The blue and white light of the Bifrost fades as Cora and the others land in the Observatory. Just as Heimdall is about to welcome the kids back, Eluf's screams radiate through the Observatory. Cora looks and sees him laying on the floor toward the entrance.
"Is that a baby?" Olivia asks concerned as Cora goes and picks Eluf up off the ground. Cora looks down and rolls her eyes as she cradles Eluf. Eluf's screams quiet down as he looks at Cora.
"He started screaming again, not even ten minutes after you left." Heimdall states, Cora looks at him and then to Eluf and shakes her head.
"We have to get you used to when sister leaves, don't we?" Cora coos at Eluf, who makes little noises as he stares at Cora.
"Uh, Cora? Do you mind catching us up on what all we clearly missed?" Olivia asks, Cora walks back to the group that still stands in the landing pad.
"To make a long story short, my mother had a baby three months ago, and I found out about him, this morning, before getting you guys." Cora says as she gestures to Eluf when she says the word baby. Peter, Andre, and Olivia all look at Cora with shocked expressions.
"It appears he has learned to teleport." Heimdall says, as Cora is about to agree with Heimdall, chatter goes on in her ear piece.
"Cora, we need your help. Eluf has gone missing. And your mother is hysterical." Thor says, Cora looks down at Eluf and shakes her head.
"Looks like he's learned to teleport. Cause he teleported to the floor by the entrance of the Observatory just as we came back." Cora says into her communicator, she hears Thor breathe a sigh of relief. Just as Cora looks up from Eluf, Loki teleports into the Observatory, and walks to Cora.
"What are we going to do with you, little one?" Loki says as he takes Eluf from Cora. Eluf begins to fuss a little, and Cora lightly rubs his head. Flittering her fingers, Cora makes the little orbs appear above Eluf's head again. He watches as they slowly revolve around his head.
"Good to see you are back in one piece." Loki says as he uses one of his arms to side hug Cora. Then lightly kisses the top of her head.
"Told you guys I wouldn't be long. Just long enough to mess with the others and bring them back." Cora says as she gestures to Peter, Andre, and Olivia.
"Yours and your friends help is needed over at the ceremony space." Loki looks at Cora and tells her. Cora nods and she begins to walk out of the Observatory behind Loki.
"Where is the ceremony taking place?" Olivia asks, Cora turns back to her friends.
"The main balcony, outside the throne room." Cora answers, Olivia waves her hand and the portal to transport them to the balcony appears. They walk through the portal and stand at the end of the balcony.
"You guys look like you are wrestling a piñata for its candy." Cora laughs as she watches Fandral and Thor try to untangle a massive ball of plastic streamers.
"Well, you try and undo this infernal thing." Thor says as he throws the wad of streamers on the ground.
Cora and Olivia step up and each take a side of the streamers, both Cora and Olivia examine the streamers before looking at each other and nodding. Cora pulls up her side of the streamers, then pulls at a strand on the bottom. Olivia does the same thing, and the streamers fall to the ground, no longer a tangled mess.
Thor and Fandral gawk at both girls, as they smirk and shake their heads. Cora uses her powers to levitate the streamers off the ground, runs them down the walls, then hangs them from the vine that hangs overhead.
"You would think these two would know the most effective way to untangle streamers." Cora says as she shakes her head at Fandral and Thor.
"At least that infernal thing is now taken care of." Thor says as he walks away from the balcony and back into the throne room.
"What else needs to be done?" Cora asks as she looks at Fandral, Fandral pulls out a piece of paper and reads it.
"Streamers are done, we need the carpet drawn from the throne room entrance all the way out to here, then place the giant vases on either side of the archway, the archway still needs to be put up, the fireworks display for after the ceremony needs to be in place and ready to go once the signal is given." Fandral says, as he looks between Cora and the others.
"There is still a lot to do." Andre states, Fandral nods and walks up to Cora.
"At your parents request, they would like you to handle Eluf during the initial ceremony. Your mother would also like it if you were the one to escort her down the aisle." Fandral says, Cora's eyes go wide as she process what Fandral has said.
"She wants me, to walk her down the aisle? And take care of Eluf, during the ceremony. Who wants to be on baby duty, while I walk my mom down the aisle?" Cora turns and looks at her friends, both Andre and Peter take big steps back, leaving Olivia front and center.
"Oh no, you two don't." Cora says and waves her pointer and middle fingers toward the boys, who slide back into the spots they had just been standing in.
"If these two want to be wimps, and not step up to the plate, then I'll do it." Olivia says and crosses her arms, while she rolls her eyes.
"Dad, I need to borrow Eluf for a second." Cora mentally says, then Loki appears next to her holding Eluf.
"Testing to see who won't make him scream during the ceremony?" Loki asks, Cora nods her head, then takes Eluf from Loki and walks up to Andre. Looking terrified, Andre stiffly holds his hands out.
