AN: So yeah, sorry about the long length in time between updates. I've been working myself to death at the day job ... and I had a bit of a bout of writer's self-loathing and felt like I was churning out chapters too quickly and posting them before they were at their best. I was beginning to feel like the story was more of a rough draft than a series of completed chapters, so I went back and cleaned and tightened some things up. I added a little here and there, and took away things that weren't working so well, though nothing major has changed. I'm finally pretty happy with MTDG as a whole, so I moved on to the last few chapters. I know I said that there would be two more, but after writing this one, I found that I was being a bit over-zealous. It was my OCD, wanting to finish the fic with a nice even number of chapters. 30 was such a great number ... but I think I'll have to add one or two. Hope you don't mind ;-) I'm definitely not going to go this long between chapters again, as I want to finish this. I plan to participate in NaNoWriMo and I need clear mind. No gods in my brain!
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me! And thanks for your reviews and input. I have the best readers ever, you have truly inspired me :-D
XXX
~~::::::...::::::~~
As soon as Loki and Darcy walked into Scott's hospital room, they were met with knowing smiles. Miss Ramona had an arched brow and a slight smirk a la Mona Lisa, and Jules had a downright wicked grin on her face. Eshu just stood in the corner trying to be nonchalant and cool-as-fuck as always, but even he couldn't mask the twinkle in his eye.
And Darcy was all embarrassment. She knew Miss Ramona must have known what the key was to Loki's magic, and that she had given it to him, she just wasn't sure of the details. And as much as Loki needed to achieve something in order to regain his powers, strangely enough … she did too. The mushy side of love still made her cringe a little inside, hence the embarrassment of everything being out in the open, but real love, the part where you would walk through hell and back for another person, the part where you share the secrets of your mind and body, where you laugh in bed in the morning sun, those were the parts that she'd made peace with. And she'd made that peace with Loki, Norse God of Mischief.
What. The. Fuck.
All she could do was shake her head furiously and sit next to Miss Ramona, who then wrapped her arms around Darcy.
"I knew it would happen, baby girl."
Darcy watched as Loki hovered over Scott's hospital bed, green energy glowing from his fingertips as he assessed the alien magic keeping their friend at bay. She saw something in his face that she hadn't seen before. It was the kind of joy she got when she was zoned out on her laptop, knee-deep in cascading style-sheets, or trying to creatively navigate through locked-down computer networks, and then that moment of elation when everything just clicks, and you're in. It's the happiness you feel when you're doing something you love, when work isn't really work anymore, but a craft. An art-form. A love.
She was happy for him. There was a sort-of swelling in her chest actually, and she thought about when the Grinch's heart grew three sizes … yeah, it was like that.
Nerd, she thought to herself.
Darcy leaned over and whispered into Miss Ramona's ear. "I'm still not sure what happened, exactly."
The priestess smiled at her warmly. "I'd pass up Saints Super Bowl tickets to see Odin's face right now."
Darcy laughed. "What was it?"
Miss Ramona turned and spoke softly so no one could hear. "It's been said that he 'lacked conviction'. Odin felt as if Loki took every opportunity he could to feel slighted, to feel betrayed. And perhaps he was right. These feelings of slight and betrayal made it easier for Loki to turn his back on those who loved him, to let it fuel his anger and resentment, which in the end is selfish. Odin felt as if this was his nature, and again, perhaps it was."
"There must be a selflessness in loving someone, and conviction, you must have faith in a person, and trust. Odin was blessed with this kind of love with Loki's mother, and he misses her so very much. Odin wasn't the easiest man to love, but Frigga did … and that was his task, to find a love as true. He needed to fight for it, to not turn his back like he's done every single time before. To not quit, but to endure. He fought for you, he didn't run away at the first sign of trouble. He didn't use your anger as an excuse to feel slighted and betrayed … he endured."
The priestess then took Darcy's hand. "But it wasn't just Loki … I'm sure that Odin never thought it would happen quite so soon, that someone would fall in love with Loki the way he needed. Loki needed to be loved in return. He needed someone to have faith in him, trust in him. I'm not sure his father thought there would be anyone on this planet, full of people he thought beneath him, that could love and trust Loki … and certainly not with him being confined to your organization.
