"This is the worst idea I've ever had," I groaned.

"Says the woman who tried to kill a vampire with garlic mayonnaise," Cedric murmured.

"He hates surprises."

"He loves surprises."

"He loves surprising other people. He doesn't like being surprised. Remember the time you snuck up on him and tapped him on the shoulder in Agartha?"

Cedric winced at the memory. He still had the scar, it was a good thing I had been there too to heal Cedric.

"It's too late now," Cedric shrugged, "we are all here."

He was right, we were all here, except Loki.

It was August, early evening, and I was standing on a stage in the middle of Ealdwic Park. I was wearing a 1950s vintage dress, the bodice made of iridescent emerald taffeta, the voluminous long tule skirt rustling and flowing out around me with every move. The low-cut bodice had thin straps and the sheer fabric clung tightly to my body, it had been tailored to fit. I was wearing strappy emerald high heels to match. My hair was done elaborately, pulled up and then tumbling in curls down my back.

Even I had to admit I looked beautiful.

I had lied to Loki. I had snuck around behind his back. I had spent two weeks telling him I had to go to Temple Hall or was spending time on the island, while in reality, I had been elsewhere.

It isn't easy, lying to Loki. And I am not very good at it. He had seen through me almost right away and had become more and more suspicious. We had a raging argument the night before, where we both were yelling and screaming and saying things neither of us meant.

At least, after tonight, he'd know what I had been up to.

For once in our lives, I wanted to be the one to make the grand gesture. For once in our lives, I wanted Loki to be the one who was surprised. I just hoped I had gotten it right. I had to do this right. This night had to be perfect.

There had been problems, of course. The band came down with food poisoning and didn't inform me until late afternoon that day. Cedric had come to the rescue, and now the band consisted of the youth his charity worked with. Pink and purple-haired, with piercings and eyeliner that didn't quite shout "Rat Pack". But they were all wearing a tux and the lead singer was wearing a gorgeous red Marilyn Monroe dress. The singer had assured me he knew all the songs I wanted them to play, and he had a wonderful deep voice so that had worked out amazingly well.

And then there had been the problem with the light. It was supposed to be dark right until Loki arrived and then all the lights were supposed to turn on. Which sounded great on paper, but not the way it works when you hold an outdoor party early in the evening in August.

Cedric had cast a spell to cover the park in darkness, but now it just looked unnatural and creepy.

"He's going to hate it." I moaned.

"He's going to love it." Cedric squeezed my hand. " He loves you. And more importantly, he loves being the centre of attention."

Cedric's phone buzzed.

"That was Richard. Loki is on the way."

"What if he didn't dress up?"

"It's Loki," Cedric sounded exasperated. "Of course, he dressed up. You told him you were going somewhere expensive right?"

I had texted Loki that I wanted to take him out for dinner as an apology, someplace fancy, and to meet me in the park.

"He'll be dressed up," Cedric reassured me, followed by "oh, he's here… and he's got his daggers out. Oh, dear. I'll drop the magic, you're up kid!"

And then I was alone on the stage in the dark, my heart beating like a drum.

The unnatural darkness disappeared, and the band began playing an instrumental version of "Here comes the sun."

Loki did indeed have his daggers in hand, ready to attack whatever awaited him, no doubt because of the unnatural darkness and the presence he could sense of others all around him.

He blinked in surprise as the veil of darkness lifted, the music began and the fairy lights came on. He didn't see me, first of all. All around him were familiar faces.

Friends. Family.

Cedric was there of course, and Richard and his wife Anita. Jessie was there, I wouldn't have done this without her. Matt, Calinda, Jen, Wolf and Boone. Carter was there, as a fellow Bee she was the only one not infected with the dormant strain of the Filth, she represented the island. Aaron was there, with baby Lucas. Other people that we had helped in the months we had worked together were there too. Not all of them were human either, there was the herd leader of a tribe of centaurs we helped a few weeks ago, resplendent in his ceremonial armour, and even the yeti Loki had set free in Liechtenstein.

Loki shook his head and frowned, whatever he had expected, this wasn't it.

And then he saw me, on the stage. In my dress.

Loki tilted his head and smiled. "You!" he mouthed.

He looked amazing. I don't know why I expected differently. Loki was dressed in a black tuxedo, a white shirt, a dark green cummerbund and a black bow tie.

Later on, I had my suspicions about how he had known to dress just right, but at the time I just felt relieved because the dress code I had given to the guests had been "black tie". He would have hated being underdressed.

With quick strides, he made his way towards me, across the makeshift dancefloor and up the steps leading up to the stage.

"Hello, my love," I said softly. My hands were clutching my skirt tight, I could feel all eyes on us, on me.

"Hello, darling," Loki's eyes smiled into mine, "Every time I think you could not possibly look more beautiful you manage to astound me. You look ravishing tonight."

He eyes me curiously. "Would you like the explain what you are up to?"

Suddenly I was too nervous to talk.

"It's not my birthday," he said, half asking, half teasing.

"I know," I struggled to get my voice under control. I took his hand and slipped a small box from my own hand into his. Loki looked down and gasped in surprise.

