Bjorn Ironside Imagines

Choices (Part Two)

Floki frowned as the silence fell over his peaceful space. The children of Bjorn Ironside did not play quietly. Mind you none of the grandchildren of Ragnar did. But it always meant trouble when they were quiet. The last time he had heard them so quiet was when you had them all on your lap, whispering excitedly to them, their eyes shone with admiration as they listened to you.

He waded into the lake, he had to be sure they hadn't gotten into the water, they knew better. But there was something that set him on edge. He was being watched and it wasn't the children lurking.

When he turned and spotted you his mind clicked into place. Signs. All he had seen for months were signs that made no sense for him. But now, you were home and he knew that the constant bothering of the Gods were to remind him that you had yet to return. As if you absence bothered them.

"You are late, the Gods have driven me to near madness." Floki scolded and your two younger children giggled as he frowned in the gentle way that would always assure them that they had nothing to worry about.

"Well then I must apologise." You said as you kept the second youngest in your arms.

"Well you are back now. Have you told Bjorn?" He added as he helped the children wade across back to his cabin before returning to help you.

"I knew they would be here and I had to see them... I have not..." You trailed off and he nodded.

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"Father!" The sound lifted Bjorn's heavy heart each time he heard it. Two children threw themselves at Bjorn and clung to him. "We don't want to go home." The oldest, a boy with clever eyes and a face that beheld his grandmother, informed his sharply.

"She is not going to leave." Floki muttered as he came to a stop and leant against the cabin. Bjorn's head shot up from his children to look at Floki.

"She... she came back?" Bjorn asked, half afraid that he would wake from a broken dream and more months of misery would follow.

Floki didn't answer he just took the little girl's hand and offered to show the pouting boy the boats he'd been working on while Bjorn stumbled down to the water where you were crouched with the toddler who could barely walk when you'd left.

"Bjorn." You said in almost a whisper. The sound made Bjorn's knees week.

His body seemed to freeze as he stared at you. He wanted to lift you into his arms and never let you go again. He wanted you to tell him that there was no other reason beyond missing him that you came back. His hands ached to worship you, lips begged to taste yours as if it was something he needed to survive. But his heart.

His heart craved your body tucked into his side, his children piled into the bed as you hummed softly. Waking up the next morning with sharp elbows and heels digging into whatever they rested on and you sleepy smile curing any bad mood.

He wanted to say them out loud. Just his body didn't seem to move, as if you had turned him to stone. The soft babbling and tiny hands grasping at his leg shook him from his daze and he scooped the child up. As if he could only cope with one thing in your time away, your children drew the reactions from him that you had missed.

"Mother come on!" You daughter called and motioned for you to follow. Bjorn paused and glanced at you. He wasn't sure if he needed to invite you back to your own home.

"Do not worry I am behind you." You called and Bjorn relaxed as he plonked a child on his shoulders.

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"You have grown so strong." You whispered to your youngest child. Your heart felt like it swelled and you were flushed with happiness to have the child in your arms again.

"All but one in bed." Bjorn muttered. He sat with his back to you. "The Thrall have fixed you a bath and your clothes are... where they were."

"Thank you." You said genuinely and he nodded, taking the child from you, smiling at you reluctance to let them go.

When he returned you were sinking into the warm bath. "I am sorry that I left you." He said finally and you smiled.

"You do not need to be. If you had not, I would still have no answers." You leant around to look at him and he prowled forwards.

"Then you have made up your mind?" he asked as he hovered over the bath as if his looming figure felt quiet out of place in his own home.

"The places and people I wanted to find could not be found. I realised there was something that I missed." Your eyes fell shut when Bjorn's fingers moved to unfasten your hair and his fingers stroked through the strands.

"The children?" He asked, kneeling next to the bath as his fingers worked knots out of you shoulders, leaving goosebumps down your neck.

"And other things." You said as you leant into his hand.

"Other things?" He asked with an almost broken whisper. His hand trailed down your neck, skimming your breasts as they continued the feathered touch. When he leant in your moaned softly, head tipping back to lean on the arm that rested on the edge of the bath.

"Bjorn." You groaned breathlessly in response to the touches that had a fire burning in you. You could feel him smiling as he kissed your neck. He hummed appreciatively at the sound, setting his mind to drawing more luscious sounds from you.