"Are you sure you know where you're going?"

Spencer walked through the halls of the palace, trying to remember the way to her friends' rooms. She had her phone in her hands, the video rolling. After being gone for so long, she thought she would FaceTime her parents and let them see she was alive. Of course, this meant they also wanted to see Layla and Anja, and Spencer had already forgotten where their rooms were.
   
That was the second time her dad had asked her that question, and Spencer was starting to doubt her answer. All the hallways looked so similar, and they had only been here for just over a day now so she hadn't had any time to truly learn where anything was. Her friends' rooms could be behind any of the doors she had passed by and she would be none the wiser.
   
"Yeah, I totally know where I'm going," she responded, but she was unable to hide the doubt in her voice.
   
"Take your time, Spence," her mother assured. "We have all night to hear from our girls."
   
Spencer sighed as she rounded the corner. "That's great because it might take me that long to find them."
   
Before either of her parents could say anything, she heard a laugh from down the hall. It sounded like Layla, so perhaps her search would be over soon. Spencer quickened her pace, hurrying down the hall to an open doorway. She cautiously peered into the room, hoping she wasn't invading any private moment. Sure enough, she saw Layla and Thor sitting on the bed in the room, chatting about something quietly amongst themselves.
   
Spencer cleared her throat, causing Layla and Thor both to look up at her. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
   
"Of course not," Layla answered. "What's up?"
   
Spencer turned her phone so Layla could see her parents' faces on the screen. That was all it took for Layla to jump up off the bed and rush over to her friend, Thor following closely behind. The blonde girl snatched the phone from Spencer's hand, smiling brightly at her friend's parents.
   
"Hi mom! Hi dad!" Layla greeted.
   
"Hello darling," Spencer's mother replied. "Glad to see you alive."
   
"Of course I am," Layla replied. "I'm not that careless."
   
Spencer's dad had other things on his mind. "Who's that guy next to you?"
   
Layla rolled her eyes, and Spencer couldn't say she blamed her. Despite the girls all being adults now, her parents still drilled them about the men in their lives. Spencer knew if Thor and Loki were around when this call happened, Layla and Anja were bound to be questioned. Spencer was momentarily grateful Bucky wasn't there and she could feign being uninterested in anyone at the moment.
   
"This is Thor, God of Thunder, King of Asgard, and my boyfriend," Layla introduced, gesturing at Thor. She looked to him and then back at the camera. "Thor, these are Spencer's parents, who are kinda like my own."
   
"It is wonderful to sort of meet you both," Thor greeted.
   
"It's nice to meet you too, dear," Spencer's mother replied.
   
"Thor's basically a giant space Labrador," Spencer added cheerfully, taking her phone back from Layla.
   
Thor squinted his eyes in confusion. "A what?"
   
Layla laughed. "It's a type of dog, Thor. One that is incredibly friendly in nature and loves everyone," she explained.
   
Thor nodded, but didn't get a chance to reply before Spencer's dad spoke up again. "Where's Anja at?" he asked.
   
Layla glanced off to the side, thinking quietly for a moment. "I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say probably in her room," she guessed. "I haven't seen her in a couple hours, so I'm not quite sure."
   
"Well, let's go find her," Spencer decided.
   
Layla nodded and turned to Thor. "I'll see you in a little bit, mmkay? Stay out of trouble until I get back."
   
"I think I can manage," Thor said.
   
Spencer waited for Layla to join her before the two of them left the room, Layla instinctively leading the way to Anja's room. Luckily it was just down the hallway. The door to her room was open too, and admittedly Spencer was much more worried about walking into Anja's room unannounced than she was Layla's, despite Layla usually being the more risqué of the two. Anja and Loki were certainly much more physical than Layla and Thor at this point, and Spencer was always nervous she'd waltz in and see something that would cause her to want to bleach her eyes out. Spencer and Layla both cautiously peered into the room, only to see something that made the both of them say "awww" out loud.
   
Anja stood in the middle of the room, staring intently at her outstretched hand. Her other arm was bent, that palm was open near her chest. Ice danced around both of her hands, the crystals sparkling in the light. Standing directly behind her was Loki, his hands resting gently on her elbows. His face hovered near her ear. Spencer could see he was saying something to her, but it was so quiet she couldn't hear whatever it was. Something about the two of them working on Anja's magic together just put a smile on her face.
   
"Why are we saying awe?" Spencer's dad asked, breaking the silence.
   
Spencer turned her phone around, allowing her parents to see into the room. She could've just switched cameras to the rear-facing one, but she figured if Anja ever realized they were standing there, she'd want to see her parents too.
   
"So Anja's been working on perfecting her abilities," Spencer explained quietly. "We kind of thought she was joking since it's her boyfriend- err, fiancé, I think- who's helping her with it, but apparently she was serious."
   
"Fiancé?" Spencer's mother questioned.
   
"Yeah, it's complicated," Spencer answered. "I'll let her explain it to you guys."
   
