This Time Around (Sequel to All Over Again)

Chapter Forty-Eight

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

McKenna didn't know how long she sat there in the snow, just staring at what was left of Ward's cabin. May sat with her, while the others made their way toward the wreckage. The ringing in her ears stopped, but she didn't feel much like talking. There was nothing to say.

May sighed softly. "I would give my left arm for a hot cup of coffee."

McKenna drew her knees to her chest to rest her chin on the peaks. She couldn't take her eyes off the cabin's remains. No matter how much it hurt to look at them, to know that somewhere in there, Loki's broken, battered body lay. "What am I going to tell our children?" she murmured. "What do I say to them when they ask what happened to their daddy?"

How the hell was she going to go on without him?

She swallowed hard. Twice before she'd come face to face with the knowledge that she might never see Loki again. The first time was the afternoon he proposed to her at the Sølvfoss, only to have Odin sentence him back to the dungeon and order her be returned to Midgard. The second time was when he and Thor had gone in search of the Tesseract and someone named Ronan the Accuser ran him through twice.

The second one was by far the worst. Loki actually did die that night, but he was given the choice to either die, or return and he chose to come back to her.

But that was different. And this was different.

Her shoulder ached, the burn spreading down through her biceps, into her forearm. But that was nothing compared to the ache in her heart.

"Loki..." she whispered, reaching up to rub her eyes. "I love you, Jötunn. I will always love you. Always."

Images flashed through her mind. Loki, lying dazed on the floor of the small apartment in Brunswick.

This time, when the man attempted to sit, he didn't sink back. Instead, he glared at her through eyes of the coldest pale blue she'd ever seen. "I am Loki of Asgard and what realm is this?"

His first experience with zippers, which had her smothering a laugh as she said, "Sorry. I thought... Just be careful of the zipper. And go slow. I cannot emphasize that enough. Slow."

The way his eyes softened from blue to green as he loomed over her in the shower at the Winchester.

"I want you, Midgardian. Do you want me in return?"

His reaction when she told him she was pregnant with Selig.

"I love you." He pressed his forehead to hers. "And I look forward to this new life we've created, be it a boy or a girl."

The look of awe on his face when he felt Selig move for the first time.

"Amazing doesn't begin to describe it, love," he murmured. He bent over and pushed her tee shirt a little higher. As he pressed his lips to her belly, she smiled, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of this powerful god whispering something to his unborn child.

When he was finally allowed to come back to their chambers after Selig was born.

"My... my son..." his voice betrayed him, cracking and fading at the same time. "Let me see him, won't you?"

When he sank to one knee on the terrace outside their chambers in Asgard.

"McKenna Carlin, will you marry me?"

How steady his hands were as he took hers to ease her wedding ring of diamond and emeralds onto the fourth finger of her left hand.

"McKenna, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and faithfulness. As I place it on your finger, I commit my heart and soul to you. As a ring has no end, neither shall my love for you. I pledge to you that all that I am, and all that I will ever be and with it, I join my life to yours."