A/N: My readers, you guys are amazing! I was so apprehensive about posting this story and I'm so happy to know that so many people actually like and want to read it, so thank you all so much! I haven't smiled this much in a long time. I hope I can live up to your expectations with the following chapter and the others that will follow soon. It will probably be about 5 chapters plus a possible epilogue, maybe. I'll try to post at least once a week as well. Happy reading!
Chapter 2
I awoke again several hours later to the feeling of being watched. Hailing from a planet that was always prepared for war, and being one who never quite got accustomed to sleeping without one eye open so-to-speak, it was a feeling that was easily identified. The source of this feeling even easier when I recalled the memories of the previous night and the emotions tied to them. Somehow, without any real movement on my part, the one watching me knew I had rejoined the conscious world, though it could have been the extremely close proximity as she had her chin resting on my chest gazing in my direction. "Good morning" she muttered, choosing not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that surrounded us. "How long have you been watching me exactly?" She smirked, knowing she'd been caught. "Not long, really. But I figure fair is fair, you did say you'd been watching me yesterday." Touché. I cracked a smile at her. "Well, a genuine smile. I never thought I'd actually see one of those from you. It's nice. You should smile more often." "You do wonders for my ego, you know that?" She gave a surprisingly girlish giggle at that and said "I aim to please."
She shifted her position slightly so that her head was back lying against my chest with her ear near my heart. From my vantage point I could not see her face, but I could feel a distinct smile forming across her cheeks. "What has you smiling so?" She hummed softly and answered "I like listening to your heartbeat. It's soothing."
So I put that ridiculously sweet smile on her face, another pleasant feeling came over me at this knowledge. Now I see what exactly turned Thor around so much; these Midgardian women seemed to have quite an effect over us otherworldly creatures. I smiled, amused, and we laid there for quite some time just basking in the stillness of the morning. It couldn't have been past 7:00 am at the latest. The first vestiges of sunlight were just streaming through the window in her living room, the only source of light I had to study her by. I had already committed the contours of her face to memory, something to mull over when I was alone once more, but now I could reflect on the rest of her. Her hair, the closest feature to me, was in itself a testament to her very nature. Though full and beautiful, it was somewhat untamable, albeit delightfully so. She was quite short, even for a human, but it suited her. She did not have an athletic build, rather to the contrary, she felt quite soft in my arms; and while she was in no way large, she was not skinny either. She wore her curves well, in a way I'd never seen on women in Asgard, whom I am starting to think were all carbon copies of one another. Except for Sif, she was Asgardian military issued.
I thought Darcy had drifted back to sleep until I felt her drawing non-descript patterns across the planes of my chest. I was only now realizing that I had removed my armor sometime last night, apparently to make ourselves more comfortable. Now I'm turning soft. "What are you drawing?" I asked quietly, with simple interest. "Hmm? Oh, nothing I guess. I was just doodling absentmindedly. Does it bother you? I can stop," she replied, leaving her hand still. "Actually, I found it quite pleasing. You may continue if you like," I acquiesced as I closed my eyes once again to further relax. Still lying with her cheek pressed to my chest, I felt another one of her smiles emerge. "I've got a better idea. I'll draw, and you try to guess what it is. And no magical cheating! I'm sure you have your ways," she turned her head up towards me just as I looked to her, her eyes were narrowed in mock suspicion. Amused by her idea, I allowed it and agreed to the terms, then closed my eyes once again in preparation for our game.
Her first drawing was quite simple, a test I'm sure. "A heart. Really dear, you must attempt to challenge me." She laughed and I'm almost positive her eyes rolled as well, though I couldn't be quite sure. "Okay, try this one." This one was a bit harder, but still I was able to guess what the 10 lines every two converging at a point was after a few minutes, "star." "Ooo, you are good. Hmm, I'll have to think of something much harder," she mused, tapping her finger against my chest in thought. The next one took significantly more time than the first two, but I attribute that to Darcy's rudimentary drawing skills rather than my doodle-deciphering abilities. "Is that supposed to be a lightning bolt?" Laughing, she replied "yeah, but I suck at drawing anything more complicated than that. I was really hoping I could stretch this game on a bit longer. It's kinda fun." I opened my mouth to suggest that I might take a few turns while drawing on her back and have her guess when an infernal ringing echoed through the room. Darcy groaned as she sat up and dug through the pockets of the jacket she had so carelessly tossed onto the back of the couch the previous night. She produced her cellular communication device and answered in a voice that sounded much more tired than she really was.
