It was still Monday, but the time was now 8am. After Layla had headed upstairs after her and Loki's little chat, she went into her room where she discovered Kya playing with dolls that she had brought over from her own room. With her daughter currently occupied she decided to call her boss and tell her she would not be able to attend work for the day since she wasn't feeling good.
Well, she was feeling a lot better then when she had first woken up, but she had told Loki that she would stay home for the day. So she would keep her promise to him.
After she had hung up the phone all she could think about was Loki and his sudden change in personality. He seemed to be acting much more kindly towards her. Which was a good thing, but it seemed almost to good to be true to Layla. It left her puzzled on how he could have gone from trying to tear her down to helping her back up in such a short amount of time.
People could have a change of heart, but could that have happened to Loki so quickly?
It seemed so, and Layla desperately wanted that to be true. She was most definitely aware that Loki was a trickster that could deceive people very easily, but the way he had talked to her... it made her feel like he was being honest with her. However, there was a small part of her brain telling her that it could all be a lie. It was telling her that he could just be trying to trick her into lowering her guard around him. So he would be able to take advantage of her trust.
Removing the tracker from his wrist was a test to see if he would betray her, but since she chose to believe that his apology to her had in fact been sincere, she was almost completely confident that everything would be ok.
Almost, was the key word.
There would always be that small part of her brain telling her that it was a horrible mistake for her to place such a huge amount of trust in him. Despite that tiny uncertain part in her saying that it was a bad decision, she was happy that she had taken off the tracker. When Loki had first arrived in her home she had felt that the tracker she received from Jane had been necessary to place onto him for her and Kya to remain safe, but as time went on she started to see Loki warm up to Kya. Which made guilt stab its way into her heart when she realized that Loki meant her child no harm.
It felt like she was taking his freedom from him. Thor already told her about how Loki was thrown out of Asgard and had his magic taken from him by the All-Father. By placing that tracker on him she felt that she had robbed him of feeling free, after so much had already been taken away from him. With the device removed she felt like she was also free, just like Loki. The guilt in her had now disappeared.
Feeling satisfied with that last thought, her mind drifted back to Kya who was still seated on the floor playing with her dolls, only now she was humming softly while she was doing it. So Layla crawled into bed and laid down on her back as she let the soft humming of Kya put her to sleep.
-line break-
Loki had been downstairs in deep thought, he was thinking about when he should go speak to Thor. Today would have to do, because he wanted Layla to get better as soon as possible. A strong hunch told him that Thor was still on Earth with his mortal woman. If he was also correct, then he knew that Thor would be at Stark Tower still. A grimace appeared on Loki's face at the thought of returning back to that place, but Layla was in need of help. So he would set all of his discomfort aside for her.
Would she be alright with him leaving? That was the big question on Loki's mind, he would not tell her what he was going to do. So would she trust him enough to let him leave and return later? Well, there was only one way to find out.
He went up the stairs and headed towards Layla's room. The door was already open, so he walked in. Glancing around the room he saw the figures that were on the bed and let a tiny smile appear on his face. Layla and Kya were now both asleep on the bed. He also noticed that they had no covers over them, so he walked over and gently placed a thick blanket on their bodies to shield them from the cold.
As he kneeled down on the edge of the bed near Layla, he took in her expression. She was laying on her back and looked relaxed like she wasn't in any pain, which was a relief to Loki. Her dark curly hair was frizzy from turning over in her sleep and her mouth was open slightly as she was breathing. Loki glanced over at Kya and saw that she was far away from her mother at the other side of the bed, with her back turned to her mother.
The trickster slowly ran his hand over the curls on top of her head, they were soft. His hand took on a different path as it slowly made its way past her face and came to rest at the curls on her neck. She had not stirred at the contact. Taking notice that Layla was in fact a deep sleeper. Loki slowly moved his nose to press into the curls that rested on her neck, he inhaled deeply.
"She smells divine." He thought with a small smirk on his face.
