Disclaimer: No, I do not own Thor! Or Anastasia, who is mrunicorn's. All I own in this is Karina and the plot.
Also, a quick warning. This hasn't been completely Beta'd yet, so there will most likely be some mistakes. Please bear with me.
Karina hadn't been the least bit worried about traveling by Bifröst up until now, too caught up in the excitement of getting to stay and planning out what she would bring back from Midgard to spare the mode of transportation a thought.
She certainly was now though, staring down the rainbow bridge with wide eyes. "We're crossing that?"
Thor had to chuckle. Punch a God and Prince of Asgard in the face? Sure. Stand up to Gerd Tyrsdóttir as if she were a regular commoner? Perfectly fine. Drink the giant Viking god Volstagg under the table? Not a problem for the mortal. And she was having problems crossing the bridge?
"Would you like me to carry you?" he teased.
She huffed indignantly, causing him to laugh harder as she went to stalk across to the Bifröst with her nose in the air. He shook his head and strolled after her- thankful he hadn't had the misfortune of an imbecile who would cross with her eyes closed like his brother had with Anastasia.
"Hello Prince Thor, Lady Karina. I would assume you would like to travel down to Midgard to collect her things, yes?"
Karina blinked, her eyes furrowing. Had someone called ahead to inform him of their needs?
"Hello," Thor greeted cordially, chuckling as Karina's eyes widened.
"Heimdall, right?" Karina murmured politely, subconsciously hiding just the slightest bit behind Thor.
"How do you-"
"She is familiar with us, Thor, as the mortals of old once were. She is descendant of them as well, if I am not mistaken."
"That certainly explains a lot…" Thor muttered as he studied the girl, mostly to himself.
"Will you be remaining in Asgard a while, then?"
Karina nodded, "Perhaps. I think I would like to, in any case. There isn't much to tie me to Earth now that Anastasia's here."
Heimdall almost seemed to smile at this. "I know."
"Of course you do," she muttered dryly.
They were flying through space moments later, Karina clinging to the god and letting out an uncharacteristic shriek. He laughed, putting one arm around her to hold her to him. "It will be over in a minute." He told her gently, still chuckling at her reaction to the admittedly disorienting experience.
True to his word, they quickly landed on solid ground. Karina immediately stumbled away from him, a little dizzy much to his amusement. He reached out and steadied her, grinning as she got her sea legs back and took in their surroundings.
Karina grinned as she saw her home, a not quite shiny silver Airstream nestled in a tiny cove of trees where it wasn't exactly supposed to be parked. She immediately ran for the door and went inside, Thor following closely behind her.
"These are your living quarters?" he questioned curiously, leaning against the doorframe. "Your chambers are tiny." He said, not unkindly.
Karina huffed, glaring at him over her shoulder from where she was digging around in the kitchenette cabinets. "It's cozy. I like it. Be nice to the Airstream, Odinson, or you will be sleeping outside."
She suddenly tossed a small silver-wrapped package at him, the god catching it easily in front of his chest. "What's this?"
She had gotten one for herself and opened it now to reveal two small brown rectangles with white squiggles on them. "It's a Pop Tart. You eat them."
Thor ripped the package open and took a Viking-sized bite out of one of the 'Pop Tarts', grinning. "I like it."
"Good. Coffee?"
"What is coffee?"
Karina blinked, looking at him as if he'd gone mad. "You don't have coffee on Asgard?"
He shook his head.
She sighed, putting some coffee on and pulling two mugs out of the cabinets that looked as if they'd seen better days. "How do you people survive?"
"We drink mead. Or wine. Things of that sort."
"Of course…" she muttered. "Going to have to bring some with me then…and the coffee maker…and hide both from Anastasia…"
Thor had finished both Pop Tarts by now and dropped the wrapper on the ground, a little too used to having servants around to clean up after him. "Another?"
Karina directed him to where the box of Pop Tarts was stored before walking back to the 'bedroom' to pack what she would need. He took out the box and set it on the counter before sitting himself down next to it and helping himself.
Thor hopped down from the counter after finishing off most of the box and strolled outside, the last package in his hands. Karina came back in a moment later to find the remnants of what been the stash of Pop Tarts she had been kind enough to share scattered about the counter. She froze for a moment, her eyes wide as the realization sank in.
The bloke had eaten all of her bloody Pop Tarts! Seriously, so not fucking cool!
