The muffled ringing of her cell phone woke Angela up the next morning. Or at least, she believed it was morning. The sun was glaring throughout the house through the blinds. For all she knew it could be the had passed out for what seemed hours. Sleep still clung to her eyes, and her consciousness, disorienting her. She looked around, trying to get her bearings.
She was currently laying on the couch, with her feet in Loki's lap. Loki was asleep, his head resting uncomfortably on the back of the couch. They both must have fallen asleep watching the movie.
Slowly, Angela removed her feet from his lap, trying to not wake him. Last night, she apparently wasn't the only one who had a rough go of sleeping. And Loki had helped her out. He deserved what rest he could get.
Her phone had stopped ringing by the time she quietly made her way to where it was. It was still inside her jacket pocket. Which Loki had kindly folded and placed on top of her dresser for her yesterday. She pulled it out from the pocket, and took note of the time. It was early morning. Very early in fact. The call had to be someone from work.
The missed call notification was from Clint. A soft smile appeared on her face. Clint must be worried about her. Hell, she would have been worried if she saw anyone leave the way she left yesterday. Quickly, she called him back.
It didn't take long for him to answer. "Hey, I know it's early, but I wanted to see if you were alright."
"Yeah," she assured him, "I'm cool. Just had to sleep it off, y'know?"
"That's good, you had me worried there, but I kinda figured." She could hear the relief in his voice.
The relationship between her was a strong, platonic one. Fury tended to put Barton, Romanoff, and her on missions together. In some form of grouping or another. Between the getting shot, and the infiltrating bases they had grown to be close friends. She wasn't as close to Clint as Natasha was, but then again she wasn't in a romantic relationship with him. She trusted Clint Barton with her life. And she knew it went the other way around. She didn't know everything about the man, but that didn't really matter. What she did know was that he wasn't as dumb as he acted. His perception could be as sharp as his aim. And he was on the very, very short list of people she trusted to watch her six. That's what truly mattered.
"So, uh-" Clint's voice came through the speaker, "-I spoke with Fury yesterday and he wants your report ASAP. And an update on your condition. He mentioned that you would be able to take today off as well."
"Woo," she muttered unenthusiastically, "I get today instead of tomorrow off."
"No, I think you get your regular day off too."
"Oh wow. It must be Christmas," she joked lightly.
He laughed sharply, "You're forgetting we don't get holidays."
She sighed dramatically, "Yeah, I know. Maybe we should open up more wormholes and I can get more time off."
He snorted, "We might not be so lucky next time."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Well, I'm gonna go ahead and call Fury then. I'll see you Monday, Clint."
"Yeah, see ya. Enjoy your time off."
"I will." With that she hung up the phone.
Contacting Director Nicholas Fury usually wasn't an easy task. Typically, there were people she had to go through first. Specifically Agent Coulson, and finally Agent Hill, his right-hand woman. And that was even with their close relationship. The man was the director of an intelligence agency. The less people able to contact him, the safer he - and that person - was. Fury was the one to contact you. Usually face-to-face in a dramatic fashion.
However, he had given her and Barton a way to contact him directly due to his interest in Dr. Foster and Dr. Selvig's work. Angela knew that he would be awake by now. If the sun was up, so was Nicholas Fury. He was busy and he never wasted a second that could be spent doing something productive.
Dialing the number, she waited patiently for him to pick up. When he did, she immediately greeted him. "Director."
"Lawrence," he responded in kind. "How're you holding up?"
His voice had been neutral, but Angela knew he was concerned. When she first encountered SHIELD, it was Fury who tried to help her. She had ran, but he didn't give up on her. Eventually, he got through to her, and they became closer. She owed that man everything. He took her under his wing, and treated her more like a daughter than her 'father' ever did.
"I'm pretty good. I should be fine, all things considered," she told him genuinely, trying to reassure him.
"That's good. Barton informed me of what happened. What all did you see?"
Straight to the point. Just how Angela liked it.
"Some sort of alien life form. Difficult to actually describe what they looked like, but they looked like they were part machine. It was frightening, to tell you the truth sir," she explained.
He didn't respond for a moment, conceplating what she had said. "For now, we wait and watch. We may have pissed them off, and if we did, we don't want to have more trouble. We have no idea what they are capable of or who they are."
"They didn't seem all that intelligent. At least not like the Asgardians. At least they could speak with us."
