Hello! I'm here with a long chapter 14 ^^ Well, it's longer than the others anyway, almost long enough that I would want to cut it in halves, but I decided not to. The next chapters will be a bit short though, just under the length they usually are. Hope you like this chapter, it almost wrote itself ^^
I don't own the Avengers, only Emma and the alterations made to the original story.
The Mother of a Genius' Daughter
Fourteenth day
Yesterday evening was nice. It was one of those times with my father that reminds me of our life before this. Not that it's been that long; only thirteen days. But still, sometimes I miss just being with my dad, and then Pepper of course. To have my father to myself, that's great. So the evening was great, just me and my dad.
"This is gonna be great, Em' darling," my father says, happily cutting the carrots into small pieces at my request.
"Of course it is!" I grin back at him.
"Do you know why?" He grins when I don't reply and answers himself, "because we're doing it together!"
I laugh. "Yeah, together. And who's doing most of the work here, Dad?" I tease.
"Me of course," he winks at me. "I am doing all of the ground work for you, you only get like 20 % of the credit."
I laugh. "What do you mean, ground work? I'm cutting, too! And 20 %? I'm 70, you can get like 30 %." I stick my tongue out at him cheekily, not really bothered by the joke.
"You know, this is much better than what Pepper said," he says.
I frown confused. "What do you mean? What did you say to her?"
"I just said she could have 12 % of the honor of building Stark Tower, no big deal." He shrugs.
I stop what I'm doing. "You did what, Dad? You can't just say that to her!"
"Relax, honey, I meant it as a joke," he defends.
"You probably didn't say it like it was." I shake my head. Typical him to talk before thinking.
"I might not have, no…" he mumbles. "I should probably do something for her, when we get home."
"Yeah, that's a good idea." He looks begging at me. "No, forget it. You figure it out yourself; you at least owe her that."
"Fine fine, darling," he says, but I notice the grin on his face and know something's up. He slowly walks closer, I try to step back but hit the counter behind me. Then he starts tickling me, so much that I can hardly breathe.
"I'm not helping you, Dad!" I laugh. That only gets him to tickle me more.
I smile; it really was a good day. I ended up giving him small clues about what to do for Pepper. But nothing more, I refuse to help his love life. All in all the evening turned out to be really good, and not filled with anger or anything. But that's how it always is with me and my dad. We might get angry with each other, but we quickly fix it again.
The moment with Loki was great, too, until we got interrupted anyways. It was slightly awkward in the end, but I think it would have recovered if we weren't interrupted. I'm half planning to visit him later today, but that depends on what I feel. Maybe I can bear to wait till tomorrow.
I have decided to spend most of the day with my father and the others; who will probably only be Steve, Bruce and maybe Thor, but I doubt it. If they're not doing anything really important, I think I will ask them to play a game or something. We could play Trivial Pursuit, I love question games and I know my father does too. I think Bruce, and maybe Steve will, too, so it's worth a shot.
We decided to play in teams, and I'm with Steve. Which proves to be a good idea, since Steve and I are currently catching up to the winning team consisting of my father and Bruce.
"Come one, Steve, we have to get this right!" I say excited, he just smiles at me.
"Okay," my father says, "History!" And then he groans, "This is too easy."
"Come on, Dad!" I say impatient.
"Fine. "In what years did World War II take place?" It's too easy," he mumbles in the end.
Steve and I just look at each other and grin. "1939-45!" we say at the same time.
"Correct," my father grumbles, and hands me a yellow wedge. Now we only need one more. As do my father and Bruce.
They have just landed on a headquarters space, so they have the opportunity to win now. "Arts and literature," I say aloud and continue to read the question, "Okay "In Romeo and Juliet what is the name of the family Romeo belongs to?"" I honestly don't know if either of them knows it. I do and I have seen the movie with my father, but I don't know if he'll remember it.
My father groans, which is leading me to believe he doesn't remember it. "Please tell me you know the answer," he almost pleads Bruce.
"Can't say I do, Tony; I've never seen it or read it. Sorry."
"I have seen it, why don't I remember the name?" he says frustrated, while messing up his hair in what looks like a desperate attempt to remember. I stifle a laugh at the sight.
