AN: Grace has proved to be a far more popular character that I had thought and you'll be glad to hear that her story just wouldn't leave me alone.
So here is he sequel to Amazing Grace, which I recommend you read first but is not necessary. Amazing Grace can be found under my story list, in my profile.
This is a multi chapter fic and while there is no explicit sex in this part, there will be in future chapters. Rated T for now but that will rise.
This fic assumes that The Dark World didn't happen, so is AU after the events of the Avengers.
Chapter One
Grace was waiting to collect her order of Chinese takeout, when she heard the women sitting beside her start to talk about Thor.
"Look, Cici, if it means I get to talk to Thor, I'm calling!"
"You can't call, Reena, you aren't this Grace person! Besides, it's not like he'll answer the calls, they must get hundreds to they have people who'll screen them."
Reena shrugged. "I don't care. I mean, it's the freaking God of Thunder, it's worth a shot. Maybe I'll get to meet him but even if I don't, it's not like I'll have, you know, lost anything."
"Excuse me?" Grace held her baby daughter tighter as she addressed the women. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I was wondering, why are you calling Thor?"
"Not you too!" Reena rolled her eyes. "Please, I can call that number if I want to and you-"
"No, you misunderstand me. I don't know what any of this is about. Why does Thor have a phone number?"
Both girl's faces lit up, evidently eager to have someone to explain this to.
"Okay, right," Cici began. "So we were watching Primeline."
"Our folks were watching Primeline," Reena cut in. "We have a social life and we were skyping with each other. Anyway, suddenly there's Thor on the TV, talking to that host dude and saying he's trying to track down a woman named Grace and that he wants to take her back to Asgard! I mean, you'd call on the off chance he'd take you, right?"
No, Grace wasn't at all sure she would call. In fact, it sounded rather like a trap set to catch her, but she couldn't exactly admit that. "Who wouldn't!" she grinned.
"But they put this Grace's picture on the screen, and Reena looks nothing like this Grace person."
"Order 221," the gentleman behind the counter called.
"That's me!" Grace raised her hand. "Good luck girls," she said, glad to have been pulled away before she said or did anything stupid.
She grabbed her bag of food and headed out into the night, her child clutched close to her chest. Her motorhome was parked a few streets away and once in, she headed straight for her laptop, googling 'Thor Primeline'.
The first entry returned was a YouTube link, which she clicked, and Matt Laughlan's face, the main presenter, filled her screen.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, in a change to our usual format, tonight we bring you a special plea from Thor, one of our new Asgardian friends."
The screen split into two pictures, so Thor clearly wasn't in the studio with Matt, but on location in a different TV studio.
"Good evening, Thor."
"Thank you for having me." Thor didn't seem to know where to look and seemed rather nonplussed by technology.
"I understand that you're here because you're trying to find someone, correct?"
"That is correct, Matthew. I seek a woman."
The audience tittered in laughter.
"Not just any woman though, Thor, you're looking for a specific person, right?"
"You are correct again, Sir. The person I seek is named Grace Hunter. She is a former employee of SHIELD and I am in need of her help."
The split screen disappeared and her picture took its place. She gasped and sat forward, having almost forgotten what she looked like. Loki had given her a ring that altered her appearance with magical illusions, to help her hide from the authorities, and it felt like an age since she had seen her own face.
"Is this the same Grace Hunter who was declared a terrorist and made it to number three on America's Most Wanted list?"
"One and the same, Matthew, but I fear that was a grave mistake. Grace is no traitor or terrorist. She is merely a kind and sweet woman who was unfairly mistaken for a terrorist."
"But the papers said she was your brother's girlfriend, how could she not be involved with his plans?"
"She was never his woman," Thor explained. "She was a doctor working for SHIELD but she did not even meet my brother until after his capture. As her profession dictates, she showed him kindness when no others would and for that, she was branded a traitor."
"You're saying that being a doctor made her forgive all those deaths?"
"No, I'm saying that despite his actions, she tended his wounds and treated him with respect."