"TTTHHHHOOOOORRRRRR!" she shouted dramatically.
Thor walked in, confusion written clearly on his face. "What?" he asked around a mouthful of the very last bites of her Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop Tarts.
She glared at him through narrowed eyes, taking a threatening step forward and grabbing a steak knife. "Thor," she snarled, "you had better start running and you had better start running now."
He stood there and stared at her for a moment, tilting his head. He started though when she took another step forward and held the knife up threateningly. She gave chase immediately; out the door, around the Airstream a few times, and into the surrounding woods. They ran for about fifteen minutes before they had to stop and rest a little, breathing heavily as they stared at each other.
After a few moments of this they suddenly burst out laughing, Karina falling back on her bum from where she'd been bent over resting on her knees and causing the two of them to laugh even harder.
They eventually settled down, Thor joining her on the ground.
"My apologies for consuming all of your Pop Tarts, I had not realized-"
"Shhh…" she said, holding up a hand to silence him. "too soon."
Thor chuckled a little, "I'm sure if we bring some with us you can get my brother to make more."
Her eyes widened and she grinned, "Really?"
"Really."
Karina was busy doing an overall inventory on the contents of the Airstream and determining what she needed to add to the shopping list for her return to Asgard (she planned on staying a while and shopping wasn't on the top of her favorite things list) when she noticed Thor staring at her small television with a completely transfixed expression. "Uhm, Earth to Thunder God? Anybody home? Hellooo?"
"I thought Midgardians didn't do magic?" He said, tilting his head with his eyes still trained on the screen. "The pictures are moving. I have only seen my brother do such things to entertain Anastasia."
Karina, not having an answer for him, simply shrugged and went back to what she was doing. She was almost done packing, and surprisingly eager to go back. It was silent for about five minutes (the TV was muted) before Thor spoke again.
"Do all you mortals do such strange things?"
"Like what?" she questioned, unable to see as her back was to the TV.
"Assault each other whilst having a tussle? I do not recall you doing so."
Karina choked on air, pounding her chest to dispel the coughing as she immediately flicked the TV off. She flushed slightly as she caught sight of what looked like a bite mark on the side of his neck, swallowing. "Uh…"
Jesus Christ, Josh. She thought. You are never house-sitting for me again. Ever.
It took her a moment to realize that he was actually still waiting for an answer, and when she did she let out a small groan. "There some who are into that, but they're a small group and even most other Midgardians find them odd."
"I see." Thor said, moving to find something else to do as he lost interest in the blank black screen. "Are you nearly ready?"
"The more you rush me the slower I'm going to go."
He sighed, knowing that was true, and went to lie out on her bed (his feet comically hanging off the end from half way down his calves) and stare at the ceiling. He let out a breath, folding his hands together behind his head. "Hmm…"
"What?" she questioned without turning back to face him.
He propped himself up on his elbows and watched her as she opened a large oak box and pulled out a deadly looking dagger. "Sometimes I look at you," he said, "and I swear I see a fellow Asgardian before me instead of a human."
She paused for a moment before looking down at the dagger with a bittersweet smile. "My father used to joke around about how I was his little Aesir Angel stolen from the Halls of Asgard to bring light to the meager palaces of Earth."
"What happened?" he asked gently, sensing the sadness in her tone.
She shrugged, putting the dagger back in the box and putting the box with the rest of her things in the corner by the door. "I grew up." She said simply. "I lost him. And I'm hardly an Angel."
"I disagree." He said, continuing when she looked up at him. "In Asgard our definition of Angel is a little different. They are strong, brave, intelligent, and beautiful but fearsome when pushed too far." He stood and walked over to her. "The ultimate decision of who lives and dies on the field of battle falls to them because they alone can shoulder such weight. They may not always be kind and they're not perfect, but where I'm from they are among the highest respected beings there is. That is an Angel, that is a Valkyrie. You are all of those things, Karina—You are an Angel. Don't tell yourself otherwise."
She was silent for a moment, staring at him with wide eyes as she took in what he said in bewilderment. That had been…surprising, at best. She hadn't been expecting any response, really, but that caliber of compliment threw her completely off kilter. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but he simply smiled and shook his head. She wasn't really that upset about it either—she didn't have any words to say.
"May I kiss you?" He questioned, leaning in just the slightest bit closer and giving her an open, honest smile.
