orange-sunshiine: Thanks so much for all the reviews! I am so happy you have been enjoying it!

sakiko of soleana: Clint was pretty irritating, wasn't he?

Thanks again for all the feedback! Now, onward!

ONE STEP FORWARD, FOUR STEPS BACK

A THOR/AVENGERS FANFICTION

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Foster Care

The second morning came around and Loki found himself spending a lot of his time with Beth instead of Thor. The way he understood it was that he was only going to spend the day previous with Beth and then he'd spend time with Thor the other days of the week. What was strange was Beth constantly making notes in her notebook. Loki noticed that she would make lots of notes after he had spoken. It was odd. Not that it mattered much to Loki anyway; he couldn't read what she was even writing to care about it. It was mid-morning and Loki was extremely bored. Beth was making lunch and had commanded Loki to color quietly while she used the stove. He had offered to help but she gently turned him down. He was too short to reach so he wouldn't be of much use to her anyway. Despite the logic, Loki was still rather hurt that Beth didn't want his help (he was such a good cook after all. Just ask his mother). Loki groaned loudly and glanced over, disappointed to see that he hadn't won Beth's attention yet. He pondered away to get her full attention and an idea fell right into place. Smirking slightly, Loki stealthily slid from his chair and crawled under the table. He then ran quietly back to the room he and Thor were sharing and opened the closet door. Inside it was some of Jane's childhood things and Loki dug through them, his hands resting on what he had been looking for; a stuffed bear. His eyes narrowed and he pulled it out and set it on the ground. Loki focused and hoped it would work. It would be quite a mess if it didn't.

"Bera, Bera, Bera! Gera rammligar! Mynd ykkarr orka! Vakti eda glymja! Bera, Bera Bera glymja!" Loki chanted his magic flowing through him. A faint green glow was seen around the stuffed bear and Loki's heart raced with excitement. This just might work! With wide eyes, Loki watched as his spell took effect, the little stuffed bear shuddered slightly. It began to grow, the fabric becoming fur, claws lengthening slowly. Loki waited in anticipation as it continued, a little grunt coming from it. When it ended, however, Loki was greatly disappointed; he only made a bear cub from the stuffed bear, not an adult. Oh well, he thought, a bear is still a bear. The cub looked up at him with wide brown eyes and a little grunt escaped from it. Loki walked over and picked it up, the cub weighing more than he had expected it to.

"You're heavy!" Loki told his little bear, the cub's back paws dragging on the floor. Loki struggled with the cub and told it to be quiet. Since it was Loki's spell that gave the cub life, it had no choice but to listen to him. Loki carried the cub out to the hallway and placed it on the carpet. He then knelt down so that he could whisper in its ear.

"Go and make some chaos," he told the bear. The cub nodded silently and darted off, Loki moving quickly and quietly back to the kitchen. When he returned he found Beth glaring at him with her hands on her hips. Loki smiled sweetly at her and crawled back on to the kitchen chair.

"Where did you go young man?" she asked.

"I had t' go t' the bathroom, sorry," Loki replied and then nonchalantly added, "There's a bear in your house Mrs. Foster." Beth blinked and shook her head.

"A bear? Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination? Bears don't really live in Arizona." Beth told him. As she spoke glass was shattered in the other room. Loki shrugged and fought to hide a sheepish grin.

"Sure sounds like it t' me Mrs. Foster," Loki said back, his hand around a crayon. The tearing of fabric was heard and Beth slowly left the kitchen. Loki slipped off the chair and followed her quietly, his face split into a grin. Beth screamed as she entered her now trashed living room, a bear cub currently on her coffee table. She had no clue how it got there or where it was from, but knew she had to keep Loki safe and call animal control. Loki heard footsteps and he darted back to the kitchen, getting onto the chair mere seconds before Beth reentered. She quickly picked up the telephone and with shaking fingers dialed animal control. Loki blocked out most of her conversation with the animal control people, not really caring about it at all. He had a plan and was determined to stick to it. Fortunately for him, Thor walked into the kitchen, no doubt confused by all the screaming and breaking glass. Loki stood on the chair and faced Thor, his body vibrating with excitement.

"Thor," Loki called before Thor could speak, "there's a bear in the house!" Thor's eyes widened in shock.

"A bear?" he asked. Beth set down the telephone and nodded.

