Winter's Nightmare

Where do we go from here?

Steve's POV

He put the last of the dinner dishes in the dishwasher as Fandral wiped down the counters. He had insisted on helping him, 'to get to know you better' while Lia put Kat to bed. Steve hated to admit it, but Fandral was a nice guy. He would have to be for Lia to love him and he was so wonderful with Kat. The bond they had made Steve's heart hurt, but he was glad Lia was with someone who cared so much about her and Kat. Steve resented that Fandral had so much more time with his girls than him, but he couldn't find it in himself to hate him.

He was in the middle of telling him about the first time Lia had teleported with him making Steve laugh when Fandral admitted he almost puked, but had teased Loki that he had taken it better than he had. "Teleporting is not as fun as Lia makes it out to be." Loki grumbles petulantly from his seat at the counter.

"I've told you a thousand times, Ki, if you practice with me more it gets easier." Lia says with a beautiful smile as she walks back into the kitchen taking her long hair out of the ponytail she's had it in all afternoon.

Loki rolls his eyes at her with a smirk. "I will practice more if you really put in the effort with your Seidr lessons."

Steve looks at them in confusion. "Isn't  Sedir what you call you're magic?"

Loki turns his head to look at Steve. "Yes and she refuses to learn more than the basics." He couldn't help feeling surprised.

"You can do magic?" He asks her to which she just shrugs her shoulders at him. Steve was coming to find that he hates it when she does that. It was like she was actively trying to keep him at arms length with every non verbal answer.

"Not everyone outside of Asgard has the ability to do Seidr," Loki explains. "but Lia seems to be sensitive towards it. I have been trying to teach her enough to use it during battle."

She rolls her eyes. "I don't need to use Seidr to fight, Loki. I think I have more than enough skills and abilities without adding more lessons to my already very busy schedule."

Her best friend frowns at her. "Aurelia, if you can add to your arsenal then you should. You never know when it'll come in handy."

Lia dismisses his comments with a wave of her small hand. "Steve and I need to talk. Privately, if you please." She says to Loki and Fandral with a pointed look.

Loki looks surprised that she's willingly wanting to be alone with Steve, but leaves with a nod to both of them. "We will talk about your Seidr lessons later." He warns her that he won't let the matter drop.

Fandral just smiles at them all and gives Lia a kiss on his way out, bidding Steve goodnight. "I shall wait for you in our rooms, my love." He tells Lia with a wink. Steve's jaw and hands clench at the mention of it being their room and her being his love.

"Come. Join me in the living room. It will be much more comfortable to sit in there away from prying ears." Lia says as she turns to the hallway that leads to the living room, Steve quickly follows behind her.

"I've noticed that you switch between talking like normal and then like Thor and Loki now." He observes as Lia sits down on one end of the large L shaped couch.

She smiles and shrugs. "Well, I have lived in Asgard for nearly four years. It was easy and bound to happen that I'd pick up their vernacular and speech patterns. With Kat being so young she has their accent which I find completely adorable."

"You also shrug alot. You didn't before." Steve tells her glancing down at her shoulders. He also found their daughters accent adorable, but this was the first time that he'd been a lone with Lia and couldn't help himself from speaking out.