Darcy sighed, somewhat annoyed, as Loki lead her along. He had insisted she close her eyes as they reached the corner of the street where he'd parked the car. Some excuse that he really wanted to surprise her. He's just lucky I trust him so damn much, otherwise I'd never let him lead me around blindly...I wonder if its a bad sign psychologically that I'm willing to completely trust someone who's earned the title God of Mischief? Especially sense that title is often coupled with the title God of Lies?

"What has you thinking so hard Darcy?" Loki's smooth voice was so close that Darcy might have been tempted to jump. How the hell did she notice him leaning right next to her ear?

"I'm trying to determine if trusting someone with the title God of Mischief is grounds for commitment," replied Darcy with a faint smile.

She could practically feel his confusion. "Commitment to what?"

"An asylum." A smile was pulling at the edge of her lips. She'd learned when they were younger that Loki didn't know some of the strangest things. Usually that had been blamed on a bit of a language barrier, especially given he's learned most of his English from a class rather than first-hand use, but there were some things she'd always doubted he couldn't know. Ferreting those out was one of her favorite past-times.

"Why would you require asylum due to your trust of me?" continued Loki, still confused. It reminded her of a confused Thor.

"In English, people call psych wards and mental hospitals asylums and sanitariums," explained Darcy. "Never heard that one?"

"Never," muttered Loki. "English truly is a strange language."

Darcy just laughed as he pulled her to a stop and opened a door. The sound of jazz music and scent of creole spices floated out of the open doorway, causing Darcy's eyes to spring open. Loki just smiled and pulled her into the Cajun restaurant.

The grin he gave her, in response to her own stunned face, was nearly blinding. "I shall assume you are pleased?"

"It smells just like Grandma Marmay's," murmured Darcy. She could feel a few tears form near the corner of her eyes at the memory of her now deceased grandmother.

Loki's grin softened to a smile as he lead her to the podium where a man stood waiting to seat people. The man smiled at them both with a nod. "Good evening sir, madam." His greeting was genuinely friendly.

"Good evening," greeted Loki. "My name is Loki. I called recently-"

The man's grin widened. "Of course, I remember you. Curious name, Loki. You're the man who was asking about the authenticity of our food."

Darcy was floor. Loki had called to ask if their food was authentic?

Loki nodded back. "Yes, that was me. Do you have room for tonight?"

"Definitely," replied the man. "My boss made it clear we always have room for natives of Louisiana, or even the children of natives." He grabbed up a menu and lead them into the main dining area.

When they entered the room, Darcy actually froze in the entrance. The wild jazz they'd heard entering was actually coming from a live jazz band all dressed in the casual clothes she remembered seeing musicians on Bourbon Street wearing when Grandma Marmey had taken her to New Orleans one summer. 'Jazz can't come from a radio or a record Darcy. You can only hear the heart of Jazz when its played live.' Hearing the band now, Darcy knew her grandmother's words held nothing but the truth.

Loki's gentle tug on her hand reminded her to move, and she followed him slowly into the room. Their server didn't seem to mind her slow pace. In fact, he was smiling at her with the gentle patience of a man who knew exactly how she felt.

Their table was tucked away into a corner, close enough to the band that they could hear every note but not so close as to be unable to talk. They also had a nearly unobstructed view of the room at large. The man who had been leading them handed the menu to Loki and grinned at her. "Craig will be out in a minute. He wants to meet the lady who drove her young man to actually call about our food."

Darcy looked a little stunned. "I never asked him to call about your food, I swear!"

The man laughed. "I meant, you are important enough that he would go through the trouble of doing so."

"Oh..." whispered Darcy, clearly surprised.

Loki smiled softly and held the menu out to Darcy as he leaned back in the seat. "I would not dream of bringing you to a restaurant boasting that they make authentic Cajun food without confirming the accuracy of their claim."

She felt a faint smile tug at the corners of her mouth. "Gotta admit, I don't usually go for Cajun food because most of the time it doesn't live up to my expectations."

"Exactly," replied Loki as he tucked an arm around Darcy's lower back subtly.