"Dre, it's a baby. Not a football, curl your arms inward." Cora instructs, Dre straightens up and does what Cora says, Eluf looks at Cora as she places him in Andre's arms, immediately Eluf begins to wail.
"Well, Dre is a no go." Cora exclaims as she quickly takes Eluf from him. She looks at Peter and he begins to quickly shake his head. Cora laughs, then gets in front of Peter and holds Eluf out, Peter sighs and holds out his arms. Eluf whimpers as he is placed in Peters arms, Cora takes one step back to see how Eluf will react. His reaction is the same as it was with Andre.
"Peter is also out." Cora states as she takes Eluf, he begins to fuss and Cora shakes her head at him.
"Hey, you don't need to scream. I'm only going to be away from you for a few minutes. Then once my job is done, you'll see me again. This is only practice." Cora coos at Eluf and gets him to calm down, Cora looks up from Eluf and to Olivia, who smiles as she watches Cora interact with Eluf.
"You ready, Liv?" Cora asks, Olivia steps up to Cora and holds her arms out the proper way. Carefully, Cora hands Eluf to Olivia, then takes a step back. Eluf begins to whimper, and Cora steps back up, until Olivia brushes her pointer finger over Eluf's cheek. Eluf instantly calms down at Olivia's touch.
"Looks like we found the one that will handle Eluf, while you help your mother out." Loki says as she walks over to Cora and Olivia. Cora nods as she steps back up and takes Eluf from Olivia.
"He's actually cute, when he's not screaming, and giving everyone a headache." Thor says, just as Thor slightly insults Eluf, an apple flies through the air and hits Thor in the back of the head. Thor's face is one of shock as he looks around for who could have thrown the apple. He glares at Loki, who shakes his head.
"That was not my doing." Loki says shocked, as it gets quiet, Eluf giggles. Everyone looks at him, and Cora looks down at him to see his tiny hands glow a light green color.
"Looks like someone can now levitate and throw things." Cora says as she keeps her eyes on Eluf's hands. Loki looks down at Eluf and his eyes go wide with amusement.
"Well, looks like we know who he'll be taking after." Fandral states, which makes everyone laugh. Loki takes Eluf from Cora and disappears from the balcony.
"Alright, we've got a lot to do. Let's get to it." Cora instructs, for the next few hours, everyone that is on the balcony works together to make it wedding ready. By the time everything gets done, it's time to get ready for the wedding.
Everyone goes to their respective rooms and gets ready. Cora dresses in a simple yet elegant long gold gown with spaghetti strapped sleeves. Her hair goes in a half up-half down curly hair style, and her makeup is neutral toned. As she walks out of her room, she meets her friends as they come out of their rooms at the same time.
They walk down the hall and head for the room next to the throne room. When they enter, they see everyone except Caitriona. Cora looks at her friends, before she walks out of the room, and goes to find her mother.
"She should be two rooms down." Loki mentally tells her, she walks the opposite way down the hall and stops in front of the second door from the throne room. Cora knocks and she hears a shaky breath on the other side.
"It cannot be time yet, Adamaris has yet to show." Caitriona exclaims nervously, Cora lightly smiles and shakes her head as she slowly opens the door and slips inside the room.
"Breathe Mom, you haven't even gone down the aisle yet and your already freaking out." Cora says as she closes the door behind her, Caitriona turns and looks at Cora.
"Oh, Adamaris." Caitriona says as she runs up to Cora and pulls her into a hug. Cora stays still as Caitriona starts to break down. Cora realizes an important detail that hasn't happened yet.
"Why haven't you gotten in your dress yet?" Cora asks as she looks over to the dress that is draped over a chair.
"I'm not sure if I can do this." Caitriona quietly explains, Cora pulls back and looks at her mother.
"What has you thinking like that?" Cora asks concerned as she looks into her mothers eyes.
"I was gone for so long, what if your father is only doing this because he has begun to pity me." Caitriona cries into Cora's shoulder, Cora looks down at her mother with worried eyes.
"You and I both know, that is not true. Dad loves you, he loves me, and he loves Eluf. He wants our family together, just as much as you do." Cora says as she tries to encourage her mother.
"You seem to only want to go off and explore the world, rather than be with family. I barely had time to get to know you, before you chose to leave us behind." Caitriona says, Cora pulls out of the hug and stares at her mother.
"It's as I said the day I left, I made a deal with that organization when I was a young child. I could not go back on my word to them. A year quickly flew by, and before I knew it, I was curling back up in my bed. That was until dad came in an hour after I had gotten home and woken me up with his loud mental voice." Cora says, Caitriona shakes her head.
"Still, you would rather go do other things, than allow me to get to know you." Caitriona practically accuses, Cora let's out a held breath and shakes her head.
