The Odinsons and their drinking buddies did not return home until the early hours of the morning, seemingly having had a grand old time.
I was using my blood magic to heal a cut in Loki's lip.
"Thor got a bit overenthusiastic. He doesn't seem to truly understand the concept of feigning a fight," Loki explained with a grin. To my relief, the alcohol levels in his blood were negligent. "I think we got the rumour mill rolling though!"
I shook my head. "You realise you have just made us all the main target, don't you? Our home will be at the centre of a warzone.
You'd better use that brilliant mind of yours and start thinking about how you are going to keep us all safe. How you are going to keep Jessie safe."
Loki's face turned serious, as he took my hand in his.
"Darling the hold will be the safest place in the realms. We literally have armies on our doorstep to protect us. If Jotunnhold falls, Beaumont will have won.
At that point, no place in the universe will be safe. Either for ourselves or for Jessie."
"I know," I sighed, "but that isn't going to stop me from worrying."
Loki smiled. "You would not be you if you didn't."

I had made it a habit of practising with the others every day. When the time would come to fight, I wanted to be the best I could possibly be. Sif had soon invited me to train with her and her Valkyrie.
"They could do with the practice, and you can learn a thing or two from us as well," she had said.

"Do you yield?" My voice thundered over the practice area as I held Val at a distance in a fist made of ice.
"Fine!" she finally yelled, "but I still think that is cheating!"
I deactivated the necklace and returned to my human form.
"Turning into a twelve feet tall ice queen in the middle of combat is ridiculous," Val grumbled.
"You owe me lunch," I grinned at her.
"Only because you cheated," she began to laugh. "I'm just glad you are on our side and not on theirs."
"You were solidly kicking my ass until I remembered I had the necklace on," I admitted.
"I know! As I said, you cheated. You are Loki's wife for sure!"
I just laughed. There was no way I was going to win this argument, Val was as stubborn as a mule.

I walked back into the hold. I had a shower, put on some leggings and a sweater I'd stolen from Loki, and began to load the clean laundry from the washing machine into the tumble dryer.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Loki enter the kitchen. I stood up.
"I can explain, it was in my wardrobe by accident and I had forgotten it was yours…" I preemptively lied before he could say anything about me wearing his clothes without asking.
Loki just smiled, eying me appreciatively. His eyes lingered slowly over the curves that even the bulky sweater could not begin to hide.
Oh. We were in that mood, were we?
I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"I thought you were stuck in meetings for most of the day," I murmured.
There was something wrong about the way Loki looked at me, something off about his smile.
I tried to take a step backwards but he wrapped his arms around me tight, his kiss rough and bruising.
"Loki, stop!" I angrily tried to push him away but he wouldn't let go. It wasn't like Loki to persist where I didn't want to.
We might enjoy getting rough sometimes but we always respected each other's boundaries.
"Oh, come on baby…"
'Baby?' Since when did Loki call me that?
"...don't be like that," he smiled a lopsided smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Give daddy some sugar!"
His words were like a punch to the gut, for a second I couldn't breathe. I stared at him, my eyes wide. There was no silver in the hair at his temples, no crowfeet besides his eyes!
That was not my Loki!
Blasts of lightning hit the clone, because that was what he had to be, if it was not Beaumont himself, lifting him off his feet as he hung in the air.
"Wrong thing to say to a girl who hates being infantilised!"
It wasn't the best tagline, and certainly not quote-worthy, but I was too angry to think of something better.
I directed the lightning streaming from my hands to bash him against the ceiling, then smack him into the floor.
"Asshole!" I yelled angrily.
How dare he! In my own home!
The clone shook his head groggily and weakly lifted up both his hands.
"I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here…" he smiled that snake-oil salesman smile that I found cute when my husband tried it, but there was nothing cute about it now.
"Got off on the wrong foot? Really? You think? No shit, Sherlock!"
I was fuming. Jessie could have been home instead of me! He could have done who knows what to her!
"Get up!" I growled. "Get up and shut your mouth!"
I didn't want to hear him talk. I could barely look at him. He was wearing my husband's face, my husband's body. He was even using Loki's voice. It was too weird for words.
Below the hold, past the training room, were some cells, from the size of them presumably for Asgardians. We had left them there when we moved in. Now they'd come in handy.
I decided to lock whoever or whatever it was I just captured up in there for now.
"Get in!"
"Please, if we could just talk…"
"Oh, shut up," I shook my head in disgust and activated the magical barrier to hold him inside.
I tried to ring Loki, but he had his phone turned off. Not completely unexpected; Odin hated it when phone calls interrupted his meetings.
"You stay here, you won't be able to leave anyway with that barrier. And don't even think about shifting into a Frost Giant, you won't be able to get through that way either."
"Please! I've changed! I'm a better person now!" he pleaded.
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, Jan. Maybe I'd believe that if you didn't just try to force yourself on me against my will. You disgusting creep!"
I turned my back and walked away.
"Asshole," I muttered again.