"Maybe because you fell asleep, when we watched it, Dad," I tease. I never said I wouldn't tease him about it; at least I'm nice enough not to laugh at him out loud.
"Shut up, honey." I only roll my eyes. "Okay, I think I remember one of the names. Carbon? No… Capunet? No… Capulet, that's it!" He looks at Bruce, who nods encouraging. "That's our answer. Capulet."
"Sorry, it's Montague. Capulet is Juliet's name, dad." This means we have another chance of winning.
We also get an "Arts and Literature" question, which we get correct. My father and Bruce then have to move and get a "Geography" question, which they answer correctly. And that means it's our turn again. This time we have reached the last headquarters space, which is "Sports and Leisure", a category I'm not very good in.
""Who was the manager for the New York Yankees when they won the World Series in 1943?" I don't even know that," my father says with a smirk directed at me.
I have absolutely no idea. And even if I were interested in baseball, I probably wouldn't know this. "Joe McCarthy," Steve says, not even thinking about it. He looks at me and I just nod, so he repeats the answer, "Joe McCarthy."
My father turns the card around and groans, which brings a smile to my face. "Correct answer."
"We won, Steve!" I laugh, and he laughs with me. "Thank you for playing with me."
"You too, Emma. Thanks for making me have some fun," he grins at me.
"You're welcome. Well, I should leave you to your work now. I think I'll go watch a movie, is that okay, Dad?" I turn to look at him.
"Of course, darling. Have fun. Thanks for the game."
I need to see him. And I don't mean I really want to see him or I have to see him to tell him something. No. I mean, I really need to see him. I have visited him every day for the last nine days, and I'm not ready to stop now. Now that I've got to know so much about him, and he's getting to know me. I'm just not ready to stop visiting him, to stop talking with him, to stop getting to know him. No! That's not gonna happen.
It's just not fair. Technically, I know he's still a villain. He's still the one who has done all those terrible things; the one who has killed all those people and the one who is still controlling Clint Barton and Erik Selvig. I know that. But he's also the one who has become my friend; the one who's changing everyday when I see him, the one I'm starting to consider one of the people who understands me the best. So I can't just stop seeing him. I know I can't ignore the evil side of him, but that doesn't mean I can ignore the good side of him either. Because I can't. Absolutely not!
I get where my father is coming from. I do. But he hasn't seen the changes in Loki that I have seen. He hasn't been there when Loki is telling me about his life, when he's smiling, and I mean smiling, not smirking, but actually smiling. My father has always been pretty protective of me; he's a bit overprotective to be honest. Not that I usually mind. But when it's about to ruin a new friendship, I do mind. So in this situation I'm going to overrule my father's orders and just go see Loki anyway.
On a deeper level I am aware that the reason why I'm so upset about this isn't only because I'm losing a friend, or because I'm starting to get to know so much about the mythology. Every day I learn something new, and that's so exciting. No, I've actually started to develop more than friendly feelings for Loki. But I'm also well aware that that isn't a good thing. Which is why I'm trying to convince myself that the feelings I have are purely consisting of friendship. I know that it would never work, me and Loki, I mean. It would never work. He's a god, for… god's sake! So I'm trying to shield my heart from getting hurt. Because my heart will get hurt, if I'm not very careful.
I'm pretty sure some time will pass, before my father will start looking for me. And in that time I am going to see Loki and actually have some fun.
"Hey Loki!" I smile before letting myself into his cage. He smiles back looking relieved, which makes my own smile grow even wider.
"I thought you weren't coming back?" he says as he greets me. "Did you manage to convince your father to let you keep visiting me…? With food, of course."
Grinning I say, "Yes, with food, of course." He responds with slightly sticking his tongue out at me, which makes me grin even more. "No, I've had no such luck. He won't listen to me. That's how he always is, so protective! Like I can't take care of myself! Sometimes I just wish I had someone who would listen to me always, like a mo..." I stop myself before continuing. But he probably heard it anyway. Thankfully, he chooses to ignore it.
Walking closer to me, he says, "Well then, we'll just have to make the most of the time we have."
In my head, which is kind of love struck I guess, the sentence comes out rather suggestive. A suggestion I, when I think logically about it, know he doesn't mean. Therefore I simply answer, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking." I move to sit down on the bench, and he sits down next to me.