"In life, with their children, Odin gave the orders, but Frigga would then move the chess pieces as she saw fit, for her sons. It seems as if she does this, even now. But rest easy, Darcy, she could only ever help … she could never meddle with someone's free will, not that she ever would. In the end, it was a tear. A tear of love from someone who trusted him, someone he had fought for, from someone who loved him as Frigga loved Odin. A tear of love broke his bonds."
Darcy stared slack-jawed for a few seconds. "A tear? Seriously?"
"I believe that his father greatly underestimated him. It seemed to be the one thing Loki's always wanted, but somehow always pushed away. It was probably assumed that he'd continue to push anything resembling love away, probably for centuries."
Darcy's could feel pressure build up in her ears, as if she were on a plane, which made her realize that Miss Ramona had silenced herself from other ears.
"But on a deeper level, Odin essentially wanted this for his son, and he felt as if it was a lesson that Frigga would have approved of. In Odin's way, he wished to honor her. He knew how much she had meant to Loki. When she died, he regretted separating them … but little did he know, Frigga had ways around him."
Darcy frowned. "So you could see all that? When you looked for the spell that bound his mojo?"
"Much can be seen in a magical fingerprint, like our physical fingerprints, no two are the same ... and like any language, you can learn to read them. Intent is always woven into a spell. That, and I have communicated with Frigga myself, as you know."
"Right. Sooooo … it wasn't sex magic?"
"Sex magic?"
"Er. Nevermind." Darcy averted her eyes.
Miss Ramona laughed. "If that's what was happening at the time, it was a coincidence. I can see how the return of his magic would activate yours, and thus the intimate mingling of your energies would have resulted in … em, a sexually ecstatic state."
She blushed. "Well … that's good I guess, I was thinking it was kinda pervy that his dad would make sex magic his task."
Darcy faced back forward and sunk in her chair. "But a tear?" she whined, no longer speaking in hushed tones so that others in the room could hear. "Seriously? Ugh …"
She groaned and rested her head on Miss Ramona's shoulder. "Oh, God … I can barely stand it. It's like something out of a Disney movie. I feel like any minute now, woodland creatures and inanimate objects are going to break into song."
She saw Loki grin at the remark.
"Don't get any ideas," Darcy said, pointing her finger at him.
"Don't worry, dearest, I'm busy trying to bring your friend back to life." He motioned for Eshu to join him. "I need you to restore him with his earthen energy as soon as I take away the alien magic that is obstructing him."
They watched as the two Gods of Mischief worked their healing magic in a haze of green. First, Loki seemed to conjure up a black mist from Scott's chest, drawing it out. With intense concentration and a flick of his wrist, he dissolved it. Eshu then stepped in and put his hands over their friend's heart, energy glowing from his palms. After his body had absorbed the life-force, Scott's eyes eventually began to flutter and open. He started to struggle to sit up and the two men helped calm him down.
Darcy and Jules exchanged pleasantly stunned glances, extremely proud of their hot and godly boyfriends.
"Oh my gods," Scott said roughly. "You guys, I need a glass of water … Can't. Talk. Oh, and can you put a lime in it? Because I'm bougie."
Both Loki and Eshu began to make a gesture that would produce Scott's water and lime out of thin air, but the Earth god stood back and smiled. "Be my guest," he said, happy for his brother and his returned magic. Scott sat up on his forearms looking between them, grinning at the fact that two gorgeous gods were debating over who to serve him.
Perhaps he should get zapped by interdimensional beings more often.
~~*...*~~
After Scott made his miraculous recovery and the doctors poked and prodded him, and shook their heads a lot, wondering how the hell someone with no brain activity could all of a sudden wake up and be totally fine … they finally let him go home. Of course, it was only after some gentle persuasion from Miss Ramona that they didn't keep him "for observation" while they ran every manner of test on him to figure out why he was in such amazing shape, but they let him go none-the-less.
