I left Stark Tower, intending to go back in and look for Loki.

I wandered aimlessly for a while, looking for somewhere that I could disappear but this place was so busy.

I eventually managed to get out of the flow of people and duck into an empty alley where I melted into a shadow and moved along the streets around the feet of the people that were walking.

Some Midgardians it seemed were more sensitive to my presence because once or twice while I passed by someone's ankles they would yelp and jump away from me. I turned around to watch them, curious, as they looked wildly around for me for an instant before they were swept away by the stream of people.

I made it back to Stark Tower and I slipped into Loki's office from the window.

He straightened up when he sensed my presence and I wrapped around him apologetically.

"Vey I wholeheartedly believe that you do these things to distress me." He murmured in my mind.

"Well that's not the entire reason I do." I purred.

I stayed with Loki all day, mostly curling up in his lap and sleeping.

He left Stark Tower in the evening and I risked appearing out of nowhere behind him. Not a single soul noticed and I smirked. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to hide here.

We stopped at a café for dinner and I told Loki about how the little girl could see my horns.

"I don't see how that's possible." Loki frowned at the table.

"Me neither, but what surprised me more than that was that she wasn't afraid of me." I said in a rush.

Loki looked up at me and smiled.

"You seemed to be awfully fond of her." Loki mused, his emerald eyes studying my face.

I shrugged, absentmindedly poking at the straw in my drink.

"Would you want a baby someday?" Loki asked and my head snapped up.

"I – uh I –" I stammered and then laughed shortly. "I don't know. I doubt I could actually have a child because of how twisted my body is."

Loki shrugged. "Would you want one though?"

I pursed my lips and looked up at Loki.

"Yeah…" I said quietly. "But…" I pictured myself standing by a window, holding a little cooing bundle and I saw Riheil crawl out of the shadows and rear up behind me. My wide eyes met Loki's. "No child of ours would ever be safe."

Loki frowned with his eyebrows. "I understand, darling."

He glanced away from me, looking at a wall but his eyes were seeing through it.

"It wouldn't be easy." He agreed. "Nothing worth doing is ever easy."

I studied his pale face.

He wanted a baby, I could see it in his face. I didn't know if I did or not. I didn't know if I could bear bringing another thing into the world to be afraid for. No baby of mine would ever be safe…

The storm clouds passed out of Loki's eyes and he looked down at me.

"I worked my way into Stark's database today." Loki said casually. "SHEILD gave him some information on you and told him to watch out for you."

My eyebrows rose. "Really? What information did they give him?"

"What you look like, some of what you can do, and how to trap you if necessary."

I scowled. "Dammit I was hoping that they hadn't figured that out."

Loki smirked. "Well you mustn't allow yourself to be captured again, love."

I shrugged. "That would probably be in my best interest, yeah." My eyes flickered to Loki. "Does SHEILD know of Riheil?"

Loki shook his head. "If they do, they have not told Stark of it."

I sighed and looked around the busy bright café.

"Let's go home, I'm tired of these humans." I mumbled.

Loki smirked and got up from the table and offered me his arm.

We took a taxi to the apartment building and I curled up on the couch in front of the large television that I might have "borrowed" from one of the stores.

Loki took off his jacket and yawned.

I lifted my arms up, inviting him to lie down on me and he chuckled softly.

"Sorry darling, I have to do some research for Stark." He said regretfully, sitting at the table and starting up his computer.

I grumbled vaguely.

I morphed into a shadow and zipped under the table.

Tendrils of smoke moved up Loki's legs and I saw him stop typing and stare at his computer screen.

I giggled and solidified, putting my hands on the outside of his legs and kissing the inside of his thighs where it drove him crazy.

He shivered and glanced down at me and I smirked.

I materialized behind him and leaned down to kiss his neck and my lips brushed his ear.

"You can always do that later, right darling?" I purred.

Loki got swiftly to his feet and followed on my heels into the bedroom.

About half an hour after that I was curled up against his chest, naked and satisfied.

Loki turned Jotun when we made love and I didn't think he realized it and I sat up to kiss the blue markings on his forehead. I wasn't used to him being this cold, but I didn't mind.

He studied my face for a minute and lifted a dark blue hand to brush my cheek, but he froze when he saw his skin.

He sat up and looked down at himself, anger contorting his face.

I tilted his chin up to look at me instead. I leaned forward to kiss his cold lips and I held his face in my hands.

"I love you." I told him.

He looked away from me. "Even when I'm like this? Like a monster?"

