"That's where I went earlier today before I picked up the groceries," Angela said.

But Loki wasn't listening at all. A wicked light entered Loki's eyes at the realization of his good fortune. He was an opportunist, after all. All he needed to do was befriend Angela, and gain her trust. Enough trust that when he asked, she would tell him more about her SHIELD, particularly where she worked. And then he would be able to find the Tesseract.

He looked her over with a critical eye. He took in her profile as she stood over the stove cooking dinner silently. His earlier assessment of her still held true; she was attractive. Perhaps he should seduce her after instead of just befriending her. It would be a bit of fun, and an easier way to ensure her trust. He never had problems seducing people before. He wasn't called the Silvertongue for nothing.

'No,' he decided. He shook his head to clear those thoughts. Angela had been kind to him - kinder than anybody had been to him in a while. He wouldn't be that cruel to her. Though he still would use her as a pawn for what he wanted to achieve. Asgard would burn by his hand. And to get that he needed allies. Angela was disposable, despite her kindness.

The sound of Angela's soft voice pulled him out of his scheming, "So, I've been wondering something."

He glanced at her. She had finished cooking and was bringing over two plates full of pasta. His emerald eyes followed the plate as it sat in front of him. The food looked and smelled delicious, and he was absolutely ravenous. Angela handed him a fork and he took it graciously with a quiet thank you.

"And what's that?" He asked before taking his first bite.

"How did you get here?" Angela questioned, "What happened?"

Loki took another bite to buy time for his answer. He should have expected the question. It wasn't every day that a man came crashing down from space. Especially on Midgard. He couldn't tell her what actually happened. She would kick him out of here, and he needed her.

"There was an accident." He finally answered after he finished chewing. His voice calm, almost unperturbed. As if he hadn't tried to commit genocide, and he was currently lying through his teeth.

"An accident?" Angela pressed.

He didn't answer for a moment, taking the time to devour his food quickly. He had to think of a lie. No, the best lies were based on truth.

By the time he did answer his plate was empty. His eyes seemed to gloss over, and his lips pulled into a thin line. Thor didn't appreciate him trying to destroy Jotunheim. "There was a misunderstanding. The Bifrost broke. And I-" I let go . "fell off the side. I was sent through space and it landed me here in Midgard."

Angela stopped eating. Resting her face against her hand as she took in his story. Was that what happened? A misunderstanding? She doubted it. There had to be more to his story, but it seemed like he did fall.

Then she began to wonder. What would it be like to just be floating through space? With no idea if you'll survive or not? Or where you'll land? It must be terrifying.

She took note of his empty plate. He must be starved. It had been three months, and he had just landed here last night. She doubted he had eaten in that amount of time.

"You can get more if you want," she told him.

He lifted his head and nodded at her before getting up and heading over to the stove to get more food.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. It sounds horrible." She said, genuinely.

He didn't bother responding at first, opting to just fill his plate some more and sit back down. He didn't want her pity, but for now, he would have to take it. So he muttered out a "Thank you," when he went and sat at the table again.

Both of them lapsed into a somewhat awkward silence, in favor of their thoughts. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of their forks scratching against their plates.

Angela was the first to break the silence, "Will you ever go back to Asgard?"

Loki looked up from his plate. Yes, he would, but she didn't need to know that.

"No. There's nothing left for me there. I will stay here until I figure out what I should do."

She nodded, got up from her seat, and placed her empty plate in the sink. So he was wandering. Angela remembered herself being in a very similar situation when she was only 15; lost, just trying to figure out where to go and what she could do. It wasn't something she thought of often, it was a very painful memory. Before SHIELD found her, before they reconnected her to her birth mother.

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, she turned to address Loki once more. "I have work tomorrow, but afterward we can go buy you some clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yeah, unless you want to wear that every day?" She points to his green tunic and black leather pants. Surely it was uncomfortable to be wearing those pants every day. Though he did look great in them, but that was beside the point. "I'll buy you some clothes, a toothbrush, stuff like that so you can be comfortable here while you figure this all out."

