He looked up at her as he re-entered the room, "I am not traumatised."

She rubbed her jaw; "tell that to my jaw," she replied flatly.

"I heard every word of that," he said, sitting down. He handed her the sandwich, "I don't really want this." She took the sandwich and took a bite out of it. She would eat just about anything.

"I stand up to my boss on a daily basis, sometimes he can't see ethical issues. I understand that a lot of good men died, but I know that they, or at least my men, wouldn't want to see you go under," she explained through half a mouthful of shredded sandwich, sitting back down on her leather lounge. She checked her watch. It was about two AM. "Sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for SHIELD, I have too much heart."

He smiled wryly, "thank you."

She nodded, "Semper fi," Bella said simply, "It's Latin, it means always faithful. That's what we Marines are," she took another bite out of her sandwich and smiled, "damn good sandwich."

"Thanks."

"You see, the Corps is like a massive family," she told him, "no man gets left behind, especially not the weakest of our number. That's why I won't leave you to the Rock."

"What exactly is the Rock?"

Bella smiled wryly, "the Rock is the name we gave to a prison called Alcatraz, it's a tourist attraction now, but it was famed to be inescapable, until somebody escaped," she took another bite of the sandwich, "but we made a prison cell for you. We call it the Rock."

"I'm flattered."

"Tony designed it especially to hold you. Unlike the other one, it had booby traps inside the cell," she said, "it's really cool, but not when you're trying to escape," she smiled, "they tested it on me. I had to beg Tony to let me out after three days because I needed to go to the toilet." She took another bite out of the sandwich and smiled at him, "I don't want you in there, it's friggin' cruel."

"Thank you," he smiled wryly, "thank you for accepting me," he didn't think that he had said 'thank you' so many times in the same conversation.

Bella laughed, "It's a dirty job but someone has to do it." He laughed too. "It's not for me, Sophie really likes you," Bella told him, "she's always been nuts over the Vikings, and to have a real Norse god in her house, she's stoked. Out of all the gods she wants to be her friends, you're on top, followed by Kathulu. She's just a bit pissed that all these amazing things happen and she can't say a word."

He smiled, but didn't say a word.

"My baby girl's so important to me," Bella continued, "She's the best thing that happened to me, although her father was the worst. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her." Bella smiled sadly, "he treats her like shit too, Daniel, Sophie's deadbeat dad. Soph bought him a beautiful pendant, dark green onyx, he likes that stuff. She saved up her money for weeks, and in the end I still paid most of it. She gave it to him on father's day, and he threw it back in her face because it wasn't good enough," was it his imagination or was Bella beginning to cry? "When she got home, she told me she wanted a father's day gift, or either a new dad or no dad."

Loki inhaled sharply, "that sounds shockingly familiar," but then he reached under his jumper and a leather throng dangled from his fingers, on the end was am oval green onyx pendant. Bella's eyes widened for a second. Sophia had given him this before she had settled into bed. She wanted to talk to him for a second.

"She told me it would protect me from monsters," he smiled, turning the small crystal in his hand, and Bella watched as his lips twitched into a small but warm smile, "I am honored that she would give me an object this important."

Bella smiled at him and patted his shoulder, "If you believe it will help you, it will. Belief's very powerful."

"I am truly sorry."

"For what?"

He was silent for a long time, but then he looked down at his shoes, studying the laces of his gym boots, "I killed your men, in cold blood. I am the Destructor."

"To what do I owe this mood swing?"

"The Shrine," he answered simply.

She smiled sadly, putting an arm around him, "do you want to know why I took this assignment?"

"You were ordered to," Loki replied cynically.

"Apart from that," she bit back, "I wanted to see the great monster, the so-called Destroyer, but I don't see a homicidal psychopath," she held him a little tighter, "I see a disturbed young mind, I see all the signs of textbook PTSD, I see a kid, scared, out of control. I don't know what happened, but I do know that something happened."

"Listen, Rodriguez, I learned young that the only one I could ever trust was me," he snapped back at her, "that way nobody could ever let me down."

Bella sighed, "but that means that nobody can help you either," she smiled reassuringly, "I want to help, Loki. Please let me. Trust me."

"Give me a break."

"I am a mother first, a Marine second and a SHIELD agent last," she sighed, "I will not betray you, Loki. You are one of my men now."

He looked up at her for a long time, "I have heard that many times before."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes hard and soft at the same time. He shivered slightly, something about the way she was looking at him made him slightly nervous, "Semper fi," she said simply.