AN Chapter isn't as long as they have been; I decided to show them visiting with Thor and Enid, having a little happiness; following a few chapters probably won't be much conflict, but my CW version is coming soon. So enjoy
Disclaimer I Own Nothing.
Chapter 52: Visiting Family
Taking care of an infant was far from easy; Loki and Saphira knew it wasn't going to be, but they didn't realize just how hard it could be; Fenrir loved staying up and crying all night and sleeping through most of the day, sometimes he didn't even need to be changed or wanted to be feed, he just wanted to cry, they took turns getting up with him. However, both still usually ended up staying up; it wasn't all bad, though; Fenrir was a wonderful baby when not having his fits, everyone on the ship was crazy about him, and during the day helped look after him. However, Saphira seemed set on being the one to feed him mainly, they all understood, it was a way for her to bond with him, so unless she took a nap during the day or when Loki took his turn getting up for him or a couple of times they let one of the others watch him, it was usually Saphira feeding him, and they barely used any of the bottles they had bought.
Surprisingly Mystique was the one to offer to watch Fenrir the most during the day, having grown attached to her little grandson in just a month; second to her was Rogue; she doted over her nephew as if he was the most adorable baby ever, Remy and Kurt both were crazy over the little guy. Saphira constantly sent Enid and Thor pictures of him and once or twice even sent a photo to Steve Rogers, just wanting anyone to brag about Fenrir. All and all, they were enjoying and loving being parents to the little guy.
Because Loki had gotten used to the nightly crying, he was sure it was the quiet of the room that woke him up this time. When he looked around, it was to see that both his wife and son were not in the room; it wasn't the first time one of them had left the room during their turn to take care of Fenrir, both wanting the other to be able to get sleep. Still, the one left asleep usually wakes up and goes hunting the other two down, which is what Loki would do soon if Saphira didn't return to their room in a bit.
Loki rolled onto his back, put one arm behind his head and the other across his stomach; he felt a bit hot, so he had thrown the covers off him and had his pajama top unbuttoned; Loki smiled, remembering how Saphira used to steal his pajama tops to sleep in, leaving him with just bottoms to wear to bed, because even just going to sleep Loki wasn't about to be seen in mismatch clothes; Saphira rarely does that anymore, she either burrows one he wasn't planning to wear or wears something of her own to bed. She's changed a lot since they tried taking over Midgard; they both have, but the way Saphira has been acting since giving birth was concerning Loki; she still jokes with the rest of them, laughs, and teases each other as they always do. Still, Loki has spotted her looking sad, someone will bring up something about when Fenrir will be older, and Saphira will go quiet and look as if she was trying to stop herself from crying.
A few days after Fenrir was born, Mystique was telling the others about what Saphira told Loki during birth about him having to have the kid if he wanted a second one; after the laughter had stopped, one of them asked if they did plan on more children, Loki had answered he would like to try for a daughter, but that was far off from now, not until Fenrir was at least seven, so no reason to talk about it yet; Saphira and Loki spoke about it a few months ago and both decided they would like to try for a little girl in the future, but not until Fenrir was between the ages of seven and nine. Still, when Loki had answered this, he looked to Saphira to see she had tears in her eyes, and she refused to look at him for a moment, then brushed it off as her hormones still being all out of wack.
That first time Loki could believe it, even second and third, but now, a month after Fenrir was born, he still caught Saphira crying or acting upset. There were times she refused to let Fenrir out of her sight or anyone else hold him, and a few times she wouldn't let Loki go anywhere without her, she followed him around everywhere on the ship, not that he's complaining he loved having her near. Still, it wasn't like her, Saphira had never been that clingy; again, she blamed her wacky post-pregnancy hormones, ones Loki was sure should be fine by now; he spoke to Mystique about it one night, she didn't have any accurate guesses as to why Saphira was acting the way she was unless someone who was already very emotional like Saphira took longer to get back to normal after having a baby.
