~58th Floor, Stark Tower Two~

Day 4 on Earth,10 am.

“Romanoff, I told Loki fifteen,” Tony huffed, rolling his eyes as Natasha, who had shown up (uninvited) on his helipad in a quinjet by herself less than half an hour ago, strolled into his living room followed by Loki’s disturbingly convincing carbon copy ‘Two’ and Sigyn.  

She arched an eyebrow at him. “I’m sorry, I was unaware that I answered to anyone other than Nick Fury.”

Eyes wide, Tony pointed at her. “Did Agent Romanoff, the famed Black Widow, just apologize to me?” Natasha stared at him, unblinking, and he continued without missing a beat. “You said, and I quote, I’m sorry.  Those words came out of your mouth.  There are witnesses.  Let the record show that Black Widow herself said she was-”

“Do you live in some sort of alternate reality where all your snarky quips don’t fall flat, Stark?” Two cut him off, not even looking at him.  He didn’t care about anything other than the shiny black cube shaped shield on Tony’s kitchen island.  Pursing his lips, he approached it with Sigyn hot on his heels.

“Hey hey hey, hands off, Prince Vlad,” Tony sniped, reaching to grab the tesseract shield before the person he thought was Loki could inspect it.  He yanked his hand back, yelping like a kicked puppy, though, when out of nowhere his fingers felt like that time he’d grabbed the barrel of his mother’s scalding hot curling iron when he was five.  The first layer of skin on his palm had peeled clean off over the next few days after that life scarring incident.  Shaking his hand out furiously, he glared at a smirking Sigyn who was wiggling her fingers at him, black smoke curling around the tips.

“Oooh burn,” Natasha deadpanned, slow clapping.

“Excellent pun usage, Agent Romanoff,” Two said, eyes trained on the shield, once again not looking at the person he was addressing.

Natasha flashed an actual smile at the compliment but kept her composure, forcing herself not to laugh as Tony reached into the freezer to grab an ice pack for his hand.

“Yeah, you think it’s funny now.  Don’t doubt for one second that Alice wouldn’t pull that shit on you in a heartbeat if you looked at her wrong.”

“I’ve looked at her man wrong, a far worse violation I’m sure, with no consequence,” Natasha said, leaning her head sideways with a shrug, “so I’m guessing it’s just you who needs to keep the aloe handy, Tony.  Wait….Alice?”

“That’s his hilarious nickname for me,” Sigyn supplied, rolling her eyes.  She took the shield from Two, who had been gawking at it, running his fingers carefully over the smooth metal.  He scoffed at the loss.

“How does one open it?” She asked, turning it over several times, confusion wrinkling her forehead.

Natasha cleared her throat, crossing her arms as she eyed Sigyn. “I thought you said she was a good actress, Stark.” Sigyn looked up at her, eyes questioning, and Natasha turned to Tony. “Not exactly Oscar-worthy.  Unless she’s playing the role of ‘woman who definitely did not make the shield’.  If that’s the case, she nailed it.”

Tony set his jaw. “I haven’t had the chance to discuss that plan with her, Romanoff.  And you don’t get to talk because you’ve been involved in this-” he pointed to Two and Sigyn then back at himself “-all of twenty minutes, okay?”

“What plan?” Sigyn asked, shooting him a glare, then wincing as random nausea crept into her gut.  She handed the shield to Two, fearing that she would drop it since the twisting of her stomach was making her light headed.  

Two inclined his head. “So that’s why you questioned her acting skills.  Sigyn is to claim that she made the shield to protect your precious Wakanda’s secrets.” He tossed the shield back and forth between his hands and twirled it on the tip of his first finger.

“Hey, could you not treat it like it’s some cheap dollar store toy, please!” Tony all but shrieked, gesturing to the invaluable object balancing precariously on Two’s finger. “I mean, it’s not gonna break apart obviously but still, it should be handled with respect.  Christ, it’s not a goddamn basketball.”

Eyes wide, Two bowed his head, uttering “of course, my lord” and set it down on the island with excessive care, as though it were his own newborn baby.  Tony covered his mouth to stifle a snort.   His Highness imitating a humble servant was funny as hell.

“My apologies,” Two said, draping his arm over Sigyn’s shoulders and gesturing to Natasha. “But I must ask, why is Agent Romanoff suddenly in this little secret circle?”

Scowling, Tony slid narrow eyes over to Natasha. “Apparently I’m not the only person at SHIELD who knew about Wakandan tech.  Somehow, and I don’t know how because she won’t tell me, she has a Wakandan informant in the Bay Area.  I swear, she can wriggle information out of anyone,” he said, holding his hands up, hissing when the ice pack dripped cold water down his arm.

Natasha shrugged at the pair of Asgardians looking at her. “I’m a professional.  Tony knows his cover won’t be blown by me.  I get information.  But I rarely give it.  Don’t worry, your highnesses,” she added glibly, “my lips are sealed.”

Two raised an eyebrow. “Oh we aren’t worried, Agent.  We’ll be gone within a day.  Not really our problem, just his.  Also,” he held up a finger, “just to be clear here, Sigyn is not addressed as your highness.”  She seemed to bristle under his arm, and squeezing her shoulder more tightly, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “But you will be.   Soon.”

Sigyn gave him a weak smile, unable to muster the excitement for anything more.  The thought of marrying Loki was so far beyond her current predicament that she had high doubts it would even happen at this point.  Not because she didn’t believe he wanted to marry her, but Norns, there was a godsdamn chasm to cross before that could become reality.  It felt like obstacle after obstacle.  Would the shield actually mask the tesseract?  And what of the tracking spell?  What if it didn’t work on Two?  What if Loki was discovered?  And if Loki was spared, and they returned to Asgard safely, how the Hel would they explain his sudden resurrection?  Gods, she hadn’t even considered how their people would respond to his return.  Would they accept him?  Love him as they supposedly did after his death?  They were famously fickle, and it made her want to punch a wall.  She’d need to scream into a pillow later, for sure.

She pinched the bridge of her nose.  This was too much to think about now.  All that mattered was getting home and not dying again.  That was all she was willing to ask of the universe for now.  Best not to start picturing herself as Loki’s wife, or beyond that, as one day having a child that could call him father.  Loki could then be the father he never had.  And she could be the mother she never had.  Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over.  No, do not go there.  Not yet.

