Holly Potter and the Midlife Crisis (Hp x Mcu) by Enigmaris

Chapter 31: How to Give Someone a Chance

Summary:

Everyone is finally back on earth where they belong, but with Holly asleep, that leaves Loki and the Avengers alone to deal with Frigga's shocking revelation alone.

Thor watched as Loki walked around Holly, trying to ensure that the woman was as comfortable as a comatose woman could be. Loki had forcibly transfigured the couch in the Penthouse into the most luxurious king-sized bed that had ever existed. Then with a snap exchanged the dress Holly was wearing with some of his own sleepwear. Now he was tending to her, summoning pillows from various parts of the tower to support each part of her body.

He didn't say anything. Normally he'd be the one to be fussing about Holly. He'd be right next to Loki asking Loki if he thought a warming charm on the blanket would be good just in case she got cold while she recovered. But Thor found that he wanted nothing more than to lay down face first on that giant bed and stop thinking for a while. The past two days had been unimaginably stressful and then on top of that his mother had decided to shake his entire world into ruin with the reveal of his father's final dirty secret.

"Loki." Tony said. "I think you've got enough pillows."

"How dare you assume there are ever going to be enough pillows for Holly." Normally Loki would say that as if he were joking, but not this time. No there was no joke there now. His voice was deadly serious and his hands were shaking. "It's never going to be enough."

Steve walked up to Loki, placing a hand on the god's shoulder in a way that Thor was frankly incapable of at that point. Loki stiffened in his bent over position, fussing with the blanket he'd pulled over Holly.

"What happened Loki?" Steve asked. "You're really shaken up. Thor said that Jontunheim probably wouldn't be so bad, did something happen to you while you were in Asgard?"

"Not so bad?" Loki hissed. "It's Jontunheim!"

"Holly didn't even mention that in her story." Clint said. "What happened there?"

"Of course, she wouldn't mention it! She only nearly died in my arms!" Loki said straightening up and using his left hand to pull roughly at his hair close to his scalp.

"Okay." Bruce said. "Let's all sit down and calm ourselves. We're all here right now and we're fine. We can take this slowly."

Bruce, the source of reason on most days, got everyone to find chairs and settle down around the bed. Loki frankly refused to go more than three feet from Holly's side and had planted himself onto the bed. He now had a hand placed on top of Holly's head. He wasn't running his fingers through her hair or petting her. He was just applying a gentle pressure as if to prove to himself that she was there, and she was real.

Soon Bruce had produced warm drinks for everyone in the room based on preference. Hot chocolate for Loki and Clint, Various teas for himself, Steve, and Natasha, and coffee for Tony and Thor. Once they all had large mugs to wrap their hands around and Loki's shaking had eased some, Natasha explained what had happened on earth.

"Once you were taken away we freaked out. We had no idea if you'd survived or if the portal had killed you. Thor insisted that you'd be fine." She said looking over at Thor who tried to nod in acknowledgement but failed. He was still reeling; the world was still spinning far too quickly. "Hermione checked your sigils and confirmed that the transport should have taken you both to Jontunheim and that it shouldn't have killed either of you."

"The ship that sent those monsters escaped before we could even attempt to attack them. Once they were gone, we lowered the protections on the castle. A bunch of witches and wizards from Hogsmeade came down and helped repair the tower that got partially destroyed, and heal the frozen over parts of the forest." Clint added. "We weren't sure if we should stay there or go to New York to wait for you and Holly to return. Hermione and Ron said they'd stay in Hogwarts to watch over the portal just in case you came back that way and we went to the Tower, hoping you'd come back there."