I wanted to say a quick thanks for all the support. The words really do brighten my day when someone likes my writing. I will not always be able to update this quickly but this story has just crawled into my brain and didn't want to leave so I have spent a lot of free time on it lately XD.

The Art of War

Chapter Four: Bare

"We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together."

-Jean de la Bruyere

Humble beginnings, that was Loki's best thought – which was to say least insulting thought - for the apartment bedroom where Jane had dropped him off with the help of her bumbling minions. Loki was laying down, he'd gone unconscious shortly after they'd let him on the bed. Given that the shadows had dramatically changed from when he was brought in he could only assume that he'd slept much of the day. It was voices that drew him back to consciousness.

The woman named Darcy continued to argue against his presence and the male remained steadily silent. Loki took a deep breath, coughing again – it was stressing his body to keep so many complex illusions active from such a distance but now his fever was gone. With only a little more rest he should fully recover. He shouldn't have come here in this way, it was the most manipulative but if one of his illusions fell because he caught the human equivalent of the flu then that didn't particularly help his plan. A detail he couldn't have predicted – this was the first time he'd attempted to keep so many spells up at once...his mother was much better at it than he was even now but she wasn't someone he wanted to think about just now.

"While I can understand looking out for your honey's brother, I don't really think you should nurse him to health." Darcy was saying outside. "Let him stay sick, I'll pitch in for some fans to keep him chilled and we just don't feed him."

"Brash woman is lucky I can't slay her just yet..."

"I'm supposed to torture him? I can't do that Darcy." Jane replied. "I mean, I know that he's not Thor, and he's not really the nicest guy but he saved me on that other planet. He almost died. I can't just look away from that, I owe him."

"Happy you feel that way."

The silence that followed made it seem Jane's argument was enough to silence her pestering sidekick. Loki was thankful for that, he had started to wonder if his greater design was worth not removing the obnoxious voice from the world.

"Anyway, I wanna go, I swear he keeps glaring at me." Darcy remarked.

"Of course I do...your a worthless wretch that doesn't know when to be silent." Loki kept his thoughts to himself.

"Well you did shut his hair in the door." A male voice pointed out.

The male minion could live.

"Shut up." Darcy hissed. "Jane hon, tell me if he does anything you don't like. Anything!"

"Sure, sure. I'll be fine." Jane didn't sound convinced of her own words. "I gotta get him cleaned up. Thanks for getting the medicine from the pharmacy for me. We'll be fine. I don't think he'll try and hurt me."

"Yeah well fine, I did it for you not that jerk." Darcy muttered.

"And you wanted ice cream." The male interjected.

"Shut up intern." Darcy repeated. "It's been a long day, are you hungry?"

"I'll order something, I don't really have anything here."

Darcy sighed. "Fine, I'll be back first thing in the morning. Come on intern."

The door closed and it was Loki's turn to let out a sigh of relief, it was a pity the shrew had been invited back tomorrow but he would have to deal with that then. He kept his eyes closed when the door to the bedroom opened and closed. He could smell the light fruity perfume around the woman that had 'rescued' him that afternoon even without the other indications of her presence. "I don't think your friend likes me very much."

"Well, you can't blame her." Jane replied, her tone harsh for someone that had just pointed out how he'd saved her life. "Get up, you can't really stay like that. I got some extra clothes for you. Here."

Loki opened a single eye to glance over jeans and sweater before his attention drifted back to the brunette, merely perking a brow. "I am not really the denim sort."

"Well it's what we've got so you'll take it." Jane responded, coming closer and pulling the chair from her desk over to the bed, setting the first aid kit on her night stand and looking at the wounds along Loki's chest and arm. They looked less than comfortable. "Get your shirt off, I'm gonna have to clean and stitch that one on your chest– you'll be lucky if they aren't already infected."

"I'd say I have a better constitution than most mortals." Loki replied, but he didn't deny her request, pushing himself up and pulling free his shirt with a slight wince. He turned to the side, coughing again and expecting her to point out the irony of his last statement as he himself was having more trouble than he'd expected. "You could have done this while I was unconscious."