She hid her face in his shoulder, afraid the red of her face would give away her fragile emotions.  Two wrapped his other arm around her, feeling sadness he did not understand rolling off of her in waves.  Forehead creasing, he kissed the top of her head.  He really enjoyed being with her when she was playful and sexy, but this?  This was complicated in a way he hadn’t been prepared to handle.  He was ready for Loki to take back over.  This felt very much like his creator’s territory, and he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with trespassing, despite Loki expressly giving him permission.

Tony looked away from them, hiding his discomfort at their display behind a cough.  It wasn’t really that much in the way of PDA, but it seemed super intimate somehow.  Probably because it was just those two, Natasha, and him in the room since Pepper had gone downstairs to see Jane earlier.  That left him with only two options: attempt small talk with Agent ‘I Invented RBF’ Romanoff or be a total coward and fake text.  Thankfully, Natasha pulled out her phone (ha! Coward!) and squinted at the screen, saving him the trouble of doing either.  Not that he had anything against her personally, but he’d been pissed when Natasha had shown up ‘because orders’ or whatever.  Why would Fury send her when Cap was already involved?  Had it not occurred to Fury that the fewer people who knew about Loki and Sigyn and the shield she’d created (wink wink), the better?  Was it because Rogers was a monumental failure when it came to lying?  Probably.

Rolling his eyes, he pocketed the hand that wasn’t burnt and went to the freezer to toss the thoroughly melted ice pack back inside.  He needed to ease up on Natasha, not that she gave a damn, but because his negative attitude was not helping his stress level.  His cortisol had to be through the roof.  He really couldn’t ask for a better ally than Natasha, honestly.  Accept for maybe Bruce. Hanging his head, he groaned into his hands.

Don’t think about, Bruce, you sad sad idiot.  Shaking the (totally not gay) longing to see his MIA friend out of his head, Tony clapped his hands once and rubbed them together.  GAH!—he’d forgotten his injury, courtesy of the evil fire princess of Asgard.  Yelping at the pain radiating through his hand, he held his wrist loosely, jumping in place, no doubt looking like a toddler doing the pee dance.  This day was going swell.

“So,” he squeaked, sounding like the boys downstairs had taken a direct hit, “let’s test the shield out on the tesseract.”

“You guys do that,” Natasha said, pocketing her phone. “Rogers wants me to meet him for a slice in West Hollywood.”

Two’s eyebrows rose to his hairlineー What the Hel does ‘meet for a slice’ mean?  

Sounded violent and bloody.  Did it involve daggers?  If so, forget the tesseract, he wanted in.  Sigyn didn’t respond to his silent question with one of her classic quips, and he frowned down at her.  Her face was still buried in his shoulder, and if he hadn’t known better, he might’ve thought she was asleep.  But she wasn’t asleep.  He could tell by her breathing.  Something was wrong.

“Gimme a second,” Tony laughed, doubling over, his voice entirely too cheerful for Two’s liking as he combed his fingers in what he hoped was a soothing manner through Sigyn’s hair.

After a minute of wheezing laughter, Tony rose back to his full height. “I just need a second to process the image of you and Rogers eating pizza at some hipster joint surrounded by desperate twinks and wannabe actors all casual like you couldn’t kill them with a paper napkin if you so chose to,” he said, shaking his head.  Natasha smiled, a barely visible upward curve of her lips.

Two raised an eyebrow, his mouth forming an ‘o’ ー Ah, so it’s meet for a slice of pizza.

Well, that was an incredible understatement.  He’d watched Captain Rogers devour two boxes of the heavenly pies.  If the soldier wanted to be more accurate in his request, he should’ve asked Agent Romanoff to meet him for fifteen slices.  Still hiding in the crook of his shoulder, Sigyn snorted softly at Two’s thoughts, which were a clear extension of Loki’s.  The amusement faded quickly, though, as the nausea doubled its efforts making her head spin horribly.  Sounding like there was cotton in her ears, Tony’s muffled voice vaguely floated through the air.

“I should be more fixated on the fact that Cap asked you out, not where you’re going.  I thought he’d never get over Peggy Carter.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “It’s strictly platonic, but have fun fixating on anything you want, Stark,” was her smooth detached response.

Sigyn barely heard it.  Ears ringing, her forehead beaded with sweat.  What was wrong with her?

“Sig?” Two also sounded distant, despite speaking right into her ear.  Oh gods, she was going to pass out like some pathetic damsel whose laces had been drawn too tight.  Her hands gripped his shirt harderーNo, I can’t be weak or powerless….

Eyes rolling back, her thoughts faded, her knees giving out.  Two barely caught her with a cry of ‘Sig?!’, twisting his body to get a better grip on her.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, wincing as her nausea became too strong for him to not feel it without great effort.  He pushed the bond to the back of his mind, like Loki had taught him to do, sighing with relief as his stomach returned to normal. “We need to go,” he said, more to Tony than Sigyn, who was sinking out of his arms.  Hefting her back up with a grunt, he adjusted his hold on her.

“What’s wrong with her?” Tony asked, hurrying toward the pair.

“I honestly don’t know,” Two said, sliding his arm under her knees to pick her up completely.  Gods, how often had she lacked the strength to stand on her own over the past few days?

“Has this happened before?” Tony ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Jarvis, get my doctor on the line,” he paused, “wait….or is this an evac to an ER situation?”

“What?” Two shouted, looking sharply at Tony, angry that he couldn’t translate fast enough. “What even are the words coming out of your mouth, Stark?” He shook his head furiously, hurrying to the elevator. “Don’t answer that.  Just….just go ahead and test the shield without us, Stark.”

His voice was a muffled growl against Sigyn’s temple, worsening the spinning in her head. “Twoooooo,” she whined, drawing out his name, clinging to his collar as his quick steps underneath her jostled her already aching stomach. “Two, oh gods.”

“Shhhh,” he shushed her, hoping Tony and Natasha were too confused by Sigyn’s rapid descent into delirium to notice his name. “I’ll call you later, Stark,” he said over his shoulder as he carried Loki’s nearly unconscious lover into the elevator.

“Uh…what?  How?  Kinda need you for that test!” was all he heard from Tony as the doors shut, and they all but plummeted to their floor.

---

~Moments later, 44th Floor~

Holding her hair back from her face, Two looked away as Sigyn retched dryly into the commode in their pristine bathroom.  Keeping his eyes averted, he reached up to flush it away as she sobbed quietly.  At this point he himself was sick to his stomach, not because he couldn’t handle seeing a little bile, but because Loki’s fear and angst over what the Hel could possibly be wrong with her was impossible to ignore.   Loki’s stress was Two’s, after all, and he was now taking a more direct role over Two’s consciousness than he’d previously intended.  Sighing heavily, he pulled off a line of tissue paper for her to blow her nose and wipe her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she cried, leaning back against his chest.

