overglow.

Klara's anxiety grew with each passing second that it took her boyfriend to realise what was going on. She felt her best friend's magic tug at hers, trying to figure out what was wrong but she was so distressed that it already must have been an answer enough. "Wait, no. She's going to see me and know something's wrong," Klara protested when Rafael asked her to stay with their oldest but she then just nodded, composing herself enough so that nobody at the party would get any clue what was happening. Once Klara ensured the girls were safe with Rafael's parents, especially his father after she'd briefed him on the situation, she set out on her own to find whoever had Lovisa, relying on her own bond with her daughter. She froze when she saw Lucia on the steps leading away from the tower, thinking she was hallucinating. She saw her boyfriend escort her out -- then how did she manage to come back and take their baby without anyone noticing? Klara didn't take too much time to ponder on that. Fueled equally by rage, fear, and guilt, she didn't even notice when her magic took over, turning her into her Ljósálfar form. And it was an instinct for her to protect her baby girl, with one invisible hand nearly choking the life out of that woman, and the other catching Lovisa into a safe embrace until she'd be able to be with her mother. Klara hadn't noticed she had an audience, nor did she particularly care as her only focus was on Lucia and making her pay for all that she'd done to them and to her own daughter, too. And it was Ella coming up in her mind that actually stopped Klara from making the ultimate move. She eventually released the hold she had on the woman and without wasting any second, ran towards Lovisa, cradling her in her arms, tears streaming down her face as she kept talking to her in Asgardian and rocked her to calm her down. Afterwards, everything had been a blur and she barely noticed when she was back at the apartment where the party was already wrapping up, with the birthday girl none the wiser about anything that had just happened. And Klara hoped she would stay this oblivious.

He had no idea what his girlfriend did, but she did something. He also wasn't sure what concerned him more—the slightly horrified look on his soon-to-be brother-in-law's face when he looked at Klara or whatever it was Klara was doing. Rafael had his mouth open to say something, but a voice came through his earpiece. He didn't comprehend what was said, eyes still on Klara, until he heard Loki say that they got her and left with Stark. Rafael stayed with his girlfriend when they left. "Baby," he started, gently, as he walked over to her. He brought her into his arms and held her there, for them to bring Lovisa to them. He'd deal with Lucia later.

"Don't talk down to me like that, Rafael," Klara huffed in response. She kept looking in the direction of the girls, making sure that the woman didn't get too close to them without any supervision. Which thankfully was provided by her best friend and Edward. "Ella is distracted enough, you can go ahead and kick her out. That's all I'm asking you to do. It's not like El is going to notice she's not there anymore," she carried, shaking her head. "But do whatever you think is right," Klara said and then returned to the party, keeping a close eye on the girls. It wasn't too difficult since playing with the girls came to her as naturally as talking to their adult guests. Some time later, she scanned through the crowd and let out a relieved breath when she couldn't see Lucia anymore, thinking that her boyfriend finally got rid of her or she left the party on her own, seeing as she wasn't able to shake them up. What she had troubles with was finding her youngest, though. She knew that Lovisa was either with Rafael's parents, her nanny or her best friends but when she couldn't locate her, the weight in her chest kept getting heavier and heavier with any passing second. After checking the rest of the rooms closed to their guests, she just couldn't shake off that feeling that something was wrong. "Raf," she stopped her boyfriend, pale as a ghost when she saw he didn't have her either but she tried to put a brave face on. There had to be an explanation. "Have you seen your mother? She was the last one who had Lovie and I can't find her anywhere. I can't see her, I can't feel her, something is not right, Rafael," Klara ran her hands through her hair, knowing she had to compose herself because panicking was only make matters worse. "Please, tell me you know where she is."

