A suitable distraction

In silence Loki and Nell headed back towards No. 13 Paternoster Row. When they got there, they found the house dark and silent.

Nell looked around with a frown. "Madame Vastra? Jenny? Strax?" Silence.

Quietly she dropped to one knee and removed the pistol she had strapped to her ankle.

Loki looked at her with amusement. "What's that for?"

"Weeping Angels" Nell replied standing back up. Loki gave a snort of laughter and she narrowed her eyes. "Yes I know it won't do anything but I feel better to be armed".

"I don't think you need to worry about the Weeping Angels" Loki told her, "they've sent their message. Now they will wait".

"Then where is everybody?" Nell asked.

Loki disappeared into the kitchen and returned with some matches. He entered the sitting room and began to light a few candles. "I think the most plausible explanation is that Madame Vastra and the others are out looking for us. We did run out of a party remember?"

"Oh yeah" Nell remembered. She hugged herself a little, "seems like ages ago".

She looked at Loki's slim figure in the flickering candlelight. "Does Madame Vasta know? About your powers I mean".

Loki, with his back to her, continued to light candles. "I expect so. But unlike you, she has the good grace not to talk about it".

Nell shrugged "I'm not really known for my good graces am I? Are your powers gone for good?" she added quietly.

Loki extinguished the match. "I sincerely hope not. I feel so weak, so useless. Tonight we were surrounded by an enemy and I could do nothing!"

"Rubbish, you got us out of there alive" Nell said flatly, "you used your brains and that silver tongue of yours. They're better weapons than tricks and illusions".

Loki looked at her and smiled bitterly "you know the Doctor used to say the exact same thing to me".

Nell nodded and gave him a small smile "yes, and have you ever known the Doctor to be wrong?"

"Once or twice" Loki responded more to himself than to her.

Nell's smile faded. "What did the Weeping Angels want Loki? I know that you know".

Loki looked down at the heavy wooden side table and placed a hand gently on it. "They want what everybody wants. Power".

He didn't need to look up to see Nell's expression. He could practically feel the heat of her glare. "Don't give me that evasive rubbish. What are the sands?"

Loki looked back up at the young woman. Even in the dim candlelight he could see two bright red spots of anger burning on her cheeks. 'Well', he thought, 'perhaps I should at least give her this truth'.

"The Sands" Loki said as he walked over to Nell, "are the Sands of Time, a nickname for one of the six Infinity Stones".

"Infinity stones?" Nell asked.

"They are objects of immense ancient power" Loki told her, "you've seen the impact of several before, even if you did not know what they were at the time. The Tesseract is one, the gem in the Chiaturi scepter I once wielded is another. And already we have encountered the Sands without realising it".

"The TARDIS explosion" Nell said softly.

"Correct" Loki nodded, "the TARDIS felt the power of the stone and was overwhelmed by it".

Nell drew in a breath "and I was almost certain that it was you that had damaged the TARDIS".

"Really?" Loki asked, "You thought I would destroy an object as powerful as the TARDIS as soon as it had come into my possession? I may not be the most well-adjusted individual but I'm not completely insane".

"You've given me cause to think otherwise in the past" Nell pointed out and she furrowed her brow, "all right. Perhaps the crash wasn't your fault, but you knew what caused the crash didn't you? You realised after you went back into the TARDIS?"

"Yes" Loki admitted.

"How?" Nell asked.

Loki explained the TARDIS echoes to her. Nell winced. "That's how you knew that song isn't it? You saw me".

"I did" Loki nodded, "you are full of surprises Eleanor".

Nell's cheeks flushed. "I have never been anything other than honest about who I was with you Loki!" she scolded him, "but you – you are always hiding the truth. Why didn't you tell anyone about the sands? You could have told Madame Vastra, you could have told me!"

"Perhaps, but would you have believed me or thought it was a lie?" Loki demanded, "Even until tonight I was not sure I believed it. The Sands should have been safely locked away on Galifrey, not loose in Victorian London!"

"Galifrey?!" Nell exclaimed.

"Of course" Loki told her, "Who else would possess the time stone but the Time Lords?"

Nell's expression darkened "and who could steal the stone but someone who knew where Galifrey was?" She gripped the pistol tightly, " Bloody hell, it's her isn't it? She's here! I knew her being dead was too good to be true!"

Nell started towards the door; Loki grabbed her by wrist and stopped her.

"Suppose that you are right" he told her, "Do you think it is wise to go after someone like that without any sort of plan? Besides, we don't even know where she could be".

"Then we go looking" Nell replied firmly. She sounded confident but Loki could see the tremors in her hands.

Gently he took the pistol from her and set it down on the table. Then he took her hands in his and looked at her earnestly. "We wait here for Madame Vastra" he told her, "we plan our next move - and then we go hunting".

Nell sighed and closed her eyes briefly, she knew Loki was right but she was anxious "I swore I'd kill her if I ever got the chance. I don't know that I can sit here idle knowing that she's out there".

Loki smiled and stroked Nell's cheek with his hand. "Am I not a suitable distraction?"

He leaned in and kissed her. It was far removed from the soft, gentle kiss that Alex had given her so long ago. It passionate and hungry and Nell returned it with fervour. For the longest moment she was lost in the kiss. She could feel Loki's body pushing her against the table, his arms around her, his hand running down the length of her arm, and then- he suddenly jerked her arm downwards there was a soft click.

"What the hell?!" Nell cried out falling to her knees. She tugged at the adamantium handcuffs tethering her to the heavy wooden table. "Damn it Loki!"

"I'm sorry Eleanor" Loki said kneeling beside her with an apologetic smile, "this is not a reflection of my feelings for you, honestly. But I cannot pass up a chance at power like this, not when it is so close. You would only try to stop me, and you would probably get killed in the process. I don't want that".

He looked thoughtful "then I suppose I am protecting you, perhaps this is a reflection of my feelings".

"Loki" Nell began, trying to keep her voice calm, "please don't do this. You're better than this, I know it".

"No" Loki said quietly, "I'm not".

He stood up slowly and started for the door. "Goodbye Eleanor. If it's any consolation, I will probably kill her".

"Loki stop!" Nell called out, "you don't even know where to find her!"

"Oh I have a pretty good idea" Loki replied, "don't you?"

The response was a bullet fired from the gun Nell had pulled off the table; it whizzed past his nose and hit the plaster wall.

"A warning shot?" He smiled, "You really do care". Then as swiftly as possible, Loki left No. 13 Paternoster Row and Nell's cries of protest behind.

In the sitting room Nell tugged at the handcuffs, let out a string of expletives and groaned. "Thatch, that fling with Cesare Borgia and now Loki… I really have terrible taste in men".