Rubbing soothing circles on her lower back, he kissed her temple gently. “Don’t apologize, love.  All I care about is you feeling well,” he sighed and held the back of his free hand against her forehead, trying to steady his anxious breathing, “and I have no idea how to help you.  It’s driving me a bit mad.”

“I know,” she croaked, pulling the lid of the toilet down so she could sit on top of it.  She was so exhausted.  Fatigue had settled deep into her bones, and she was also painfully thirsty.  Her throat was absolutely raw.  At least productive vomiting left one with some sense of satisfaction once it was done.  Dry heaving on the other hand….

Kill. Me. Now.

“How about we get you up and into the shower for a real quick wash and then into bed,” Two said, brow furrowed in clear frustration as he reached under her arms to pull her to her feet and basically dragged her to the shower.

Honestly, just the idea of having to stand in there was enough to bring tears to her eyes.  Her legs felt like jelly.  She’d most likely end up sitting on the floor, hugging her legs to her chest, sobbing into her knees as water clogged her nose.  Why bother?

“I’d rather skip the shower and just lie down….” she trailed off as he carefully pulled her shirt over her head.

“I’m sure you would,” he said, holding her steady while reaching around her to tap the digital panel on the wall.  The water sprayed out, instantly hot, quickly filling the room with steam. “Shit,” he said under his breath, swiping away the immediate sweat beading above his upper lip with his thumb. “Jarvis please adjust the temperature in here.  It’s too hot.”

“Yes, sir,” the A.I. responded politely.  The room cooled down rapidly as the a/c whooshed out of the vent over Two’s head, ruffling his hair.  He sighed happily, momentarily distracted from his anxiety. Relief was sweet.

“Here we go,” he said, pulling the rest of her clothes off and helping her into the shower despite her clear opposition to it. “It won’t take long,” he whispered, yanking his shirt over his head and toeing off his shoes and socks.  Fearing she might fall over, he kept a hand on her as he pushed his pants and boxer briefs down his legs.  He stepped in behind her and kept his word, making quick work of cleaning her up.  Not that she looked particularly dirty or smelled bad, but he wasn’t about to let the slightest lack of hygiene hinder her healing.  

“Alright, Sig, sweetheart,” he whispered, his voice ragged with emotion.  Norns, they were stuck on Midgard with only archaic ‘doctors’ who knew nothing of Vanir biology.  Squatting low, he finished toweling her legs off as she held onto his shoulders for support. “You’re going to be fine.  We’ll see Eir first thing once we’re home tomorrow.” He stood to his full height and wrapped the towel around her under her arms.

Eyes closed, she dropped her forehead to his bare chest. “Home sounds good.”

“Doesn’t it?” he said with an entirely forced smile while helping her out of the shower and leading her into the bedroom.  He twisted her damp hair up into a messy bun, securing it at the base of her neck as they went.

She fell onto the bed, face first, body rigid, looking like one of those zombies (ridiculous word) in that footage he’d seen on that show called The Walking Dead on the screen in the living room early that morning during a fit of boredom when she’d been asleep.  Norns, that had been gruesome.  Seeing her fall like that would have been hilarious in any other circumstance, since it was perhaps the most clumsy move he’d ever seen from unnaturally graceful Sigyn, and he was a sucker for physical comedy, but this was not any other circumstance.  Instead it was just a reminder that something was so terribly wrong with her.  Not bothering with a shirt or underwear, he yanked his jeans up his legs, using such force that the zipper caught his skin.  Dear gods!—Hissing through his teeth, he gingerly adjusted it, spewing pained curses as he did.  He then grabbed one of his soft undershirts for her, thinking a bigger looser shirt might be more comfortable than her tight little sleep camisoles.  He helped to sit her up enough to get it over her head.

“Mmm, smells like you…. so good,” she mumbled, nearly incomprehensible.

“Glad you approve,” he smiled, sliding a pair of cotton underwear with ‘Calvin Klein’ repeated an annoying nine thousand times on its waistband up her legs.  It was perhaps the first time he’d ever been in contact with her bare skin and had zero sexual impulses.  He wasn’t sure he’d ever been so stressed and scared that his libido had completely stalled out on him.  That is, Loki hadn’t.  Same difference.

“What else can I do?” he asked, pulling the cover up over her legs and brushing her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Are you hungry?  Probably not after that…. situation.” He gestured flippantly to the bathroom.

“No, I’m definitely not hungry,” she said around a yawn, and it was all he could do to not lean down and crush her in his arms.  The desperate desire to take care of her was making him a bit crazy.  He knew he was hovering.  She probably just wanted him to leave.

“I am absolutely parched, though.  Grab me some water?” Her voice brought him out of his insecurity, and he was so relieved to hear she wanted his help after all, that he had to swallow back a choked sob.  By Hel, this woman was making him an emotional wreck.

“Of course,” he whispered and kissed her forehead. “Be right back.”

Hurrying down the hall and into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, he blew out a hot breath.  He felt positively useless.  For the love, he’d once brought her back from Helheim and yet here he was, unable to make her stop throwing up and fainting on him!  He yanked the refrigerator door open, glaring at his surroundings with such outrage he probably looked downright villainous.  Despising Midgard with every ounce of his copied being in that moment, he kicked one of Stark’s no doubt exorbitant leather barstools, and the damn thing broke into pieces that flew across the room.  The splintered wood landed just short of the huge elaborate mirror above the fireplace behind the dining table, sparing him from a painfully loud shattering of glass.  Rolling his eyes, he slammed the refrigerator door, and with precisely zero fucks given about the mess he’d made, he walked back to the bedroom, water in hand.  

Running a hand through his hair, he winced as he caught a tangle.  How was it that even his hair, typically a point of pride, was adding to his misery?  Once he was back in the room, reminding himself that his ire was certainly not helping her, he unscrewed the bottlecap and handed it to her.  Nodding her thanks, she gulped down the whole thing in one go, and as she did, he went into the bathroom to retrieve his black elastic, the one he’d been using when he’d first arrived in Stark’s basement, and tied his hair back.  Several strands around his hairline fell back into his face, and rolling his eyes, wishing it was longer so it would all stay in the tie, he tucked the flyaways behind his ears—Calm. Down.

“Sig,” he started, fear lacing his tone, “have you any clue as to what this is?” He gestured to her body uselessly.

