I took a small break before writing this chapter. As I'm writing this, I just published the start of Rando Week so putting that chapter out motivated me.
Chapter 202: Family Reunion
Earlier - Rogers House, Brooklyn
"Mom!" Angela screams as she runs into her house having sprinted here from the Upper East Side in her pyjamas. She kicks her sneakers off at the door. "Dad!"
"We know!" Her mom responds.
Angela follows their voices up the stairs. Their bedroom door is open and she sees both of her parents sitting in their bed. Peggy's eyes are rimmed with tears same wedding notice in Steve's hands, eyes moving back and forth across the page despite having read it a thousand times since they woke with it. Peggy holds the pictures in her hands, blinking out tears as she notices Angela slowly sitting in their bed.
"Did you know?" Peggy whispers, her voice trembling.
Angela shakes her head, trying not to cry as well but that fails when she smiles. "Nope. I called Emily, Daniel, and Merida and they're in as much shock as us. I just - the letter was on my kitchen counter. Mom, don't be mad."
"Blimey, Angela, I'm not. I'm confused about how to feel."
"Me too. I'm beyond happy they're married. I'm sad I wasn't there. I'm angry and confused that James married them before marrying me. Like, god, who saw Xavier getting married first? But I'm laughing because Xavier looks so dumb in the classic Cap outfit ... no offence, Dad."
Steve doesn't say anything, still focusing on the letter with glassy eyes. Angela does know her father laughs at himself in that outfit when looking at old pictures. The two women look at each other before hugging and happily crying and laughing on each other's shoulders.
"She took our name," Steve mutters proudly, pointing out Sigyn Rogers on the letter.
"That's the first thing you've said since we read the letter," Peggy responds, rubbing his arm. She looks at Angela. "Your father was in a state of shock this whole time while I was handling calls from the other parents and trying to reach Vander. He was reading the letter on campus when I finally got him."
"I didn't give him the shield to do this," Steve says, holding up the photo where Xavier and Sigyn are using it as a plate.
"Well, get up. We'll be expecting Thor and Jane soon since I gander they're reading this letter as we speak."
"I'm getting dressed and running to Jersey," Angela states, heading towards her bedroom.
-o-
Asgard
The palace staff cleared the halls when they heard Apollo screaming for his parents. It brought back memories of days and nights for the past seven years, minus the last year since he was mostly absent and calmer when around. Now, he sounds erratic, almost panicking into madness-driven delusions again. Then they awoke and stopped their work when they saw their prince in an uproar. To their surprise, he was excited and screaming for joy as he waved a letter in his hand.
"Sigyn got married!" Apollo announces, smiling so strong it would expand past his face if it could. "She married my best friend at Camp! All of you have the day off as we celebrate!"
He continues his way down the hall, yelling for his parents. The nearby palace staff now point the way to his parents. Apollo is happy since he was heading to their office wing anyways. When he bursts through the door, he understands why his parents didn't hear his screaming when he was sure all of Asgard heard him. His parents are behind a cleared desk, his father standing and laughing softly to himself from over his mother's shoulder as he looks at a series of photos from the wedding and his mother's face blanched as she holds the letter in her hand. Apollo guesses her reading the letter is why she had to take a seat.
"Jane, they're eating cake on the shield. It's remarkable," Thor says, showing her the photo. He looks up and sees Apollo walk in. "Son, I assume you heard."
"I gave all the palace staff the day off," Apollo informs.
"Marvellous. I was about to do the same and extend it to tomorrow."
"May I go beat up Xavier?"
"Now you're asking?" Thor laughs. "Do it. He's family which makes it your duty."
Apollo glances at his mother who's now put the letter down and is staring blankly ahead. "Mother?"
"We let her stay on Midgard and now she's married!" Jane yells as Thor puts the photos down on top of the letter to show them.
"What a time to celebrate!" Thor encourages.
"Thor!" Jane yells.
"What? At least they didn't elope after high school which you feared. You know you were clinging onto the fact Xavier was still 17 when they graduated for them not to exchange vows."
"Daniel proposed to Emily when he was 17! Xavier and Sigyn would've just needed to wait nine months for him to become legal."
