The Soldier's Goddess

Kari opened the door and squealed in excitement.
"Mom! Sif!" She threw her arms around the two women and the three of the stood there hugging and crying and squealing for a few moments. Steve just stared at them all, unsure of what to do. Hugo started gurgling in his dad's arms; the three-week old demi god was about to meet his aunt and his Amma - grandmother - for the first time. Sif turned to the noise and smiled.
"Is this my nephew?" she grinned. Steve nodded.
"Hugo, meet your aunty Sif," he said, handing the little boy over to her. Sif gasped a little, and curled Hugo into her arm.
"Hello sweetheart, I'm your aunty Sif." The Warrior's eyes were full of nothing but joy and love for the child.
"Steve, so good to see you again." His mother in law enveloped him in a hug.
"Aldis, it's been too long." Steve was lucky to have inherited such a wonderful family when he married Kari. "Are you sure this is all still ok?"
"Of course it is, everyone is excited to meet you, yes even the All Father." Poor Steve looked nervous and started stammering. "Don't worry," Aldis laughed, "he's alright." Sif passed Hugo to her mom, and pulled Steve in for a hug.
An hour later, the group was in Central Park, in a secluded spot. Hugo, and his bag of baby bits, being held by his Amma, Steve holding on to Kari.
"Don't let go," she said, grinning, as she wrapped his arms around her.
"Heimdall, whenever you are ready," Sif said, softly, looking to the skies. An energy field shot down around like them like a bolt, and Steve felt himself being lifted up in to the air. They shot up and within seconds, they were walking out of the energy bolt, into a large, round, golden room.
"Welcome to Asgard," a deep booming voice came from behind them. They turned to see Heimdall beaming at them all. He took Hugo out of his mom's arms and held him close, smiling down at his nephew. The tiny demi god gurgled happily in his uncle's arms, and the Guardian of the Bifrost couldn't stop smiling; he was bursting with pride. He handed the baby back to Steve, and pulled his sister in for a hug. "Kari, it's good to see you again."
"That was..... that was......" Steve stammered. He looked unsure of what had just happened. He looked at Kari and smiled. "That was amazing, is that how you travel between worlds all the time?" Kari nodded.
"Yeah, is great, isn't it!" she said. "Come on, let's get to the Palace, I'm sure everyone is waiting for us." The group made their way along the mile-long rainbow bridge, which glittered and gleamed all the colours of the rainbow as they walked upon it. The Palace was the first thing that came into view; Steve gasped in awe.
"See, Hugo, this is where mommy used to live before she met daddy," Kari smiled to her son. Steve hugged her in close to him and smiled. Sif led them through the Palace, and stopped outside the room Kari had spent many years in, sitting with, talking with, having fun with Thor and the Three Warriors.
"Everyone's expecting us," she smiled, and pushed the door open. They walked in to a room of cheers and four pairs of arms coming towards them. Hugo was passed between them; Kari thought it was lucky he was such a placid baby. These guys were his extended family anyway.
"So then, Uncle Fandrall," Kari grinned as Fandrall was cuddling Hugo, "what do you think?" She nudged his elbow and he smiled down at her.
"Kari, he is so beautiful, I'm so proud of you, love." He kissed her forehead and wrapped his arm round her.
An hour later, Thor was carrying the very large basket full of food and blankets, and the now large group was making its way to one of the more beautiful spots in Asgard. Opposite a waterfall, a triple rainbow at the bottom, peaceful... Kari used to love coming here as a child.
"You know half of this food in here for Volstagg," Sif joked, winking at her fellow Warrior. His face fell.
"Only half? You're slipping," he grinned. They sat on the blankets, on the soft, blue-green grass for a few hours, laughing, joking, eating, watching Hugo as he lay on his back, wriggling and kicking at the air. Steve was probably enjoying himself more than the rest. He was experiencing things he had never known existed before, tried foods he had never could have imagined, and his wife and son were here with him. Aldis had offered, no scratch that, put her foot down and told Steve and Kari straight, that she would be having Hugo for the next two nights, to give them time to themselves overnight. God only knows they would need it in the coming months, if he was anything like his mother, she had joked. The All Father had gotten his servants to sort out a suite in the Palace for them, Thor had made sure of it.
Back in the Palace that evening, after the new parents had said goodnight to their son, and sent him away for the night with his Amma, Thor turned to them.
"Come, have dinner with us. Mother, the All Father, as my guests. "
"Tomorrow. I want to go to the dungeons first" Kari said. Steve knew this had been coming and although he wasn't happy, he knew his wife had to do this.
"Of course," Thor replied. "You remember the way?" he grinned at her. She poked her tongue out at him and left. "Do not worry, Captain," Thor patted him on the back. "You are in safe hands." The men settled down in the first room they had arrived at, ready to drink. Thor had told them about Steve's matabolism, and they claimed not to believe him.

"I wasn't expecting you to remember me?" His voice was soft, silken, with hint of anger. She knew exactly who he was angry at, but let him direct it her way anyway.
"Loki, you know I would never forget about you."
"Not even with your super soldier?" he spat, bitterly.
"No. No, not even then. You were my first t....... you the first man I ever loved and you will always hold that place in my heart, but you know exactly why we aren't together anymore." He glared at Kari, looking her in the eye for the first time in a long time. She looked past the anger, and saw sadness. Not that he would ever let that show, of course. "I came to see you, to see how you are doing?" She noted the tiny notch of surprise in his face, which disappeared quickly.
"Well the man I thought was my father has me locked in the high security dungeons, and Mother is the only one who visits me. Although she does so through hologram. So how do you think I'm doing?"
"Loki," she sighed, but he stopped her.
"Don't tell me I brought this on myself, I was trying to prove myself to the All Father," he snapped. "I heard you have a child with the super soldier now."
"Yes," she smiled, shocked at his willingness to hear about Hugo. "He's beautiful, you'd like him." Loki scoffed and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, are we going to play this game forever?" she asked.
"And what game would that be?"
"You know damn well what game." Kari was feisty, stubborn and was the only person who could get under his skin. And he knew it.
"If you mean the one where you leave me and flaunt your happiness in front of me, then yes, I do know what game," he sneered, inches from her face, the thick glass being the only thing separating them both. Kari sighed. She wasn't going to get anywhere with him like this, she wondered why she bothered, until she saw it. A flicker of disappointment. Not aimed at her, but at himself. He didn't even know he had done it.
"Loki, I came to see you." Her voice was calm, steady. "I came alone because I wanted to speak to you, just the two of us. I'm leaving now because I can't keep going round in circles with you on this anymore. Goodbye." She turned on her heel and left. He watched her leave the dungeon prison room, his arm up against the glass, and he sighed.
"Goodbye," he whispered, knowing he had lost her for good, and that he was wholly to blame.

Notes