Chapter Five

The next day Arianna focused on healing Loki's burns since she hadn't been able to the night before. Arianna knew that Frigga and Thor had to leave that day, so she let them stay in the room with her as she worked. Plus, she didn't want to be alone with Loki. He had gotten under her skin the night before and she was still a little irritated with him.

Loki had been right about one thing, however, and that was that she hadn't been able to draw power from the Tesseract the night before because she'd been too tired. She had since slept and was using it fine now.

She worked on Loki for a few hours before leaving him, leaving the tower to go out and see how much destruction had actually been done.

"Oh my God," she said as she stepped out of the building and into the world outside.

She hadn't really seen everything the day before. There were buildings still smoking from yesterday, and there were piles of rubble on the ground from the buildings and the streets having been hit. Seeing as this wasn't a residential area, most of the buildings were businesses and restaurants. It hadn't lowered the death count or the amount of people that had been hurt.

Police were still out, so she wondered if they were still searching the ruins for victims.

"Let's go," Natasha said from behind her. "Tony has a helicopter waiting for us. We'll go to the closest hospital and work our way out."

They had to cross the street and use the helipad there because the one on Tony's tower had been destroyed. As they walked Arianna began to feel as if she were in a movie about the end of the world. The apocalypse had come to Manhattan.

She felt like crying, but tears were for victims and people who had time to cry. Arianna, however, had a job to do.

"We've got clearance, right? No roadblocks?"

"We should be good."

When all was said and done, the injured were numbered in the hundreds, as were the dead. Arianna healed in a logical, systematic way, starting with the most injured and ending with the least.

She spent about two hours each day with Loki and by the end of the week his burns and lacerations were completely healed. The only injury he had left was his broken ribs.

She brought him meals each day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and he was now able to eat solid food. She noticed he had quite the sweet tooth when she brought him some ice cream and a small piece of pie for dessert once. He's asked for more and had neglected his dinner.

It made sense when she found out that Asgard didn't really have any sweets. The sweetest thing he'd ever had was fruit, so she hoped the extra sugar didn't make Loki sick.

On the day Fury was supposed to come and retrieve Loki Arianna brought Loki pancakes for breakfast. He didn't know what they were, but he enjoyed them. Arianna had basically drowned them in syrup. Loki was able to eat only one, but Arianna ate the rest.

"Those were mine," he said, though Arianna could tell he really didn't mind.

"I made them," she reminded him.

"They were quite delicious."

"Thank you.

"So . . . Fury is supposed to come today. I'm not sure exactly what that means. He'll probably take you away and lock you up. I don't think he'll put you with other people, so you'll be safe at least."

"Or they might just torture me some more.," Loki said quietly. "Even mortal I have much information that could be useful."

"Then don't let them know."

Arianna didn't know why it made her almost want to cry at the thought of Loki being hurt further, but it did and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself.

"Pretend you have memory loss if you have to, but don't let them know you know anything that they don't unless you intend to tell them."

Arianna was under no delusions of thinking SHIELD was all good. It was a government agency and, therefore, could get away with a lot of things nobody should be allowed to do. They would torture him if they found need of it.

"Would you like to go outside? If you don't today, you may not be able to for a while."

Loki considered for a moment before smiling weakly. "That would be nice."

Loki didn't know what he had expected, but being allowed to go out of the building without any restraints wasn't it. He hadn't expected the other Avengers to let Arianna go out alone with him either, but there they were.

They'd just stepped out of Stark Tower and onto the sidewalk, and Loki suddenly wanted to go back inside. Things outside were horrible. Buildings had been destroyed and roads had been turned to rubble. The costs of the war he'd brought upon this city . . .

He really shouldn't have left the tower. What if someone recognized him? They would probably try to kill him. Try and fail. He knew Arianna would never allow harm to come to him while under her watch.

"This isn't what I want you to see," she said. "But we need to cross the street to get to the helipad."

"We're going to fly?"

"For a little bit. Low enough so you can see things. I don't know if you should be walking around outside."

Loki couldn't help the relief he felt at Arianna's suggestion. He shouldn't walk around outside.

Once they had reached the helipad and the helicopter and were in the air, Loki felt a freedom he hadn't felt for a long time. He'd learned to fly when he was just a boy – not a helicopter, of course, but they did have machines that could fly in Asgard.

Arianna was silent for the most part until they had been in the air for a while. She didn't even seem to be enjoying the view, and what could be seen now was beautiful.

"May I ask what is bothering you?" he asked.

"I hate this," she said immediately. "This . . . us giving you up to Fury. I mean, no, you're definitely not the most upstanding citizen, but you were pushed into this, pushed into coming here and trying to take over. You would've been tortured if you hadn't. Most people would've done the same as you have."

Loki stared at her. Arianna had this way about her that made Loki feel as if he was cared about. His heart craved it and rejected it at the same time. If he was being honest with himself, Loki knew he craved affection from someone who could love him for what he was. He was nowhere near as bad now that Thanos wasn't playing with his mind, but he was far from what a normal person would consider good.

Arianna could accept him as he was, but he also had to admit that such open affection wasn't completely welcome. Feelings got in the way of other things.

Besides, right that instant he was feeling only gratitude. This girl had done more for him in a week than many had done in his entire lifetime.

