Ch. 3
Easter Sunday
Loki woke up the next morning to the sounds of shrieking children and the footfalls of little feet running up and down the hardwood hallway outside their door. Darcy groaned and turned in bed to face him.
"That's our future, you know. No more sleeping in. If my sister's right, no more sleep, period," she mumbled.
Loki smiled indulgently over to his wife. Although his own experience with babies was rather limited, from what he knew, she was right.
"Do you want to attempt procure the first shower of the morning?" he asked ruefully.
Darcy nodded and slowly rolled out of bed. Her parents' house had two bathrooms, but since the second one was located in the master suite, in essence there was one bathroom for all of Darcy's siblings, their spouses and the various nieces and nephews. Getting there first was worth waking up early.
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After a quick morning breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and juice, the entire family was gathered outside in the backyard. It was a warm southern California spring day and it was already in the mid-60s. Darcy's parents, on behalf of the "Easter Bunny", had hidden various colorful plastic eggs filled with goodies around their yard.
Loki grinned as he sipped a cup of coffee on outside deck with his in-laws and saw the two youngest children be given a head start looking for eggs. The toddler and baby wandered around a bit with their parents pointing out the locations of a few of the prized eggs. The baby had just begun to walk with help and held firmly onto her mother's hand as she explored the yard. The toddler was far more independent, racing away from his parents, giggling as they tried to catch him.
After a few minutes, the rest of Loki's nieces and nephews were let loose in the backyard and there was a mad dash to scoop up the remaining eggs. Loki noticed that one of his poor niece had a nearly empty basket, so, with a flick of his wrist, he magically dislodged one of the eggs from its hiding place and caused it to tumble to her feet. He chuckled as her face broke out in a wide smile as she scooped it up and placed it in her basket.
The entire hunt took less than five minutes and Loki idly wondered how long it had taken Darcy's parents to hide all of the eggs. Afterwards, the children were presented with baskets full of goodies, jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, and candy eggs. Loki sipped his morning coffee and grinned to see the delight on their faces.
Then, the children were sent to their rooms to change for the 11 a.m. Easter service. Darcy had explained to him that they used to have the children dress up before the Easter egg hunt, but then they seemed to all end up with grass stains on their dresses and pants.
One by one, the children came downstairs in their brand new outfits. They twirled around and posed for photos for their parents and grandparents. Loki's nieces were wearing an array of pink, white and yellow dresses; their hair was done up with bows and ribbons. The little boys wore khaki pants with white button down shirts and the toddler even sported a clip-on tie. Loki changed into a tan three piece suit with a mint green tie that Darcy had suggested and Darcy wore a flowing empire waisted dress in the same mint green.
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"There aren't any traditional songs for Easter?" Loki asked Darcy on ride over to the church.
Darcy grinned. She had subjected Loki to an entire month of Christmas carols on Asgard before they came back to Earth to celebrate the holiday. He was so glad to have peace and quiet once again in their bedchambers.
"Not like at Christmas time. Some churches might play a few specific songs around Easter, but it isn't like Christmas."
Loki nodded. He noticed that there was a bittersweet quality to this holiday, the sacrifice being inexorably tied to the rejoicing.
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The church service was quite different than the Christmas Eve service he had attended months before. He didn't know any of the songs for one, but Darcy handed him a hymn book and he followed along. All his nieces and nephews were in their own classroom where Darcy told him that they got a modified version of the message geared for their age range. Loki nodded as he could hardly expect a toddler to quietly sit through an hour and a half of singing and speaking.
Loki was familiar with the subject matter of the pastor's message as Darcy had filled him in at Christmas time about the meaning of both holidays. He found it interesting how the ideas of sacrifice, repentance, and renewal seemed to permeate his life ever since he met Darcy. She truly had a completely different way of viewing the world than anything he had ever seen on Asgard.
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After the service, his nieces and nephews crowded around him, showing him all the crafts that they had done in Sunday School. One had drawn a picture of three crosses on a hill. Another had colored in a stone being rolled away from an empty tomb. He commented on each one, praising them for their effort and they all gave them to him as a gift, wanting him to display them in their room in Asgard.
"Take them; you don't want to hurt their feelings," Darcy insisted, whispering in his ear.
"Thank you; thank you. We will proudly display them in our home," he said to the crowd of children. "Now, we had better get back home. I know your grandparents want to cook up a lovely lunch for us all."
As Loki stood there with a pile of crafts, some of them still dripping with glue, he looked over at Darcy. "Whatever are we going to do with these?"
"Put them up on the wall when we get home. We should get used to it. My brother and sister's houses look like modern art galleries," she advised.
Loki shrugged and followed Darcy back to the car.