I notice how we're both ignoring the fact that I don't actually have any food with me, and that I really should have for this meeting to make sense. But I guess we really have become friends, and we both know the food is just an excuse. Therefore I just look expectantly at him. "I believe it's your turn to ask the questions, Loki." When he just keeps looking at me, I continue, "But if you don't have any, I can think of some."
"Actually I have something I want to ask you," he says hesitantly. Usually he's so confident, so I'm guessing it's something important. I wait patiently, but when he finally continues, I wish he hadn't. This is one of the few subjects I don't like talking about. Mainly because my father doesn't. "It's about your mother. What happened to her?"
I can literally feel my skin turning pale. "Why do you think something happened to her?" I ask, trying to sound like this doesn't affect me in any way. The minute I look up at him again, I know I failed.
"I'm not stupid, Emma. I know what you were going to say before, and your reaction just now doesn't exactly say she's completely fine either." He takes my hand, which normally would make me really happy, but right now I can't focus on that. "Please tell me."
I sigh, knowing that I'm not going to avoid this. "She's dead. And has been for almost 19 years." I hear his question before he opens his mouth, and says, "She died giving birth to me. The doctors couldn't save her."
I look up at him. "I'm sorry. I know what it's like growing up without a parent."
I raise my eyebrow slightly at him. "No, you don't. You had two parents who loved you, and a brother who loved you." He opens his mouth to interrupt me, but I continue, "Now listen to me, I know they lied to you, and I understand how much it hurt to find out. Trust me, I get it. But they're still your parents. They were the ones who loved you; the ones who raised you. They were the ones who took care of you, when you were sick and helped you when you were hurt. I get that you're angry, I would be too. But don't come saying that you've never had parents, that you know how that's like, 'cause you don't!" I've been working myself up, while I was talking, and now I'm seriously waiting for him to yell at me or something. So I get surprised when he doesn't.
Instead he half smirks. "Gods don't get sick."
I laugh and stick my tongue out at him. "So what? You get my point."
"Yes, I do. Thank you for telling me. But now I believe I'm allowed to ask some more questions." I grin at him to get him to continue.
"So, what's your favorite color?" He grins back at me.
(Loki's POV)
She laughs startled by my question. Well, I'm just trying to make her happy again. That's when she's the prettiest. "That's what you're going to ask me? Seriously?" she asks me, and when I nod expectantly, she continues, "My favorite color is…"
Suddenly I hear a sound from outside of the room; someone's at the door! I hurriedly put my hand over her mouth. She looks confused for a short moment, but then her eyes widen and I know she hears it too. Right now I'm grateful that they didn't take my magic away, when they locked me here. Otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do.
"Hold onto my sleeve," I whisper to her. I almost smile, when she immediately does what I told her to do. She's almost too trusting. Then I move my hand a bit, and lower the invisibility spell over her. Now no one can see her, not even me. But I can feel her, and if I listen closely, I can also hear her breathing. "Keep quiet, and no one will know you're here." I imagine that she nods.
Right then Anthony Stark bursts through the door. Good thing I hid his daughter, I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate her being here again. Even though I'm very glad she went against her father's wishes.
"Loki! Where is she?!" He can barely detain his anger. So I simply smirk and pretend innocence.
"Stark. Always nice to get company, even though you seem a bit angry." This just angers him further.
"Loki! Tell me where she is, right now!" he growls at me.
"I'm afraid I don't know who you're referring to, Stark." I can feel Emma nudging me in the side, and I can practically see her frowning angrily at me. So I decide to play along.
"You know exactly who I'm talking about, Loki, so spit it out!"
"Fine, I assume you're talking about Emma?" When he nods angrily, I continue smirking, "She went that way." I point at the door at the other side of the room.
"Thanks," he says and quickly walks towards the door.
But I stop him by saying, "She told me about what happened to her mother. I'm sorry, she died. I hope you haven't blamed Emma for what happened, she doesn't deserve it." He turns around surprised, probably not expecting me to say anything else, let alone say that I'm sorry.
"Her mother isn't dead. And even if she was I wouldn't have blamed Emma!" I only half listen to his second sentence, because after hearing the first Emma inhales a lot of air. She also squeezes my arm through the sleeve.
"What do you mean she isn't dead? That's what Emma told me," I ask confused, trying to get him to tell me the truth.
