Chapter 9

"Why can't we go outside?"

Loki looked up from the pages of the book he was reading to see Sleipnir no longer playing with his growing pile of Lego. The child was looking at the door that led to the rest of the building with a serious expression on his face. Loki sighed, already resigned for the conversation that was about to happen. He'd known that while he would have no difficulty remaining in these small rooms for years if necessary, Sleipnir was used to wandering about. He was actually rather surprised that it had taken him three days before asking. Putting his book down, he gestured for Sleipnir to come closer, and the boy clamored onto his lap.

Without preamble, he lifted the hem of his shirt so that the small bulge of his pregnancy could be seen and placed one of Sleipnir's hands on it. "What do you feel?" he asked.

Sleipnir waited a beat before answering with a mischievous smile. "Lucky Charms."

"Very clever, what else? Other than breakfast?"

The boy's expression became serious once more and Loki waited. Sure enough, he soon felt a small tendril of foreign magic echo against his own he smiled as Sleipnir blinked in confusion. "It's your magic, and something else as well. What is it?"

"Its a baby," he said slowly, "It will be your brother or sister."

Sleipnir's eyes grew wide, and a smile spread across his face. "Really? I will have a brother?"

"Or a sister, it is too soon to tell what it will be." he explained, relieved beyond measure that Sleipnir was pleased with the news.

Sleipnir looked down at the skin of his stomach and flexed his hands against it before nodding. "It will be a brother. I can tell."

Loki smiled indulgently at the confident expression on his son's face. "Is that so? How can you be sure?"

"Because I would like to have a brother." he said as if that was all the reason he needed.

It was a struggle to keep his smile in place and not to let it waiver. Sleipnir did have brothers, two of them as well as a sister, but he could not tell him that yet.

"Well, brother or sister, it is the reason I can not use my magic. It is protecting the baby until it is time to be born. The same as it did with you, and because of that, I can not use my magic to protect the two of us. That is why we are here in this fortress where we are safe; we can not leave until my magic is back so that I can protect us all. Do you understand?"

Sleipnir frowned. "But why do we have to stay inside? Are we hiding?" Loki paused before answering, and Sleipnir must have noticed the apprehension on his face. "Its the man who put a spell on me, isn't it?"

Loki nodded and pulled him closer so that his head rested against his chest, holding him there with a hand on top of his head. "You have done nothing wrong Sleipnir, this man made you sleep to punish me, but he can not get to us here. As long as we do not leave this building we are safe. Alright?"

He felt Sleipnir nod against his chest and he patted his head before sitting up and holding him by his narrow shoulders. "But we do not have to stay in these rooms. Would you like to explore a little?"

Instantly all the seriousness dropped from Sleipnir's expression as a huge smile took its place. "Can we?"

"We certainly can. Go put on your shoes."

The boy scrambled off his lap to do so and Loki fixed the front of his shirt, frowning at how the material was beginning to grow tight. He would have to start to wear looser clothes soon, or at least ones with more give. Sleipnir reappeared at his elbow a moment later, shoes on and looking at him expectantly. "My that was fast."

Sleipnir grinned and pointed at the Velcro straps. "These ones are easy, there are no laces."

"So I can see, shall we be on our way then?"

"Do we need to bring anything?" he asked, eyeing his Lego.

"We are not wandering far." Loki said as he pulled on his own shoes and did the laces. As soon as his hands were free Sleipnir put a hand in one and Loki gave it a reassuring squeeze before undoing the lock and opening the door.

Outside Sleipnir seemed to vibrate with a sudden onslaught of energy and pulled on his arm. "Which way?"

Loki directed him down the hall, and soon Sleipnir's head was moving on a swivel, turning this way and that looking out windows and open doors they passed. When they reached their destination Loki let go of Sleipnir's hand so that he could wander further into the common room. It was still mostly empty early in the morning, it's only occupant sitting in Loki's favorite chair, a sketchpad balanced in one knee.

Steve Rogers looked up when they entered and blinked in surprise at the sight of them. "Uh, hi!" he greeted and Sleipnir looked back at him to see what he would do.

Loki just nodded in greeting. "Sleipnir, this is Steven Rogers. Captain, this is my son Sleipnir." he traded the introductions and the mortal waved a little at the suddenly shy child.

"Hi Sleipnir

Sleipnir took a moment before politely replying with a quiet hello. If the Captain was disappointed with the less than enthusiastic response he didn't let it show, and just continued to smile kindly as the boy looked over the room. It was a large space, with one section dedicated to the large television and all the devices attached to it, but there were also shelves of board games, tables with cards and chess. At one end of the room was a collection of tables for table tennis and foosball, and the walls were decorated with dartboards. What caught Sleipnir's attention first though was the large bookshelf. His smile returned the instant he set eyes on it.

"Look at all the books mama!" he exclaimed happily.

"Oh yeah, definitely your kid." Rogers remarked but when he looked Loki found there was no malice in the man's expression. It took him a moment to realize that he hadn't said it as a jibe, just as a comment of a shared passion. He had to remind himself that he was on Midgard, and a love of books wasn't a trait that brought instant scorn as it would in the golden halls of Asgard.

"What are you reading?" Sleipnir asked, his voice quiet but curious as he glanced at the book that remained in the captain's lap.

"Oh, this isn't- well it's a different kind of book. You draw in it. See?" he held up the sketchbook so that Sleipnir could see the doodles contained within. "Do you like to draw?"

Sleipnir stepped a little closer to Rogers, eyes still on the drawing and shook his head. "No, not really." he took another step forward and tilted his head to the side. "That one looks like Bruce.," he said pointing at a drawing on the page.

Rogers looked down at the page and smiled. "That's him, you know Bruce?"

Sleipnir nodded, his hands absently playing with the edge of his shirt. "He gave me Lego."

"That was really nice of him."

Sleipnir nodded in agreement. "I slept for a really long time.," he said abruptly.

Steve grinned and leaned onto his knees. "Really? Me too."

"You did?"

"Yep, I slept for seventy years."

Sleipnir stared at the man, almost as if he didn't quite believe him before stating that he'd slept for hundreds of years.

"Almost eight hundred." Loki said softly.

Rogers put on an impressed face. "Wow, you sure got me beat there. Makes my coma look like a quick nap!"

"Did someone put a spell on you as well?" Sleipnir asked curiously.

Steve blinked at the question before shaking his head. "No, I fell into some really cold ice and got frozen there. It took them seventy years to thaw me out."

"Oh." was Sleipnir's response.

"Hey, would you like to play a game?" Steve asked suddenly and Sleipnir's eyes brightened at the offer.

"What kind of game?"

"Well we've got a ton of games in here." he gestured to the shelf. Do you want to pick one out? Is that ok?" Steve directed the last question towards Loki, as Sleipnir was already at the shelf examining the colourful boxes.

Loki just nodded. They ended up spending most of the day in the common room. Steve taught Sleipnir how to play checkers, and introduced him whenever someone new would enter. For the most part Loki watched on, participating when asked but otherwise he observed as Earth's mightiest heroes made friends with a five year old. Sleipnir was delighted to meet so many new people, sitting happily next to Spiderman as he was told about some of the wall crawler's favorite foods of the 21st century.

"I like it here." Sleipnir told him as he led his son back to their rooms later in the afternoon

I Know! It's so short! but the next chapter is so much longer and this was the only ending point I could get! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! Especially the really long reviews! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy! More updates are coming, I'm so close to finishing the story! Not post wise, but in writing I have almost everything done on my computer... I think this chapter is maybe the halfway mark? Possibly one third? I'd have to check... Anyways please review!