Frost & Fire

Chapter 26 (Abigail)

I walked over to Loki smiling, making sure to be in his line of sight. "I always knew he was. My favorite bedtime story." I said gently.

"I am only better because of you." He said with a kiss. It was still so easy to get lost in each other, and I had hoped it would never change.

"Holy shit it's cold in here! And where is the little one?" I heard Madeline's voice as she came over to us and reached for Arn, making Loki pull him closer and I saw Hredr in the doorway with sword in hand. "And who can tell frosty over here to relax?"

Loki and I couldn't help but laugh a little as he finally gave her the baby. "It's okay, Hredr. This is my childhood best friend who gets overly excited but means absolutely no harm." He nodded but refused to leave as he watched Madeline like a hawk. I almost wondered if he actually thought she was going to try kidnapping Arn, which even if I didn't know her the way I did, I knew would never happen. Since the babies were known, my father and I worked on upping our security and all of the suits to better protect the house.

"He's beautiful, Abs. I can't believe you went with no pain meds!"

"I didn't have much of a choice." I laughed. "Not to mention, childbirth is so much scarier than the videos show! I can barely walk."

"The joys of motherhood." Frigga said. "But do not sell yourself short, you were amazing in that room. I don't think I even handled birth as well as you." She smiled. "Madeline, please forgive my son and Tony, it was a very quick birth and I don't think either of them were really thinking."

"I'm sure, but I'm still going to be giving Tony hell. How did you know?"

"I know many things when it comes to children and childbirth." Frigga said with a grin.

"Did you get the nursery done? I've been dying to see it and that brother in law of yours refused to let me in so I left this little one's gift with him."

"Yeah, he's been taking on the whole protective uncle thing to extremes." I said before leading Frigga and Madeline next door as the three men followed us. As we stepped into the room, it was the same temperature as Loki's and my room and I was just starting to feel the coldness.

Madeline looked half scared holding Arn as she walked with him and brought him over to the rocker. "How big was he? You didn't tell me anything!"

"He was almost twenty-four inches long and eight pounds even." Loki said proudly.

Madeline looked down at the infant in her arms and played with his hands. "You just wait until you're old enough for me to tell you all about your mother's and my adventures when we were growing up. Like this one time, we told our parents we were at the other's house and instead we-"

"No! Oh my gods, no! Do not give him any ideas, please." I squealed.

"Really? His father is the god of mischief and his mother was the queen of sneaking out and making trouble." Madeline and I both laughed. "Do you remember that time we actually got caught?"

"Yeah, and after my dad covered for us we both got a lecture for the centuries." I sat down next to my best friend. "I remember my punishment being that I had to hand scrub every damn suit."

Hredr left after a while when he was satisfied we were all fine, but I had a feeling that was partly because of all the mistrust within our ranks that not even a friend would be trusted. Once the guard left, the energy in the room lifted a little more.

"The nursery looks amazing, how did you manage with only an hour out of bed a day?"

"I didn't. Honestly, I thought nothing was done when I had him." I placed a hand on Arn's head gently. "I think my dad did most of this, though he waited to put anything together until Daddy and I had a chance to come in."

We sat in silence for a while until Arn started to fuss a little. "It's feeding time. Why don't we step out, Father?" Loki said before kissing my forehead and helped me up off the floor so I could exchange places with Madeline. "Just call when he's done."

I nodded slowly and once the men were out of the room, I got him latched while gently playing with his thick hair. "I think I want to return to Jotinheim here soon." I said gently. "I also want to come visit Asgard so we can properly introduce him to the worlds we live in."

"I think that's a fantastic idea." Frigga said. "I just wouldn't let him stay over night there and we can have a bassinet ready for you in Loki's room on Asgard."

"Thank you. I know we have been keeping it really cold in the rooms, but I'm still a little worried about the weather. I don't even know what I'm doing and yet everyone just trusts me to keep him alive."

"That's because we know you." Madeline said.

"None of us ever know what we're doing." Frigga held onto my free hand. "Trust me, Jotuns and Aesir are not much different. With Thor and Loki, I never knew which one was going to find a way to destroy the palace first, but for the most part they were close. Thor was the child who would run and just do what he wanted. Loki, well, he'd consider every possible outcome, even as a child.

"When Odin first brought Loki home, though, I was so scared. By then, Odin already had his skin changed to look more like ours, but I didn't know what to expect. With Thor, I felt so confident in my abilities of being a mother. Loki proved I really shouldn't have been so confident." She laughed a little. "My point is, don't worry. You'll figure it out."

I felt a little more confident after hearing her talk. "He looks so much like Loki already, I don't know what I'll do if he has his mischievous streak."

"Apparently with you two being his parents, we better hope the ice on Jotinheim is strong enough to handle him." Frigga said.

Once he was done feeding, I covered back up and tried to burp him. My worries finally started to ease away. I was planning on talking to Loki later tonight if we could manage to stay awake long enough to talk over going to Jotinheim again. It had been so long since I had last been there, but especially with my internal temperature not being back to normal, I knew I could handle it. I laid Arn down in his crib and laid his baby blanket over him.

By nightfall, everyone had gone home and Arn was sleeping peacefully in his room and we had the monitor next to our bed. Stepping out of the bathroom, I was brushing my hair and saw Loki sitting up and reading waiting for me.

"Hey, Daddy?" I asked as I laid down on the bed so that my head was on his lap.

"Yes, Kitten?"

"I was thinking, what if we go back home tomorrow? I would love to present him to our people and have Heimdall waiting to bring us back here if we notice he can't handle it, but the air in both of our rooms is still cold enough I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Are you sure? I don't want you rushing into anything."

I nodded slowly. I was positive about this and I knew that until we got more comfortable with him being on Jotunheim, we wouldn't be able to stay as much, but our people would have to understand. With my blood also coursing through Arn's little body, there was always a chance he wouldn't be able to handle it as well as they did and we would never risk him getting to be too cold.