Thor conveniently left out the hours of crazy monkey sex that followed, but she couldn't say that she was sorry not to have her personal life aired on national television.
"But isn't the fact that she ran proof of her guilt?"
"Or her fear," Thor answered. "Regardless of her guilt or innocence, I am here because I need her help. I would ask that she return to Asgard with me and help with my brother."
"Help how, exactly?"
Thor looked uncomfortable, and Grace worried about what he was going to reveal next.
"We have recently learned that Loki was not acting alone and in fact, was not acting of his own volition at all. He was manipulated and tortured into his actions on Earth by another, far more powerful being."
"Did Loki tell you that?"
"No, Sir, he did not. Now that we know that however, the signs of trauma are clear to see, even if the scars on his body have faded."
As if sensing her mother's distress, Vali grizzled and Grace began to gently rock her. She was an exceptionally well behaved child and surprisingly intelligent for one so young. It wasn't that at 18 months, she was doing algebra or anything, it was more like she was able to pick up on social cues that many far older children missed and she showed an awareness for situations that was sometimes downright unnerving.
Developmentally, she was actually pretty slow. She was small for her age, around the size of a 6 to 8 month old, she hadn't yet taken to solid food and she had only in the past week started to crawl. It worried Grace terribly, but she put it down to her being half alien, and tried not to think that her baby had any real problems.
"So if she sees this show, what should Ms Hunter do?" the host asked Thor.
"We have set up a phone line where she can call and speak to us. I give her my word that she won't be traced in any way, nor is she in any trouble, I simply need her help."
A telephone number appeared on the screen and Grace scrambled to write it down.
The clip ended and on autopilot, Grace got a bottle out for Vali, heating it in hot water on the stove and as she sat feeding her precious girl, she wondered what to do about Thor and his offer.
It had taken Grace two days to decide to call and even as she dialled the phone, she was second guessing herself.
The problem was, while this scenario screamed 'trap!' Grace was starting to get worried about her ability to look after Vali.
As a doctor, she could take care of most of her daughters health needs and thanks to Loki, she had the cash to pay for minor hospital visits, should the need arise, but what if her small size was a genetic defect or signs of a serious disease, one of any number of horrible conditions that Grace had been reading up on? Grace was a trauma doctor, not a geneticist or a paediatrician, and if something was seriously wrong with her child, she had neither the means to diagnose, nor treat it.
She had tried to find decent document forger, the kind that would allow her to rent a house, get a job, have access to the school system and of course, give her daughter a legal identify so Grace that could get medical coverage for her. Unfortunately, rumours of CIA level forgers were either false, or the forgers in question were brilliantly hidden, even from potential clients like her.
She felt that she had to try this, just in case Thor was telling the truth.
She dialled the number.
"You have reached SHIELD's automated phone line for Grace Hunter. If you are Grace Hunter, please input your I.D. at the tone."
Grace pictured Vali, sitting quietly on the floor of the mall's day-care service, where her mother left her with not a cry of protest on her daughter's part to be heard, and she decided to risk it. She entered her old SHIELD ID number on the keys.
"I.D. accepted. Please input your six figure date of birth, using month, day and year format."
050580. Grace entered it and held the phone back to her ear.
"Please hold, you are being transferred."
She waited, picturing the agents running around, scrambling to find someone higher up to take the call, while she sat and listened to musak. With each second that passed, she considered hanging up, worried they were tracing her call but just as she was about to end it, someone spoke.
"Miss Hunter. You are a very difficult person to find." The repressed anger in Fury's voice made her tremble, and not in the good way that she had done with Loki.
"Yeah, well, when you unfairly charge someone with terrorism, they tend to lay low."
"We've had those charges dismissed."
"I don't care. The only way this works is if you do exactly as I say and listen closely, because I'll be hanging up in fifty one seconds. I want meeting tomorrow with Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, at a location of my choosing. I'll call on this number tomorrow morning and give the time and place. There they will meet with a friend of mine and she will determine if SHIELD are above board or not. If you send anyone else, if you bug the meeting or if they lie, you will never find me, understood?"
