Hi guys! I have most of this story written on paper (old school, right?) but getting it typed and posted might take me awhile because I'm sick and looking at my computer for extended times makes it worse.

To say that Thor was surprised to see Loki sitting on a park bench in Oslo after watching him die in Svartalfheim was an understatement.

Slowly he approached the bench and sat down- leaving space between himself and his not-brother (whom he still thought of as a brother). Whatever the welcome he was expecting from Loki, it wasn't the one he got.

"Hello, Thor." Loki said quietly with no surprise or malice in his voice, "What brings you to Norway? I thought you'd be with Jane."

"I was…she's traveling for work so I thought I'd come visit our old stomping grounds…sure is different without the Vikings." He paused before going on. "What brings you here?"

It was a single question that contained many others- most of all 'why aren't you dead?'.

Before Loki could answer, and he was going to do so, a small blonde toddler ran over and crawled into his lap, silently presenting him with a scarlet maple leaf. Loki took it with a gentle smile, one Thor had never seen before. "Thank you, munchkin, it's lovely. Are you keeping an eye on your brother?"

She nodded before pointing at Thor and looking up at Loki questioningly.

"That's your uncle Thor, dear. Why don't you go get your brother and I'll introduce you both?"

She nodded again and was gone in a flash of blonde hair in the autumn sunlight- off to collect her little brother.

Thor stared after her, "What…?"

Loki chuckled, "They're my children and no, I didn't steal them."

The girl came back holding the hand of a chubby dark haired boy.

"Thor, this is Rilla, my daughter- she's almost four, and this is Sten, my son- he's ten months old. Children, this is your uncle Thor."

Rilla smiled and waved, while Sten babbled something unintelligible and chewed on his shirt collar.

Thor managed to smile and say hello, but he was stunned.

Four years, he thought- doing the math in his head. That mean Rilla was born around Loki's fall from the Bifrost. And no one had seemed to know about her. And Sten, at ten months would have been born during Loki's imprisonment on Asgard for his attack on New York. Who was their mother?

Loki could see the question forming and cut Thor off before he could ask it. "I'll tell you later, this isn't the place and it's nap time for these two anyway."

Rilla made a face, making it clear she felt being almost four made her too old for naps. Sten, on the other hand, had already crawled into Thor's lap and fallen asleep.

Loki picked up Rilla and stood, leading the way back to their small but clean apartment. Thor followed, keeping an eye on the boy in his arms. Once home, Loki told Thor to make himself comfortable while Loki put the kids down for their nap.

He was back in ten minutes, a beer in each hand for them and sat down on the couch.

"Who was she? There's clearly no woman living here, though it is a home." Thor asked after taking a drink.

Smarter than I remember, Loki mused silently. "Her name was Ingrid and she was my wife."

Something about the name Ingrid clicked in Thor's mind.

"The blacksmith's daughter father forbade you from seeing years ago?"

Loki shrugged, "We were in love, I wasn't going to let father's high and mighty attitude keep us apart."

Thor looked confused.

"I see I'll have to start from the beginning. It's a long story, and not a very happy one."