By this time, it was mid-morning and everyone was exhausted, so they made plans to meet up for dinner at Jules' mom's restaurant after getting some sleep. Scott said that death made him crave fried chicken and Nella's famous coconut cake.
As Loki and Darcy walked into their hotel room, she noticed it was time to check her messages. Loki gave her a wary look.
"Don't worry," she said. "I'm not gonna go ballistic. I've learned my lesson. I guess I missed that one in my assassin training. Natasha taught me a lot, but I guess HYDRA took over before she could teach me how to keep cool under pressure."
Loki didn't comment. The Black Widow had been one of the only humans to ever successfully trick him in a battle of wits. Granted, his mind had been poisoned by the scepter and Tesseract and he wasn't at his sharpest, but none the less, trick him she did. He wasn't sure how much of her technique he wanted Darcy to learn. After a long while of practicing mind-games, you begin to lose yourself as you're constantly playing a part, a role, putting up a mask. Darcy was so refreshingly genuine, and her gifts lay in calling one out on their bullshit by her sharp observational skills and bluntless. She didn't need to be manipulative as she did quite well at her own battles of wits armed with her personal brand of intelligence and sass.
After checking her pre-paid phone for messages from Jane, Darcy turned on her iPhone momentarily to check if anyone else had tried to contact her. After several texts from her mom, about taking that job in Atlanta now that S.H.I.E.L.D. was labeled a terrorist organization (because, of course), was a message that made Darcy's heart jump into her throat.
"Overseas pharmacy. Natural Male enhancement, only 20.00."
"OH MY GOD, IT'S STEVE!"
Loki looked over her shoulder to read the message. "Male enhancement?"
She started to laugh, mainly because of all the sleep deprivation, not eating right, and the bat-shit craziness that had gone down … male enhancement. Jane and Darcy had spent many a tequila-drenched "Taco Tuesday" wondering if Steve's super soldier serum had worked … everywhere.
"Um … it's just something me and Jane came up with, because we're kind of evil sometimes. Steve is Captain America, you know … he's a super soldier. He's been … enhanced."
Loki still wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he let it go. "What does the 20.00 mean?"
"It's military time, he's saying that he'll turn his phone on at 8," she said, unable to mask her elation, even though her new Asgardian BF was a little sensitive about Cap.
Darcy twirled around the room, holding the phone to her chest. "Steve is alive!"
"Out of curiosity, what is your code drug?" Loki asked, wanting to selfishly steer the conversation away from the captain.
She grinned. "Medical marijuana."
"Whatever for?"
"Em … because back in college, when I was a bit of a stoner girl, I used to joke around and say that I smoked pot because of my eyes, even though I don't have glaucoma … weed is good for that apparently … but anyway, without contacts or glasses, I'm pretty much legally blind.
"Would you like me to fix that for you?"
"Like magic Lasik?"
He nodded, practically itching for excuses to practice magic.
She crinkled her nose in thought. "I'll think about it …"
Loki looked confused. "Why would you not want me to help you?"
Darcy laughed. "Don't look so hurt. It's not because I don't want to accept your help … it's just that I have an awesome collection of prescription rims, shades, and colored contact lenses. They'd all be worthless if I had my eyes fixed. All that money down the drain."
Loki bit his lip. "Hm, I love you in those glasses." He took her by the hand and began to lead her to the bedroom.
Darcy's stomach still did a flip whenever he said those words … "I love you", in any context.
"I'm still unused to all the sappy stuff," she said, grinning, as she let him lead her to the bed. "Just don't all of a sudden break out into love poetry … give me a little heads up for something like that."
"Hn. Recite me a Midgardian love poem, I'd like to hear one. I've only heard your 'rap' poetry, and I can hardly believe any of that is meant to inspire affection," he said, as he sat down on the bed and pulled her down with him.
Darcy got comfortable next to him and turned on her side, head propped up by her elbow. The pillows and soft duvet were so comforting, she could have probably just drifted off to sleep immediately … but she thought about his request for a second. "Umm … a lot of people like to quote Shakespeare or E.E. Cummings, or people like that, and they're great … though I don't really have any of their sonnets or poems memorized. My favorite love quote though, is from a children's author. I was obsessed with his books when I was little."
