In the morning he was gone. Or rather, by the time Naomi woke up the following afternoon, he was long gone. She rolled over, all the way over until she met the other side of the bed. Nope, definitely gone. But his subtle scent remained; imbedded in the sheets for a short while. He never stayed until morning, not since their first night together before he'd brought her home. He'd stay the night, but he was always gone by morning. It was never really a great way to start the day, but for now she could relax surrounded by what little of him remained. A hint of deep woods and fresh air. The subtlest breath of his magic. That was always more of a feeling than a smell, although her mind still classified it like a scent. She could never put it into words regardless.

The memories were still fresh. The aches in her muscles still prominent. Such small mercies kept her mind quiet for just a little while longer. For a few moments longer, she could pretend like he was still there, arms wrapped around her, protecting her from the shit-storm that seemed to constantly surround her nowadays. For a few moments longer, she could live without worry or fear or anger. For a few moments longer, she could just lay there feeling boneless and content without a care in the world.

Of course, she slowly became aware of the reality that surrounded her. Her hair was a mess. Her sheets were tangled and pulled up from the mattress. The room was too warm for her liking. She could hear the TV in the other room. Several long months in a quiet cell made her very fond of the silence. God she missed having her apartment all to herself, without the constant intrusion of concerned family members. Without reporters hounding her every chance they could. Without S.H.I.E.L.D. probing and spying on her every move. Her thoughts too probably.

And with that nauseating thought, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her alarm clock read 12:47pm, which wasn't all that surprising. She didn't recall when they'd stayed up till, but it was nearly morning for sure. She stretched the few hours of sleep from her back, before knotting her fingers in her thoroughly tangled hair. Time to greet the day and whoever was intruding in her living room. She sat up, listening to the sounds of some daytime program about birds. Well it definitely wasn't her mother, at least. Her best guess was Evie. So she did come back after all. With that, she finally pulled herself out of bed to investigate.

And also for food. The smells of homemade breakfast were a wonderful motivator.

She dragged her feet into the kitchen, catching a glance at the back of Evie's head before the remains of whatever she'd cooked up distracted her. Evie could eat like she was twice her size, but this was definitely more than she would've made for just herself. There was enough bacon and scrambled eggs to sink a small boat. "Are we expecting anyone else?" she asked through a mouthful of cold bacon and buttered toast.

"Yea, but I figured she'd wake up eventually."

Naomi threw her a look over her shoulder. "I was up until 4am and you still weren't back, what's your excuse?"

"Well when you didn't come home for dinner or our preplanned movie night – no call, no show – I took up a friend's invitation for a night out. I had plenty of drinks on your behalf; don't worry. Obviously, I couldn't drive back, so I stayed at her place. Looks like it's a good thing I did."

She hadn't passed a mirror on her way out here, but she was pretty sure that a copious amount of sex wasn't evident in her expression – her hair maybe – but Evie always seemed to notice anyway.

"For your information, I got picked up by S.H.I.E.L.D. again last night," she said, filling up a plate with more room temperature breakfast food. "And not surprisingly, they don't have very good cell service." She plopped down beside her on the sofa.

"And S.H.I.E.L.D. had you up until 4am did they?"

Naomi stared at her with an eyebrow raised all the way up to her hairline. She chewed on another piece of bacon, trying to figure her out. Evie didn't look phased. "Oh come on. How do you always know? It's not like he hangs a sock on my door handle."

"I have my ways." Evie grabbed a piece of her toast, bit it and then quickly put it back on her plate. "You know you have a microwave and a toaster right?" Naomi went back to her food with a roll of her eyes. "Your man is very good at finding ways to keep you for himself when he visits. And besides that, you'd avoid a party for the sake of sleep on a regular basis; what else would keep you up all night? Or who, I guess I should ask."

Fair enough point. She shoved a few finger-fulls of egg into her mouth, most definitely dropping some on the couch. "I may not have spent as many nights here with you as mom has lately, but I know you don't sleep all that well anymore. Except for when he's here." Naomi made no comment on that. The TV program about birds had suddenly become very interesting. "When I came back this morning and you were still sawing logs, I figured it best not to wake you."

Thank god for that. There was some sort of saying about moms knowing everything, but Evie was at least two steps above that without even trying. "Thank you."

"So what did S.H.I.E.L.D. want?"

Did she even need to ask? It was always the same shit with them. And they would continue to hound her until she told them whatever it was they wanted to hear. As much as she wanted to, not even she was capable of fabricating a story they'd be happy to hear. She glanced up at the TV to see that the bird show had been interrupted by a breaking news story.