"Why would she even talk to you about this?" He's mumbling, so I don't think he's expecting me to answer. My theory is proven right, when he continues, "That's because that's what I told her, when she asked me where her mother was," he says looking a bit guilty.
"You mean you lied to her?" I say unimpressed. I know what it's like being lied to, and even though I'm the supposed Father of Lies, it doesn't mean I have to like lies.
"Yes, fine! I lied to her! What would you have done, when your four year-old kid asks you where her mother is? Told the truth?" Next to me, Emma is breathing rather fast. I wish I could comfort her, but I can't, that would look weird for an outsider.
"Depends on what the truth is, I suppose," I say carefully. This is how I got my nickname Silvertongue, this is what I'm good at. Besides magic, that is.
"I suppose." He seems like he's thinking, contemplating what to say maybe.
"So…" He looks at me. "What is the truth?" Emma's squeezing my arm even tighter now. If this gets worse, it will end up hurting me.
Stark's clearly debating with himself whether to tell me or not. Fortunately he decides to tell me. "It's kind of a long story, but I guess you have the time…" I mentally roll my eyes. "Her mother was Anne Jones; I met her when I was 22 at a party. We were together for a week, no more no less. It wasn't exactly romantic; we just spent the nights together. She called me a month later, saying she was pregnant and that she wasn't getting an abortion. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't because she was happy that she was going to have a baby, no she just didn't want to experience an abortion. She was too selfish to give the baby up from the beginning, so she planned to give the baby up for adoption afterwards. I stopped her."
I already have an idea where this is going, and I don't like it. Judging from Emma's hands, that are now shaking, she has gotten the same thought. I sigh.
"I'm glad I did, 'cause Emma is the best thing that ever happened to me. Anyways, after nine months she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Nine months of me stopping her from consuming large amounts of alcohol, and basically stopping her from doing anything that might be dangerous to the baby she was carrying. After giving birth, she took one look at Emma, and asked them to take her away. She didn't mean anything to her. But to me she was already my whole world. Believe me, I was the last person to picture myself as a father. Nonetheless, I did it. I got Anne to sign the rights over to me, so she couldn't later change her mind, not that I think she might. And then she was mine." He sighs.
"So why didn't you tell her?"
"What should I have told her? Your mother didn't want you, she left you? No, I couldn't have done that." He shakes his head slightly.
"I'm going to give you an advice," I say with an icy note to my voice. He looks at me shocked. "Tell her. Take it from someone who was lied to his whole life; it hurts more than anything, to find out that the people who supposedly loves you have been lying to you the entire time. If you don't, then I will! She needs to know." Not that I would need to tell her, since she's been here the entire time, but I would. Parents shouldn't be keeping secrets like that from their children! They might think it's for the best, but it's not!
"I will," he says. Not even considering it. It seems he had already thought about it. And then he turns to the door and walks through it.
As soon as I think he's far enough away, I lift the spell and look at Emma. She's still shaking, and still squeezing my arm. But now I can also see the tears streaming down her cheeks. She doesn't seem to realize that he's gone and that I can see her again. That or she can't speak.
"Emma, look at me," I say gently, hating to see her like this. She looks up and I dry her cheeks with my sleeve. "I'm so sorry." Seeing as this doesn't help, I say, "Come here," and hold out my arms.
She almost falls into them, and closes her arms around me, as I do the same to her. When she's a bit more calm, she starts speaking.
"Why didn't she want me? How could she just leave me? She's my mother!" she cries, desperately trying to understand.
"She was your mother, yes, but she wasn't a mother, Emma." I try to soothe her, but I'm not really good at this sort of thing.
"But why? I needed her!"
"I don't know," I answer gently. Not really knowing what to do, I just continue hugging her, while stroking her back.
And then she turns towards the anger. "Why did my father never tell me?! I deserved to know! How could he not? I'm not a little girl anymore, I deserve to know!"
"You heard the same thing I did, Emma. He didn't mean any harm; he was trying to be the best father for you." I can't believe I'm actually defending him.
Suddenly she gets up, and dries her eyes. "I need to talk to my father!"
I can tell that she has made up her mind and nothing can make her change her mind, so I simply say, "Okay. Good luck. I hope to see you again tomorrow."
