"That's much better, don't you think?" Amora stretched her arms over her head and adjusted her tiara. Maisy found herself tied to a chair and saw Loki, still disguised as Berilo, was in a similar situation next to her. The cradles with Eloise and Frigg sat across from them and the Enchantress stood between the parents and their babies.

"Where the hell are we?" Loki seethed, thrashing against the bindings.

"Oh, just my little hiding spot," she gestured around the dark room, which was adorned with torn curtains, broken bookshelves, molding books, and a cracked crystal ball, "Hidden in the walls of the palace, if you'd believe it. I found it years ago when Loki and I were doing a bit of exploring."

"What are you going to do?" Maisy asked angrily, "Kill us and leave us here?"

"No, no, princess, I wouldn't dream of killing you. Stealing your children to raise as my own? Sure," she took a step closer to the cradles and peered at Frigg again, picking her up gingerly and scowling, "Hmm, though perhaps it is only fair that I take the elder twin. She seems like she'll be much more useful than this one. And I am technically owed only the firstborn."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm taking Eloise because Loki promised her to me," Amora smiled, putting Frigg back in her cradle and scooping up Eloise instead, "You'll grow up at the knee of the most powerful magician in all the realms, little one. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Eloise farted and Amora gagged, putting her back in her cradle as well.

"Loki would do no such thing," Maisy snapped, doing her best not to look at Loki and give away his identity.

"Wouldn't he?" Amora laughed and reached over to Berilo, roughly grabbing his face between her fingers, "Do you want to tell her, or should I, Trickster?"

"I'm not—"

"Your illusions have improved since we were children, Loki dear, but the moment you saw me you gave yourself away. No random ambassador would be so terror stricken at the sight of my glorias visage."

"He's not Loki," Maisy protested.

"Have you just not told her that you're still alive or does she actually think she can fool me?" Amora tilted her head at Maisy, still holding Loki's face. "Come on now, darling, I have missed your charming features."

Loki narrowed his eyes at her and finally dropped his disguise. Amora's smile sprawled across her face in a way that reminded Maisy very much of the Grinch.

"There's that handsome trickster."

"Yeah, and he's my handsome trickster, so keep your paws to yourself," Maisy snarled.

"He was mine before he was yours, Midgardian," Amora hissed back and lowered herself into Loki's lap, "Isn't that right?"

"Maisy," Loki jerked his face away from Amora's grip, her fingernails leaving red lines on his jaw, "This is Amora. Many years ago we were friends and before she was banished there was talk of a betrothal."

"Why was she banished?" Maisy asked, realizing that this was as close to an ex-girlfriend of Loki's that she would ever meet. He'd told her before that he'd never been in a serious relationship before marrying her, though he'd had a few interests. Amora must have been one of those interests. Perhaps a more serious one if Odin had wanted them to become betrothed.

"Oh, murder, treason, attempted regicide, spitting on Odin's boots, kidnapping me, theft, destruction of royal property—the list goes on," Loki shrugged, doing his best to ignore how Amora had placed a hand on his chest. Maisy could not ignore it and she was getting ready to yell at the other woman again.

"If you're here because you're jealous that I'm the one who ended up marrying him, then you'd better get over it and hit the road," she said sternly.

"She's not jealous," Loki laughed, "Amora never truly cared for me as anything more than a means to an end, isn't that right, Enchantress?"

"Now, now, I must say that I'm a tad envious, but you are mostly right. You are fairly worthless except at getting a shot at the crown," she ran her fingers through his hair.

"He is not worthless!" Maisy exclaimed, "He's brilliant and cunning and—"

"He learned all of that from me. "

"From Frigga, actually, but you were there as well," Loki pulled against the ropes, "Enchanted bindings, how clever."

"Okay, you're his ex, whatever," Maisy wriggled in her own ropes, "What do you want with our babies?"

"Just the one, now. The smaller one does not seem like she will make for a powerful sorceress if she lives past infancy. Some amatuer cast some sort of poisoning spell on you while you were pregnant, didn't they? And it took it's wrath out on little Frigg, poor thing."

"Lady Fulla," Loki nodded, "Though she had to enlist the help of a child."

"I always hated her. She always got after me for wearing pants and leaving my hair loose. I take it you've murdered her?"

"Trapped on Midgard."

"Oh very clever," Amora clapped, "You haven't lost that cruel edge then."

"So what do you want with Eloise?!" Maisy interrupted, more annoyed than she should have been that Amora and Loki could chat so easily, as if the woman wasn't threatening to take their baby away.

"Right. Well, Loki promised me his first born child."

"Loki, you didn't," Maisy turned with a fierce glare.

"I didn't! I don't know what she's talking about!"

