Sniff.

Sniffle.

Sniff.

SNORT.

Sniffley-sniff.

"My word!" Loki roughly put down the book he was reading and looked over at the couch where his wife sat, sketching away in the new drawing book he'd given her as a wedding gift. The old one was now too stuffed full of designs, doodles, and images from her previously recurring nightmares to be of much use anymore. The new book was leather bound and had enough blank pages to keep her drawing for years - though at the rate she'd been designing in the past week, perhaps more like months. Due to more snow than usual Odin had let them both have some time off and they'd been cooped up for a while.

"What's -sniffle- up?" Maisy asked, looking up from her drawing with watering eyes and a red nose, slightly dripping slime until she sniffed again.

"Are you crying?" He asked her, "Have I done something horrible again? Because you said that you forgave me for locking you in and I can't think of anything I've done since."

"I'm not crying," she laughed and then snorted, "Why would you - oh no - ah, ah, ah, achoo!"

In just the nick of time Loki had conjured a handkerchief into her hand. She blew her nose, sounding exactly like a type of ill tempered bird that flew through Asgard in the springs. The birds wouldn't be so bad if they didn't lay explosive eggs on the roofs of people they disliked.

"Oh," she blinked blearily at him and swiped at her nose again, "I get it. You think I'm crying cause my face is leaking out of every one of its orifices, right?"

"That was my first conclusion," he got up and walked over to her, peering worriedly at her red, blotchy face, "But upon closer inspection I believe you may have been poisoned."

"Ha, no," she pressed her palm to her forehead and frowned, "I can never tell on myself, here," she took his hand and pushed it against her forehead, "Do I feel unusually warm?"

"Norns!" He exclaimed, gaping at her and taking her face in his hands, turning it this way and that, "You feel like a log just taken out of the fire!"

"Dang it," she sniffled miserably, "I was hoping to make it through my first Asgardian winter without getting a cold or the flu or whatever bug I've got."

"What is wrong with you?" Loki demanded, "Are you dying? Do I need to carry you to the healers immediately? Is it some form of plague? You were fine this morning!"

"I'm not dying," she promised, "And it's probably not the plague. These things usually come on really fast before you even notice. I think Linn's had a cold for the past couple days. I got it from her I bet."

"What is a cold? You are incredibly hot!"

"Ooh, well thank you," she grinned at him, "You are too."

"Now is not the time to flirt!" He snapped, "Your face appears to be turning to liquid!"

"Gugh," she mopped her watery eyes and nose with the handkerchief, "A cold is a thing humans get a lot - 'specially when the weather gets chilly. It's a mild sickness that won't do much more than inconvenience me and make me miserable for a week."

"I can get Heimdall to contact Thor," Loki said, "He would gladly bring you the cure from Midgard, I'm sure."

"That's the worst part," she leaned her head back against the couch, "There's no cure."

"Nonsense!"

"It's true," she said, "Best way to make it go away is resting. Getting some hot soup maybe. Nasal decongestant would help. Ibuprofen. I'm gonna need a ton of Kleenex."

"Wait, wait," Loki grabbed a pen and paper, "Let me make a list and have Linn fetch what you need. Tell me again."

Maisy complied and then looked in the direction of the bathroom. She rubbed her arms as she had a sudden chill, which did not make sense since her skin felt like lava.

"Mmm, a hot bath sounds wonderful at the moment," she leaned forward and started to get up off the couch, but Loki pushed her back down with an irritated glare, "What?"

"I'll draw the bath for you. You said you need rest so you aren't moving unless you absolutely have to," he went into the bathroom and Maisy heard the sound of the tub filling a moment later.

The sickness really had come on fast, but after years of taking badly to the common cold, Maisy was used to it. She was annoyed, mostly, but with Loki acting like it was the end of the world she supposed she might be able to enjoy her misery a little more than she had on earth. Besides, it would be payback for him making her think he was gravely wounded from a bandit's arrow the previous month.

Loki came out a while later and looked at her. She sniffled blankly and then got up. He stepped to her side and helped her walk as if she were an old crippled woman and not a twenty-four year old with a head cold. The worry in his eyes was really quite funny and Maisy considered feigning a fainting spell to see what he would do, but she had a hunch that he'd lose his mind and call every healer in the palace, so she refrained.

"Carefully, carefully," he muttered, "Slowly, don't take it too fast!"

"It's okay," she assured him, "I'm perfectly capable of getting into the bathtub myself."

"You are ill," he reminded her, "And you've said that this illness will cause you pain and misery. I aim to get rid of the illness immediately."

"Oh, you sweet summer child," she chuckled, "This is just the first day. This isn't even the worst of it."

"Perhaps we can stop it-"

"There is no stopping a cold once it starts," she declared grimly, "Now let me get into the bath, okay?"

"You're sure you don't need my help?"

