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Day 261

Chitauri Space: The Sanctuary

"Runt..."

The oily darkness receded by a shade or two.

"...you go?"

The ringing in his ears subsided—he hadn't even realized it was there. He needed to answer; it was urgent for some reason. But what was the question?

"Answer me, runt." Calm and thin, the voice sounded harmless. A pointed boot delivered a kick to his midsection, giving the lie to that illusion and ushering in a bit of clarity. That's why an answer was imperative. Now he remembered.

Loki lay on the musty floor of his cell. Uneven stones pressed into his bare back and sides, siphoning warmth and leaving even his naturally cool body shivering. His neck creaked in protest at its sharp angle. Yet he had slept so heavily he hadn't been aware of any discomfort. Slowly, cautiously, he drew his elbow in and pushed himself up to a half-sitting position, dully noting his skin was again pale.

Jane. He swept the cell with a glance, relieved to find her gone.

Pitching his voice low, as in supplication, Loki said, "Forgive me, I was sleeping. I didn't hear your question."

A thick, fleshy hand darted out and wrenched Loki's hair before he could flinch, dragging him to his feet. Evidently I'm not fully in possession of my faculties yet. The vaguely humanoid face—Loki was fairly certain those indentations were nostrils—loomed a hairsbreadth away from his own.

"I know you were sleeping," the thing hissed, its sickly-sweet breath enveloping Loki, more revolting even than the fetid air. "I've been allowing you to sleep, to dream. I want to know where you go when you sleep. More precisely, to whom do you go when you sleep?"

Loki forced a chuckle. "I'm sorry. To whom do I go? I sleep. I rest. Occasionally I dream, yes, but I'm taken wherever my sleeping mind fancies."

The pain in his scalp increased. Nails dug into his skin. "Liar. You lie down broken, you awaken whole. You haven't the power to heal yourself; I've made sure of that. So who is tending to your wounds? And how?"

Loki seized the hand which held him, an offense for which he knew he would pay. "Perhaps I'm stronger than you imagine. This idea that someone, somewhere, heals me in my dreams?" He scoffed. "Madness. You've been on this rock too long."

This time he saw the blow coming, though he could do nothing to stop it. His eye swelled immediately, a wash of blood clouding his sight. "I know someone was here. I can smell it. You're risking much to hide...her. It's a woman. It must be a woman."

"A woman?" Loki shook his head, trying to clear his vision, trying to casually reject the Torturer's theories. "What do you know of my habits and preferences?"

"You've resisted me so far," the creature murmured, drawing a finger down Loki's cheek.

Loki was rarely rendered speechless, but he could only stare, horrified. He wasn't certain what this thing was, let alone what gender or lack thereof it possessed. The torturer had thus far served only to bring him pain and humiliation. The idea that he—she?—it?—had thought Loki might be tempted to do whatever its kind do with each other was enough to temporarily freeze his brain.

But only temporarily. Could he use this to his advantage? Could he convince it—him?—that he had been hiding an attraction all along? Looking into the pitted face of the creature, with its vaguely defined features, Loki swallowed. A wave of revulsion punched him in the throat. This would be among the most distasteful things he'd done, but if he could stomach the task, it might accomplish all his purposes.

His head suddenly throbbed as it hadn't for several days. This was all familiar, somehow, too familiar. But how? Ugh. He shifted his feet, crossing his arms over his bare chest. Resolutely pushing aside both the pain and the nagging deja vu, Loki slowly shook his head and flashed what he hoped was a charming smile. Given his condition, though, it might be a grimace.

"Forgive me, you took me by surprise." This, at least, was the truth. "I must say, I'm flattered, though I honestly had no idea."

His torturer paused. "Go on, runt."

"I...well, that is, I..." The pain returned. Loki's skull felt as though it would split in two.

"Do you have something to say to me or not? My patience wears thin." The cold warning in that voice should have been enough motivation to craft some kind of lie.

Instead, Loki could only stare silently. A heaviness filled his gut. Charm and empty promises failed him. He couldn't do it. Why not? "I, uh, I'm not sure we'd be well suited for each other."

