His elevator couldn't have been but seconds behind the one Maisy was on, but when he reached the lobby she was nowhere to be found. It didn't help that there were two bus-fulls of high school students crowding the space while they were waiting for the tour for their field trip to get started. Maisy was no taller than any of the teenagers and she could easily be hiding in their group and he wouldn't know it. He couldn't even look for the green in her hair because she'd had him cast the color changing spell over it when she'd been hired at the boutique. And it seemed the new shade of bleached blonde was a popular one.

Figuring she'd have to head to the apartment eventually, regardless of her current location, Loki made his way home. Linn was already there with her friends and they were all sitting at the kitchen counter nibbling on snack food.

"Hey Loki," Linn greeted, "How'd the press conference fingy go?"

"Terribly. Is Maisy here? Has she been here? If she left did she say where she is going?"

"Haven't seen her. Is she okay?"

"She found out something that should have been kept a secret," Loki replied, opening every door in the apartment just to make sure she wasn't there, "And now I have to find her and explain myself."

"Marital bliss," Midnight commented and then took a sip from her juice box.

"You're sure she hasn't been here?" Loki turned back to Linn, "I know you'd lie to me if she asked you to, but I need to talk to her so if you know and you aren't telling me-"

"She ain't been home since I've been home," Linn shrugged, "You try her job place?"

"I'll check there next," Loki sighed and glanced at the girls, "Don't spoil your dinner with junk food."

"We don't take orders from intergalactic terrorists," Alexis responded while calmly eating a potato chip.

"Have it your way."

Waving his hand and replacing the chips with carrots, he left and went to the boutique. Maisy wasn't there either so Loki went back to the apartment. When he unlocked the door, however, it locked again quickly. Someone was trying to keep him out.

"Maisy?" He asked.

There was no response so he tried to open the door again, but as soon as he unlocked it and pushed it open the door caught on the chain lock. With the door open partially he could see that Maisy was on the other side. Glaring at him.

"Go away. I need time."

"Maisy..." he wasn't sure what he should say. He could try denying the murder accusation and pretend like Thor was confused. Or he could apologize, he supposed. But he didn't feel remorse and he didn't think she'd fall for a denial, no matter what brilliant lies he created. The only option left was to defend his actions, which would no doubt lead to arguing.

"Go away, I am not talking to you. I need time to think."

"I should have told you that I was the one who killed Egil," Loki said, "And for that I am sorry."

"Sorry that you didn't tell me or sorry you killed him?"

"I do not regret ending that monster's life."

"Then go away."

"Allow me to explain myself. Please. I will not leave this doorway until you give me that chance."

"You can sit there all you like. You aren't coming in," she moved to close the door, but he stuck his hand in the crack, preventing it from closing. He supposed having one's hand slammed in a door would hurt a human, but he hardly felt it. In fact, he thought he might have heard the wood crack.

"You know I could be in there if I wanted. This door won't stop me."

"Oh my gosh, your hand!" Maisy yelped and allowed him to remove his fingers, "Are you okay?!"

"And here I thought you were so mad you didn't care about me," he raised a brow in challenge.

"Loki," Maisy sighed. The door closed and the sound of the chain being undone could be heard. Then he was allowed entry into the apartment.

Linn and her friends were nowhere in sight, but her bedroom door was closed and Loki could hear quiet voices coming from within. He'd have to remember not to say the words "murdered" or "killed" too loudly.

"Loki, is your hand okay or not?"

"It's fine," he replied, sitting down at the counter, "Not that I expect you to care beyond that question."

"Of course I still care about you," she leaned on the fridge and closed her eyes, "I'm just furious with you right now."

"I know. That's why I've kept this a secret for so long."

"Why did you do it? Why couldn't you have just left him alone in Muspelheim? I'm sure he was miserable enough there."

"I thought that he might have had something to do with that nightmare you had. You recall the one? When you woke up bound to the headboard?"

"Yeah. Kinda hard to forget. But we know he didn't do that."

"At the time we did not have any assurance that he was not running about Asgard, casting spells on your mind."

Maisy picked at the gauze wrapped around her forearm and stared at the floor.

"But he wasn't-"

"But he could have been!" Loki clenched his fists, "All I knew at that time was that it seemed like you were under some sort of attack. Egil seemed like the most likely source so I got rid of him."

"How can you be so, so cold about it?! He was a living person and you just…" she covered her face with her hands, "You just killed him like it was nothing!"

"I did. Because he was nothing."

"There is no one who is worth nothing, Loki. Everyone has value."

"Oh? Even that disgusting whelp who kidnapped and imprisoned you? Most likely with the idea of forcing you into his marriage bed?"

"He wasn't going to do that! He swore he wasn't!"

Loki didn't want to play mind games with her, but it was an old habit and hard to break, so the words escaped his mouth without him even thinking about them: "So you regret leaving him? You regret choosing a disgusting monster like me over such a gentleman?"

"What? No!"

"Then why are you defending him?!"