"Hullo? Yes Jane, I was doing what most sane people do early on a Saturday morning. Ugh, do you really, really need me? Fine, I'll be there in an hour, but don't expect me to be any kind of happy about it. And Coulson better have gotten my Starbucks. I don't care if he is your boss; I'm trying to train him. If he wants me to be compliant, he's going to have to provide coffee. Yeah, yeah, I'll try to leave him alone today. See ya in a bit. Bye."
After she finished her conversation, she turned to me with an utterly adorable defeated look. "I have to go in to work," she pouted. "I gathered that." She moaned again and fell back against my chest, in the same position she had earlier vacated. "I'm entirely too comfortable to go to work, this is criminal." I laughed at her choice of words. "Actually, I'd say sharing a couch with a dastardly villain would be considered criminal, but to each his own I suppose. Would you like me to hold you hostage so you can call in kidnapped?" Thankfully, I got her to laugh, I dislike seeing her sad. "As fun as that sounds, Coulson really doesn't need an employee turning up MIA today. They don't call me in on the weekends unless the work load is unbelievable. It would probably give him a stroke. The man seems all cool and collected, but I'm telling you, he keeps it all bottled up inside and that can't possibly be good for his health." She was unaware how true those very words rang for me. How her few simple words made me reconsider my domination plans and tell her all my worries and woes instead. Such a remarkable woman and yet she has no idea how much she affects me.
She sighed heavily before getting up to ready herself for the day. I crossed my arms behind my head, since being left without their occupant had left them oddly chilled and waited to see what clothing choice my human made for today. My human, huh; I wonder when that endearment developed. She returned half an hour later having showered and dried her hair, but what caught me was the outfit she was wearing. I still think she did it on purpose. It was a black skirt, fitted down to just above her knees and a satin emerald green blouse tucked into the top, with some sort of lace undershirt peeking out of the top in the same emerald color. Once I got past the clothing, I saw her mass of hair had been somewhat tamed by being tied halfway back in some kind of clip; the ocular devices had also disappeared. If I hadn't watched her go into that room myself, I would question whether or not this was the same woman that now left it. As she sat in the chair placed perpendicular to the couch to put on some ridiculously high heeled shoes, I was unable to refrain from leaving my mouth agape. She finished with her shoes and then looked in my direction. "What?" She asked with innocent eyes, too innocent.
I closed my mouth just in time to reopen it and say "You…you look lovely, Darcy. Why do you not dress this way more often?" Though I regretted the words as soon as I spoke them, for many reasons (too many males chasing after her, she looks lovely all the time, not just when she wears that, too many males chasing after her…it necessitated repeating), I still could not completely cease the appreciative gaze that lingered across her form. I heard her snicker before answering me. "Actually, this is somewhat typical to what I wear for work, SHIELD's orders to actually wear business attire, unless you're a ninja agent, and then you get cool spandex and leather jumpsuits. But hey, I'm not exactly complaining, they provided the budget for it and I look awesome in this stuff, as I assume you just figured out," she finished with a glance and a smirk in my direction. Little minx.
"So, what are your plans for today, since I'll be trapped under the crazy all-seeing gaze of Agent Coulson and running errands for the entirety of SHIELD?" Well, I was going to continue with my observations of several key members of SHIELD but I decided to follow you around instead as you're much more interesting and much more pleasing on the eyes. "Oh, I'll find some way to amuse myself. I am not called the god of mischief for nothing you know," I raised my eyebrow suggestively, positive that she would understand…she did. She rolled her eyes and simply said "well, just don't hurt yourself…and try not to hurt anyone else either; I'd like to avoid the truck load of paper work that comes with an international crisis."
She still looked quite morose as she grabbed her bag and coat so I decided, in an entirely valiant effort, to cheer her up. "Since you will be rather devoid of any decent intellectual interaction during the course of your work, would it perhaps make you a bit happier if we were to spend some time together once you return home?" I tried to ask with an air of nonchalance, but true to her character she saw right through it and understood that I too would be much happier if I could spend time with her later. "Yeah, I'd like that. It will be the light at the end of my corporate tunnel." She smiled at the very idea and its warmth radiated straight through me. In no time, this human woman melted my icy Jotunn heart. "Excellent, then I shall see you upon your return to your dwelling." And with that I disappeared from her sight but not from her presence, though she need not know that. I don't believe it occurred to her that I wouldn't know what time she left her job, as they had neglected to inform her as well. I suppose I'll just have to follow her the entire day.
