Loki stepped away from Odin, and noticed already Odin looked younger, lighter, as if some burden was gone.

He asked the question that had become the most prominent in his mind. "Does Thor know?"

"About?"

"Hela?"

"No. One day I will have to tell him. But not yet."

Loki nodded. "And what about my 'escape'? Does he know of that?"

"Yes. He will personally take you to Heimdall, who will send you to your friends and son. Their ship is still waiting behind the Midgardian moon. I believe they are planning a rescue so you'd better hurry before they start an incident. I would ask that once you are returned to them you leave the Nine Realms. The Midgardians know the ship is there and I suspect they will not be pleased to hear that you've escaped."

Loki nodded.

"This is not," said Odin, "a banishment. And one day, I hope you may return to Asgard. One day I hope to meet my grandson. But for now…" He searched for the right words, unwilling to hurt Loki.

"For now this is best," said Loki simply. "I agree." He hesitated and then decided to add: "And the Winter Casket can be returned." He hoped Odin would understand what he was trying to say with the offer, that he was trying to show he was not the same as Hela, that he meant it when he promised to cause no more trouble in the Nine Realms.

"No," said Odin. "Keep it. Perhaps you may need it again to save your son? It is your birthright in a way. It belongs more with you, than in the halls of Asgard."

Loki smiled. "It seems we have come a long way in a short time."

"It does, does it not? Your mother would be proud of us both."

"After she got done shaking her head in exasperation at how long it took."

Both men chuckled.

"I suppose I should summon Thor," said Odin, almost reluctantly. "He is waiting outside. Travel well Loki. My son." Odin climbed back up the stairs and took a seat on his throne. "Thor!" he boomed out.

The doors once again opened and Thor entered. Odin nodded to him.

Thor turned to Loki and held up the cuffs he had previously undone. "Just for appearances sake," he explained, "for anyone we pass. I won't lock them and we'll take them off once we reach Heimdall."

Loki held out his wrists and the metal was clicked back into place around them.

"Good bye Loki. Be well and find peace," said Odin, his voice grave.

"Thank you." A pause. "Father."

Odin smiled as Loki turned away to follow Thor out of the room.

Loki and Thor left the palace in silence. Loki could sense that Thor wished to speak but was holding back. Still overwhelmed by Odin's memories, Loki couldn't find anything to say either.

A sister. They had a sister. He could almost laugh when he contemplated it. So many lies and secrets in their family. So many half-truths and betrayals. And here he'd always though he was the lost one, the ruined one. Even Frigga, beloved and respected Frigga. She had hid the truth from Thor and himself. So many secrets pushing his family apart, it would have taken much less than the force he applied to rip it at the fraying seams.

They reached the bridge to the Bifrost and Thor slowed down and finally stopped, turning to Loki. Loki tensed.

"Brother I…I don't know what to say," said Thor.

Loki smiled sardonically. "I think we've both said quite a lot over the years."

"I met your son."

"You did?"

"You have much to be proud of there."

"It's his mother's influence. Not mine."

"There is more of you in him than you may see. But I see it."

It hit Loki suddenly in a way that, preoccupied by surprise and then Odin's revelations, it had not truly done so before: he was going back to Peter. He relaxed. "Thor, your Jane, you are with her still?"

"Yes, of course."

Loki nodded. "I told you once that her loss was inevitable. That you will never be ready for the pain that loss will cause you."

"I remember," said Thor quietly. "You spoke of Meredith? You spoke of your own loss that day."

"I did. But it's true. Mortals live such frail lives. They shatter at a touch. And no amount of preparation can ease the loss. I know. For several years I had nothing to do but know that Meredith's life slipped away, bit by bit, each day. And still when I lost her, it cut like a knife through me. A piece of me died with her. A piece I will never have back."

Thor nodded. "You seek to warn me. But even though I know there is a price to pay for being with her, I love her too well to leave her when I can stay."

Loki smiled wistfully. "I know. And while it is a warning, it is also advice, if you would have it from me after all you and I have been through. Cherish your time with her. Because it's worth the pain and worth the loss. I wish you joy with her."

"Do you?"

Loki chuckled. "I actually do," he said, surprised at himself.

"Thank you. And I also wish you well. And hope to see you and Peter again before too long."

"Look at us not fighting and actually being reasonable? Yet again, mother would be so proud."

"Frankly I think she'd die of shock."

"Poor taste brother," said Loki, but laughed despite himself, "poor taste."

Thor laughed as well. "Come, let me take you to the Bifrost before we start to bicker about it."

Several hours later, Thor would return to Midgard and Avengers Tower.

The Avengers were gathered in the common room and he was greeted by Tony. "You're back! Excellent, just in time for movie night. Steve has talked us into watching some of the hits of his era. In black and white! I think my DVD player might malfunction in protest."