"Who was your great children's author?"
"Dr. Seuss," she said lazily, starting to feel sleepy.
"Well? The quote." Loki reached his hand over and twirled a lock of her long dark hair around his finger. He loved the way her bronzed highlights at the ends caught the light.
Darcy blushed slightly and grinned at him. "Okay … Umm … Midgardian love-quote, here goes ... 'We're all a little weird, and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them in mutual weirdness, and call it love.'"
Loki laughed … Darcy's particular favorite kind of laugh, where his smile reached his eyes and they practically lit up. "It suits you perfectly," he said. "And is quite true."
Darcy laid back and shut her eyes, growing more and more relaxed. "Sooo … I was thinking, if we're kind of stuck here, and I'm not an agent anymore … maybe we should stay in my grandmother's house instead of the hotel. It's a lot bigger and cozier." She yawned.
She didn't see the huge smile that formed across Loki's face. "I would love to see your childhood sanctuary." And to share a home with you, he thought.
"You know, I wish I could see where you grew up," she said, as she drifted off to sleep.
He slid his arm around her middle and closed his eyes, resting his head next to hers.
"Me too."
~~*...*~~
When Darcy woke up, feeling infinitely better after several hours of uninterrupted sleep, the sun had started to set, bathing the room in a deep orange hue. She reached over to look at the bedside clock.
"It's not time to call the captain quite yet," Loki said tiredly, with his eyes still closed.
Darcy smiled warmly at him. His obvious jealousy was a bit cute, usually annoying … but also cute. "You have nothing to worry about, with Steve I mean … I wish you'd believe me when I say he's just my friend."
Loki opened an eye and frowned. "I've seen the way he looks at you, like you're a cool drink after an age in the desert."
"What? You're delusional. He doesn't look at me like that."
He opened both eyes and rolled onto his side. "I assure you, he does."
"Loki. He doesn't. And even if he did … you'd still have nothing to worry about. Like I said, he's a grandpa, only he looks 30. I think what you're picking up on, is that I remind him of the girl he was, well … still is, in love with."
"This is not making making the situation better, Darcy," he said, irritation in his voice.
"No, seriously. He's in love with someone else. And even if I did like him in that way, and I don't, but if I did … I could never date him, seeing as he's in love with that Peggy chic. The first time I met Cap, I had my hair kind of styled all retro, like I do sometimes when I dress up, and was wearing dark red lipstick. He actually called me 'Peggy' a few times … and I had to be like, 'yo! I'm Darcy'. I was actually pretty pissed off about it at the time, because I didn't know what was going on."
"What does wearing red lipstick have to do with it?"
"Women in the 1940's universally wore fire-engine red lipstick. It was a requirement if you had ovaries, apparently. Another thing is, I guess this Peggy person was a pretty strong and opinionated woman for her time. And I say 'fuck' a lot. So I guess I remind him of her."
Loki seemed to take an interest. "Is this woman deceased?"
Darcy chewed on her lip. "No. But he is in love with a ghost … that's still alive, strangely enough. She lives in an assisted-living home for Alzheimer's patients in D.C.. Steve would leave for a few days to visit her every so often … and I'm sure he was happy to go there on his recent mission, for that reason. Agent Peggy Carter, she was a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., a righteous babe. Still is, even in her 90's."
"So she is an old woman now." He averted his eyes.
Darcy momentarily thought she noticed something like sympathy flicker in his features.
"Yeah. She and Cap missed out on a whole lifetime while he was frozen, because of that stupid Tesseract." Darcy realized exactly how much trouble that stupid blue cube had caused, not just for the past few years, but for decades.
"Anyway. Me and Jane became friends with Steve pretty quick after we arrived in New York. You could tell he threw himself into his Avenger work as a distraction. Being a soldier was his one true calling, but he didn't have a life at all, and he walked around kinda sad and like he didn't know where he was. He was the wallflower of the team, even more so than Bruce … and Tony teased him relentlessly. Natasha was always trying to set him up with someone, and it made him really uncomfortable."