“The epitome of female perfection?” she joked with a wink, her voice hoarse though somewhat refreshed by the water.  He merely stared back at her, unamused, and she sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine.  I’m tired and achy and nauseated, and my head hurts, and sometimes I’m dizzy, and I have almost no appetite.  I feel just…. off.”

Two looked at the ceiling, silently running back over her symptoms.  Tired.  Exceedingly so.  Dizzy.  Achy.  Nauseated.  What would do that to an immortal Vanir sorceress?  He wracked his brain, or um…. Loki’s brain (details) for an answer, silently berating his younger self for taking utterly useless Aesir Metalworking as an elective at the academy instead of Advanced Vanir Biology that one time it was offered.  What use was it to him to learn how to make blades when he could just conjure them out of thin air?  Oh right—Thor had signed up for it, and Loki just had to best him in yet another class because perfect marks for a decade still weren’t enough to get the ‘not good enough’ chip off his shoulder.  Rolling his eyes, feeling Loki’s annoyance at the memory, he looked back down at Sigyn.  

“Are you dizzy right now?” he asked, running a thumb over the back of her hand.

She shook her head. “Now that I’m sitting down, no.”

He chewed his lip, the lines in his forehead deepening. “But still fatigued?”

“Unfortunately,” she sighed, letting her eyelids close.

“I don’t understand,” he groaned, pulling a hand down his face.  It was as though she was made of glass now.  What even….?  His eyes went wide then, his jaw dropping.  It wouldn’t surprise him if an actual lightbulb had clicked on over his head.  How had he not even considered the most obvious answer?

Oh gods.

“Sig, are you….” he trailed off when he realized her eyes were closed.  Pregnant?

“Say what?” Her voice startled him, and he had to grab the bedside table to keep from falling off the edge.  

Running a hand down his face, he caught his breath. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You thought something,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Loudly.”

“Could you be-” he stopped short, mouth hanging open, probably looking like an absolute moron.

Licking his lips, he eyed her carefully as he attempted to slow his breathing.  Puffy red eyes looked back at him.  She was tired right now.  This probably wasn’t the best time to discuss this.  Was it even technically possible that she was pregnant?  Loki was Jotun.  She was Vanir.  He really didn’t have a clue what a child made from their union would even look like.  Would a half-Jotun baby hurt her during gestation?  Could she carry one safely to term?  Would it be blue?  The more he thought on it, the more he could imagine it.  A baby—Their baby.  Warmth spread out from his chest, a glowy drunk feeling that originated entirely from Loki putting a dopey smile on his face.  It was far too soon to be considering children, but he had no complaints at all since this was Sigyn.

“Two- I mean, Loki?”

“Mmhmm?” He felt like he was floating on air.  Sig wasn’t sick.  She wasn’t dying.  She was simply pregnant.  With his baby.  

“Loki,” Sigyn lowered her voice, “You can hear everything I say through his ears, right?”

“Yes,” Two said, echoing Loki’s thoughts, trying to contain his brewing excitement.

“Good, well,” she said, her voice not strong, but not as weak as her appearance would suggest, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Loki, but what I do know, is that there is no way I could be pregnant.”

Loki, the actual Loki, who was currently sitting just outside the door of the dark stairwell on their floor, hidden inside an invisibility sphere, felt like he was crashing after an amazing ender high.  The gutted feeling echoed on Two’s features.  It was as though she had just told him she was dying.

“H-how can you be certain?” Two stammered, eyebrows raised. “We…. we’ve been together so many times that I’ve lost count,” he exhaled slowly, rubbing his temples, “and…. we never used contraception.”

“Loki,” she groaned, looking at him with a mixture of annoyance and sadness.  Was he actually disappointed that he hadn’t knocked her up accidentally?  Looking at the ceiling, she scoffed.  

Brilliant.  Wonderful.  Just…. fantastic.  Good thing she was responsible with her reproductive organs, since he clearly was not.  Lowering her head to look at him, she took a deep breath.  She had a feeling this conversation was going to be a rough one.

“Vanir women only ovulate for two weeks once every two years.  Which means I have,” she chewed her lip, concentrating as she counted on her fingers, “ah…. seventeen months to go.”

Clearing his throat, he averted his eyes. “I did not know that.”

Eyes narrowing, she set her jaw. “So ever since we’ve been together, you just…. didn’t care about preventing an unwanted pregnancy?”

His eyes went wide and black in half a second. “Un-wanted?”

“I meant unplanned, ” she said, voice raising as tears filled her eyes.  Gods, she had absolutely not meant unwanted.  Of course she would want his baby.  How could he question that?  She’d said yes to marrying him, for Hel’s sake!

He snorted, entirely humorless. “Right.”

She gaped at him, horrified that he didn’t believe her. “Loki-”

“I assumed you were handling it, Sig!” he shouted, cutting her off as he pushed off the bed, angrily thrusting his first finger in her face. “You never asked me to cast a contraceptive spell on you, and you never told me to wrap it up, so I figured you didn’t care!”

Her face grew hot, the faint smell of smoke filling the room.  He thought she didn’t care?  When it was her body that would be subjected to the unparalleled burden of childbearing?  

“Men,” she mumbled to herself, lip quivering as she wiped away the tears that had fallen down her cheek.

Bending forward, Two put his hands on the edge of the bed, glaring at her from under his brow. “I’m sorry, did you just say ‘men’?”

“Yes!” she shouted, shoving the covers off, the fire under her skin burning too hot.  Now she was wide awake. “All of you are the same, acting like everything is a woman’s responsibility.  Lucky you, I am responsible!  I can’t believe you just assumed I was handling it,” she hissed, putting air quotes around the words he’d used.  “How is that your excuse?  You are a grown man, Loki!  Gods, how many other women have you fucked throughout your nine hundred years with that attitude?  You might already have children that you don’t even know of!  No need to be upset over me not being pregnant since it wouldn’t even be your first!”

Seeing the flare of his nostrils, the unbelievably hurt look on his face, she wished she could take it back.  Some of what she’d said was true, but the rest was completely uncalled for.  He wasn’t like any other man she’d ever known, so how could she possibly compare him with the rest of them?  And she’d also suggested that he had treated her exactly as every other woman from his past, when she knew that wasn’t true.  Not that any of it excused his irresponsibility, but ugh, if she were to be completely honest with herself, she was so godsdamn in love with him that even if she could have gotten pregnant, she might have been the idiot that said ‘fuck it’, or she might’ve honestly forgotten there even were consequences on any number of occasions while disrobing him in the heat of the moment.  After all, her brain was rarely fully functional when Loki was naked.  So maybe she really didn’t have the right to—

“You’re damn right you don’t have the right!” he yelled, storming out of the room, slamming the door so forcefully behind him that it fell off its hinges.

