Softening the Blow

"Where did you end up this time?" Kara laughed, noticing her friend's intense blush that not even her soft glow could hide. One look at Tyr showed the nurse the reason behind her embarrassed smile. The trio was standing outside the hospital where the nurse was just finishing up her break. The two had just appeared out of nowhere, the Rainbow Bridge dropping the couple off where she wanted to go without her having to do anything. People gathered in amazement, but Kara and Althea just ignored them as much as possible. "Where did Heimdall send you?"

"I spent some time in the realm of Jotunheim. It wasn't what I would call relaxing; but the Frost giants were… hospitable and so was the realm." Tyr came up behind her, running his hand through her long, long locks, which he insisted hang free when he was around her.

"I'd love to visit another planet for a while. It would beat dealing with room six," the nurse laughed. Thea joined her, knowing who she was talking about. "What was it like in Jotunheim?"

"It was a frozen wasteland. Even colder than Canada in the dead of Winter if that's possible. The land is littered with the bodies of the dead; the Frost Giants are a very warlike people. The young men constantly challenged Tyr for me, it was all so embarrassing. And I had to restrict my power there like I do here because their society is so violent. But the King wanted to talk about their sun and adding to its longevity. I did what I could for them and got the heck out of dodge."

"Wait. You can fix a sun now?" The girl smiled mischievously, leaning back against her man.

"My woman is very talented," the Madrul said against her ear, delighting in her shiver. Thea moved away from him, causing him to frown. Since they'd met officially, she'd been very antsy and wary around him. He didn't appreciate it, especially when he had already pledged his life to her. He would have to work on that. He was impatient to be with her and it had already been a month. He opened his mouth to challenge her about her persistent fear and her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and groaned.

"Don't worry, hon. I gotta get back to work anyway. Hey, now that you're back, we should get together. Maybe karaoke? You can bring your man with you and everything. Maybe he can get you to sing for the machine!" The Khaleesi flushed at the teasing, turning away to answer her call.

"Hello?"

"Why aren't you at the compound?" Stark demanded angrily. "I can't protect you if you don't go where you're supposed to when you're on this planet."

"I… I can't control where the Rainbow Bridge puts me, Mr. Stark," she said in a quavering voice. "I was about to call Mr. Jeffrey to come and pick me up."

"Considering that it dropped you in front of your workplace, I'd say that you have at least some control over your destination." Her glow was gone and tears were trailing down her face as he continued yelling at her. Tyr snatched her phone away from her and growled into it to shut the man up. All around him, people that were recording the Khaleesi backed away in terror.

"My mate has no desire to be locked up the minute she returns to Midgard. She wanted to see her friends and the Bridge responded to that desire. I have been patient with your disrespect of my lady up till now, but I will not tolerate her tears, Tony. You will apologize to her and keep a civil tongue in your head when addressing her, lest you lose it." He passed the phone back to his gawking mate with a self-satisfied grin on his face. He was willing to be tolerant of these humans up to a point, but no further.

"M-Mr. Stark?"

"I'm sorry for making you cry, Thea," the millionaire said, his voice quaking with fear. "You have to understand that I'm barely keeping Ross at bay here. He wants you on lockdown as much as possible. I know that doesn't work for you," he continued quickly.

"Maybe… Maybe he should t-talk to my man," she suggested quietly. "I'm not trying to be unreasonable or make your life harder, Mr. Stark. But I missed my friends. I missed them and this is the one place that I know that they are. I'm sorry."

"It's fine Althea," he sighed. "The guys should be there to pick you up directly. I just texted them to let them know where you are. I'll talk to you when you have another mission, okay?"

"Y-yes sir," she said immediately. Stark disconnected the line and dropped the phone as if afraid that her mate would come through the line after him. That growl… Tyr Anasazi was a very dangerous man. Perhaps Thaddeus Ross needed to learn just how dangerous he was. Resolving to give Althea's number to the man the next time he complained about 'The Asset', he picked up the device off the floor and went to get himself another drink.