"Jane and I started asking him if he wanted to hang out … watch movies, grab lunch. We became close pretty quickly, because we were all kind of the new and awkward kids at school. Steve loosened up, and he eventually told us about his long-dead soldier buddies, his best childhood friend, and Peggy. Jane would actually get pretty personal and ask him questions about his feelings towards her … if he just went to visit her in D.C. out of pity, or if he really still felt a connection to her … and he always said that he did. Feel a connection. Me and Cap could always tell she was asking because of, you know … her and Thor."
Loki lay on his back and stared up at the canopy. "One day she will be an old woman … and Thor will look very much the same as he does today. I wish I could say that I could predict his reaction … but Thor is very different now. He may stand by her."
"Hm." Darcy lay on her back as well. "I don't think she'd like that. She's not going to like any outcome actually. She's gonna hurt if he leaves, and she's gonna hurt if he stays."
Loki was silent a few moments. "What would you have them do?" he asked, finally. It was a loaded question.
"I don't know. Live in the now, I suppose. They love each other. That can never be bad."
"And what if they have children? Jane's offspring would be half-Asgardian, they would live for centuries upon centuries without her." Another loaded question.
Darcy thought about it for a minute before answering. "Jane is one of those career-girls that would probably be perfectly happy never having kids. Science is her baby."
"That sounds utterly dismal."
"Why?" Darcy's inner-feminist began to assert herself. "Not every woman wants kids. It's unfair for society to assume that, and to make women think that there's something wrong with them if they don't want to squeeze out a brood of screamers and clean up poop all day. Some of us like the idea of focusing on careers and achievement, travel, freedom … a clean house! Being able to have a few drinks with friends and not have to worry about babysitters. Eight hours of sleep a night. Boobs that haven't deflated. A vagina that isn't torn apart! I have friends with kids, and they like to tell me over and over again ... your vagina is never the same again."
Loki laughed softly. "Dearest. Any child of Thor would be a prince or princess. They would have servants, tutors, nannies, wet-nurses. No need for messy rooms, lost sleep, or deflated breasts."
Darcy rolled her eyes. "Wet-nurse? What is this, the middle ages? Another woman's boob feeding your kid? I'm not sure Jane would like that either."
He raised an eyebrow as she was becoming quite heated. "Are you quite certain we are still talking of Jane?"
"Ugh. You started this, Loki. Let's just say that I'm pretty sure neither one of us is ready for all that. Maybe one of these days, I'll walk past a Baby Gap and my ovaries will start screaming, but it ain't today. What is it with you asking about babies anyway? Usually dudes want to talk about anything other than babies."
Loki looked over at her and grinned. "Royals are raised to anticipate and look forward to welcoming a legitimate 'heir and a spare' into the world. It means their line, their name, will live on."
Darcy blinked back at him. "We come from very different worlds. Figuratively speaking. Socially speaking. And literally speaking," she said, dryly.
He lost the grin. "Darcy. What will you do? Do you wish to be Peggy Carter?" He was tired of dancing around the subject of whether or not she would choose to live a normal human life-span.
She sat up on her elbows and narrowed her eyes at her immortal boyfriend. Peggy Carter was an amazing lady … she didn't just shrivel up and die, she moved on after Cap. She was one of the most successful women she'd ever heard of, who lived a seriously full life … Darcy was uncomfortable thinking of her as a cautionary tale. But at the end of the day, Peggy and Cap didn't have a choice about how their story ended. Darcy had a choice, and it was a gift that others could never dream of.
She softened. "Well, I distinctly remember someone saying they'd help me to hone my magic once they got their powers back." Darcy smiled over at him. "When do the lessons start?"
Loki let the implication sink in. His lips slowly curled back into a grin and his eyes darkened.
"Now."
He rolled over and slowly began to climb on top of her. "Lesson number one … "
She gasped as their clothing began to dissolve in green light.
"I like this lesson."
He kissed his way down her neck, to her breasts, and hooked a thumb behind her knee. He pushed her thigh towards the bed, opening her to him. "Shhh. There will be no talking in class."