His voice raised higher than he meant it to and he could hear Linn and her friends stop their chatter. He didn't break his stare at Maisy and she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Loki… I," she bit her lip, "Loki, you know I don't-"

"I'm not sure I do know that," he crossed his arms, internally yelling at himself to apologize and start the conversation fresh in a more civil manner, "I understand though. You spent so long with him. How could I possibly expect you to feel the same way about me?"

The reason Loki thought himself so good at winning arguments and defending his actions was that he could always take the heat off himself. As long as they were focused on the question of whether or not Maisy loved Egil more than she loved him then they weren't focused on the fact that Loki had murdered Egil. And if he could keep things going that way then Maisy would be begging for his forgiveness for her actions of defending Egil and they'd probably never speak of the man again except in mutual hatred. He knew it was cruel, but he couldn't stop now.

"No! No, I don't love him! Not after what he did to me, how could I?"

"Perhaps you haven't been telling me everything about those dreams of yours," Loki knew he shouldn't go there. The dreams upset her so much that he couldn't possibly believe what he was about to accuse. He needed to stop but the words kept coming. "Perhaps there are moments in them that you enjoy. Maybe you wish that you were back on Muspelheim, hmm? Back in his arms?"

The tears broke free and a surprisingly guilty look flashed through her eyes.

"No, no, no, no! No, I never want to see that place again! I would rather die than go back there!"

"You're not telling me something," he muttered, studying her face, "There is something you have left out."

"I… don't know what you're talking about."

He merely stared at her. She knew that it was near impossible to get a lie past him.

"Loki, you know I hate him. You know I'm not lying about that," her voice and hands were trembling, "But you're right."

That wasn't what he'd been expecting. He could already feel his temper flaring at the very idea. His jaw clenched.

"What are you talking about?"

"There is something I haven't told you," her cheeks were covered in tears, "When I was in Muspelheim… when I, whenever I needed something or wanted to convince Egil to do something…"

"Oh Norns," Loki gaped at her.

"It wasn't as bad as that!" She said quickly, though her face burned red, "It was only… I only kissed him. A few times."

That was a relief at least. Not that he would have loved her any less if she'd slept with Egil in order to get out of there, but he wasn't sure he could reign in his anger toward Egil if he found out that was true. And he'd already killed the weasel so there would be no outlet for that anger.

"I didn't want to," she covered her face, "Ugh, I never wanted to! But, I knew… I knew if I did then it would make it easier to get out."

Loki got to his feet and walked over to her, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head gently. She relaxed a little and it seemed like that would be the end of this argument. With her crying on his shoulder and him so graciously forgiving her. There would be no need to bring up what Thor had let slip…

"Hey!"

Loki and Maisy froze and looked over in the direction of Linn's room. The girl stood in her doorway with her friends peeking out from behind her. It was rare to see Linn so angry that her face turned magenta, but when it happened, whoever she was angry with would do well to give up or run away.

"I apologize for our volume," Loki said diplomatically, "We're through fighting now. We didn't mean to upset you."

"You ain't done fighting," Linn stated, marching over to them and glaring at Loki, "You ain't anywhere near done."

"Pardon?"

"Linn, it's okay. We won't be shouting anymore," Maisy wiped her eyes.

"No, no, I want ya to shout, Maisy!"

"What?"

"Loki, I love ya, but I'm so freakin' mad atcha right now!" Linn poked him, "And I don't care dat you is technically me boss and a prince and you could have me executed for saying dis, but you're being horrible right now!"

"What are you talking about?" Loki replied, certain he was not going to like whatever she had to say.

"You distracted her! You come along and start blaming her for fings! Making her feel bad for saying her bit and acting like you fink she liked Egil more dan you," Linn poked him again with more force, "You made her forget dat she was the one mad at you."

Damn. Linn was smarter than he gave her credit for.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Wait," Maisy looked at Loki and took a step back, "She's right!"

"And even dough I agree wif Loki for," Linn glanced at her friends and lowered her voice, "For offing you know who, I don't fink it's fair dat Maisy doesn't get to argue her side."

"She did argue her side. We've resolved it," Loki clenched his jaw.

"I didn't!" Maisy exclaimed, "You started getting mad at me for defending Egil and you rerouted our whole argument!"

"Maybe I did, but it's only because it was pointless anyway. He's dead. There's nothing that can be done about it. My saying sorry for it won't bring him back to life."

"I can't believe this," Maisy took another step away from him, "I can't believe you'd kill him, lie about it to me, and then try to keep me from being mad about it by making me feel like I was the one at fault!"

"It doesn't matter. I do not see why you even care that I killed the wretch! When you thought that Skrull was Egil you were terrified!"

"Just because I hate him doesn't mean I want him dead!"

"It cannot be undone so you might as well get used to the idea. You knew of my crimes when you married me, Maisy, don't act like you are upset over it now."

"You killed my ex boyfriend! Who does that?!"