"Yes, a bear, in my living room. I don't know how it got in, but I called some people to get rid of it. They told me we that need to leave the house." Beth explained. Thor took Loki's hand and he and Beth quickly exited the house while Loki laughed inwardly. Chaos was just so much fun! Not to mention being able to control something else's mind! He wondered if it was possible to do to a human….

"You were made to be ruled," Loki's eyes went wide as a vision of a tall man in Asgardian clothes said this in front of a crowd of kneeling people. For some reason, he had the bad feeling that this man wasn't very nice and that this man was…him! No, it couldn't be! He wasn't a grown-up! Loki shook his head; it was probably nothing. He had watched some television in Stark Tower. It could just be from some show he had seen in passing. Though it felt familiar, Loki decided to brush it off as nothing and enjoy that little trick of his.

Animal control arrived ten minutes later, tranquilizers ready. They hurried inside the house and a few minutes later, called for Beth to enter. She did, Thor and Loki following close behind her. Loki was fighting to keep his composure, his little prank working so much better than he thought it would. They called Beth to the living room and said that a bear was never in her house. There were no signs of entry or escape meaning that no wild animals were ever inside her home. They also mentioned that bears weren't really native to the state, making it near impossible for a bear to enter anyway. The only bear they could find was a little stuffed one that was lying near the hallway. Beth argued of course, but in the end she had to pay a fifty dollar fine for a false call. She was frustrated and to top it off, lunch was burnt to a crisp. Befuddled and angry, Beth ordered pizza and shut herself up inside her room. Thor left Loki alone to play in the living room while he went to go talk to Beth. As soon as he was out of sight, Loki burst out laughing and he laughed so hard that his sides hurt. That was too funny! He'd have to try something like that again! Although, he did feel bad for Beth's now destroyed living room. Loki stood up and took a deep breath. With magic he fixed the room up as best he could and when the doorbell rang, he answered the door. Thor came too and told Loki to go inside. Loki huffed but obeyed. He decided to go tell Beth that he cleaned her living room for her. She'd be so proud of him! Loki knocked on her door and she said it was fine to come in.

"Mrs. Foster!" Loki called cheerfully, approaching her bed and climbing up on it to sit next to her. She pulled him into her and they cuddled for a moment.

"Hey sweetie," she replied.

"Guess wha' I did," Loki prompted snuggling closer.

"What did you do?" she asked. Loki pouted a little; she didn't even guess!

"You hafta guess Mrs. Foster," Loki corrected.

"Um…did you do the dishes?" she asked.

"Nope," Loki said.

"Did you play with Thor?"

"Nope. Guess one more time." Loki said. Beth smiled.

"I'm all out of guesses, Loki," Beth told him. Loki smiled sheepishly.

"I guess I'll tell you. I cleaned up the living room for you!" Loki exclaimed. Beth pulled away and Loki's eyes meet her shocked ones.

"You did?" she asked. Loki nodded.

"Uh-huh! It's not as clean as it was, but I used magic t' make it as I could." Loki explained, crawling closer to her. Beth smiled brightly.

"Thank you so much. That was very kind of you Loki." Beth praised. Loki smiled brightly and got up in her lap. As much fun as chaos and tricks were, being good was just as much fun and just a tad bit more productive.

The afternoon was quiet, Thor cleaning out the attic and Loki in the living room playing quietly while Beth did some work with a case she had been working on. Loki was losing interest fairly quickly with his toys and decided to color instead. He grabbed the crayons and began to scribble on the paper. Loki subconsciously grabbed the red and began to scribble furiously, releasing some of his built up emotions. As he colored, his lip began to tremble and a few tears leaked from his eyes. He wiped them away and continued coloring, but after a few minutes was unable to stop from crying. Loki dropped the crayons and began to sob, memories flowing through him. Beth heard his cries and stopped working and glanced over to see him crying. She got up and knelt down next him.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Loki wiped his nose on the back of his hand and took some deep, labored breaths.

"I-I don' wanna talk about it," Loki sobbed, not meeting her eyes. Beth pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back, trying to soothe him.

"Are you remembering something bad?" she asked gently. Loki nodded.

"Uh-huh," he replied miserably. Beth pulled away a little so she could look him in the face.

"It's alright to feel sad, Loki. Some bad things happened to you and it's okay to feel sad about them." Beth told him. Loki sniffed a little. He buried his face into her and soaked up her presence.

