This Time Around (Sequel to All Over Again)

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

After lunch, Loki brought Selig back to his room for his nap, while McKenna went off with Sif. According to Sif, she was becoming quite the expert marksman, which did much to ease some of Loki's worry where McKenna was concerned.

But only some of it. Last spring, he'd come far too close to losing her, when Ward stabbed her in the old warehouse in Philadelphia. She had actually died, only to be resuscitated by Eir. But he would never forget that feeling of raging helplessness and fury when he got to her too late. He failed to protect her, although she never said that to him. But he had. He'd promised her he would keep her safe, that he would keep her out of harm's way.

And instead, she died.

So he fully supported her decision to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson had once been one of Loki's strongest adversaries. Just prior to the Battle of New York, Loki had killed Coulson, run him through with his Tesseract-powered spear. But then Coulson reappeared to blast Loki on the Point Pleasant boardwalk back when Loki and McKenna first met.

But since then, they'd formed something of an uneasy alliance. And Loki knew Coulson had grown fond of McKenna, that he would do everything in his power to protect her as well. She was under the guidance of some of the finest agents in the world. And with Sif's help, she was becoming quite the fierce warrior as well.

"Daddy?"

"What, little man?"

"Are we ever going back to New Jersey, or are we going to stay here?"

"We can go back from time to time." He set Selig in his bed, then sank onto the edge of it.

"Is Mommy mad at me for jumping?"

"No, but she was mad at me for teaching you." Loki grinned down at him and rumpled his hair. "But she's all right with it now. I think you impressed her."

"Mommy worries a lot, doesn't she?"

"She's your mother. That's what mothers do."

"Do you worry a lot?"

"At times. Everyone does, Sel. There is always something out there beyond your control, and yet, you worry about it."

"What else does she worry about?"

"You and your sister. Me, from time to time. Bestefar. Unca Thor. She worries most about the people she loves."

Selig twisted Cap's front leg. "Mommy's all better now, right, Daddy? From when that bad man hurt her?"

"Mommy's just fine now."

"I was scared for her. Is that worry?"

"That's exactly what it is." Loki shifted, stretching out alongside his son, his head propped on his fist. "But you needn't worry any longer, Sel. Mommy is fine."

"Is that why you want to live here? Because of that man?"

"Partly, but mostly because I need to be here."

"Why?"

"Because this was my home for many years. And then it wasn't. Bestefar and I weren't very close for a long time."

"Why?"

Loki sighed softly, straightening his arm to stroke Selig's soft hair. "A lot of things. He made mistakes. I made mistakes. I was angry for a lot of things. But, that was a lifetime ago. And now I've got to rebuild the bridges I burned in the past."

"Bridges?"

"It's a figure of speech, little man. It just means I have to fix the things I broke."