"Liar," Amora seethed, "Do not think you can go back on your promise to me."

"Why do you even want a baby?!"

"Not a baby, per se, so much as an apprentice."

"Well, too bad," Maisy stomped her foot, "You're going to have to find someone else because even if Loki had—"

"He did!" the Enchantress shrieked and stood, waving her arms about and casting an illusion to make the room look like the royal library. On one of the couches of the library, a teenaged Loki sat next to a teenaged Amora, wearing matching green tunics and black pants and each of them holding an enormous book.

"Karnilla says that she will not allow our betrothal if Odin poses the idea to her," the illusion of Amora huffed, dropping her book and allowing it to slide down her legs. The illusion of Loki quietly reached over and picked up the tome, setting it on a table.

"I thought it was her idea in the first place," he responded, "And it was Father that we would have to work to convince."

"It was, but now she says that I should never marry."

"Why not?!" Loki asked, sounding indignant, "Does she think you should never marry, or never marry me?"

"Never marry at all, idiot. Though she isn't the biggest fan of you either, after you shaved her head while she napped."

They both laughed but Amora's face turned sad.

"She says it's because I should focus on my studies and not be distracted by a husband or children."

"I'm so sorry that this Camilla—"

"Karnilla."

"This Karnilla person said that you couldn't get married, but can you please fast forward to the part where Loki supposedly promises that you can have his kid?"

"So impatient," Amora huffed and snapped her fingers.

"Imagine how powerful our children would be!" Teenage Amora grinned.

"And how misbehaved," Loki laughed. It made Maisy a bit sick to imagine Loki marrying this woman instead of her and raising children together. She did her best not to be a jealous lover, since Egil had been that way, but there were some cases such as this, when she felt the envy and possessiveness curl in her gut.

"You must promise me your firstborn!" Amora said suddenly, giggling and taking Loki's hand, "They will be my apprentice and we will be the three most powerful magical beings in the cosmos!"

Illusion Loki laughed and put a hand over his heart. "Very well, I vow that you shall have our firstborn—"

"No, just yours. Karnilla may force me to become an old maid, but I know that Odin will make you marry for the good of the realm eventually. I will be the best teacher to your child and treat it as my own, even if you marry some stuck up princess from some far off realm."

"Alright, alright," Teenage Loki squeezed her hand with a smile, "I vow my firstborn child to your service, Enchantress."

"Amora, that was hundreds of years ago! A joke between children!" Loki protested.

"So you admit to saying it," Amora smirked, "I don't care if you meant it or not, Trickster. You made a vow and I will hold you to it."

"And were you planning on crashing the Naming Ceremony of my future child even back then? Has every interaction between us always been manipulating me for your vile goals?"

"Probably," Amora shrugged, "You know how I can be."

"This is stupid!" Maisy exclaimed, "You are not taking my kid."

"You can't stop me! You are nothing but a weak Midgardian with an eye for fashion and a royal ring on your finger. Without Loki, what would you be? A penniless human struggling to get by in that backwards realm full of mortals!"

"Amora, do you plan on spiriting away Eloise?" Loki asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Are you taking her now? If so, why are you doing all of this explaining?"

"Loki, do not encourage this witch to take our baby away!" Maisy hissed.

"I simply wish to prevent you from chasing me around the universe. I thought it best to explain myself so that you have fair warning," Amora's eyes narrowed, "I can leave this moment if you would prefer."

She leaned over the baby cradle and reached inside, lifting Eloise. The baby began to wail and Maisy tugged at the ropes holding her in place more fiercely, wanting to go to her daughter and comfort her.

"You hate children," Loki said calmly. If someone were to look very, very closely, they might notice the desperation in his eyes, but his expression was cool and collected. "What do you really want? You're trying to bargain for something, aren't you? Get to it."

"Alright then," Amora sneered and snapped her fingers. His ropes split and, before he could register his freedom, she dropped Eloise into his arms. "The Tesseract. Give it to me."

"You must truly think I am an idiot," Loki gently rocked Eloise in his arms, trying to get her to stop fussing. "Besides, the Avengers kept it."

"You can't lie to me, darling."

"Worth a shot," Loki sighed and shushed Eloise when she began to wail again, "It's alright, you are safe. Hush now."

"So domestic," Amora wrinkled her nose, "You're right. I do not want a child. But I will take yours if you do not give me the Tesseract."

"And risk a war?"

"The universe is about due for a war of the realms anyways, don't you think?"

"Now, I hate to sound like the ignorant human here," Maisy piped up, "But does anyone want to tell me what the Tesseract is? That word gets tossed around every so often along with the term Infinity Stone and no one ever explains them to me."