After a while, Loki told Beth that he wanted to see Thor and she agreed. He and Thor spent the rest of the day together and Loki cheered up once he was with Thor. Thor had quite a liking for television and offered to watch a movie with Loki. Loki agreed, though he wasn't as obsessed with television as Thor was. Beth showed Thor where the movies were and Thor rummaged through them, eventually choosing a title called The Lion King. Beth started it up for them and Loki snuggled into Thor's side, chatting excitedly about the movie. The initial music made both of them jump, but once it got going, Loki quickly became enticed by it. His green eyes grew wide as Simba pranced around the pride lands with Nala, Thor watching intently. Scar scared Loki, but something about the green-eyed lion was slightly familiar. Maybe he had seen part of the movie some time at Stark Tower, but didn't remember it too well. That had to be it. By the time the movie was over, both Thor and Loki were cheering as Simba roared at the top of his rock, the rain washing away all the hurt that Scar had caused. Thor stopped cheering as he thought upon the last few months and released that Simba and Scar were Loki and himself. Their hatred and jealousy had gotten so out of control and it burned everything in its path. But unlike Simba and Scar, it didn't have to end in death. They had a chance to rebuild and with Loki snuggled up so close to him, it was hard to even think on the last few months. It was like they had never happened.

After watching the movie and all throughout dinner, Loki couldn't help but notice similarities and a strange familiarity with Scar. He didn't understand it, but something about Scar reminded him of himself. Scar was jealous of Mufasa and Simba, and Loki hated to admit that he was jealous of Thor sometimes. But he would never do anything like what Scar did, right? As Loki though on it, he got the uncomfortable feeling that he did do something like Scar did. It made him squirm and he hated feeling that way. Yet somewhere deep down, he knew. His crimes, the punishment, the immediate hatred all of Thor's friends had given him all made sense when he thought of it like that. Loki was getting so worked up over it that he had to leave dinner early to clear his head. After thinking on it for a long time, he decided to ask Thor about it. Why would Thor have to lie? Loki was hopping he was just being paranoid and that nothing that terrible had happened.

"I could have done it, father!"

"You end this madness! You come home,"….

"Thor?" Loki's voice broke Thor's train of thought. He was sitting at the kitchen table talking with Beth about Loki when his little brother came calling. Thor glanced down to meet Loki's face, which looked strained with thought and confusion.

"What's wrong?" Thor asked. Loki shuffled his feet, unsure of how to begin.

"T-Thor…when we were watchin' that movie I…I…me an' Scar are a lot alike, brother. As we watched, I….Did I do somethin' to hurt you, Thor? Did…did I hu't people like he did? I…am I…" Loki lowered his voice to barely over a whisper, "Am I bad?" Thor sat stunned for a moment, unsure of how to continue. Loki had figured it out; he knew. At least, he had more of an idea than he had a month ago. How would Thor answer his question? How much was too much? Thor picked Loki up by the armpits and sat the little boy on his lap.

"Loki, you need to understand something. You are not bad. You never were. It's just somewhere down the line, you made mistakes. Some mistakes were worse than others, but you yourself were never bad." Thor said. He wanted so bad for Loki to understand that. Thor never viewed Loki as the others had. He didn't see him as evil or mad; he saw him as he was now. Thor had always seen Loki as his little brother and nothing more or less than that. He had made poor and horrible choices, but it didn't change the fact that they were brothers. Loki nodded.

"'Kay," he responded. Thor took a deep breath.

"It started long ago when we were both teenagers. You were growing jealous of me for reasons I didn't understand as a boy but understand now. Our father clearly favored me and it hurt you so. We began drifting apart and your love of tricks and chaos slowly consumed you and blinded your usually good judgment." Thor gulped and worked up the courage to continue, "On…On the day of my coronation, y-you let two Frost Giants through the Bifrost and they attempted to steal the casket. Afterword, you made a deal with Laufey and later double crossed him in an attempt to win fathers' approval. It went horribly wrong and you fell from the rainbow bridge. I'm not sure what happened immediately afterword. All I know is that you gained knowledge of the Tesseract and used it for evil. You figured if you couldn't rule Asgard that ruling Midgard was the next best thing. I-I tried to stop you, but you were too far gone. You fought a battle with myself and my comrades called the Avengers and you lost. You were to face Asgardian justice when…this happened." Thor ended, gesturing to Loki. Loki glanced down at Thor's hand and to his own tiny hands. In his gaze, his hands were covered in the red blood of innocents.

