Temper, temper

One week later...

"His eyes met mine so keen and fierce. I started; and then he seemed to smile. I could not think him dead: but his face and throat were washed with rain; the bed-clothes dripped, and he was perfectly still…"

"Why are you staring me?" a smooth voice asked. Its owner sat in an armchair and seemed preoccupied scribbling in the journal on their lap.

Surprise flickered in the blue eyes of the watcher, how had he known?

"I wasn't staring" the watcher protested, "I was just thinking".

Loki looked up from his journal and turned his sharp gaze towards the watcher "and what were you thinking Eleanor?"

Eleanor 'Nell' Bennet, former companion of the Doctor lay down her book and shrugged. Not because she was unsure, but because she wanted time to perfect her answer. To make her move in this game they had been playing.

This had been the way of things for the past week. Since she had awoken to a Silurian detective with a human wife and a Sontaran butler who told her that she was stranded in 1895 with a broken time machine and a dangerous, possibly insane, god-like being.

Nell had been in the company of dangerous men before. Before she had met the Doctor she had been a pirate and sailed under the command of Captain Edward Thatch, known to most by the more infamous title of Blackbeard.

Thatch had been a clever, calculating and brutal man, yet Nell had never feared him. She had been in awe of him and his special kind of madness. She had admired the way he used his twisted mind as a weapon that was more deadly than any sword or pistol.

But that was a long time ago in the folly of her youth. She was older and wiser now. She had seen too many times how much damage a twisted mind could inflict. So now when Nell looked at Loki (who she knew could dance circles around Thatch in both cleverness and cruelty) she did not admire him. Did she fear him? Nell didn't know but she wished she could decide. She knew at the very least he made her nervous. Every time she looked at him, she could feel the butterflies flutter in her stomach.

Nell was sure Loki was aware of this, how could he not be? True, she hid it well. Her voice never wavered around him, her hands never trembled; but she fancied a creature like Loki could sense her uneasiness, maybe even smell it.

If he could, he did not show it. Since the crash Loki had been rather quiet. He had not been friendly, but he had been mostly polite, save a few passive aggressive barbs and sharp words. It was this demeanour that made Nell so uneasy.

It was far removed from the Loki she had encountered months ago after the death of Alexander Green (the human consciousness the Doctor had trapped Loki within). That Loki had awoken from his human prison enraged and out for revenge. He had not bothered with a mask of civility; all his violence and mania had been on display for the world to see.

Now Nell almost wished for that Loki. At least she had known where she stood with him. This Loki scared the hell out of her. She wondered if one day this polite, yet cold and distant man would suddenly snap and devour her. It was like being in a cage with a tiger that had graduated from Cambridge.

Right now, the 'tiger' sat calmly in his chair and waited for Nell to answer his question.

So she answered him with another question. "What are you writing?"

Loki smiled a shark like smiled showing his white teeth and held up the journal so that she could see the pages of the book. The neat handwriting was all in a strange script that Nell couldn't recognize (Asgardian she assumed) and with slight alarm she realised that the TARDIS was not translating it for her. Still she could recognise by the way the symbols were laid out on the page that they were mostly calculations.

"What are you trying to work out?" She asked innocently, although she was certain she knew the answer.

"I am trying to remember data from the TARDIS" Loki replied turning his attention back to the journal, "I am trying to identify the cause of the crash".

"It's a pity the Doctor isn't here to help" Nell said, trying to sound nonchalant, "of course he would have been terribly cross if he could have seen what's become of the TARDIS".

There had been no sign of the Doctor and all attempts to contact him had failed. Although Loki insisted that the Doctor was safe, Nell wasn't sure she believed him.

"I've no doubt he will be cross" Loki replied, emphasising the present tense. His looked up from the book and smiled "nice try. Did they tech you that interrogation technique in UNIT?"

Yes, they had taught her.

Following her travels with the Doctor he had returned Nell to her native London – nearly 300 years on from when he had met her. Whether it had been intentional or not, Nell still did not know. But either way UNIT had found her and given her a new home, new job and a new life. That is, until she had crossed paths with Loki.

"You killed the Doctor" Nell said pointedly, she was done playing games.

"No" Loki's voice was firm and certain.

"How else could you have stolen the TARDIS?" She demanded.

"I tricked him" Loki replied.

