Christie landed on the floor with a harsh thud, gifted with a mouthful of dirt on arrival. The first thing she noticed was that the ground was rubbly, thick and dusty - which meant that she was definitely back on Earth.

She tried to open her eyes, although they were almost swollen from the amount of tears she had shed, and the harsh glare of the sun meant that it took her eyes some time to adjust. After a minute or so, once she could focus properly, she surveyed the deserted plains. Not much about. She heaved herself up with a low groan and slowly stood to her feet. The ground began to spin a little; she was still a little disorientated. "Careful!" came a familiar voice from somewhere behind her. Christie glanced back to see Jennie running up to her, her face dirty, her muddy brown hair a mess and a giant bleeding gash on her swollen lip, holding out her hands and taking Christie's in an attempt to steady her. "Annerledes…is this Midgard?" she asked gingerly once Christie had found her footing again.

"P-pretty sure it is, yeah," Christie sniffed back, wincing at the confusing pain shooting through her body. "D-did…d-did the other two land safely?"

"They did. There are some bushes down south from here and Delilah and Ren should be setting up camp. We saw you land slightly further from us, so I went out to look for you before it got dark. Hopefully it doesn't get too cold," Jennie explained in a quiet voice as she gently but firmly led Christie by her arm toward the orange glow in the sky a little further awawy. Christie said nothing back - because she didn't know what to say.

Everything was sore. Her legs, her head and, more importantly, her heart.

A few minutes of silent slow walking later, they finally reached the other two girls.

"Oh thank the gods!" Delilah exclaimed, running up to them to assist the wobbly footed Christie. Renesme was kneeling at a fire, perched on a thick log and, roasting something on a long stick. When she looked up to see Christie staggering over with Delilah and Jennie on either side, her tensed shoulders relaxed in relief.

"You're here!" she exclaimed brightly.

"Yup," Christie sniffed, sitting herself down on one of the broadest logs. Jennie nibbled on her bottom lip and glanced over at the other two to see if they had picked up on Christie's coldness, of which they had. They could sense something had changed within her, but were both too anxious to ask what had happened before she fell.

"I'll…just dish up dinner and we can discuss what to do next," Renesme nodded, deciding it was time for her to take charge for once.

"Fabulous idea Ren - what are we eating?" Jennie asked a little apprehensively, glancing at whatever she was roasting on the stick.

"Well, it turns out that I had a spare sachet of herbs in my coat pocket, so I've seasoned some bush leaves and roasted them on this wonderful open fire here," Renesme beamed with pride. Delilah, Christie and Jennie all blinked at each other and, even in their current situation, burst out laughing.

…

"Surprisingly, that wasn't the worst thing in the world," Delilah smiled once they had finished eating a few minutes later.

"I agree!" Jennie giggled in surprise, wiping her mouth. "Good going, Ren."

"Thank you! So…Ann- actually, what's your Midgardian name?" Renesme asked as other two girls curiously looked to Christie for her answer.

"Christie," she sniffed. She was still dazed. Nothing felt real yet.

"Oh, that's such a pretty name," Jennie smiled sweetly. "So, Christie, what do we do now? Do you have any family down here?"

"Wouldn't even matter if I did. We won't be going to them for help anytime soon," Christie muttered whilst reaching into her dirty unitard breast pocket and taking out that little smooth device. She quickly placed on the ground, away from the fire.

"Oh! What's that?" Delilah inquired pushing her black wispy side fringe out of her eyes as she edged closer to see.

"It basically allows me to contact my boss. He'll come get us," Christie explained blandly. She pressed a button, causing a bright blue laser to burst out, which immediately transformed into a wide holographic screen midair. Christie touched one of the options and impatiently waited for it to connect.

"Welcome, Agent Darmer. Who would you like to contact?" came a woman's smooth voice.

"Agent Coulson," Christie responded shakily. The serving girls watched on in wonder as it processed her words and, just a few seconds later, Coulson's face appeared in thin air.

"Oh my god! Christie! You're finally back!" he exclaimed with those friendly eyes sparkling as they always did. "Is everything…okay?"

"Well clearly not. It went tits up, Coulson, so I got the queen to send us back. I need you to organise a pick up, please. I'm sending the target location now," Christie sniffed back as she rubbed her eyes.

"Wait, but was there a threat? Chris…woah, Christie - have you…have you been crying?"

"Coulson, I'm not gonna debrief with you at this moment. Can you just track the location and pick us up, please?"

"Well your signal just came through so I'll jus- I'm sorry, who's us?" Coulson blinked down the lens. Christie took a deep breath through her nose and kept herself calm.

"Three Asgardian serving girls. I brought them back with me and I don't plan of leaving them stranded here - they go wherever I go until we can place them somewhere else. They could be useful to S.H.I.E.L.D and at this point, I don't plan on hearing another answer from you that doesn't start with 'y' and rhyme with 'less'," she answered firmly, running her fingers through her now dirty silvery white hair. Jennie, Renesme and Delilah shared shy blushing smiles with each other at Christie's firm and protective words.

