The Prince and the Sol

*Christmas with the Odinsons Part 2*

(Following the epilogue of this book. In case you need a recap, it's Christmastime, Eliza's pregnant again, and it's four years after Endgame)

ELIZA'S POV

"Love, are you almost ready to go?" Loki asks, smiling a bit as he watches me pin back my black curls with the golden barrettes he got me for Christmas. Tonight is the annual Christmas charity gala for Stark Industries, and we're running behind schedule. Kind of bad, considering I'm a CEO. But these things happen.

"Yes, just give me a minute." I straighten out my new dress. Long, dark green and fitted. Lucky I'm not showing yet, or our friends might get suspicious. But our secret is safe for now. It's too early to tell them. Claire doesn't even know. "Do I look okay?"

"No." I glance at him, startled and a little hurt, but he grins. "You don't look okay. You look amazing."

"Aw, thanks, Lokes." As usual, his dressed up look is an all-black suit. There's something to be said for consistency. Especially when consistency looks like, well, my husband. "We'd better get going. I shouldn't be late for my own party."

"True." He grabs my hand and teleports us to the Avengers compound, where we're supposed to meet the others before heading to the gala. But as soon as I get over the nausea of teleporting, I smack my forehead.

"We need to go back."

"Why?" He questions.

With red creeping up my neck, I stammer out, "I forgot my shoes."

He looks down, and sure enough, I'm standing barefoot in the hallway. Loki bends over in hysterical laughter until I push him over. "All right, all right," he says, tears of laughter still in his eyes as I offer him a hand up. 

Two minutes later, we're back, me wearing proper footwear this time. We meet the others attending on the ground floor. Everyone is glamorous in suits and dresses, and I can feel everyone's excitement quivering in the air.

"Hi everyone!" I say enthusiastically, waving.

"Okay, now that Eliza and Loki decided to join us, we can finally get this show on the road!" Bruce jokes, pushing me playfully towards the front. Happy grins.

"All right. In the first limo, we've got Eliza, Loki, Pepper, Peter, Bruce, and Thor. And in the second, we've got Stephen, Wanda, Rhodey and me. We good? Good."

The limousines are only a formality, considering the drive to Stark Industries lasts about five minutes, tops. Through this five minute drive, Peter won't stop messing with his bow tie and Bruce won't stop talking about something he's working on in the lab. It does sound interesting, but my mind is far away, focusing on all of the preparations I made for tonight.

Once we arrive, the cameras are all over us. I fight the urge to cringe away. While I'm a social person, I don't like the media attention. However, thanks to many hours of coaching, I'm proficient at least. After a few solo shots, Loki joins me, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Let's go inside, my little sol," he whispers into my hair. I nod. Loki knows I don't like the cameras, so he leads me in, shielding me from the majority of them.

Inside, the banquet hall is full of guests and buffet tables. I immediately pull Loki over to the food, him laughing at me all of the way. I was ecstatic when Pepper put me in charge of the food. That's like a pregnant lady's dream: her favorite food on an unlimited budget.

"Oh, guess what, guess what!" I say excitedly. Loki smirks.

"I give up."

"You're no fun," I pout, but it doesn't last long. "Look what we're debuting tonight!" I point to a massive container of light pink ice cream.