"Or maybe we committed a huge faux pas, and it was on sight. It's still best to be cautious. And for you to get your strength back up. You're our best bet right now, Lawrence."
"Of course, sir. I'll do my best," she replied sincerely.
"Rest up for now, Lawrence. You earned it. You're back up Monday. I'm expecting you with Dr. Foster and Dr. Selvig first thing in the morning, and then I want you to canvas Puente Antiguo just to make sure."
"Got it," she replied.
He hung up without another word, per usual.
Angela laid back on her bed the fact that she had two full days off finally catching up with her. She never took a sick day, never really asked for time off. She honestly didn't know what to do with herself.
Looking down, she realized she was still in her clothes from before. A shower, that's what she'd do with herself.
Loki awoke to the sound of a door opening. He opened his tired eyes and found himself in the living room on the couch. His neck ached from the position he finally fell asleep in. His eyes focused on the digital clock under the TV and realized it was getting close to the time Angela usually left for work.
Today could be another chance for him to access Angela's laptop and get more information on the Tesseract. Schemes of what he could do bound around in his thoughts, but then thoughts of yesterday and last night drifted into his mind. The way Angela returned him, bloodied. The sound of her whimpers, and the sound of her screams. The panic and fear on her face when he had first woke her. And how his chest ached as he watched her sleeping form, trusting him with her in her fragile state...
Perhaps another time. Angela could come back again. The chances of him getting caught were too high and too risky.
There was that damn ache in his chest again, and for the life of him he couldn't understand it.
"Oh! You're up!" Angela's voice came from the hallway.
He glanced back to see her and a small smile appeared on her face. She fully walked out of the hallway with an arm full of clothes."Good morning."
He smiled back at her before greeting her, "Good morning, darling. Off to work?"
"Actually I got the day off. Tomorrow too," she smiled even wider. "Maybe we could go see a bit more around town and do something fun."
"Fun?" Loki repeated with a slight teasing smirk. "You have fun?"
"Okay, first off, rude. Second off, yes. We could go get some breakfast, go shopping, go to the movies, go do something other than having you rot in this house."
He considered it for a moment, "I suppose that would be fine."
"Cool, just let me take a shower and get ready and we can head out for the day."
He nodded and she headed back over to the bathroom. Loki got up, stretched, and headed to his room to change for the day as well. A simple button down and some slacks. He fixed his hair with his magic. He left the room and sat on the couch to read a book.
It was taking Angela a bit longer than usual to get ready. Perhaps she just enjoying a nice, hot shower. He let himself get lost in the words of the Bard. He heard the bathroom door open and Angela stepped out.
He looked back and his eyes widened. For the first time since he'd known her, her hair was went past her shoulders, and the natural ringlets framed her face. She was also wearing some cosmetics today as well. A thick black line ending in a wing shape on her eyes, and a pretty pink blush on her cheeks. Her lips glossy. She wore a simple short-sleeved yellow blouse and shorts that showed off her long legs and thighs.
She walked into her room and grabbed what she called a 'purse' before even acknowledging him. "Alright, I'm ready."
He shook himself from his momentary stupor, "Yes, as am I." He stood from the couch, and replaced the book in the shelf with his seidr. He opened the door and gestured for her to go ahead, "Ladies first."
She smirked at him and walked past, "Why thank you, good sir."
He smiled and opened her car door while she locked the front door. By the time he climbed in, she had already gotten her seatbelt on and started the car. He fastened his, and leaned back.
Once settled, he spoke again to her, "You look lovely today."
Shocked, she looked over at him, "Thank you. You look good today too."
The rest of the ride was spent with idle chatter and small talk. They finally arrived at what Angela referred to as a 'diner' and they were sat at a booth. The place almost reminded him of the taverns he and his brother frequented in Asgard. While the taverns were dark and loud, filled with people trying to get drunk or find a companion for the night, this place was bright. The walls were a bright white. The tables too. Red accented the place.
The woman who had led them to table sat some type of paper in front of them both. He looked down at it, The Allspeak he possessed translating the words to him. He read through the menu.
"See anything you like?" Angela asked after a moment.
The urge to flirt with her was great, especially with a question like that, but Loki refrained. He had decided not to seduce her, afterall. Instead he asked her a question, "What is this pancake?"
"Oh, you'll probably like it," her voice was chipper, "It's sweet. You should get it."