… …

"Ms. Thea?" Althea put her phone away and turned to the child fearfully approaching her. She smiled in a friendly manner and the mind-numbing terror decreased on the street. The little girl approached. "My mama wants to know if she can have an autograph."

"O-of course she can, sweetie," the Nietszchean smiled, looking up at the anxious mother. The anxiety melted out of the mother at that, and other people started coming closer for autographs and selfies. She cast a nervous glance at the Madrul as she accommodated the crowd, but he only smiled at her indulgently. Her glow increased as her heart calmed. She could admit that a part of her was still terrified of him. His wrath so long ago had been her reality. A month of tiptoeing around him wasn't enough to completely get rid of that fear, was it?

Tyr pulled her away after the last person in the crowd asked for an autograph, wrapping her in his arms and holding her stiffened form against him until she relaxed.

"What's the matter, baby? You're always so tense around me," he murmured against her hair.

Thea shuddered, caught between desire, embarrassment, and fear. "I… I just…"

"I used to enjoy your fear, you know," he continued conversationally, holding her firmly when she attempted to escape him. "I thought it symbolized my complete mastery over those around me. I was a fool. All it symbolized was the fact that I was hurting the woman I was made to love. Your fear hurts me, little one. How can I ease your troubled mind?"

" I… I don't know," she finally admitted. "You scare me; you're so strong. And you spent the last… however long plotting my painful death. How am I supposed to trust you? With my life? With my heart? How do I know that you won't change your mind one day and start slaughtering-" He covered her mouth with his suddenly, unable to stand her misery. He coaxed her into his kiss, relieved when she melted into the gesture. Despite his bravado when they first met, this was his second kiss. He wanted to do it right. A soft moan rubbed its way out of the back of her throat, boosting his confidence. He tapered the kiss before it could get too heated, groaning at the dazed look in her beautiful brown eyes. Instead of delving into her sweet mouth the way that he wanted to, he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Thank you for trusting me, little one." She smiled in a way that made him feel invincible. Waves of energy and light emanated from his lady's body.

Birds flying high - you know how I feel

Sun in the sky - you know how I feel

Breeze drifting on by - you know how I feel

It's a new dawn and a new day and a new life

For me

And I'm feeling good…

Jeffrey and his guards pulled up just then. "You two need a ride?" Grimaldi chuckled, noting how cozy the couple looked at the moment.

"Eep," she jumped away from her man in embarrassment. This displeased her mate, but before he could undo her hard work, she shyly reached for his hand and led him to the van.

… …

"Do you have to go, Lady?" eight-year-old Frannie asked two days later while visiting her alcoholic father in the hospital. "My daddy's getting better since you've been around. He'll get sick again if you leave." The sentiment had been expressed in some form or other since her mate's arrival. The world seemed divided over her impending departure. Most wanted her to stay, but others were adamant that she be allowed to leave.

"You don't seem to realize how much I'm affecting your planet, sweetheart. I know that your father is sick, but he is a grown man who is making his own decisions. I can't stay where there are people who don't want me around. It hurts me."

"Daddy only drank so much because you were here," she accused the Nietzschean.

"Your father was drinking long before my arrival, Francine," Thea said timidly. "I'm not a god that can undo years of self-abuse. I'm not a crutch for this planet's irresponsible behaviors. I'm sorry that your father is dying, but I didn't put him in that hospital bed. And death is a reality that all humans face." The girl's face scrunched up and she started sobbing loudly.

"You're lying! You just hate my daddy! You don't want to help people at all! You're just a selfish-" Her mother clamped a hand over her mouth, looking apologetically at the frozen Khaleesi.

"I apologize for my daughter. She's just a child and doesn't understand. She thinks the world of her father and believes he can do no wrong."