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An hour later, they were all crowded around the dining room table, ready to partake in a big Easter lunch. Darcy had explained that a lot of people had dinner as their big meal, but since her brother and sister had to drive home in a few hours, they usually just ate a large lunch together.
The table was spread with a lovely white tablecloth with a display of cut tulips acting as a centerpiece. There was a spiral-cut glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, fresh green beans with slivered almonds and homemade biscuits. Loki's mouth watered at the smells and he had to admit that he had never eaten poorly at Darcy's house.
Afterwards, Loki performed his in-laws' favorite "party trick" and zapped all the dishes and utensils clean. His mother-in-law came up to him afterwards and gave him a hearty kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, my dear. I really appreciate it."
Loki smiled, glad to see the tension between them of the previous day had evaporated.
"Who's up to seeing some bunnies?" he asked his nieces and nephews, wanting to provide one more piece of entertainment before having to leave.
"Bunnies! Bunnies!" the children shouted and they all gathered around him. With a small gesture, he produced an illusion of a baby bunny perched on his hand.
"It's so cute!" the toddler said, but cried when he went to touch it and it disappeared.
Loki smiled. "Let's try for a more convincing illusion. Shall we?"
Another white bunny appeared in Loki's hand, but this time, it didn't fade to the touch. Each child took a turn stroking its soft fur before Loki snapped his fingers and it faded away.
"You're the best, Uncle Loki," the children shouted and one by one they hugged him. He grinned, thinking that in a few short months he would be holding his own child in his arms for the first time.
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After his bunny trick, Darcy and Loki said their good-byes and returned to Asgard. Loki was eager to return back and see how the negotiations had gone with the dwarves. Darcy was looking forwards to sleeping in their own bed at night, as the full-sized bed at her parent's place was minuscule compared to the enormous bed she shared with Loki on Asgard.
On his way to the council chambers to confer with Thor, Loki passed by his parents'' private rooms. He hesitated for a moment and then turned to knock on the door. He was surprised to see Odin himself open the door.
Odin stiffened and then sighed. "Are you here to see Frigga? She's gone to visit her cousin, the one that lives nearby. She'll be back tomorrow." He turned to close the door, but Loki stayed his hand.
"Actually, I came to see you. Might I come in?" Loki asked, hesitantly.
Odin's eye narrowed, but he gave a brief nod and stepped aside to let Loki in.
Loki sat in a great wooden chair in one corner of the room and Odin sat in a similar one across from him. For the first time, Loki noticed how tired and old Odin looked. Even Asgardians age, and Odin was nearing 5,000 years old. Loki didn't know how much longer he would live. A hundred years? Two hundred? Before there always seemed to be time enough to make amends, but perhaps that wasn't true.
"What is it that you want, Loki?" Odin said carefully, obviously wary.
"I. . . .," Loki swallowed hard, looking down at his hands. He began to pick at the palm of his left hand, a nervous gesture he picked up from his mother. He groped for the right words, almost forcing them to come out. "I wanted to thank you. Months ago, Darcy pointed out that you put Asgard in jeopardy, your kingdom in peril, so that I could avoid being executed for . . . . for what I did. I didn't appreciate it at the time; I probably still don't appreciate it fully, but I wanted to thank you."
Odin sat there for a long moment. "Do you really mean that, Loki? It isn't one of your tricks?"
The questions hurt Loki more than they should have, but they were reasonable. How many times had he tricked and manipulated people, using their emotions against them?
He looked up, staring Odin in the face. "I am sincere. I know that you have no reason to believe me, but I am." Loki stood. "I should be going. I need to see how the trade agreement ended up."
He turned to go, but Odin caught his hand. "You have always been my son. Even in your darkest hours I loved you."
Loki took a shuddering breath. "And even when I didn't want to admit it, I knew you were my father."
Odin rose and embraced him tightly. Loki returned the hug, allowing himself to remember, for a brief moment, the years he had adored and looked up to his father.
As they let go, Loki gave Odin a wry grin. "Now, I better check up on Thor's handiwork. He's so kind-hearted, he'll have given away our last gold piece to the dwarf king."
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As Loki walked down the corridor, he couldn't help but smile. He supposed it really was the season for renewal and restoration.
Author's Note-
1. Happy Easter to you all!
2. Shout-out to DeGenerateVamp who totally called what I had written for chapter 3!
3. I hope you enjoyed "Loki's First Easter"! I am thinking the next one will be "Loki's First Child". However, I probably won't write "Loki's First Child" until June or July. If you like Avengers (and romance, mystery, etc.), my absolute over-riding passion at the moment is my story "The Captain's Bride". Please,please check it out and let me know what you think!