He trusted her judgement. So far, she hasn't led him astray with what she has fed him. He's like it all. "I think I shall," he replied.
Someone came up to the table, causing Loki to look up from the menu. It was a young woman, who was currently looking at some notepad. But the moment she looked up at Loki, her eyes widened with interest.
She smiled coyly at him before introducing herself, "Hi, I'm Lindsey, I'll be your server today. What can I get you to drink, sir?"
It took him a moment to process that she had completely ignored Angela. It didn't sit quite right with him. And before her could speak, Angela quickly took over the conversation.
"We'll both have some coffee, thanks," Angela told the woman, far too kind in his judgement.
The waitress barely looked at Angela. She instead smiled right at Loki, "Alright, I'll be right back with that." And she winked at him. She had the audacity to actually bloody wink at him.
The look on his face must have been distasteful because Angela started to snicker.
"It seems you have an admirer," she teased.
He studied Angela for a moment. Being brushed off didn't seem to upset her. And of course, she found his distaste for the woman amusing. So naturally he teased her right back."Of course I do, she has eyes doesn't she?"
She rolled her eyes at him playfully. "You're so full of yourself."
"I'm a god darling, that comes with the description."
Angela laughed loudly. It brought a genuine smile on his face, and he found himself chuckling along with her. A part of him wanted to see if he could make her laugh like that again. Especially after last night. It was good to see her happy, and free.
So he kept teasing her, "Are you jealous, pet?"
Her laughter died down some. "Me? After you just looked like you were offended by a mortal hitting on you? You're kidding, right?" she asked.
"It wasn't the fact it was a mortal, darling. It was the wrong mortal. What need do I have of her, when I'm already sitting across from a lovely and witty mortal already?"
He had thought she would laugh, but instead her cheeks warmed and she seemed flustered at his flirtatious teasing. Mayhaps he lied a bit earlier when he said he wouldn't seduce her. But this wouldn't be because he needed her trust. No, this is because he quite liked how lovely she looked with that blush.
However, before Angela could either respond in kind or rebuff him, Lindsay had returned to them with their cups of coffee and some creamer.
"Here you guys go! Are you ready to order?"
"Yes, could I get the strawberry crepes, with some bacon and two eggs? Please?"
The lady makes a sound of acknowledgement, before once again focusing her attention on Loki. "And you?"
"The buttermilk pancakes, that will be all," he says in a dismissive tone.
Lindsay seems to take the hint, and scribbles down their order and leaves.
"You're so rude," Angela reprimands him. There wasn't much bite to her tone though. He would know if she was truly cross with him.
"Me? The woman barely even looked at you or even spoke a word to you. I won't tolerate you being disrespected in my presence, Angela. She wanted my favor and she can't have it," he defended himself.
A thoughtful look came across her visage. "Are you used to shooting down women who 'want your favor'"? She mocked his accent in the end.
He smirked, "Women and men. I am-" he paused, then considered, "-was a Prince of Asgard. Many wanted my favor for some reason or another."
She nodded in understanding.
"And as I said earlier, anyone with eyes admires me," his tone had gone back to sly.
She smiled and rolled her eyes once again, forgoing indulging him in another bout of teasing. Instead, she seemed lost in her thoughts. After a moment of pondering, she looked back at him and began to speak. "So I've been thinking about what you said last night."
What he said last night? "I said many things to you last night, You'll have to be specific, darling."
"About you helping me with my powers."
Ah, yes. That. He leaned back and regarded her silently.
Loki may have only been around Angela for a little under two weeks, but he knew that she was a decisive woman. If she was already bringing this up, then she had made her decision. And if his intuition was right, she had decided to allow him to help. She didn't seem the type to continue on, when she could fix something. She showed that when she didn't leave him there to die in the middle of a ditch.
With a smile, he asked, "When do we start?"
She didn't seem too off put by his demeanor, in fact she took it in stride. "Well, Mr. Sure-Of-Himself, I have a few questions first."
'Good. Always question. She would be a great pupil,' he thought. He gestured for her to continue.
"What all does the 'training' consist of? And can I get hurt?"
"Well, that all depends on what your powers are. I can do an assessment of them and we can go from there. And as your mentor, I wouldn't allow you to harm yourself. You're putting your trust in me, and I wouldn't betray that."
"Oh?" she questioned. "Kind of hard to put my trust in you when I barely know you."
