I'd like to give a huge thank you to all of my lovely reviewers, specifically AvalonFrost66 for saying the nicest thing ever. But seriously guys—your reviews make my heart melt. And everybody reading this/following this story or me/favoriting this story or me: I love you.

Also, thanks as always to my beta Sam.

PS— I should have the next chapter up this Saturday, if all goes well :D

Jane looked over to Darcy and mouthed something.

"What?"

Jane rolled her eyes and mouthed it again.

"Monsieur the devil's bat?" Darcy was very sure that was not what Jane was trying to communicate, but that was all she was getting from her.

The noise around them was deafening. Darcy could barely hear her own thoughts, let alone what Jane was trying to say to her. She saw Jane mouthing it again, and concentrating on that and the faint sound of her voice, Darcy was able to make out what she was saying.

"Where are the levels at?" Jane called out to Darcy yet again, fighting to keep her grip on a certain part of the portal device steady.

"Everything looks normal!" Darcy replied, cupping her hands at her mouth so Jane could hear her.

Jane had built their fancy-schmancy portal machine from a car engine, five high-powered computers, and scraps of electronics she had found around the lab. To Darcy, it just looked like a large, glorified toaster duct taped to a fan, but Jane had assured them it would work. With Loki's help, they had been able to make it into a hopefully functioning portal to Asgard. Hopefully.

Sparks were flying off the spinning machine like crazy; the fan inside sounded like it was about ready to fly off. Since Jane had decided it was necessary for them to power up the portal in the middle of nowhere (for the safety of other people, and the privacy), they had sand flying around everywhere too. A funnel of sand circled Jane, Loki, and the portal, and Darcy took the full force of it as she stood by the car, watching over the computers they'd set up in the car to monitor different levels.

Darcy looked over to Loki. He was deep in concentration, his hands on top of the portal device. His hands weren't glowing and he wasn't reciting anything in a different language or anything like that, so Darcy was unsure if he was fueling up the portal or not. He looked tired, though, Darcy noted. His eyes were slightly sunken in and he looked like he hadn't had anything to drink for days.

"Still good," Darcy yelled again, glancing at the screens in front of her. She had the boring job; Loki got to power everything up, Jane had to work hands-on with the machine to make sure it didn't go haywire, and Darcy got to stand over by the car and watch the computer screens and get a face full of sand and dust.

Loki stepped back from the machine and the winds immediately died down. Jane flipped a switch on the portal device, and it started making a different noise than before. "It's good," she said, grinning. "It's operational. We did it," Jane turned to Loki as she spoke. Loki looked at her, smiling weakly.

"I'll have to run some minor tests on it and make sure the power remains balanced, but I think, if all goes well, we should be in Asgard the day after tomorrow," Jane was talking more to herself than to either of them. She was scuttling around the portal, making sure every switch and knob was exactly the right way. She ran back and forth between the car and the portal a few times, her smile growing with each passing moment.

Loki made his way over to Darcy. She noticed he appeared to be limping.

"You ok?" she asked, poking him in the stomach.

"Yeah. It required a little more magic than I had anticipated, but it was nothing I couldn't handle."

Darcy gave him her best "don't lie to me" look, but dropped it at that. Loki leaned against the side of the car, and the two of them waited for Jane to finish her final checks.

"So, is it normal for women to wear pants in Asgard? Because I don't think I'll survive if I have to wear a dress everyday,"

Darcy was currently packing her bag for Asgard, and spending more time doing so than Loki had ever thought a person could spend doing anything. In the time it had taken her to pack just her undergarments and sleepwear, he had already read a full chapter of the book he was currently on, plus stopped to answer Darcy's many questions. Loki was still uncertain of how he felt about returning to Asgard, but Jane had worked extremely hard on the portal device and Darcy was excited, so he tried to push out any negative sentiments he felt and focused on the others' enthusiasm.

Loki put his book aside and stood from the bed, walking to Darcy and wrapping his arms around her from behind.

"Please try not to worry over this. It doesn't matter what you wear," he said, attempting to calm her.

"How can I not worry about this? It's the clothes that I'm meeting your parents in. It's what I'm going to be wearing when I meet aliens and visit a different planet,"

"Darling, you've already met aliens. And honestly, you shouldn't worry too much over my parents. My mother will love you no matter what you wear, and my father… well, Odin will pay more attention to you than your clothing."

"That's calming," Darcy deadpanned. She stepped away and turned to face him. "Please, just give me a hint. I need you to tell me, because I don't want to embarrass myself in front of all of these fancy people. I'm literally going to be meeting royalty, Loki. What am I supposed to wear?"

"You can wear whatever you like, except during feasts and ceremonies, when more elegant dress is called for. It is also traditional for women to wear the colors of the man they are… betrothed to." Loki was unsure of how Darcy would react to his word choice, but he could think of no better word that belonged there.

