Annalise rolled over in her luxurious dungeon bed and burrowed against Loki's side. Automatically his arm slid beneath her neck to wrap around her shoulders. She squirmed to get comfortable and tucked her head beneath his chin. Her mouth curved into a drowsy smile as his thumb brushed back and forth against the skin of her bare arm, but she winced when his fingers pressed against a nasty purple bruise caused by their altercation the night prior. Sensing her discomfort, Loki loosened his grip.

"Sore, darling?"

She grunted tiredly and buried her face against his neck, taking a moment to give him a firm nip. Of course she was sore. They were post Battle of the Sexes. That ended in sex. Her entire being ached.

"You know I am," she snapped sleepily.

A chuckle rumbled in his chest and she sighed in contentment, despite her sore body. Her Loki had returned. He was still moody, devious and diabolical, but he was hers again. She relished in the feeling of her body curling against his solid form.

Shannon chose that moment to appear with Astrid, who was squalling and clearly hungry. Loki lounged lazily as he watched the woman gasp and blush at the scene before her: a broken chair, snapped bedpost, several smashed lamps and her King and Queen clearly post coitus, dressed in nothing but the bedclothes. Immediately she spun away from the naked royal pair.

"It's okay, Shannon. Please, bring her to me."

Annalise clutched the sheet to her bare chest with one hand and held out her free arm to take her child. Muttering an apology and awkwardly curtsying, Shannon deposited the fussy infant into the Queen's arms and fled. Loki found the woman's discomfort wildly amusing and between her cackling husband and crying daughter, Annalise groaned as she leaned back against the pillow. Astrid's cries ceased immediately as she began nursing, which put the young Queen mostly at ease. She stroked the baby's little puff of hair, murmuring quietly as Loki watched, his brows furrowing. He inhaled to speak, but hesitated. He tried again.

"You are… a good mother, Annalise."

The Queen blinked in surprise, her mouth not quite hanging open, but her lips parted. Her fair cheeks flushed.

"I-Thank you, Loki."

He muttered something unintelligible, likely negating the complement he'd just bestowed upon her, but she chose to ignore it. He watched his wife tenderly care for their baby for several moments, and an expression of something that almost resembled jealousy appeared on his face. Annalise frowned and used her free hand to brush his long hair from his eyes.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I never had that," he murmured as he stared at his suckling baby.

Annalise's brows rose in sympathy and, as if anticipating her reaction, he glared.

"Do not pity me. I was merely making an observation."

The queen pursed her lips and nodded, returning her attention to their child. Sighing, she let the baby take one of her fingers in her little fist as she fed. Astrid really was beautiful. Skin fairer than both her mother or father, with a beautiful cool tinge that made it gleam like crystalized ice. Despite her mother's lack of vertical prowess, Astrid was long. At this rate, it was safe to say she'd likely inherited Loki's height. Gazing back at her husband, she bit her lip before speaking softly.

"You can't always shut me out, Loki. You of all people should know I'll elbow my way in."

Ignoring her, Loki rolled from the bed with a groan and reached his arms to the ceiling as he stretched his equally sore muscles. He rooted through the tornado of clothes on the floor until he found his trousers and slid into them.

"I do what I want, Annalise," he tossed over his shoulder.

With that, he waved a hand, dismantled the force field of the chamber and strode out into the dungeon. She rolled her eyes, hefting Astrid into one arm and patting the baby's back as she slung her feet over the side of the bed and rose. Shannon returned to fetch Astrid, and Annalise graciously thanked her as she kissed her daughter. Once alone, she released a great sigh. She delicately made her way through wreckage to a mirror sporting a wicked crack down the middle, likely from when Loki slammed her against it last night. She could see and feel her face heat at the thought as she glanced at her reflection.

Her hair was a mess and she used a few hastily discarded pins to secure it at the nape of her neck, escaped tendrils insistently framing her face. She brushed them behind her ears, examining her throat and chest in the process. The imprints of Loki's teeth peppered her neck and breasts, with an especially nasty bite at the on the side of her throat. Annalise turned and looked over her shoulder, experimentally pressing her finger against a deep purple splotch near her ribcage. She hissed, immediately regretting the action. She prayed that whatever Asgardian magic influenced her body healed her quickly.

With a sigh, she donned a robe Loki had generously left her and slipped from the room. She walked barefoot between the mostly empty cells, but came to a stop when someone spoke.