"I only did it out of concern for you," Loki snapped, "You think I would have sought out and killed any random man who you might have cared for previously? No! Egil threatened you. He threatened us."

"He was imprisoned on Muspelheim! He wasn't threatening anyone!"

"His very existence was a danger to you! I ended the possibility of him ever touching you again. Any normal person would be thankful!"

"Oh, am I not normal?" Maisy clenched her fists and took another step away from him, "Just because I wasn't raised on Asgard and I'm not okay with murder that makes me not normal? Well, I'm sorry that I'll never be a 'true Asgardian'!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I don't care!" Maisy's tears were gone now, "I am too mad to think clearly right now and I don't want to hear your excuses!"

"You know I only did it for you!"

"I do know that, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be mad about it!" she turned away from him, "And then you tried to make me feel like I was the one at fault! How could you manipulate me like that?!"

"It was for your own g-" he cut himself short, realizing what he was about to say. If there was one thing he knew that she despised hearing it was when someone told her that they had acted for her benefit because they knew better.

"Get out," she spun around and faced him, "Get out of this apartment!"

Loki flinched. They'd argued before, but he'd never seen her anger directed at him with such force. He was not scared of her, obviously. She wasn't powerful enough to do any damage to him, but she could twist his heart like no one else.

"I beg your pardon?" he said through grit teeth.

"You heard me," she lifted her chin defiantly, "Leave."

"Have I caused such loathing in you that you would cast me out? Shall I return to Asgard?"

"That's not what I meant. Just get out of here so we can both calm down!"

"I'd prefer not to put this off."

"Oh? You wanna stay and make me angrier? Is that it?" Maisy snapped at him.

"I'm not leaving."

"Fine! Then I'll leave!"

"Don't go out there, it's getting late. With your track record you're likely to be in need of rescuing within five minutes on your own."

"So I'm just the damsel in distress, huh? Is that it?"

"Out of the two of us, let's just say that I am not the one who is constantly in danger."

"I bet that's the only reason you are still with me," Maisy growled, "You just want to feel like a hero when you swoop in and save the day!"

"Believe me," Loki laughed bitterly, "I have no desire to be a hero like those clowns, the Avengers. I'm just a terrible villain, aren't I? A murdering monster?"

"Well if it is such a burden for you to save my ass all the time then I'll just leave right now and spare you the trouble," she grabbed her purse and headed for the door, but Loki jumped in front of her and blocked the way.

"You want to give up so easily? You don't want to stay and work through our issues?"

"You think that we're calm enough to work through anything right now? You think I should stay so that we can scream at each other some more?!"

"If it will lead to a resolution, then yes!"

"Then maybe you should go back to Asgard! See if I care! I certainly don't want you here!"

Loki was reminded, suddenly, of how it felt when he'd dropped from the Rainbow Bridge soon after he'd found out the truth about his heritage. After Odin had rejected him because he'd tried to help. He was hanging over the void again but this time it was Maisy standing above him telling him that all of his efforts were unappreciated. Only this time, he wasn't going to let go and vanish. This time he was going to stay and make his point. This time he'd show her.

He took a menacing step in her direction.

"Loki," Linn grabbed his arm, "Leave the apartment right now. She didn't mean dat."

"Of course she did," he sneered, "She meant every word."

"No. She didn't. You guys gonna say stuff you'll regret later. You need to go and clear your head," Linn glared at him, "Go. Come back in the mornin' and work it out den."

"I do not take orders from laundry maids," he spat, though he didn't get the satisfaction he thought he would when Linn's no-nonsense expression cracked and she looked shocked by his words. With one last roar of displeasure, he left. When he slammed the door behind him a few neighbors peeked out of their doors and he snarled at all of them, causing them to duck back inside.

He didn't know where he was headed or what he was going to do that night, but he was reluctantly in agreement that they both needed some space before they could resolve the boiling anger between them.

A note from the author: I have read through this chapter so many times and changed so many of the snippets of argument, trying to get it to make sense and be somewhat realistic (but I mean, it's a little hard to write a realistic conversation about one alien killing his wife's ex alien boyfriend so whatever). Hopefully it was understandable and not too terrible. :P I will show myself out of the PFoD door now.

Thank you so much for reading/following/favoriting! I really appreciate the attention and support!

Special thanks to my reviewers because they are super special:

Dragoncat: We shall see, we shall see... ;)

Ninja Squirrel: First of all, I am hugely flattered that you made my OCs on LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 and I wish I could see them because that is amazing. I love LEGO video games and I really want to try their Marvel ones sometime, but, sadly, I do not have access to any sort of video game console except a really old (probably no longer functioning) Wii. I don't know what else I was going to say because I've lost my train of thought now. Oh well! Your reviews always make me smile, so thank you for that! :D

xlokiswolfx: I had something nice to say in regards to your review, but I forgot it because you said my "The Shining" reference put a smile on your face and I read it in Thanos' voice and now I'm picturing Thanos watching "The Shining" and grinning. It's a scary mental image. XD

You guys, as always, are the best! Thank you!