She could do little but nod before he closed the distance and pressed his lips to hers softly.
Thor grinned, laying back against the pillows with the blankets draped over his body from the waist down as he watched Karina scrambling about the room in search of her clothing, a towel wrapped around her and her hair in utter disarray. He laughed as she straightened up and held out the remnants of what had been her undergarments with a raised eyebrow.
"Again?" she hissed, "Freaking again?"
He shrugged lightly, grinning wider. "I did not receive any complaints from you."
Karina opened her mouth to protest, but closed it upon realizing she had nothing to retaliate with. Finally she just narrowed her eyes at him, stealthily grabbed the pillow he was laying on, and walloped him in the face with it.
"It is unwise to start something you will not be able to finish, Karina." Thor said with a devilish grin, picking up another pillow and moving to pursue her with it.
She let out a squeak, dashing outside and laughing as she heard him giving chase.
"You'll never catch me alive!" she cried over her shoulder, running faster.
Thor threw his pillow at her, and the unexpected impact knocked Karina over. He was on her before she could get up, trying to get his pillow back (it didn't return to him the way Mjolnir did) and 'beat' her into submission.
Karina laid an assault on him with the pillows and managed to roll them over so she was on top, whopping him in the face with the pillow again. "Who said I can't finish?" she grinned.
Realizing that he was quickly losing, Thor decided to turn to alternative tactics—distraction.
So fending off the pillows with one hand, he moved to trail one hand up her side and felt a slow grin spread across his face as she jerked when his fingers reached her ribs.
"Are you ticklish, my Lady?"
"No." she said hastily, not meeting his eyes.
"Really?" he smirked, moving his fingers again and laughing heartily as she let out a squeak. She glared.
"Thor Odinson, I swear to Gods-"
The words died on her tongue when he began tickling her in earnest, the pillow fight completely forgotten in favor of a new battle.
Once he had gathered Karina's bags and had them sent to her chambers, Loki decided that it would be amusing if he had Heimdall retrieve his brother and the mortal as they were – a position that he understood as harmless but knew would be taken differently by others. He at least had the decency to magically ensure they were clothed first, though.
So that's how Karina and Thor found themselves moments later, Thor very nearly pinning her to the floor of the Bifröst wearing nothing but a pair of trousers and her in a dressing gown.
"The two of you were taking a rather long time," Loki explained, not really bothering to hide a smirk, "though I suppose now we see why."
Karina pushed Thor off, the sudden move catching him off guard and knocking him back on his bottom while she shot to her feet, more than a little embarrassed.
"I would say that I'm going to tell on you to your wife," Karina said, "except for the fact that your wife happens to be Anastasia and Anastasia will only serve to get herself injured."
Thor stood, brushing himself off and looking none too pleased with having been put on the ground by a Midgardian whose overall bodily proportions were on par with that of a willow tree. "I am positive you will find a way to gain retribution."
"Oh I know I will. I'll just actually have to think about it now."
"There is to be quite the soiree this evening down by the lake, as the word goes. Hosted by the usual suspects of course, so expect plenty of drink and music." Loki grinned, changing the subject. He turned to Karina, "Lord Fandral has offered to escort you if my brother 'drops the ball' as you Midgardians often say. I believe he was being facetious, though."
"I will certainly not be 'dropping the ball', then." Thor said with just the slightest bit of a possessive edge.
Loki picked up on it, if the quirk at the corner of his mouth was anything to go by. He didn't comment though.
"I shall be at your door in an hour, Karina."
Karina nodded her consent, and the three headed their separate ways for the time being.
So, who's surprised at Karina's secret weakness? ;)
Anyway, yes. I know this chapter is shorter and not as good of quality as normal and I'm sorry for that. Hopefully the next one will be better because it won't be so much of a filler chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this anyway!
Also, a quick note. This story will NOT be affected by the events of Thor: The Dark World. The basic plot of Love Counts to Ten was planned before the movie existed and takes place before the first one regardless as it is an AU where the movie Thor and The Avengers never happened because Loki quite obviously never went to the dark side. Thank you, Anastasia!
Anyway, that's all for now folks! Chapter Five has been planned and should be here relatively soon!
Adios, Boadicea out.
Reviews get these awesome green and purple cupcakes I made. Flames get stabbed with Karina's steak knife.