"Good morning my darling wife," Loki whispered softly as he kissed me awake.
I opened my eyes. Sunlight was streaming in through a gap in the curtains, and Loki was lying next to me, his eyes twinkling into mine.
"Hello there, husband of mine," I whispered sleepily.
Husband.
HUSBAND!
My eyes flew wide open.
"We're married!"
"Yes, we are," Loki grinned.
"WE'RE MARRIED!"
"Bit slow on the uptake there, darling, but yes," Loki agreed.
"Do you know what that means?"
"Copious amounts of sex?" Loki asked hopefully.
"Well, that too," I grinned. "But do you know what else it means? It means..."
I sat up in bed and threw my hands in the air. Loki raised an eyebrow in appreciation, I wasn't wearing anything.
"It means.." I thrilled, narrowly escaping his embrace as I hopped out of bed, promptly getting tangled in the sheets while doing so and nearly falling on my face.
"It means..." I sang again as I twirled around the room with my arms wide.
"It means you are going to sing and dance around the room naked every morning?" Loki laughed as he sat up in bed, "I wasn't aware that was a benefit of marriage, but if so, I'm all for it!"
"It means..."
"Oof," Loki exclaimed and fell back into the pillow as I tripped over my feet and landed right on top of him.
"What does it mean then, you absurd creature?" he grinned as he looked up at me.
"It means.... I'M A DISNEY PRINCESS!" I crowed jubilantly.
"Wha?!" Loki stared up at me in shocked surprise.
"How by Ygdrasill's gnarly roots did you come to that conclusion?"
I grinned and kissed him on his nose.
"I'm married to you, right? And you are Loki..."
For a moment Loki seemed to consider denying it. "I suppose I am... yes," he admitted cautiously.
"And Loki is owned by Marvel and Marvel is owned by Disney which makes Loki a Disney prince and thus I am now a Disney princess!"
"Did you sustain a head injury during combat last night?" Loki asked suspiciously.
"Move over Belle, Rapunzel and Leia, and make room for Sorcha!" I thrilled. "From now on mice will wash my dishes, birds will hang up my laundry and small rodents will dress me, or however Disney princesses get dressed," I proclaimed happily.
Loki tried to sit up, a horrified expression on his face. But I was still lying on top of him and he let himself fall back, his long hair spread out over the pillow around him like a black dandelion.
"Absolutely not!" He said after a moment. "As your husband, I forbid it. You will never mention this again."
"As your husband I forbid it?" I repeated as I pealed with laughter. "Did you really think that was going to work?"
Loki grinned back. "It was worth a try. I'm an eternal optimist and I'm not afraid to take a chance, no matter how unlikely its success."
He grabbed me and rolled me onto my own side of the bed, pinning me down beneath him.
He smiled wickedly as he looked down at me.
"You may not be a Disney princess, but you are royalty now. Goddess Queen of Jotunnheim to be exact, your Majesty."
It was my turn to look horrified. I hadn't even considered that.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything, right?"
Loki sat up. "On the contrary, that means everything."
"But, there aren't really any Jotunn left..."
The thought of being queen terrified me for some reason. I prefer to be in the background, not the centre of attention.
"Can't I make you king instead?"
"No, you can not," Loki said softly. "There is only us now. The least we can do is respect and uphold the customs of our people."
"Of course," I agreed, I could see from the look on his face how important this was to him.
"And what does that make you?"
"Prince Consort to the Goddess Queen of Jotunnheim, and General of her Armies." He smiled wryly, "said armies constituting out of all of one of me."
"I outrank you?" my eyes started gleaming and I could feel the corner of my mouth twitch.
"Eh... technically, yes," Loki hedged, noticing the glint in my eye.
"Does that mean you will have to obey my every whim from now on?"
It was Loki's turn to burst out in laughter.
"How well do you know me by now, my adorably deranged wife? I'm certain you know the answer to that question!"
I pulled him back on top of me.
"I can think of a few ways to make you promise to obey my every whim," I whispered in his ear.
A lascivious smile crept over Loki's face as he growled back: "And I can think of more than a few ways to make you obey mine!"
I wrapped my arms around him, feeling my whole body begin to tingle as he knew exactly what to do to make me forget everything about queens and princesses and continue to enjoy the sheer pleasure that had been our wedding night.
There is only so long one can stay in bed, however, even on the night and morning after their wedding. Especially since we hadn't had anything to eat since the morning before. Eventually, the growling of Loki's stomach became too loud to ignore, and reluctantly we put on some clothes and made our way to the kitchen.
Jessie had stayed the night at Richard's and neither of us had heard Thor leave that morning although admittedly, we hadn't exactly been paying attention.
We were in the middle of making breakfast together as the front door opened. I readied my magic at the same time as Loki summoned his daggers.