She shrieked at the sound, both hands flying to her mouth.  In all of five seconds, she heard the elevator ding.  Oh no—This was not happening.  He was leaving her?  Tired or not, weak or not, she was not about to let this completely overblown conversation end that way.  Pushing herself up with shaky arms, she willed her legs to carry her weight properly and crossed the room, swinging the crooked door back open and hurried after him, gripping the wall for support.  

“Loki, don’t go!” she cried, eyes trained on his back, wishing she had the strength to run and jump on that back and keep him right where he was.  Right where he belonged.

With me.

She hated seeing him like this.  She hated what it did to her.  She hated the utter dejection, the crippling anxiety, the fear of abandonment.  She hated that he could be so easily angered and that his response was to yell and leave and that she was the one left feeling that she needed to apologize, even if she had a valid reason for saying what she’d said.  She hated that he couldn’t just say ‘you’re right, that was stupid of me, forgive me’ and give her a damn apology hug!  Thankfully, he didn’t leave, allowing the elevator doors to close instead, and when he turned to face her, the anger on his face had been replaced by fear.  Not that she wanted him to be afraid, but his anger was more than she could handle right then.

“Don’t go,” she whispered again weakly, tears falling down her cheeks as she leaned onto a nearby chair. “Please don’t leave me.”  He couldn’t go.  She needed him.

Seeing her shaking, Two quickly crossed the room and snaked his arms under hers, pulling her into him.  He wasn’t okay with what she’d said to him.  He was angry.  Her words had stung, to say the least.  He didn’t feel that he’d deserved a scolding like a child, for Hel’s sake.  But he wasn’t such a monster as to see her struggling to stand and not help her.

“Please don’t leave me again,” she cried onto his still bare shoulder, “I just got you back.  You just came back.  I don’t want to be alone again.  I don’t want to do it again.  Please.  I must have held my dagger to my throat a hundred times in the past three months.  Every breath was one more breath of a life I no longer wanted.  I don’t want to go back there.  Please please please….” her words turned incoherent, and the deep ache in Loki’s heart had tears running down Two’s cheeks.  

Breath hitching in his chest, he pulled back enough to look in her eyes, which were red from exhaustion and crying.  His probably mirrored hers.  He brought one hand to her face, shaking his head almost violently.

“Swear to me that you will never take your own life, Sig.”  When she said nothing, he grit his teeth. “Swear it,” he choked on the words, voice hoarse with desperation.  Still nothing.  Letting his eyelids fall shut, his lower lip trembled. “I am not worth your life.”

“You have no idea what you are worth, Loki,” she whispered as he dropped his forehead to hers.  A moment later, she added, “I’ll swear it, but only if you swear the same to me.”

Blowing out a shaky breath, he opened his eyes and nodded. “I swear.”

She seemed to melt into him then, exhaustion, both physical and emotional, making her knees buckle.  She mumbled a weak “so tired”, and his hands slid down her sides, over her hips and under her thighs, picking her up.  Weakly wrapping her legs around his hips, she hung limply against him as he took her back to their bed.

“I wasn’t leaving leaving,” he whispered, putting a hand behind her head as he laid her down gently. “I could never leave you, Sig.  I was just going downstairs.  Shirtless, apparently.” In his anger, he had forgotten he was half naked. “I just needed a moment alone to…. brood, or something.  I was going to come back.  I will always come back to you.”

“But you fell,” she wiped her thumbs under her eyes.

Sighing heavily, he sniffed. “And I came back.”

She swallowed thickly. “You did.”

Placing a lingering kiss on her forehead, he then stood to his feet and made to leave, but her voice stopped him. “Stay with me?” she begged, eyes big and sad and hopeful.

Pushing the flyaway hairs that had fallen forward again behind his ears, he nodded and climbed in next to her.  She turned her back to him, pushing her body up against his chest, and he draped his arm loosely over her waist.  Within only a few seconds she was asleep next to him.  Still hurt by her earlier words, he blinked back the few tears that remained in his eyes.  Thankfully, he followed her into sleep soon after.

---

Head in his hands, Loki slid down the wall in the stairwell still shielded from sight by the sphere he’d been using since he’d left Sigyn with Two the day before.  Tears burned his eyes as he allowed Two to fade into unconsciousness.  He wanted to go in there, shake Sigyn awake, and talk about this whole ‘shit all over Loki for not being responsible’ mess she’d just made.  Yes, he was sorry for not asking.  Yes, in hindsight, he should have educated himself on her cycle at the very least.  

But how is this all on me?  

He set his jaw.  No—He wasn’t going to sit here and let it just blow over.  They had a bad habit of avoiding anything that might create conflict.  Though, they hardly needed to create it.  It was there already.  Maybe the fear was that if they argued it meant they weren’t in love anymore?  Shaking his head angrily, he pulled both hands down his face.  What a preposterous thing to think.  Arguing did not render love null and void.  He only argued with her because he cared enough to stick it out with her in the first place!  If he didn’t care, he would’ve been gone after he’d first slept with her!  And she had the gall to suggest he didn’t care for her?

With a growl, brow furrowed in concentration, he pushed a surge of his magic out from his chest and into his limbs, transforming his body from man into a small thin garden snake capable of slithering under the door.  Once his reptilian body was safely inside the condo, he expanded the invisibility sphere out once more, so he could safely switch back to his true form.  Standing to his feet, he walked with silent steps down the hall and into the bedroom.  

He gave himself a moment to just look at her lying there, unmoving under the weight of Two’s arm.  His double was completely passed out, no doubt spent from Loki’s volatile emotions.  He wanted to talk to her.  He needed to.  He would use the bond to push some of his energy and strength into her body.  This needed to happen.  Now.   He wasn’t going to let her put a pin in this conversation, only to never revisit it until it came barreling back full force in the next fight that would absolutely occur.  His story with Sigyn was not all sunshine and rainbows and singing birds.  No, their story would be littered with storms along the way, and they needed to learn how to weather them, how to ride them out without lashing out at each other.  Right?  Right.  With a flick of his wrist, Two’s arm slid off of her and the cover lifted away and down her body, exposing her to the cold air.  Eyes fixed on her as she shivered awake, he backed into the open bathroom, still invisible.

Sig ーhe backed up further, now in the darkened closet, focusing on talking to her through their bond.