The shaken woman nodded and moved away from the unpleasant conversation. Frannie bit her mother's hand and ran up to the healer woman, determined to hurt her the way she was hurting her daddy. Before she could enact her half-formed plan, Tyr was standing in front of his woman, glaring at the spoiled child. All activity stopped on the unit. Unlike the Khaleesi, the Berserker felt no need to contain his displeasure or anger when roused. The girl whimpered, all thoughts of hitting the Khaleesi or spitting on her for not helping her daddy gone.

"Return to your mother and do not approach my woman again with evil intentions," he said firmly. Frannie didn't hesitate, running to hide behind her mother. Tyr followed the child until he stood before the now-shaking woman. He looked at her dispassionately. "Her father has not been a good husband to you, has he?" Shaina blinked before nodding, her voice frozen in her throat. "Grieve in your own way, but I will not tolerate your daughter showing the same cruelty to my woman that she learned from your husband. She must learn that things will not always go her way and that some things are inevitable. Like death." The mother nodded again, herding her petrified child back to her husband's room.

He froze when Thea laid her head on his back, the power of his anger nullified by his shock at this public display of affection. Slowly people started talking and moving again as if waking from a nightmare.

"Are you okay Thea?" Matt asked as the regular bustle of the unit overtook the mind-numbing terror from before.

"It hurts to be here, but I don't want to go," she said, looking at her coworker desperately.

"Wow, are you sure you're not human? That sounds like me every morning when I have a day shift." Thea giggled and the rest of the tension on the unit was dispelled. The girl worked hard alongside her fellow nurses to treat her patients all day. Being on the unit felt different with her mate in the picture. People left her alone more often than not. He somehow knew the perfect amount of hovering to do to make her feel safe without smothering her. Problem patients were not problems for her. She tended to be assigned the harder cases now that Tyr was around to keep things civil on the unit for her.

"So, when do you plan on marrying that yummy young man of yours, Althea? He's quite a specimen, isn't he?" One of her busybody patients asked near the end of the shift. "I'm sure that any ceremony you could come up with would be amazing. Please say that you are going to marry on Earth."

"I… I hadn't thought of-" Tyr was suddenly by her side, chuckling at the embarrassed look on her sweet face.

"My little one is very private about her needs and desires. I think she wants an Earth wedding; her friends are here after all." He pulled his woman against his front, laughing with Ms. Susan at the mortified look on Althea's face.

"I… I…"

"Oh, Sweetie. Surely you know by now. The only thing being discussed and debated more than your departure are your nuptials. Everyone wants to see it; poor Mr. Stark is being bombarded with requests for venues, the bigger and more romantic the better. How and who is going to do your hair, and your nails? Who's going to make your dress? Who is going to be there? What season will it be when you wed? How long of an engagement will you have? People are going crazy over these questions, love. We're also wondering which will come first: your ship or your wedding? Mr. Stark has been working round the clock on your ship, but you can still beat him to the punch if you hurry." The woman was deriving a great deal of amusement from the way the Khaleesi's jaw was hanging open at the moment.

"It's not a race," she finally managed to get out through her shock. Were people really obsessing over a wedding she hadn't even thought of? "Nietzscheans don't really have weddings. You mate and that's it - you're married. We're efficient and dedicated to-"

"I wouldn't mind a wedding, Althea. We could give these humans a show before I take you as my own," he said sweetly, his warm brown eyes suddenly golden at the thought of claiming her. He wrapped her up in his arms when she started to look panicked.

"So… what? I'm supposed to plan a wedding now? I don't know the first thing about planning a wedding! I don't even know where to start! I-" He covered her plump lips with his, absorbing her fear and projecting peace to her.

"Relax, little one. We will research this concept and make it our own." Her eyes fluttered open and she sighed happily. "I'm sure that together we can show these humans how it's done."

"Humans are very competitive. Anything we come up with, I'm sure someone will top."

"Anything?" He murmured softly against her lips. Thea shuddered, backing up with a giggle.