"The Doctor is too clever to be tricked" Nell declared loyally.

"I never said it was easy" Loki murmured, turning his attention back to the journal. "Besides" he added, "I am smarter than him".

"Perhaps, but you are also mad" Nell observed, feeling somewhat satisfied as she saw the annoyance in Loki's expression.

The rattle of the tea tray broke the tension as Paternoster Row's resident Sontaran warrior, butler and nurse walked into the lounge and set a tea tray down on the table. "Tea is served" he said dutifully.

Loki, not looking up from the journal, gave the Sontaran a nod of thanks. His mother had always taught him to be polite to those who served you.

"Thank you Strax" Nell murmured hesitantly. She didn't much care for Sontarans. Her first encounter with the Doctor had involved an attempted Sontaran invasion of Earth, and although Nell knew that the Doctor counted Strax among his friends, she found it difficult to warm to him.

She drew in a breath and reached for a tea cup. Peering over his journal, Loki could see her wince as she did.

Strax noticed it too and left the room muttering something about feeble human bodies.

The young woman had survived the TARDIS crash with only minor injuries. Aside from the broken ribs (which were causing her current pain), the only telling mark of the crash was a purple bruise to the side her head where she had collided with the TARDIS floor.

Nell knew that her injuries were more due to the force with which Loki had slammed into her than the explosion itself, even though his actions had ultimately saved her life.

Why Loki had protected her was yet another mystery. However, this was one that she was not keen to solve. Asking why he had saved her would lead to why he had taken her from her home in the first place. Was it revenge? Ransom? Murder?

If Loki had planned to kill her, Nell didn't want to know. Who would want to be aware of the axe swinging above them? Besides if he wanted to kill her then why save her? What purpose could there have been for keeping her alive? Nell knew there were worse things than death, and she was sure that Loki knew that too.

"Ah Eleanor" a smooth, refined voice suddenly spoke, "quite the romantic figure isn't he?"

Nell looked up at Madame Vastra walked into the room with her wife, Jenny Flint, close on her heels.

"What?" she asked in a startled tone. Loki smiled to himself.

"Wuthering Heights" Madame Vastra explained as she sat down, "The character of Heathcliff".

"Did you think she was referring to me?" Loki snickered.

"Sorry Madame Vastra" Nell said, shooting Loki a pointed look "but I must reject your notion that Heathcliff is romantic".

"Oh Miss" Jenny said shaking her head, "how can you say he's not romantic? The way he loves Cathy..."

"He's horrible" Nell replied, "and Cathy is too. That poor Mr Linton loved her so, but it was never returned - not really, and then that Heathcliff practically drove him into an early grave".

"Perhaps he should have been called 'Alex' then" Loki quipped, and then casually lifted the journal to deflect the copy of Wuthering Heights that had been thrown at his head. He looked down at the book now lying open on the floor. "Temper, temper" he murmured.

"You don't get to mention his name" Nell said in a quiet, steely tone.

"I've more right than anyone" Loki replied evenly "all that he was belongs to me now. Correct me if I'm wrong".

Loki was goading her, Nell knew it. He toyed with her sometimes, always using Alex. She knew she should ignore it but-

"Loki..." Madame Vastra interrupted in a warning tone.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Yes I know" he said with a sarcastic smile, "perhaps I would be more comfortable reading in the study?"

Loki stood, gave a dramatic bow to the room's occupants and walked out of the room.

Jenny, watched Loki leave and shook her head. "You shouldn't let him vex you so" she told Nell.

Nell sighed, "I can't help it. He knows exactly how to get under my skin".

"And he knows it Miss" Jenny replied. She turned to her wife "I don't quite understand why he's still here Ma'am. He could go anywhere he wanted, do whatever he cared to do. I doubt anyone could stop him".

"I expect that Loki wants to remain close to the TARDIS" Madame Vastra resting her chin on her fingers, "and he cannot draw too much attention to himself lest anyone from Asgard notice. If he returned to his home world and met the present day Loki the ramifications could be catastrophic".

"Two Loki's ..." Nell shuddered, "perish the thought. One is difficult enough to bear".

Vastra turned to Jenny and gave her a quiet look. Jenny understood the signal as only a wife could. "I'll see about some more tea shall I?" she said rising to her feet and giving Nell a reassuring pat on the shoulder before she left the room.