His reward was the shimmering of nails dragging down his cheek, drawing blood. And the hissing— "You will pay. I will find that woman. You seek out her company so often, perhaps you'd appreciate her as a cell mate."

High, keen pain radiated from his torn skin, but Loki managed not to react. He couldn't give this thing the satisfaction. "I wonder how you're so certain. Won't you feel foolish when you are proven wrong?"

He expected another strike. But his torturer made a sound akin to a laugh.

"And still you lie. Like a small child, unaware of what his parents already know."

"You know nothing of me." It was merely a reflex. Blood dripped onto his bare chest.

"It is pitifully easy to manipulate you, runt. Haven't you wondered how you keep regaining your true form?"

"It's not my—"

"You are an impotent imbecile. It was clever, perhaps, to hide the Frost Giant relic. But did you think no one else would find it?"

It had been a point of pride for Loki to always have an apt retort, but the recent events in his life were putting the lie to that talent. Yet again he was dumbstruck; uncomfortably aware that his mouth was gaping open.

"I suspected as much," the misshapen brute said. "What else might I know?" Then, abruptly: "Cover yourself. Master wants to see you. Come."

oooOOOooo

Day 261

Puente Antiguo, New Mexico

"I keep expecting her to breeze through the door." The older woman tried to smile. "She'd be asking for the biggest cup of coffee I got. I can't believe she's gone."

Darcy pushed her own mug aside. "Me too. I hate it."

Thor leaned in across the small table. "You haven't happened to see her lately, have you?"

Isabel's mouth dropped open. Darcy stood up and grabbed Isabel in a big hug, shooting death lasers from her eyes at the god of blunder. She whispered to Isabel, "He's not from Earth, remember. They handle these things...uh...differently than we do.'

Isabel nodded mutely, her eyes brimming with tears.

Thor tried again, "Darcy Lewis, I think we should—"

Darcy narrowed her gaze even further and mouthed, "SHUT. UP." She released Isabel from the embrace but stayed very close to her. Still whispering, she said, "I did want to ask, though, if you've seen anything strange. At the service station, around town?"

"Like what? Why? Did those unfeeling scientists do something to my Jane?"

"No, no, that's not what I—" But the diner owner was too worked up to listen. She sat down in the third chair.

"I wondered! I said to myself, 'Isabel, that poor Jane just wanted to go to Colorado and be left alone. But she probably knew too much.' And to think I thought that Dr. Selvig man was nice. I helped him!" She smudged away the tears with the back of her hand.

"No, Isabel, Erik's a good guy. Really. It's not that. It's just that...ahh, Isabel, you can't tell anyone we talked about this, okay? I mean, they're gonna know we were here. Duh. They've probably got cameras on us right now. But you can't tell them what we were asking you. We're just friends consoling each other. Yeah?"

Isabel nodded. "I can keep a secret. I've done it before."

"I know. Good. So, there are just a few things about Jane's disappearance that don't add up. And maybe I'm just paranoid or whatever, but Jane was my boss and my friend and I think it'd be sucky to just let her go without some kind of fight."

"She disappeared from that park in Colorado, right? Why are you looking for answers here?"

"We're just, kind of, retracing her steps, you know? Seeing if there's anything we missed. Anything SHIELD missed."

Again Thor interrupted. "Did Jane tell you about any secret plans?"

Isabel frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

Darcy sat down and turned to Thor. "Thor, sweetheart, why don't you let Isabel and me talk for a while?" She gritted her teeth and lowered her voice. "I don't know what your deal is but you are not helping us."

The Asgardian stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Excuse me, ladies," he said, pushed back his chair, and left the diner.

Darcy faced Isabel again. "Sorry. This is really hard for him. He's used to using Mew-Mew and hammering his way through his problems."

Isabel blew her nose and nodded. "No, I understand. We all deal with grief in our own way. So what do you mean that some things don't add up? What's going on?"