"How did you find this?"

My nerves steadied a bit, and I smiled. "Your sock drawer isn't a good place to hide things from the person doing your laundry," I teased gently.

I could feel his hand tremble in mine, his eyes darted around wildly.

I swallowed. Had I read this wrong? Was this a mistake?

"If I read this wrong," I said softly as I tapped with my finger on his hand that was cradling the small jewellery box, "then this is your surprise birthday party and no one but us will ever know differently. They don't know your birthdate anyway.

But if you were to ask, right here, right now…"

His eyes met mine, looking terrified.

"...if you were to ask tonight, the answer would be yes."

I barely dared to breathe.

Loki studied my face, the way he so often did, trying to read what was on my mind. I nodded.

His eyes darted to our audience; our friends, and our family.

"We have guests, we are being terribly rude," Loki said his voice sounding strange and far away. He turned around to face them.

"Good evening. It seems you all have me at a disadvantage. It isn't easy to surprise me, but tonight the magnificent lady by my side has managed it."

Loki's voice steadied as he talked, his voice easily carrying over the crowd without the use of the microphone on the stage. The music had stopped.

I wasn't sure what was happening. Had I gotten it all wrong? Were we going to pretend this was a surprise birthday party?

"I don't have to tell any of you how remarkable our Sorcha truly is, I don't think any present would argue else wise."

Loki took my hand in his, pulling me closer to him.

"It won't come as a surprise to any of you if I told you that it wasn't exactly love at first sight between us. As a matter of fact, I thought Sorcha was one of the most infuriating people I had ever met. Sometimes, I still do."

Loki smiled at me, his blue eyes looking warmly into mine, and I smiled back.

"I didn't believe in love before I met Sorcha, and she promptly set out to prove me wrong. For once, I don't mind admitting she was right and I was wrong. Don't get used to it," Loki warned me.

There was a small laugh from the crowd.

Loki had found his footing now he had captivated his audience.

"You will have to forgive me, I had a speech prepared for this moment. It was heartfelt and sincere, elegant and eloquent. But standing here, the words seem to have escaped me. I'll simply have to make this up as I go along." he smiled apologetically.

"I once heard falling in love compared to being hit with a giant hammer." Loki grimaced. "I can safely confirm that now. The lady hits like a truck."

There was a chuckle from the crowd.

"I was also once told falling in love was like being hit by lightning."

Loki winced and then grinned. "I can confirm that too."

He turned to me, "Darling, it might be far more pleasant for me if in the future you would not take things quite so literally."

I shook my head and laughed, and so did our audience.

"All jesting aside," Loki continued, his face turning serious,

"I will always be grateful for how you stopped me from making the biggest mistake I could have possibly ever made.

You were there in my deepest darkest moment, and you shone your light so bright it nearly blinded me.

And afterwards, you believed in me when none would. You stood by my side when I believed myself to be truly alone."

Loki's eyes met mine, those wonderful blue eyes in that beautiful face I hold so dearly, the tears in my eyes reflected in the shimmering blue of his.

"You took my hand and reminded me how joyful life can be. In your presence, I remembered how to sing again, how to dance again, how to laugh again, how to cry again. You taught me how to love again, how to breathe again. How to live again."

I could feel a tear roll down my face. His hand was holding mine so tight my fingers turned white, and I clutched his just as tightly.

Loki knelt down on one knee, holding up the small box he had held in his other hand.

There was a gasp from the audience, but neither of us heard it. For a moment, the rest of the world had seized to exist for us.

I looked down on him, this man, this god, this wonderful and amazing person I loved with my whole heart and soul. The tears were openly rolling down my cheeks, and I could see his eyes shimmer with unshed tears as well.

Loki mouthed my name, and I reached out to stroke his cheek.

His eyes pleaded with mine, and I realised that for quite possibly the first time in his life Loki was truly speechless, unable to ask the question that was in his heart. I smiled through my tears, nodded and mouthed 'yes'.

Loki looked up at me, smiled and blinked away the tears in his eyes.

"My darling Sorcha," his voice trembled with emotion, "I love you with my whole heart. You are the sun that brightens my day, the moon that keeps my darkness at bay. You are the stars by which I can always find my way home.

You are my sun, my moon, my stars; my whole universe.

I could not imagine wanting to spend another day of my life without you by my side."

He opened the little box in his hand, revealing the ring inside.

"Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

It was my turn to find myself lost for words. I bowed down instead and took his face in my hands, kissing his brow, his cheeks, his nose, his mouth.

And then the words came, through the tears, right from my heart.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!"

We smiled at each other then laughed, as Loki lifted me up in his arms, twirled me around, and then kissed me for far longer than was probably appropriate in front of an audience.

Neither of us could stop smiling as Loki slid the ring on my finger. It was a delicate ring with a diamond set in a star-shaped setting, cradled by a crescent moon studded with little diamonds. His sun, his moon, his stars, his universe.

Loki gently wiped the tears from my cheeks, and I wiped away his.