His thankfulness wasn't misplaced.

Fury was already at Stark Tower when Loki and Arianna got back. Arianna came to a halt and she felt Loki run into her before he stopped as well. He'd barely touched her back and she barely moved.

Fury stood between two agents, both of whom had a gun. Tony was there, as were the other Avengers – minus Thor, who, along with Frigga, had left days before taking the Tesseract with them.

"Are the guns really necessary?" Arianna asked. "He's in no shape to put up a fight."

"The guns aren't for him," Fury said, firm but also somewhat uncertain. "It's to ensure that you don't put up a fight."

"Me?"

Arianna was honestly confused about this. She wasn't a threat to anyone.

"Yes. My superiors are not happy about you siding with the man that attacked this city. Consider this a warning. You were dangerously close to treason."

"I was doing what I knew to be right."

"Not to mention, she'd promised Loki's mother that she would take responsibility for his healing," Tony said. "Who knows what would've happened had she refused?"

"Indeed," Fury replied. "I wasn't finished. Agent Grace is a valuable asset to this team. One I don't wish to lose. The Council and I agreed that she could very well help the Asgardian acclimate himself to our ways."

"What?"

"In exchange for information Loki can remain free. He'll be under constant surveillance, of course. Agents Barton and Romanoff will be watching him. Everyone will remain here, and –"

Tony interrupted. "I think everyone keeps forgetting that this is my place."

Fury ignored Tony's words. "If you are amenable," he directed at Arianna, "I will alert the Council and things can proceed as usual."

Arianna looked at Natasha and Clint. "Guys? Are you willing to give up time to do this?"

Arianna already knew her answer was yes, but it wouldn't matter unless the others went for it as well.

Natasha agreed, but Arianna knew it was only because Fury had asked it of her and not because she had any real desire to do so. Clint agreed because Natasha had agreed.

"Tony?"

Arianna turned to him now. This was his home. He could turn them all out at any time and Arianna wouldn't blame him.

"You guys haven't been too much of a nuisance," Tony quipped. "You can stay. But no touching my stuff."

Arianna grinned. "Seeing as to how I don't know how to use most of your stuff, that won't be a problem."

She then looked at Loki, who had been strangely silent throughout the entire exchange, only to find that he'd wrapped his arms around himself and was staring suspiciously at Fury and the two agents with him.

"Loki?" She touched his arm gently. If he'd withdrawn into himself, she didn't want to alarm him. "What's wrong?"

"Why?" he asked. "Why not lock me up?"

"Information," Fury answered. "As long as you cooperate . . ."

Arianna tensed, as did Loki, though each had a different reason for becoming tense. Arianna was angry but not surprised that the people she worked with would stoop to threats to get what they wanted. She was also furious that Fury and his superiors were no better than the monster named Thanos.

Loki had tensed because of the threat itself. It had reminded him of the words Thanos had said about him failing to conquer Midgard and failing to bring Thanos the Tesseract. There would be pain. He was in the same situation now with another enemy.

"Loki, just say yes and you can stay," Arianna said. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Okay," he said. "I accept the arrangement."

That night Arianna made plans with Tony to have someone get her things from her apartment in Washington D.C. and to have them brought to the tower. She also needed to break her lease, which she was going to get Fury to take care of since it was his fault she had to relocate in the first place.

She talked Tony into giving Loki an actual room, which really just meant that Loki would be able to have more than just the bed and closet space that he had at the moment. He would eventually be able to have things in there.

Loki still had the room next to hers, which she didn't really mind. He actually was fairly harmless at the moment. She could probably do more damage than he could right now.

It was true that she had healed him almost completely, but he still wasn't at a hundred percent energy-wise.

That first night, Loki caught her before she could make her way into her own room.

"Agent Grace?"

His voice stopped her. He'd never said her name before, had never even shown that he'd thought to remember her name, but here he was using her name with what could only be described as respect.

"Yes, Loki?"

She turned to him. He was standing in his doorway, his posture a little slouched due to his still injured ribs. He didn't have any hostility in his face or eyes, so she assumed it was safe to approach him. When she reached him he grabbed her hand, which she hadn't expected at all, but he was being gentle and careful so she didn't pull away.

When he set his lips upon the back of her hand for a few brief seconds she froze. Heat traveled up her neck and settled upon her cheeks. Loki obviously noticed because he smirked slightly before lowering her hand back to her side.

She would have been angry, but she couldn't see a hint of an ulterior motive in Loki, and she would've felt it from the skin-on-skin contact if he'd had a negative reason for kissing her hand.

"Thank you," he said. "For everything you've done for me. For what you're still doing. I don't quite understand why you're doing it, but I don't think I have to. My mother said I should befriend you because you have a good heart. I do believe she was right."

Arianna had no clue what she was supposed to say to any of this. No one had said such things to her before without wanting something in return. What did one do in a situation like this?

"Um . . . thank you?" She sounded unsure to her own ears, so she had no idea what Loki would think. She told herself she didn't care.

"There's no need to be nervous. It's just a thank you."

Loki gave a small but genuine smile, and Arianna answered with her own.

"Well, you're welcome," she said sincerely. "And you can call me Arianna. Good night, Loki."

"Good night . . . Arianna."