He desired her, wanted to kiss her and hold her. He knew that she might not feel the same way toward him at the moment, but she was vulnerable and so very close to his body... He pushed the curls off of her neck and applied gentle kisses where her throat and shoulder met. A soft moan left Layla's mouth at the soft contact, and Loki moved his head up to look at her. She was still asleep.
"What a lovely sound." He thought as a sly grin appeared on his face. He wanted to hear it again. So he turned his attention back to her and slowly licked a trail up her collarbone, and stopped just under her chin. This time he was rewarded with a groan and saw her neck arch up as if it wanted more attention.
"Loki?" Layla questioned in a groggy voice.
The maker of mischief looked up as if he just got caught stealing from the cookie jar. Her hazel eyes looked at Loki, a tired expression was on her face, like she was still half asleep.
"Just a dream." She mumbled in a raspy voice before quickly falling back asleep.
Loki released a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. Shame began to fill up his body at the thought of what he had just done. He had violated her in her sleep. Yes, her body gave off signals that it liked what he had been doing, but Layla was not aware of it and thought it was just some dream. Once again he had only been thinking of himself. On top of that, he had also completely forgotten that her child was in the room as well. Which made the current issue much more worse.
With quick but silent movements, he left the room without another glance back at the figures on the bed. He would leave now, and be back before Layla awakened.
-line break-
Stark tower was not hard for Loki to find, and with his sharp memory he would have no trouble returning back to Layla's place. He walked slowly up to the tall building and knocked. The entire situation felt extremely strange. Here he was, waiting for the hero's to grant him access into the building. The very same hero's that had defeated him. Very strange indeed.
Seconds turned into minutes, and Loki could only imagine the look on the Avengers faces as they saw who it was through the security monitor. Instead of being bombarded by the whole entire group, he was surprised when only Thor exited the building.
"No one else wishes to greet me?" Loki asked in fake shock.
Thor did not answer right away. He looked as though he wanted to embrace Loki, but he didn't. "They are waiting inside the tower armed, although I told them it would be unnecessary for them to do such a thing." He said as he stepped closer to his brother.
Silence passed over the two for a few moments before Thor spoke again. "Are you well?" he asked in concern. His brother showing up had definitely been a surprise. Loki never tried to contact him before. So what would make him start now?
The trickster nodded and began lowering himself onto the ground in front of the large building. Thor followed the same action just after Loki had taken his seat on the concrete. "I am most delighted that you have decided to visit me brother, but why have you chose to do so?" The god of thunder asked.
Loki did not respond, just sat very still with a blank expression on his face. Thor frowned at this and instead asked "How is Lady Layla and her child?"
At the mention of Layla's name, Thor noticed his brother clench his fists. Something was definitely wrong.
"Loki? What has happened?"
He let out a breath, it was difficult to know where to start. After a couple moments passed Loki spoke. "I must ask for your help, brother."
The words were spoken in a very serious tone, and a hint of desperation could be heard within the words if one had been listening carefully.
"Anything" The God said with an encouraging nod.
"Layla is ill."
Relief began to show on Thor's face, so the woman was just sick. For a moment he had thought she was in danger.
"Ah, mortal women do tend to fall ill easily." Thor said with an understanding expression on his face.
"No, you are not understanding what I am saying."
At those words, Thor looked deeply into his brothers face and noticed that his eyes were displaying the most emotion Thor had ever seen, and that emotion was grief.
"Loki... what is the matter?" He said slowly.
"She is very ill and must remain at home... she does not have much money left to care for her daughter."
Thor nodded as he seemed to catch on to what Loki wanted.
"Well, I have a certain armored friend that is quite wealthy here on Earth. I could get him to assist your woman." Thor said with chuckle.
"Perhaps he is not as dim-witted as I once thought." Loki thought.
His dark raven hair moved as he nodded his appreciation. Thor saw the grateful look in his brothers eyes, but he also noticed that he seemed to be wanting to say something else as well. Placing a strong hand on a thin shoulder Thor asked "What else did you need to say?"
With his eyes shut tightly Loki began to think. He knew that Thor would be furious about what he was about to reveal to him.
