Robin was eagerly awaiting the time to be up. She spent most of that month moving mutants off planet along with other groups who were tired of humanity's hypocritical ways.
Eric was particularly pleased that all creatures on the planet would be equal in that they didn't like humans much. He found his powers in great demand in construction of the new cities.
The population was small, but the fact they no longer needed to hide made it infinitely easier to get things done, especially with Robin bringing technology from Earth and a few things from Asgard.
Of course Eric brought to mind a conversation he had with some some of the inhabitants, namely what to call this world. No one could agree on a single name, as the magicals wanted to call it one thing and the mutants another.
So he asked Robin to step in with something they could agree to, seeing as how it was her idea to begin with.
Robin sat at the makeshift table with her water.
"Hmm...so this world needs a name? What do the mutants wish to call it?"
"Sanctuary," said Eric. He was considered the spokesperson, as he overpowered most mutants and was one of the oldest.
"And the magicals?" asked Robin.
"Avalon," said Narcissa.
"Well that is a quandary. If I picked either name I would be showing favor and we certainly can't have such a thing with the temperaments on either side...how about a compromise? Something everyone is familiar with, but sums up both races equally."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Eric.
"Nephilim."
He raised an eyebrow.
"What is a Nephilim?" asked Narcissa.
"It's from the bible. A Nephilim is the child of both an angel and a human. They are neither mortal or immortal, but a mixture of both. The closest thing that could come to comparison is a demigod, or child of a god and human," explained Eric.
"Yes, but going around calling yourselves demigods might offend the Asgardians, since you don't actually have a claim to that term. However some might call mutations and magic a divine gift, so the next best term would be Nephilim," said Robin.
"It's something that would suit a name for the planet and wouldn't offend our hosts. And since Nephilim would have the same amount of trouble disguising themselves as either race, it suits us better," said Eric in approval.
"Talk it amongst the two sides and come tell me how they feel about it," said Robin.
She waited a few hours, but Narcissa and Eric's groups came back with positive results. At least Asgard now had a name for the planet and the refugees.
Finally the date arrived and she brought Hermes with her. He would be spending time with Sif and the Warriors Three (all of whom laughed long and hard at Thor's fainting spell when told of Hermes' heritage) until it was time to tell Loki who his son was.
Frigga already had a new camera to play with and was enjoying the quaint device...mostly because of the potion Robin introduced her two that would allow them to watch Thor faint on film. It was quite similar to one they already use, and it was infinitely easier to manufacture.
Loki called on the bifrost and immediately went to his wife, who hugged him tightly.
"You have no idea how hard it was for me to wait for the times to match," she said seriously.
"How long were you gone?"
"Five years for me... and we will be using your ways to visit a secluded area for a while to catch up husband," said Robin firmly. Loki didn't look like he minded that idea at all.
Robin and Loki rode the horses back to the city.
"Odin wishes to speak to you," said the guard, as they took the horses.
Robin was grinning inwardly. This was the best part.
Robin gleefully introduced their son Hermes to his father...and to her delight Loki fainted from the shock she had been pregnant when she vanished. Frigga caught the entire thing on film. Odin chuckled even more.
"I am beginning to see the merit of your suggestion. Since it is doubtful Loki would understand his crimes locked up, we shall leave his punishment to you," said Odin.
Robin had suggested something in the line of community service...specifically helping her protect the mutants from people like Stryker. It had the added benefit of making Loki understand he wasn't as alone had he had believed when he fell from the bifrost.
Robin splashed her husband with some ice water.
Loki coughed and looked at her somewhat amused.
"I take it Hel knew?"
"Of course she did. So do the others, and they all adore him."
"I can't believe I didn't notice my own son..." muttered Loki.
"To be fair, you were under someone else's control at the time."
Odin looked at Loki.
"He was under someone's control?"
"His eyes were an electric blue, a shade not normally found in nature. However whenever Hermes was around him in the helicarrier, his eyes went back to green. Hawkeye's eyes were the same color after Loki touched him with the staff. I believe someone much more dangerous used his desperation to return home against him."
"Suddenly your suggestion to keep him on Midgard for a few years is sounding better and better," said Odin.
Robin hated time sand, but she loved magic. She had called Jean and Logan to take care of the children while she got reacquainted with her husband. She was back in her school after two months, though this time she had Loki beside her while Hermes learned how to be an Aesir prince.
Thor still couldn't believe he missed his own nephew right in front of him. At least Loki was having the same disbelief.
Robin addressed her school.
"Everyone, I know many of you are eager to find out who on earth married someone like me. Some of you are even wondering why I defended Loki's actions in New York. Well here is the answer to both... this is my husband, Loki of Asgard," said Robin bluntly.
Somehow her students weren't surprised.
"Now any of you who had friends or family in New York during the incident, Loki will be available for target practice using paintballs. Feel free to turn him into a hippie reject," said Robin.
Seeing a few eager faces in the crowd, Loki looked at his wife.
"Do I even want to know?"
"It was either this or something more painful. Be glad we didn't have Logan pick what they would hit you with," said Robin with a shrug.
"He's the one with the claws isn't he?"
"And is currently in charge of keeping the adult's liquor cabinet fully stocked when he visits? Yes, yes he is."
"Suddenly getting hit with paint doesn't sound nearly as bad," said Loki.
"Ghouls and Goblins (she waited for the snickering to die down) I have here our main method of attack. The goal of today is to end up with the least amount of pain or ink on you. Now do you all have your weapons?" she asked grinning. Loki was leading the one team, Sif had hers (all girls) and to round it all off Jean and Scott had brought in some of the Institute kids and had made two separate teams of their own while the rest of the X-Men enjoyed the show.