Loki didn't think that was it, so he later called Enid; Loki always hated doing that; felt like he was telling on his wife to her older sister, but what Enid guessed had him even more worried; she said it sounded like she was suffering from postpartum depressing, something that was not uncommon, Enid suggested keeping an eye on Saphira and if she doesn't get better or got worse in a few months speak to her about it, but try not to upset her when he does, Loki doesn't know if that was the reason for Saphira acting the way she was, but it made the most sense.
"LOKI!" Saphira's voice suddenly screamed, causing Loki to set up real fast, "Loki, help!"
Loki jumped out of bed, made a dagger appear in his hand, threw open his bedroom door, and went running down the corridor; it didn't take long for him to see her hurrying up to him.
"Saphira?" Loki cried, meeting up to her; as she stopped in front of him, Saphira looked up, panic on her face. "What's wrong?"
"Fix him, please," Saphira asked; Loki looked down to the buddle in Saphira's arms, and to his surprise, she was cradling a wolf cub; it only took Loki a second to realize what had happened, Saphira had been holding Fenrir when he suddenly shifted into a wolf, scaring his mother.
"Fenrir, you mischievous little one," Loki said, vanishing his dagger and taking his son into his arms.
"I don't know what happened, one moment, I'm feeding him, and the next, he suddenly turned into a wolf; you can put him back, right?" Saphira looked close to tears; Loki held Fenrir trying not to drop him as he was moving a bit, while tried to comfort Saphira.
"Shh, calm down, sweetheart, I'll get him back into his normal form," Loki told her, then turned to Fenrir just as everyone ran down the hall, woken from Saphira's screams and looked ready to fight. Saphira turned to explain what had happened as Loki's attention was on their son. "You've had your fun now, little one; you are going to turn back for mummy and daddy, right?"
Loki waved one hand over Fenrir, green magic flowing from his fingertips, as he mumbled a spell; it took a few, tries but after a moment, he was able to turn Fenrir back.
"Thank god; I thought he was going to be stuck like that forever," Saphira said, wiping her eyes; Loki handed Fenrir back to her. "You don't think he hurt himself, do you?"
"No, he is fine," Loki replied; he put his arm around her, "Come on, darling, let's go to our room, let the others get back to bed." Saphira looked at them and gave them a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, I panicked a bit," Saphira said; the others mumbled it was okay before turning and heading back towards their rooms, Loki keeping his arm around Saphira, leading her back to their room.
When they entered the room, Loki took Fenrir from her and carefully laid him in his crib; as Saphira sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed, Loki looked towards her, and she had that sad look on her face, but mostly looked tired.
"Darling, you can go to sleep if you wish," Loki told her, "I'll keep an eye on Fenrir."
"I'm fine," Saphira mumbled; Loki walked over and sat next to her.
"Are you sure, love?" Loki asked, "You look worn out."
"I'm sure..." Saphira said, then yawned and laughed a little "Maybe I could use a little sleep." Loki went to reply, but Fenrir's crying cut him off.
"I'll tend to him; you get some sleep," Loki told her; he gave her a quick kiss before going back over to the crib and picking Fenrir up. "You are causing all kinds of trouble tonight, aren't you, my little mischief-maker?"
"You can't deny he's yours," Saphira said as she crawled under the covers. "He's already getting in trouble."
"Hush you, " Loki told her, grinning, "Go to sleep."
Saphira giggled as she got comfortable; Loki turned on the night light, then flipped off the bedroom light, and went over and sat in the rocking chair, and rocked Fenrir as Saphira fell asleep.
Two days later, they were landing on the moon they had crashed on a few months previous; Thor and Enid had finally gotten some time to meet up with them, and they decided the best and safest way to meet where there was no one around, Loki dressed in his outfit he made, the one he wore when we went to break Saphira out of prison, and put the helmet that went with it on, then dress Fenrir in an outfit he had made him that looked exactly like it, and slipped on the beany Mystique had knitted him, it looked like his old helmet. Still, it'll do; when he gets big enough, Loki will allow him to choose his helmet and armor style.
