Chapter Thirty-Five: Surgically

Loki brushed a strand of curled, brown hair out of his face. He made his way back and wished he could have done more. Eve had been shooting question after question at him, begging for an answer to just one of them. But without being able to actually speak to her and convey his meaning through his eyes, it would have never been enough. Any answers would have just led to more questions. It would have never been enough, not without actually talking to her. He needed to see her to know that. He wanted her forgiveness and realized very plainly that he didn't deserve it. Didn't that mean that if she could forgive him she had no self worth? No respect for either of them? The thought made him cringe. He couldn't care for a girl like that. Then again, he had put her in an impossible position. Nothing she did in response would be satisfactory to him. He wanted forgiveness but couldn't see the sense in it. He was swimming in a sea of unnecessary questions. And he needed to talk to her with more flexibility. It didn't seem possible.

He pushed open Darcy's door and she was nowhere to be seen. He turned to look in the bathroom and she was sitting on the counter with her fingernails tapping away. "How did it go?" She asked.

"I accomplished nothing," he admitted as he slipped back into his normal form and set the dog down.

"That's too bad," she sounded bored.

Loki narrowed his eyes at her. "I did apologize."

"I'm sure you did." Loki continued to give her an intimidating stare until she went on. "I just have a strong feeling that it sucked, that's all."

"Pardon?"

"Feel free to tell me what happened, if you feel like it didn't totally suck." More glares came her way. "Like I said." She hopped off the counter. "Did you have to take my phone? I was bored out of my mind." She held out her hand for him to give it back.

"You can't have it back," Loki shook his head. He was annoyed by her certainty that his apology had been unsatisfactory. Mostly because she was right. "I couldn't say very much, could I? What was I supposed to do?"

"Don't you have brain powers?" Darcy asked as her arms crossed in frustration that she wouldn't be getting her cell back. "That doesn't sound right. Mind powers...thought...powers...you know what I mean!"

"I do. I wish I didn't, but I do."

"Then you could say whatever you wanted! I realize that pretending to be me is a lot of work. I do have a big personality. But I refuse to believe that you couldn't do two things at once."

"It's not the same," Loki defended himself. "It didn't feel right."

"You pussied out, didn't you?" Darcy smirked.

"Excuse me?"

"Admit it. You totally chickened out! You were worried she'd reject you and give you up!"

Loki grabbed her wrist and dragged her further into the room, refusing to hold the remainder of the conversation in a bathroom doorway. "Even if she rejected me, she would sound like a fool to try and give me up! She would have never-"

"Then you were just scared she would reject you! Even better!"

Loki felt his face wrinkle in annoyance. "Better?" He wanted to slap her.

"You are oh-so smitten," she gloated and drew a heart in the air with her fingers.

"Stop that. I was not sca-"

"Okay. Let me guess. You ran in there, apologized and ran back out. You were gone for maybe fifteen minutes. I don't have an exact number because you took my damn phone, but-"

"It's part of my costume," he interrupted. "I assume you never go anywhere without it."

"Not until recently," she sneered.

Loki pursed his lips in thought and slid his tongue over his teeth. The girl was certainly perceptive. He insisted in his own mind that she didn't know the intimate details that made his situation so very delicate.

"So?" She prompted.

"What?"

"Was I right? You ran in there and ran out?"

"I didn't have a choice."

"I really, really hate when people say that. Of course you had a choice. You didn't have to go there at all! You could have demanded to spend the night there! There are no limits-especially when my body is involved." Loki raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," she went on, "I know how that sounded. You know what I'm getting at. Just admit you got scared. You had no plan and it didn't work in your favor."

As her words pressed into his lobes with such oppression, he felt the knife twisting. "Shut your mouth," he ordered with such certainty that she didn't question him. "I said I needed to apologize and that's what I did. She can be happy with it or not. I don't-"

"Okay, you are not about to say that you don't care. You clearly-"

"Shut. Your. Mouth." He pointed a warning finger. "I will not think twice about removing your tongue entirely. Surgically. So that you are forced to go on living without it." She held up her hands by her chest in defeat and retreated to her bed to flip through a magazine. Loki sat down in the corner chair once more and tried to think up potential plans of action. Eve would never be alone. Was Darcy right? Had he wasted this opportunity? If so, he would never admit it. He grabbed Darcy's phone out of his pocket and traced his fingers across the bejeweled casing. "I've got it." He stood abruptly.

