Still catching our breath from my amorous exertions, I fixed Shannon's hair and re-clothed us when Mist let me know Shannon's family had reached the gate. After studying her complexion, I was happy to see the healthy flush to Shannon's face, even as her hazel eyes took another minute to focus on me.

"Game face, darling. Your family will be here in five minutes," I told her with another kiss before pulling away to change to the ginger-haired blue-eyed colouration of my mortal Tod Mogroddine persona. There was so much that could go disastrously wrong with her family's visit.

Although I knew she needed to see them, I'd be lying if I claimed not to be worried about it. With Shannon needing to feed Aidan so often, she had little time to do much else aside from recharging her energy through sleep, high nutrient meals, and sex. The last thing I wanted was any more stress for her. She still wasn't back up to her pre-pregnancy weight, although the more I got her to rest and recharge, the better she was doing. Of late, I'd been taking her to the forest or drawing a salt water bath when she took her naps to get a dual benefit out of it for her.

A knock at the front door pulled me from my worries, and Mist got to it before I could. When she yanked the door open, I saw Shannon's mother, Rose, in the entrance, with Liam and Sara just behind her.

"Hi! I'm Mist, a friend of Tod and Shannon's, helping them with little Aidan," Mist said, taking their jackets and hanging them in the foyer closet.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Rose, and this is my son, Liam, and his wife, Sara," Shannon's mother said as she looked around and spotted Shannan and me waiting at the entrance to the family room. Darting around Mist, she barrelled towards Shannon. Despite her diminutive size, barely over five feet, Rose packed a bit of a punch when she impacted Shannon's much thinner but taller frame with the force of a cannonball ploughing into the deck of a ship. Although I braced my hand at Shannon's back, she'd seen her mother coming and had immortal strength to aid her. Even so, it was a good thing Shannon had had her feet planted.

"Liam, Sara, nice to see you both again. Heather isn't with you?" The twins had already given me the heads-up on their way back from picking up Shannon's family, so I was already aware that Shannon's sister had chosen not to come.

"No, she had work," Liam said, shaking my hand. When his eyebrows drew together and his mouth twisted down at the corners, it gave away the actual answer he was too polite to say to my face. Shannon had told me her sister could be petty, but to not come meet her nephew was incredibly selfish. Since I didn't particularly like Heather, I didn't mind her absence, but I'd be damned before I let her hurt Shannon with her bullshit games. Bad enough Shannon still mourned her former friendship with Lynda, that fucking bitch who'd been a user and social climber, manipulating Shannon for years.

"Well, we really appreciate you were able to work around our schedule. I'm sorry we could only get away for a few weeks and that it's taken this long. With my career and profile, we needed to ensure we had enough security," I told him.

"I can only imagine, especially after the spectacular way Aidan made his presence known on the red carpet. You two have done amazingly well to stay under the radar both before and after," Liam said.

I heard the unasked question in his tone. It was one I'd expected. Shannon wasn't as comfortable with the polite lies our immortality required, so I knew it was better if I dealt with it. Especially with her family. I wanted these visits to be as pleasant as possible for Shannon. Before I answered him, we followed the ladies into the family room where Rose was holding Aidan, taking a seat as we watched them coo over him.

"Yeah, that red carpet fiasco was entirely my fault. I'd stupidly argued with her, getting her upset and not knowing that her pains were back labour. Her water breaking caught us both unaware and unprepared." I winced, remembering the pain. Childbirth was no joke, and we'd both been drinking Frigga's contraceptive tea since then. There was no way I was risking Shannon's health with another pregnancy any time in the next hundred years.

Maybe longer.

Liam winced as well, although I was sure his reason wasn't the same as mine.

"Damn. Yeah, Shannon has quite the temper if you piss her off. Although it usually takes a lot to make her lose it, so you must have really been an asshole."

I nodded wryly. "Definitely. She's amazing." Such an understatement. Shannon was a goddess in every sense of the word. Her resilience, determination, and courage were absolutely awe-inspiring. Despite everything that had been thrown at her, she retained that mischievous sparkle that kept me on my toes. I loved every sexy inch of her, inside and out.

"So why haven't you married her yet? I know there's that media clip of you calling her your wife, but there is no way Shannon would get married without telling us." Liam's tone managed to be both disapproving and accusatory at the same time.

Bloody hell. Her brother really didn't pull any punches. It wasn't a question I was expecting, although I should have, given what I'd said to the media six months ago.