"You brought…you know what? I don't even have it in me to argue with you right now. Hang tight, we've picked up your location," Coulson grumbled. "Just so you know, Fury might not like this. And when I say 'might not', I straight up mean 'won't'."

"Cute, but I don't care what Fury says. I'll deal with him as I always do - just please come and pick us up before the temperature drops?" Christie groaned tiredly, before abruptly cutting the call. But five seconds later, Coulson's face reappeared as if it had never left.

"Wait a second. Thor came down here already, thanks for that warning by the way, but what about the other son? Loki? What happened with him? Was he ever a threat or what?" he frowned innocently.

But, at the mention of his name alone, Christie suddenly burst into heart wrenching tears and buried her face into her shaky hands.

"Oh dear. Too soon," Jennie muttered as she and the other girls sympathetically rubbed Christie's back - although they still had no idea what had happened just before Christie fell from Asgard.

…

It was no surprise that Christie was restless that night. She woke up with an abrupt scream, sweating profusely through her tattered catsuit with her heart racing so fast that she thought she was dying. The sky was now a deep shade of gentle purple mixed with a soft blue, only lit up by the warm but dying flames of the campfire beside her. For a split second, she had no idea where she even was. She just kept replaying Loki hanging off the Bifrost in her mind, and the image just seemed to get more vivid and painful every time. She knew he must've dropped - she just knew it. There was an emptiness within her already. She sunk her teeth into her fist in an attempt to sob too loudly and wake up the girls, as they were still fast asleep.

Suddenly, there was the unmistakable whirring of a helicopter from somewhere above her, which startled Jennie awake with a gasp. "Oh what is that ungodly sound?" she yawned, rubbing her eyes as she sat up groggily.

"I think that's our ride outta here," Christie muttered, wiping her face and pulling herself together before she could see her tears. "Wake up the girls." Jennie did as she was told and shook Renesme and Delilah awake.

"FROST GIANTS?! WHERE?" Renesme shouted as her eyes flew open and she sat up, panting erratically.

"Shhhhh! Calm down idiot - Christie's master is here to pick us up," Jennie hissed as Delilah stretched her long legs with a yawn. The helicopter landed a few metres away, gusting the bushes intrusively with each powerful propeller spin. Before long, the door opened and out stepped Coulson, dressed in his usual attire of an expensive suit and unnecessary sunglasses despite the fact that there was absolutely no sun.

"Christie?" he called for her. Christie signalled for the girls to follow her into the clearing where the helicopter stood. As soon as Coulson lay his eyes on her, he scurried down the extracted steps and have her a huge hug - whether she wanted it or not. "I was so worried about you - hey, you look kinda…pretty! Asgard clearly did wonders for you," he joked lightly, aware that she was probably still in a delicate state.

That was an understatement.

Christie rolled her eyes, gave him a brief smile back before stepping aside so that he could meet the girls properly.

"Coulson…this is Renesme, Jennie and Delilah. They're friendlies and I honestly do think they should join S.H.E.I.L.D," she insisted, more than ready to fight for their case.

"Christie, we don't just let people 'join S.H.E.I.L.D' - there's a whole 'highly official and specific procedure' that's gotta take place first, as I'm sure you're aware," Coulson muttered through gritted teeth. "This is an extra-governmental militarily agency, the highest in the world bar none. We're not some fast food joint where you just turn up and they give you a spatula and an apron and say 'get to cooking.'"

"Actually I don't think anyone would shove a spatula in your hand and say that - how detached do you have to be to think that happens? Fast food workers get trained too and I just think that if you take them on…" Christie trailed off tiredly, throwing her head back in exasperation. Delilah could see that she was struggling to hold it together as it was, without the added pressure of having to persuade this man.

So she took it upon herself instead.

"Erm, sir? Son of…Coul?" she began tentatively with a timidly risen hand. "My name is Delilah Moordottir. I truly believe I could be of great use of your top secret group. We all could, and we wouldn't tell a soul."

"We actually…don't know enough people here to tell anyone," Renesme added in timidly, also stepping forward. Christie fell silent and allowed the girls to take it head on, interested to see how they operated outside of Asgard.

"This is all very honourable, ladies. But what do you have that we don't? I doubt very much, if anything," Coulson challenged them, crossing his arms and leaning his head to the side intriguingly.

"Put us on your team and you'll find out," Delilah replied cockily, mirroring his actions perfectly. She eyed Coulson up and down in silence, radiating boldness, until he finally gave in.

"Damn. Are all Asgardians this headstrong? Get in the chopper," he finally muttered out reluctantly. "But seriously, Director Fury won't-"

"…like it," the Asgardians finished together, causing Coulson to shake his head and lead them into the helicopter with Christie following them in silence.

She already missed him so much.