"Go back to your book," she waved him off and started to pull her shirt over her head, pausing halfway through the task, "Stop staring."

"Alright," he sounded like he was smirking, "But the moment you are even slightly distressed be sure to call out for me. I will be here in an instant."

"You're being weird," she said, finishing taking her shirt off, "Stop being so nice, it's freaking me out."

"I'm always nice to you," he muttered, finally leaving the bathroom.

Maisy finished taking off her clothes and then lowered herself into the tub, sighing with the instant relief hot water brought. Every muscle in her body rejoiced and she realized how stiff and chilled she'd felt all day. This was just the thing to help her brace herself for the snotty week ahead of her. Warm water and steam could be very fortifying. She was tempted to stay in the water forever and ever.

Until it started to get cold.

Climbing out and wrapping one fluffy towel around her torso and another around her hair, she shuffled tiredly out of the bathroom. She went to stare at her wardrobe. It was at this moment that it donned her that she'd never acquired any winter wear during her time in Asgard, apart from more formal dresses that Madame Veru had made She had a few long sleeve shirts, but they were made of light material, not anything substantially warming. She sniffled sadly and wished all of her clothes would instantly turn into big chunky sweaters.

"What's the matter?" Loki asked. He hadn't been reading his book when she came out of the bathroom, just nervously watching her like she would die at any moment.

"Hmm," she grabbed a pair of pants and a long sleeve shirt, both rather thin material. When she'd changed into those she rubbed her arms and shivered her way over to the other wardrobe in the room, Loki watching her every move. She flung open the doors to his wardrobe and dove in.

"What are you doing? What do you need?" Loki was on his feet and behind her in a moment. He didn't appreciate it when she went through his things, and she normally respected that, but her head felt like it had been stuffed with wet cotton and her limbs felt like icicles and she wanted something warm to wear.

"Ah ha!" she pulled out a large green shirt, which she'd seen him wear before and knew was even a little baggy on him. This meant that when she slipped it over her head it totally enveloped her, providing her with a warmth her own summer-y selection could not bestow.

"What in the nine realms?" Loki asked, taking her in with a raised brow.

"I'm sorry," she snuffled, wrapping arms around herself contentedly. The sleeves were long enough to be like a straight jacket on her. "But I'm freezing and this is warm and…" she inhaled deeply, her nose making an odd whistling sound, "Well I can't smell it right now, but I bet it smells wonderful."

"It probably just smells like me," Loki commented, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, and last I checked you smelled like a weird mix of leather and laundry detergent, which is wonderful," she sighed and glanced at him. He was looking at her as if she'd lost her mind.

"Midgardians," he huffed and then snatched one of the many blankets from the bed, wrapping it around her, "You are the oddest creatures."

"Why?"

"You've actually spent enough time thinking about my scent that you can quickly come up with two specific things that I smell like," he said, "That's not odd to you?"

"Well," Maisy grumbled, "In every romance book I've read the girl always talks about how the dude smells like peppermint or cedar or something. I just figured when you're really in love you think about dumb stuff like that. So I did one morning and leather and laundry detergent is the scent that I came up with."

"As I said," Loki stared at her, "Midgardians are bizarre."

"What do I smell like?" She asked, eyes unfocused and nose sniffling.

"Currently? Bad breath."

"Ah," she didn't even sound offended, "Yeah. Another reason colds are annoying. Bad breath. Sorry."

"Linn stopped by and I had her retrieve what you need while you were in the bath," Loki left her side and opened a small sack that was sitting on the table. He removed a few bottles, "At least, what the healers said were the Asgardian equivalent."

Maisy shuffled over and pulled the long sleeves back far enough for her hand to pick up one of the bottles. She looked at the label with a loud snort.

"'Potion of Nasal Healing'," she read, "Must be like nasal decongestant."

She read the tag with instructions on it and took some of the purple swirling liquid. She'd been partially hoping that since it was Asgard stuff that it would get rid of her cold right away, but nothing happened.

The next bottle held plain old ibuprofen. It was even a brand that she recognized, which caused her to raise a brow and give the bottle an experimental shake. Nothing appeared to be amiss so she popped a few of the pills. This was actually a lovely development because she'd just run out of the ibuprofen that had been in her backpack.

"Oh, cloth hankies," she poked the small stack of fabric, "This is not going to work."

"Why not?" Loki asked.

"Because I'm going to be making a million gallons of snot," Maisy sniffled, "And these are just going to get dirty and then have to be washed. I need Kleenex or Puffs or whatever. And I need it soon."

"We'll find something that will suffice," Loki was trying to think of anything that might work, but Asgard wasn't big on single use items. It created more waste than the realm wanted to deal with. But, it couldn't be that difficult to find something that would work as a disposable handkerchief... and yet, nothing came to mind.