"Are you ready, love?" Loki asked, turning to Saphira after fastening Fenrir in a car seat; she looked lovely in black jeans and a dark purple blouse, she wore only buttoned shirts since having Fenrir, finding it more accessible to feed him if she could unbutton a couple of buttons to do so, that along with the special bras Enid had bought her, Saphira was able to breastfeed their son anywhere on the ship without exposing herself to everyone.
"I'm ready." Saphira grinned; she looked happier today than she did in a while; Loki figured it had to do with getting to see her sister; he wondered if her down moods had anything to do with missing Enid; she had wished for her a few times during some of her worse contractions. "How do I look?"
"Gorgeous as always," Loki replied; Saphira had gotten most of her figure back, except for her swollen breast and a little bit of a stomach that didn't seem to want to go away any time soon.
"I thought so too," Saphira replied, turning back to their mirror and running her hands through her hair; Loki smiled amused; well, at least that part of his wife hadn't changed.
"Do not forget your shoes, sweetheart," Loki told her, picking up Fenrir's diaper bag and putting it on his shoulder.
"I'm not wearing any," Saphira announced; Loki paused as he was about to pick up Fenrir's car seat and turned to her. "We're just going to an empty moon; why do I need shoes?"
"The moon might be empty, but you still do not know what you might step on," Loki replied; Saphira rolled her eyes, walked over to her cabinet, and slipped her feet in a pair of flip flops.
"There, shoes, now come on; I want to see my sister." Saphira headed for the door, opened it, then turned back to Loki, "Grab Fen Fen, and let's go." She ran out the door.
"Darling, please do not call Fenrir that," Loki said, grabbing the car seat and following Saphira out of the room.
Thor and Enid were already on the moon, waiting for them by the time they got off the ship, and to Loki's complete surprise, they had Frigga with them. The moment Saphira saw Enid, she ran towards her, then shocked Enid by throwing her arms around her in a tight hug. Enid stood frozen in shock a moment before laughing and hugging Saphira back as she told Enid she'd missed her.
"I'm happy to see you too, sister," Enid told her; Loki turned to Frigga as he sat down both the car seat and the diaper bag.
"Mother, what are you doing here?" Loki asked as Frigga came up and hugged him.
"Did you think I would miss a chance to meet my grandson?" Frigga asked, pulling away; and kneeling to get Fenrir out of his car seat.
"Blondie." Saphira cried; Loki looked up to see Saphira had let go of Enid and was now hugging Thor, almost hanging off his neck. From the look on Thor's face, he was even more shocked than Enid was. "I missed you too."
"Why?" Thor asked as Saphira gave him a friendly peck on the cheek and let him go. Loki and Enid looked at each other with eyebrows raised.
"Oh, Loki, he's gorgeous," Frigga said, standing up straight, now holding Fenrir in her arms. Enid and Thor's attention went to their nephew, and Frigga got a hug from Saphira, but not like the ones Enid and Thor got because of her holding Fenrir.
"He has horns on his hat." Thor laughed, "Look, he's dressed like Loki." He turned to Enid, "You brought Fenrir's gifts, right?"
"Yes, honey," Enid replied. That's when Loki noticed there were a few bags on the ground next to Enid. "Thor decided we couldn't visit our nephew without bringing him something."
"Aww, Thor, that's so sweet," Saphira said, peeking in the bags. "I knew there was a reason I like you."
"Since when do you like me?" Thor demanded.
"I've always liked you, you big dummy," Saphira replied, "You're my favorite God of thunder, I know."
"I'm the only God of thunder, you know," Thor replied; Saphira just waved her hand at him as she went back to looking in the bags.
"Hello." Frigga greeted the others that were standing behind them; Loki smiled and waved them forward.
"Mother, I would like you to meet my family," Loki replied; Frigga handed Fenrir to Enid and stepped forward, giving a friendly smile. "This is my brother Kurt."
Frigga reached out and put her hand under his child and looked his face over. "You've taught him your magic; I can see it."
