Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, nor the Avengers.

Chapter 6 – Loki's Warning

The feast came to an abrupt halt at Thor's shout.

"Take me to her." He demanded. "Out of my way!" He snapped at everyone and no one, for no one was in his way. Though he had asked the midwife to take him to his wife, Thor began to run much faster then the midwife could and it wasn't long before he'd left her behind. His legs carried him to the healing chambers, or hospital as Jane called it, knowing that was where she would be; she had refused to give birth in their own chambers, not wanting the mess of childbirth to be in any way associated with their bedchamber. "Jane!" He cried as he burst into the room, quickly locating her reclining in a bed on the far wall, her friends surrounding her.

"Thor!" She gasped, a pained look on her face, he having caught her in the middle of a contraction.

"This is why you left abruptly. Why didn't you tell me?" He scolded, earning a black look in return.

"Not everything is about you!" She snapped. "In fact this is all about me, so you can shut up and hold my hand or get the hell out because I am not dealing with your bull shit right now. Oh, and if I hear the words 'just breathe' come out of your mouth, I swear to god I will find a way for you to deliver this child yourself, got it?" Thor wisely kept his mouth shut and simply nodded, offering her his hand and trying not to cringe at the force with which she crushed it. When the contraction ended and she relaxed finally, Thor got his hand back and shook it to regain some feeling, though he knew it would be only a small reprieve. Richard, Erik, and the Warriors Three chose that moment to enter, being followed by several others, while many curious faces could be seen in the doorway.

"That kid sure picked a hell of a time." Richard muttered, coming to kiss his daughter on the forehead.

"Yeah. He was just waiting until you got here apparently." She said. "And I'm so glad he did."

"Me too, sweetie."

"I'm so glad you're all here." She said, looking to Erik who smiled brightly; he was almost as excited about the birth of this child as Richard was. As he had been a secondary father figure to Jane, he had no doubt he'd be another grandfather to her child. "That goes for all of you as well, thank you for your support." She now addressed the gathered crowd. "However, when I said 'here' I don't actually mean in this room. You have no choice in staying," She said to Thor. "You three can stay for a bit longer if you want," This was said to her three female friends. "But the rest of you…get the hell out!" The Asgardians scrambled to do as they were told, Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral staying but a moment longer to offer congratulations and say they would be nearby if needed. "You guys too." She said to Richard and Erik. "Out please. I don't need you in the delivery room with me." And they had no desire to be there either and so retreated to wait with the Warriors Three. A few hours and several contractions later, Sif, Shuri and Darcy left as well, leaving Thor and Jane alone right when her contractions were now coming quickly. A couple more hours later, Thor was presented with a tiny bundle swaddled snugly by the midwife. He stared in awe as he moved ever to carefully back to the bed and placed his child in Jane's waiting arms.

"Say hello to our daughter." He said in a whisper, unsure if she was asleep or simply calm for the moment, but not willing to risk it either way. Jane couldn't find the words as she gazed down at her baby and so settled for simply smiling, the two new parents gazing lovingly down at their child.

"She's beautiful." Jane finally said and Thor couldn't agree more.

"As beautiful as her mother. What should we call her? We never did choose a name." They had discussed it of course, but no name had actually been chosen.

"What about-" Jane cut off as the doors burst open, revealing a haggard looking guard closely followed by four murderous looking warriors.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Thor demanded in a whispered shout. The doors banging open had thankfully not disturbed his daughter and he wasn't going to risk it by shouting.

"Apologies, my King, my Queen." Volstagg growled, taking his cue from Thor and growling quietly. "Apparently Heimdall requests your presence. The guard would not listen when we said it was impossible at this moment."

"We will take him out." Fandral agreed.

"My King, I apologize but Heimdall was most insistent." The guard was at least smart enough to speak quietly so as not to disturb the newborn. "He said no matter who tried to stop me I must ensure you go see him immediately." Thor opened his mouth to reprimand the guard but Jane's hand on arm stopped him.

"Heimdall would not have called for you now if it wasn't urgent." She said. "Though he was kind enough to wait until she was born." The all-seeing Gatekeeper would no doubt had known the moment his new Princess was born and the guard's appearance so soon after said that he had waited until it was over to send for Thor.

"Very well." He both sighed and snapped, not at all happy about being called away from his family just now. Instructing Sif to stay with Jane, and the others to fetch her father and family, Thor summoned Mjölnir and flew to the Bifrost wanting to get there and back as quickly as possible.

"Congratulations on your daughter." Heimdall said from his usual perch looking out into the cosmos as he approached.