… …

"... And somehow I'm supposed to figure out how to plan a wedding. Me! I've been watching your romantic movies and I still don't get it. What am I gonna do?" It had been a month since that fateful day she learned that the world was waiting on a wedding. In that time she'd been furiously consuming all the media about every kind of wedding this planet had to offer between her job at the hospital and the occasional mission with the United Nations. "I feel frozen with all the different ways to love and marry. How am I supposed to choose? And Tyr just smiles at me whenever I go to him about this."

"What's the matter with his smile?" Rylee asked from her place on the carpeted floor of the compound media room. She, Kara, and Althea were watching yet another romantic comedy. Well, the humans were watching. The Khaleesi was pacing the floor, lamenting her inability to choose what form her nuptials would take. She stopped her back-and-forth journey across the room to answer.

"That smile of his muddles my mind. I don't understand what is happening to me! It's like he smiles at me and I become completely incapable of rational thought. It's infuriating!"

"Thea, calm down," Kara laughed, pulling her friend down onto the couch with her as she paused the movie they were supposed to be watching. Everyone on the unit knew of the girl's lament after a month of her unwittingly repeating it to anyone who would listen. That's why today was so important. Today was the day that her best friends were meant to set the alien straight. "Honey, you've got circles under your eyes. You don't sleep. You don't eat. You're frightened and unsure around patients… You have got it bad."

"Got what?" Thea scrunched her nose up adorably.

"Oh, sweetie. The reason that you've been beating yourself up over all of this is that you are in love! Tyr has your heart and it's driving you crazy not confessing your love to him." Rylee laughed at the boggled look on her face.

"But… I can't be in love yet! We've only known each other for two months!"

"Love doesn't follow timelines," Kara said wisely around a sip of her third giant-sized strawberry daiquiri. "Besides, aren't you the one who kept talking about how you were made to love him? Maybe it's just an abstract genetic imperative, but it seems that you've crossed the line into emotional territory. You're fretting because you love him." The Khaleesi looked from one friend to the other, knowing deep down that they wouldn't lie to her.

"I can't be in love with him. He scares me. Everything is so confusing right now! I wish I could just get away for a little bit. I wish that everything would just stop for a little bit so that I could figure things out."

"Wanna go on a joyride with that ship Ironman built for you?"

"He built that ship to get me off the planet and once I step foot on it, my life here will be over. No more nursing. No more Midnight Madness after shifts. I don't want to go. But a joyride sounds wonderful. No guards cramping my style. No looks from my boyfriend to make my tummy feel all funny. No world looking at me like I have the answers. Did you know that the air quality in Los Angeles is the best it's ever been with the return of so much of the rainforest?" The Khaleesi nodded at her friends at their shocked look. "Yeah, the giant hole in the ozone layer over that city is gone and I have to work really hard not to restore more of the rainforest, but all the pollution over the city is almost gone. And never mind what I did to little Davy last week! It's getting too hard to hold back."

"I thought it was cute the way you-"

"I cured Down's Syndrome worldwide with a touch. I don't know what his father was thinking, having me lay a hand on his son like that! I told him that I needed to- that I couldn't-"

"Thea, relax! Think about all the children affected by that disease. You just relieved a lot of suffering in the world."

"I tapped into the genetic code of almost eight billion people and altered their DNA without permission and on a lark. The mother is absolutely furious and demanding that I 'fix' it, something that I physically cannot do! She's become the face of the resistance to my staying!"

"She's an entitled Karen that is only looking for her fifteen minutes of fame by complaining about a non-issue. No one is gunning for you here."

"You're too optimistic."

"And you worry too much. It's like when Hedley tried to sue you for using their song to heal Sokovia during the Ultron thing. And Lorde stepped in and shamed them by expressing their gratitude that their song healed all of Africa. Whitney Gunnison isn't going to win this battle. She can complain all she wants that she 'feels like she is raising a stranger', nobody is going to back her, especially considering the outpouring of love, support, and gratitude from the world and her own son! Come on. Let's get out of here. You need a break from all this negativity. Let's go to the park." She pulled a reluctant Thea to her feet, turning off the movie. Rylee stumbled to her own feet, pleasantly buzzed from her four Strongbow Sparkling Hard Ciders. She hiccuped and giggled, looking forward to the park.

