You held Narvi close to you as you stepped into the Bifrost. The Bifrost was safe, you knew it was safe, but you never forgot that Loki had once called from the Bifrost, had once fallen to what should have been his death, and had been his torture and enslavement instead. You wouldn't take a risk with your Narvi. You saw that Loki's grip on Vali was just as tight and knew he was having the same thoughts you were. He wouldn't risk her either. Not without doing everything in his power to protect her.
You all finally landed safely right outside the tower. You were all quite used to traveling by Bifrost, so all four of you took the landing well. You took a deep breath when the Bifrost vanished from around you. There was no ambient magic on Midgard, so it had a distinctive smell and feel from Asgard. And even though it was New York, you took a deep breath of home.
Asgard was your home too, would always be your home, since you were a princess there and practically immortal now, but Midgard was your first home. It would always feel like home, and there was nothing like the feeling of returning to the place you grew up. You spent the first 18 years of your life here and even now that you were married, you usually spent at least half the year with the team. The other half was spent on Asgard and your duties there.
You weren't at all surprised when the press started arriving moments after you landed. You gestured quickly and fixed Thor's hair before the press could start taking pictures of it. You could have a conversation with Vali later about appropriate use of magic and how she shouldn't turn her uncle's hair blue. For the moment, though you had to keep the twins calm while their pictures were taken by the press. /Narvi, there are people approaching. You have to be nice to them and smile for them. Mama's going to be right here with you/ you told your son telepathically. You saw from the slightly glazed look in Loki's eyes that he was having the same conversation with Vali.
/Yes, mama/ Narvi replied obediently. He was always obedient for you. He was a mama's boy after all.
You kissed his forehead, knowing the press was watching and not caring. They could see you being tender with your son. You turned to the press and posed for pictures, answer questions about your children and playing the role of proud royal couple. For Americans not having a royal family, they were really obsessed about other countries' royal families. Especially Britain and Asgard. Yes, Asgard was quite different than Britain and much further away, so you at least understood why they were interested in the aliens from Asgard.
You had to excuse yourselves when the twins got too upset at their pictures being taken. You were polite to the press as you tried to get away from them. You thought you were saved when the team came out of the tower to greet you, or to make sure you were alright. You hadn't been able to send them as many letters as you'd have liked and realized that they might not know everything that was going on. When you saw their expressions at your wings, you remembered that you hadn't figured out how to tell them that you'd died.
Oops.
You were going to have to tell them about that soon.
In the meantime, you suffered through a couple more pictures with the entire team before Cap finally got you free from the press and back in the tower. Narvi relaxed in your arms when you were in the quiet tower. You couldn't help looking around with a grin. You were home. Well and truly properly home.
"So, kid. You going to tell us how you got wings?" Stark asked when you were safely inside the building. He had taken a liking to you back when Thor first rescued you and Tony's lawyers forcibly took you from your foster home. It was probably because you healed him all the time when he was being stupid, though not as much as you'd always healed Clint, who seemed to get shot every five minutes.
"Once we're upstairs and comfortable," you agreed with a laugh as you changed your clothes to jeans and a halter top to accommodate your wings. Loki's clothes also automatically shimmered to clothes appropriate for Midgard as you stepped into the elevator. The twins were looking at everything with wide curious eyes.
You beamed when you were back in the common room. You'd spent hours upon hours here, hanging out with the team in almost all of your free moments. Thor immediately went to raid the pantry for pop tarts. Clint was gone. You had a feeling he was watching from the vents instead of socializing properly. The team took their usual places on the various couches and comfy chairs around the common room.
Some things never changed.
"So... wings?" Tony pressed once everyone was settled.
"In a minute," you told him, rolling your eyes at his impatience. Really, the man never changed. "First, we have introductions to make," you reminded him.
Nat lit up. "Shut up, Stark, I want to play with the babies," she told him and reached for Narvi.
"This is Narvi, our son," you told her, then looked at Narvi. /Aunt Nat is nice. She wants to cuddle/ you reassured him before you passed him over. "Don't take him out of being able to see me or he'll freak out," you warned Nat. She ignored you, content to sit on the couch nearby and cuddled Narvi while cooing to him in Russian.
"And this is our darling daughter, Vali," Loki said as she was passed carefully to Wanda. Loki and Wanda had gotten close after she moved into the tower. She was a little sister to him and he taught her magic when he was in the tower.
You played pass the baby while you caught the team up on everything that had happened while you were gone. It took a long time and Loki and Thor helped fill in the details so you didn't have to do all of the talking. The team all looked horrified when you finally explained that you had died.
"What does it mean that you're a valkyrie now?" Nat asked, observant as ever on the finer details.
You sighed. "We'll find out in time. For now, it means that I got to come home to my husband and children. That was the important part at the moment. The rest we'll deal with then the time comes,"
"Together, witchling. We will deal with it together," Loki reassured you. Together, just like you always had faced adversaries and just like you always would.
"Together," you agreed and leaned up to kiss him while the team catcalled.
Absolutely nothing had changed.
