On the day of Edwin's arrival with Rory and Lyra, we wanted to have a meal to welcome them without the associated feast in case it proved to be too big of an event. Besides, we'd had so many in the five months we'd been there, we all wanted a break from them.
So rather than a full feast, we had organized a large meal in the dining hall and invited the family and Thor's closest friends. All the people I shared a thread with on Asgard would be at the dinner. When everyone was there it would be like a rainbow loom of light overlaying everything for me. The meal would be served to us as a series of courses rather than platters on the table, but it wasn't going to be a ridiculous number of them. There would be five in all. Appetizers, followed by starters, a soup, main, and dessert.
Tony, Thor, and Riley went down to meet them at the Bifrost and the rest of us waited in the dining hall. We hadn't started either Thour or Nova on solids yet, but the two would be sitting in high chairs while we ate and before they were even put in them, Inky and Icy were waiting under the chairs for them.
"How do they know where the babies are going to sit?" I asked.
"They are used to seeing Flynn in one of these and assumed that the twins would be going in these two," Bucky said. "And they figured that if Piper drops a lot of food, these two will drop more."
"Tell them they're not eating food yet," I said.
Bucky crouched down and patted Inky's head. "You hear that? No solids for the babies. They're still nursing."
Inky chittered impatiently and Bucky laughed. "He thinks you're coddling them too much."
"Oh good - parenting advice from a couple of alien foxes," I laughed.
The doors opened and I spun around to see Riley, Thor, Edwin, Rory, and Lyra enter. I rushed over with Thour on my hip and hugged Eddie. "Welcome back," I said.
"Okay, mom," he chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me. "Settle down. I haven't been gone that long."
"Long enough," I said.
Bruce cleared his throat behind me. "El, you gonna give the rest of us a go?"
I laughed and pulled back. "Be patient," I scolded, letting Edwin move past me to Bruce. I turned to Lyra and kissed her cheek. "Welcome to Asgard," I said.
"Thank you," she replied. "Getting here was straight out of Star Trek or something. And then... it's - it reminded me of the Never Ending Story or something."
I saw a lot of myself in Lyra at that moment. It was funny how you think you can know your children's partners and then they say something that throws them in a whole different light. "Oh yeah," I said. "The Ivory Tower."
"I can't believe the palace," Rory added, kissing my cheek. "I've been to Buckingham palace of course but that looks like a tiny cottage compared to this. It's like a city unto itself."
"It takes some getting used to," I agreed. "But we all hope that you grow to love it here."
"Let's all take a seat," Steve said. "We can catch up while we eat."
"Is this Eddie's new brother or sister?" Lyra asked.
"His sister. Thour," I said, and Thour started babbling happily.
"Can I hold her?" she asked.
"Of course," I said, holding her over.
Lyra smiled down at the infant who was still babbling away. "Oh really?" Lyra said. "Is that so? I had no idea."
"Ly, come check out their weird little familiars," Edwin said, waving her over, to where he was crouched with the Vulparev.
"Oh no, they're like pokemon," she squealed, excitedly jogging over with Thour in her arms.
I took a seat between Wanda and Bucky and Wanda took my hand and threaded her fingers with mine. "Everyone's here," she said.
I kissed her fingers. "It's good isn't it?"
She wriggled in her seat a little and grinned at me. "You have no idea, Elly," she said cryptically.
"Can you two stop being so cute?" Bucky teased. "It makes the rest of us look bad."
Lunch went really well. It was exciting to have everyone here again and to be able to see the way our kids interacted with each other when they were all together again. I often wondered what Steve, Bruce, and Tony thought about when they watched our kids together given they'd all been only children. For me, who had been the scapegoat child in a large family, I loved seeing the way they bantered and playfully teased each other. I felt like I was part of something that I'd always sat on the outside of, and getting to watch my kids grow and find themselves and how they fit with everyone else had always felt like such a blessing. Even when they were fighting - which didn't happen a lot - helping them solve that problem felt like I was getting something that had been stolen from my own childhood.
Now they were mostly all adults making their own way in life and I loved seeing that too. Whether that be focusing on a career like Rebecca, or being a stay-at-home parent like Rose, or trying to find a place between the two the way that Billy did. I loved how they were all still close, even if they had different and even clashing personalities and life goals. I loved how they always got excited for new babies, regardless of if Rose was getting pregnant after trying for over a year, or Billy adopted, or something unplanned like with Sarah. I like how they were just as excited if it was a new niece or nephew as it was when they found out it was new siblings. I love how they always had each other's back.
I truly hoped that Edwin would stay, though I knew that I had to prepare for the fact he might not. It wasn't exactly uncommon for kids to move away from their family, and in this case, it was us who had moved away from them. It was a tall ask to expect all eight of our adult kids and their four partners to want to move too. It was sheer luck that Paul and Teddy had been so supportive of going in the first place.
From the sounds of it, the two main reasons that Edwin, Rory, and Lyra might not move here permanently were work and Rory's equally large family that he was also very close to. I hoped that what Asgard had to offer was enough to draw them in.
After dinner, the family went to take a tour of the palace and the grounds. However, the really little ones were starting to wane, so while Billy took Flynn back to their quarters, Wanda and I took Thour, Nova, and Zak back to ours.
I was feeding the twins when Wanda came out of the room that doubled as an office and Zak's bedroom when he was with us. There was a knock at the door and Wanda squeaked and rushed to it, throwing it open.
"I can't believe it, Eddie!" she squealed as she pulled Edwin rather reluctantly into her arms.
"Daj!" he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and patting her back. "You can't tell anyone."
"What? What can't she tell anyone? Why are you here and not on the tour?" I asked.
