The first time I was called out on a job, Loki had waved his hand and told me to take Thor instead. "I'm certain you two will enjoy playing the hero together, you don't really need the both of us there now, do you?"

I was surprised, we had fought side by side since the moment we were assigned as each other's partners. I wasn't sure what lay behind this, if Loki simply wanted some peace and quiet for himself, or if working together in front of Thor and playing the hero didn't suit the image he was trying to project.

In the end, the point was moot, because less than half an hour after arriving on the job Loki caught up with us anyway.

"You both would be lost without me," he shrugged at our questions, "you don't have two brain cells to rub together between the two of you."

"I missed you too," I whispered as soon as Thor was out of earshot.

Loki winked. "I couldn't let you have all the fun by yourself now, could I?"

After that, we worked together with the three of us.

Thor was often brash, loud and boastful, but he was an amazing fighter. I had to get used to fighting without Mjolnir of course, something I wasn't accustomed to and forgot at times in the heat of battle, pulling the hammer out of Thor's hands to the blond giant's annoyance.

"It would be preferable if you to learned to do battle without relying on Mjolnir, darling," Loki explained to me when we were alone.

"It was a great tool while you learned to control your own powers, but it is quickly becoming a crutch. It's far too convenient for you to rely upon that hammer.

Your own spellcasting is sloppy and wasteful with your anima, and you haven't stuck any effort into enlarging your spell repertoire. You can do better than this. You must do better than this if you are to grow in your powers."

I felt a dark ugly blush of embarrassment creeping over my face. I thought I was doing so well, and Loki had mentioned so often how powerful I was. I thought he thought the world of me. I felt humiliated.

Loki took my chin in his hand, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

"You have the potential to become one of the greatest sorcerers this realm has ever known, but you must hone your skills. You must keep pushing yourself to new heights if you truly wish to become this realm's Great Protector.

Because that is what you want, isn't it?"

I hesitated. I had never truly thought of myself as ambitious. I knew Loki was, but it had never been in my nature. Before gaining my powers, I had been quite happy to live a completely unremarkable life.

Had I, though? Had I really? Had I not always secretly believed I could be more, I just didn't know how?

"Yes." It came out of my mouth before I could stop myself. "I want to protect this realm, protect its people. I want to make certain another Solomon Island won't happen again, not on my watch. I want those who are intent on serving the Dreamers, on destroying our realm, all of the realms, I want them to fear me. I want them to think twice before they mess with me or those under my protection ever again."

Loki studied my eyes for a second as if to measure my resolve.

"Good. You'll need that fire, that conviction, if you are truly to become just that.

I am not much of an Elementalist, but like any sorcerer worth their salt, I know the basics. I can help you. And while Thor isn't a sorcerer by any means, he can help as well. It would be good for you to practice against someone bigger, stronger and more experienced than yourself."

We just needed a place to practice, a place where our magics wouldn't do any harm, with plenty of wide-open spaces and plenty of targets to practice on.

Loki thought he knew just the place.

The next day, I found myself back on Solomon Island. It was the first time we'd taken Thor there.

"Good people of Solomon Island, fear not! You now stand under my divine protection!" Thor's voice boomed through the main street.

The sheriff, Helen Bannerman, came running out of the station.

"What in the blazes…"

I waved at her, and she sighed in relief as she saw me.

"Meet my future brother-in-law, Thor Odinson," I grinned at her.

Thor was in his full armour, looking as impressive as only the god of Thunder could.

"Oh my, but they grow them big in that family," Helen eyed Thor appreciatively. "Is he still single?"

"No, he isn't," I laughed despite myself, "and neither are you!"

"I wasn't asking for myself, I was asking for you," Helen grinned.

"Hey!" Loki frowned, "I'm standing right here!"

Helen just shrugged at him.

"Sorcha can do better than you. As a matter of fact, she couldn't possibly do any worse."

A lot of the people on the island still hadn't forgiven Loki for the death and destruction he had brought to their island, even after he had upgraded the wards. Everyone had lost family, friends, and loved ones. I wish they'd see he had changed, but I couldn't really blame them. If anyone in this world had the right to be angry at Loki, it was them.

Loki said nothing in reply to Helen's jab at him. He knew what she thought of him and while he didn't like it, he couldn't blame her either. He merely frowned darkly, a haunted look in his eyes.

It was only a matter of seconds before Kyra and Danny came barreling down the road, those two could sense any sort of excitement from a mile away. Carter wasn't with them, she had recently started her degree at Oxford Occult University.

"Can you lift me? Can you lift a car? Can I try lifting Mjolnir? Where's Jane? Where are the Warriors Three? Where is Sif? Can I try on your armour? Can you make it rain? Do you really have a chariot that is pulled by two goats?"