Her stopwatch was still ticking. She had set it to count down the time it took to trace a call.
"Ten seconds, director. Eight... Five."
"Deal."
"Thank you." She hung up, turned the phone off and threw it in the closest trashcan. She headed to the mall bathroom and once locked in a stall, she removed her ring, reverting to her own appearance for a few moments.
Each time she put the ring on, she had a different face but she had learned, with practice, that if she concentrated hard on a previous appearance, the ring would recreate it when she slipped it on. She now recalled the face she had worn when she dropped Vali off at day-care and after checking her compact to make sure she looked the same as earlier, she quickly retrieved the t-shirt she had been wearing earlier, which she had stashed behind the cistern, pulling it over the black vest top she wore, then she exited the bathrooms.
She spun the day-care service some story about a sick relative and needing to pick 'Vicky' up after only 15 minutes because of it, then once mother and baby were secured in the Winnebago, Grace began to drive.
She arrived in the town of Lineberg in the early hours of the morning and pulled over to take care of Vali and to sleep. She had googled this town and decided it had what she needed for a safe meeting.
When she awoke, she fed and dressed Vali, then they headed for the local mall, where she would use the same trick as yesterday so that Vali was taken care of, while she met with Steve and Tony. After dropping her daughter off, she found the public toilets and changed her appearance. She removed her light flannel shirt and placed it in a water tight plastic bag, which she stashed inside the cistern. Under the shirt she had worn a thin hoodie, which she now zipped up, before leaving the toilets.
She purchased a cheap burner phone for cash from the first cell phone store she saw, went into a different set of toilers and called SHIELD. After completing the security checks, Tony's voice came on the line.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?"
"California."
"Great." She had done the distance calculations from the main SHIELD bases last night. "You and Steve have exactly one hour to reach the Berg Mall in Lineberg. Go into the Starbucks and wait to be contacted. Remember, if anyone else comes with you, the deal is off and you'll never see me again."
"Understood." Tony said, sounding serious for once in his life. "You sound different but… this is Grace, isn't it?"
She wondered if she should lie. "Yes, Tony, it's me."
"Are you okay?"
She didn't know how to answer that.
"You know, you're missed around here," Tony continued. "The new doctor doesn't have anywhere near your bedside manner. Even Steve calls her Nurse Ratchet."
"I miss you guys too," Grace admitted.
"Gotta go," she said, hanging up before she could blub.
She wasn't buddy-buddy with the Avengers but the job of patching them up, especially Steve and Tony, had usually fallen to her and although not friends, she was friendly with them all. She had even given a professional opinion and been present when the shrapnel in Tony's chest were removed.
She turned the phone off and left it in the stall, then she turned her hoodie inside out (it had been purchased specifically because it was reversible) and removed and replaced the ring again. She had no doubt that SHIELD would hack the CCTV footage of this mall immediately and she didn't want the face she met Tony and Steve with, to be linked to the face that had bought the phone she just used to make that call.
With her third face of the day, she bought a newspaper, then settled herself in the Starbucks. She took note of everyone who was in here and how they behaved, to compare it with suspicious behaviour later on. She just knew that SHIELD would try to capture her if given even the smallest opportunity.
One decaf coffee (she was still expressing milk for Vali) a slice of cake and a pot of tea later, she saw Tony and Steve walk in, dressed in civilian, clothes. She had estimated that using Tony's suits, they could get here in an hour, but a plane would take longer, so hopefully she had about 20 minutes before SHIELD arrived. Of course. They could have agents in the area, or have called on local law enforcement, so she wasn't counting her chickens yet.
The avengers duo looked around but Grace kept her eyes lowered, pretending to work on her crossword until they approached the counter. Leaving her things at the table to "claim" it, she approached the counter too.
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed after Tony had ordered their drinks. "You're Tony Stark, aren't you?"