"Have you seen the news in the last few days? The news about Jane?"

The older woman's eyes filled with tears again. "Yeah. They say she...she killed herself." She shook her head. "I just can't believe that."

Darcy swallowed. "Yeah. I was shocked, too." Lying wasn't exactly foreign to Darcy. She had been known to bend the truth occasionally. And she definitely didn't mind lying to the SHIELD spooks, but this was hard. Isabel had been a good friend to Jane.

Isabel leaned toward the younger woman. "Do you believe that?"

Darcy discreetly looked around the diner before mouthing, "No."

SHIELD had unwittingly assisted with this part of Darcy's deception. Though Darcy had been the one to promote the suicide theory to Malone and the other agents, her name had not been mentioned at any of the press briefings or in the news articles. She knew that most of the reason she hadn't been given credit was because she wasn't an agent. It might have raised the wrong eyebrows to have a non-agent so deeply involved in an investigation. The rest of the reason, she suspected, was that Malone was still pissed at her for not telling him first. Which sucked. But she'd use it to her own benefit. She needed SHIELD to think she believed Jane committed suicide. She needed Isabel to think she believed the suicide story was a cover-up.

Now Isabel glanced around her. "I was working on refilling the salt shakers in the back room when you got here. Do you have time to help a friend?"

"No problem."

Safely in the storeroom, Isabel put her hands on her hips. "Let's hear it. What's really going on?"

Forgive me, Isabel. The whole truth wouldn't be safe for you. Darcy kept her voice low and talked quickly. "Okay, so SHIELD is saying that Jane had never recovered from that traumatic robot attack we all went through, right? She couldn't hack it, so she killed herself. But you and I both know that Jane was in a pretty good place when she left Puente Antiguo to take that job in Colorado. She was getting away from SHIELD and all that craziness, and she was excited to make a new start. I don't know if you talked to her on the phone after she left...?"

Isabel shook her head no.

"I did. Several times. She was nervous about her new job, a bit emotional about starting over in a new place, but she was totally not suicidal."

"What do you think happened?"

"I don't know for sure, Isabel. I came back to Puente Antiguo to see if she left any clues here. To ask if you had seen anything before or after we left that might give us any answers."

"I'll tell you that I figured out that thing wasn't a glitch in one of Tony Stark's inventions. It was from outer space, something to do with Thor."

Darcy tried so hard to keep her expression under control, but she twitched. Dang it. She twitched, and Isabel wasn't a dummy.

Isabel nodded. "Yeah. It's okay, Darcy. I can keep a secret. I'm not sure how anyone expected me to believe the nonsense story that Jane Foster, the brilliant scientist, was nearly broken by a computer virus. She's too strong for that. I'm keeping the money, though."

Darcy chuckled. "You should. You deserve it."

"That attack freaked Jane out way more than anyone realized. I watched her, Darcy," Isabel said. "I watched her from across the street for weeks, watched her shadow pass by the windows, hoping she'd come over to get some real food. I saw how scrawny she was, but I didn't know if it was my business until Dr. Selvig called me and made it my business."

"Jane trusted you enough to leave her personal laptop with you when she had to go to the SHIELD base. She told me that."

"Yes."

"Did she share anything else with you before she left the first time, or while we were here together before she went to Colorado? Anything that isn't already generally known? Anything she asked you to keep secret?"

Isabel studied Darcy before answering. "No. What kinds of things might she have told me?"

Oh, how Darcy wished she could tell Isabel the whole story. "I don't know, just anything that seemed, you know, weird to you."

"Darcy, everything you all do seems weird to me."

"Yeah."

oooOOOooo

Thor nudged the melted sand with the toe of his boot. Too antsy to just wait for Darcy, he found himself at the site where the Bifrost had opened its portal.

"Heimdall. I wish you could just open the bridge for me. I wish you could send my friends."