I ran to the Great Hall as quickly as I could and barged into the meeting before the guards could announce me.
"Where is Loki?" I asked breathlessly.
Only Thor and Odin were in the room, bent over a map.
"He and Matt went to Venice for a meeting with the Council," Thor replied.
"Is everything okay?"
I tried to catch my breath. What if something had happened to Loki, what if that was why I couldn't reach him?
"Are you sure he's there?"
"He only left a few minutes ago, you barely missed him," Odin told me.
I sighed in relief. He must have left his phone off, rushing from one meeting to another.
"Someone pretending to be Loki just walked into our home," I explained. "I've got him in one of the holding cells, but I was worried something had happened to Loki."
"There would not have been the time for that, they must have been on the grounds at the same time," Odin reassured me.
"Loki's phone is off, he'll want to know."
"I'll send one of my ravens to Venice," Odin walked outside.
"Are you okay?" Thor asked again. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, he didn't but he freaked me out. He scared the hell out of me, to be honest.
I just saw him as Loki, I didn't even consider asking for the safeword," I confessed.
"I don't ask half as often as I should either," Thor pulled me in for a hug. "At least you realised in time."
Odin came back into the hall.
"A raven is on its way to inform Loki. In the meantime, your Majesty, would you mind if I questioned your prisoner?"
I couldn't see any harm in that, I had some questions I wanted to ask myself now that I knew Loki was safe.

When we arrived at the cell, however, all we found was a pile of dust.
"Shit!" I swore as I disabled the barrier.
"Careful, maybe it's a trap!" Thor warned.
"No, my son, there is no life force present here," Odin walked into the cell.
"Here, the tool of his demise," Odin picked up a dagger from the floor.
I could have kicked myself. "That is my mistake, I never thought to search him," I admitted.
Odin sifted carefully through the dust the clone had left behind.
"It most likely was not Beaumont himself, I would assume he would not be so eager to sacrifice his life. It probably was one of the lesser replicas, sent to confirm the rumours Loki had spread."
"Then why walk into the hold, why try to trick me?"
"Having you by his side, willingly or not, would be a great advantage to Beaumont," Odin reminded me. "The replica likely saw an opportunity and sought it to curry favour with its creator."
"I'm going to talk to the guards because whether he looked like Loki or not, he never should have made it into the hold," Thor frowned darkly as he stomped away.
"There are some spell components left behind, perhaps Loki can make more sense of this," Odin dusted them off and put them in a little pouch.

Together we walked back through the training area and the control room.
"Your Majesty…" he began. Odin always addressed me formally.
"Sorcha," I corrected him. "We have a strict 'no titles' rule in our home."
Odin gave an amused little snort. "Your doing, I presume?"
I grinned. "Yes, it is. Dinner time conversations with Loki are verbose enough without adding all the 'your majesties' and 'your highnesses' to them."
Odin smiled as if he understood what I meant.
"Sorcha it is then." he agreed. Odin looked around curiously. I realised it was the first time he had set foot in the hold.
I still wasn't sure how to behave around him. During meetings we were formal, he every inch the king of gods he was and me, the queen I was supposed to be.
We hadn't really interacted with each other outside of formal settings, not since I yelled at him.
But, of course, in the end, he was family. Whether we liked it or not.
The silence between us was awkward.
"Do you want a tour of the hold? I know you have never been here before," I heard myself say. Curse my habit of having to break an awkward silence in the worst way possible!
"Ehm, yes," Odin sounded as surprised as I felt. "That would be very kind of you."

"It is still a work in progress," I explained as we got to the library. "Both the library and the hold itself.
But our cottage got too small, and we have turned the hold into something that we feel our family can call home."
"I am certain it will grow over time, both the library and your home," Odin commented politely.