Darcy turned back around and started looking through her closet again. "So, green and gold. I don't know how much green and gold I have, actually. Well, as long as I don't accidentally wear Thor's colors or something, I should be ok. Hey, would you mind getting my phone from the living room? I wanted to order a pizza tonight, since we'll be eating fancy food for however long we're in Asgard,"

Loki blinked as he registered everything that Darcy had said and that she had either not heard or cared about the 'betrothed' comment. "Sure," he said, turning and heading that way.

"You're a gentleman and a scholar," she replied, most likely referencing something.

Loki walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, Darcy starting to talk again as he went. "Should I wear more gold than green and be like the inverted version of you, or am I supposed to completely match you?"

"Either would work," he said as he flipped on the light.

"Why is this so stressful? Why couldn't Asgard be a nudist colony? That'd make my life so much easier."

"And that would've made my childhood that much more traumatic," Loki called back in response as he picked up her phone. As he turned to go back, the light above him went out.

Loki looked at the light bulb for a few seconds, almost in mild surprise. He thought of telling Darcy about the light, but they'd be gone tomorrow anyway and she had enough things she was worried about. Besides that, the lamp on the table was still on so they could still maneuver around the room with enough ease.

"Hey Loki?" Darcy asked as he walked back into the room with her phone. "Should I bring my taser?" Darcy spun around and pointed the small black object, a fairly recent Midgardian invention Darcy had described as a gun that shoots lightning. She posed as if she were in a shootout, like in one of her movies.

"No, you won't need it. We will not be met with hostility," Loki said, taking it from her and putting her phone in that hand.

Darcy overdramatically sighed in fake defeat. "If you insist,"

"I do insist," Loki said. Working his hand with hers, he took back her phone and tossed that and the taser onto her bed. Loki put his hands on her waist. "I love you," he murmured, pulling her up against him. Darcy tilted her head up and kissed him, humming lightly when he deepened it. He bit and lightly pulled on her bottom lip as his hands lowered to either side of her hips.

"I love you too," she said once he moved to her neck. Darcy stiffed. "Do you hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," Loki mumbled into her skin, more caught up with kissing and sucking on the skin of her neck than anything going on around them. He felt turn her head and look to the side, and he used that opportunity to lightly bite the crook of her neck.

"Loki," she said, with a tone of urgency.

He pulled his head back and looked her in the eyes, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"You know," she began, "There's probably a snarky comment about our sex lives in here, but my bed is currently on fire."

As she spoke, he noticed out of the corner of his eye the small flame growing to almost a half a foot in height on her bed.

"So it is," he said, not taking his eyes off her. With what little remained of his magic—and that was not much, considering how much energy powering the portal device had taken out of him—he put out the flames. "I don't suppose there are any safety hazards with throwing that device of yours around, is there?"

"You know, I'm not sure. I mean, that noise I heard was my taser going off, but you never know. My phone could've spontaneously combusted, after all."

"That is a possibility," he mused.

"So, I guess we're sleeping in your room tonight. And not calling for pizza, considering the fact that my phone currently looks extra crispy,"

"You know," Loki began, bending and picking Darcy up and walking out of her room and into his, "If we wake up early tomorrow, you can pack then."

"What are you suggesting?" Darcy smiled slyly.

He sat her on the bed and got on his knees in front of her. "Well, for starters, we do something besides pack right now." His hands were resting on her legs, and one thumb was slowly circling her knee.

Darcy smiled cheekily, no doubt matching his own smirk. "Hmm, I don't know. I really should get packed," she teased.

"I'll arrange for you to have a whole new wardrobe when we get to Asgard."

"I'll need at least some of my own clothes,"

"Like I said, wake up early tomorrow,"

"You're eager tonight, you know that? We'll eventually have to stop having sex as often as we do, because I do not have the sex drive of a god, contrary to popular belief. Although, I've gotten amazing thighs from these past few months,"

Loki brought his hands up her legs and slid down her shorts and underwear edged her legs apart. "With that last statement, I can wholeheartedly agree, though your body was magnificent before we began our physical relationship,"

"Flattery won't change the fact I have to pack tonight, sir," Darcy said.

"Then I suppose I'll have to try something else,"

Loki pulled her toward him by the thighs and hooked her legs over each of his shoulders. Darcy let out a gasp that turned into a long moan, all the while holding and slightly pulling on the hair of the back of his head.

"Changed your mind yet?" Loki asked after pulling away a few minutes later, just as her orgasm was building.

Darcy glared at him for stopping, but composed herself enough to speak coherently. "What's the least cheesy, non-cliché way to say 'take me now' or 'get inside me?'"

Loki grinned at that, and then complied with her request.