"You know," Maisy sat down wearily and rested her face on the table. The cool wood felt lovely because her head felt like it was burning up even though her body was freezing, "There is one obvious solution."

"What's that?" Loki asked.

"I could just -sniffle- go back to earth until my cold passes. Stay at my dad's place."

"No!" Loki sat down next to her, running his fingers through her still wet hair, "Not your father's house! I would not be surprised if he locked you in the basement to keep you from coming back!"

"He wouldn't do that," Maisy replied groggily, "I wouldn't let him lock me up. Won't let -yawn, sniffle- anyone do that to me."

"You do not need to go all the way to Midgard to get well, I'm sure we can find a way to help you here!" He insisted.

"But at my dad's house there are Kleenex," she argued, "I need Kleenex immediately."

"I'm sure you can wait just a moment-"

She reached over and grabbed the front of his shirt with an alarming burst of strength, pulling his face closer to hers, which still rested on the table.

"You don't understand. I need Kleenex. And my dad's chicken noodle soup. I need his soup, Loki, it is essential to the healing process for me to have his soup."

"Surely there is another way."

"If you aren't with me," Maisy sat up and narrowed her eyes, her cheek bearing a wood grain imprint, "You're against me."

"Is another symptom of colds that you get over dramatic?"

"Okay well, if you aren't going to help me get better," she shrugged and stood up with agonizing slowness, "I'll have to plead with Heimdall to have mercy on me."

"You aren't going to Midgard," Loki stood up, watching her walk over to her wardrobe again and pull out her backpack. She stuffed a few articles of clothing inside and then her phone. She shuffled over to the couch and picked up her abandoned sketchbook.

"I'm goin' to Midgard," Maisy declared, clumsily pulling on her shoes, "I'll be back in a week or two."

"You can't just leave!" Loki got between her and the door, arms crossed and mind scheming, "The Bifrost will kill you in this weakened state!"

"Will it?" Her eyes widened and she looked nervous, "Oh my gosh… I, I guess I'll have to stay here - wait. Nice try, you big fat liar."

"You do not believe me? I am wounded!"

"Goodbye, Loki," she patted his shoulder and headed for the door, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"You would leave me without a goodbye kiss?" He asked incredulously.

"I don't think you want a kiss from this," she gestured to her face, "Snot would go everywhere."

"Maisy, please, you can't go."

"You want me to get better or not?" She glared at him with bleary eyes.

"Of course I do," he snapped, "I want you to be as comfortable as possible and for you to heal quickly."

"Then why can't I go?"

"Because," he hesitated and then sighed, "What if Odin does not allow you to come back?"

Maisy raised her brows and sniffled loudly.

"I hadn't thought of that."

"And whoever threatened you with the circlet, they may find a way to keep you from returning to me," he wove his fingers through hers and his voice was quiet, "And Odin is not likely to allow me to go back to earth anytime soon. What if you go and I never see you again?"

"Alright," Maisy sighed, "Can we ask Heimdall to beam up some Kleenex though? Before my nose explodes?"

"Of course!" Loki turned to go, "I'll send Bjorn to do so immediately. Perhaps he can simply go down to earth and pick up a bowl of your father's soup as well."

Loki quickly gave instructions to Bjorn and the guard, who practically lived outside their door protecting them, rushed off to do as he was asked.

A note from the author: I actually wrote this chapter and the next two or so before I even finished Till Death Do You Part and before I started any of the other chapters for the sequel. I wrote it when I had a bad cold a couple of months ago. I was feeling word-y when I had that cold and I wanted to put my misery into words. So, Maisy gets to deal with a cold for a bit. If I named my chapters, this one would be called "In Sickness and in Health". XD

Thank you so much for reading and following and favoriting. You are all wonderful! :)

A huge thank you to my reviewers:

Carly paul: I'm glad you loved it! I loved writing it!

Ninja Squirrel: *mentally wills cold weather in whatever direction you are relative to me* There is so much fluff to come, my friend. Hopefully enough fluff to make up for some of the other stuff that is also coming... ;)

xlokiswolfx: Loki would make for an interesting father, I think. He'd either be way over protective or he'd be like "no, Maisy, we must let the children experiment and discover themselves... yes, even if that means stabbing people sometimes, it's how they grow, Maisy" lol.

ferbette: Fulla's got some issues she's working through right now. If she didn't hate fun on principle I think she'd like the PFoD as a place to relax. XD Also, now I'm just imagining Odin walking or talking with Loki and Maisy at some point and a young family might pass by in the background and suddenly Odin just stops talking and turns Loki and Maisy to see saying "Look at that happy family. Children certainly are our greatest treasures, don't you think? Hmm? Hmm? Children? Pretty great, am I right? I JUST WANNA BE A GRANDPA."

nina del carmen: Thanks! :D

Until next time, my pretties!