The band began to play, and I took Loki's hand. "Dance with me," I said as I pulled him down the steps. Soon we found ourselves gliding across the makeshift dancefloor.

"You organised all this for me?" Loki softly asked.

"I have no doubt that whatever you had planned, it would have been amazing and heartfelt and just the right thing." I admitted, "but for once, I wanted to be the one to make the grand romantic gesture, to surprise and delight you. To show to you, and everyone here, how much you mean to me."

He smiled down at me. "Whatever I had planned, it would never have been as good as this," he said.

I just shook my head, I didn't believe him for a minute.

"This is one of my favourite songs," Loki suddenly realised.

"I know," I smiled.

"I can't remember ever mentioning it to you," Loki frowned.

"You didn't have to. You hum it whenever you're happy," I explained to him, "and I just went through your playlists until I found it."

"Who are you right now?" Loki asked in horrified fascination. "You went through my phone and my sock drawer. You lied to me, you went behind my back…"

"Someone who really, really loves you?" I offered.

"I'm not certain whether to be terrified or aroused right now…"

I just grinned at him.

Loki twirled me away and then pulled me close, only to dip me down. Softly he began to sing along with Frank Sinatra's "Call me irresponsible".

We danced to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day and Nat King Cole together that night, unwilling to leave each other's embrace, completely lost in each other's eyes.

Eventually, we had to mingle with our guests, all eager to congratulate us. Loki always had an arm around my shoulder or a hand on my back, as if he was worried that I would disappear if he would let go for even the slightest of moments.

Richard asked me to dance, and I happily obliged, telling Loki to go and dance with someone else as well for a while. We had the rest of our lives together ahead of us, he could survive one dance without me.

Richard had helped me organise most of the night, together with Cedric, I could never have done all of it without them.

"I can't believe I've been replaced by a much younger man," Richard complained, but with a grin on his face. I looked around and saw Anita completely enamoured with baby Lucas in her arms. I knew she and Richard had been trying for a baby for a while now.

"He doesn't even have teeth, I have no idea what she sees in him," I grinned back.

Frank Sinatra's "The way you look tonight" was playing as we danced the foxtrot. Loki came gliding past with Cedric in his arms, winking at me as they twirled by. I winked back.

"Do you still doubt Loki's intentions?" I asked Richard. Loki had been so unguarded, and so sincere, surely even the most sceptical person could see how much he loved me.

"Well, he seemed genuine," Richard admitted. "Then again, I've seen actors give just as amazing performances."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"But even I can't think of any ulterior motive he could possibly have to want to marry you," Richard admitted.

The thought of Laufey's staff suddenly came to my mind, unbidden. And the way Loki had wanted it, considered it his birthright. I looked away.

"Unless you can think of a reason?" Richard asked.

"No," I lied, "I can't think of a reason either."

I found myself back in Loki's arms as soon as the song ended and the next one began.

"I love the music tonight," Loki admitted, "the band is amazing."

I smiled as he began to sing along again. When Loki was happy, he danced, and he sang.

"Let's get married tonight," Loki suddenly interrupted his own singing. "Let's just do it, let's just go, right now. Just you and me. Why wait?"

His face beamed with boyish enthusiasm.

" I love you, and for reasons I will never be able to understand you seem to love me too.

So let's just go to Jotunnheim tonight!

You said it yourself before; perhaps the reason my mother never approved in the past was that I never loved them and they didn't love me! Perhaps all my mother wants is for me to be truly happy! And I couldn't possibly be happier than I am tonight!"

His eyes sparkled into mine, his enthusiasm contagious.

"Yes, let's!" I agreed. I had loved and lost before. Why wait, now I finally had found love again with Loki?

Loki beamed down on me, his smile wide, his eyes soft.

"But not tonight," I amended. "Tomorrow.

I've booked up a room in a Bed and Breakfast just outside London tonight," I told him. Loki wrinkled his nose.

"It's not some granny's spare room," I reassured him, "it's a big place and rather fancy, celebrities stay there all the time.

How about we spend the night there? We can dance for a while longer and spend the evening here with the people we love. We will travel to Jotunnheim in the morning."

"I couldn't possibly love you more than I do right now," Loki confessed.

"I love you too," I whispered back.

It was getting late, and some of the guests were leaving. We decided it was the right time for us to retire as well. We said our goodbyes and made our way through the park. Before the party had started Jessie and I had found a bench underneath a streetlight where she could retreat to if the party became too much. Jessie had been the first to congratulate us but had withdrawn shortly after, and we found her there now with a book.

"We're leaving, Jess," I told her. "Richard will take you home if you want to go too."

Jessie was one of the few people who had known beforehand that Loki might propose, Richard and Cedric were the other two.

Loki sat down next to Jessie and took her hand in his.

"I asked your mother to elope with me. If all goes well, we'll be married by the time we come home tomorrow."

Jessie looked at me, then back at Loki, and threw her arms around him. Loki pulled me close, and for a long while three of us hugged tight. Jessie was crying and smiling at the same time, all three of us were.

Tomorrow, we'd be a family.