The Before [Prequel- Part 2]

Promises

~~~Loki's pov~~~

"She should be out for the rest of the day, but if anything changes, press the call button. I'm the only with access to it, so it should be fine." Julia informed me, gesturing to the button beside the hospital bed that Catherine was sound asleep on.

She had fallen asleep a few minutes prior to this, the exhaustion from the delivery finally taking its toll on her.

As for Julia, she had to leave to tend to other patients, that way she wouldn't arouse any suspicion.

And me? I was staying right there to watch over both Catherine and our newborn daughter. Because unlike her mother, Linda was wide awake and not at all tired from being born a half an hour earlier.

She was surprisingly very calm, considering the fact that she was only thirty minutes old and not asleep. There was absolutely no crying to be heard.

Well, that was until Julia exited the room and the door shut behind her, startling the poor girl with the sudden loud noise.

Small cries could be heard from her bassinet beside Catherine's hospital bed, causing her to stir, which made me start to panic.

She needed her rest. She came close to dying one too many times in the past day and if she was ever going to recover, she desperately had to get some sleep. My healing magic only went so far.

Keeping all that in mind, I quickly made my way over to Linda in her crib. "Hey, hey, it's okay." I spoke softly, gently lifting her into my arms, and made sure I was supporting her head. "Daddy's here. I got you."

Her cries stopped almost instantly once she recognized my voice, small coos and a little smile taking place of the tears.

My heart swelled at the sight of her face, her cheeks still wet from crying, but her eyes holding such innocence.

...Were you and I.... Were we close?...

...The absolute closest...

The words of her 2043 self echoed in my mind as I gazed down at her lovingly.

While I most certainly wanted to change the Kree/Apocalyptic takeover she might have to live through when she got older, the one thing I prayed would stay the same was that close bond.

If I was being completely honest, at that moment I had no doubt that I'd love and cherish each and every second with her. From now until the end of time.

"You know, I've been dreaming about what I should say to you for the last nine months. And now that you're finally here, I'm at a loss for words." I chuckled, gently bouncing her up in down in my arms in the hopes of rocking her to sleep.

At this, she responded in the only way she knew how; by grasping one of my fingers that was supporting her head with her tiny hand and holding on to me tightly.

I marveled at how quickly she developed a sense of control in her hand. Most infants couldn't master that until they were at least four or five months old.

I guess with her combination of DNA, an increased intelligence couldn't be dealt out of hand. I mean, she was part Jotun, Asgardian, and Stark. If she wasn't more advanced, it would probably be of more concern.

"I realize that you won't ever remember what I'm about to say to you, but it's important to me that you hear it." I murmured and softly pressed a kiss to her forehead before continuing. "I didn't have the best childhood. In fact, all my life I thought my father hated me. In more recent years, I've found that my assumptions were correct..." I trailed off sadly, early memories of Odin's disapproving and condescending glares flooding my mind.