She sat up, looking toward the open door of the bathroom, squinting from the daylight shining into the room. “Loki?”

Her eyes slid to Two who was sound asleep, somehow still attractive even with his mouth hanging open.  Looking back up at the open bathroom door, she narrowed her eyes and pushed off the bed.  She could feel Loki again, really feel him, which meant he was on their floor.  As though a magnet was pulling her, she approached the open closet with careful steps.  Why was he in there?  What happened to not taking any chances that someone might see two of him walking around?  As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the closet, the door slammed shut behind her.

“What the-?!” she shrieked, hands flying to her chest as the light came on over head revealing what looked like a hazy clouded vision of Loki in one of his black undershirts and dark jeans, disheveled hair hanging in his tear-stained face.  She didn’t understand why he looked blurry, but he seemed real enough.  She’d never needed to just hug him more, but he held his hand up to stop her when she took a step toward him.  He then put a finger over his mouth.

Hold onーhe closed his eyes, red from crying, and green light slithered around his fingers.  She felt a whoosh of air so powerful that it blew her hair away from her face, and the vision of Loki became clear as day, though now the space surrounding them looked blurry to her.  

“I pushed the invisibility sphere out to include you.  That’s why everything looks odd.  Except for me, of course,” he explained, gesturing vaguely to himself. “I also made a double of you.  She’s lying on the bed.  That way the cameras won’t show that you just disappeared from thin air, and you and I can talk.  I’m sick of listening and talking through my fucking copy.”

His voice, deep and gravelly, made her nervous. “The thing about the women before you?  The suggestion that I’ve sired thousands of babies like some unschooled cretin who has no clue how his own dick works?”

Swallowing audibly, her heart rate shot through the roof.  She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard him use slang like that for his…. parts.  Something about it was unsettling.  And the glare he was giving her…. gods, he knew how to be terrifying.  She felt like she was literally shrinking as he took slow steps toward her, stopping before he was within arms reach.  She didn’t know what to say.  Had that been a question?  Was she supposed to answer?

Clenching his jaw, his black gaze narrowed. “Do you not understand how blatantly cruel that was?  Do you really think that little of me?”  

Well, that she could answer, though her voice was weak. “No, of course n-”

“I was raised in Asgard for fuck’s sake, Sigyn,” he growled over her, “so I have all the knowledge in the nine about Æsir women.”  

Heat flooded her cheeks, her voice growing in strength. “I get that, but-”

“And each one of them was forthcoming with their contraceptive methods,” he swept his hands out in front of him so violently that she flinched, “and it was clear cut, precise, simple, so thoroughly uncomplicated it bordered on fucking clinical!”

“Could you stop swearing at me?!” she shouted, fingers rubbing her temples, hoping to Frigga that this invisibility sphere was sound proof.

Watery eyes blowing wide, Loki smiled then, the expression looking positively mad, and he snorted humorlessly. “Do you not get it?  How much I adored you?  How being so fucking in love with you turned my entire world on its head?” Oh, the tears were flowing now as he spoke through his teeth, and he was helpless to stop them. “How the fear of ‘knocking you up’ as you put it so delicately had never occurred to me because…. because I adored you and would adore any child who came from you?  From us?”

She could only stare at him, open mouthed, heart in her throat, watching as his shoulders slumped.  Watching this man, a man powerful enough to come back from the dead break down in tears over their hypothetical baby, over how much he loved her, had her stomach in knots.  Could she please hug him yet?  She wanted to desperately as he crumpled to the ground, landing on his knees, his head hanging forward, looking utterly defeated, as though his outburst had exhausted him.

He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes with the other. “Perhaps stupidly, I assumed you felt the same,” he whispered. “No.  There’s no perhaps about it.  That had been positively idiotic on my part, to assume that.”

She joined him on the floor, kneeling in front of him, sensing his need for physical contact (finally) and gripped his thighs, thumbs rubbing circles.  Head still hanging, he laid his hands over hers.

“When we first made love,” he looked up at her through wet lashes, “I know I was unwilling to say I loved you, despite feeling it in every single cell of my body.  I was afraid that admitting it would hurt me, but that didn’t change the reality of my feelings.  It was a push and pull on my very soul,” he stopped, thinking his words made no sense.  Where was he going with this? “I was falling and flying all at once.  The consequences of loving you, both emotionally and physically, be damned.  I just,” he swallowed thickly, chest heaving with anxiety, “I just knew I needed you.  For the rest of my life.  Nothing else mattered.  Not then.  Not now….” he trailed off, raising his head to look at her fully, to search her face for answers to questions he knew not how to ask.

So much for my silver tongue—Shaking his head, he rubbed his eyes (they didn’t hurt like they had two nights ago, thank the Norns) with the palms of his hands.  It was doing him no good to ruminate over this.  She’d made assumptions.  He’d made assumptions.  They’d both been idiots in that sense.  And what she’d said to him, through the eyes and ears of Two, had been the biting words of a woman who perhaps would have been more careful with her words if she weren’t literally sick and tired.  And that was the biggest problem here.  She was sick.  Not pregnant.  Sick.  And right now, here in this stupid, too cold closet, that was the crux of it all.  Sigyn was sick.  And he was scared.  

Face screwing up, Sigyn threw her arms around his neck, pulling herself flush against him.  Thank the Norns he didn’t flinch or try to pull away but hugged her back with equal fervor.  Could that little speech have been more heartfelt and beautiful and everything she never knew she needed to hear?  No.  No, it could not.  It had been perfect.

“It isn’t that I don’t want to have a child with you,” she whispered sadly against his ear, “because I do.” She pulled back just enough to look in his eyes which had faded from black to blue green. “I do.  I want to have your child.  Yours.  Only yours.” Pulling at the hair at the nape of his neck, lip quivering, she leaned forward to kiss his mouth.  Angling his head, he opened to her, the kiss growing heated as his hand went to her hair.  The way he was kissing her, holding her, she guessed he’d needed those words as much as she’d needed his.

“Just not yet,” she whispered against his mouth, and he pulled back, though he kept his hands on her. “Please don’t take any of what I said earlier to mean that I don’t want that.  Don’t twist my words.  I want your child to be mine.  Just not yet.  I need more time with just you.”

He nodded quickly, mumbling “me too”, feeling like a literal ton of weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he went back in for another kiss.  Eventually they broke apart for air, and rubbing the back of his neck, he looked up at the ceiling and back down to her.  She looked as though a weight had been lifted, too, but that didn’t hide her tired eyes.  Eyes that needed sleep.  Glassy grey green eyes that needed healing.  He had been anxious to return home before, but now he was desperate to the point of madness.  Shaking his head, he pulled her back into another tight hug.

