"What exactly do you mean by Government conspiracy?" Thor asked you.

"The U.S. Government, like anything, is always subject to rumors." You said in reply. "Some rumors go so far that people begin to believe them to be true even though they have very little evidence to prove it. The rumors turn into conspiracies. In modern times, the conspiracy of time travel is largely debated, and even back in this time, there have been rumors of it."

"So what exactly does this mean for us?" Loki said.

"Well, time travel obviously exists, so the conspiracy must be true." You stated. "There are things that the government doesn't want us to know, so they keep it secret. The U.S. government has a time travel device. We just have to find it."

"Where would we find it though?" Said Thor.

"That's the problem. It could be many places, but, I do have a hunch that it would be stored at a military base. Somewhere with a lot of security."

"Do you know of such a place?"

"Hum..." You thought for a few moments, trying to reach farther into your memory and go through your history knowledge. "Maybe... I need to see a map. Is there a map in here anywhere?" You started looking around and you found a map of the area folded up inside the front cover of a book. You unfolded it, and then set it on the table. You studied the map for a few moments and then spoke again. "Alright, we're at Sutter's mill, which is in this general area right here." You said circling the area with your finger. "I remember reading something that said that there is possibly three secret underground military bases in the deserts of Nevada, over here. It'd be a good place to start." You folded the map back up and held onto it, because you knew that it could be useful later.

"That's over 400 miles we'd have to travel." Thor pointed out. "How ever are we to get there?"

"Damn." You said. "We can't ride the train due to our money issue. I guess the only option is to acquire some horses." You then looked over at Loki. "Horribly cruel irony, I know."

"Sounds like we have a plan." Loki said.

"Right. Now first things first, we need to find us some horses."

Back in town, all three of you were looking for the animals you needed, and easily found some that were being sold and rented. There was two horses in a pen and in front, a large man stood trying to talk another person into buying one. The salesman's efforts went without reward though as the customer just simply walked away. You, Loki and Thor were standing and looking from afar.

"Hum... The horses don't have all the riding equipment on." You stated noticing that the horses did not have their saddles. The saddles were resting over the fence of the pen. "We'll need a good distraction."

You looked back at the salesman and another man was talking to him. You couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but you were able to get that the second man asked the salesman is he wanted to go to the trial of Mr. Sutter which is in session now. You looked away, as to not look suspicious, but you still looked from the corner of your eye at the two men. After a few more moments of talking, The salesman walked off with the other man, leaving the horses completely unattended.

You stood for a second in silence, "...Well that was easy."

All three of you all walked over to the pen. You climbed over the fence and then started to untie the horses from it. You told Thor to put the saddles on them, and he quickly did. You took a quick look an made sure everything was on correctly.

"Alright we're good." You said, opening the gate on the fence. You took the leads of both the horses and you all started rushing away from the location.

You made your way farther away from town and stopped when you knew you were out of sight. You took a moment now to actually look at the horses. One was a brown mare with a darker brown mane and the other was a lighter brown stallion with a black mane. The Stallion was a bit taller than the mare. They were both pretty well tempered from what you could see, and seemed like they would be alright to ride. You took the map out and looked at it again. "We need to go north east. The next town over is about... 30 miles from here. If we leave now, we should be able to reach it by sundown. We can rest there for the night and continue in the morning."

"Alright." Thor said. "We should be going then."

"Thor, you take the male horse." You replied. "Loki and I will take the female." After a second of silence, you explained. "Even though they may seem docile they still do damage if they rear back. That male is pure power and I would have a harder time controlling him." Your explanation was... actually a lie. You would be able to easily handle the stallion...
you really had no clue why you said that...

Thor agreed to your suggestion and then got up onto the male horse. You looked over and saw that Loki was about to get on the female horse.

"Hey, no, no, no." You said. "I'm in front."

"Why do you get to make the decisions?"

"Because I'm a professional. I know what I'm talking about."

"So, you're implying that I know nothing?"

"No. I'm not implying anything." You replied. "Look, We don't have time to argue. It's either that or you ride with Thor."

A few moments pasted before he spoke. Loki sighed. "Fine."

"Great."

You got onto the female horse, and, even though you could tell that Loki didn't particularly agree with riding behind you, He climbed on.

And with that matter settled, you started towards your destination.

You had thought that you'd make it to the next town before sundown, but it looked like you were going to be a bit late. the terrain of the area changed as you got farther away from the previous town and it became more difficult for the horses to continue walking. Thor's horse was farther ahead of you, but Thor made sure that he didn't get too far from you. It had started to get darker as the sun sank vertically in the sky, getting closer and closer to the horizon. You had been riding for quite a while and you were so tired that you were fighting to keep your eyes open. Loki noticed it when you would occasionally shake your head to try and keep yourself awake.

"You're too exhausted." He said. "You are in no shape to be riding."

"No, No." You replied. "I'm fine... I just need to..." While speaking you couldn't help but yawn, which didn't help your point at all.

"What you need is to switch places with me."

"No, We're almost to the next town... I can... I can rest there." After you said that, your horse mis-stepped and nearly tripped when she stepped on a rock. She didn't fall, but the sudden motion of her stumble surprised you. "...okay, you're right." You may be a bit stubborn, but you weren't stupid. You knew when to admit that you were wrong. You pulled the mare to a stop, and then you got off. Loki moved to the front, while you then climbed back on, sitting behind him. "Keep going, the town isn't too far from here..."