"Ma'm?"

She turned slowly, wary of her state of dress and the ordeal she just endured with her husband. Wrapping her arms around herself, she glanced at the Captain.

"Yes?"

"Anything I'm responsible for causing, I-I deeply apologize for. Are you alright? Did he hurt you badly?" She glanced down at her body, littered with blatantly visible bruises and scrapes. She smirked.

Smug wasn't an emotion she felt often. Her life was too chaotic for complacency and any accomplishments she achieved were quickly substituted with new pressing issues. There was simply no time for such nonsense. However, in this instance, Annalise couldn't help it. She didn't care if the Captain had intentionally pitted Loki against her, or if it was a genuine accident. It didn't matter. His caring for her wellbeing was endearing, but she and Loki had worked out their issues in the manner that best suited them. But he didn't need to know that.

She offered a smile, then sauntered up the stairs, leaving the poor man confused.

A proud and slightly conceited Loki smirked from the security room, where he'd witnessed his wife's interaction with Captain America on one of the many camera feeds. Sighing in satisfaction, he strode from the space to go about harassing the remaining Avengers for the day.

—

After changing, Annalise spent the her time resettling her charges. Most had returned after being sent away during the Avengers attack on the Waldorf. Shannon had kept tabs on them all, but the Queen wanted to ensure their wellbeing for herself. She passed the time talking and laughing with them and reassuring them that the palace was, once again, a safe place. Having lost track of time during her socializing, her grumpy husband finally tracked her down after issuing several mild threats when her people were, at first, less than helpful to their testy King in finding her. Loki discovered her sitting neatly on the floor, having a very serious conversation with a four-year-old regarding the technicalities of becoming a prince. The King cleared his throat and beckoned.

"Annalise, come."

Despite his completely unnecessary tyrannical summoning of her, Annalise smiled at him. She turned and spoke softly to the little boy, kissing his cheek before rising and stepping gracefully to Loki's side. She took his arm and waved to the child, who eagerly waved back. Loki led her to their room.

"Basking in the plebeians?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I spent the day with them, yes. Also, I promised that boy a crown and a horse. Can you arrange that?"

Loki sighed and pressed his fingers against his temples.

"Your pets should be grateful for what we give them."

"Loki, he wanted us to adopt him so he could be a proper prince. A crown and a horse seem like a fair negotiation, especially for someone with your resources." She arched a brow. "You can easily get those things for him, can't you?"

He muttered something along the lines of "yes" before stopping abruptly, stepping in front of her to cut her off. He scowled, his eyes demanding answers.

"He wanted us to adopt him?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes, so he could be a prince. He knows I'm the queen, and that the queen's son is a prince."

Loki hissed between his teeth.

"We will have a prince, but it will not be that boy—Unless you want him, then you may have him. However, our third child, sired by myself, will also be male—."

"You swore Astrid was going to be male."

He narrowed his eyes, glaring for a moment until he realized she was teasing. He visibly relaxed.

"I was wrong, I admit. But our next will be a boy. I know this."

Annalise couldn't help but grin at his baseless assuredness.

"And how do you know that, my King?"

"By the way you're carrying."

Her brows raised, eyes widening and her plump lips separating in shock as her hands flew to her abdomen.

"I-What? You-Ugh, Loki!" she groaned, rubbing her face with her hands.

Loki preened and gave her a devious smile.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later, my peach. It's not as if we were taking any precautions."

With a growl, Annalise grabbed Loki's bicep and tried to drag him to their room, making an effort to stomp her feet in the process.

"Astrid isn't even six months yet, I'm still breastfeeding! You-you sound so sure, there's no way you could know for certain," she tried to reason.

Loki shrugged.

"When you've been around women for a few thousand years, you learn a thing or two about pregnancy, Annalise."

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and prayed for the patience to not throttle her husband. She wasn't entirely sure she was physically capable of doing so, but she could certainly try. Loki humored her, easily following her fast, short steps with his own leisurely long strides.

She huffed all the way to their rooms, which Loki opened with a wave of his hand. Evidently he'd grown tired of the novelty of using a keycard. Annalise stormed into the bathroom and, to her consternation, Loki followed her. Angrily she turned on the shower, then watched her reflection in the mirror as she undressed herself. Once nude, she turned to the side, rubbing a hand over her flat belly with a sigh. It wouldn't be that way for long, if Loki was correct, and he usually was. Ignoring him, she turned and stepped under the spray of the rainfall shower, groaning in pleasure as the hot water poured over her battered body.