He gave her a quick but searing open-mouth kiss. "Only screaming will be allowed."
After pushing inside, he found that she was quite a good student. A very good student indeed.
~~*...*~~
"I don't understand why you like watching me put makeup on."
Loki was sitting on the edge of the tub again, in his boxer-briefs, watching her dab under her eyes with moisturizer. She'd been trying to get ready for their dinner date later with everyone, and he kept distracting her.
"I suppose it is silly," he said.
This made her look at him through the mirror, and she noticed something she'd never seen written across his features … shyness.
"You're talking to the queen of silly over here, honey. What gives?"
He looked up at her reflection and sighed. "I suppose it was a bit of a fascination when I was a child. There were so few precious things that were only mine, and from since I can remember, I'd sit with my mother in the mornings while she applied her makeup and had her hair done. It was when she'd ask me questions about my lessons, and she would offer advice on this or that. She'd talk of spells, enchantments, glamours, and that sort … and she'd tell me stories of her home realm. These were things that Thor was never interested in, and it was precious time that I could spend with her, as I discovered that men were not to sully themselves by witnessing such feminine acts … but that kind of ridiculousness never bothered me. It was about an hour a day when I could have Frigga to myself. It became intriguing to me how women could almost arm themselves by painting their faces, as if they were drawing a kind of confidence right on their skin, heightening their features, almost like a mask. A beautiful mask that made facing the day a bit easier. I'd wish I was able to conjure such a mask … and I suppose I did end up developing them in a way. I had my mother's tricks. I learned to shapeshift."
Darcy had set down her tools and stood watching him tell his story, his eyes to the floor.
"After I reached a certain age, Odin made sure to fill that precious hour of my day with sparring lessons. For a boy to study sorcery and to familiarize themselves with the rituals of women, was considered … ergi."
"Ergi?" Darcy asked, never having heard the strange word.
Loki looked up at her. "Effeminate … or, mortals sometimes call it … gay."
She turned around and walked over to him, settled herself between his legs from where he was sitting on the tub. With her standing, his eyes were at about breast-level and she caught him staring at them hungrily, able to see her areolas through her thin camisole. She ran her fingers through his hair and he brought his arms around her waist in an embrace.
"You're so obviously not … ergi," she said as his mouth brushed over clothed nipples. "Not that there's anything wrong with that," she quickly added.
Darcy put her hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to take his attention away from her breasts and look at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I thought you watching me put on makeup was weird … it's just distracting, with you sitting there in your underwear. Looking the way you do."
He gave her a devilish grin. "And you walking around in this see-through garment isn't supposed to be distracting?"
She smiled down at him. "I've known a few dudes over the years who were always very comfortable around women, talked as easily with them as they did their guy friends, didn't care what people thought … and those were always the ones who got the most pussy. I got your number, Mr. Mischief."
Loki laughed softly. "Perhaps it all helped later in life."
Before things started going in the direction of more heated distraction, Darcy reluctantly took a step back. "I have to tell you something."
Loki, all of a sudden missing the warmth of her skin, looked up in confusion.
She gave him a guilty look. "Sorry, it's just the mention of your mother reminded me of something."
He instantly sobered. "What is it?"
Darcy sat on the edge of the tub next to him. "I was about to tell you last week and then completely forgot because of the whole HYDRA thing, I'm so sorry. But when I channeled your mother, she told me a few things about your magic, that I don't think was ever told to you."
Loki stood, turning to face her, obviously alarmed. "Go on."
The fact that his naked torso was right in front of her, with the delicious "V" of his hips disappearing into his low-hanging boxer-briefs made every thought in her brain vanish for a few moments. She shook her head out. "Em. Your mom … she said, um." Focus, Darcy, focus! But … his abs …
She rubbed her eyes with her palms, closing them. "Frigga said that you learned to practice Asgardian magic, and because of that, your magical DNA made your body adapt to your surroundings better."
"Yes, I remember. My mother shared her magic with me, making me at least partly Vanir, along with Asgardian … and, of course … Jotun."
"Yeah. But she wasn't just talking in a physical sense. You only learned how to practice Asgardian magic. There's also Vanir and Jotun magic inside of you, lying dormant."
