Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or Thor. Nor, sadly, do I make any moneys from the posting of this fanfiction.

Howdy! Hope all is going well. Here's the next one shot. Enjoy!

Meeting the King

It was a very happy Darcy who was munching away on a red, ripe apple that Loki had given to her as they rode towards the castle. She was very casually looking around, sitting behind Loki and making her absent comments about this or that. Loki was finding the journey to be the most enjoyable one he had taken going towards what he had always thought of as a prison rather than a home. Jane, on the other hand, was clinging to Thor with her eyes squeezed shut. Apparently, she was far from fond of neither the height at which she was sitting on the horse nor the pace Thor kept.

"Poor Jane," Darcy said as she looked over to her friend. "Clearly she needed to ride more roller coasters as a child."

"I hate roller coasters!" Jane snapped at her.

"Really? But they're so much fun!" she told her. "For Pete sake! You're acting like you're going a hundred miles an hour."

"We are going fast!" This was of course topped off by a scream when Thor jumped over a three foot hedge.

"I'm telling you, Loki," Darcy muttered. "She is so missing out on the fun stuff by acting like a damsel in distress. She's behaving like she's never been horseback riding before in her life. I think her issue is that she likes being in control rather than the passenger." She hugged him. "Thanks for the sticking charm and the apple."

"You're very welcome, my dear," he replied, patting her hand at his waist.

"Next time, I want to be in charge of the reins!" Jane announced, as they were about to enter the throne room.

Thor was looking like a crestfallen puppy at those words.

"Jane, rope it in," Darcy told her. "You're being a drama queen and you're not even being all that good about it."

Glaring at her, Jane said, "I don't know…"

"Do you trust Thor?" Darcy asked, talking right over her friend. "Well? Do you?"

Frowning, she said, "You know I do."

"Then what's the issue? You're being a big baby because you're like the worst control freak outside of Tony Stark!"

"I am not!" she exclaimed.

"You are too infinity, end of debate," Darcy declared. "Now stop upsetting Thor, pull yourself together, and put on a smile like you mean it. You may not care what Loki and Thor's father may think of you…"

"He's not…" Loki started.

"He raised you from the time you were a babe in arms," she snapped. "He is so your father. Deal with it." Turning to her friend, she went on with, "Jane, you may not care what he thinks of you, but Thor does. So if you want this relationship to work, fake it until you make it." She turned to face Loki and added, "And remember I was adopted too. I know how it works better than you probably do. They are your parents. They love you. You may have wanted the throne, but you are worth more than a title and you need to let go of the anger because of the lies. The hate and anger benefit no one, least of all you." Straightening out her clothing. "Now can we please go in there so I can start being all lady like and shit?"

Laughing Loki offered her his arm. "You never disappoint, my little magpie."

Jane looked over to Thor, as Darcy and Loki walked into the building. "I-I guess I was overreacting."

A flush filled Jane's cheeks at Darcy's retort from the building of, "No kidding!"

"I'm sorry," Jane said to him. "It's just…I guess Darcy's right. I hate not being in control. I trust you."

Smiling Thor leaned down and kissed her brow. "I know."

They all ended up walking to the front of the throne together. Both Loki and Thor knelt in front of their father, Jane did so after a moment, and Darcy just kept standing as she looked around the chamber they were in.

"You know this place looked so much smaller from Earth," Darcy said, as she kept looking around. "Perspective is everything you know."

"Yes that it is," came the voice from the throne itself.

She looked over to see a white haired man with a golden eye patch, as well as golden armor. "Oh look! It's your dad!" Darcy looked over to the three kneeling next to her. "Well, don't that beat all?" She looked back over to Odin. "Uh, can I have a redo? I got caught up in all of this…" She pointed all around her. "No disrespect intended."

The All Father's lips twitched at those words. "Of course."

"Thank you!" She kneeled next to Loki, muttering, "A heads up would have been nice."

Loki was barely able to stop himself from laughing, but he did. Soon enough they were all back on their feet once again and taken over to the dining room.

They were shown their seats and plates of food were placed in front of them before the feast was announced.

Darcy was in the middle of devouring her food, when she was asked by Sif, "So how is it that you came to be the gatekeeper of earth?"

"I haven't an inkling how that happened. But my birth father is a super soldier and my birth mother was a gypsy if that means anything," she told them, as she was doing her best to remove the meat from a rib in the most lady like way possible. Unfortunately she was failing at this, but didn't seem to care or mind that this was the case. "Okay! I'm just eating it off the bone!" She picked up the rib and took a bite, letting out a hum of delight. "This is so good!" Darcy finished what she was eating of the meat before cleaning off her face. "Sorry about my poor manners, but I was having a time and a half with that!"

Loki leaned over with his napkin in hand and wiped off a spot of the sauce that managed to get onto her forehead.

"Thank you," Darcy breathed. "I really need to learn how to eat more neatly."

"You are very welcome, magpie," he murmured, sitting up straight.

It was about this time that the overwhelming shocked silence caught Darcy's attention. Looking around, all she could see were shocked faces—this included and wasn't limited to Thor, Jane, and the King and Queen.

Looking over to Loki, she asked in a voice that was a stage whisper, "Nothing dropped out of my mouth onto the girls, right?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Loki answered.

She looked him over. "And you're spotless." She paused as she thought a moment. "Can you teach me how to eat properly? I'm tired of the dry cleaners looking at me funny every time I take shirts in to be spot cleaned."

Loki smiled at that. "We'll speak of it later."

"Okay," she murmured, looking around the table again. "So how are you all doing? Well, I hope?"

It was a smiling Lady Frigga who answered, "We are doing well, thank you, Lady Darcy." She looked over to Loki, saying, "You seemed to have made a friend, my son."

His head lowered slightly, saying, "She has been a breath of fresh air for me on Midgard."

"Why he should find my brand of crazy refreshing, I'll never know," Darcy said with a smile. "But I'll take it."

"How is it that a woman that is so nonsensical could garner the respect of earth's mightiest heroes I wonder?" Odin's words were harsh and had Jane glaring at the man that would be her father-in-law if she had anything to say about it.

But all Darcy did was smile as she said, "People in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones, sir."

"Are you calling me nonsensical?"

"You? Never," she replied. "But some of your choices could have been better." She shrugged. "Poor decision making—I suppose it's an interplanetary thing even in one so, so, so, so, so etcetera old." She tilted her head, studying him. "But this isn't about me or even about Loki. This is about Thor and his choice of Jane, isn't it?"

Odin looked about ready to snap when Frigga's hand covered his, squeezing it slightly and thus calling his attention to her.

"Who are you really angry at, my dear? Her, for calling you out on your attempt to start a fight in order to get Thor away from the Midgardians or yourself for falling for Lady Darcy's tactics?"

Darcy leaned over towards Loki, breathing, "I did all that?"

"Yes," he murmured.

"Damn, I'm better than I thought," she replied, making him have to bite his lower lip to keep from laughing aloud.

TBC…

And there went another one shot past the finishing line into the Internet. Thanks for reading. Please if you could review. Take care and have yourselves a magnificent day.