Very Much Alive

'He's alive, Oliver.'

Grimm blinked, the blood rushing to his head as his temples throbbed. “Frederica, what are you talking about?'

'Our son, Oliver. Baldur is alive .'

He sighed, trying his best to sound weary while his mind scrambled on how she could know the truth after all this time. “Darling, you know he's not. Hermod himself confirmed it when he saw Baldur in the Underworld.” And wasn't it a relief that Hermod was as stupid as he was gullible, or he would have noticed that Baldur was breathing .

Hermod was also known to be honest to a fault. He'd seen Baldur in Hel; therefore, Baldur must be dead, reinforcing the lie he'd told.

Good old Hermod. Grimm wondered if he was enjoying the Underworld as much as Hodr was.

'Have you had your tonic today, sweetheart?'

She paused, her breathing harsh over the phone. “No.'

The extra-strength potion he'd made for her to take while Baldur and Loki were so close to his home territory would take the edge off her nosiness. “Take some, before you make yourself ill over this travesty of a hoax. I'll deal with Loki myself. I promise you that.'

She paused again, then meekly said, “All right.'

He heard her sipping and smiled. Stupid cow. Keeping her docile had been remarkably easy once he figured out the secret of the apples. “Now, go rest, and allow me to deal with Loki's treachery.'

'I've sent you the link to the video he made, Oliver.” He could hear her stifling tears. “It looks so much

like our Baldur, right down to the eyes.'

Grimm's blood ran cold at the thought. “I'll take a look, my dear. Go rest.'

She sniffed. “Will you be home tonight?'

He thought of Rina, and the silken present she'd promised him that night. “No, dear, I think I'd better take care of this problem as soon as possible. Don't you think?'

She sighed. “Of course.'

In his most loving, caring voice, Grimm said, “Get some rest. I love you.” He practically gagged on the words.

'I love you too.'

He hung up, and opened the email Frigg had sent him.

By the end of the video, his entire office was covered in frost.

Val clicked open the email link his father had sent him. Deal with this! had been the subject line. Val had no idea what had the Old Man's briefs in a bunch this time...

His jaw dropped open in shock as Baldur's face took up his screen. He clicked on the “play” button.

'Hello, Aesir and Vanir.” Baldur's beautiful voice purred in Old Norse. Those pale eyes were cold as ice. “I think you all know who I am. Or maybe not.” Baldur moved back, smiling gently as he did so. Val shivered. “After all, you've been trying to kill me for centuries now, haven't you? Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of it.'

The sudden deepening of his voice had Val leaning forward in his chair. What are they up to?

'Ever since that day in the Thing, you have hunted us and hounded us. You have given us no peace. You have murdered wives and sons, turned brother against brother, and destroyed lives in your quest to destroy my lover. But enough is enough. I will tolerate no more.

'A week ago Jordan Grey was shot trying to protect Loki and me.” He leaned in close to the camera again. Val groaned when he saw that Baldur's pupils had started to turn white. That's bad. “By the way, Val, I owe you one for that.” He pulled back to the sound of a dark chuckle. Loki's there. Make that very bad. “I owe all of you, actually.” His eyes left the camera lens long enough to watch Loki walk around and take position behind Baldur. “Watch carefully, people. I'm only going to do this once.”

Baldur stared into the camera, his gentle smile never wavering, as the pot he'd been holding quivered. A sprig of green appeared, rapidly growing in Baldur's hands until a perfectly formed white lily opened its trumpet-like flower. Behind him, all of the bushes sprouted tiny flowers as well, blue with white centers, just like Baldur's eyes.

It was a miracle, since those bushes were obviously yews, and incapable of flowering. This meant that it really was Baldur standing there, and not some imposter like Grimm had been telling the gods for centuries. The magic of the Jotun, even Loki's, couldn't fake a true miracle.

'These flowers have bloomed to mark both an end and a beginning.” Baldur's blue and white gaze was

glued to the camera. Val couldn't shake the feeling that he was staring right at him. You barely noticed Loki standing behind him, somehow in shadow.

Val groaned. Baldur was glowing. It was his shadow his lover stood in.

'You all forgot something, you know. I am a God of Spring. I bring peace, hope, joy, et cetera.” He waved his hand, careful not to knock over the lily. Val could hear Loki's snort of amusement behind Baldur, noted the first hint of warmth to enter those cold eyes. “Just as you have given me no peace, now I give you no peace.” Those sky blue eyes darkened until the white pupils glared out of a circle of navy.

“No gardens shall bloom, no sun shall shine for you. Winter is in your hearts to stay until justice is served, both for the torment you've given Loki and myself and the injuries you've done to our families.'

At that point, Loki leaned forward, placing one hand on Baldur's shoulder. “By the way, Frey? Thor?

Jordan's fine. We're keeping her safe.” That devil's grin that had gotten him into so much trouble over the centuries was on his face. “And we've decided to just plain keep her.'

Oh, shit. Val watched as the familiar YouTube scrolling screen appeared, asking people to rate the video. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

No wonder Grimm was ready to blow a gasket.

Frey and Thor would probably start bellowing like bulls, knowing that Jordan was in Loki's hands. It wouldn't matter to them that she was also in Baldur's hands, since they probably still believed Baldur was an imposter. He wondered how many phone calls Grimm had already gotten from them.

And he wondered how Frigg would take the news that her son was still alive.

He blinked, startled, as his hands left the keyboard. He'd just emailed the link to each and every one of the Aesir and Vanir in his address book.

Damn it, Loki! What the hell do you think you're doing?

But deep down, he knew. He just hoped Jordan didn't get any more hurt than she'd already been. If she hadn't leapt to Logan's defense, she never would have gotten hurt in the first place. He'd aimed the shot to miss by just a hair, a hair Jordan had stepped into. Damn it.

There was a gasp from outside his office. Stepping out to see what was going on, he saw plants withering and dying. And from the gasps and yelling he could hear, all of the plants in Grimm and Sons were doing the same.

The true meaning of Baldur's curse hit home.

He turned and went back into his office, trying to hide his snicker behind a cough.

Damn, bro. Way to make your point.

God of Spring, indeed.

The incessant pounding on the door had Logan groggily getting to his feet. Kir was sleeping in the bed with Jordan, making sure she didn't need anything, while Logan had stayed up all night working. He'd just fallen asleep on the sofa after a long bout of research, both on the computer and in some of the more

esoteric books he owned.

It had been two days since they'd brought Jordan home, with orders to see to it that she got physical therapy. If Logan was right, though, she wouldn't need it.

He opened the door to a small, pissed-off redhead. Her wild curls danced around her head in their own fiery halo. Her foot was tapping a staccato beat as she glared at him. “Where's Jordan?'

'Good morning to you too, Jamie.” He blinked sleepily, scratching at his naked chest as he yawned. It was too damn early in the morning for this. “Jordan's sleeping.'