Loki's Heart

Chapter 17

Clint walked over to me and hooked my arm through his and smiled down at me as the tears continued to fall silently down his cheeks and he managed to gruffly whisper, "You look beautiful, sweetheart." Nat, Wanda, and Sif were trying their hardest not to start crying as well but I knew that by the time the ceremony was over I was going to be in for a very long talking to over making them ruin their makeup. We made our way down the hall, Clint and I in front and the ladies behind us. As soon as we turned and faced the banquet hall doors I started getting nervous.

"Don't worry, sweety. Daddy's got ya. Daddy will always have you." Clint said as he pulled me into a bone crushing hug. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and buried my face in his chest like I did when I was little and I was scared awake by a nightmare and heard Nat start sobbing followed closely by Sif, Wanda and Frigga who just couldn't take the cuteness anymore. He finally let me go and made sure that my makeup wasn't smudged and I looked over at the ladies and said, "Well, at least it wasn't the ceremony that made you cry." This caused them all to start laughing despite the fact that they were all still crying and I pulled them all into a group hug.

"I'm g-going to m-miss you, sister!" Nat sobbed. Wanda simply nodded in agreement because she was crying too hard to even form words at that point. "Oh, girls. You know that Thor will bring you back whenever you want! And Daddy, the same goes for you!" I said looking at Nat, Wanda and Clint. They all nodded with tears pouring down their faces and my heart broke for them a bit. "Come on, you guys! You know how to reach me! You know how to come see me! Besides all that imagine the parties we'll have once you get enough time off and you do come visit!" I said turning and walking towards the doors. This caused everyone to laugh and I heard the volume in the banquet hall diminish a little as I approach the doors readying myself to open them but before I could even lay a finger on one of the beautiful golden doors they'd already opened revealing the entire hall decked in green and gold and white.

I gasped softly and then smiled when I realized who had been put in charge of decorating and Nat leaned up from behind me and whispered, "Ya know, kid, maybe he isn't so bad after all. I mean he did take my advice on where to put all the decorations." I whirled around to ask her exactly how long she'd known about all this but of course she was already gone making her way across the room towards Bucky who looked like he'd been crying. Clint hooked his arm through mine once more and said, "Ready, baby girl?"

I looked up at him and smiled and nodded once and we began making our way towards the front of the banquet hall where Odin, Loki, Thor and the rest of the male Avengers stood on the right side of the altar. Nat looked up and ran over to the other side where Sif, Freya, Wanda and another woman who had her back slightly turned to me and was whispering something to Freya. "Wonder who that new lady is? And how did the girls get up here so fast?" I murmured mainly to myself. "I don't know, but we're about to find out." Clint whispered back and I realized that we were at the altar and my mouth suddenly went dry with nerves just as Frigga stepped up to the altar smiling at me. A wave of calm swept over me and I smiled up at her knowing that she'd put a calming spell over me.

"Who gives this woman to be wed today?" Freya asked and Clint looked down at me one last time as though he were taking in the very last image he'd have of me before I became the wife of the God of Mischief. "I, Clint Barton, her father, gives this woman to be married today." He said, his voice gruff again all of a sudden. I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and said, "I love you, Daddy." That simple gesture plus the sentence almost broke the entire female half of the people congregated as a collective sob went through the hall and I lowered my head smiling apologetically.

"Dove." Loki said quietly and I looked up to see him holding out his hand for me and I smiled and took it and walked the final few steps up to the altar. "Before they are to be wed I have a surprise for you, my dear." Frigga said and I looked at her completely confused. Weren't the surprises supposed to come afterwards? Frigga simply laughed at the look on my face and said, "Turn around."