When Anna met Loki

Chapter 5

Looking back at the seven months that have passed Anna needed to shake her head in disbelief. All the visits that she had during that time have made the months quite entertaining and for sure full of surprises. Not all of them nice though. She was now dragging quite a sizeable belly in front of her. The nausea passed long ago, but she could still remember the flight back home with Natasha...

...She felt sick almost right after they took off.
"Please, don't puke in my ship, Anna," Natasha commented on seeing how pale she was.
"Then you better take me home quickly," Anna whispered with her eyes closed. Natasha did speed up, but it did not make Anna feel any better. The moment they landed she rushed out to the house and the bathroom. When she came out Natasha was waiting for her in the kitchen looking around. She poured Anna a glass of water.
"This place is quite different from the place you spent the last several days in..."
"Tell me about it," Anna said with a smile, "But I'm glad to be home. This is my kingdom. Here, I rule and conquer and here I feel strong..." She noticed Natasha smiling. "Sorry about that, not sure why I'm telling you that."
"No, that's fine. I understand... I think. Anyway, I'll be going."
"Thank you for bringing me home." Anna took her back pack from Natasha and added. "You know, I would be very glad if you would pop in every now and then... I would really like to know how the others are doing, especially one of them..."
"Well, I guess I might take a break every now and then..." Natasha said, but did not seem convinced.
"Just pop in if you can. I'm always here," Anna ended the topic as she noticed Romanoff started to feel awkward. In return Nat just nodded and was off.

First thing Anna did after coming back was to empty the fridge – she was away for only a couple of days, but it was long enough for its content to try to live a life of its own.
She called Sam to report that she is safe and sound and back home and that she is planning to pick Emily from school and take her shopping. She missed her niece enormously, plus the fridge was in desperate need of refilling.
Emily was happy to see her. The joy however quickly gave way to disappointment when she learnt that Aunt Anna had not brought her anything from her trip. Anna smirked at the thought of what she might have brought for Emily from the Avengers base... that would actually be suitable for a child.
She took her time when shopping; did not want to return to work... just for a few more hours. The last days were so intense, but in the end turned out to be fruitful and gave her a piece of mind – which considering the circumstances, was kind of surprising. So, before returning to ruling and conquering, she decided to be carefree for a few more moments. Emily's company was for sure helping.
But once they bought all the candy possible and stocked the fridge with other things than only sweets, nothing else was left for Anna, but to go back to work. The open door to her office was as an invitation that she could not turn down. The moment she went in, she forgot about the recent events and dove into the phone calls, meetings, negotiations. She was meeting with Tim, did her tours around the premises, planning the expansion with Sam.
As busy as she again was, there was one thing that she could not push away. Sam and Alice needed to be told. She felt bad at the thought that the Avengers knew about the baby, but her own family did not. So one evening, when she knew that Emily was already asleep, she knocked on their door. Alice opened, surprised to see her.
"Anna, you have not popped for an evening visit for... how long has it been, Sam?" She looked at her husband. "A year?"
"Oh, really!? It cannot be that long." Anna smiled.
"I'm afraid it is, sister dear." Sam rose from the couch, switched off the TV. They sat around the kitchen table. Alice poured everyone some wine. Anna took the glass, but just played with it. "So, to what do we own the honour?"
"Oh, c'mon!" Anna pretended to be slighted. "Can't I just pop in for a chat?"
"Of course you can, dear." Alice said smiling, but none of them was convinced.
Anna looked at them.
"Ok, fine," She gave in. She took a deep breath, looked at Sam, as she had a feeling this would hit him the most. "I'm expecting a baby," Anna said with a shy smile.
Sam and Alice were both stunned, as was to be expected. Alice reacted first by taking away the glass of wine from Anna and pouring her some lemonade.
"Anna, but are you sure?" she asked gently. "We thought you cannot have children."
"I'm sure," Anna nodded. "Doctor Martin confirmed that."
"But how is it possible...?" Alice could not believe it. "I mean I'm so happy for you. I gave up hope for Emily to ever have a cousin." She stood up and hugged Anna
"Using my power of deduction," Sam started, and it was difficult to read whether he was excited or pissed. "I'm assuming that your old school friend, Leo, is the father?"
Anna just nodded.
"Jesus, Anna!" He was pissed after all. "What were you thinking! Spreading your legs before the first super-hero that comes around!"
"Sam!" Alice was shocked with his words. "What are you saying?!"