Poor, poor Darcy, she is entirely too underpaid for the tasks that have been demanded of her as they are either demeaning to someone of her superior worth or monotonously mind numbing. Darcy boasts an above average level of intellect compared to many of the humans on this planet, but she is hardly rewarded for that accomplishment. I suspect the only reason she still remains with the job is for her love of the Jane woman. I doubt very highly that she really loves retrieving things for other people, running mindless errands and wading through an ocean of paper. But, she does her job with the grace and dignity quite unheard of from someone in such a position. She smiles constantly at everyone, always makes sure that everyone has eaten, and even cracks the odd joke once in a while to break up the solemn atmosphere that often falls on the sullen scientists in her department. She is quite fortunate however, to be working directly under the Jane woman, as at the very least she makes sure Darcy is not entirely abused by her position. She also has a tendency to overlook when Darcy disappears for a short time. Due to my unique interest in Darcy, I deemed it necessary to follow her on these disappearances as well. The imagined notion of privacy works nearly as well as actual privacy. In other words, what she doesn't know won't hurt her.
What followed wasn't quite the surprise I thought it might be, but was no less unexpected. She walked briskly to the on-floor open exercise area where she further ventured to a more secluded spot. In the far corner rested a simple red and white bulls-eye target. Darcy removed her shoes and stowed them near a pile of mats underneath which she pulled a small canvas rolled up tool belt. She laid this on the table that rested against the wall and unrolled it, unveiling several small daggers sharpened quite deftly. I settled in to see exactly what she planned to do. She removed three daggers from the belt and held two in her left hand. The other she took at the tip in her right, centered herself at a fair distance from the target and threw. The small blade struck the bulls-eye; not quite in the center, but close enough to be considered remarkable, especially for someone as unassuming as Darcy. The things this woman does. She threw every blade in the belt, all in varying locations on or very near the center and then removed them from the target. She replaced them in the belt and placed it rolled back up in its hiding place before returning to her duties as if nothing strange had happened. I made it a point as to inquire about this oddity at our later engagement.
Aside from these almost regular sessions Darcy's work day mostly consisted of assisting in the paper work load from the scientists that surrounded her. When she wasn't running errands, she filed and filled out more paper at one time than I had ever seen in my life, and that is saying something. By the time they finally allowed her to leave, she looked tired and completely worn down, of course it being 7 o'clock in the evening, that makes sense. I transported myself back to her apartment building and decided to wait on her in the lobby so I could walk her to her door. The change in her face when she saw me standing near the door waiting for her was astronomical compared to the one I saw her leave SHIELD's office with. The difference was night and day. I could not and did not want to quell the warm feelings that bubbled from deep within and caused my own smile to stretch across my face. A smile that I soon discovered was loathe to leave.
"Well, this is a nice surprise. I didn't really expect to see you just yet," she said walking up to me to loop her arm through mine and walk towards the elevator. We arrived in her apartment and she once again asked me to wait while she changed. I expected the same boyish attire that I earlier saw her in but she once again surprised me. She returned with her hair pulled up, completely out of her face, wearing a somewhat tight fitting black cotton shirt, denim pants, and barefooted. "Another different ensemble for the day?" She answered me while digging through her bag in search of something. "I dubbed these my semi-comfy clothes. While they're not exactly elastic waist banded or oversized, they're not unbearable." She finally produced what she had been searching for, a small black case which held her ocular device.
"Why do you wear that? I noticed you did not wear it earlier, why do you wear it now?" She seemed at first puzzled by my question before she realized what I was referring to. "My glasses? Oh, I wear them because I have horrible eyesight; I can't really see things that are very close to me. But when I go to work, I wear contacts; it just makes it easier not to have to keep pushing my glasses up all day. Unfortunately, the contacts kinda irritate my eyes, so I take them off as soon as I can!" She must have interpreted my bewildered look because she went on to explain what exactly contact lenses were.
We both settled into the couch, I leaning against the arm and she lying at the other end with her feet across my lap. We were silent for a time before my curiosity broke through. "So, when did you decide to start practicing the art of throwing a dagger?" I asked with a hint of laughter coloring my tone. She sat bolt upright with her eyes wide. "Were you stalking me again today? Because that's pretty much the only way you could know about that." I took a moment before turning to face her with my own mischievous smirk. "I should've known. I kept feeling like someone was watching me all day, but I wrote it off as SHIELD's particular brand of paranoia rubbing off on me."
