Re: Christmas spirit is in short supply.
"It's a good nose," Zap told him, in a tone that she might've used for one of the children. Then she immediately paid for her sass with an honest compliment sent straight at her from Nate, right on the nose. "Really," she added, somehow feeling a pinch guilty, "your nose is good. Power nose." She was relieved when he teetered back to the subject of the daughter of Fandral. "I wouldn't send her in blind," the queen vowed. And Thea had spent many a year witnessing Loki's misdeeds and tricks. "But someone should tell to keep her eyes... peeled." So bad. So, so bad. Eva had hugged his arm at that, to help keep herself standing. Her ribs hurt, oh, she needed to breathe.
It was so lucky that Nate was a general killjoy, as she was snapped out of her laughter and forced back into a posture that didn't rely on her confidante. Ahem. "We're lucky Petr lives for this sort of thing..." she mused. Her eyebrow quirked in curiosity as Nate rambled off on one of his side tales, actually keeping to memory most of what he'd said, because it was part of her own history, now. As for Brayden, "I know," she nodded. "Wait," she released Nate entirely and circled around to be face-to-face with the conman. "You should take a break..."
"We're both taking a break, and I'm going to tell Thea and Loki to rest up for their journey tomorrow." Foot down. "Indulge me. We can have a baked potato bar. All the cheese Brayden can eat." She wasn't even kidding. Her hand reached out across the space between them and she squeezed Nate's big fingers for a second. "I'm happy to look after him, but I know he wants more of you. Bonus: you two can spend some time with the Odinsons, it'll be great." A tween, a grade-schooler, a crawler, and the baby Eva hadn't mentioned to Nate yet. She grinned nervously. "I was going to tell everyone at dinner. I'm pregnant. Again."