Once again, her kindness baffled him. She was willing to do all this for a stranger? Surely she felt she was getting something out of this. Loki eyed her, before following suit and dumping the plate he had in the sink. He relaxed against one of the counters and watched her take out the tupperware from a cabinet and begin to put away the food.

Then he remembered he was supposed to be befriending this woman. "Thank you, Lady Angela truly. Allow me."

His magic swarmed through his body and gathered at his palm in a green wisp. He muttered a small spell under his breath. And then the kitchen was spotless. The plates washed and placed where they were supposed to, and the food put in the tupperware that was now placed nicely by him on top of the counter.

Angela blinked, the tubberware in her hands vanishing and then turned to see what had happened. She saw the green wisp, the magic. She could feel it lingering. She took one look at everything, and then her eyes landed on Loki.

"That's handy," she commented. "Thank you."

"It is no trouble at all," he said with his most charming smile.

She smiled back at him, "Well I guess I'm going to bed then. Good night Loki."

He inclined his head towards her, "Good night, Lady Angela."

Angela gave him a small wave, and then headed into her room and softly shut the door. She changed into her pajamas, and then sat on her bed and waited. The moment she heard Loki shut his door, she got to work.

As silently as she could, and she could be extremely quiet, she went over to her closet and pulled out a shoebox that was filled with cameras. She took the smallest one she had and began to rework it.

While he was being nice now, it didn't mean he was always going to be nice. And she had no idea what he was planning. He was the God of Mischief and Lies, everything he said had to be taken with a grain of salt. However, she did truly want to help him.

She wasn't going to bug her own house, no that would be a bit too obvious. He had magic, and she didn't know how far it extended and what exactly his powers were. And she wasn't going to bug him. She was bugging something else, or rather someone else: Dr. Jane Foster.

Angela didn't know how much Loki knew about Thor's time here on Earth, but it was better safe than sorry. If Loki had attacked his own brother then Jane Foster, Thor's girlfriend, was most likely in danger.

As she was the only one who knew the potential danger Dr. Foster was in, it was up to her to protect her as best she could. Though she wasn't in charge of Jane's personal wellbeing and safety. Agent Barton was actually in charge of Dr. Foster's safety, however, she was taking it upon herself to help in this particular situation.

Angela was here to report progress and to help if anything went wrong with the Einstein Rosebrigde. If things didn't go to plan and the bridge needed to be shut, Angela could do that with her powers.

She could create and close wormholes at will. They called her powers 'spatial manipulation' in her files because she could do more, but it wasn't something she did often. It took a lot out of her and caused her whole body to crash afterward. She only did it when absolutely necessary.

Right now though, she would simply bug Dr. Foster's bag, and check in to see if anything was amiss. She would be able to hear and see anything. Easy peasy. And Loki would know no different, just in case, he did try something. She prayed to whatever god that was out there listening that he wouldn't. But for now, it was better safe than sorry.

With one last look at the tiny camera, she placed it on her nightstand and then went to sleep.

After getting ready for work in the morning, Angela went straight to the kitchen to start the coffee pot and begin making a small breakfast. The sun had barely risen in the sky, and she barely got any sleep last night as usual.

Getting a cup of coffee had been the only thing on her mind, and maybe that's why she didn't hear Loki. But she felt the shift of space in the room, and she quickly turned around and found him coming up behind her.

He didn't look any better than she felt. His hair was ruffled from sleep, and he seemed like he had just woke up. Loki seemed to realize he had startled her and gave her an apologetic smile, "My apologies."

"Don't worry about it," she dismissed. It wasn't like her to not notice someone sneaking up on her. Well, it wasn't actively trying to sneak up on her, but still. She really needed this fucking coffee.

And maybe Loki did too, but the look of things. "I'm about to make breakfast and some coffee, do you want some?" she offered.

"Coffee?"

The pot was filled and Angela poured herself a cup first and then Loki. She handed him his mug and then went to the refrigerator to get the cream and picked up the sugar on the way back to begin fixing her coffee cup.