Jane winces as she looks at the wedding photos included with the wedding notice. Even she couldn't not smile at them. Sigyn and Xavier eat the box cake with the shield as a plate while dressed in matching spangles, their first dance in the same spangles, the lakeside vows, and the pre-reception photo shoot in their matching Camp Mom and Camp Dad windbreaker.
"Did we not know she was engaged?" Jane asks. "I swear, am I forgetting something?"
"I honestly doubt they knew they were engaged," Apollo responds.
"Wait, what if she's pregnant?" Jane turns around and grips Thor's arm. "What if this was a shotgun wedding?"
Thor doesn't falter as he puts his hand on top of Jane's. "Then the registry would've had a crib on it which we would've provided."
Jane pauses, face going blank again as she turns back around. Thor puts his hands on Jane's shoulders and kisses the top of her head as Apollo walks over, standing beside his father.
"He's got a point," Apollo says. Now he can't wait to be an uncle but he won't say so or else his mother would flip.
"Exactly," Thor states. "Relax, Jane. Sigyn isn't gone forever."
"Three weeks…" Jane mutters as if it haunted her. "They were married for three weeks and we just found out."
"Because they kept it a secret for three weeks," Apollo reasons.
"Which means our gift is three weeks late," Thor says as he circles the desk to head on out. "Let's get something on Midgard. I have a good idea."
"I'll punch Xavier for you, Mother," Apollo promises.
Jane looks up at him and smiles. "You're a sweet boy. Make it two. Find Angela and make sure she gets her hits first."
Jane stands from her seat about to join Thor but they stop when Loki appears in the chair she just stood from. He hands Apollo a paper plate with a half-eaten slice of box cake and a spork and Apollo doesn't hesitate to start eating the rest. Loki notices the wedding notice and the photos on the desk and smiles before looking at Thor and Jane.
"I was just at Camp and it's such a charming place," Loki says. "Now I understand why Xavier goes there once a year. The food is quite questionable, though."
"Yeah, what is this?" Apollo asks, still eating it. He hands it to his father to try and he finishes it.
"You visited them?" Jane asks Loki.
"My daughter married her love so of course, I did. Camp reminds me of Hel if it was alive." He laughs at their stunned silence, especially when Apollo put down his paper plate. "And didn't Xavier and Sigyn reunite for the first time in Hel? It all feels poetic, which I heard was a term the cadets used to describe Sigyn being in Communications. Anyways, Sigyn was happy until I arrived and Xavier asked me for a blessing. It was a nice chat minus the questionable cake. You're being a good mother, Jane. She should've had you her whole life."
-o-
"There you are!" Apollo yells.
As his parents and Loki were talking about Sigyn and Xavier's wedding, Apollo stepped out. He's glad he didn't have to go far since he spotted Freya running towards him. Her dark hair is tied back but it flies behind her like a cape. If she was wearing a casual dress instead of a satin maroon top embroidered in gold and black pants, it would've been flowing the same way. Either way, Apollo sees her holding the wedding notice and her thrilled smile has never looked more beautiful, especially when she jumps on him to hug him.
"I was looking for you!" Freya says as she stands again, still remaining close to Apollo. Her arm is on his as she holds his bicep.
"My mother was losing her mind over, well, you know by now," Apollo says, brushing some loose baby hair strands from her forehead.
"I heard from the staff and you giving them the day off. So where are you heading?"
"Camp should be back at the Academy soon so I'll be dropping in to greet my new brother. Care to join?"
Freya pauses since Apollo called Xavier his brother. She always considered Sigyn as a sister to her. Xavier was always Apollo's best friend, maybe even a brother way before Sigyn came into his life. Would it make a difference if Freya married Apollo? Would anything change? She doubts anything between Apollo and Xavier would. Nothing really did when Xavier dated Sigyn in high school.
"I'll join you in a bit," Freya tells him.
Apollo nods. "We'll likely be at Xavier's parents' house later for some family party. You know where it is. I don't think Loki would be there but he'll drop you off. If not, just say Sigyn asked him to."
"Apollo, one more thing." She still has her hold on him as he looks at her. "You're very happy."
It took Apollo a second to realize that as Freya cups his cheek, rubbing his beard with her thumb.