And so your journey continued.

Because you were just so tired, you ended falling asleep, your head resting on the back of Loki's shoulder.

You didn't know how long you were asleep, but you must have slept through the rest of ride to the town.

"[name], Wake up."

When you heard Loki, you jolted awake. "Huh! Huh, what?"

"Shhh!" He shushed you. "Quiet."

You looked around and you noticed that you were in a barn. It looked like it hadn't been used in a while.

"This was the only place that we could find to stay for the night." Thor said.

"It seems to be unoccupied, so we should be alright here." Loki added.

Loki got down off of the mare and you followed shortly after. There were a couple of empty pens in the barn and you put each of the two horses into one, while also giving them some hay. You, Loki and Thor took to sleeping on the hay bales. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was certainly better then sleeping on the ground.

Even though you were exhausted, you couldn't seem to fall asleep, and the hay poking you in the back certainly wasn't helping. Because of this, you got up and walked outside of the barn.

It was dark out and the sky was full of stars. You walked and sat down by the barn wall. You stared up at the sky at the various star formations and the full moon which stood out in high contrast with the pitch black darkness of the night. You had always liked looking at the stars. And, now that you were in a place where street lights weren't hindering sight of the sky, you really loved how you could see all of the stars with such clarity. You sat there for a while just gazing at the stars, sometimes even recognizing a few constellations that you knew.

"Isn't it a bit late to be stargazing?" You heard. You looked over and saw that Loki had come out of the barn.

"I couldn't sleep." You replied to him as you shrugged.

"Heh, same here." Loki came over and sat down on the ground next to you. "Thor's snoring doesn't make for a peaceful rest."

You laughed. "It's certainly more peaceful out here." You looked back at the stars in the sky.

After a few moments, Loki spoke again. "You really like the stars, don't you?"

"Yeah. The night sky is always so beautiful." You said. "...Especially the sky in Asgard."

Loki laughed. "Yes, I could tell that you were memorized by it."

You both just sat continued to sit there and look at the stars. Occasionally you'd hear the sounds of the animals around you: the hooting of an owl, the howl of a wolf, the chirping of the crickets, and the gentle blowing of the wind. From out of the corner of your eye you noticed that Loki was looking over at you. You turned your head. "Hehe, what?"

"Nothing." He replied. "I just... never noticed that your eyes are [E/C]... They're nice."

"Oh." You said blushing a bit. "Uh... Thank you... Your eyes are nice too." You smiled at him.

For several moments you just stared at each other, looking into the others eyes. While you fixed your gaze on his vibrant green colored eyes you had some sort of feeling that was indescribable to you. You couldn't quite put a word on what you were feeling, but you knew that it was a good feeling. Yes, definitely a good feeling. You've felt this feeling before, but never as strongly as you were now. It was strange to you, because usually you have to know people for a while before they give you this feeling. You've only know Loki for a short time and he somehow brought this feeling out of you much quicker then anyone else has ever done.

As you both still stared, you noticed a bright steak of light shoot across the sky. "Look!" You said excitedly as you pointed behind him. Loki turned around. "A shooting star! Quick, make a wish!"

"You spotted the star." Loki said to you. "You are the one who gets the wish."

"But, anyone who sees a falling star can make a wish." You replied. "We both get one."

"No, no. Go ahead. I insist."

You didn't say anything more of the subject. You closed your eyes and thought for a moment about what to wish for. After contemplating it, you decided on what you wanted, and you said the wish in your mind. When you were finished you opened your eyes again. You then thought to yourself "Was that the right wish to make?" Was there even a possibility that your wish would come true? Or did you just waste the wish of something that would never come. The optimistic side of your mind wanted to say that, yes, there was a possibility, but the part of your mind in charge of your logical reasoning said that the chance was slim. You didn't know which side was going to be right, but you sort of hoped that the optimistic side was. You actually really wanted this wish to come true... but you can never guess if it will or not.

"So... what did you wish for?" Loki asked you.

"If I tell you, then it won't come true." You replied. "How about I just... tell you when it happens."

"Could I make a guess at it?"

"Uh... sure. But I'm not going to say anything even if you guess correctly." You told him. In you head, you sighed, because you knew that he probably wouldn't guess it anyways... your wish was just too far fetched.

"You won't have to." Loki moved closer to you, while bringing one hand up and placing it on your cheek. He brought your face closer to his and then placed a soft kiss upon your lips.

When you parted, you had a wide smile on your face, and so did Loki.

"So, did I guess right?"

You said before that you weren't going to say anything even if he guessed your wish. You held onto that, but just like Loki had stated, you didn't have to say anything at all. When you went in for another kiss, and your lips met his again... Loki knew that he was right.

Y'all are following your hunch that the U.S. Government has a time travel device hidden somewhere, and you journey to look for it begins in Nevada!

I didn't actually plan to have that last scene in this chapter but I thought, "Hey! what the hell, why not!?"
So there. You got to kiss Loki... Twice.

(LOL, when I wrote that scene I was legitimately typing with my eyes closed because it was nearly 3:30 AM and I was exhausted.)