No one spoke for several moments as they all continued to watch Anja and Loki from a distance. That didn't last long. Spencer's dad took this opportunity to yell, "Let it go! Let it goooooo!"
   
Anja immediately looked over, the ice around her hands dissipating as she lowered them. Loki turned to face them as well, a bewildered look upon his face. Spencer was admittedly shocked; normally Anja hated the comparison of her powers to anything Frozen, so the fact that she hadn't snapped off on her dad yet was interesting. Although, it had been a minute since anyone had compared her to Elsa, as Tony had taken to using that joke on Loki instead.
   
"Sorry about that," Spencer apologized for her father. "Mom and dad wanted to FaceTime. We didn't mean to interrupt anything."
   
"No worries," Anja said, waving it off. "We were finishing up anyway."
   
Spencer and Layla moved out of the doorway and into the room just as her mother spoke. "It's nice to see your face after so long. And unharmed too."
   
Anja snorted and turned her head slightly, showing off what remained of the scorch mark on her left temple from the Power Stone. It had healed pretty well so far, thanks to Anja's healing abilities and whatever medicine the Asgardian nurses had applied to it. "Well, mostly," she answered. "Another day or so will work wonders on this monstrosity."
   
"What happened?" Spencer's mom asked.
   
"Long story, but I'm sure we'll touch on it here shortly," Anja continued.
   
"So who's this guy?" Spencer's dad questioned suspiciously. "He looks familiar."
   
"He's the guy who attacked New York," Layla chimed in, causing Anja to shoot her a glare. "But he's cool now."
   
"Uh huh. That's nice he's cool now," her dad continued.
   
Anja's glare faded as she smiled, taking Loki's hand in hers. "This is Loki, God of Mischief, King of Asgard, and my future husband," she introduced before she turned to Loki. "Darling, these are Spencer's parents, so they're sort of like my parents too."
   
"It's nice to meet the both of you," Loki said.
   
"I thought Layla's boyfriend was the king?" Spencer's mom inquired.
   
"They both are," Spencer answered quickly. "Thor and Loki are brothers, and they decided to share the throne."
   
"Ah. That makes some sense."
   
Spencer saw Loki glance between the girls before placing a gentle kiss to the top of Anja's head. "I'll let you have some family time," he decided. "I'll be back in a bit."
   
The smile on Anja's face grew as she nodded. "Mmkay, Loki. Stay out of trouble."
   
"I wouldn't dream of it," Loki replied, a smirk on his face as he stepped away from the girls and left the room, his green cape flowing behind him.
   
Anja shook her head, still smiling. She sat down on the edge of the vast bed, patting the spot next to her as a signal for Spencer and Layla to join her. The two young women sat down next to her, Spencer in the middle so she could hold her phone so everyone could be seen. After some shuffling, the three of them settled, and the conversation picked back up.
   
"So, I see space wasn't completely fun," her dad started again. "What happened?"
   
The girls exchanged glances. "Well, everything was good until our team split up," Layla answered for them.
   
"You split up? That's like the number one thing you don't do!" Spencer's dad continued.
   
"We know, but it was the only way we could get everything accomplished," Spencer assured. "Thor needed to make a new weapon, we needed to warn people here, and we needed to stop Thanos from getting another stone on another planet." She paused for a moment before sighing. "Only a couple of those things were successful."
   
"Thor almost died making that ax," Layla replied.
   
"And Loki, myself, and Bruce all almost died squaring off with Thanos," Anja added, almost sounding like she was trying to one-up Layla. She turned to point at the mark on her head just below her tiara. "Hence this. Full force of the Power Stone; I do not recommend."
   
Before Layla could counter that, Spencer decided to defuse some tension. "So yeah. Things didn't exactly go to plan, and we're going to have to deal with that later, but what's important right now is that we're home and alive."
   
Her mother nodded. "Ultimately that's all that we care about. But, that being said, it sounds like we have a lot we need to catch up on."
   
Spencer frowned a little. That was the truth alright. The girls hadn't spoken to her parents since before they left for space back in December. A lot had changed in the three-ish months since. They had formed new friendships- and relationships in Layla and Anja's cases. Hell, Spencer didn't even think Anja had fully realized yet she would be a queen before long. They had a new enemy who had already significantly damaged a few of them, and he was growing stronger with every waking moment. Strong enough that they had to join forces with people they all would rather not deal with. Drastic times called for drastic measures, after all.
   
"Where do we even begin?"

******

Hi everyone! I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter posted. It really didn't take me too long to write it. I got sort of side tracked, as I wrote a little side project for one of my close friends for Christmas, and that took me much longer than I had anticipated. That being said, hopefully I am back on track for finishing chapters in a more regular fashion again. I appreciate you all for being patient with me!

I hope all is well for you all, and I hope to have the next chapter up soon. I know this one was kind of short and not serious at all, but I promise that changes with the next one!

~arty_writes