"That was pretty fucking fast," Darcy maintained eye contact with her trashy weekly edition and hoped that if she mumbled, her words wouldn't get her tongue taken away.

"When I was on my way there, you were propositioned by the soldier!"

"What?! Who? Cap?! WHAT?"

Loki nodded, happy to see this created such a reaction from her. "Yes. He offered to walk you to Eve's room and made a joke. I stated Sasha was 'too cute to say no to' and he implied that reminded him of you."

"Awh! That's kinda lame but really very sweet."

"He asked for your phone number."

"Did you give it to him? Give me my phone back!"

"No. I don't know your phone number."

Darcy's eyes grew wide. "Did you turn him down? You said no to a super hunky superhero whilst in my body?!"

"Darcy-"

"That's it. You are officially banned from ever being me ever again!"

Loki laughed and quickly changed to mimic her form once more. "Feel free to stop me with your magic." She stared at him with stone cold eyes. "Go ahead! I don't even have any barrier spells up!"

"Stop that," she sounded actually very sad.

He took back his own appearance and frowned. She'd managed to take the fun out of it. "I didn't turn him down. I told Jane to give him your number."

"Oh," she perked back up. "That's great! When is he supposed to call me?"

"Since Jane is watching Eve right now, she can't go find him to give it to him. Unless you call her and beg her to do it now."

Darcy looked curious and hesitant. "I realize I've said this dozens of times by now, but you have my phone. Oh, and also, you can imitate my voice-why don't you just do it?"

"You know what makes her tick, you know how to really get under her skin, right? You can make her go find him now."

"I could, yes. But Thor would still be in the room. I don't see how-"

Loki chucked her phone onto the mattress and it sat there waiting to be used for a few heavy moments. "I'm going to talk to my brother. I've decided."

"That's great! Do you think he'll let you speak or just start punching right away?" Darcy joked as she reached for her phone.

Loki leaned over the bed and grabbed her shoulder, using his thumb to prop her chin up so she had to look at him. Her fingers grazed her phone but it was just out of reach. "You will take this seriously."

She was taken aback by the way he commanded her attention. "Okay." She agreed in one short word. She had no intentions to betray him or lead him to believe she would. She had experienced his rage before in the form of almost being choked to death by him. She had no desire to see that side of him again. Though she continued to berate him and tease him as though she had no fear, she did. She could see when the time to be ridiculous had come to an end. It may not have seemed like it to the naked eye, but she did have at least a small amount of self control. She took her phone from its resting place and dialed Jane's number, making sure to show Loki she was indeed calling her friend.

Jane picked up the phone after the third ring. "What's up?"

"I need you to go give Cap my phone number," Darcy blurted. Loki widened his eyes and Darcy waved her arm to shush him.

"I already said I would, hun," Jane said with a small laugh. "I'm-"

"I know you're on babysitting duty right now. But I'm going nuts here! He said I was cute! I feel bad I didn't give it to him before!"

"I'm sure if you went to find him, he would-"

"No! I can't! You have to. Please? Before he changes his mind?"

"Darcy, I can't, I-"

"JANE!"

"Okay, stop interrupting me!" Jane shouted.

"It would only take you a minute to find him. Please? Please?! You'd be right back and I won't tell anyone! Plus, let's be honest. If something dangerous happens, Thor's gonna be doing the heavy lifting anyway."

Jane sighed. "Fine. But you owe me!"

"Oh Jane! Thank you so much! I do owe you! So much!"

"I'll let you know how it goes, okay? Bye, Darcy."

She touched to hang up the call and when she looked up, Loki wasn't standing straight ahead of her anymore. She walked to the bathroom with her phone in hand and when she got there, she saw herself primping in the mirror. "Have you ever thought of doing something else with your hair?" Loki asked as he pulled it back and combed it with his fingers, eventually letting it fall back to its original place.

"You're not going to talk to your brother, are you?"

Loki smiled at her and snatched her phone. "My oh my, you do catch on quick."