"Thank you, my friend." Although annoyed, Thor could not help but be happy at the mere mention of his child. "Now what is so urgent you tear me away from her so soon after her birth?"

"Thanos is on the move." He got straight to the point. "He comes-" Heimdall's head snapped to the right, though he still looked out over the Nine Realms.

"Heimdall, what is it?" Thor's urgency rose as Heimdall did not answer, instead he ran quickly to the centre of the room and dropped his sword into its sheath, activating the Bifrost. Thor looked to the gateway and held Mjölnir aloft. Heimdall had mentioned Thanos before and while there was no doubt in Thor's mind that the Gatekeeper would never have opened the Bifrost if it would bring danger to Asgard, there was no telling who was coming through and they could still pose a threat. Finally a figure appeared, except instead of posing even the smallest of threats the figure collapsed, his jet-black hair all too recognizable.

"Loki!" Thor cried, dropping Mjölnir and rushing to his brother's side. Asgard's once fallen prince was clearly injured, though he was far from dead.

"Yes, press your thumb into my wound, that won't make it hurt at all." He groaned, pushing at Thor who relented only enough to loosen his grip.

"What happened?" Thor asked.

"I got made, as they say on Earth. Thanos discovered my trickery when I used my magic to allow Heimdall to see him this time."

"Yet you live." Thor was both immensely grateful and confused. If Thanos discovered Loki was betraying him, why did he leave him alive?

"Only because I was rescued before he could inflict too much damage." Loki replied. "My thanks, Gatekeeper." Heimdall merely nodded, removing his sword from its sheath, closing the Bifrost once more. "But now he knows I ticked him and will no doubt be out for blood even more."

"Before bringing you home, Heimdall said he comes, but did not say when."

"He comes." Loki repeated, this clearly being an agreement with Heimdall, and the fact that he did not elaborate told Thor their time was very short indeed.

"Heimdall, open the Bifrost to no one." Thor commanded. "I will not give him another gateway here unnecessarily." Heimdall nodded as Thor hoisted Loki onto his back and summoned Mjölnir, flying them both back to the palace. There was quite a commotion when they appeared and approached the healing chambers, there still being a large crowd outside.

"What happened?!" Sif was both surprisingly, and unsurprisingly, the first who rushed to their side, helping support Loki.

"I missed you too, Sif." Even injured as he was, Loki could not help his response. Asgard's lone female warrior growled warningly but otherwise did nothing; there would be time later for revenge when he wasn't injured.

"Thanos happened." Thor explained. "Summon the council immediately, we meet as soon as I have seen my brother inside." Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun rushed off, though Sif remained. "Warn your people that he comes swiftly." Thor said to the Wakandans. "We have not much time." Ayo nodded and she and Teela herded their Princess away at same time that they activated their Kimoyo Beads to call home. Thor then turned back to Loki, the crowd having reminded him of what waited inside. "Can you stay silent, with how injured you are? I will not have her disturbed." Loki looked confused, it was an odd question, but he nodded nonetheless and allowed Thor and Sif to all but carry him inside. Richard, Erik and Darcy were surrounding her when they entered, though they weren't so crowded as to block her view.

"Loki!" She gasped, sitting up swiftly and disturbing the child in her arms who began to cry. Jane immediately turned her attention to her daughter and soothed her, unaware the Loki's head had snapped in her directly when the baby began crying, nor that his cry of pain had joined the newborn's.

"I see my niece has been born." He commented as Thor and Sif saw him into the bed next to Jane's before Sif ran out for the healer.

"Yes. You were right, it was a girl." Said Jane. "Now what happened?!" Not even her newborn daughter was to deter her from this line of inquiry given her brother-in-law was injured.

"Thanos discovered my trickery and decided to kill me." He said plainly.

"I see he didn't succeed though." Erik muttered, sounding disappointed. He had known that Loki was alive, they had not kept that a secret from him, though he had not come face to face with Loki until now.

"Which we are happy about." Jane ground out, shooting Darcy a withering look when she opened her mouth, no doubt to agree with Erik. The head healer chose that moment to enter followed by her team and they began work on healing Loki. Unsurprisingly the noise woke the baby, who was not having a restful first hour of life. Jane and Thor both tried to soothe her but with no luck and were starting to get quite overwhelmed when the head healer approached.

"She is hungry." She spoke softly.

"Oh…" Jane muttered, feeling her heart drop. What kind of mother didn't realize her child was hungry?