“We should have talked about this sooner,” she whispered into his neck, breathing in the clean smell of his hair.

He pulled back to look at her, one eyebrow arching. “About babies?”

“Well, n-no,” she stammered, “about timing, about the future.  Our future.”

Loki held her more tightly against his chest. “If you’ll recall, I proposed to you, if that counts for anything, but most everything else has been too up in the air to really make plans beyond ‘don’t die today’, Sig.”

“I know,” she said, barely able to get the words out before he caught her lips with his again, this time in a chaste, but lingering kiss, and she shivered against him.  

He smiled against her mouth. “Are you cold?”

“No, just in love,” she responded, perhaps with actual hearts in her eyes, wincing as soon as she’d said it.

“Ugh,” he wrinkled his nose and laughed, “so much cringe.  Stop mooning over me.”

She dropped her head to chuckle against his chest. “I’m sorry.  It slipped.  Though after that speech you just gave me, you’re one to talk.”

“Indeed,” he slid his hands down her arms. “Just so you know,” he said, rubbing the insides of her wrists with his thumbs, “I was mostly happy at the possibility of you being pregnant because it was a simple answer to your symptoms, and I could set aside this deep fear of you being deathly ill.”

Letting out a sigh, she hung her head. “I can’t be dying, Loki.  I’m just as immortal as you, remember?  Maybe my constitution is not doing well on Earth.  I don’t know,” she shrugged, then added at his look of disbelief, “but we’ll figure it out.”

Standing up, Loki pulled her with him and set his jaw.  Maybe she wasn’t doing well on Earth?  He snorted.  Yes, well, that went for the both of them.  Four days they’d been here.  That meant only four or five hours back home.  Maybe the atmosphere or maybe even the space and time difference between their worlds was making her sick, just not enough to kill her.  All this talk of babies or not, it wasn’t what he was truly upset about.  Getting back to Asgard.  That was the catalyst for all these negative emotions swirling in his core.

One more night. I can do one more night.

Not that he wanted to do that one more night like this, with Two meeting The Other at eleven.  Loki winced at the thought.  He didn’t know if the eye pain would be diffused through his copy, but he wasn’t counting on it being much.  Squeezing Sigyn’s hands, he shook off the memory of the pain and focused on the tesseract plan.  Two had told Stark to go ahead and test it without them when he had to leave unexpectedly.  Well, Stark could do no such thing without his or Sigyn’s help.  He eyed her questioningly.

Groaning, she hung her head. “Yes, I am well enough to do the test now.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re certain?”

“Yes,” she said, running her hands up his arms. “If you could send more of that healthy energy of yours into my body, that would help.”

Loki smirked. “I’ll put all my energy into your body, if you want.”

Blushing furiously at the insinuation, thinking it was absurd that he could still get that reaction from her, she slapped his shoulder playfully. “Grand as that sounds,” she rolled her eyes as he laughed, “just some wakefulness and muscle strength will do for now.”

He kissed her nose, relieved that they’d talked, hard as it was.  It gave him confidence that they wouldn’t break under future pressure.  With a flick of his wrist, Sigyn’s copy disappeared from the bedroom just as he pulled the sphere back to surround only him once more, leaving Sigyn alone in the closet.  Swiping the hair that had come loose from her bun out of her face, frustrated that she missed him already, she went back into the bedroom to wake Two.  She shook him, and he turned over bleary-eyed, as though he’d been conked out for twenty hours, not twenty minutes.

“You’re awake?” he asked, pushing off the bed, catching the shirt she tossed at him as she pulled her shorts on.

“Wide.  Come on,” she grabbed his hand, pulling him down the hall and onto the elevator.

When they stepped into Tony’s penthouse, he was passed out on the couch, mouth hanging open, arm hanging off the edge.  With a smile on her face, energized thanks to Loki, she strolled up to him and bent down directly in front of his face.

“WAKE UP!” she shouted, then dissolved into a fit of evil laughter when Tony awoke with the most high-pitched scream she’d ever heard and fell off the edge, landing face first on the floor.

“Okay,” Tony said, once his heart had slowed down, “what are you, the Meme Queen now?  You gonna steal video of that?  Sure, all of the internet would find hashtag ‘Tony Stark Gets Rekt’ capital R dumbass T hilarious, but it was still bitchy.  Just FYI.” Rolling his eyes, he pushed up from the floor, motioning for her to follow him down the stairs to the lab.

Sigyn exchanged highly confused looks with Two as they descended the steps quickly. “I love when you use non-words and string them together in non-sentences,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Tony laughed. “Which would you prefer to start with?  WTF is hashtag?  Or the atrocious spelling of ‘wrecked’?”

Walking into the tastefully decorated lab she remembered from her melting experiment that felt like a lifetime ago now, Sigyn pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t even-”

“WTF is ‘what the fuck’, Sig,” Two supplied, cutting her off. “Just FYI,” he added with air quotes and a smirk.  The ability to read Stark’s mind was incredibly convenient for Earth slang.

She rolled her eyes, picking up the shield and holding it near the tesseract, comparing the sizes. “How ingenious, and lazy, of your planet, Stark.”

Tony held up his hands defensively. “Not the whole planet, Alice.  Just millennials.” Pulling on his fire resistant gloves, he squinted at the ceiling. “Wait, or is it Gen Z?  What age are those kids now?  God, I feel old.  Woah,” he gawked at Two who had picked up the tesseract without burning his hands, “You can touch that?  I wish I was you.”

“A phrase you have never uttered to anything other than a mirror in your life,” Pepper chuckled, strolling in with bags of Chinese take-out and a very sleepy looking Jane holding a venti Starbucks cup.

“Uh,” Tony frowned at Pepper, gesturing with his chin to Jane.

Holding the tesseract up to the shield in Sigyn’s hand, Two listened to the silent conversation between Tony and Pepper about Jane and the classified Wakanda situation.  Ah, so Jane did not know about it.  Pursing his lips, he leaned down to Sigyn’s ear.

“Time to perform, darling,” he whispered, and she gave him a nod. “Didn’t Sigyn do an excellent job, Dr. Foster?” he asked the petite scientist.

Jane frowned, brown eyes flitting from Sigyn to the shield and back again. “Wait, you made it after all?”

Clearing her throat, Sigyn flashed a bright smile. “It was difficult, but I did, yes.  Loki supplied the extra strength I needed with his magic,” she finished, winging it like a pro.

