at her, gaze flicking between her glistening eyes.

"Do you love them any less now?" Amelia finally questioned, her voice cracking as she spoke the words.

Loki's eyes widened minutely as fresh tears welled up and threatened to fall, but he held them back. He did not love his children any less - that… that was one thing that had not changed.

"Do you love them any less, knowing what they are?" Loki turned the question back around on his wife, whose eyebrows furrowed in indignation.

"What they are are my children, and I love them unconditionally. How could you possibly think I would ever feel any differently?" Amelia looked beyond hurt at the implication.

Loki's cynical thoughts promptly returned and he paced around the edge of the bathroom, avoiding Amelia's gaze, "Perhaps you would feel differently if you ever came face to face with one of them giant, ugly brutes."

"Don't be absurd, Loki."

Loki's voice swiftly became ladened with condescension as he looked to his wife with an aggrieved smile, "Oh, what, so you love the Frost Giants, is that what you're saying?"

Then, somehow, the usually small and reticent Amelia suddenly seemed so intimidating as she stormed towards him and shoved him hard in the chest, catching him off guard and knocking him off balance. He stumbled back, falling onto the steps on the outside of the bath, and looked warily up at his wife, expecting her to slap him round the face with how oddly aggressive she was being.

"I don't give a flying fuck about the Frost Giants on Jotenheim! They mean nothing to me, do you understand that? You matter to me. You and our children, you're the only Jotuns I care about. So forget for just a damn moment that the Frost Giants exist and focus on what's important. Your family." Her eyes shone and her voice cracked, but she didn't seem to care as she fought to get her point across.

"You- you realise that just because they're blue with red eyes, it doesn't make them evil or bloodthirsty! You have to stop pretending those equate, because they don't. Get that in your goddamn head, Loki!" She continued to reprimand, her expression now taking on a pleading quality.

Loki gazed up at her, "I thought you were going to hit me," he admitted quietly.

Amelia's tears finally dripped down her face and she sniffed miserably and let herself slip down onto his lap, her arms finding their way around him in a firm hug. "Cause you're used to fighting your way through your problems instead of talking about them like a normal person," she mumbled into his hair.

Loki let his head dip onto her shoulder, all the pressure and tenseness of his body turning to exhaustion instead, "Normal," he repeated with a sarcastic huff, "I just wanted them to be…"

"I know," Amelia spoke when he trailed off, "You wanted them to be normal. But they aren't normal and nothing will change that. But do you know what?" Amelia pulled back, looking at her husband with her tearful red-rimmed eyes, "What's so great about being normal anyway?"

When Amelia's light-hearted attempt at making Loki smile failed to do so, she sighed and pushed a strand of his hair back out of his face, "I know you struggle with this, Loki, but… and forgive me if this sounds too insensitive, but you really have to get over it. For Aster and Kari's sakes." She offered him a small smile but her eyes were tired. Tired of, as she said before, going over the same 'song and dance' every time Loki's self-hatred flared up.

"You're too stuck on what your heritage determines you to be. How many times have you described Jotuns as giant, ugly brutes? That doesn't automatically pertain to you just because of your biology, does it?" Loki's self-loathing seemed to deflate at her use of logic, "Are you brutish? You can be a little rough around the edges sometimes but you're far from savage. Giant? You're tall, but you're not that tall. Ugly?" She gave him a soft little smile, "Certainly not."

Loki felt overwhelmed by her words, his emotions rising high as she fought to pull him out of his animosity towards himself. He felt his tears rolling down his cheeks, and immediately Amelia caught them, brushing them aside with her thumbs.

"Let yourself set the standard for what a good Jotun is, and teach your children and the rest of this whole kingdom that it's not something to be ashamed of." She cupped his face and kissed his forehead, "The way I see it… you can't hate yourself for being the same thing as your children, because that would mean you have to hate them too."

Loki seemed to flinch at the words, "I don't hate them… I love them."

Amelia smiled, "I know."

