The Prince and the Sol

*Europe Pt. 2*

ELIZA'S POV

It's around four in the morning when I quietly unlock the front door and creep into my house. I almost trip over Ophelia, who seems to love roaming in the early hours of morning. She gets a quick scratch on the ears. Moonlight falls upon the floorboards as I tiptoe upstairs and to my bedroom. When I enter, I realize I'm not the only one awake. The small table side lamp casts a faint glow across the room. Loki drops his book on the bed and immediately engulfs me in a hug.

"Hi trickster," I whisper, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "It's okay, I'm here now." His green eyes flicker in the near-dark.

"I missed you," he mumbles, nuzzling his head into my neck. His long hair tickles my nose.

"Lokes, it's been less than twenty-four hours." But I know exactly what he means. When you love someone this much, any time apart seems like an eternity. Twenty-four hours might as well be twenty-four years.

"I know. I was just worried about you."

"You don't need to. I can take care of myself, love."

"I know. But you shouldn't have to." He gives me a small smile. "Why don't you get changed out of the suit and we can talk more in bed?" I nod and pull on a gray t-shirt and leggings before climbing into bed next to Loki. We lay close, facing each other.

"How's Claire?"

"She's fine. Fell asleep a few hours ago. I think she missed her mother, though." He winks. "So did I."

"And I missed both of you, too."

"Are you going to tell me what happened today? That whole mission was rather quick, darling."

I sigh, holding up my hand. He immediately entwines his long fingers in mine, cool and comforting as ever. "I took the plane to Venice and went to this underground place. Fury introduced me to a man I had never seen before named Quentin Beck. He saved Venice from a force called the Elementals, and apparently there's a multiverse." Loki patiently listens as I explain the situation, never interrupting, only nodding thoughtfully and asking occasional questions. "And then Peter left to go back to his class and I headed home."

"So they're going to Prague to destroy the final one?" Loki asks.

I nod. "Quentin's going with SHIELD. They should be able to handle it." Even I can hear the doubt in my voice.

"My little sol, you don't need to fix everything all of the time," he reminds me gently. "They'll call if they need our help. Until then, let's just try to relax and trust them."

"I wish it was that easy." Mending others' is my specialty, whether it's a problem or a paper cut. I move closer to him, and he puts his arms around me. "I love you."

"I love you too." Laying here with him, my eyelids begin to droop and I almost fall asleep, but crying pulls me out of it. Specifically, Claire's crying. I carefully slide out of Loki's embrace and tiptoe towards her room, where I push open the door and scoop her out of the crib. I still can't get over how small she is. And how much I love her. 

"Hey pumpkin," I whisper, letting my calm flow into her. She slowly begins to quiet down. "Did you have a nightmare? Your daddy gets those, too. And so do I. Don't worry. We'll always be here to help each other fight through them. That's what we do. We save each other." The baby falls back asleep and I give her a kiss before placing her back in the crib and going back into the bedroom. Loki still seems to be sleeping, so I try to not disturb him as I get under the blankets, but once I'm laying down, he puts his arms around me again.

"You're a good mother, you know," he whispers in my ear. "You've always been good at taking care of people."

"Thank you," I whisper back. "Can you believe how all of this turned out? I never would have imagined it all like this."