"I have; Kurt is very good at it," Loki replied, and Frigga grinned, and then to Kurt's surprise, Frigga let go of his chin and pulled him into a hug, then held him out at arm's length. "Thor has mentioned you and Loki have grown close; any brother of Loki's is family of mine."
"Rogue, here is my sister," Loki spoke up, taking Frigga's attention off Kurt because he was starting to look uncomfortable, and Frigga smiled at Rogue.
"Hello, Rogue." Frigga smiled at her.
"Your Majesty?" Rogue replied nervously.
"You can call me Frigga; the same thing goes to you that I told your brother, you're Loki's sister, so you're family," Frigga said, pulling Rogue into a hug, then she turned to Remy. "And who is this handsome man."
"Mother." Thor snapped in surprise. Frigga turned to him with a smile.
"Just because I've been married to your father for three thousand years does not mean I can't comment on a good-looking man when I see one," Frigga said; she held her hand out to Remy.
"Remy LeBeau, ma'am, Rogue's husband," Remy replied; he took Frigga's hand and gave her a slight bow as he kissed it, causing her to laugh.
"Oh, you are a flirt," Frigga replied, "You must drive your wife nuts, flirting with every woman you see."
Remy laughed, "Remy likes keeping Rogue on her toes." Frigga just laughed and turned to Mystique, and her smile slipped a little.
"Mother, I would like you to meet my Mum." Loki started to induce them.
"I know who she is," Frigga interrupted. "Maria Wulfricdottir, your old nanny." Frigga turned back to Mystique. "I was surprised when Thor told me who you were."
Frigga and Mystique stood there staring at each other; their faces were empty of emotions, but their eyes held something different, something Loki couldn't quite make out, was it sadness. Loki didn't know.
"Frigga." Mystique finally gave Frigga a nod, "You haven't aged any."
"I can say the same about you," Frigga replied as Mystique shifted into a woman with long brown hair and blue eyes, causing Frigga to winch a little. "I never understood why you wore that disguise; I could see through it when I looked close enough."
"I should have known you could see right through it." Mystique replied.
"If you had just said who you were, you could have..." Frigga tried, but Mystique interrupted.
"I still couldn't have stayed." Mystique replied, "You know damn well I couldn't have." Frigga said nothing, just frowned, and Loki, along with everyone else, looked between the two, confused.
"I was hoping you two would get along," Loki said, "Maybe even be friends."
"Loki, I don't think that's a good idea." Mystique replied, looking towards him; Loki frowned.
"I'm willing to try if Maria is," Frigga replied. Loki smiled at Frigga then turned to Mystique.
"Please, Mum," Loki said; Mystique sighed.
"Fine." Mystique replied, "But tell her my name is Raven or Mystique, not Maria."
"Okay, Raven," Frigga replied.
"Let me hold him now." Thor cried, breaking the tension that had built up, and as Enid handed Fenrir to him, Loki rushed toward him.
"Careful, Thor, he's not a doll," Loki said, holding his arms out as if he was ready to catch Fenrir if Thor was to drop him.
"I know how to hold a baby, brother," Thor replied, "I will not hurt my nephew."
Loki watched him a moment, then conjured up chairs for everyone to set in; Thor gave Fenrir to Frigga before he sat down; Frigga turned to Saphira and smiled.
"You have the look of a new Mother." She told her, "happy, but tired."
"Fenrir sleeps of the day and keeps his parents up all night," Saphira replied; Frigga nodded.
"Loki did that," Frigga replied, "Thankfully, he had a wonderful nanny that helped." She glanced at Mystique when she said, then turned to Loki. "you've been helping her, haven't you?"
"Of course, Mother," Loki replied.
"Loki has been a wonderful father." Saphira bragged. "Fenrir can't even set up, and he's already a handful."
"Takes after Loki already." Kurt put in, "We all was woken in the middle of the night a few nights ago to Saphira screaming her head off because Fenrir suddenly turned into a wolf."
"A shapeshifter just like his father," Frigga replied, "Loki did that, didn't seem to be able to make up what he wanted to be, a person, a snake, a cat, or even what gender he wanted."