Soon half the island was trying to lift Mjolnir, while Kyra on Danny were hanging off Thor's bicep as he lifted them both with ease.

Loki had his arms crossed and frowned with disapproval.

"Does he truly have to turn everything into a circus?" Loki growled jealously as he rolled his eyes.

I decided it was probably wiser not to say anything to that. I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned my head against him instead. After a moment I felt him relax as he wrapped his arm around me in return.

"They don't get to see anything new on the island very often, it's the only reason they are excited really," I loyally replied to Loki.

"And you are a terrible liar, but I love you for it," he smiled and kissed me on my nose.

"Enough fun for now brother!" He raised his voice at Thor, "We are here for a purpose! Let's go!"

Loki was neither a kind nor a patient mentor. His tongue was sharp, and he was ruthless when he criticised my technique, which seemed to happen with every spell I cast. If I managed to finish casting a spell that was.

Thor was bigger than me, stronger than me, and far more experienced. He hit like a truck, and I found myself being tossed around like a ragdoll while Mjolnir and his lightning bolts hit me from every side at once.

It was obvious he had held back when we first met, presumably because he hadn't wanted to hurt me, being his Chosen One.

"Again!" Loki barked, as I sat back up after having made it through the spirit world back to my body.

"And try not to die this time! That would make a wonderful change! Oh, and if you could possibly cast a spell or two yourself, that would be absolutely marvellous, darling!"

"I'm trying, but he's not giving me a chance to cast any spell of my own," I snapped back at Loki, not appreciating his sarcasm for a change.

"Of course, he is not! You have been out in the field long enough to know that your enemy will not hold back, they will fight to win!"

"But Thor is bigger and stronger! It isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair!" Loki sneered at me. "Fight smarter, not harder! Be more clever than your enemy! You are fighting Thor, I could not possibly set that bar any lower!"

I glared at him.

Loki was right though. Life wasn't fair, and I could not count on my enemies holding back to humour me either.

"Sorry about killing you," Thor mouthed behind Loki's back.

I just shrugged and tried again. And again. And again.

Practice with the brothers was brutal, neither of them seemed to even consider the concept of holding back, or giving me a chance to find my footing. And while my body healed quickly from the damage Thor was doing to me, my pride was slower to recover from the ease with which Thor dealt his blows.

I had considered myself a capable agent, but against Thor, I felt like a child.

Slowly but surely I learned how to detect a pattern in his attacks. I learned when to wait for an opening and when to attack him myself. I learned to conserve my magic, to only cast when I was certain I'd actually be able to strike Thor with my spells.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Loki admitted grudgingly as he watched Thor sail off the edge of the cliff I had driven him towards, rapid balls of fire pummeling the god of Thunder from all sides. "Still a bit sloppy, and wasteful, but you are getting there."

It was the first praise I had out of Loki for days. I knew I had the biggest, goofiest smile plastered on my face and I didn't even care. That had almost been a compliment!

"Are you alright down there brother?" Loki yelled down the cliff.

"I'm fine! I just need to find a way to climb back up! This would be so much easier if Mjolnir could fly!"

Loki rolled his eyes at me, and then started rummaging through my backpack. Soon he was triumphantly holding up one of my Tupperware boxes.

"We might as well have something to eat while we wait for that big oaf to make his way back up here, right?" he asked with a wink and a smile.

When we weren't on a mission or practising on the island, Thor would often visit Temple Hall to spar there with other agents. He quickly became friends with Matt, the big ex-Navy SEAL.

They'd spend most of their nights in the Horned God drinking, and watching sports on TV. Thor invited Loki along first of all, but Loki told him he'd rather stick his own daggers in his eyes than resort to something as banal as watching a bunch of grown men running after a ball.

I suspected, however, that the true reason was that Loki was trying to avoid temptation instead.

Talking to Thor, and reading between the lines of what Loki had told me, Loki's struggle with alcohol was something he'd battled with for most of his life. Loki wasn't a pleasant drunk. He was hot-headed, quick to pick fights and destructive when he could not find someone to pick a fight with.

He had managed to keep his addiction under control since we had begun dating, but when Thor had appeared in our lives that had become a lot harder and more complicated.

When Loki and I went out together, I'd have a drink, maybe two, and leave it at that. Loki would stick to the mundane type of alcohol, the sort that wouldn't really affect him.

But Thor didn't seem to understand why and would often order the harder stuff for Loki and himself, even after Loki told him not to. And it was hard for Loki to have to keep refusing something he so desperately wanted.

I wasn't certain whether it was my place to explain Loki's struggle to Thor, Loki had his pride and might not appreciate my interference in this case.

At least now that Thor had Matt and some other drinking buddies, he left Loki alone. That didn't mean we didn't go out some nights, but most of the time we were content to stay at home together.