"Baby, I'm not talking down to you." Rafael looked at her, calmly, though he sighed a moment later and ran a hand through his curls. "Look, I have dealt with Lucia's ass for years now, okay? I know Eliana doesn't recognize her and wouldn't care less if she was here or not. But what Lucia is good at is making a scene." He turned to face his girlfriend and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "That's what i don't want her to do. I don't want Lucia to hurt Ella by causing a scene. That's what she wants me to do. So when I can, I'm going to get her out of here." The answer wasn't enough, based off of how Klara told him to do what he thought was right. He let out another breath, catching his brother's gaze as he looked out to the party. Thankfully, Rafael was able to get to his ex-wife shortly after, which was why he was looking at Klara with a look of confusion when she approached him later on in the day. "My mom?" He asked, a little alarmed at the state his girlfriend was in. Rafael sat his drink down and turned fully to her. "She's with the girls." He looked at Klara a moment longer, realizing what was happening. Rafael moved his arm around her, eyes flicking over to his brother and Odinson—the latter looking like he knew something was happening—and to his mother who was with Eisa and Ella. Their baby nowhere in sight. Raf looked over at Odinson again and nodded towards Tony and Bruce in a signal for him to get them. Voice shaking a little, he turned back to Klara and asked, "Can you stay with Ella?"

All the years of fake smiles finally paid off when Klara had to pretend everything was fine at the last place she ever thought she'd have to do that - Ella's birthday party. But when Lucia somehow managed to enter the party, Klara couldn't really show how much it bothered her. The woman was Ella's mother, after all, even if the little girl needed a reminder of who the strange woman was to her. Even if to an outside eye nothing in Klara's cheerful demeanor suggested she was fuming on the inside, she knew her boyfriend saw right through it. "I want her out of here now, Rafael," she said once they were alone. "She's already stalking us, I'm not going to wait and see if she's going to try doing something worse. And you are going to figure out how she got in there."

"Sweetheart, you think I want her here?" Rafael questioned, looking over at his girlfriend. "You think I didn't want to hunt her down and get rid of her myself for following you two?" He nodded out to where Ella was, playing with her cousin and Morgan, without paying a bit of attention to his ex-wife. He wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose—or if Eliana really didn't know who Lucia was. He was leaning towards the latter, which pissed him off even more. "Ella is the only reason I'm not doing the things I want to do, baby. I'm not making this hard for her. My brother's ready to give her legal hell. It's going to get messy enough without adding to it." Raf glanced back outside to see his brother and Loki lingering close behind his ex. "I asked him to have some of his guys from Asgard come down to help," he admitted after a moment, having not told her that. Rafael turned his attention back to Klara, "Between them and my guys from SHIELD, I have no idea how the hell she got in."

"Yes and the baby's due on Thanksgiving," Ed rolled his eyes and smacked his brother on the back of his head. "Well, he will be, eventually," he replied to Rafael's question about his fiancé, "you've met the king, he's a piece of shit," he added. "This is also why we're drastically downsizing the wedding. We're just going to invite people we actually want, not the people we ought to invite to avoid intergalactic war or whatever." Edward paused for a second to take a sip of his coffee. "Unfortunately you're on the invite list too, asshole. Mostly because of Klara," he teased.

"Aw. Congrats. A holiday baby. Just make sure you're married before to spare yourself a lecture." Rafael smirked, expression shifting to one of understanding as his brother spoke. "Yeah, he really was. I thought Thor and Loki were being their usual dramatic, but he really radiated gigantic dickhead." He sat back on the edge of his desk and snorted, "Well, I'd hope I'd be invited to my big brother's wedding. Or elopement," he added, teasingly. But after Thor's wedding, his brother's words honestly made him feel a lot better. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't concerned there'd be some sort of repeat or problem leading up to another royal nuptial. "You tell Mom yet? Break it to her easy, hermano," he teased, but continued, "She's coming in for Ella's birthday and wants to spend time with the her and Eisa—which we need to talk about." Raf sighed and sat his coffee down, "Lucia has been following Ella and Klara around. If your fiancé decided to make it 81, I think I would turn a blind eye."