“Nice touch,” Two whispered, winking at her.

I try ーshe chuckled, knowing he could hear it.

“So that’s what Tony meant by ‘it’s taken care of’?  I thought you ‘called in a favor’?” Jane scoffed, glaring at Tony.  She crossed her arms, hip jutting out. “Why didn’t you just say it was Sigyn all along?”

“And Loki,” Tony said, holding up a finger. “He was the favor.  Or, um, his magic was.  He wanted to keep it quiet until now.  Whatever.” He waved a hand. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Why don’t you do the honors, Stark, and demonstrate how to open it for us,” Sigyn said, eyeing him pointedly as she circled the lab table to hand the shield to him.

Smiling brightly at her, Tony took it and opened it with ease, just as T’Challa had showed him.  Sigyn bit back the ‘so that’s how it opens! ’ that had risen in her throat.

“One more time for good measure,” Two said, eyes narrowed at the shield.

After opening it once more, Tony handed it to Sigyn, his expression nervous. “Ready to try it out?”

“Yes,” she said, pressing her lips together. “Loki?”

Two nodded, tesseract in hand. “As soon as I set it inside, close the shield.  Neither of us should sense the tesseract, and any of the rest of you,” he nodded to the others, “should be able to hold it without injury.  If that happens, we have been successful, and need to remove it immediately-”

“No, no, it needs to stay in once it’s in,” Tony countered sharply, so anxious that he didn’t even notice the perfect ‘that’s what she said’ opportunity.  T’Challa had told him that taking the tesseract back out would draw attention to Wakanda.  He couldn’t break his promise to them.  They deserved at least that much.

“Stark,” Two set his jaw, “it has to come back out so Big Bad doesn’t have enough time to notice its disappearance.”

“But-”

“It comes out!” Two growled, and Tony backed off, hands raised in surrender.

“Okay okay!” Tony said, swallowing back the bile rising in his throat.  Jesus, that guy was scary when he wanted.  Crap, if anything happened to Wakanda, he’d be held responsible.  Sweat beading on his forehead, Tony chewed his lip.  But then again, if Big Bad attacked because they didn’t take the tesseract out quickly, it would be the whole planet in trouble.  So he was doing the right thing.  Right?  Groaning, he ran his hand down his face.  He needed a Xanax.  Now.

“Alright, Sig, here we go,” Two nodded to her, and she held the shield open for him as he set the tesseract inside.  Taking a deep breath, he closed it and….

Nothing.  Not a hint of energy emanated from the shield.  He and Sigyn looked at each other, eyes wide, mouths curving up.

“Quick, pass it around!” Sigyn shrieked, only slightly embarrassed by the shrill quality of her voice in that moment because each human held it, rubbing their hands all over the black surface with no injury, and that was all the test they needed.  It had worked.  The shield worked.  She felt like she’d just swallowed an ender.  Only this was real happiness, not artificial.  Hello, Asgard!

Two swiped the shield from Jane’s hands, quickly opened it and removed the tesseract, placing it back in its cradle.  It all took no more than five seconds.  Elated, the four breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief and broke into laughter and cheering and high fives, which Two and Sigyn caught onto instantly.

“I feel like Rogers and Romanoff should’ve been here to see that,” Tony said, one hand on his hip, the other rubbing his chin.

“Just send the lab footage of the past five minutes to them,” Pepper shrugged, looking through the take out bag for the orange chicken.

“Yeah,” Tony snorted, shaking his head, “cuz that’s just what they’d want right now.  Nothing beats watching lab footage from work when you’re trying to hook up with someone.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “They are just friends, Tony.  Here,” she handed him one of the bags of take out, “help me bring these upstairs instead.  I didn’t know the test would be so fast, otherwise I would’ve just left the food in the kitchen.”

Two, Sigyn, and Jane followed them back up the stairs.  Gathering around the large island, Pepper divvied out the food.  “Lunch is served,” she said, tossing chopsticks and forks into the middle.

“Who wants a La Croix?” Jane asked, eyebrows up as she perused the contents of the fridge. “Looks like there’s lemon, orange, pure, and,” she made a face, “coconut?” She eyed Tony, unimpressed. “You like coconut?  Nobody likes coconut.”

Shrugging, Tony spoke around a mouthful of fried rice. “I also like the blackberry cucumber ones.  It’s the manliest flavor.  Pass me one, please, Pipsqueak.  They’re the green and purple cans hiding behind that six pack of Blue Moon.”

Jane shot him a glare at the unflattering moniker before chucking the can at him, which he barely caught before it nailed him in the face.  Grabbing a lemon one for herself, she popped the tab, watching Sigyn and Two who seemed pleased with the food and had already mastered chopsticks.  Was there anything they couldn’t do?  Or anything that they could do but didn’t look like genetically engineered perfection while doing it?  She rolled her eyes, feeling unbelievably small and insignificant.

Tony held up his drink. “To beating Big Bad at his own game.”

“To going home,” Sigyn added, holding up her water glass.  

Two winked at her, clinking his glass with hers. “To going home.” Tomorrow.

FEARLESS CONTINUES IN CHAPTER TEN: HOLD ON, WE’RE GOING HOME (GREEN IS FOR LIFE PART 2)

Visit the Trilogy main page HERE.

Chapter links: ¹ You’ll Have Answers Later ² Talk Some Sense to Me, Sig. ³ Interlude in Asgard (Endless Grief) ⁴ Wild Magic (It’s All We Have) ⁵ Heat is My Specialty (What is Blue For) ⁶ Storms Pass, Loki. ⁷ Trust Me, I’ve Got This. ⁸ A Heavy Gift ⁹ Sick and Tired ¹⁰ Hold On, We’re Going Home (Green Is for Life Part 2) ¹¹ Home is Chaos ¹² Looks That Kill ¹³ Living Ghosts ¹⁴ No Rules (Tick Tock) ¹⁵ The Calm ¹⁶ The Storm

Chapter 17 Coming October 2021

CHAPTER NINE THEME SONG:

“Be There” by Krewella

What Readers Have Said

About CH 9 “Sick and Tired”

“Ouch, right in the feels. I feel like they both have equal blame in the argument. Both of them made some good points and both of them said some things they shouldn’t have. There are good points to being able to read each other’s thoughts and feelings but man there are some huge problems as well.”

-Ferbette, on CH 9 “Sick and Tired” 04 Oct 2018

---

Please feel free to leave a comment below. Reviews are (almost always *wink*) a source of excitement and humble joy for Jen!