Each team was armed with paintball guns and enough ammunition (both CO2 cartridges and paintballs, each team had their own color) and permanent markers to act as knives.
She sent up red sparks and the battle began.
Loki allowed everyone who had been in New York or who had lost families three free shots for each person they lost. He wouldn't win the war, but his team still had a chance. Robin took one look at her husband's face and giggled. He looked like a hippie reject!
"Good thing you said no face shots," said Loki.
"Getting hit with a paint ball would have hurt, and it might have invited accidents. Speaking of which, some of the magical children lost family during that incident, so you're the designated spell dummy for tomorrow...we're working prank spells, so you'll likely have pink hair at the least."
"Duck," he said bluntly.
She did and aimed at a grinning Sif.
Loki smirked when he saw that mighty Sif get taken from behind by a paintball. If only Thor were here...speak of the devil!
Thor had been invited halfway through the game, as Robin had warned them she wanted to play a prank on the mighty Thunder God by not telling him about the paintball war that day.
Loki borrowed a gun that had fallen and started shooting at his brother. He wasn't the only one to end up as a hippie reject!
And with that, Thor was given a basic run down on how to shoot a paintball gun (with orders to hand it to someone else to reload) and needed no instruction on how to use the marker as a knife.
By the time dinner rolled around (they had it outside) everyone was dirty, had multiple colors on them, and were laughing.
Today was a good day.
"So that's your husband? Funny, he doesn't act like a psycho out to kill humanity," said Logan over beer.
"He was being manipulated just because he wanted to go home. He fell off a multi-realm portal and ended up in the middle of nowhere without a way back. He made the deal to turn over the tesseract to some evil being, and decided to attack humans to spite his brother."
"So he wasn't entirely innocent."
"Not a chance in hell. I will, however, be showing him that series Stargate SG-1 just to see his reaction to the so called Asgard race."
Logan blinked.
"Isn't that the show where the Asgard are little gray aliens like the ones people have been claiming to see for years?" he asked.
"Exactly!" grinned Robin.
She had shown it to Tony once, and after meeting the real Thor it just made him laugh.
"What is this exactly?" asked Loki.
"Series night. Tonight we're watching another season of Stargate SG-1," explained Robin.
They did this once a month so the kids could have fun. Several hours of nothing but movies, or in this case a TV series. The kids loved it because they were allowed to stay up late to watch TV.
Five hours in, Loki's eyes were twitching, though he did seem highly amused by the show.
Mostly because he realized who the gray alien was supposed to be and it made him laugh. Even Sif got a good chuckle once she realized why the show had been picked.
Loki found himself lecturing some of the more magical mutants on illusions. Even though he was on probation because he was being controlled, Robin didn't want him freeloading around the place like she had seen Thor do a few times. So she had him teach something that even Sif had trouble with.
Magic.
Having such attentive pupils actually made this rather boring task less of a chore. Robin grinned when she saw him actually smiling around the children, many of whom had been ostracized or outright abused because they were mutants.
Robin was about to get a drink when she spotted someone she didn't expect.
"So what do I owe this honor, Lord Odin?" she asked.
"I came to see for myself how Loki was fairing. I trust Sif, but some things you need to verify yourself," said Odin, hiding under a disguise no doubt placed by his wife.
Robin lead him to the room where he watched Loki teach. It was a drastic change from his behavior in Asgard. For one thing his smile didn't seem faked.
"That reminds me, I have a few pictures you and Frigga will love to see," said Robin grinning. She vanished and came back a moment later with some pictures that Xavier (among others) had taken. Some were even moving if they were funny enough.
Hearing Odin's laugh, Loki took one look at the pictures in his hand and sighed. No doubt his mother (he still didn't know whether she deserved the title or not, but he was willing to give her a chance) would see them by the end of the day.
Odin had blown his chance as far as Loki was concerned.
Robin was watching the news when she saw something odd on the British channel.
Eric Selvig, running around stark naked around Stonehenge trying to do something with what were clearly scientific instruments. Hearing his rambling, she went to see Loki.
"Husband mine, is there any worthy of note about to happen within the next two months?" she asked carefully.
"Only one thing would come to mind. The Convergence, a point where each of the Nine Realms lines up and it's possible to see them without anything to aid you. It's supposedly quite a sight, and it's an extremely rare event. Why?"
"Selvig, the scientist you captured...he was arrested running around starkers with equipment."
Loki raised an eyebrow.
"That does not sound like the same man I captured," he said.
"There is something else...something Hel mentioned to me on my last visit. She said that there was a storm, a dark storm which could rend the Nine Realms asunder if it was not stopped. She said and I quote 'the Lord of Nightmares must rise again'."
"Lord of Nightmares?" asked Loki. He was unfamiliar with that name.
Robin rolled her eyes.
"I finally relented and hooked Hel up with Netflix and Hulu. She's addicted to the series called Slayers and the strongest of the 'dark lords' is called the Lord of Nightmares. Last time I saw her she was dressed as Lina Inverse, the main character of the show. ...Of course as a joke I dressed up as Lina's rival Naga the White Serpent."
"Oh? Perhaps that would explain the odd comment she made last week about me loving your new...costume," said Loki with a smirk.
"...She showed you Naga's outfit didn't she?" deadpanned Robin.
"No, but she said that it was far better to see it in person than a second hand version," said Loki.
"Well, it's not my turn to patrol the halls, and almost everyone is asleep or outside..." said Robin with a grin. Loki smirked, and they headed towards their room.
And yes, Loki did fall in love with her new outfit, so long as he was the only one allowed to see it. He doubted Thor could ever get his girlfriend Jane to wear something so...provocative.