"Mother." Loki snapped, feeling his face turn red as everyone laughed at him.
"Enid, show everyone the gifts we got, Fenrir," Thor demanded.
Enid dug in the bags and started pulling things out; she had bought Fenrir a few more outfits, along with a pack of pacifiers; Thor's gifts were a small plushie of all the Avengers and Enid. Loki looked at them with a frown.
"There is a new show near Avengers Tower that sells superhero stuff," Thor explained, "They even have a villain line."
To Loki's shock, Thor pulled out a plush of him and Saphira, who laughed in delight and took it from Thor.
"Those I approve of," Loki replied, "But these?" He held up plushies of Hulk and Captain America, "You are trying to get back at me for all I've done to you by turning my son into an Avengers fan, are you not?"
"Maybe," Thor smirked, "Show him the teething rings I got, Fenrir." Enid dug back into a bag and pulled out two baby teething rings; one was in the shape of Mjolnir, one was Captain America's shield.
"I mentioned we should get you guys some for when Fenrir starts teething, and that is what Thor got," Enid replied.
"Thor, I think you went a bit overbroad with the Avengers things," Loki told him.
I wanted to get him the action figures also, but Enid said he was too young for that." Thor replied.
"That reminds me, Bucky wants to know if you'll autograph this for him," Enid replied, handing Saphira an action figure of herself along with a marker; she happily signed.
"Sister, you'll have to buy me one of these," Saphira told her, handing back the figure.
"We'll get you the one of Loki too," Thor promised. Saphira's eyes lit up at the thought of a Loki action figure.
After a while, they settled down and started trading stories about each other; Frigga had many embarrassing ones of things Loki and Thor and sometimes Saphira and Enid got up to as children, Rogue and Kurt talked about adventures they went on as X-MEN, Remy mentioned New Orleans, Mystique kept quiet for the most part. After a while, the conversation turned about Magneto and how his chances of winning were looking good.
"Loki, I'm not saying I want you to stab, Lehnsherr," Thor spoke up, "I'm just saying if you wanted to, I would not stop you."
"Umm, that's good to know." Loki turned to Enid in question.
"Thor is jealous," Enid replied, "He believes Eric has a crush on me."
"He does," Thor said, and Saphira started laughing.
"Thor is jealous; that's so funny," Saphira replied, still laughing.
"It is not." Thor replied, "And I am not."
When Enid, Thor, and Frigga decided it was time to go, Frigga had given them all, including Mystique, a hug. When Enid hugged Saphira bye, Loki thought he was going to have to step in and pull his wife off her sister; she didn't seem to want to let her go, but finally did and gave a laugh and tried to pass her watery eyes off as allergies, something they did not get, Loki figured she didn't want to admit she was sad to see Enid leave.
"Brother, I will miss you," Thor said, giving Loki a hug that lifted him off the ground.
"Put me down, you big oaf," Loki demanded. Behind him, he could hear Remy and Kurt snickering.
"Thor, put your brother down before he stabs you," Frigga said, and Thor listened; not long after that, Thor, Frigga, and Enid were taken away by the Bifrost, and the others got back on their spaceship, Mystique and Kurt headed to the control room to get the ship into space. The others headed to the kitchen to make something to eat, Despite the personal conflict between Frigga and Mystique, it was a good visit, and everyone was a little sad at seeing the others go. Still, they laughed and teased each other again; maybe they were wrong about Saphira; she wasn't depressed, she was missing her sister; Loki thought, and the visit helped; Loki wasn't sure but was happy to see a big smile on Saphira's face.
AN There won't be a lot of Saphira feeling depressing stuff; I just thought it. First, she would be after learning what she has to do once the shock wears off, she'll learn to accept her fate, but still not like it, but hide her feelings better; I also figured Loki would notice a change in her, and the postpartum thing since she started acting that way after having Fenrir I thought it would make sense Enid would think that, since no one knows of Pheonix visit to Saphira.
Also, the thing between Frigga and Mystique is a part of a small side plot later.