"How did it go?" asked Bruce. "With Loki and your father? I remember you said things got a bit messy the last time."

"Actually," said Thor, trying to look the picture of innocence. "I have dreadful news."

"Oh really?" asked Clint, for some reason shooting a significant glance at Natasha. "What's that?"

"Loki has escaped!"

"What do you mean he 'escaped'?" Tony asked skeptically, eying Thor.

"He overpowered me. And escaped. There was nothing I could do," said Thor, staring back at him in wide eyed innocence. "I was powerless to stop him. He was slippery as snakes. It was all very surprising."

Clint turned to Natasha. "Pay up."

"Fine," she muttered and fished a twenty dollar bill out of her pocket and slid it across the coffee table to him.

"Why are you paying Barton?" asked Thor.

"Because I bet her twenty bucks that you were up to something with all that 'Loki must be taken to Asgard at once' stuff," said Clint.

"What?"

"You're a terrible liar," said Tony. "It's kind of endearing actually how completely horrible you really are at it."

"I am not lying. Loki, he just completely outwitted us all!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Clint rolling his eyes and taking a swig of beer. "Tell you what, let us tell Fury about it. He might actually believe it coming from us."

"Besides" said Tony, "you let Peter go way too easily. If Loki was going to be locked up forever on Asgard you'd have invited him to come visit or asked him to stay here or something. Instead you just sat back and let him go, and then went and made Fury hand over Loki? Whole thing reeked of a set up."

"It did seem likely," agreed Clint.

Thor stared between the two. "But you both encouraged Fury to let me take him."

"Yes," said Clint, "we did. So if he shows back up and tears New York apart a second time, we're partly to blame as well, which is just one more reason he'd better stay good and gone."

"But…you let me do it?"

Clint leaned back on the sofa and took a swig out of his beer bottle. "Yes."

"Thank you," said Thor in awe.

"Look, when we locked him up, it didn't feel quite as good as it did last time. Not after what you've told us. The things he told your father, about Thanos and what was done to him. I'm not saying I can forgive him. And I'm not saying I like the guy. But I'd be hypocritical to get mad at you. I'd do the same for any of you."

"You have," said Natasha smiling at him, "at least you did much the same for me."

"See?" said Clint, tipping his beer at her in a cheers. He winked at Thor. "Come on, let's get this party started and turn on one of Steve's boring old black and white movies."

"They're not boring!" argued Steve. "They're really well done."

Thor took a seat, shocked but strangely at peace and deeply grateful.

"Just please tell me there's no singing in them," Tony was saying. "I don't have enough alcohol in the entire tower to deal with it if they start singing and tap dancing."

"It takes skill to dance like!"

Tony let out a groan.

Loki was surprised as he stepped forward, away from Thor, and prepared for Heimdall to send him off, that he felt a pang. Was he actually sad to be saying goodbye to Asgard? To Thor or to Odin? Or maybe he was just in shock. As he looked back at the last week it seemed forever ago.

The Bifrost enveloped him, there was the rush and the color, the motionless speed, and then he was deposited with a thunk onto the bridge of the Guardians' ship. He stumbled for a moment and then regained his balance and looked around. The Guardians were staring at him wide-eyed, all of them well-armed and looking as if they were about to go somewhere.

"Woah," said Rocket. "Can you always just teleport like that?"

"No. Rather a onetime event in this case."

"Dang. Imagine the things we could have stolen with that."

"How did you get out?" asked Peter. "We were just on our way to break you out."

"Yeah, we had an awesome plan," said Rocket. "It involved Yondu's fin."

"No, it didn't. You were making that part up."

"Sometimes Quill, you are no fun."

"My brother and father arranged my escape. Though they requested that I leave the Nine Realms." Loki met Peter's eyes. "I will not force my company on you if you do not wish it after what I did to your world. If you wish me to leave I will leave. I ask only that you take me out of the Nine Realms that I may honor the Allfather's request."

Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder and he jumped and turned. The hand held fast. The hand belonged to the woman who had been introduced to him as Mantis.

She stared at him wide-eyed, and then her eyes filled with tears and she began to weep. "So many wounds," she said, "so much pain. So much regret. So much hate of himself."

Instinctively, Loki pulled away. "What is this?" he hissed.

Mantis turned to Peter. "And so much love for you. It is his overriding emotion. Everything in him, is for you."

"What is this?" Loki demanded a second time.

Peter sighed. "I'm sorry. I just…I wanted to be sure. Part of the plan when we got to you, was for Mantis to touch you. She's an empath. If she found out you were a lying sack of jerkweed we would have turned around and left you in whatever cell you were rotting in."

Loki's jaw worked, fury bubbling beneath the surface. He felt suddenly raw.