A man suddenly stopped in front of them, stern-faced and serious. His hair was peppered with gray and short but still plentiful, blending some with his pale skin. The combination made his brown eyes pop. "Loki party of two?"

Both Loki and Darcy looked at the man nervously and nodded. A grin broke across the guys face, softening his features in a friendly way and making his brown eyes dance. "I'm Landry, the owner. Its good to meet you Loki. Is it safe to assume the lady is yours?"

Loki choked a little and Darcy grinned at Landry, a bright megawatt smile. "Something like that. I have a shrine to him in my apartment."

Of course, Loki choked further but Landry had caught the glint in her eyes that said there was a lot more to the story. He thought for a moment before a sure smile spread across his face. "Let me guess, its dedicated to the God of Mischief?"

"You're familiar with Norse religion?" questioned Darcy, who perked up further.

Landry nodded. "My wife is Norwegian, and claims that it isn't a house if there ain't at least one shrine to Frigga in it. Or something like that."

Darcy nodded in apparent understanding. "So Loki apparently shook you guys down for information, huh?"

"I'd expect as much," replied Landry with a grin. "Pretty young girl like you to impress? With a southern me-ma for the matter? If he didn't call, I'd have been more disappointed."

"Yeah, grandma Marmay liked her food authentic," confirmed Darcy. "As in, spitting fire from your mouth authentic."

Landry's grin widened more. "Ah, a true Cajun woman from the sounds of it. Well, I'm hoping we can live up to her memory."

Darcy nodded with a smile. "Thank you. Hopefully you can. I'd love to have a Cajun restaurant I could go to without feeling like I'm spitting on her grave."

She and Landry talked for a few minutes more, before the waiter showed back up with water and two glasses of Bourbon, which Landry insisted was on the house. The waiter had even brought him one with theirs! After that, Landry quickly took his leave, insisting that Darcy needed to try their jambalaya. It had been her second favorite dish of Marmay's and he was hoping their own chief could live up to her expectations. Her favorite had been gumbo, which Landry insisted made the dish sacred and he wouldn't dare try to compare to it.

"Well, he is welcoming," commented Loki uneasily.

Darcy laughed a little. "He's Cajun Loki, of course he's welcoming. What I'm amazed at is that he treats me as if I'm one of them."

Loki nodded calmly. "He insisted that anyone exposed to what he calls Cajun culture by a relative qualifies to at least a small degree as a Cajun themselves. Though that explanation seems questionable."

"Yeah," snickered Darcy. "In general, just count anyone from the southern part of this country as overly friendly."

"Very well." Loki shifted slightly in his seat, his eyes scanning the room calmly as the waiter approached again for their orders. Well, really, it was Loki's order given hers had already been placed. He ordered gumbo, and was prompted asked if he wanted authentic or non-authentic spice. She quickly cut in, insisting on the non-authentic spice.

When their server had left, Loki was quick to question her decision. "Why did you insist on the non-authentic variation of that dish?"

Darcy smiled slightly. "You choke a little at the level of spice I use in my own food. Authentic Cajun is spicier."

His brow furrowed as he pouted a little. "I did not choke, a small bit of the spice simply became lodged in my throat. Which, I might add, only occurred once."

"Sure," teased Darcy.

The pout deepened a little as a new song began to play. An up-beat one Darcy knew very well. Apparently Loki noticed her change in attitude because he took her hand with a grin and pulled her from the booth. "Enough teasing. We shall dance."

Darcy snorted slightly. "What, you're not even gonna ask first?"

"Would you say no?" challenged Loki with a smirk. Ok, he had a point.

"Knowing the option exists is nice," she mumbled as he took one of her hands, spinning her slightly before settling his other hand on her waist.

His smirk was pure mischief. "Yes, but where is the fun in that? Besides, I was lead to believe that you enjoyed dancing. The swing classes you forced me into cannot be that far from your mind."

"No room to swing here," muttered Darcy.

"Says who?" whispered Loki before spinning Darcy in one of the more classic swing motions.

It took her a moment to grasp what exactly he was doing. Thankfully she knew the basic swing steps almost as well as she knew how to walk. That would have been embarrassing otherwise. Her feet quickly fell into step with Loki's and soon she was laughing with him as they danced through several different songs before realizing their food had arrived.

