Caia woke slowly, careful not to make noise as she rose from the pile of cushions and blankets that were scattered on the living room floor. Her small family had camped out the previous night, snuggling around a flashlight for ghost stories and oven baked smores. Loki had come to love Tyra and spoiled her with gifts from all over the realms, staying whenever occasion would allow. Caia had felt happier in those days than she had in ages. Still, that age old fear was always at the back of her mind, and she waited for the day that Odin would come for them or her past at S.H.I.E.L.D. would catch up with her.
Lowering the volume on the TV, Caia listened to the news as she cooked breakfast. She whisked pancake batter, carrying the bowl as she checked in on her still sleeping husband and child. The headline news flashed on screen and the bowl Caia had been holding fell from her grip. S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised and Nick Fury was dead. Panic gripped her tight and she began to shake while her stomach tied itself into knots. Clearly, the past few weeks hadn't been enough to fix the damage Odin had done.
"Mommy?"
"Sweetheart, stay out of the kitchen," she called, voice shaking, "Mommy had a little accident with breakfast."
Caia squatted doing her best to clean the mess through the shaking and dizziness. As she stood, Caia felt herself tilting dangerously with no way to stop herself from colliding with the floor until a pair of strong arms held her.
"What happened," Loki asked, glancing between his anxiety ridden wife and the mess.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is...it's been-," the shaking grew worse.
"I thought you no longer worked there."
"That doesn't mean I won't be targeted by their enemies, especially if they know who I was. What if they," she swallowed and took a ragged breath, trying to calm herself, "What if they come for me and hurt you and Tyra?"
He paused, "You could return to Asgard."
"No."
"I can protect you there."
"What about Odin, and the brand? They aren't going to disappear Loki."
"I have already taken care of Odin, Sigyn."
Caia looked toward the sounds of Tyra playing and closed her eyes. "I can't risk losing her too."
"Sigyn, I could keep her safe."
"Like you were supposed to keep our other children safe?"
They flinched and turned away from one another. Staying together was harder than she'd thought it would be. Heartache stood between them like a wall until she felt his fingers entwine themselves in her own.
"I am not as much of a monster as you think. There are things that I regret; not being able to stop Odin, and hurting you most of all. I am truly sorry that I could not do anything then, but there is nothing I would not do to keep you and the children safe. And I have fought every day to find a way to bring them back to us."
Hope suddenly flooded her, "Can you really?"
"If all goes-"
"That's not-just bring them home. Please, just bring my babies home."
Caia sat in a shockingly comfortable desk chair trying not to pound her head against a wall trying to design a building for Tony Stark. She held up the paper that 'described' her task and tried once more to make sense of it and shook her head. Reading people's minds was not her strong suit, especially when trying to combat an overwhelming sense of fatigue.
"How's the tower coming Agent?"
"It's former agent and frankly it would help if the specifications were a little more in depth than 'Tony wants you to design a building.'"
"Alright, let's see what we can do. J.A.R.V.I.S. pull up the specs for the Avenger's tower."
"Right away sir."
"Wait, you want me to design a building for the Avengers?"
"Don't think you handle it?"
"No, it's more about-you know what, never mind."
"Alrighty then. J.A.R.V.I.S. will help with the tower design. Also, no hard feelings about New York."
"What?"
"You know, your hubby going psycho and whatnot. Anyways, give me a call if you need anything, I'd like to watch the line blink."
Caia watched in disbelief as he swaggered out of the room. Her head fell to her hands. She'd known that the S.H.I.E.L.D. files could be accessed by anyone curious enough to look them up online. Agent Romanov had seen to that fiasco. But somewhere, deep down, she'd hoped that hers would be ignored. The blame had begun, as it always did. Loki did something wrong and suddenly it was her fault. If only they knew.
Slowly, she pulled herself out of her reverie, determined to forget this new development for the time and focus on her job. So, she printed off the specs.
"J.A.R.V.I.S. can you pull up designs for previous Stark buildings and pictures of the build site for the Avenger's Tower?"
"Of course Miss Le Roux."
She ran a hand through her hair and tried to swallow a bout of nausea. Just a few days of working for Tony Stark and the stress was already starting to get to her. Pushing on, Caia reached for her coffee cup, barely able to grab the trash can in time to catch the rush of vomit.
"Would you like me to alert Mr. Stark?"
"No. I'm-I'm fine. It's probably just stress or something. Where were we?"
"You were going over previous building plans and pictures of the build site."
"Thanks. Let's see how the design for Stark Tower compares."