"Does it bother you, that he goes out while you stay at home?" I asked Loki one night as Thor left the house.

"Why would it bother me? Good riddance, I say," Loki shrugged.

"But doesn't it get boring for you? Here at home with me all the time?"

"We go out some nights," Loki said curtly.

I sighed. For someone as eloquent and so fond of his own voice, he really made it hard to have a conversation about things he didn't want to talk about at times.

"But is it enough for you? Am I enough for you?" I winced at how small and insecure my voice sounded.

Loki frowned for a moment as he obviously heard it too, then took my hand and pulled me unto the armrest of his chair. He wrapped his arm around my waist and took my hand in his.

"You could never be boring. Every day with you is an adventure, I never know what will await us when the sun rises just as your beautiful eyes open and you greet the dawn with that gorgeous smile."

His words were charming as ever, but I stubbornly ignored them.

"That's just the job. I mean the rest of your life with me. Doesn't it get boring for you to just be at home and read, or watch a movie or a show?"

Loki sighed and shook his head.

"And I wasn't talking about the job, I was talking about you. How wonderful and amazing life is when you are around. Every day with you is an adventure, whether we end up going on a mission or not. You set my world on fire, you make my head spin, I never know what you are going to say or do next to delight, astound, infuriate or arouse me."

I eyed him in disbelief. It was sweet he was trying to make me feel better, but I did not believe him for a second.

"Yes, but, don't you…"

"Oh for crying out loud woman, can't you take an honest compliment for once in your life?" he snapped irritably.

"I wasn't asking for compliments, I was asking for the truth!" I snapped back.

"I was telling the truth!" he yelled.

Loki rubbed his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I don't want to argue with you," he said softly.

"I don't want to argue either," I stroked an errant strand of hair from his face back behind his ear. "but I want you to be happy."

"I am happy. As happy as I'll ever be, anyway." His eyes solemnly stared into mine. "You know me well enough by now to know I have my fair share of demons. But you make me happy. For the first time in a long, long time, I almost feel content.

I spent so long trying to find happiness at the bottom of yet another bottle, between the sheets of yet another bed, and it always left me empty and unsatisfied. It left me looking for more.

I promise you that if I find myself bored I'll drag you out with me, and we'll go dancing, or for a walk in Paris along the Seine, or whatever takes my fancy. I already do that, don't I?"

I nodded quietly. But was it enough, I asked myself. Was I exciting, alluring, adventurous enough?

"I like being here, at home, with you and Jessie," Loki continued. "You bring calm to the storm, to the chaos that my life so often seems to devolve into.

When it is just us here at home with you, I can breathe, I can relax, I can be myself without having to wear a mask and pretend to be something I'm not.

I like sitting in my chair with you on my lap, reading a book or watching a show. I like the way we laugh or cry at the same scenes, the way we heckle movies we both dislike.

I like the way you fall asleep in my arms each night, the way you smile when I'm the first thing you see as you wake up.

I like the way you drag me off to the bedroom, set me on fire with just one single touch, and leave me breathless as you have your wicked ways with me."

His eyes twinkled into mine.

"I never thought that this kind of life would make me happy, but now I have it, I can't imagine ever living without it again.

You make me a better version of myself, as I hope I might make you an even better version of who you already are."

"Was that what this whole thing with me practising my magic was all about?" I suddenly realised.

"My little way of saying thank you," Loki smiled at me. "You are magnificent already but you could be so much more, if you truly tried, if you would stop holding back.

Let me show you the true potential you harbour within you. Let me help you get past your fears, your self-doubts and insecurities and I can show you how amazing you truly are. Not just on the battlefield, but in every facet of your life.

If only you could see what I see when I look at you. If only you knew how breathtakingly, spectacularly, sensationally extraordinary you truly are."

I felt myself blush and looked down, trying to hide behind my hair.

"Don't do that," Loki stroked my hair away from my face, "don't hide that gorgeous face from the world. Do you truly not know how beautiful you are?"

If I could have sunk right through the armrest of the chair and into the ground I would have. I never thought I would get used to the way Loki saw me and complimented me, as if I was someone special.

"Look if you don't believe that, then believe this. You know me well enough to know that I would never settle for mediocracy, I could never be satisfied with anything less than perfection. And you, my darling, you are perfect to me."

Loki smiled a little wicked smile that made my heart race, that made my body tingle.

"And if you don't believe that either, then let me prove it to you!" He stood up, picked me up and slung me over his shoulder.

"Loki!" I squealed.

"Thor is out and Jessie isn't home. Pick a room, any room, and I'll have my way there with you," he grinned, "Until you beg for mercy! Until scream so loud you'll have to believe me!"