Uniting Asgard [Book Two]

Chapter Nineteen

As the next few days went by, Loki tried to maintain a sense of normalcy for the children. He spent as much time with them as possible and did his best to answer their questions about Alice in ways they could understand. When he was by himself, many of the residents in the court offered their sympathy. After Thor had given another announcement about Alice's health, it became evident that Alice was going to die and this illness had been more serious than they believed it to be.

Loki had woken up in the middle of the night hearing shuffling noises from the bedroom. He sat up in the bed and groaned as he directed his attention to the closet. There, he saw Alice frantically moving about with piles of their clothes on the floor. She was putting them on hangers and then placing them on the racks. Loki shut his eyes and blinked a few times to allow his eyes to adjust.

"Alice?" He asked groggily.

She turned around to face him and smiled brightly seeing him awake.

"Hello! You should be asleep."

"I know but I guess you woke me up." He replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't think I was being too loud."

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I was going a bit crazy just laying in bed so I got out and realized that our closet needed a little revamping. So, I decided to rearrange some things. I think it's looking a bit better right now! Wouldn't you agree?"

"Alice, most of our clothes are on the floor at the moment." Loki sighed.

"And soon they'll all be on the racks!"

He watched as Alice turned around and went back to her task, still making noise.

Alice hummed a tune to herself and furrowed her brow as she saw Loki appear beside her.

"Since I'm up, let me help you. We can get it done faster." Loki told her.

"I like the way you think." She laughed.

After several minutes, Alice took a step back to admire the work she and Loki had done.

"It looks wonderful!" She announced.

"Great. I'm going back to bed." Loki yawned.

"Wait!"

Loki turned back around and narrowed his eyes as he looked into hers. For a moment, he could see his Alice in her eyes and smiled knowing she had come back.

"Can we see them?"

Loki opened the door to the nursery and ushered Alice inside. Walking inside, she saw Haldane, Arlan and Skye all sound asleep. She smiled brightly and fought against the tears forming in her eyes. Loki stood in the doorway, observing her to make sure she was going to be alright with them. Alice looked over Haldane and Arlan and laid soft kisses to their heads. She then walked over to Skye's crib and laughed softly seeing the little girl sprawled out. She then reached down into the crib and Loki took a step forward. He was about to protest when he noticed her just caressing Skye's cheek. She began to hum the same tune as before and swayed herself from side to side.

"Mama?" A soft voice whispered.

Alice and Loki both turned to see who had spoken and saw Arlan sitting up in his bed, clutching his blanket to his chest. Alice beamed with delight and walked over to his bed, sitting down on the edge.

"Yes, it's me, Arlan. You should be asleep." Alice told him.

"We haven't seen you." He spoke.