The trio made up a basket of goodies for themselves before they made their way to the garage, selecting the closest thing to a station wagon they could find so that they wouldn't attract too much attention while out of the compound. Everything was going well, Althea driving since her friends had been drinking, when Viktor stopped them at the gate.

"What are you doing, Althea?"

"W-we're just going to the park," she said nervously. "We wanted to-"

"You know you're not allowed to leave the compound. Tyr isn't even here to escort you. He's down in New York overseeing that spaceship of yours. He'll be back eventually. You can visit the park then."

Thea looked visibly upset with that answer. "Oh, come on, Mr. Viktor! My friends are here now and we want to do girl talk at the park! How can we gossip with a bunch of guys watching our every move? It'll just be for an hour, I promise. You don't have to tell anyone; it'll be like it never happened. I just need some space to sort things out."

"And if something were to happen to you? Althea, your actions, and your moods affect the whole world. You don't heal small things anymore. You need to be protected, you need to be watched more than ever since your powers are growing. And spontaneous day trips are out of the question with that idiot Gunnison out there threatening to kill you for curing her son's Autism."

"Down's Syndrome. And-"

"Whatever. You know that you can't just leave on a whim. We have to coordinate and plan-"

"What's she doing out of the house? What are you doing out of the house, Althea?" Jeffrey and Svenska approached the station wagon, making the girl feel hunted.

"We wanted to hang out at the park," Rylee said reasonably. This sparked a huge debate about the suggestion. Rylee and Kara came to her defense, but it wasn't working and her bodyguards were getting angrier and more agitated as the argument progressed. Althea was only gripping the steering wheel tighter and tighter, looking close to tears.

"I just want some SPACE!" she suddenly yelled. The car disappeared from the compound.

"Where… Where did she go?" Svenska asked into the empty silence in the driveway. The others started looking around for the station wagon to no avail. Jeffrey felt frozen, every fiber in his being dreading informing her mate that she'd disappeared. As the head of the Khaleesi's security force, he was the one that Tyr would hold responsible for this.

"Find her!" he shouted at the guards, nearly hysterical with panic. "Search everywhere. Leave no inch of this compound unturned. If the Berserker comes back to his bride missing…" The man couldn't even finish that sentence. The implications were enough to have every person in the compound searching with great vigor and agitation. No one wanted to raise the Nietzschean's ire.

Even with the frenetic search happening all over the Avenger Compound, the girl, her friends, and the vehicle they'd disappeared in were nowhere to be found. Someone even drove to the park the trio frequented but no trace of them was found.

"Sir," Clyde radioed from the surveillance room.

"...And don't come back until you've scoured this city for-"

"Sir?" the operator tried again in a trembling voice.

"What!" Jeffrey finally acknowledged the operator. "You're interrupting-"

"It's Tyr, Sir. He's on the line right now. He wants to know how his woman is." Those around the doomed man backed away. Jeffrey Collins started shaking with dread, slowly approaching the control room as if going to his own execution. There was no telling what the Berserker would do to him when he learned that his mate was missing and had been missing for a whole forty minutes.

"H-Hello? *ahem* Collins here."

"I have been waiting to hear an update on my woman, Collins," Anasazi said calmly. "Something is different with her. I'm getting contentment, relief, and happiness from our partial connection. What is she doing that is making her so joyful?"

He looked over the surveillance monitors, trying to think of a way to explain himself, and blinked. "She… Sh-She…"

::giggles:: And… Scene! Sorry about the cliffhanger. I tried to avoid it, I really did. But this is how the story wanted to be written. Besides, the dramatic reveal is more effective this way. See ya next week, my dudes! :D