"You will quickly learn to distinguish her cries. And you are not an ill fit mother for not realizing it within the first hour of her life." Clearly the head healer was a mind reader, Jane thought, though her logical words helped to calm her. "I only know for I am a mother myself. And I have delivered many a babe, including the Allfather here. He had the same hearty cry when hungry as this one." She winked at Jane who laughed, much to Thor's chagrin.

"Loki?" He asked, changing the subject.

"The Prince will be fine." The healer waved off his concern. "He will be healed in no time at all. Now, feed the Princess." That said she closed a privacy curtain and left the two alone with their child. Jane didn't hesitate then and lowered her gown, bringing their daughter to her breast. It was instinctual from there; the babe latched on and began drinking her fill. Jane and Thor sat there watching their daughter in awe for awhile before Thor spoke.

"So about that name…"

"Aerith." Jane said softly. "Aerith Lucy Thorsdóttir." Even though she had had years to get used to it, the idea that on Asgard people didn't have last names but were known as their father's first name with son or dóttir – old Norse for daughter – at the end, still seemed unusual to her. However, that is how things were done on Asgard and who was she to fight tradition? At least, she wouldn't fight all of them. Asgardians did not have middle names either, though that was an Earth custom she had fought for, and one Thor had not fought against.

"Named after Asgard's last Queen Regent." Thor noted. "Fitting that she will be the next." Unlike on Earth, Asgard's laws of succession were not patriarchal so even if they had a son later on, Aerith would always be Asgard's next ruler and Allmother. There had not been a Queen Regent in several millennia, though of course several millennia on Asgard was really only two or three generations. The last Queen Aerith was Thor's great-grandmother who's firstborn had been a son, King Bor, who's firstborn in turn had been Odin who's only child, biologically speaking, was Thor. Jane had been quite happy to discover that the cards had merely fallen that way, that for three generations sons were the firstborn, instead of them having older sisters they'd displaced for the throne by virtue of being male. "And named for a beloved mother." As middle names were not an Asgardian tradition, they had agreed that they would use an Asgardian first name for the heir to the throne and a Midgardian middle name. That was as far as they had gotten on definite decision making regarding their child's name, though at one point or another both Aerith and Lucy had been suggested for the exact reasons that Thor now said.

"Do you like it?" Jane looked up at him so hopefully – though he doubted she realized her hope shone through – that even if he didn't like the names he likely wouldn't saw so.

"Yes." He said simply, leaning down to kiss his wife. Jane leaned up to meet him and in the process Aerith lost her food source and made her displeasure known.

"Oh I'm sorry, darling." Jane murmured trying to get her daughter to latch on again while Thor looked on amused. It was to no avail though, with her food source gone, Aerith had decided that her meal was over.

"Here, let me." Said Thor, taking his tiny daughter into his arm and, supporting her head, began to rub her back to try and get her to burp. "See? Those classes were not wasted on me." He said proudly when he succeeded.

"Those were not classes." Said Jane. Birthing and parenting classes that were quite common on Earth were unsurprisingly not common on Asgard. Still, Jane had insisted they meet with the midwife for similar lessons, one of which was how to burp a newborn. "And they were totally wasted on you."

"If you two are done being sickeningly sweet." Loki spoke up from the other side of the curtain. Thor and Jane shared a look and chuckled, having forgotten he was there. "And where else would I be when I was only just beaten by the Mad Titan?" Thor growled.

"Do not read my mind, brother." Cradling his daughter securely in one of his impressively large arms, Thor yanked the curtain open and glared at his brother. Loki merely rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes, we all know how your thoughts are so secret," His sarcasm was clear. "And have not at all been filled with a certain former mortal turned Queen for the passed several years." Thor blushed and Jane smiled behind his back, earning a wink from Loki. "May I see her?" Thor raised an eyebrow but otherwise did not hesitate to hand his daughter over to Loki. His expression softened the moment he held her and a small smile appeared on his face while his eyes filled with longing; Thor did not have to be able to read minds to know that Loki secretly wanted children of his own. He also didn't have to be a mind reader to know that Loki thought no one would ever love him enough to want to have children with him, something Thor was determined to change after the threat of Thanos was gone, and he knew just the female warrior to aid him, whether she consciously wanted to or not.

"He comes, brother." Loki said not taking his eyes off his niece. Thor didn't even scold Loki for reading his thoughts this time.

"I know. I go to meet the council now." He had forgotten all about the council meeting and was actually surprised that they had not come to fetch him.

"No, I mean he comes now." Loki replied. "I can sense him, after all this time." Loki finally tore his gaze away from Aerith and looked up at his brother. "The Mad Titan approaches as we speak."

A/N - Sweet moment with Loki and Aerith, however brief.

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