"Mum? Loki? Are you home?"
We smiled at each other in relief and walked into the hallway to greet Jessie and Thor who was with her.
"I asked Uncle Thor to pick me up because you weren't answering your phones. He said that there was trouble yesterday. Are you two okay?" Jessie's face was pale and anxious.
Loki and I looked at each other, the huge grin on his face mirroring my own as we held up our hands to show off our wedding rings.
"MUM!" Jessie let out a scream of joy and barreled right into my arms, nearly knocking me over.
"Are you pleased, Jess?" Loki asked Jessie.
"I couldn't be happier," she nodded tearfully. "Now you finally really are my stepdad!"
The three of us hugged for a moment longer, Loki's eyes shimmering suspiciously as they met mine.
"Brother, about yesterday, and trying to bring you back to Asgard..." Thor began hesitantly. He too had made the mistake of believing Anna, of not even giving Loki the benefit of doubt.
I saw Loki's face darken as he frowned.
I tensed. The brothers had gotten close since Thor's arrival, but Loki could be terribly unforgiving at times.
Before I could say anything, however, a smile broke through.
"Water under the bridge brother, let bygones be bygones for once. I'm too happy on this glorious day to let it be ruined by holding a grudge."
Thor beamed back.
"I can't believe you found someone crazy enough to marry your scrawny behind," Thor rumbled happily.
"I'll have you know my scrawny behind is the reason she married me in the first place," Loki grinned back.
"Cow," Thor chuckled.
"Chicken," Loki guffawed.
"Are they arguing or what?" Jessie asked me quietly.
"I think they mean it affectionately," I grinned.
I wasn't wrong because Thor engulfed Loki in a hug, lifting him off the ground.
"Unhand me, you big oaf!" Loki sounded rather muffled.
"Not until you hug me back," Thor laughed.
Loki had no choice but to give in and eventually Thor got his hug. Loki held on longer than Thor did, and I could see his shoulders were shaking.
"Hey, it's okay brother," Thor patted Loki on his back. "You are okay."
Loki wiped his eyes.
"I am, I really am," he smiled through his tears. "I couldn't be better!"
We all had breakfast together, more like a brunch really, while we filled Thor and Jessie in on everything that had happened.
"Oh, I was supposed to ask you to ring Richard, I completely forgot with everything that happened!" Jessie remembered suddenly.
I blushed as I remembered I had turned my phone off the moment we had left London. I hadn't really wanted any interruptions that night!
"Don't ring him just yet," Loki advised. "Think about what step you wish to take next."
"I don't think it will be up to me though," I said, "I'm going to get fired, right?"
"You can control your own fate more than you think, my dear," Loki began, just as the doorbell rang.
"Go upstairs, Jessie," Loki interrupted himself as he conjured a pair of daggers. Thor had Mjolnir in hand, I was gathering my anima.
Jessie nodded and ran.
I opened the door, a ball of fire ready in one hand. It was Richard, and Dame Julia Beatrix Tyburn was with him.
"We're here to talk," Richard said, holding up his hands.
"Stand down agent, we aren't a threat to you or yours," Dame Tyburn said at the same time.
I let my spell fizzle and lead them into the kitchen. I trusted Richard. Loki and Thor kept their weapons out, they were far less trusting than I was.
I didn't offer them tea though. Or biscuits. I wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was for hosting colleagues from an organisation that had tried to kill you and your spouse on your wedding night, but I was pretty certain it didn't involve biscuits.
"Let us agree to keep this brief," Loki said, coming straight to the point. "As much as I adore spending countless hours at the negotiating table..."
"And he does," Thor interrupted. "He truly does. It's one of his favourite things."
Loki glared at him.
"As much as it is truly one of life's greatest pleasures to me, I'd rather spend the day celebrating with my family."
Richard raised an eyebrow at me. I held up my hand and wiggled my fingers.
"No...." he mouthed with a grin.
"Yes!" I mouthed back. Richard beamed at me. While he had never really liked Loki all that much, he was delighted to see me happy.
"Very well," Dame Tyburn agreed. "As in all negotiations, you have something we want, and we have something you want."
"Such is always the way," Loki nodded.
"My first and foremost concern is the safety of my family. Your organisation nearly killed my wife and brother and shot me out of the sky. I am neither a forgiving nor a forgetful god. I demand not only reassurances that this will not happen again, but I also demand reparations."
Dame Tyburn smiled a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"And you killed several of our most talented agents and blew the roof of our building. I could ask you for the same."
"That was self-defence," Thor rumbled.
"During the fight at Jotunnhold and the fight on Solomon Island, yes. But your brother and..." Dame Tybrun hesitated as she looked at the rings on our hands, "sister-in-law not only invaded our property and did significant damage to the building, they killed multiple guards who were merely defending themselves."