In her chair, Madame Vastra leaned towards Nell and gave her a sympathetic smile. "I understand this is difficult for you. You are still grieving over the loss of your friend 'Alex' and it must be hard to see Loki in his place every day".

Nell closed her eyes for a moment "sometimes when I first see his face as he walks into the room I think to myself 'oh there's Alex', but then I see his eyes and I remember it's not him".

A tear rolled down her cheek. "At times I feel that the guilt will drown me".

"Why should you feel guilty?" Vastra enquired.

"Alex loved me and I broke his heart" Nell sighed, "more than that I lied to him. He never even knew the truth of his existence".

"Oh my dear you cannot change that" Vastra told her, "you must learn to bear it".

"It is difficult to bear when Alex was so kind and Loki is so cruel" Nell murmured.

Vastra nodded sympathetically, "Loki knows of your grief and guilt. But you must understand that when he taunts you, it is to remind you that he is not 'Alex', rather than simply to be unkind".

Nell gave a hollow laugh "really? You think you know him so well, do you? He's not the boy you once knew. People change. Believe me, I know".

Vastra leaned back in her chair "ah perhaps. But, he is still a boy in many ways. I do know that much. And I see one thing in Loki that you perhaps do not".

Nell pinched her brow, "what's that?"

"He is afraid".

Upstairs in the study, Loki paced around the room like the caged tiger Nell had imagined him to be.

Gone was the cool, polite mask he wore around the others. Loki's face was as dark as thunder; he clenched and unclenched his fists in agitation. He felt trapped. No, more than that. He felt as if he were suffocating. His worries were bearing down on him and squeezing the air from his lungs. How could everything have gone so wrong?

There was a firm knock at the door.

"What?!" Loki snarled, knowing full well who it would be. Only one person knocked hard enough to potentially break down the door.

The door opened and Strax entered. He saluted Loki. "I must take your measurements Sir. For the civilian attire Madame Vastra has requested".

Loki looked down at his tunic. It was tattered and singed in places from the Tardis crash. His armour, which had taken the full brunt of the blast was beyond repair and had already been disposed of.

He sighed "she wishes to dress me up as a human does she?"

"I know your frustration Sir" Strax pointed at his butler's suit. "The brethren I was grown with would not even recognize me as Sontaran".

Loki tried to hide his smirk.

Strax continued "but Madame Vastra is most insistent. The human boy must have new attire as well".

Of course due to Loki's protection Nell's clothing had remained intact save her old 18th century blue coat which had a large tear in it and Jenny had kindly assured a tearful Nell that she would mend it.

"Come back later for my measurements Strax, I am busy at the moment".

"Sir!" Strax saluted him and, with a suspicious expression on squat face, left the room.

Loki growled to himself, he knew the Sontaran didn't trust him, just as no one in No. 13 Paternoster Row trusted him. Rightly so, he supposed. They all knew him too well.

Loki shook his head and tried to focus on the problem at hand, the one that began with a broken time machine.

He needed to be ready for the Doctor. The Time Lord would come for his TARDIS.

Forget the distance of time and space, Loki knew that man would always find a way back to his precious box. At least he hoped so.

But Loki had a terrible feeling that they were beyond the Doctor's reach, and the thought brought him no comfort. He would admit it to no one, but right now he needed the Doctor. And not just to deal with the broken TARDIS.

Even now he could feel the white hot pain of the blast from the core hitting him in the back as he dove to protect Nell. It had been far more excruciating than the pain he had experienced when he had been turned into a human, and it had wounded him in ways that no one else could see.

Loki stared at the tea tray on the table in front of him. He focused on the empty teacup and extended his arm. He tried to push the cup with his mind and move it away from him. It was a simple telekinetic exercise, one of the first his Mother had taught him when he was small by using a little green block. He still remembered the look of amazement on her face as he had sent the block flying across the room on his first attempt, "you are a natural my son" she had said, "perhaps one day you could be the most skilled sorcerer on Asgard".

Now Loki was willing, begging the tea cup to move, even just an inch. But it remained still. As had every other object he had tried to move. Just as his face remained the same, no matter how often he tried to change it. His talents were all but gone, and he did not know when they would come back.

If they would come back.

With a scream of frustration Loki picked up the tea cup and flung it across the room.

Thoughts so far? Please read and review :-)