Loki looked down at the dark beverage, contemplating it. It smelled wonderful, unlike anything they had on Asgard. The last thing she fed him was great, so this one should be too. With that thought he took a sip of the coffee, only to immediately regret it.

It was bitter, exceedingly so. A sound of disgust left his lips, causing Angela to look up from her own cup. His face should have been the picture in the dictionary for the definition of disgust because his lips were curled, his nose was scrunched up and he was looking at the cup as if it had just offended his whole family. Angela couldn't help but laugh.

He looked over at her. Was this some sort of joke to her?

Her laughter died down, "Sorry. Some people like it black. I don't, I hate bitter stuff." She offered him her cup, "Here try mine."

Loki looked from his cup to hers. The coffee in his cup was just as she described it, black. But the coffee in hers was a light brown. Slowly, hesitantly he sipped hers. It was far more pleasant than the rubbish she gave him early. In fact, he enjoyed it.

"Better?" She asked, eyeing him.

He nodded, "Much."

She took both cups back from him and began to fix his up as she did hers. "I can make yours sweeter if you'd like?"

He nodded. He did enjoy sweet things, "Please."

She smiled and obliged by adding a bit more sugar to his cup. She should have known, it's said that tricksters have a sweet tooth. But she wasn't going to say that, last time she talked about his titles, he grew upset.

She quickly whipped up some bacon and eggs while Loki sipped on his coffee. They ate, both of them not really discussing much because they were both still waking up. When Angela was finished Loki cleaned up with his magic one again.

She tied her boots up and headed for the door. She paused, put her jacket on, and looked back at Loki who was now looking through her books. "I'll be back around six-ish. Then we can go and pick some stuff up for you. I got books, and the TV you can watch. If you get hungry, there are the leftovers in the fridge. You can heat them up in the microwave," she told him.

Loki glanced over at her and threw her a bright smile, "Of course. I'll await your return, Lady Angela."

A soft huff escaped her lips, "You can just call me Angela, you know?"

"Angela then," he ceded.

"See you later, Loki."

"Goodbye, Angela."

Angela closed and locked the door, and went to her car. Once in there, she pulled out the mini camera and checked it once more. She made it to where she could check it from her phone and laptop. It was 'offline' right now, but she would turn it on once it was in place.

Good. Everything was in place.

The drive into Albuquerque and to the SHIELD facility wasn't long. Angela walked in, greeting the staff there as she searched for Dr. Foster. She was in the middle of the lab, working with Dr. Selvig, and Darcy Lewis sitting in a chair on her phone. She looked up to see Clint Barton watching from the second level. Ever the hawk...

"Good morning," Angela greeted.

"Morning," Jane muttered, focused on whatever she was looking at on a screen.

Dr. Selvig was a bit more personable, "Good morning, Agent Lawrence."

"Hey, Lawrence," Darcy said with a small wave.

Angela casually scrolled over by Jane, quickly taking note of her bag not far from the scientist. Angela's hand fiddled with the camera inside her jacket pocket. ' Don't be suspicious.' "How goes the Rosenbridge?" she asked.

"Very well actually," Selvig answered for Jane. "We think we're on the verge of a breakthrough."

Looking up, Angela tried to see if Barton could see her, only to find him gone. Now was her chance.

Angela looked over to the bag and started to head towards it, "Really? That's great to hear. Hey, Dr. Foster?"

Jane looked up at her, "Yeah?"

Quickly, with deft hands, Angela attached the camera to the side of the bag, where Jane couldn't see her, and then held it out. "Where'd you get this? It's cute, and I need one like it to take some stuff with me back and forth to Puente."

"Oh!" Jane smiled, "Target! But I got it a long time ago, so they probably don't have that one anymore, but I'm sure they have some like it."

"Okay, cool. Thanks!" Angela smiled while setting the bag down she made sure that the camera couldn't be seen at all. Once satisfied, she started making her way out. "I'll let the Director know what going on here. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Before she could leave though, Barton stepped into the room and stopped her.

"Actually Agent, you'll be staying here for the time being."