"That's not true," I said. "They opened fire the moment they saw us."
Dame Tyburn looked at Richard who gave a slight nod. "The security footage agrees," he said.
"Again, I would like to keep this short," Loki said curtly.
"You want reassurance we won't assault your organisation in the future, we want the same from your side. So let us agree to that, shall we?"
"We can agree to that," Dame Tyburn said after a moment of hesitation. "As long as you or your family aren't a threat to us or humanity as a whole, we will hold our fire."
"And as long as you are not a threat to me or mine, we shall do the same," Loki promised.
"Now, how can we guarantee you will keep to your promise?" Loki asked.
"We could ask the same of you," Dame Tyburn snapped at Loki, "you aren't known for keeping your promises."
"And I was not the first one to use lethal force either," Loki bit back.
"The Templars who attacked you were a faction within a faction," Richard reassured him, "The attacks on you at Jotunnhold and the island were both unauthorised. They will be dealt with internally."
"And all I have is your word for that?" Loki asked snidely.
"Yes. Listen, Loki, we might not always see eye to eye but what happened last night goes against everything I believe we stand for. Dame Tyburn and I are here because we both believe what happened with Anna and the rogue agents was wrong.
We are here to apologise."
Dame Tyborn's eyebrows shot up at the same time as Loki's.
"We are," Richard said to Dame Tyburn before she got a word in edgewise. "We shot at one of our own, two of our own if you count Thor. And he should be counted, he has gracefully been at our disposal since the moment he arrived.
And while Loki might not be one of us, he has worked and fought valiantly by our agent's side, despite the way our organisation mistreated him in the past.
We owe them an apology. All three of them."
I smiled gratefully at Richard. I knew this could cost him his career, but he was willing to do the right thing anyway.
"Very well, apology accepted. For the moment, anyway," Loki still didn't trust them completely.
"That leaves my wife's future at your organisation. That is of course if she believes there still is one." Loki eyed me questioningly.
I hesitated for a moment.
"I'm not sure how much I still trust the Templars," I said honestly, "or how much I still believe they are as honourable and righteous as they claim to be.
But I love my job. I was given my powers for a reason, and I don't think I can live up to my responsibilities without their network.
It's not like people light up a Bee signal when they need help, or like I can just find supernatural events in the newspaper.
I want to keep doing my job. I am good at it, and I believe I am helping people when I do so."
Loki didn't look surprised at my answer. As a matter of fact, he smiled and nodded. He had known the answer before he asked, he had just wanted to have the others hear me say it. I smiled back.
"We can agree to keep agent..."
"Laufeyson,", I interrupted. "Knight Elect Sorcha Laufeyson."
"We can agree to keep Agent Laufeyson amongst our ranks. And in return..."
"There is no 'in return'," Thor interrupted. "You should be happy to have her. And Loki and me. We are a package deal! You should be begging us to come back!"
"...in return we want unlimited access to Jotunnhold and the discoveries that lie within!" Dame Tyburn ignored Thor.
"That is never going to happen," I said immediately. "You have no right to anything in there, everything there belongs to Jotunnheim."
"I am so glad you two are leaving these negations to me, one of the realms' greatest diplomats," Loki said sarcastically.
"No unlimited access and nothing leaves the premise without the express permission of either the Queen or the Prince Consort. There will only be a small team of hand-picked scientists and researchers, all of whom must be approved by us first. Any breach of our agreement, no matter how small, will lead to termination of said agreement."
"The Queen?" Richard asked in surprise.
"Her Royal Majesty the Goddess Queen Sorcha of Jotunnheim, as per our customs, yes," Loki replied archly.
"We agree to your terms," Dame Tyburn stood up and held out her hand at Loki.
"We will of course expect you to put all of this in writing," Loki eyed her hand in distaste but shook it reluctantly.
"Certainly," Dame Tyburn reassured him. "And if you will excuse us now, we will leave you and your family to your celebrations. Congratulations to you both on your marriage."
Richard gave me a big hug before he left. "I am really very happy for you," he smiled.
"Why did you agree to give the Templars access to Jotunnhold?" I asked Loki once they had left. "I know how important it is to you, whatever we'll find there!"
"Because you, my darling, have a glorious destiny, and I would never dream of getting in the way of that. They wouldn't have agreed to let you return to your position without it, and even if they would have there would have been too much bad blood. This sweetened the pill."
"Loki..." I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer, "you are really an amazing husband sometimes, you know that?"
"Only sometimes?" he teased. I kissed him as a reply.
"Besides," Loki said as his eyes suddenly sparkled mischievously. "The place is huge, it will be nice to have some poor saps to order around and make do the drudgework!"