Loki's bit the inside of his lip, and a few stray doubts still managed to seep through despite Amelia's valiant efforts to knock him out of it, "But… but Aster was scared. She hates it-"

"She didn't know what was happening and she was confused, that's all. She looked to you for assurance," Amelia's smile fell suddenly, "Loki, you shouldn't have walked away from her like that. That was… it was the wrong thing to do, as a parent."

Loki knew he'd fucked up, and it filled him with disgrace. His lip trembled, and a tiny, tiny part of him still strove to justify his actions, "I didn't know what to do… I thought it was better to… remove myself from the situation… give myself time to think."

"You should've seen Aster's face as you walked away," Amelia told him gently, "She looked lost. It was a big mistake, Loki."

Loki lowered his gaze, nodding his head stiffly in acceptance of his blunder, "Am I a bad father?"

"No," Amelia answered at once, she tilted his head up gently, "Look at me. You made one mistake. That doesn't make you a bad father, especially when you can rectify this."

Loki looked at her, sniffing as he blinked away his tears; he admittedly felt undeserving of the second chance she was offering him - how many second chances had she given him by now? It had to be in the low hundreds at least - because to him, the choice he had made seemed unforgivable. The thought of making Aster cry, of walking away from her when she needed him, made him feel horrible.

"I'm sorry," Loki whispered.

"I'm not the one you need to apologise to."

He had already known that, but it felt appropriate to apologise to his wife regardless; Loki gave Amelia a slow nod, bringing his hand up to wipe over his face. If he was going to see his children, he needed to compose himself first.

"I need to wash my face," he announced, and Amelia nodded, moving to her feet and offering him a hand to help him up.

She hugged him again when he rose to his full height, which he returned with gratitude, and then pulled away, brushed her knuckles gently against his cheek, and told him, "It's going to be okay." Her tender tone and merciful smile were very persuasive, and Loki drew in a steadying breath.

"Thank you." He told her.

While he washed his face at the sink, rinsing away any signs of distress or dried tear tracks, Amelia left the room and returned to their children; Loki dried his face with a towel and spent a couple minutes making himself look like he hadn't lost control of his emotions. He hoped the children hadn't heard him snapping at their mother.

When he deemed himself presentable, he reached the door, hesitating for just a moment before forcing himself to proceed. He left the bathroom purposefully and took a few steps towards the bed where Amelia was now sitting cross-legged behind the children, still blue, who were in the middle of being entertained by the guard, Svend.

The bearded Asgardian man, usually so stoic in his duties, was knelt beside the bed, clutching one of Aster's stuffed wolf toys in his hand, moving it around as if it was walking across the furs and putting on a deep voice as if playing a character, "I'm hungry! Where's my dinner? Have you seen my dinner?" he pretended to growl like a wolf, suddenly rushing the toy towards Aster feet, "Are you my dinner?"

Aster apparently found it hysterical, because her loud, high-pitched giggles filled the air, she practically threw her head back from the hilarity of it all. Kari echoed his sister's joy and Amelia grinned with them.

"You're very good with kids," Amelia remarked to Svend, who flashed a smile of his own.

"My wife Astrid and I plan to have our own," he revealed.

Loki watched the scene unfold with incredulity. He had thought the Asgardians would react with sharp repulsion to the sight of blue skin and red eyes, and yet, Svend was playing with the little ones as if nothing was amiss. Had Loki gotten it all wrong? Had he truly just catastrophised the whole thing?

He really, really needed to stop making assumptions. He was surprised Amelia hadn't told him that just yet.

Loki approached the bed, walking into view, and all eyes turned to him. "Thank you, Svend. You may go now," Loki spoke after clearing his throat, and the guard stood quickly, giving the children and Amelia a brief smile.

"Of course, my prince." He gave a short bow of his head and returned to his post outside the room.

Loki looked at his children. They were both staring up at him with uncertainty, and he hated that he was the reason they looked at him that way; he felt urged to remedy it at once, and forced a smile onto his face as he knelt at the end of the bed.

He tentatively reached his hands out for them. "Come here," he encouraged as gently as he could, knowing that the moment they made contact with his skin, he would begin to transform as well. He knew it had to happen. So that he could show his children they had nothing to fear. And so that he could convince himself of that fact, also.

