Second Chances

Loki and Maia lay in bed talking. She kept the shirt on; Loki said it looked better on her; and she lay on her stomach, him on his side close to her, her face beside his where he could easily place kisses on her when he wished, which was often.
‘Remember Alfheim?’ She asked as his fingertips played across the palm of her hand.
‘The siege where Thor almost got us killed?’
‘It wasn’t entirely his fault. They ran towards the flames.’ She reminded him. ‘The dream changed before we got into the thick of the battle, but the whole scenario, I dreamt it as a child, only now I could recognise you, and Thor, and Sif and The Warriors Three.’
‘And what came next?’ He kissed her palm softly.
‘One of our elicit liaisons in the library.’
‘Oh, they were many.’ He smiled fondly.
‘It was the first time you mentioned eloping, I think.’
‘I still say we would have got away with it.’
‘Then it was our wedding day.’ She ignored the argument he had been making for the last thousand years or so. ‘First my preparations, then your vows.’
‘The happiest day of my life, until now.’ He leant forward and pressed his lips to hers. ‘You are the one with whom I can share all that I am.’ Maia’s voice joined his as they recited the Asgardian vows. ‘I promise to trust you and be honest with you. I promise to respect you, listen to you and support you.’ She closed the distance and kissed him again. ‘Save them, Mischief. We might need them again someday.’
‘Are you suggesting you are not my wife?’ He gave her raised eyebrows.
‘Legally speaking I’m Maia Tomson, and she is unwed. As for you, I suspect you are a widower, by Asgardian law.’
‘Damn logic.’ He moved closer to her. ‘Marry me, again. I want the nine realms to know you are mine.’
‘I thought that was what the love bites were for.’ She said teasingly.
‘We belong together, to one another.’ He insisted.
‘You always were impatient, once you set your heart on something.’
‘Because my heart is set on the one thing it has always desired. Why delay our destiny? We have a second chance, we should seize it.’
‘Because you’ve only known Maia a week.’
‘I’ve known you all my life, loved you almost as long. I thought you forever lost and I would wait no longer to make you my princess again.’
She kissed him fully, leaving him no doubt as to how his words had effected her, and when they parted she smiled at him softly. ‘I want to say yes,’
‘Then do.’ He interrupted her.
‘But it won’t be understood here.’ She explained.
‘Your parents.’ He said, understanding.
‘Just to start with. The media already had a field day with The Avengers taking you in, and if you marry a Midgardian this quickly they’ll assume tricks, or an arranged marriage. It won’t be simple.’
‘Then let us ask Thor to speak with Odin.’ He laced his fingers with hers. ‘We can be wed under Asgardian law again.’
‘You are relentless.’ She sighed.
‘I want to waste no time. We have been apart too long as it is, sunbeam.’ He gave her what she now remembered as his puppy dog eyes and she shook her head.
‘We will speak to Thor, but only for his opinion.’
He grinned and kissed her hand. ‘You already know you shall not regret it.’
‘I said we’d ask!’ She argued as he pulled her towards and under him, pressing his body against hers.
‘Whether you are Sigyn, or Maia, or some combination of the two, I love you and I care not what anyone else thinks, as I did then. You will be my wife again, by all the laws of the nine realms.’
Her gaze softened and she stroked her hand over his cheek. ‘I love you too.’
He bowed his head towards hers but before their lips touched an alarm began to sound, shrill and loud, throughout the building.
‘I’m getting pretty sick of being interrupted.’ She complained as they kicked off the covers and got out of bed.
‘Not the only one, sweet. One day I will take you away from all this, just the two of us, I swear it.’
They ran down the corridor together, aware of a good deal of personnel heading in various directions. Finally they found Tony and Steve as they were preparing to leave.
‘What’s going on?’ Loki asked as they approached.
‘Emergency. Avengers heading out.’ Tony replied, checking the wristbands he had on.
‘We don’t think it’s related to the threat you’re under.’ Steve looked at him. ‘But stay inside, just in case.’
‘We had no plans to leave.’ Maia replied. ‘Is there anything we can do?’
‘Stay out of trouble.’ Tony patted her shoulder before the two men headed towards the door.
‘How suspicious are we of this?’ Maia asked as the sound of a Quinjet engine roared to life.
‘Oh, very.’ Loki said, leading her to the window to watch as The Avengers left the compound. ‘We need to rest but we also need to be wary.’
‘We need some sort of magical early warning system.’ She said thoughtfully and Loki gave her an amused smile. ‘What? It’s not that stupid an idea!’
‘It is a tremendous idea, but I now realise how you knew I could channel your power.’
‘Well, I hope you’re ready to do it again.’ She said as the alarms shut off. ‘Because I don’t know how to even start working that out.’
‘Of course you do.’ He put his arm around her as they started the walk back.
‘I know the theory for it.’ She argued. ‘As Sigyn I could have done it, but as Maia I’m wired differently.’
‘Not at all, dove.’ He shook his head. ‘I think it may be the perfect time to test your power, now that both sides of you are one.’
‘And when I fail and fall asleep for hours?’
‘You shall not fail.’ He insisted. ‘I believe the reason you have struggled with control is because you have treated it as a mutation, the same reason I felt it act like Asgardian sorcery; because that is what it is.’
‘Asgardian sorcery? You think I have Sigyn’s abilities too?’ She gave him a sceptical look.
‘They are your abilities, love. No one can take that from you.’
She thought for a moment. She knew what Sigyn’s power had felt like and what it was capable of, but she didn’t know if it would work. ‘If I try, and fail, we lose our shot.’ She said quietly. ‘But if you channel my power, put up what we need, then I’m happy to test it. We still have the elixir, I just don’t like the idea of being asleep when we could be attacked.’
He sighed. ‘My beautiful voice of reason. I would not leave you vulnerable. I will channel your power again so we can try and sleep in safety.’
‘Thank you.’ She leant her head against him.
‘None necessary, sunbeam. But we will test your power, now we know a little more about it.’
‘Tony said Monday.’ She reminded him.
‘And Tony isn’t here.’ He smiled.

Notes