"Yeah, because prodding the wounds of a passed out God is a great idea." Jane returned sarcastically, wincing when she saw the wound. It was gruesome, a deep jut in his upper chest close enough to his heart that it was no wonder they thought he'd died. It was amazing he'd lived. "Damn...maybe we should take you to a hospital?"

In general Loki preferred to avoid taking damage. He left that uncomfortable pasttime to this brother.. This time he'd had to recreate a wound that made his story believable compared to what he'd faked. "No, I don't want to be seen. You do remember that I didn't leave your world on the best of terms. Aren't you a doctor?"

"I'm not really this sort of a doctor, I'm a scientist. I know some first aid but this looks like it goes really deep...I don't wanna cause more damage." Jane remarked, then drew her fingers back. Realizing she'd been touching him and leaning close for a better look made her suddenly aware of the fact that Loki was half-unclothed in front of her. He didn't have the same muscles Thor did, but he still was clearly well defined and had a more lithe as opposed to large form. His paler skin a stark difference even from her own despite it's discoloration from the blood staining...she cleared her throat. "It has to be cleaned. It will hurt."

"I'm certain I've been through worse." Loki replied without missing a beat, smirking just a bit at the way she lingered and then drew away – a moth to a flame. She was making this almost too easy...

"All right." She picked up the rubbing alcohol and poured some on a cloth. She couldn't dig into the wound but she could clean the surface. Jane looked at the wound again, forcing herself to focus on it instead of the god's other features. She pressed the alcohol to the wound, glancing to Loki's face only a moment as she did. His jade eyes were much too close to her own, they were more intense than she remembered them. His face was handsome, he didn't have the rugged looks of his brother but he did have a certain charm – a smoother predatory aspect that drew you in, it was a good thing he smelled like old dirt...

"Stop it Jane, it's only been a little while since you left Asgard. You have Thor – and this is his brother! What's wrong with you?" Jane chided herself silently as she started to clean out more of the wound. Making sure there weren't any stray pieces of dirt, hair, or other debris in the wound. It would need a few stitches but once it was done he would probably heal quickly. It was partly healed already – apparently what didn't kill a god they got over from quickly. His body appeared to regenerate given how much the wound was already healed.

"You have something on your mind." Loki stated, it wasn't a question.

"Um...I'm just shocked your alive. We thought after..." Jane drifted off. "...do you remember what happened?"

"Being stabbed so close to my heart I nearly died?" Loki asked with vague sarcasm. "It is a difficult thing to lose track of. After you all left, I woke again...I tried to follow your trail but it took incredible effort...I trailed you for a long time, then I fell after entering a cave and have been at the bottom of that shaft until you woke me by pulling out my hair."

"It must be the same cave we left through..." Jane said thoughtfully. "...the chaos around the Aether must have messed up time as well as space somehow. Otherwise there's no way you could have survived this long. It's been months."

"Months?" Loki asked, frowning. "Did no one think to come look for my corpse?"

"They tried but no one could find it anywhere...they assumed some local animal ate it." Jane said, then shook her head at her own comment. "Sorry, I could have said that better."

"So everyone thinks I'm dead." He replied in a stoic voice.

"Well, yeah." Jane shrugged a little, not sure how to explain it. She finished cleaning and busied herself threading a needle so she didn't have to look at him. "They had a funeral service and all...but I'm glad you're all right."

"Why is that?" Loki had been curious as to this for some time, since he'd seen her shed tears on his behalf. "Just because I saved you haphazardly in the battle?"

"Guess you heard me talking with Darcy. Partly yes." Jane nodded, still not looking at his face. Instead preparing to stitch. "I haven't done this in a long time...try to remain still."

"And the other part?" Loki wasn't going to drop it with just a change in subject. Even if that change was her sewing up his flesh.

"Well, if you were willing to save me, to save Thor...then clearly you can't be completely evil. You aren't all bad Loki, otherwise you wouldn't have done those things. You helped us even when it risked your own life. I think that's something worthwhile."

"And you trust me?" He smirked a little, expecting her response.