"What?" He asked, in a daze.
Darcy stood and took his hand. "I was never told exactly why you never knew, although the Jotun magic is pretty self-explanatory … but I got the feeling it was because you might become too powerful if you honed all of your abilities. Like, she didn't want Odin to fear your power … and she died before you were in the right frame of mind for her to tell you."
He looked at her, eyes stormy and intense … it unnerved her. "Don't freak out," she said.
Something inside of him seemed to click and Loki abruptly knelt before her. "I must tell you something as well."
"Okay?" she said with a shaky voice.
"Your grandmother, she revealed to me a truth. I was shown a memory of you, after your storm, the day before the car accident." He waited for her to react and she gave a slight nod of the head.
"There was a woman speaking with your father."
Darcy frowned. "I remember. I was rude to her and my dad was pissed off about it, which made him ground me." Tears began to sting at her eyes. "I always felt bad about that. She just happened to be standing next to my dad and I couldn't help running my mouth at him, he just always had that effect on me. But that's not an excuse. What did Gran say about her?"
Loki squeezed her hands. "The woman was Frigga. She must have seen a possibility that I'd love you, that our paths would meet in such a way that spurred her to intervene."
"What?"
"Don't freak out."
Darcy let out a short laugh of shock as she channeled Natasha. What would the Black Widow do? Keep cool, Darcy, keep cool.
Loki stood up and stepped over to edge of the tub, sitting back down. He gestured towards her makeup bag sitting on the counter-top. "Now, no more distractions, darling. We really must be getting ready to go. We're to meet everyone in one half of an hour, correct?" He looked up at her with a slight grin on his lips.
She turned towards the mirror, dazed and confused. "Um. Yeah." She picked up her eyeliner and stared at it for a few seconds, before remembering what to do with it.
"See? We are both getting better at this … we can freak out later, at a more convenient time."
~~*...*~~
After getting comfortable at their table in Nella's restaurant, Darcy stood to step outside for a few minutes to power up her new pre-paid phone. It was 8 o'clock. Time to call Steve.
Loki gave her a nod before she wound herself through the casual but elegant dining room, which wasn't too crowded given that it was a Tuesday evening. It made her think briefly that if she was in New York, she'd be eating tacos and drinking margaritas with Jane, and she felt a pull in her heart. Darcy missed her friend terribly, as they hadn't spent this much time apart since they started working together.
As she walked out the door and onto Burgundy St., she started pacing as she dialed the number left on her iPhone.
He answered it on the second ring. "Darcy?"
She closed her eyes and gave a sigh of relief. "Steve."
"It's good to hear your voice. I'm not going to talk long … are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Cap. Are you alright? People think you drowned!"
"I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner … I really had trouble figuring out the whole pre-paid phone business."
Darcy laughed. "It's cool, I'm just so glad to hear from you."
"Listen, I need to tell you something … and it's classified."
"Gotcha."
"Fury is alive, his death was faked."
"Whoa, really?"
"Also, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been disbanded for now, until something new can be built from the ground up … and Coulson is now acting director. His team is working on it."
"Wow, good for Coulson … what about you? What will you do?"
Darcy could hear him sigh on the other end of the line. "I'm trying to find a friend of mine. I'll explain when I see you next, over a few margaritas?"
"I'd love that."
"Eventually, I want to swing around to where you are, and then get the gang back together again. We have a lot to plan."
"Of course! We'd love you to have you here! Do you know where I am?"
"Clint does … we'll give you a heads up."
"Clint's okay?"
"He's fine. Is Jane alright?"
"She's stuck in Stark Tower with Thor and Tony."
"Ouch. Stuck in a tower with Tony? That can't be fun."
"Yeah … I'm pretty sure she's going insane."
"Well, the dust is starting to settle … we'll know more in a few weeks. I'm going to have to get off of here … listen, Coulson will be contacting you at some point with new orders."
Darcy did a little happy dance on the side-walk. "Orders? I'm still an agent?"
"Sure you are. You'll technically be an employee of Stark Industries now, but you're still an agent.