He pinned me with his fierce gaze. Admiration for his loyalty to his sister had me smiling. 

"Oh, I want to and I don't plan on accepting any answer other than yes. We'd be married already if..." What was I going to say? It's not like I could tell him his sister had been kidnapped and missing for over six months. "Well, things keep impeding my plans, but I'm hoping to ask her once everything with Aidan settles down. He's a lot of work, and she's exhausted, even with us helping her as much as we're able."

Liam nodded, still eying me. "I can only imagine. Sara and I haven't been fortunate enough to have kids, but I know how much work students in my classes are. A baby must be orders of magnitude more effort to care for. As long as you aren't stringing my sister along. You don't have any other kids hanging about with different mothers, do you?" he asked suspiciously.

The idea of managing another family on top of Shannon and Aidan had me almost laughing, but I choked it back. "Uh no. Shannon is quite the handful all on her own. She is everything I need or want. I love her to distraction. I'm definitely not juggling her with anyone else, nor do I have any other kids. Aidan is my first."

Many hundreds of years ago, thousands of years ago on Midgard, I'd tried having a mortal family like Thor did now. It was too hard, too heartbreaking to lose not just my mortal wife, but my mortal kids as well, to the relentless sands of time. Eventually, I vowed to not father any more mortal children. Their lives were just too short, and I couldn't stand to watch them die.

Then I'd attempted an immortal wife and Sigyn had been captured in the last war with the Sidhe. Pregnant with our daughter, she'd been tortured over many weeks and both were murdered mere hours before we broke through to their locations. After those painful experiences, I'd restricted myself to loving many and committing to none.

Until Shannon. My soulmate I'd never expected to be blessed with. I knew I was too overprotective of Shannon and Aidan, but it was a constant fight against my fears. By the Norns, especially after almost losing them both, first to the Unseelie and dwarves, and then to my own stupidity. Even now, I couldn't help but check on them both constantly, to reassure myself of their safety.

Shannon looked over at me and our eyes connected. "Happy visiting with your family, darling?" I asked.

"Yes. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm relieved Heather decided not to come. It's enough to have Mom, Sara, and Liam here."

"I'm glad. Liam's been grilling me, but it's good. He's a good brother, just looking out for his little sister," I told her.

We visited for another hour before Thjalfi and Roskva showed up with food for the mid-day meal. The last thing I wanted was Shannon worrying about or trying to deal with taking care of her visiting family's needs, instead of hers and Aidan's. I'd arranged for the twins to bring food from one of the barracks so that we didn't have to worry about making anything here. It was less obtrusive to use one of their cooks to prepare our meals in their kitchens, than to have more staff in the house with us.

By the end of the meal, Aidan was complaining he wanted his lunch, too. With Shannon uncomfortable with an additional audience to her nursing, and her family unaware of her specific energetic needs, I had the twins take her family to one of the houses set aside for visitors. It was fully staffed with a housekeeper and chef, so I knew they'd be well taken care of. We planned for them to come back in the early evening, giving Shannon time for a nap between feedings before trying to host her family again.

With both Shannon and Aidan rested and fed, our evening visit with them was out amongst the trees in an outdoor glade with comfortable wicker couches, hanging lights and a hidden shield I activated when needed to keep any rain off of us. Although I'd been prepared, I didn't need to fire up the portable heaters. Fortunately, the fall weather held nicely, even for late November. Being surrounded by the trees gave Shannon a chance to recharge her energies while she talked with them.

It worked well enough that we repeated it over the next few days, falling into a pattern of them visiting for a while in the morning, sharing lunch with us, then coming back again just after dinner for another visit. It provided Shannon enough time away from them to allow us to fit in our salt water bath naps and sexcapades to keep rejuvenating her.

Still, I was satisfied when the twins drove them back to their home.

As we'd planned, Shannon, Aidan, and I headed out to be 'spotted' walking along the seawall by Stanley Park for a sunset stroll. It gave the paparazzi a chance to snap photos while we controlled the context and risk. Even so, I hated exposing Shannon and Aidan to it, despite the security we had with us to ensure no one could get near them.

It was a relief when we returned to the yacht, temporarily docked minutes from Stanley Park, instead of our home in Deep Cove. The longer I kept our Vancouver home hidden from the public eye, the better. 

Although the media thought we were returning to our yacht and heading to Vancouver Island, in actuality, we headed back to Asgard when it got dark enough that no one would see the bifrost pick us up from the deck of the yacht.