"Not at all. I just don't think you are as horrible as everyone seems to think. Thor thought so too, he told your father he thought you should be the one to rule Asgard." Jane blurted it out as she worked. She supposed Thor probably wouldn't want her to say some of this but he wasn't here – as usual.

"Did he?" Loki's surprise came off as genuine, of course this was all things he already knew. "Or is he just giving up his title in hopes to remain with you?"

"Is he here now?" Jane retorted, a little bitter. "He meant it, now be quiet, if you're talking you're moving."

Loki listened to her, there was little else he could say. She was already disliking the lack of his brother's presence. Here his brother claimed to love this woman with all his heart yet he left her for years at a time – even knowing her limited life span. As fickle with her as he would have been with the crown...

"There..." Jane nodded after a few more moments, leaning back to inspect her stitches. They weren't perfect but it was rather good for not having done it since grad school. "...don't get them too wet for a few days and you'll be fine...let me put some plastic over them so you can shower. I'm sure you'd like to get clean."

"I'd like to sleep for a while longer." Loki murmured. He couldn't be too active, too eager, it would give him away. Also, to a point it was true; being buried under a half ton of rock didn't really lend to getting much rest. He'd barely slept the days he was waiting to be discovered.

"Well, you can sleep after you shower, you smell." Jane remarked as she taped on the plastic, making sure it would keep the water clear. She didn't even know if he really needed that sort of care but she'd rather not kill Thor's brother overlooking a minor medical detail. "We'll have to keep watch of that to make sure it doesn't get infected."

"Yes doctor." Loki quipped, pushing himself up and wavering a moment. Resisting the urge to smile when she reached out to catch him, though he steadied himself. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Jane asked, she was concerned, gods generally didn't get sick. Sure Thor was made mortal that time but even then he bounced back from everything easily. To include the two times she'd hit him with her car... "I didn't know you were still so...well unstable. I guess I thought your kind didn't get sick."

"Even Asgardians get ill from time to time." Loki shrugged it off. "I will be fine once I am able to rest for a while."

"Well, all right, I'll be outside if you need anything. Towels are under the sink." Jane replied, she was hardly going to offer to help the guy shower. She put away her first aid kit, picking it up and retreating from her bedroom. She sighed as she put the first aid kit back in the kitchen where she kept it, opening the fridge, it was mostly bare. She supposed he must be hungry if he was down there for days, or wandering for months – or however long he was gone.

Food, if she focused on something then she didn't have to think too hard about how or why she found Loki at the gateway point. Pizza, everyone liked Pepperoni right? She dug out her phone so she could order it. Though when she was done the water was still running...how long did it take the guy to shower. It'd only been a few minutes but she was nervous. If he did heal up then what would she do if he just vanished? She couldn't exactly keep control of a god.

There was always calling SHIELD but she refused...those assholes constantly stole her research and left her standing at the wayside. As it was it was a marvel she was able to keep almost anything after the whole dark elf aether debacle, they'd stolen a lot of her work as well as Erik's. She only kept what she did because she'd convinced a neighbor to keep a bank lock box back up for her. No, getting SHIELD involved always just got her the short end of the stick, those jerks in suits weren't an option.

How was it she was to keep Loki though? While he was sick she supposed that would be easy enough but once he got better? He would likely start to get restless, at least he'd already stated he didn't want to be seen but would that last when he was no longer injured? She was thinking herself in circles about this – and why was it Thor always left for months at a time? Not until Christmas would she see him and that was two months away...was she supposed to just keep his brother until then?

When the bedroom door opened, Jane blinked in surprise when she saw Loki dripping in the bedroom door – minus any towel... He was lean, yet still muscular – he had the body of an expert dancer. His hair was still dripping, his body still wet from the shower, leaving several lines of moisture visible on his pale chest and hips, as well as other parts. Jane could feel the blush coming to her cheeks as she turned around, sputtering and unable to protest the way she wanted. Her tongue tied by the unexpected and very naked arrival.

"You didn't have any towels." Loki announced, enjoying himself as he watched the girl fumble. "Care to retrieve me one?"

End Chapter