He didn't have the energy for a dramatic display. "I don't even know if you hear me, if you see me. Heimdall. Did you—did you know about this? When Father sent me here, did you know that Loki had claimed Jane for his own? He wants to hurt me; that's obvious. Does he have another purpose? Does he want to start a war? Does he want to use Jane when he carries out whatever plan he's concocting? Is Jane alive? Where is she, Heimdall? What has he done with her?"

Scrubbing his face with his open palms, Thor sighed. "I care about Jane, Heimdall. You know how I asked after her. She's special. Different from the women of Asgard. Different, I've come to understand, from the women of Midgard. I know that presenting a mortal—even a former mortal—as my queen might have been terribly hard for the people of Asgard to accept. The All Father warned me that some would view her as a goat at a banquet table.

"They would have changed their minds, come to accept her in time, I think. When they saw her gentle beauty and then saw the fruit of her brilliant mind. I had grown fond of imagining Jane as my partner. My life would never have been dull, would it?"

The big Asgardian sat down on the chilly desert floor, elbows on his raised knees. "Loki has now taken that possibility from me. Odin is likely pleased to know that. But while the All Father cares not for her fate, I do. I cannot bear to imagine that Jane is in distress, that she is in pain or frightened. Help us find her, Heimdall. Watch over her. Could it be possible that Loki has perceived something in Jane that strikes an answering chord in him? Or perhaps he has simply given himself over to the darker currents that have always ebbed and flowed beneath his surface. It's impossible to be certain when he hides himself."

A sudden breeze sifted loose sand across his boots. "Regardless of the circumstances of his birth, he is my brother. I will defend Asgard to the death. I hope that does not require my brother's death. I need wisdom. What is best for the people of this realm? For our realm?"

oooOOOooo

Day 261

Sarah's place

Quiet, dark, calm, welcome. Jane lay on clean sheets, pleased with herself. She'd bustled around the house being all productive that day. It was a bit early and chilly to really call it "spring cleaning." Maybe it was more like nesting. In any case, she had a tidy house and was enjoying the scent of the freshly-laundered bedding as she drifted off to sleep.

A faint shimmer in the air alerted her to Loki's presence. She kept her eyes closed, waiting to greet him, hoping for a clue about his mood. Their last meeting had been tense. Would he demand her attention? Would he quietly sit on the floor next to the bed?

He did neither. Instead, he crossed the room, silent as a cat. Loki lay down behind her, barely disturbing the mattress, and curved his body to match hers. He oh-so-gently placed his hand on her belly, then sighed.

What...?

Shock zinged around her brain. She waited for him to say something, do something, but he merely lay still. Resting. As though "Loki lying in a bed with Jane" was completely normal. Ordinary. Run-of-the-mill, even.

Calm down, Jane. Respond, don't react. That never does any good with Loki.

It felt nice. Actually, it felt really really very nice. Alie was peaceful, Jane's bones felt strong, and any soreness she had from her busy day melted away. It's not like Loki was violating her or anything. They had had this much physical contact a number of times. Heck, she'd had her hands all over his bare chest just a day or so earlier. Jane was awfully tempted to just let it go. Still...she mentally sighed...this degree of intimacy probably shouldn't go unchallenged. For all her sass and bluster, the power difference between them was enormous. Maintaining boundaries seemed important.

So she whispered, "Loki?"

His breath caught and his muscles tensed slightly. But he didn't pull away.

What's he doing? She waited a few seconds. Then she realized: he's waiting, too. He's waiting for me to go back to a deeper sleep. Lightbulb! This is normal for him. He's been curling up next to me for a week and a half. This is why I've been feeling great these past few days. Why I've had the energy to clean and think about buying flowers.

Okay, she needed to move. Darcy would FLIP OUT if she knew Jane was spooning with Loki the Bad Guy. Thor would—Screw it. What did it matter what Darcy or Thor would say, anyway? What were the odds that she was going to speak to either of them ever again?

Regardless of how strong she felt today, she knew her chances of being alive in a few months were small. It's just as well. Jane didn't want to die. She didn't want Alie to die. She didn't even want Loki to die anymore. But she couldn't quite imagine what life would look like if they made it to the other side of...of alien childbirth and whatever dreadful thing Loki had gotten himself into.