"That. They wanted to know about that."

The small TV was awash with red ticker tapes announcing another attack like the one S.H.I.E.L.D. had told her about. Fury had failed to offer her video proof of that, but what other horrible bombing could he possibly be talking about. Probably best not to think about that. Evie turned up the volume and they could hear one of the reporters voice narrating the horrific footage. They were reporting of multiple explosions happening live from their hometown not more than thirty miles away. The cameras shook with ongoing destruction. Buildings crumbled in the background of reporters risking their lives for a story.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. told you about this? Naomi this is live. This is home."

"Not this particular attack. There have been others. They think Loki is responsible."

"Why would they think that?"

"I don't know. Something about it is registering as otherworldly and they're looking for somebody to blame."

The report briefly moved away from the live recording to studio coverage discussing the previous attacks that had occurred over the past few days. Fury had been more than vague in what he said to her about this. Seeing it live on the news made it seem so much worse. They showed footage and photos from previous attacks that had occurred over the past few days. And she was disturbed to recognize every single one of the prior locations. There were six locations previously victimized by these bombings and each one was an old apartment or a favorite vacation spot or a frequented store from her past. And that brought an uncomfortable knot to the pit of her stomach.

"Naomi? Are you all right? What is it?"

She could feel Evelyn's worried gaze on her, like she was going to fall into one of her panic attacks again. No. Not yet. Not this time. Loki was still fresh in her mind and for the moment that was all the clarity she needed. "There's something they're not telling me," she said quietly.

"Well yeah. That place has spies for their spies. They're not the most telling group of people."

"Maybe they don't know," she continued to herself.

Assuming they don't know every god damn thing about me. It was possible they didn't know. It was possible they hadn't made the connection. Or it was possible it was only a coincidence. But how could it be? Perhaps two or three but not all of them. No, something about that was wrong.

She watched as the chaos unfolded across the newsreels. The death toll was climbing and from the looks of it, these attacks were getting closer. S.H.I.E.L.D. would never elaborate of their own accord. And she had to know the truth, what with this newfound paranoia warming the blood in her veins. Loki hadn't seemed too concerned, but he was also worlds away with plenty of his own problems to deal with. Nope, she would have to do this the old fashioned way.

She abandoned her plate on the table and was quickly collecting herself. Within five minutes her hair was tied up and she'd found a pair of shoes to throw on.

"I'll be back in a little while. Thanks for breakfast." She grabbed a jacket and was immediately on her way.

Evie called after her. And once she'd shut the door behind her, she could hear the texts coming in. There was no need to worry her. Not yet at least.

Loki returned home, slipping easily between realms without Heimdall or Odin being any the wiser. Thor knew, but after everything that happened, he kept his mouth shut. He took the long way back to his chambers, strolling through quiet halls, allowing his mind a little room to breathe. Since his youth, he'd walked thousands of miles through this palace. He knew every inch of these halls, but with each passing day they seemed to close in tighter around him. He had assumed that once he escaped the confining walls of his dungeon cell that such a feeling would fade. No such luck, unfortunately. If anything, the feeling was worse. Walls that had once represented the only home he'd ever known, were now foreign.

He remembered, still with clarity, running through these halls as children with Thor at his side. Or as Thor would tell it, he would tail along behind him on his big brother's crusades. Regardless, there was a time so shortly passed when he felt safe here. Protected by the palace walls. Protected by the parents that raised him. But the truth destroyed all of that. Odin would say that crimes against the entire universe destroyed all of that. But he would say with the utmost sincerity that his life as he had known it was doomed from the start.

But none of that matters now.

No, soon he'd escape this wretched hovel and disappear into the far reaches of a world away from this one, with Naomi at his side. And no one else. Not the Allfather. Not Thor. Not anyone.

He passed one of the outdoor atriums on the way back to his quarters. It wasn't quite as he remembered it from the last time he meandered by. For as long as he could remember it was an ornate golden dome with nothing inside of it but a large fountain arrangement. While he couldn't see the entire room from the hallway, he was fairly sure the floor was not previously grass covered. He stopped and caught a very familiar aroma. Loki made a small noise to himself before he stepped outside. Mother.

Her smile blossomed before Loki had even come into her view. She sat in the grass beside the fountain, among the flowers newly planted. As if sensing Loki's questioning gaze, she said "If I don't bring a little life to this place, no one will."

"These cold, stone walls do not favor such things."