A man neither recognized dressed in the restaurant's uniform was grinning at them as they approached. "Having fun?" His dark eyes were shining with mirth and the grin he wore stretched nearly from ear to ear. Memories of Darcy's grandfather and uncle floated briefly to the surface.

"Quite," replied Loki with a smile as he slid into the booth again. Her own blinding smile answered the man's question.

"How long have you two been dancing?" he asked curiously. "That was very impressing. Almost every eye in the restaurant was on you two."

Loki shrugged mildly, taking a drink of his water. "It has been years since we danced together. Good to know our skills have not been tarnished by age."

"Definitely," agreed Darcy as she chugged her own drink. Loki, who had been staring at her, quickly looked away as if a little uncomfortable. It was odd but she shrugged it off. Hell, he found a restaurant with a life jazz band and dance floor. That alone gave him clearance to have his odd moments. "This smells amazing."

"Thank you," replied the man. "I'm Karl, the chief here. Landry told me to make up a special batch of authentic jambalaya, and I wanted to meet the individual who earned such a special request. As well as the man who called my cooking into question without tasting it first."

Loki chuckled a little. "Yes, well, I have learned the hard way that feeding an member of a Cajun family, no matter how far removed from the culture, anything but authentic Cajun is dangerous to my health."

Karl just laughed. "Ah, well that just explains everything then. Yes, that's a very dangerous thing to do. It'll loose you a few fingers a minimum. Though, given you still have your fingers, I'm going to guess you were forgiven?"

"With a warning," Loki confirmed. "And bleeding eardrums."

"Hey!" exclaimed Darcy. Time to cut this party down. Geez. "I didn't make THAT much of a fuss."

Loki's raised eyebrow told her that she in fact had. Her tongue poked out at him in response. He just laughed.

Karl gave them both a smirk, his eyes almost knowing as he moved between them. "Well then, I shall leave you two alone. Enjoy." With that, he spun and walked back into the kitchen.

As soon as he was gone, Loki turned his eyes firmly onto Darcy. "Well, are you going to try your food?"

"I'm gettin' there," she growled in response, picking up her spoon and biting into the food before her. A little moan of happiness escaped her throat. Ok, they were DEFINITELY coming back there. Without a doubt. Possibly once a week. Maybe the chief would be willing to share cooking secrets with her...

She was brought back from her thoughts by Loki's own strange little sound. Glancing at him, she noticed that his face was a little strained, his spoon held in one hand. Curious, she dipped her own spoon into his food. A little smile escaped as she realized exactly why he was making the face he was.

"Told you you choke," she teased, digging into her food with relish and enjoying the spicy flavor.

Loki finally managed to swallow what was in his mouth, making a face at her. "I do not choke. It was simply hotter than I expected."

"And you wondered why I told them not to bring the authentic shit," muttered Darcy with a hit of a smile.

His eyes narrowed at her in a way he often got when challenged. "You would choke as well, if your food were as spicy."

Her eyebrow went up and with a smirk, she pushed her bowl towards him. Challenge accepted. Not that she wasn't aware she'd already won. Her own food was significantly spicier than what he was eating. With all the pride of a prince, Loki dipped his spoon into her food and quickly took a bite. The look on his face when he realized that yes, her food was in fact spicier was priceless. So was the amount of water he managed to gulp down in the next minute. I should tell Jane to bring Thor here. THAT would be funny. They'll need a video camera though...

Loki's choking cough alerted her to the fact that he was done gulping water. The look he wore was a pure pout. Rolling her eyes, Darcy kissed his temple with a smile, hoping the gesture would make him feel better. "You shouldn't challenge those of us who have Cajun family. We like things that burn our tongues off."

"Clearly," he muttered, but the pout lifted some. Carefully, he began to eat his food again, clearly prepared for the spice this time. However, about a quarter of the way through his food, Darcy took pity on him and waved down their server. She asked the man if they could get some extra white rice, which he promptly brought and she promptly dumped into the middle of Loki's food.

At his confused face, she took his spoon, scooped some of the gumbo onto the spoon with a clump of rice and held it out to him. The additional rice apparently made quite a difference because Loki's eyes lit up some as if she had just discovered some magnificent secret. She just smiled back and finished her food.