Loki relaxed again, melting into her. His steady, deep breaths stirred her hair and ghosted across her ear. Even in a dream she could feel every plane of his body that touched hers, every flex of a muscle, every inhalation. The fingers spanning her abdomen twitched just a tiny bit, enough to tickle. Alie responded, slowly rolling across Jane's womb. And where some knobby piece—a foot, perhaps?—protruded, Loki applied the lightest pressure until Alie slid away. His shoulders shook ever so slightly and she felt more than heard a huff of muffled laughter. He was playing with Alie.

Jane let that sink in. He was the god of mischief, wasn't he? He had poked fun at her and laughed more than once. What kind of father would he—No, Jane. Stop. It doesn't matter.

So she and Loki were bonded, right? What did that really mean? Was there some cute bungalow with a picket fence waiting for them after this was all over? Maybe a swingset for Alie. Yeah, sure, and playdates. She'd heard about those.

Or even better, as long as she was imagining impossibilities, Loki would be reinstated and welcomed into the bosom of the royal family. And he'd bring them along to Asgard, like quirky souvenirs he picked up during a gap year on Earth.

And then what? Loki would settle down, be content with being Thor's deputy of something-or-other? She'd find some new stars, try to learn Asgardian culture? Would Thor find his own mate? Would he keep looking at her the way he had in Puente Antiguo, or would he look at her with pity? Poor Jane. Foolishly tricked and now chained forever to the blackguard Loki. How would she explain to him that he didn't need to feel sorry for her? It's just as well I'll never have to deal with that.

It was too much to keep wrestling with. She was suddenly exhausted. Jane took a deep breath. Loki gathered her even closer, his chin resting on the top of her head, his arm holding her securely. She'd address the issue tomorrow...

oooOOOooo

Asgard

"Ah, Heimdall. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"All-Father. I regret that what I have to report will not bring you pleasure."

oooOOOooo

Day 262

Albuquerque, New Mexico

"It was some Spanish name."

"I'm afraid I'm no help, then." Thor might use Allspeak, but that didn't enable him to appreciate the finer points of Midgardian languages. He held Darcy's mobile phone up. Could he induce the glass and metal slab to give up its mysteries?

She sighed and held her hand out. Thor passed her the phone. "I know it was really close to I-40. And to some park." She swiped the phone's screen a few times. "'Kay, there's a park, where 25 and 40 intersect. Arvada Street. That doesn't sound right." Darcy muttered to herself. "Here's another park. Hmm...Garcia, Glorieta, Espejo. Espejo. Mirror. That's it!"

Thor was confused. "Mirror is a Spanish word? I had thought the language you spoke was called English."

Darcy waved her hand impatiently. "No, espejo means mirror in Spanish. I remember now. The place I drove Jane to was Espejo Street. There's Espejo south of the park and north of the park. We'll just have to drive around until something looks familiar." She reached for the parking brake, but Thor stilled her hand.

"Darcy Lewis," he said quietly, reverting to the old formality.

She didn't look at him. "I have to try, Thor." Darcy subtly shook her head and a curtain of hair fell, blocking her from his gaze.

"I know. But we need a plan. What do you intend to do if—when," he amended, "when you find this house? What do you hope to accomplish?"

"I hope to get some answers, Thor. Whoever lives at that house was one of the last people to see Jane. Maybe she said something to them. Maybe they're even involved; she didn't want me to meet them. I hope to find Jane." Her voice was surprisingly flinty.

Thor raked a hand through his hair, banging his elbow on the door frame. He was not created to be confined in a metal can such as this. He sighed and gentled his voice, not wanting to provoke her further. "I also want to find Jane—"

Her dark head swung toward him now. "Do you? Are you sure? Then why did it take us a week, more than a week, to get out of Boulder? To get away from SHIELD? All those meetings and awful press releases. The pitying looks from Malone. Having to watch Erik grieve instead of finding her for him. And you disappeared for hours in Puente Antiguo. We could have driven back here and found these people yesterday. We wasted so much time..."