She hummed contemplatively. "These walls held warmth once. And no matter how long ago it was, that's hope enough for me." The measured turn of her wrist, a quiet call upon her sei∂r, and the freshly planted flora blossomed before their eyes. The sun poured through the intricate carvings above, bathing her work in light. Perhaps even the warmth she spoke of. "What troubles you, Loki?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." His response was almost robotic. And why shouldn't it be? They were tales he'd grown tired of telling.

"You once enjoyed little hideaways like this," Frigga divulged when he only stood there in silence. "You told me that they were your only place of refuge until we built your private study."

"That was centuries ago."

"Some things never change." Sometimes Loki swore she saw him as a child when she looked at him. She saw the innocent teenaged version of himself. There was a time, long ago, when he would've sought out a place like this. Once Thor and his friends found all of his usual hiding places, he'd become a little more desperate for sheltered places like this, far off the beaten path. He'd bring along his favorite spell books and make himself scarce for a while. But as he said, that was centuries ago. Once Frigga erected his private study, he had no reason to look elsewhere for shelter. He built a veritable fortress of enchantments around that place. Loki sighed. Nowadays, not even that could afford him the peace and solitude he sought.

"How's Naomi?"

Loki stiffened slightly out of habit. Nobody was supposed to know. He didn't want anyone to know. She was his. But he'd come to realize long ago that his mother simply knew everything, as modest as she was about it. "I don't want to talk about her."

"Seems you don't want to talk about much of anything anymore."

True as it was, it sounded much worse coming from her. "She'd be better if I could see her more often."

"I would imagine so."

What? That's it? No reaction at all? Somehow that made him angrier than if she had simply told him he'd earned this or that it was all happening for a reason. But she didn't say anything more, just went back to her flowers. Loki looked closer and saw what she was doing. They'd played these games many times before. If she thought her silence would make him talk, she was wrong. Naomi was his. And there was little information about him that had become more guarded and more precious than what he shared with her.

"Your father isn't doing well." Loki was so distracted by that abrupt change of subject he completely forgot to correct her. He most assuredly is not my father. There were glimmers from his past that could have convinced someone otherwise, but when it came right down to biology they were as far from family as they could ever be. Then am I not your mother? Well, technically no. But she loved him. If he was certain of nothing else, he was certain she loved him. With Odin, the line between he and his brother had always been easy to see. But with Frigga, her love for them was equal and unending as much as he denied it. Of course, at the end of the day, she stood by the Allfather even after learning what he had done.

"He's just overdue for his nap, I'm sure," Loki quipped mercilessly.

"Not this time," she replied, her motions among the flowers slowing.

"Whatever it is, I am certain he's earned it." That bastard would've said the same of him. They were words not spoken privately after all. The Allfather had publicly disowned him and nothing else mattered.

Frigga grew still, as if she'd remembered something she had wanted to forget. "Odin has grown distant since your release. Contrary to your beliefs, there is true regret in his heart. I suspected the Odin-sleep would be soon upon him. But this is different. These past few days he is different." The genuine worry in her voice stilled any retort he would have offered. "Loki there is something more at work here."

So she had seen something after all.

Loki knelt down in the grass beside her. His mother was always calm. Even in instances of intense panic, Frigga had a cool head. Cooler than most in fact. And he could still see that now, but her features were ingrained with anxiety. She sighed and then went back to what she was doing as if they hadn't had the conversation at all. It wasn't often that she divulged the visions her foresight provided her. She knew as well as any in the mystic arts that the future was subjective and could be changed at the very mentioning of what she saw. In fact, she hadn't spoken of such things since before his attack on Earth, when she and the rest of the Realm realized he had survived his fall into Yggdrassil.

"Naomi is having trouble adjusting," Loki admitted. "She's a fighter, but Midgard has not been kind to her since her return."

Frigga took his hand and offered him a smile. "I have seen only glimpses, Loki," she said to him in return. "But I warn you, all is not as it seems. I would ask that you put aside your feud with Odin and keep your eyes open. Please."

Loki said nothing, but he couldn't ignore her sincerity. If she'd found something worthy of concern, then he would heed her warning. But not for Odin. No. Never for Odin. And if he somehow put them in danger again, he would be the one in need of warning.

Trouble is brewing? Well obviously! Sorry for the delay on this one. Work and life and adulting. Wahhh! Anyway! We're moving forward with some plot stuff. I actually really love this chapter. To me, it feels very honest and casual. It's just life at it's simplest for both of them and I really enjoyed writing it. I've gotten a lot of reviews with a lot of awesome commentaries. Please keep it coming! I love to hear everyone's thoughts and ideas! Thanks for reading!