He didn't look as enthused as he normally did to meet a fan. "That's me." The smile he gave her was tight.
"And you're Captain America!" she gushed, pretending to only just notice Steve. "Oh my God, my friends aren't going to believe this! I am such an admirer of both of you, you're so brave!"
"Thank you, Ma'am," Steve blushed a little.
"Damn it, my phone battery died this morning, I forgot to charge it overnight. I don't suppose you would mind giving me an autograph, would you? Please? My friends will never believe this otherwise."
"Maybe you need better friends," Tony quipped, still looking around the coffee shop, while Steve took the drinks from the barista.
"My friend Grace especially, just loves you guys."
That got their attention.
"Sure, we can sign an autograph," Tony's smile was real this time, if a little guarded. "Where are you sitting?"
She led them to her table and Tony sat opposite her, while Steve pulled up a second chair to the tiny table.
"So, you're Grace's friend?" Steve asked.
"I am," Grace smiled, keeping her star struck demeanour about her. She handed her newspaper and a pen over. "Keep looking around, as if you're impatient with me and still looking for who you're supposed to meet."
Steve did as she asked, looking around for someone else. "Why did she pick us to come here, can you tell us? Why not Thor?"
"She picked Steve because he is the most trustworthy of you and she doesn't think he'd knowingly lie to her. She picked Tony because of your knack with computers and your insatiable curiosity, she thought you would likely know if this was a set up."
"Not for my winning personality? Tell her I'm hurt."
"I will."
"So, do we get to see Grace?" Steve asked.
"I don't think so, not yet."
"But she is close?" Tony asked.
"She's not a million miles away. Before she'll even consider showing her face though, I need you to convince me that Thor and SHIELD are on the level here."
"As far as I can tell," Tony shrugged. "Thor came through the bifrost about two weeks ago and told us the tale of someone called Thanos and Loki being forced into helping him."
"You don't believe him?" Grace questioned.
"I believe Thor, I'm just not sure I believe the story. Knowing Loki, he could have manipulated things to look good for him."
"Okay, but what does this have to do with Grace?"
"Apparently, Loki is behaving himself but he won't talk about Thanos, at all. He has nightmares but he'll never say what they're about, and Thor thinks he's depressed."
"Again, how does this involve Grace?"
"Apparently Loki grew very, uh, attached when they met, and Thor thinks she might be able to get through to him, to help him. Thor just wants his brother back."
"No offence, but I don't see Loki as the open type. I doubt he'd even speak about his encounter with Grace to anyone."
"None taken," Tony quipped.
"He hasn't," Steve confirmed. "But what he does do is draw her. Thor says his rooms are littered with images of her and that his brother is in love, even if he won't admit it."
"They met one time, how can he be in love?" Grace scoffed, although she knew that one meeting had been enough for her. Part of her prayed that Thor was right and that Loki loved her back.
Tony held his hands up. "Just the messenger here," he said. "I'm only telling you what Thor told us."
"Okay, so if Grace does agree to go back to Asgard, how does that work?"
"Thor will come and collect her and take her back."
"And you're sure that Thor doesn't have an ulterior motive?"
"I am," Steve vouched for his friend.
"I'm as sure as I can be," Tony added, which wasn't very helpful. "SHIELD on the other hand… lets just say, Grace is right to be paranoid, they're still pissed at her."
"Where is Thor?"
"He's on the roof, he insisted on coming with us."
Grace hadn't expected that but she was used to thinking on her feet.
"So if I go with you now, I won't have to even see SHIELD, right?"
"'I'?" Tony stared at her.
Damn. Stupid slip of the tongue.
"You're Grace?" Steve asked.
"It's a really long story," Grace sighed, neither confirming or denying her name.
She sat quietly for a few moments, contemplating what to do.
"I don't mean to rush you," Tony said, totally meaning to rush her, "but while we were able to beat SHIELD here, they know which cell towers your call was routed through and they'll have agents here in probably…" he checked his watch. "Ten minutes, tops."