All was silent for a time before curiosity got the better of me again. "Care to explain your abnormal work activities?" She laughed before she began, "It's not really much of a story; more like…a happenstance precaution. Despite the fact that I work with the nerd-herd scientists, there is still always a chance for danger. I watched one of the agents, Natasha, working with daggers one day when I was running a quick errand for Jane and for some bizarre reason, they intrigued me. I searched the gym after hours and found where they kept some spares and decided to teach myself. Trust me, I sucked royally at first and almost gave up I don't know how many times, but I kept at it and eventually got pretty good. I figure some sort of skill with a weapon would come in handy some day. I still train with the spares I found but I bought a really nice set online that I love, and I keep a few of those in my bag with my tazers. So, I'm always armed and maybe only kind-of ready," she finished with a small chuckle.
I took the time to think for a moment before responding. "Have you ever actually used these daggers in a real life circumstance?" Her gleeful look quickly faded and her eyes, almost subconsciously, drifted down to her midriff before glancing away from me. "Darcy, you cannot lie to the god of lies…do not try." Her entire body seemed to wilt a bit then she changed position to curl against my side with her head on my shoulder and her arms wrapped around my waist.
"It's not exactly a good story you know," she started quietly. "It was when I was still learning, so I started keeping a couple of the spares in my bag, you know, just in case. I always had at least one tazer on me, so I wasn't completely defenseless…just stupid." I realized this story must be an upsetting one for her and to offer what little comfort I could, I wound my arms around her body and held her close. We were a picturesque couple, if only on the exterior. She seemed to take strength in my little comfort and continued with her tale.
I'd been practicing with my daggers for probably a couple months at this point, like I said, still pretty early on, when Jane asked me to stay late with her to work on a project. What she really needed was someone to keep her company while she worked on her insanely boring astrophysical statistics. Anyway, Jane and I didn't leave until well after midnight, but she has a driver that takes her everywhere because she's an important scientist for SHIELD while I'm just a lowly underling. She offered me a ride, which I took only as far as her place because me being the independent female that I am I decided to walk rather than make her driver take the extra trip; I do it all the time, so why not? It's not like it's all that far.
I got about half way home when I got the feeling that someone was following me. Usually my first thought is to go to my tazer, but I got bold and went for my daggers instead, I had at least two, so I figured they would keep whoever it was busy. I tried to gauge how far away he was, because I could faintly hear his footsteps, he was close enough for that. I gauged it wrong. I turned quickly and threw my first dagger and it grazed his arm, just hurt him enough to make him mad. I started to panic by the time I had a grip on my second one and hesitated too much. He had already picked up the one I threw and was barreling towards me. I threw it in a blind toss and actually managed to hit him in the chest, but he was so big that it barely slowed him down and he stabbed me right in the stomach. Luckily for me, the daggers weren't very long and this guy had terrible aim. He missed anything major.
I was able to fumble for my tazer before he could try to stab me somewhere more efficient and actually managed to taze him and run to the hospital. I took the dagger out and stuffed it in my bag with the other one so no one would see it, but that ended up being a dumb move because then I started losing a lot of blood. The chick at the front desk saw me in time and they were able to stitch me back up before I lost too much blood. I almost needed a transfusion, but they decided against it. They kept me overnight, but I only agreed to that because otherwise they were going to call my emergency contact, which, wonder of wonders, was Jane, and I did NOT want her finding out about this. I had the weekend completely off and I called in sick that Monday, Jane assumed I had been out all weekend and she didn't question it. No one knew about this until now. Until you.
I sat dumbfounded for a few minutes. Someone had actually attacked Darcy and meant to do her harm. Furthermore, they actually succeeded! Odin-forbid I ever come across the inferior miscreant that did this, for he would pay dearly. "Loki? Please say something," she pleaded quietly. "Did they ever apprehend the man (I said the word with difficulty for he did not deserve the title) that did this?" I asked tightly, though I attempted to keep my body relaxed so as to not frighten her. "You know, I don't know if they did or not. I never reported it and the hospital wasn't required to. I still have the scar from it. Call it my little reminder to never do something so stupid again."
"May I see it?" She looked at me slightly puzzled. "The scar; may I see it?" She nodded and leaned away from me to lift her shirt above her naval. There was the scar, right next to it; a white, thin horizontal line that stretched almost two inches in length. The vermin dug it in as far as he could. I laid her down on the couch with her shirt still lifted and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the scar. She shuddered at the contact. She brought her hands to either side of my neck to lift my head so that my eyes had no choice but to meet hers. I could not stop myself from leaning forward as she leaned up towards me and our lips met in the middle.
A/N: Oh, so sweet. As I said, next chapter should be up in about a week and I for real need the smiles that will come with an explosion of reviews! You guys rock!