"We both love music, Loki plays multiple instruments and has an amazing singing voice," I said proudly as we got to the music room.
"The boy did always have an ear for music," Odin mused. "Did he tell you he attempted to play the harp one summer?"
I grinned. "Loki didn't, but Thor did. I think he described Loki as a 'skinny angry emo cherub' if I remember correctly."
"An apt description," Odin laughed at the memory, "If memory serves me Thor needled Loki about it so much that Loki smashed the instrument to pieces over Thor's head."
"That's the story I heard too," I laughed as well.
The ice had broken, and suddenly I didn't feel so awkward anymore.

I decided to skip the bedrooms, there was no need to show those as far as I could see. But I was proud to show to the cosy sitting room with the large plushy chairs, and the study.
"Here is where we spend most of our time, to be honest," I admitted. "Jessie and I have our video games, and Loki always finds something to do."
Odin walked around to one of the workbenches and looked at the teleporters Loki had been working on.
"This is rather ingenious," he said as he raised an eyebrow.
"Loki tried fixing the Jotunn portals we found in the hold, but it turned into his own thing as time went on," I explained.
"Do they work?"
"In a way. Items teleport from one device to the other but explode on arrival. Which is not really ideal for any method of travel," I smiled.
Odin frowned as he ran a hand over the disc.
"I may have some books in my library that may be able to help, I'll have a servant bring them over."
I looked at Odin in surprise. His eyes didn't quite meet mine. Why was he being so nice?

"And this is the kitchen," I ended the tour. "My little territory," I added proudly. Warm, light and homely, with the big table at the centre, it was my pride and joy.
Not really a place for a queen though, I realised as Odin looked around. I suddenly felt very silly. What must he be thinking?
"You have made a lovely home for yourself," Odin said politely.
"For all of us," I said softly. "For my family."
"Yes," Odin nodded. He looked around, his eyes were suddenly sad.
My family. The family that once was his but now chose this kitchen over his golden halls.
And again, for a moment I saw past the facade, saw the loneliness and the grief. We would be having our family dinner, and he would be going back to his golden palace, all alone.
There was no way in the world I would ever exchange the warmth and the laughter we shared around the dinner table every night for dining alone from golden plates.
My heart softened.
"Would you like to stay and have dinner with us?" I asked.
"You are very kind to offer…" Odin hesitated.
"We'd love to have you," I said decisively. We could survive one awkward dinner, right?
"Then it would be boorish of me to refuse," Odin smiled.

A few minutes later I was quietly swearing and cursing at myself.
What had I been thinking? Loki wouldn't thank me!
And I had nothing in the house fit for a king. Both Loki and I had been so busy, we hadn't had time to go grocery shopping!

"Hey mum, I'm home!" Jessie called cheerfully as she tossed her bag in the hallway and walked into the kitchen.
Where the AllFather was sitting at our dinner table, looking very out of place in his armour and ermine-lined cape.
"Hey sweetie," I greeted her as she eyed me questioningly.
"Jessie, this is…" Oh shit, I had no idea how to introduce him. AllFather? I had just explained the no-title rule, so that was out. Odin? Felt weird.
"...your grandfather." I heard myself say. I winced on the inside. Well, if Thor was uncle Thor and his wife was aunt Sif, Odin could bloody well be 'grandfather' and like it.
"Hello grandfather," Jessie said politely. I held my breath for Odin's reaction.
"Hello Jessica," Odin smiled at her. "I've heard a lot of good things about you from Heimdall.
You are doing very well with your studies, or so I have been told. How are you enjoying university so far?"
I sighed with relief as Jessie sat down and started telling Odin about her university course. I quickly put on the dinner, the quicker we ate the quicker this would be over with.