I took one of his hands and kissed it, holding it close to my thumping heart and he looked up at me.

"Do you not see the way I look?." I asked him. "You're mine." His red eyes moved between mine, and after all this time I could still see his reluctance to believe that I loved him. "Forever."

The anger melted from his face and he smiled sadly.

We curled up together under the fluffy blankets and Loki turned back into looking Asgardian. I didn't mind, he was gorgeous and I loved him regardless of which form he chose. If he was comfortable looking like an Asgardian that was fine with me.

He fell asleep for the first time since we came to Asgard and I was soon lulled to sleep by his breathing.

I woke up late in the morning after Loki was already gone for work and I yawned and rolled over, not wanting to get out of bed.

I heard something buzzing in the living room and I squinted at the wall. The hell?

I groaned loudly and stumbled out of bed.

Loki had left a phone that was vibrating on the kitchen counter and I picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello darling." Loki's voice purred through the phone. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did until you woke me up." I yawned.

I heard Loki chuckle through the receiver. "I can't talk for long I'm afraid. There's bread and fruit in the house, but I need to go get more things soon."

"I can do that it isn't like I do anything all day." I said, shuffling into the kitchen.

"Alright. I have to go now, I love you Vey."

"I love you too." I said and Loki hung up.

I willed my disguise to come back and I put on brown old-looking boots and black leggings and a soft white dress. I grabbed the phone Loki had left me and a small plastic card that I knew humans used as money and I left our apartment.

It was cold outside and the sky was spitting sleet onto the few people on the sidewalks.

I was deep in my own thoughts, thinking about SHIELD when I heard a crude whistle and I stopped cold.

I whipped around to see some skinny kid lumbering toward me, a disgusting wide grin on his face.

"Damn, sweetheart. Where are you going in such a hurry?" He cooed, standing much closer to me than I allowed anyone to.

I shoved him away from me and he stumbled back, looking shocked and angry.

I turned to walk away and he ran up and grabbed my arm.

"HEY YOU STUPID BITCH LEARN HOW TO TAKE A COMPLIM –" He broke off as my fist slammed into his face, breaking his nose, and without pausing I grabbed his neck and dragged him into the nearest alleyway.

I threw him into the wall and I heard something else crack and he dragged himself away from me, no longer thinking this was funny.

"What the fuck! You crazy fucking –" He was cut short when I planted a kick in his ribcage and I picked him up by the throat and growled in his face.

"I don't allow filth to speak to me that way." I growled and threw him down the alleyway.

"Learn to keep your foul tongue behind your teeth or I will rip it out." I spat and turned on my heel to leave the alley and walk quickly down the sidewalk.

Damn idiot interrupted my train of thought.

Oh yeah, SHEILD.

I needed to find out where they were located; surely they had an archive that contained their files on me, files that needed destroyed.

I ducked into a coffee shop and sure enough there were people busy typing on laptops at most of the tables.

I sat down across from a girl with long blonde hair and she glanced up at me in confusion and opened her mouth but I waved my hand and she snapped her jaw shut and sat up and put her hands in her lap.

I slid her laptop across the table, opening up a new tab on the browser.

S.H.E.I.L.D I typed in and clicked on the first link.

Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division the title said and it had an emblem of an eagle on the screen.

There wasn't a lot on the website, but I learned that the headquarters was located in Washington D.C. which was probably twenty minutes from here. I paused, staring through the screen.

No… no I would have to get there another way. SHEILD would certainly notice if I appeared there in a cloud of smoke.

I looked up from the screen at the blank faced girl.

"I need to get to Washington D.C." I told her, closing the window and deleting it from her history.

"Take a cab." She said distantly.

"That takes too long." I said.

"Take a plane." She replied.

I pursed my lips. That would be the fastest way to get there but… I would be trapped if I got onto a plane.

I scowled and looked up at the girl again.

"Where is the nearest airport?" I asked her.

She frowned. "LaGuardia. In Queens."

I nodded and stood up and walked out of the café.

I ducked into an alley and morphed into a shadow and rushed toward where I thought Queens was.

I found it after an hour of looking and walked into the airport and up to the nearest desk.

"I need to get to Washington D.C." I told the old man.

He looked at me strangely. "When?"

"As soon as possible."

"Well you can't just march in here and demand to get on a flight the same –" His face went blank like the girl in the café's had.

He looked at the computer. "The next flight leaves at two but it's full." He said simply.