"I am," he states, laughing a little. "I really am." He holds her hand to his cheek and kisses the inside of her palm. "I'll see you in a bit."
-o-
Present Day - Rogers House, Brooklyn - 17:53 PM
It felt like the Fourth of July in Captain America's backyard. An immense party of both sides of the newlyweds who came home still in their marching Camp Dad and Camp Mom windbreakers. They couldn't eat food since everyone was busy congratulating them, gifting them, embracing them, and asking for stories about the impromptu Camp Wedding.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Jane yells at Sigyn as if she was a teenager climbing in through bed bedroom window after sneaking out to go out with her now-husband. "And you told me three weeks later!"
Sigyn shrugs. "Delay in the delivery?"
Jane narrows her eyes as Sigyn sips a can of sparkling water. She smiles at her frowning aunt before hugging her tightly. Jane embraces her while giving Xavier a dirty look that he pretends not to notice since Thor was congratulating him on behalf of all of Asgard. (A heartwarming and booming honour.) When he walks over to have this conversation before the end of the night, Jane grabs him to make them join their hug.
"James," Steve says, clapping his shoulder and nearly making him jump. "You've done many dumb things and a few smart ones, but the wedding was by far your best … until yours but let's not get ahead of ourselves."
James isn't sure if any of that was a compliment or a backhanded insult, but he takes it as a positive since it's a happy occasion. Was there a blessing in there? When he and Angela arrived at the party before the newlyweds to help set up, Steve and Peggy kept gushing over the Camp wedding photos. A lot of them were already framed, on the mantle or hanging on the walls with graduation photos or family holidays and birthdays. Steve and Peggy were less passive-aggressive about the wedding than Angela. They were more interested in hearing the first-person testimony on the event. Then Thor, Jane, and Apollo showed up and he had to repeat the whole story which he would happily do all night.
"For the record," Peggy whispers to him having seen James trying to process what Steve just said to him, "you're a smart boy and this was a beyond amazing thing you've done. We can't stress how grateful we are that you did this."
"It was worth everything," James tells her. "So what was that about getting ahead of ourselves?"
Steve glares at him.
"Blessing revoked, I see," James scurries off.
James heads over to Angela where she's hugging Sigyn nearly as tightly as she did in the Academy. He notices that Freya showed up, wearing causal Midgard jeans and a dark blue crop top with her sword in a hilt at her hip. She's also hugging Sigyn like Angela. If Fate didn't have Sigyn's death predetermined by Apollo, who was watching this exchange with Xavier, then she would be dead.
"I'll miss having you around," Freya says once she and Angela free Sigyn from her girl hug.
Sigyn takes a moment to catch her breath and straighten her windbreaker. "I'm not leaving forever. My husband has a job and I'll have to do something when he's out. I'm visiting you and bothering Apollo."
"Also, hypothetical question. If you consider yourself to be an illegitimate princess, then does that make Xavier your illegitimate prince consort?"
Sigyn stares at Freya and blinks. "Seriously? Gods, Freya."
Angela doesn't bat an eye. "Well, answer her."
"You too?" Sigyn questions, shocked.
"I'm curious."
Sigyn hesitates because she'll have to ask Thor. As if Apollo would know. "I guess?"
Freya scoffs. "You enjoy your new mortal life with your mortal and illegitimate prince consort."
"What did she call me?" Xavier asks having heard that and not understanding it.
Immediately, Freya takes out her sword and points it at him, poking his chest but nothing more. Everyone is taken aback as Xavier puts up his hands in surrender and Thor cheers for Freya in the background. A grin climbs the corner of her mouth.
"I know you won't hurt my sister," Freya states, "but if I have to do royal protocol when marrying into the family, then so will you."
"What?" Xavier asks, glancing at Apollo. The parents are also looking at him, even Thor and Jane despite knowing what Freya means.
"What?" Sigyn, Angela, and James ask.
Apollo clears his throat as he lowers Freya's sword from Xavier's chest, laughing nervously. "Nothing, nothing, ignore her she's drunk."
Freya points her sword at Apollo and Thor cheers again. Before she could do anything, Loki appears and all eyes turn to him.
"Well, looks like I came on time," he quips with a wide grin.