New memories

Chapter 9

I wake up in our bed. Apparently, Bucky has put Nanna to her crib during the night and he also lifted me to our bed. He is laying right next to me and just stares at the ceiling. He does this every morning. He doesn't sleep because of the super soldier serum and the nightmares. Sometimes I wonder how he has energy for the quests and missions when he barely sleeps. I move myself closer to him and rest my head on his chest. "Good morning doll.", he whispers after kissing the top of my head. "Morning love.", I respond and keep my head on his chest. "Are we alright?", he then asks me carefully.

I lift my head and look at him. "Everything happened so fast last night. I said somethings that I didn't mean, and I am really sorry about it. I know I am being crazy, but it doesn't change the fact that we need you with us more. I know that you make things better for everyone else in the realms and I admire that you are doing that. But right now, I need you to be at least little bit selfish and choose us over everyone else. I love you and I don't want to lose you. You are the love of my life, and I really don't even want to think what our lives would be if we weren't together. I am just asking you to put your family first, at least now that she is this small.", I tell Bucky. He looks back at me and says, "When I proposed, I promised to spend my life loving, protecting and supporting you. I haven't done very good job with that, but I promise that it will change from now on.".

Nanna starts to giggle in her crib so we both get up from the bed and change quickly. Bucky picks Nanna up and is babbling with her for the time it takes me to tie my hair to a braid. We head to the dining room for breakfast. Loki, Thor, and the Warriors Three are eating breakfast. When we step into the room they went silent. They are just looking at us with worried looks on their faces. "So, is everything alright?", Thor breaks the silence. We sit down together and take some breakfast. "Everything is alright. But I think that I am going to take a little break from the quests.", Bucky answers to Thor while I start to give some food to Nanna who is still sitting in his dad's lap.

Loki looks at me to make sure that I am alright. I smile at Bucky, and I think that Loki gets the hint. We are in the middle of breakfast when Sif walks in. She sees me and stops. She then walks straight to me and kneels in front of me. She is keeping her head down, looking at the floor, and then she speaks. "Your highness, I owe you my life. I give you my word that I will spend my entire life repaying you that debt.", she says, and I think that she is waiting for my reaction because she stays in that position. "You don't have to do that. Please, get up. I am glad that you are feeling better. And I told you yesterday, please call me Halla or Hailey. My brothers might get an ego boost from the 'your highness' or 'my king' titles, but for me it still feels weird.", I tell her. She looks at me and laughs. "Whatever you want it to be, Lady Halla.", she says to me and keeps smiling. Thor then turns to Loki and asks, "What does she mean with 'ego boost'?". Everyone laughs and then continues to eat breakfast.

After breakfast, Bucky and Thor take Nanna for a walk. I tell Bucky that I am going to see how the dragons are doing and visit the phoenixes. I walk outside and head to the dragons' nest. When I get there Lisha is the first one to greet me. She then realizes that I don't have Nanna with me, and she pouts a little. "I was wondering whether you would show up here.", says a familiar voice. "Thank you for what you did with our two young ones. They really needed that.", the voice continues. I recognize it, it's Fornax. I walk into their nest and see most of the dragons just lying on the ground. They are probably still trying to sleep. "It's good to see you too. And you're welcome. Besides, you didn't think that I would come to Asgard and not visit you, did you?", I greet Fornax.

I see the young dragons in the corner sulking. I walk to them and when I get near, one of them growls at me. I keep looking into his eyes. "You don't need to do that. I am a friend. You need to realize that everyone here keeps living in harmony and so should you. Please try to behave better.", I say while I touch gently the face of the one that seems angrier. I know that most people would have chosen the other one to approach. But I knew that if I get this one to trust me the other one would follow. The dragon growls when I touch him, but I keep getting closer. I sometimes need to remind myself that these creatures are at least three times bigger than I am. But I stick to my plan.

I am now standing right next to this wild dragon that I have only met once before this encounter. I slowly stroke his body and then just hug him. I can feel the tension in his body. I look up and see that he has his face above me. It is trying to figure out what I am doing. Fornax gives him a little growl that makes him look at Fornax and then back at me. He then secures me into a tight hug with his neck and body. "I hope that we could be friends.", I say to him, and he grunts to me gently. The other dragon is now looking at me and wondering if I approach to him also. I go to the other one and give him a hug. He hugs me back and I stay there for a minute and just feel the warmth of the dragons. Lisha joins us, and I am now surrounded with the three youngest dragons. Even though Loki told me that Lisha doesn't really get along with the boys, they are all now bundled up around me.

I stay there for a while, and I begin to feel like falling asleep. I must have zoned out because I startle when Fornax informs me that there are people outside looking for me. In a safe distance away, Thor, Bucky, and Nanna are watching me cuddling these huge dragons. The men look worried, but Nanna is smiling. "So, this is the little princess that you gave birth to? She looks beautiful.", Fornax states. I invite her to join me after I have said goodbyes to my new and old friends. She walks to the others with me. She lowers her head close to them, and Nanna gets even happier. I guess she thinks that dragons look funny or something. "She is a joyful one, isn't she?", Fornax speaks to us telepathically. Bucky laughs and Thor looks at Fornax with amazed look on his face. "I have never been this close to a dragon before. We have tried to give you some peace and when we have been here, you always speak telepathically so we never get too close to the nest.", Thor says out loud, and Bucky says, "I have a different experience. I have had to fight for my bed with one of you.". We all laugh. Fornax smiles at Thor and thanks him for the privacy and apologizes Bucky for Lisha. After that she returns to her home, and we get going.

I take Nanna to my lap and almost immediately she starts to fall asleep. I think that the warm hue from the young dragons, kind of stuck to me and now Nanna is feeling the effect of it. I look at her smiling and get closer to Bucky. "So, everything is really alright?", Thor asks us. We look at each other with Bucky and then he tells Thor what is going on. He also mentions Sif and how I was given the impression that there would be something between Bucky and her. Thor laughs, "Sif has always been one of the boys and she always will be. You don't have to worry about her, she doesn't see us like that.". I look at Thor and smirk at him, "Are you sure about that? You two would look cute together. And I have seen her looking at you.", I wink at him. Thor blushes quickly and looks away. "No, we have been friends for longer than you have lived. She is just... Do you really think so?", he replies. I look at Bucky and we are both laughing. "I think you were right when you said that they seem to like each other.", Bucky says to me laughing, and I just shrug my shoulders and smile at Thor.