"If it makes you feel better, I was not planning on going anywhere else once the ceremony is over. I feel I need to be home for a while." Cora explains, Caitriona's face softens as she hears this.
"Really, you were going to stay for a while?" Caitriona asks, Cora nods her head.
"I've been everywhere and no where at once. It's time I stay in one place for a while." Cora explains, and Caitriona breaths a bit easier.
"Now, will you please get ready? You don't want to leave dad at the aisle." Cora tilts her head to her mothers dress. Caitriona nods, and Cora helps her mother get ready.
"There, your ready." Cora says as she clasps a necklace around her mothers neck. Cora looks out the window and see's the sun is starting to set on the horizon. A knock sounds, and Cora goes and answers the door. She sticks her head out the door to see who is on the other side. It's Lady Sif.
"It's time." Lady Sif says, Cora nods then softly closes the door. She turns and looks at her mother. Caitriona takes a deep breath in, then exhales it as she nods her head. She lightly walks up to Cora.
"You can do this." Cora encouragingly says, Caitriona keeps calm and nods her head. Cora opens the door, pokes her head out, then walks out into the hall, when she sees the hall is empty.
Taking hold of Caitriona's hand, Cora escorts her mother down the hall and they stand in front of the throne room doors. Caitriona begins to tear up, Cora dabs at her mothers eyes so she doesn't cry her makeup off.
"Breathe, Mom. You can do this." Cora encourages as the doors of the throne room open up. Everyone is lined up on each side of the aisle as the doors open. Cora's eyes go slightly wide as she sees how long the aisles walkway really is. Cora interlocks her arm with her mothers as she begins to walk her down the aisle. Keeping her eyes straight ahead, Cora doesn't look at any of the people on either side of her and her mother. Whispers can be heard through out the throne room as Cora and Caitriona get to the halfway point of the aisle. Right as they get the entrance to the balcony, Cora looks up and sees her friends toward the front of the aisle, looking up a little more, she sees Odin and Loki standing at the end of the aisle.
They get to the end, and Cora stands in front of her parents as she hands her mother off to her father. Cora goes, and stands next to Olivia, and gestures to take Eluf, who is as silent as a mouse. Olivia hands Eluf to Cora and he stays quiet as the wedding begins.
Everyone sits and listens after Cora takes her place next to Olivia. The ceremony goes on for a while, Cora and her friends begin to get a little tired, and Eluf begins to get cranky.
"Loki, you may now kiss your bride." Odin says, Loki takes Caitriona in his arms and kisses her. Everyone erupts into cheers and applause. As they kiss, fireworks begin to go off over their heads.
"Who's ready to have some fun?" Thor jumps up and yells, Caitriona and Loki pull away from each other, turn to everyone, then walk back up the aisle. Everyone cheers as they begin to make their way to the great hall for the reception. Cora and her friends stay in a tight group as they make their way to the great hall. Cora looks down at Eluf and smiles at him.
"You did good, little guy." Cora says as she strokes Eluf's cheek. Eluf lightly giggles as, Cora makes it to the great hall.
For the rest of the night, everyone parties the night away. More fireworks go off, and everyone forgets their troubles and has a good time. The party goes on until the early hours of the next morning.
"Are you sure you can't come back with us?" Olivia asks as Cora stands with her friends in the Observatory. Cora shakes her head, and she looks back toward the castle.
"For the time being, I'm needed here. I'll see you guys soon, though. I just need to stay here for a while." Cora carefully says, Andre raises an eyebrow as he watches Cora.
"You can say it, you know. Your needed at home, with your family for a while." Andre says, Cora looks up at the ceiling to keep herself from crying. Olivia, Andre, and Peter group hug Cora.
"You guys should go, wouldn't want Nat getting mad because you guys were late getting back." Cora's voice cracks a few times, Andre side hugs Cora, then walks to the Bifrost, Olivia rubs Cora's shoulder, then walks and stands by Andre. Peter stands in front of Cora and looks at her with bloodshot eyes. Peter pulls Cora into a hug, and holds her for a moment. Peter pulls back, and leans into Cora and lightly kisses her. Cora kisses back, Peter pulls away, then hugs Cora to his chest and strokes her hair.
"I'm going to miss you, so much." Peter says as he tries to keep his composure, but fails.
"I'm going to miss you, too. And you guys." Cora says, then turns to Olivia and Andre. Cora backs away, then lightly pushes Peter toward Andre and Olivia. Peter goes and stands next to Olivia, they each wave at Cora.
"You children know, you are welcome here anytime. We shall you you three again soon." Heimdall says, then turns his sword in the pedestal, the blue-white light of the Bifrost engulfs the Observatory, teleporting Cora's friends back to earth.
"They will return, do not worry. It may be difficult now, but it will get easier." Heimdall says, Cora nods her head, not knowing what else to say, so she turns and walks out of the Observatory and into the light of the rising sun back to Asgard.