"How many people did you kill?" It all made sense now. No, Loki could not remember it. But it made sense. That was why he was accused of war crimes, why he was sent to Fjørlag-Bryggja, and why Tony, Pepper and Bruce hated him when they met. He was a criminal. He glanced down at his sock-clad feet, shock numbing his body.

"Loki," Thor began gently, "You didn't do any of that. A different, confused Loki did. You are only a child. You didn't deserve what happened to you." Loki shook his head.

"Yes I did Thor," Loki replied numbly. Thor shook his blonde locks and began stroking Loki's hair gently.

"No, you didn't," Thor said.

"Yes I did!" Loki cried, fat tears running down his cheeks. Thor held him close, trying to convince him of what Thor had known all along.

"No you didn't, Loki. The man who did those awful things wasn't you. It was a totally different person. You didn't do anything wrong. But that's why those troops attacked us at Stark Tower. They think you to be bad when you're not." Loki looked up at Thor.

"You don' think 'm bad?" Loki asked. Thor smiled and shook his head, his own blue eyes watering a little.

"I never did," Thor answered honestly. Loki's face split into a small smile when he heard those words. Here on Thor's lap, suddenly nothing else mattered. Perhaps it was a different Loki after all. Thor wiped Loki's tears away and Loki giggled. Thor tickled Loki's still healing stomach and Loki laughed louder, the sound of it innocent and pure.

Loki was begging to watch another movie after his bath that night. As Thor dried him off, Loki pouted and whined until Thor finally gave in, saying that Loki could stay up and watch a movie. Loki was too distracted by his victory that he didn't notice the Pull-Up he was being changed into. Beth had suggested that Loki start wearing them to bed so there was less hassle in the morning. Thor was grateful for that since he was planning on leaving either the next morning or the morning afterword. Loki finished dressing, wearing his favorite pajamas (the cow-printed ones) and grabbed his goat. He bounded happily out of the room and meet up with Thor who was picking out another movie for them to watch. Once more, Beth suggested another animated movie, this time the movie being Tarzan. This time Thor was able to get it started on his own and Loki helped Beth and Jim make popcorn. Loki eagerly carried the overflowing bowl into the living room (a few pieces not making it to the coffee table) and he flopped down next to Thor, causing his goat to bounce up in the air. Loki giggled at that and Thor shushed him, the opening Disney logo appearing on the television screen.

The movie ended around ten, Loki still wide awake. He was obviously tired, but was determined to make it through the end. The credits began to roll and Thor told the little boy to brush his teeth and use the bathroom before they went to bed. Loki sleepily agreed, rubbing his eyes and humming You'll Be in My Heart the whole way there. Loki quickly finished and sleepily crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly. However, the boy didn't stay asleep for long, waking up only an hour after going to bed. The boy woke up screaming and Thor bolted up to calm him down. Thor held him as he cried, Loki's sobs becoming soft hiccups and sniffles.

"Thor?" Loki asked once he was calm enough to speak.

"Yes?" Thor responded.

"You know th't song in the mo'ie?" Loki asked sleepily.

"The softer one?" Thor replied. Loki nodded his head.

"Can you sing it t' me?" Loki asked. Thor blinked; he hadn't sung in years. He honestly wasn't very good at it, but had always had an ear for music. Thor was very good at remembering tunes, melodies and lyrics to songs he had heard even if he had only heard them once.

"Of course. Sing along if you want to." Thor told him, clearing his throat.

"Come stop your crying, it will be alright," Thor began shakily, his unused singing voice cracking slightly.

"Just take my hand, hold it tight. I will protect you from all around you," Loki's little voice joined in and they sang together, "I will be here, don't you cry." Loki yawned and shut his eyes. His breathing become slow and steady, but Thor wasn't ready to sleep yet.

"For one so small, you seem so strong. My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm. This bond between us can't be broken. I will be here, don't you cry. You'll be in my heart. You'll be in my heart. From this day on, now and forevermore," Thor sang softly. Loki was cuddled up into his elder brother, subconsciously listening to Thor sing to him. Thor took a deep breath and continued:

"You'll be in my heart; no matter what they say. You'll be here in my heart. Always." Thor stopped singing after that, too tired to continue. But as he fell asleep, he swore that he heard Loki whisper, "Always".