"Darling, I'm home! Thor and Sif will be dining with Matt tonight, remember? Any reason why I was waylaid by a raven? I could make head nor…"
Loki fell silent as he walked into the kitchen, his eyes wild at the sight of Odin at our table.
"Hello Father," he said when he finally found his voice. Loki's eyes darted to me. I just shrugged.
"Darling, may I have a word…" Loki motioned with his head towards the hallway. I followed him while motioning to Jessie to set the table.
"An explanation would be nice!" Loki didn't seem amused.
"One of Beaumont's replicas made it into our home," I began.
"Are you all right?"
"I am, and Jessie wasn't home luckily. I realised in time, but the clone killed itself before we could question it."
Loki sighed in relief.
"That could have ended a lot worse."
I stroked a hand through his hair, glad to see the familiar strands of silver.
"Nothing bad happened."
"And the reason my father is here is because…" Loki eyed me expectantly.
"I invited him for dinner," I admitted.
"Why?!" Loki eyed me incredulously.
"He seemed lonely."
"Lots of people are lonely! It comes with old age! Like grey hair, and swollen joints!
Want to invite the rest of the realms' senior citizens to dine with us too?" Loki asked acerbically.
"He was trying to be nice! I think," I wasn't completely sure myself what had compelled me. "It just seemed like the right thing to do!"
"Gah!" Loki threw his hands up in the air and stalked down the hallway.
Suddenly he turned around.
"What are you cooking?" A look of horror crossed over his face. "Sorcha! We have nothing in the house! Nothing but…"
"Fish fingers, oven chips and frozen peas, yeah," I admitted, "I realised that too after I asked him."
"SORCHA!"
"IT'S ALL WE HAD!"
"You can't serve the Allfather frozen fish fingers!" Loki was practically apoplectic.
"If it's good enough for the Queen of Jotunnheim, it's good enough for the King of Asgard!" I yelled back.
Loki deflated. "That's a good point actually."
He grinned and shook his head. "You are way too good of a person for my family, you know that?"
I grinned back. "We'll see if your father feels the same once I serve him fish fingers.
Any way that clever tongue of yours can persuade him it's a Midgardian delicacy?"
Loki snorted and shook his head. "Even I am not that gifted!"

Loki was quiet and wild-eyed most of the dinner as if disbelieving this was not some absurd nightmare he would be waking up from at any moment.
My nerves were strung the whole time. I felt like one ill-spoken word, one mistake would set off the thousands of years of arguing between the two gods all over again.
Jessie was the saving grace during dinner.
She was unaware of Odin's past treatment of Loki, it wasn't something Loki shared willingly with others. And Odin's interest in her university course seemed genuine.
He asked questions without prying and I could see she felt at ease with the old god.
It appeared being called 'grandfather' had softened Odin's heart, something that seemed as unexpected to him as it was to the rest of us.
Jessie explained Midgardian concepts like 'ketchup' to him in her own sweet way.
It was kind of adorable seeing them together.

"At least now we know your plan worked," Odin said to Loki. "Beaumont is aware of everything that is happening here and hopefully will take the bait anon."
Dinner was finished, and we had filled Jessie in on the invasion of our home. She was quiet and pale.
"It shan't be long now, I reckon," Loki nodded. "Beaumont won't be able to resist. Everything I have here, he covets. And I am certain he will act on that jealousy."
"Where is Jessica staying?" Odin asked.
"Here, in the hold."
"Maybe I should stay with Richard and Anita," she said. "It's where I stayed before."
"You are your mother's greatest weakness, Jessie. There is nothing she would not do for you. And I would be right by her side if it meant saving you." Loki confessed.
"Beaumont knows this. You must stay safe, and Richard and the Templars can not guarantee your safety to an extent your mother and I are comfortable with."
"You are safer here, I'll do anything I can to protect you and so will Loki," I reassured her.
Jessie still looked scared and anxious.
"Today has shown the hold is far from a safe place to be," Odin suddenly said. I glared at him, this wasn't doing anything to reassure Jessie.
"If I may be as bold to offer a different solution: How about Jessica stay in Asgard for the time being? She would be safe there."
Jessie looked at me. I wasn't sure how much I trusted Odin, but I could see no ill intention behind it.
I looked at Loki who shrugged. He didn't see a problem with it either but left it up to me.
"It is up to you Jessie, where would you feel safer?" I asked.
Jessie hesitated. "I think I'd like to stay at home for now if that's okay. But when the fighting starts, can I stay with grandfather in Asgard?"

A few nights later, Loki and I woke up to a loud banging on our bedroom door.
Loki pulled on a pair of trousers while opening the door, I pulled the sheets up around me.
It was Hogun, one of the Warriors Three.
"My apologies, your Highness, your Majesty. Hel's army has been sighted and is making its way here as we speak.
The AllfFather requests your presence, and I am here to escort Princess Jessica to safety."