Though her eyes were closed, she clearly heard the massive shower door open and close and crossly turned her back on Loki without opening her eyes. She gasped when his fingers twined in her hair and he pushed her forward, guiding her with a hand around her middle to keep her from falling. She swatted at him, to which he paid no mind due to the fact that he was busy lifting her foot and placing it securely on the stone bench next to them. Spreading her legs generously, he reached between them sought out her clit. She shuddered when he began rubbing quick circles around it, livid that he found her throbbing and ready for him. The poor queen couldn't help the way her body reacted when they argued.

With his free hand he openly groped her, cupping a breast and thumbing her sensitive nipple, making her grunt while she wriggled in his grasp. She kept intending to push him away, as she was obviously busy bathing, but she lost her train of thought every time he put his hands on her. Mouth poised in his ever-present smirk, Loki took his cock in his hand and prodded her entrance, giving a single pump of his hips and thrusting home, coaxing a drawn-out moan from his wife as he slid into her slick passage. She arched her back as her fingers scrabbled for purchase, her nails uselessly scratching against the slick stone wall. Loki pressed her forward and she gasped as her breasts met the cold surface, making her shiver and clench over him, which earned her a growl from the man inside her.

She hissed at the resulting sting of his utter impatience, though pleasure quickly overrode her senses as he pushed on her lower back, forcing her to bend and arch as he spread his legs wide to lower his tall form so he could fuck her properly. Panting, Annalise glanced over her shoulder.

"I'm still upset with you," she grunted.

She could hear him chuckle.

"When are you not upset with me?"

Her glare went mostly unseen when he thrust especially hard, forcing her cheek against the cool stone as she focused on staying upright.

"I wasn't angry with you between our fighting last night and you casually informing me that I'm pregnant again this evening."

When he laughed she shoved a sharp elbow into his side, interrupting his delight, which made her smile until he reached forward and used each hand to tweak both nipples. Annalise cried out and arched her back to press her chest against his palms with a moan. She could feel the puff of his breath against her shoulder as he teased her, and when his mouth latched onto her neck, she groaned.

Loki continued snapping his hips against her rear, the slap of skin on skin echoing loudly in the shower. With a moan she cupped her hand over one of his, encouraging him to massage her as he pumped his hips. Not one to take direction without at least adding to add his own input, Loki slid his hand from hers and tucked it between her legs once again. Her knees shook as his slick fingers worked her clit and Loki had to slide an arm underneath her middle to keep her standing as he rubbed her to completion. Her hand flew behind her and her fingers wrapped around his arm, desperate to hold on to something as he made her fall to pieces. Her shout was amplified by the acoustics of the bathroom, and Loki was fairly certain the noise was audible all the way in the hallway between rooms, which made him smile proudly.

He growled as Annalise's cunt squeezed his length, gritting his teeth as he fucked her through her orgasm. She sagged against him once she was finished, unable to keep herself vertical. He hefted her back against his chest and positioned her like a doll, his fingers digging into her hips as he held her still and took his pleasure. With a snarl he hammered against her, coming with a groan and using an arm to brace himself against the wall in order to keep them both upright.

Legs shaking, he settled on the stone bench with his queen in his lap as she eventually managed to catch her breath. The water had turned lukewarm and Loki graciously turned the dial to warm it while grabbing a bottle of body wash and soaping her shivering form. Despite her ire, Annalise couldn't help but wrap her arms around his neck, burying her face against his shoulder as he tended to her so gently. As he washed her, he spent extra time with his hands roving around her abdomen, as if soothing and officially welcoming his unborn child to the world.

Eventually they retired to bed. Despite being exhausted and moderately delirious, Annalise propped herself up on an elbow and turned to Loki, her mind on their conversation earlier.

"You know that if anything were to happen to us, Astrid is your heir, right? Regardless of this baby's gender. This is the twenty-first century, Loki. There's no way our younger son would supersede our eldest daughter."

Loki opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it when Annalise narrowed her eyes. He sighed dramatically.

"Yes, I suppose you're right, my dear."

With a satisfied smile, Annalise rest her head on his cool chest, allowing herself to be lulled to sleep by his steady heartbeat.