Klara was standing over Lovisa's pram for a good minute, making sure their sleeping baby was actually breathing. Once she was sure of that, she turned her attention back to her boyfriend, rolling her eyes fondly at his words. "Aren't you a little bit dramatic, baby? It's been a year already," she asked as she sat on his lap and ran her hand through his curls. "The world is spinning and I don't like it," she pouted, resting her head against Rafael's shoulder. "Make it stop."

"I'm always dramatic." He immediately lifted his arm when she walked over, sliding it around her waist when she sat on his lap. Rafael opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut as his girlfriend started talking again. "Mmm," he hummed, after a moment. "Will do, baby girl." Rafael pushed her hair back when she rested her head on his shoulder. "So, just curious. Exactly how many drinks have you had?"

"Well-" She stopped herself. "Do you want some coffee?" Gwen figured that would be a safe question at least.

He held up the coffee already in his hand and looked at her. "Uh, who are you?"

"We're eloping and getting married in the Vatican," Edward deadpanned as he entered his brother's office, holding two coffee cups in his hands. "Well, the location is still TBC but we're not having a huge ass wedding anymore. Mum's gonna have to deal with that."

"Well, hello to you, too." Rafael took the coffee, brow raised at what his brother said next. "Mamá is going to be pissed. What caused the change? You knocked him up, didn't you?" Raf teased and then sat back on the edge of his desk. "Is he good, though? He looked like he was going through it at the king's party."

Edward snorted when his brother realised Astrilde joined them and it dawned on him that Jane was there too. "Listen, I thought Jane would talk some sense into them but apparently there is none of that when he is concerned," he countered and was about to say something else but Rafael's bickering with Ella stopped him. "I've never heard her say bad words, Daddy. When have you?" she asked with a determined look on her face. "Right, Daddy. When have you heard that?" Edward asked with a bright grin on his face. At least there was one good side to this whole Odin drama and it was making fun of his little brother for just a minute. Just a minute for things to feel like nothing was happening. Like his fiancé's asshole father wasn't in town. "Yep. Whatever he's planning, it can't be good," he patted Rafael on his back and moved to drag Eisa away from the chocolate buttons. "I told you, princesa. No more candy for you. Go bother your father, I'm sure he missed you."

"Mm. You know Jane's just as bad as them," Raf pointed out. "She just hides it under a more composed, reserved mask." He was about to say something in response to his daughter, catching the misstep at the shit-eating grin on his brother's face. So he just smiled at Ella, waiting until the girls had their backs turned to mouth a fuck you in a very mature fashion in his direction.

Klara let out a laugh at Rafael's words and pressed another kiss to the top of Lovisa's head. "I'm sure she will resume her concert as soon as we get back home," she teased. She wrinkled her nose when her boyfriend mentioned Odin. "Well, I'm hoping the next time will be a permanent nap so maybe he's just taking his time. The last hoorah and whatnot," she shrugged. "My dad?" Klara furrowed her brows as if she was confused about who her boyfriend was talking about. "Heimdall isn't here tonight, darling. You must have confused him with someone else," she spoke with a smile, loud enough for her father standing nearby to hear. She rolled her eyes when she heard her old man make a disgruntled comment, at this point, she didn't care anymore. "How much longer do you think you need to stay here? Jane, Lo and I have devised at least six escape plans, just in case."

"Eloquent as ever, querida." Rafael smirked and gently took Lovisa from her arms, giving his girlfriend a break. He snorted softly at her not-so-subtle attempt to piss her father off and looked over at her. With the hand that wasn't securely the baby in his arm, Rafael took Klara's hand and led her away. "Whenever you want to leave. Even if she's not fussy right now, she's still a newborn. She can be our excuse." He nodded in the general direction of the doors, before his gaze shifted back to where Ella was dancing with the other girls. "My brother told me to keep an eye on Eisa for a minute, so I'm pretty sure he's trying to get Loki out." He looked back at Klara. "But you know Thor's probably not leaving, so Jane's fucked. Honestly, given that her father-in-law is a gigantic dickhead, I'd just walk out if I were her. Like, how is the queen still married to him? She's so sweet. He's an asshole."