"Layla is dying."
There it was, said as if ripping off a band aid. The mischief maker watched as Thor's previous expression dropped to one of both shock and horror.
"What?" He asked as if he had misheard.
"I made a terrible mistake." The amount of emotion said in those five words was tremendous.
"Loki..." Thor spoke in a warning tone as he clenched his fist tightly. Wanting his brother to calm down Loki said "Just let me explain."
"Speak" Thor said firmly.
"During the attack on New York, I encountered Layla... I made the foolish decision to attack her directly during the madness. There was a spell..." Loki's whole words were laced with regret, but Thor did not pay attention to the tone of Loki's voice. He focused on the words.
"What spell?" He demanded to know as he grabbed the fabric on Loki's shirt roughly. He hoped that he was wrong if it had been the spell he was thinking of. The look on Loki's face said it all and Thor could not hold back his anger any longer. He hoisted his brother up and slammed him into the brick wall of Stark Tower.
"That is dark magic!" Thor hissed angrily into Loki's face.
"It was before I knew her!" He hissed back with much more anger in his words.
"You think that makes it any better?" The God snapped as his fingers dug painfully into Loki's shoulder blades. The raven haired man winced but did not back away.
"It does not, but I need your help to free her!" Loki said as her grabbed the fingers that were on his shoulders. Thor softened his grip, but did not release him. A deep exhale escaped Thor as he tried to calm himself down.
"I regret it, because I have grown attached to her! Thor... I can't help her without you." Loki admitted with a sigh. Thor closed his eyes tightly, as he felt his body begin to relax he heard "Brother...please."
Opening his eyes quickly, Thor saw the desperation that was in Loki's eyes. "I will speak to Stark and Father."
At his brothers words Loki felt his body release all of the tension that it had. Layla would be alright now.
"Thank you." Loki said as a smile broke out onto his face. Seeing such a happy expression on his brothers face was surprising to Thor. He hadn't seen his brother this happy in such a long time. Which meant that Layla meant a great deal to Loki.
"You care about her." Thor stated.
Yes, he did care. She was his savior after all, now it was time for him to return the favor. All he hoped for was that Layla could find it in her heart to forgive him.
"Indeed." He spoke.
"Then I shall see to it that Layla is taken care of." The golden haired man spoke as he turned to enter the building once more.
"Thor?"
The Thunder God turned back slightly.
"This means a great deal to me."
"Anything for you, little brother." He said with a small smile as he reentered Stark Tower.
-line break-
Layla was freaking out. She had just woken up from her nap five minutes ago to find Loki gone. She looked throughout the whole house and found him nowhere.
"Oh god, he is gone!" Layla whispered frantically as she paced the kitchen floor for the hundredth time.
"I never should have trusted him!" She thought.
She had scolded herself multiple times already for making the mistake of releasing him from the tracker. Now she had no idea where he was. His sincere words and touches had been fake. After everything she had done for him he still decided to trick her, but now she knew that she was a fool. After all, Loki was called the God of Lies for a reason.
Layla could feel her heartbeat quicken as she began to feel like she was hyperventilating. One hand flew to her chest while the other reached for the cell phone in her pocket. She was going to call Jane, she had no other option left.
As she started dialing the number with shaky fingers she heard the front door open. Her breath caught in her throat as she heard Loki call out her name as he entered the kitchen. Her knees buckled, and she sat on the ground in relief. She felt him move down to the floor next to her and she saw his lips moving as she watched him speak, but could not focus on the words that were leaving them. He returned.
A firm smile appeared on her face as she looked into concerned green eyes. He did not betray her. Before Loki could figure out what was happening Layla had thrown her arms around his neck. Instead of questioning her, he placed his hands on the small of her back.
Trembling slightly she said "You came back."
As he began to figure out what had made Layla so worried he relaxed. By the way she had looked when he walked in he thought she was in physical pain, but now it was clear that she was afraid he had betrayed her.
When he felt the woman in his arms tightly grip his shoulders one thought remained on his mind.
Everything would be alright now.