She did a spin and nearly knocked into a drunk tourist. "We're all still here."
"We're all still here."
~~*...*~~
Darcy returned to the table just as bottles of house red wine were served, and Nella brought out the first course in her chef's tasting menu. Everyone shared boucherie plates filled with Louisiana sausages, cured meats, and pickled vegetables. And in an attempt to fatten him up a little, she also set down a special serving of chicken and waffle bites in front of Loki, who took them most graciously … and didn't share.
She looked around the table at her friends. Scott looked as if he was glowing, filled with renewed life-force and celebrating being alive. Jules and Eshu were feeding each other alligator sausage ... and Loki seemed strangely content sitting beside her, dousing his waffle bites in praline sauce.
Scott took a big sip of his wine. "While you were on the phone Darcy, we were talking about what might have happened to that guy. The one who zapped me?"
"The prisoner. Petrakis." Darcy also took a healthy gulp of wine. "I've been way too distracted to think about it … but yeah, what would have happened to him? He obviously went to where you were supposed to go." She looked over at Loki.
"I'm afraid that Mr. Petrakis is probably no longer with us, and if he is, his mind will be gone."
"His mind was already gone," Darcy said.
Scott looked at Loki. "Is that spell still ongoing? The one looking for you?"
"I do not know. I could see a release of energy as soon as Petrakis locked eyes on me … which should have lifted the spell on everyone else as well. But I'm not sure if it's been put back up, since the wrong man was obviously sent."
"And I don't have access to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s prison records anymore ... doesn't matter anyway since HYDRA released so many people. And I can't get ahold of Ian to see what's going on abroad," Darcy said.
"Obviously the two of you still need to lay low," Jules said. "But let's enjoy dinner for now. We'll talk about it after the coconut cake."
"Sounds good to me," Darcy said. They all raised their wine glasses, toasted to being alive, and promptly drained them.
They never talked about the strange occurrence after the coconut cake, mainly because they were too stuffed to care about much. After several courses featuring creole comfort food and many glasses of wine, all they seemed to be able to talk about was childhood stories, wading through the memories of Halloween night, and debate over which zombie movies were more accurate. Such light banter was refreshing and most-welcome.
"No movie is at all accurate, but White Zombie and The Serpent and the Rainbow are the only ones that get even remotely close," Jules said.
"But those paint voodoo as evil," Scott said. "It's like any other earth religion."
"Yeah, but all the other movies are about zombie plagues … pandemics that take over the world. That's just ridiculous ... but I guess those are more fun," Jules added.
"I always liked the George Romero zombies, it was something different, and they left voodoo out of it. The Night of the Living Dead implied radiation, now that's just hilarious." Eshu said.
"Ugh, I hate zombies, you guys … can we talk about something else? Let's move on to vampire movies," Darcy said.
"Whatever, Darcy. I see your Facebook updates every time a new episode of The Walking Dead airs," Scott teased. "Something about Daryl Dixon, hottest guy in the zombie apocalypse?"
"I'll sit through it for a hot guy with a crossbow," she said, downing more wine.
"Crossbow?" Loki asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry … daggers. I totally dig hot guys with daggers. And the incredible aim they must have." Darcy flashed him a smile.
After dinner, they all walked back towards the hotel, happy and sated. Loki and Darcy held hands as they strolled along … Loki thinking about showing her exactly what incredible aim he had.
When they came to the next corner, they all felt a strange wind, a disturbance in The Force … Loki and Eshu sensing alien magic, and Darcy, Jules, and Scott sensing danger.
They all came to a halt, noticing a figure half a block down the street, shrouded in darkness.
"Jules," Darcy whispered. "A circle will not break."
~~::::::...::::::~~
XXX
AN: The whole tear thing was borrowed from the comics. Odin bound comic-book Loki to a tree until someone would shed a tear for his plight. Funnily enough, that person was Heimdall.
Shoot me a line if you notice horrifying grammatical errors. I become blind to them.
Happy October! I'm off to procure myself a pumpkin spice latte. I need one.
Let me know what you think! :-D