They crawled towards him without hesitation and Loki felt a burst of warmth within himself, because he hadn't expected that after walking away from them.

Loki scooped them up, holding them close to himself, and he felt their icy skin against his own; Aster's hands went to his face, cupping either cheek tenderly, and for him, it immediately spelled forgiveness. Loki smiled at his daughter even as he felt himself begin to transform, and he leaned forward, pressing a long kiss to the side of her head, and then doing the same to Kari. "I'm sorry for leaving you in the garden," he told them gently, "it won't happen again."

They were looking at him with wide eyes now, and Loki knew it was because his pale face had changed to a darkened blue, his green eyes had become red, and they could see the lightly raised markings on his skin. Aster began tracing them with her fingers, and now that Loki saw them closely and clearly, he found that they too bore the same markings on their skin - they were a lot more faint than his own, but they were there, just like his. The realisation made him emotional.

"Why blue, dada?" Kari repeated his question from earlier with renewed vigour, and Loki looked briefly to Amelia, who nodded in reassurance.

"Because… it's just who we are," he told them both, "when the air gets too cold, or when we touch snow, we change," it felt difficult to acknowledge out loud, he stammered a few times through his explanation, "our skin changes to blue and it's cool to the touch." He didn't know how much of this they were absorbing, if they really understood what he was telling them, but he told it like it was and didn't overcomplicate it. "Once we're warm enough, it will change back to what it was before."

Aster didn't look afraid anymore. She looked happily up at her father, no fear or upset in her red eyes. Kari looked between his father and his sister, and then to his mother, and extended one accusatory blue finger towards Amelia.

"Why not mama blue?" His inquiry was all muddled out of order, and Loki chuckled slightly; he understood, of course, what his son was asking, but he didn't immediately know the right words to explain his answer in a way that wouldn't confuse the little ones.

Amelia took charge, "Because I'm different. If I touch snow, I just get cold and I need to wear a big fur coat to feel warm again, unlike you three." She winked at Loki, who felt somewhat floored at her answer.

She was different? Loki had to think about it for a moment. He supposed she was right. Within the parameters of their small family, Amelia was the odd one out here. Not Loki, not the children. And Amelia didn't seem to mind labelling herself as the 'different' one.

"Hey, look here, what do you see?" Amelia was holding up a hand-mirror, showing Loki and the children their reflection.

At the sight of himself, Loki's gaze fell and so did his stomach, an automatic reflex. Seeing himself like that was difficult, and perhaps it always would be.

"Three Jotuns," Loki quietly answered, letting out a slow exhale.

"Well," Amelia began gently, "I see a handsome father and his two beautiful children."

Loki lifted his eyes again, blessed with the sight of Amelia's winning smile, and he managed one in return. He loved that woman beyond the boundaries of the Nine Realms, even if he didn't quite understand her attraction to his blue form.

And yet, his children were beautiful just as Amelia had said. Even in their Jotun forms. So maybe he needed to trust her judgement when she called him handsome, maybe he wasn't as unprepossessing in this form as he had always believed.

He looked at his reflection again, lifting his chin a little higher. He unfurrowed his eyebrows, taking the rigidness out of his expression, softening it.

It was just him. But blue.

Amelia was right - how could he hate himself when his children were the same as him?

"Hey," Loki whispered, addressing his children, and they looked up at him curiously, "let's all give mama a hug, shall we?"

They were happy and keen to do so, quickly jumping up out of his arms and rushing across the bed to all but tackle Amelia, and Loki swiftly followed, crawling over to envelop her in his arms as she yelped in surprise.

"Wh- hey! You- you're all still really cold, you know!" Her words were drowned and barely intelligible amongst her laughter.


Hello again! Thank you so much for reading! It would really, really help me out if you could please leave a comment and hey, leave a kudos if you haven't already! If you're enjoying this story then I would absolutely love to know! Comments fuel me!

I'll give you all a hint at what the next chapter holds: magic babies ;)

Thank you again to all of you, I love seeing your feedback!