"Surely I have at some point," Loki's brow furrowed.

"Powerful rocks that can change reality as we know it," Amora said quickly, "Loki has one stored in the basement and another that he and his brother stole from the Dark Elves and hid somewhere. I want the one in the basement."

"Why do we have a reality altering rock stored in the basement?" Mais asked, an edge to her voice.

"It's in the Vault. Perfectly safe. Much safer than it was on earth."

"It was on earth?!"

"It may or may not be what the entirety of my invasion was based around," Loki winced, knowing he'd get a scolding about morality later, "Regardless, Amora cannot have it. Who knows what idiotic things she'd do with it?"

"Fine then," the Enchantress conjured a short sword and held it over Frigg's cradle, "I'll kill this one, take that one, and be on my way."

"IF YOU DARE HURT MY BABY—" Maisy shrieked and the sound was enough to make even the fearsome Enchantress flinch.

"She won't!" Loki interrupted, "I won't let her."

"Then give me the Tesseract!" Amora lowered the sword until it touched the tip of Frigg's nose. "One…"

"Amora, what do you plan to use it for?" Loki asked desperately, clutching Eloise to his chest.

"Two…"

"Amora, please, we can come to some sort of agreement!"

"Three. Say goodbye to your daughter, Maisy, your husband doesn't love her enough to trade a trinket for her," the Enchantress sneered, lifting the sword to plunge it down again. Maisy screamed and Loki moved faster than he knew he was able, setting Eloise on the floor gently, and tackling Amora out of the way. Her sword dropped and missed falling in the cradle by inches. The two sorcerers wrestled across the floor, bumping into dusty furniture and shrieking unintelligible spells at one another. Magic flashes burst from their fray and Amora must have lost focus long enough to loosen Maisy's bindings or else the young mother somehow broke free of them. She jumped to her feet and collected Eloise from where she wailed on the floor, doing her best to soothe her and Frigg, who was also crying now.

"Shush, shush," Maisy whispered to her daughters, doing her best to hold one in each arm, pressing them close to her. "It's okay, Daddy will beat the stupid witch and we'll all be fine."

"Just because you are being such a prick about all of this, I'm going to kill your ugly little wife too," Amora snarled at Loki as he knocked her head against the floor.

"Not if I kill you first," he shouted, lifting her by the shoulders and then trying to hit her against the floor again. She lifted her legs and kicked him in the chest, flinging him off of her, before diving toward Maisy, fingers extended like claws.

"Stay away!" Maisy yelled, taking a step back.

"Loki, give me the Tesseract or I swear by the Norn Stones that I'll kill your whole family!" Amora shrieked, not looking as poised or beautiful now that she'd been punched in the face a few times and had her hair yanked. Not to mention the three good spells that Loki had thrown at her, making her hair short and frizzy. He looked up from where he'd landed when she'd kicked him, clutching his ribs. He was in worse shape than she was and his left eye was so swollen that he couldn't see out of it.

"Just give it to her," Maisy pleaded, "We'll figure it out later, whatever she does with it."

"Fine," he panted, "Fine, I'll give it to you."

"Now. Do a summoning spell. I would have done it myself if you hadn't put some sort of protection on it," Amora conjured a sword and pointed it at Maisy and the babies, "Do it now, trickster or I'll kill them as slowly and painfully as I am able."

"Here," he flicked his wrist and the Tesseract landed in his hand, "Take it and leave Asgard."

"Ha!" Amora grinned and snatched the blue cube from his hand, shaking it a bit and then nodded, "The real deal on the first try. No tricks. Excellent."

"Now, get out of my realm," Loki hissed.

"After you put me through all of that trouble and I have you at my mercy?" Amora laughed, "I think not. I'm going to kill your family anyway, just to prove to you that I can."

"Amora, no!" Loki stumbled to his feet, but he was too slow. She raised her sword and Maisy did her best to back away, but there was no room.. The mother, knowing she wouldn't be able to escape, instead tried to shelter her babies with her body, turning away from Amora.

"Good riddance," the Enchantress seethed, swinging the blade down toward the mother and babies. Right as the blade grazed Maisy's shoulder, a burst of golden light exploded across the room followed by the sound of babies giggling. Amora flew back and crashed into the decaying bookshelf, smashing it into bits and then passing out.

A note from the author: After this chapter there are only two more parts to the "Baby Arrival" section of the story. I have several other one shots ready to go once this whole arc with Amora is wrapped up. Most of the one shots I have ready to go are with the twins as toddlers or school age kids, but I'd like to do more baby ones. So, if you have any ideas for what you would like to see our new parents have to deal with, let me know! I'd love some ideas!

Thanks for reading! :)