"Thank you." I said, erasing his memory and I walked away.

Just being here was getting on my nerves, there were too many people and too many noises and I felt like Coulson was going to jump out from behind a pillar and apprehend me, but no one looked at me twice as I got in line for security.

Without even saying anything I put a block on everyone's mind that was in the vicinity and the security guards let me go through without looking at me.

I found the flight on a directory board and made my way to the right terminal. I watched the people that were going to get on the same flight, listening to their conversations.

I fixated on one man that was jabbering away on an earpiece in an excruciatingly annoying fashion and I made him stop talking and come over to sit next to me.

"You're going to DC? I asked.

"Yes." He said.

"Give me your ticket."

He pulled it out of his briefcase and handed it to me.

Black print on the ticket said that he had seat 3C in first class.

"Good. That is all I needed. Leave and forget this." I told him and he got to his feet and walked briskly away through the crowd.

It was twelve thirty so I still had a while before the plane left and I sighed and tried to calm myself down.

More people flocked to the terminal and I eyed them all warily.

A little boy with blond curly hair that looked to be around five was watching me curiously.

He tugged on his mother's arm and she waved him off, engrossed in the conversation she was having on her cellphone.

The boy kept tugging on her hand until she looked down at him in annoyance.

"Andrew, mommy is on the phone." She told him, frowning.

"Mommy that girl looks weird." He whispered and I tapped on my phone, pretending that I wasn't listening and the mother looked angry and glanced at me.

"Andrew that's rude, don't interrupt me while I'm on the phone." She snapped and turned away from him.

I glanced up at the boy from my phone and he looked down at the shield on his shirt, pretending that he wasn't looking at me.

I suddenly recognized the logo, Loki had morphed into that large blonde man that had wielded it. Why in hell was that child wearing that shield?

After several minutes he slowly got up from the seat he was on and inched cautiously over to me.

I glanced at him as he stood next to me, too curious about me to stay away but still wary of me.

"Why d'you look like that?" He asked.

"Look like what?" I replied.

He pointed at my head. "Most people don't have those."

I absently lifted a hand to touch my horns. This child could see through my disguise as well?!

I shrugged. "I'm different I guess."

He seemed to decide that I wasn't scary so he sat down on the bench next to me.

"Are you a monster?" He asked.

"I guess so." I shrugged.

He squinted at me again. "You don't act like a monster."

I chuckled. "Well I'm not right now."

"So you do act like a monster sometimes?"

"Everyone acts like a monster sometimes." I said. "What's that on your shirt?"

He looked down at the shield and his face lit up. "That's Captain America's shield!"

"Who's Captain America?" I asked.

"Captain America's awesome!" He said enthusiastically. "He beat up bad guys in the war and he helped the Avengers save New York from the aliens!"

The relaxed manner left my face when I registered what he was talking about. Loki had tried to take over New York, that's why he was captured. Holy fucking shit was that such a widely known incident that even this child knew of it?

"Why do you look scared?" He asked.

I came out of my own thoughts and glanced out of the windows. "Planes scare me."

"Planes don't scare me." He said proudly. "They're just like busses only they fly."

I laughed and the intercom announced that first class was boarding for D.C.

"Well I have to go get on the plane." I told him, standing up.

"Don't be scared, okay? Be brave like Captain America." The boy told me innocently.

I smiled sadly. "I'll try to be."

I got on the plane without trouble and I sat in my seat and thought about the invasion. I hadn't paid any attention to the matter when it happened, it hadn't concerned me at the time. Who were these other Avengers, were they still around? What if one of them found Loki?

I was a stressed out mess by the time everyone was on the plane, the little boy and his mother were some of the last people to get on and he noticed how scared and nervous I was. He darted up to my seat and held out an action figure of Captain America to me.

"Here, you need him more than I do." He said, beaming. "It'll be okay."

I was too stunned to do anything but nod and he grinned at me and scurried away to find his mother.

I was completely overwhelmed by this, by this little boy seeing that I was different and seeing that I was scared and reaching out to me and giving me this toy to make me brave. I put my face down in my hand and let out a tiny sob, tears pricking my eyes.

Oh by the gods I wasn't prepared for this. I could weather a thousand storms and bear death and pain and cruelty without flinching but this kindness shook me to my core.

I was bawling like a child and I didn't care. I didn't care who saw me like this, my heart was melting.

I sniffled and sat up, wiping my face.

We were in the air now, leaving the ground far below us and I smiled.

I guess he had made me brave.