"Okay. But I have a few things I need to do first. Stay here once I've gone, like you're still waiting, then meet me on the roof in ten minutes."
Both men hesitated but finally agreed.
Grace stood up. "It was so great to meet you guys, than you so much for your autographs."
Steve and Tony said polite goodbyes too her and she gathered up her things and left. She considered changing her look again but time was of the essence now and she hadn't planned on leaving today. Hoping that her fangirl cover hadn't drawn any unwanted attention, she ran from the mall to where her motorhome was parked. Grabbing the backpack Loki had originally sent with her, she stuffed it with clothes for Vali, nappies, bottles, her breast pump, Vali's favourite toys, jars of baby food and a few assorted trinket she spotted. Taking the ring off, she concentrated on what she wanted to look like as she slipped it back on, then ran back to the mall, not even taking the time to make sure she looked the same as when she had dropped Vali off.
With Vali settled on her hip, Loki's backpack over her shoulders and the baby bag in her free hand, she found an emergency exit and followed the stairs up, only just remembering to slip the ring off and into her pocket as she emerged into the roof, so she would look like Grace when they saw her.
Not a moment too soon either, as Thor, Tony and Steve stood together, facing two hovering planes.
Thor was yelling at the pilots, but it was doubtful they could hear him.
"You gave me your word!" Thor cried.
Grace had instinctively turned her body sideways, shielding Vali from the planes.
"Grace Hunter," Natasha Romanoff's voice came through the speakers. "Lay down on your stomach with your hands where we can see them."
Thor turned when they spoke her name and he ran to her, shielding her body with his own as the planes opened fire.
"Heimdall!" he called, and a moment later, they were both swept up in a bright white light.
Grace needed a few moments to recover from… whatever that was, and Thor kept his arm around her while she regained her equilibrium. Evidently however, Vali had no such qualms.
"Mama?"
"Ssh," Grace soothed, dropping the baby bag to smooth the little girl's head.
"You brought a child?" Thor asked, sounding a little horrified.
Grace stood upright, pushing Thor away slightly and she angled her body so that he could see Vali. Anyone who knew Loki would see the resemblance in her black hair and knowing eyes.
"Darling, I want you to meet someone," she told her daughter. She always spoke to her as if she was far more grown up than she was and could understand everything that was said to her. Sometimes, it seemed that she did understand. "This is your uncle Thor."
"Un Tor!" Vali said, holding her arm out while clenching and unclenching her hand.
"Thor, this is Valencia, my daughter. I call her Vali for short."
Thor seemed floored and Faith cast a smile at the other man here, who she had only just noticed. He was probably the Heimdall that Thor had called out to, he was supposed to be the gatekeeper of Asgard, after all (she had boned up on her Norse legends after her close encounter with Loki).
"Does Loki know?" Thor asked.
"Not yet. He didn't exactly leave me a phone number."
"Of course. Forgive me."
"It's been a strange day for all of us," Grace agreed.
"Welcome to Asgard," the gatekeeper smiled at her.
"Siny!" Vali held her pudgy arm out to him.
"She means your helmet," Grace translated. "She thinks it's shiny."
"That it is," Heimdall agreed with a smile.
"Well, you probably want to get settled in," Thor said, picking up the baby bag. "I will take you to the palace, and Loki."
Outside the golden dome, a horse drawn carriage awaited them, making Vali cry "ossie!". Thor stowed Grace's bags for her, then helped her up into the carriage.
"How have you been?" Thor asked.
Faith blushed as she remembered that the one and only time they had met, was while she was lying butt naked on the floor of Loki's cell."
"Fine, thanks."
"And you have suffered no hardships?"
"Everyone suffers hardships," she answered. "But Vali makes it worth it."
She wanted to ask how he thought Loki would react to having a child but she was too afraid to hear a negative response.
"She looks healthy," Thor smiled at Vali, seemingly as uncomfortable with this as she was.