For Loki's part, once his food was significantly less likely to remove all ability to taste from his tongue, dinner seemed to go far smoother. Even dessert was nice. In fact, nothing at all tragic or disappointing happened until Darcy went to the restroom. That was when all hell broke loose for him.

Almost as soon as Darcy had turned the corner, his brother came sauntering into the restaurant with Jane, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and a red-haired woman Loki was only marginally familiar with as Pepper Potts. Fortunately, he and Darcy were seated in the back and somewhat sequester away. Unfortunately, to leave they would have to walk directly past the group now seated at a big table in the middle of the room. Worse, Darcy worked with Jane. The others would not recognize her, but Jane certainly would. The only hope Loki had was that their bill was returned to him before Darcy got back, so he might meet her near the restaurant's entrance.

Luck did seem to be a bit on his side at that moment when the waiter showed up with their change and a copy of the bill. Right, he had used paper currency. Thankfully. Unfortunately, now the waiter was standing their attempting to speak with him. And he had no way to hide himself from the others with the waiter standing there. Unless...

A thought suddenly struck Loki.

"I am sorry, but I am afraid you must excuse me immediately," insisted Loki quickly to the man.

Their waiter looked surprised at his insistence. "Is something wrong sir?"

"Yes," insisted Loki, quickly spinning the lie together in his head. "You see, that man right there with the blond hair, the one talking with the brunette, is Darcy's ex-boyfriend. He cheated on her rather brutally with her ex-boss, the woman seated with him. And unfortunately, the whole matter still upsets her greatly. One of the reasons I suggested we come here was to take her mind off the whole mess and attempt to cheer her up. However, I fear that if she sees them there will be trouble. Worse, I fear if they see me there will be trouble. Unfortunately, I struck her ex rather hard when I learned what he had done and he was non too happy about the matter. Thus, I need to slip out of here and collect her before she becomes engaged with the group. It would be best if she not know they are here either."

Their waiter nodded eagerly. "Of course. Would you like me to create a distraction?"

Loki's eyes widened. That had been unexpected. "If you can." He had expected the story to get the man to leave him so he could gather Darcy and exit. Not for the man to offer to help him slip out.

Smirking, the waiter nodded. "I'm from Louisiana as well, New Orleans to be precise. We don't care for cheaters down there and especially despise men who cheat one of our own." With that, he turned away from Loki and strode immediately towards the group of Avengers, grabbing a pitcher of water as he went. He stopped at the end of the table near where Thor was, and introduced himself, then moved to fill their waters. And promptly dumped the pitcher of water artfully onto Thor's lap while making the whole thing appear to be an accident.

Loki used the chaos to escape the room, nodding his thanks the waiter as he left. He also slipped a piece of paper to the man who had seated them and was looking rather unsettled at the chaos in the dining space. "You can have your boss call me if he needs to confirm the reason for the events which just took place."

Darcy chose that moment to emerge and Loki smiled at her calmly, holding open he jacket she had worn in. "Ready to leave?"

She nodded slowly, eying him suspiciously. "Yes...is something wrong?"

Loki shook his head quickly. "No, nothing at all. I simply thought we could go for a walk before heading back to the apartment."

"Sounds nice," admitted Darcy, though she was still looking at him suspiciously. However, she took his arm in silence and walked out with him. As they were leaving there was some kind of an angry yell from Landry for everyone to 'shut the hell up and settle down before he went Cajun on their asses, regardless of who they were'. Imagining the look on Tony Stark's face when he heard that brought a smile to Loki's lips. Yes, the evening hadn't gone badly at all.

So, as I said before, things are gonna get rocky after this chapter. Most of the next chapter may or may not be a little more relaxed but the turbulence will begin shortly. Please fasten your seat-belts. Anyway, I hope to have the next three to four chapters up shortly and, assuming I don't keep splitting chapters like a mad woman, this story will end after that. Not the series, just this one. Maybe. No guarantee's on that. Anyway, I hope this wasn't too aweful and please, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, as long as they are not written on burning primate fecal matter, I will be glad to hear them.