He chuckled, "Darling, you came home hurt and I took care of you. You already have put your trust in me."
She pursed her lips, considering. "True, but I would appreciate knowing more before I commit to this. You may be my roommate, but I barely know a thing about you. Everything we've talked about hasn't been anything personal. Just superficial shit. I'm trusting you with something that barely anyone knows about me."
He considered this. On one hand, it's everything he wanted; her trust, and an off-chance to get more information to help him with his plot against Asgard. On the other, it left a foul taste in his mouth. This seemed almost too much. He wasn't thinking when he offered this to her last night. Didn't think it meant this much to her.
He still needed to do this. Odin had to pay. Thor had to pay.
So he put on his most patient and reassuring smile, "I'm honored then. What would you like to know?"
Lindsay came by, and dropped off their food before she could ask. She asks how the food looks, and when Angela responds great, she takes her leave, much to Loki's relief.
"Have you heard of twenty questions?" Angela asks while cutting into her food.
"I have not," he says, surveying his pancakes.
Angela notices this, and smiles. She quickly reaches over and takes his plate. "Here, you spread the butter on top of the pancakes, and pour the syrup over them," she explains quickly.
He watches as she does so, taking in the process so he can do it himself next time.
She passes back his plate after she finishes then returns to the topic, "Anyways. Twenty questions is a little game us Midgardians play to get to know one another. I ask you a question, you answer. Then you ask me. We go until we get to twenty questions. Got it?"
"Simple enough. If I do this, you'll allow me to train you?"
"Yep, we can even start today, if you want," she said, then took a bite of her food.
He smiled brightly at her, "Then ask away, darling."
She swallowed her next bite, "Favorite color?"
He raised an eyebrow at her ridiculous question.
She snickered, "We're starting off easy, then we'll get to the bigger stuff."
"Very well," he decides to indulge her. "Green. It's my personal color on Asgard. Practically everything I owned was green."
She digested the information he gave her, "Cool. Your turn."
"Well, then I guess I'll ask you the same. What's your favorite color?"
"Blue. But like, midnight blue. How old are you?"
"A thousand and seventy years old, give or take." He replied, nonchalantly.
Only for her to choke on her next bite. "Jesus Christ," she sputtered when she caught her breath.
"Wrong god, darling." Came his cheeky reply.
She sent him a glare. "I guess I forgot that you guys age differently than us."
"And how old are you?" he asked.
"Twenty-five. My birthday is in February. So I'll be twenty-six in seven months."
"It's your turn, darling."
They continue on with her little game, both having enough sense to stay away from the 'Why Loki Is No Longer a Prince of Asgard' topic. Loki learned she has a mother, a step-father, and a half-brother named Caleb. He asked about her father then asked about her birth father out of his turn, and she steered the topic away. Noticing this, he relented and went back to safer topics. Such as her favorite gemstone; it was a sapphire.
By the time they reached the twentieth question, the waitress had come back and gave Loki the check. He starts to look at it, before Angela reaches over and takes it. After examining it, she starts to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Loki questions.
She points out a series of numbers to him, and the message under it. "Looks like Lindsay gave you her number. She still thinks she has a chance." She waggles her eyebrows at him.
He scoffs, "It's not like I would want to contact her. I don't even have a way to do so."
She pauses, "You're right. I'll have to fix that. You should be able to contact your new admirer." There was that sly tone in her voice.
It was his time to roll his eyes at her, "Or perhaps I could be able to contact you during your working hours."
"Or that too," she concedes. "I'll get you a phone today. We can head over to the mall and get you one. Damn, I feel like some sort of sugar momma. You get food, clothes, a place to sleep, and a new phone."
His brows knit together, in confusion. "A what?"
"A sugar momma. A woman, usually older, who provides money and nice material things to someone, usually younger, and usually in payment for things like sex or arm candy. But that doesn't work here. It was a joke. I should have realized you wouldn't get it, so never mind." She leaves some paper currency on the table and gathers her purse, "Let's go, Mr. Mischief."
He follows after her, thinking over her words. She didn't expect anything from her kindness, this he knew, but a part of him (the part Frigga raised he knew) realized that she had done all this for him, and at most he was training her. And in the end, it would be for naught because he was about to betray her. She deserved something at least. Something in return for her kindness. And he would find it at the shopping square she was taking them to.