"It was funnier when she did Peter," said Drax. There was a note of disappointment in his voice.

"Funnier?" said Loki his voice quiet.

Peter perhaps detected a dangerous note in the tone because he stepped forward, pulled Loki a little aside and lowered his voice. "It ain't easy for me. Maybe that wasn't fair to use Mantis on you but I couldn't really do it. Go through it all again, what I went through with Ego. I thought I had a father and we were bonding and stuff, and then he was trying to kill me all of a sudden. And then there was mom, losing her-, I can't even-, there aren't words invented for that. Gamora…talked to me. About you and Thanos…and then Nebula talked to me. She told me about some of what you went through. But…I needed to know. I couldn't-, I couldn't let you in just to find out you weren't real. I'm sorry."

Loki felt the anger…

And then suddenly he caught sight of the moon pendant around Peter's neck. Frigga's pendant. Thor must have given it to him.

He could almost feel his mother at his side, warm and loving, looking at him with that same expression she wore the last time he saw her and suddenly he knew the anger he felt was only at himself. He had once sworn to Peter, when Peter was just a baby, that he would never feel unloved, unwanted, or unvalued. That he would never have to build up walls to protect himself.

And here was his son, unable to trust that his father was actually here for him without using an empath to prove it beyond a doubt. He had not kept his promise. But he would make a new one, a silent one, that he would do whatever was in his power, from here on out, to ensure Peter would. over time, put away his walls for good…even if it meant sacrificing his own.

Loki reached out and brushed his fingertips lightly across Peter's arm. "I understand."

Peter nodded. "Thank you. Also for what you did back on Earth. When you handed yourself over, though we would have fought for you…thank you."

For a moment, a deeper understanding held the two in its grasp, connecting them, binding them, melding them together. One day, Loki would look back and wonder if it would be Meredith, reaching through whatever time, space, and power separated the living from the dead.

From across the bridge came the sound of, "I am Groot!"

"I second that!" said Rocket. "Let's get out of this backwater and have some fun!"

The moment was broken. Peter chuckled and grinned at Loki. "Ready for an adventure with the Guardians of the Galaxy? I promise you, whatever it'll be, it won't be boring."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else."

Peter headed to the captain's chair and sat down. Gamora moved over to stand at his side and smiled down at him, a hint of pride in her expression.

Loki stood off to the side and watched his son. A vision swam before him of Meredith, the first time he had seen her, walking across the room to speak to him, her eyes locked on his. What was it she had called him? A being composed of pure light? He couldn't understand how she saw that in him. He could not fathom how she could see him in the role. But she had loved him, and together they had made Peter, so there must be some light in him after all. Mustn't there? For Peter's sake, he would live as if it were so.

He thought of Peter, a little baby in his arms. He thought of the years of emptiness when he believed he'd lost them bot:. emptiness, rage, grief, insanity.

But now? Here he was. He and Peter, going on adventure through the stars. Just like he had once planned for them. Sure there were a few more people along for the ride than he'd originally pictured, but he could work with that. He thought he'd lost that life forever, he thought he'd lost everything, but instead he was being given one more chance, a fresh start, a new life. And, as he looked around, and sized up the people in the room, he wondered if he might actually be able to make a friend or two this time around.

Peter pushed on the throttle and the ship began to pick up speed.

"You know, seems to me," said Rocket, "we're going to have to really jack up our prices now. We're not just two time galaxy savers, we've also added three new Guardians of the Galaxy."

"Rocket," said Gamora sternly.

"What? With a bigger team we're going to need bigger fees. I ain't sharing my pay!"

Yondu grinned and Nebula rolled her eyes.

Silently, Loki chuckled to himself. The god of lies and mischief, a Guardian of the Galaxy? It wasn't a natural fit. But he'd make it work. For Peter, he'd make anything work.

The End

AN: And it is done! I'm sorry I took a really long hiatus there at one point. While part of the reason was life, part of the problem was also I got stuck on how to end the story. Originally it wasn't supposed to go to Peter as an adult. It was meant to end with Loki believing Peter was dead, and then lead into canon and end with him falling in to the void (though we would know of course there was some hope, since we'd know he survived the void and that Peter wasn't really dead) but I realized that would not be a satisfying ending. Nor would be the second ending which was supposed to be Loki and Peter at Meredith grave. I knew if I was reading a Loki has Peter's dad fiction I'd want to see a bit more.

Some people wanted to see even more than this story showed, Peter on Asgard and Peter and Odin, but I couldn't fit that in before this point, and Loki going off to be a Guardian of the Galaxy just seemed like such a natural point to end the story. I hope people aren't too disappointed.

Thank you so much for reading and for all your lovely comments. It definitely played a major part in bringing me back to the story and seeing me through to finishing it. I hope the ending did not disappoint anyone too dreadfully.