"Arghhh..." Edwin groaned dramatically and pulled away from Wanda and came and flopped down on the couch beside me. Wanda closed the door and practically skipped after him.
"What's going on?" I asked, genuinely perplexed at what would make Edwin so distressed while also making Wanda so excited, and why he'd have come here to make sure Wanda would keep his secret.
"Okay, mom," he said. "I'm gonna tell you something that's gonna make you flip out, but you have to keep it together, and it's a secret. Okay? No telling anyone else. Can I trust you?"
"Yes?" I said, uncertainly.
"Is that a question?" Edwin said, sounding way too much like Tony. "Mom! You have to promise."
"Okay! Okay! I promise."
Wanda started bouncing beside him which made Edwin roll his eyes. "Daj, calm..."
"Please, just tell me," I begged.
"Lyra is pregnant!" Wanda squeaked and quickly covered her mouth.
"Daj!" Edwin yelped.
My jaw dropped and I stared at them both. "Oh my god! Really?"
"Yes, mom," he said. I wanted to hug him and congratulate him and tell him how happy I was for him, but I was still nursing Thour and Nova and so I was a little trapped. I tapped my feet impatiently on the ground as Wanda hugged Edwin again.
"This is from your mom," she said as she rocked him back and forth.
"Thank you," he said, rubbing her back. "But I mean it, you can't tell anyone. We only just found out yesterday. We haven't even seen a doctor. I'm trying to convince her that seeing the healers here will be just as good."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," I said. "They're really advanced with some things. Normally I'd rather a healer than a doctor for most things, but there were complications with the twins and I hemorrhaged and they didn't know what to do. Your dads and Daj had to take over."
Edwin frowned. "Well, that's not going to convince her to stay."
"I know, but... that was really scary, Eddie," I said. "I think - I think at least for when she's due you should go back to Earth."
He shook his head and let out a breath. "I'll talk to her, and the healers, and maybe Loki too," he said.
"You're going to need to have this conversation with your dad too," I said. "Thor that is. He can not only tell when someone's pregnant, he's able to tell who the biological father is. And he will absolutely ruin it for you if you don't tell him not to."
"Ah, fuck," Eddie cursed and looked up at me. "Sorry, mom."
I laughed and shook his head. "I don't care if you swear. And I'm really excited for you all," I said. "No matter what we do, we'll all be there, you know that right?"
"Yeah, of course," he said, and kissed my cheek. "Okay, I better go back. I told everyone I needed to use the bathroom. They're probably wondering where I went."
"Thank you for telling us," I said as he got up.
He turned back as he got to the door. "No telling anyone. It's my news!"
Wanda started bouncing as soon as he left the room. "Can you believe it, Elly?"
"It's so exciting," I agreed. "Our sixth grandbaby."
"Could you see if her thread had split?" she asked.
"Not yet," I said. "Or at least I didn't notice. But if they only just found out that doesn't mean anything. It's really just the spark of life at this stage."
"Oh right," Wanda said, sitting back. She reached over and played with Nova's hand. "He's asleep."
"I know. They both are," I said.
She took him from me, and the two of us carried the babies to their cribs. When we put them both down, she wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled into my neck. "I'm so happy, Elly."
"Me too," I hummed, rubbing her back. "Sometimes I still feel shocked by how lucky I am."
She looked up at me and smiled. "Me too," she said, and leaned up and kissed me.
It started as something gentle and chaste, but I don't know if it was the fact that we were both so excited or just that we hadn't had any real alone time that didn't directly involve looking after the kids for months, but it soon became deep and passionate.
She pulled back breathlessly and tugged on my hands. "Let's go to bed, Elly."
"I was thinking the same thing, beautiful," I said.
She hurriedly led me across the room and up the stairs to the bed, and with a wave of her hand, our clothes went flying.
"Wanda!" I squealed and pounced on her. She started giggling and the two of us sank onto the mattress as we kissed passionately. I tangled my legs with hers, and we ground against each other as we kissed.
Neither of us wanted to stop kissing, our hands roamed over each other's bodies, and I gradually rolled her onto her back and straddled her waist, but our lips never left each other, even when they started to prickle and feel numb.
I angled my hips so that my vulva rubbed against hers, the slick of our sexes sliding against each other, making a warm prickle spread out through me. Wanda started to moan into my lips and I broke the kiss and leaned down to pull one of her nipples into my mouth.
She cradled my jaw and pulled my face back up to hers and I leaned my forehead against her.
"I'll use my powers," she said. "I just want to kiss you forever."
"Forever is a long time," I breathed.
"And we have it," she said and brought her lips to mine. As we kissed passionately, she flicked her wrist, engulfing us both in the warm buzz of her energy projection.
It made my skin prickle and flush, and my core clenched. I moved my hips faster, grinding down on her, and with each roll of my hips, the buzz from Wanda's powers increased against my pussy and made pressure push down in my core.
We kept kissing passionately and as my orgasm built hers broke and she jerked back suddenly with a loud moan, and her powers flickered out.
Her fingers dug into my ass and she pulled me up away from her pussy. "Come here, on my face," she panted.
I straddled her face and leaned back as she spread the lips of my pussy and began flicking her tongue over my clit. I used one hand to brace myself on her hips, and with the other I pulled back the hood from my clit, exposing the little bundle of nerves to her tongue. She suckled at it and flicked her tongue over it. I was already close to my release and it barely took anything to get me there. I bucked against her face and with a loud cry, I threw my head back and came.
I climbed off her with shaky legs and she rolled back into me, tangling her legs with mine and we started kissing again. That's how the others found us when they returned from their tour an hour later.