"I've been worried about her, actually," Faith admitted. "While her mind seems very sharp for one so young, she is very small for her age."
"That will be Loki's influence," Thor explained. "Our childhoods last a hundred years; infancy for perhaps five years, then childhood to pre-adolescence for another forty, then adolescence thirty to forty years and youth… well, some say youth lasts hundreds of years, before we would be considered an adult. Vali will no doubt age at a rate somewhere between you and Loki."
Grace suddenly felt an overwhelming sadness. While she had hoped that Vali's development lags were due to her alien father, she suddenly realised that even if those ages were halved due to Vali being half human, Grace would still probably not even live long enough to see her baby become an adult.
She bent her head to place a kiss on Vali's soft hair.
"You okay, baby?"
"Ba."
Ba meant a lot of things, depending on tone of voice. This one meant, roughly, 'why yes, mother, I am very well, thank you'.
"Grace? Can I call you Grace?" Thor asked.
"Of course."
"What troubles you so? Have I offended you in some way?"
"No." She squeezed her eyes closed in the hopes that her tears wouldn't come. "It's just been a very strange day. Strange couple of years, actually." It was two years and three months since she had last seen Loki.
"I understand your reticence."
She doubted it. "How is he?" she decided a change of subject was best.
"He has been imprisoned for most of the time since his return. He was released to help us repel Thanos, approximately six of your Earth months ago. During the battle, Thanos singled Loki out for vengeance and we learned that Loki's attack on your planet had not been his idea or choice. After much debate, it was decided not to return him to jail once the battle was over, but rather try to help him. He is confined to the palace grounds but may venture out under guard, or with me."
"If it's true and he was tortured into helping Thanos, why is he still under house arrest?"
"Loki's crimes against Midgard were not the only ones he had to answer for. Before leaving Asgard, he tried to destroy our enemy, the Frost Giants."
Grace gave him side eyes. "And destroying an enemy is a bad thing?"
"We have a peace treaty with the Jotunheim, so yes, it is a bad thing. Given the circumstances however, and my own crimes against the Jotun people, I cannot condemn Loki for his actions. My father however, is another matter entirely."
"So how is he, in himself?"
"He is… stable at the moment. He misses you dreadfully and there are other… problems that he faces. Or refuses to face, as the case may be."
"What makes you think I can help him?"
"Nothing, but Loki is a very shuttered individual, even before the problems in our family, he was introverted, even shy at times when we were growing up. Now, only our mother can penetrate the walls he had built around his heart and even then, only sometimes. You however, seem to have taken up residence there, and my hope is that your presence will at the very least, cheer him."
"Human Prozac," she muttered.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. I just…" she held Vali tighter again. "Do you think he'll want her?" she asked suddenly.
"Want who?"
"Vali. Does he want to be a father?"
"I wasn't aware that he had a choice," Thor sounded amused.
"About creating a child, no, but about being a father? Of course that's a choice. I wouldn't force her or us onto anyone who didn't want us."
"I regret that I do not know how Loki will view the child but… he is not a bad man, Grace. He is troubled but the boy I grew up with was not evil. He is simply lost. I have observed him teaching others a time or two and I think he will make a good father."
She hoped so.
Loki was trying to perfect a potion but sadly, failing miserably each time. If he had access to the ingredients he needed, there would be no problem but since he was confined to the castle, and the main ingredient was on another realm, he was trying to find another way.
His latest attempt however, had actually been explosive, and he was cleaning up the mess when Thor waltzed into his room. Loki wished that he would learn to knock.
"Loki!"
Evidently Thor was in an excellent mood, which only made him more insufferable.
"Can't you see I'm busy?" he asked, not bothering to turn and look at his 'brother'.
"I have brought someone to see you," Thor announced.
"Not another shaman, please. I don't think I can tolerate any more cleansing rituals."
"No, not a shaman, brother. Why don't you see for yourself."
With a huff, Loki turned, and promptly dropped the singed book he was holding.