Fix You (Loki Romance)

Chapter 27

Ebony's POV

I had to stay in the infirmary for a few days, seeing as even as an Asgardian, a Frost Giant birth was still extremely hard on the body. Kenna was allowed to stay with me most of time. Everyone came to visit from time to time but Loki kept his distance. Kenna evidently noticed his absence. She was always calm - the quietest baby Eir said she had ever delivered - but the moment he appeared, she gurgled and wriggled and reached impatiently for him.

It was too early for her to actually understand but it was almost as though they shared some kind of secret bond that let her see him as he was. She never looked at me like that but at least she recognized me as her mother and was usually happy when I held her.

Loki had moved off the crutches and was walking with a cane now. I could see his frustration. Some days he tried to leave it but I would see him limping slowly down the halls. Sometimes, someone would find him collapsed in the gardens without his cane. I heard that he would always snap at them if they tried to help. He had to be left alone to pick himself up.

He came during the nights, seeming to have an unusual sense of when she was upset before she started crying. He would sneak into my room and care for her, letting me sleep. Unless she had to be fed, of course.

I had assumed, happily, that she slept through the nights already. But I woke up once to see him sneaking in. He went directly to Kenna's crib even in the dark and picked her up. He changed her diaper and played with her, his fingers glowing softly, entertaining her with his magic until she fell gently back to sleep.

He kissed her forehead and tucked her back into her crib. I smiled tiredly.

"So that's why she's so quiet." I mumbled sleepily. He startled and turned to face me. "Thank you." I yawned.

"Mm." He tapped his cane once. "Go to sleep."

My last day in the infirmary, I had just finished nursing Kenna when I heard something shaking. I looked up to see a yellow bag being held around the corner and shaken. I stared at it, confused. The arm waved it towards me and suddenly Marci jumped around the corner. "We have chocolate!" She grinned and came in, dragging Kat behind her. The room erupted into shouts of hello and girlish squeals as my best friends came to sit beside me. Kat took Kenna from me.

"Look at her! She's adorable! She looks like Loki! What's her name?" She sat on the edge of the bed.

"Kenna." I said, smiling as Kenna stared up at us.

"Ooh, I like it!"

Marci ripped open the bag and handed me a handful of chocolate, my one craving these past few days. I swallowed them down and took the bag from her. She sat next to me and dug around in her bag. "Thor came and got us so we went emergency shopping for all things Ebony and baby."

Kat looked pointedly at me. "We met with Loki. We need to talk."

Marci nodded. "Bad news first and then you can have your presents."

I sighed and sat up, trying to get comfortable. Marci crawled to the foot of the bed and folded her legs, looking at me with attentive eyes. Kat settled Kenna in her crib and sat next to me, pulling her knees to her chest. I looked down at my folded hands and then up at the ceiling, trying to get my thoughts in order.

"You know how I said Loki was working for someone when he invaded?" They nodded. "His name is Thanos. And he took Loki. We got him back just about a month ago."

"What'd he do?" Kat looked almost like she didn't want to know.

"They tortured him. Cut his Achilles' tendon, that's why he's limping. They drugged him and beat him and made him question reality. So he thought he was watching everyone die and it was his fault. And then at the end, someone disguised as me came in and said I had been helping Thanos all along. So he's been working with Eir, trying to get over it all. But he's still afraid of me."