"If Jane is dead, there's no reason for haste, is there?"

"What?!"

Thor easily caught the small human hand before it connected with his face. The tiny car didn't leave her much room to maneuver, either. "Darcy Lewis. You are not thinking clearly." When had he become the strategist? The diplomat? Must have been sometime after they left Isabel's. He had been zero help then.

"I'm clearly thinking you're an a—"

"Listen to me. SHIELD must believe that Jane took her own life. Remember what you told me. We don't want SHIELD looking for Jane; we don't want SHIELD looking for her killer. Find this house; ask questions, but take care to let this be your guide: How would you behave if Jane were truly dead?"

The dark-haired woman gripped the steering wheel, then lowered her head onto her hands. "We're not gonna find her, are we?"

oooOOOooo

Day 262

Sarah's place

She was ready for him this time, ready to take the risk. Jane waited until Loki was lying in her bed, waited until he had wrapped his arm around her, waited until plausible deniability was no longer available to him. Then, keeping her voice light and even, she said, "I don't believe I've properly—"

Loki froze.

"—thanked you for not abandoning me to die."

Dead silence. Loki slowly withdrew his arm.

In her imagination, she would move swiftly and gracefully. At this point in her pregnancy, that wasn't possible. She clumsily pushed herself up to look at Loki.

It was worth it. He hadn't put on his expressionless mask yet. He might lose his temper, but the expressions that rapidly flickered across his face were worth it. It wasn't often that she got the best of him. Jane just sat there and watched, noting the scratches on his face that hadn't been there two nights before.

Ten seconds passed and he hadn't threatened to kill her yet. He seemed to be unable to calculate his next move. So she pushed on. "When I thanked you two days ago, you acted like it was ridiculous. But here you are. Would you care to explain?"

Loki pulled himself up onto an elbow and answered, soberly: "I was hoping to rest."

"Honesty. I didn't expect that."

"One wouldn't want to become predictable."

Apparently he was going to stay. Jane made herself comfortable against her pillows. "The last time we had a conversation, you, ah, made it clear that you don't find me appealing. I'm surprised you're here."

"You're in much better health than you were a few days ago," he said, still propped up on his side.

"Yes, we are. Thanks to you. I mean that. But I'm uncomfortable with your methods." She kept her voice neutral. "Feels creepy that you've been sneaking in here and cuddling with me without my consent."

"Dr. Foster," Loki said in an equally neutral tone, "you, who are well acquainted with proper scientific methods of research, shouldn't stoop to drawing sweeping conclusions based on a single observation."

Ah. Jane lifted an eyebrow and allowed the corners of her lips to lift. "A single observation? I agree. That would be a terrible faux pas."

"Yes. So perhaps we should move on—"

Jane interrupted him. "Fortunately, I've much more data than a single observation. Would you care to hear it?"

Maybe it was her calm demeanor. Maybe he was tired of maintaining a constant front. Whatever his reason, Loki simply cocked an eyebrow in return and shook his head. "I surrender."

The half-smile on Jane's face blossomed. "You'll stop sneaking into my dreams without my knowledge?"

He narrowed his eyes. How much of a victory would he give her? "Will you never return to that place where you found me?"

"That's not the same, Loki," she said. "You needed my help."

Loki allowed for that, nodding his head slightly. "And you've needed my help."

"Yes. But I let you know I was there." She kept her voice calm. "You've been spooning with me as though we're, you know, an old married couple. You've been touching me without my consent."

"I recall you touching me as well. After I told you no several times."

Jane clamped her lips together. She could not afford to lose her temper. Not when she and Loki were finally having a reasonable discussion. "No more, Loki."

Loki rolled upright, regaining the higher position with all the grace she could no longer muster. "I will agree, Jane Foster, if you will promise never to return to that place."

"Why? It's just a dream, right?" She pitched her voice low, to make it a genuine question, not a challenge.

Loki shook his head. "In that place, I'm not sure that it is just a dream."