(Emma's POV)
If I could I would have smiled at him, for saying that. But right now, I'm too angry. "Thank you for understanding, Loki, and for being here for me. Don't worry, I will come back." With that I leave his cage.
I decide to just wait for my father in our room. That way I have time to calm down a bit, and process the information I've just gotten. Luckily I don't run into someone I can't just walk past, so I reach my room without having to answer any questions.
Entering my room, I cross it and sit down on my bed with my legs under me. I'm really trying to understand my father's reasons for lying to me for so long. I get that he would lie when I was four, but now I'm 18 years old. And I would have understood it when I was ten, too. The thing that hurts the most is that my father, the man who actually loves me, has been lying to me for my whole life. It's not like he isn't an amazing dad, because he is. Of course there have been some times when I have missed having a mother, but I managed. Not because I thought she was dead and there was nothing I could do. But because I have an incredible father, who has always been there for me. A father who makes me almost forget that I'm one parent short. That's the truth, honestly. I miss my mother, but I don't need her. I have my father.
The slamming of a door shakes me from my thoughts. My brain doesn't even have time to register that my father has just stepped through the door, before he's practically hugging the life out of me.
"I thought you had left. I couldn't find you, and you weren't with Loki or with any of the others and I didn't know what to do…" he mumbles into my hair. The relief that's evident in his voice, makes me forget my anger for a time and instead gives me a warm feeling inside. A feeling I know all too well. Love.
I smile. "Where would I even go, Dad? We're flying, like up in the sky." I shake my head slightly at him while grinning. He releases his tight grip on me, and sits down next to me, but not before he has ruffled my hair.
"Ha ha, Emma. Next time you're angry with me, leave me a note and tell me that, before I freak out again," he smiles. But then the smile vanishes and he sighs. "Okay, darling, I have to tell you something. Something important."
My breathing instantly quickens, because I know exactly what he's going to say. I'm not sure I can bear hearing him telling it again. I cough faintly, before saying, "Umm, Dad? I know."
He just frowns at me. "Know what? That I need to tell you something? Yeah, I just told you."
"I know what you're going to say. About my mother," I say hesitantly. I watch his eyes widen slightly, before narrowing again.
"He told you." It's not a question, but I answer him nonetheless.
"Yes. And it's okay," I say, even though I don't know if it is.
"No, it's not, sweetie. I'm so sorry, that I haven't told you. I can't believe you're not angry with me." He sounds relieved. I can feel that he's also happy that he doesn't have to retell the story. "How much did he tell you?"
"All of it." The lie comes fluidly; I just hope he won't ask me why or when Loki told me.
"Okay then," he breathes. "I'm really sorry, Em', I really am. I would have told you, but I was scared that you would hate me if I told you, or that you would leave me to find her or something."
I put my hand on his. "Dad, I'm really not that angry. I'm hurt. Why would I hate you? You know, there's a higher chance of me hating you now than there would have been if you had just told me." At this he opens his mouth to say something, but I stop him. "And why would I leave my father, who loves me, to find someone who didn't want me? I don't need her, I need you. I need you to trust me, to love me, to be there for me. Do you understand?" My voice is louder now than it was when I began talking.
"You know what hurts me the most, Dad? It wasn't that my own mother didn't want me; that she left me before even getting a chance to know me. What hurt was that the one person who has always been there for me, the one person who has always loved me, has been lying to me for pretty much my whole life!" Tears are now running down my cheeks. "I trust you, don't you get that? When you tell me something, I trust that. So why don't you trust me?! Why does it take a supposed villain to make you tell me that my mother left me?! Why? Tell me that!"
This was not what I thought I was going to say, but apparently I'm angrier than I thought.
He looks like he's trying to decide what to do. But he ends up actually answering me. "I know, Emma. I do trust you. I was scared. I know it's stupid, I know it's a bad excuse, but that's why I did it. I was trying to protect you, and I was trying to protect myself. I know you're strong, and I know you're old enough, so before you say anything just listen to me." And that's what I do. I make myself more comfortable on the bed and wait patiently for him to continue. "I realize that I ended up hurting you more than I wanted to. I mean I did what I did to avoid you getting hurt. Obviously that didn't work. And I'm sorry, for lying to you, for you feeling like I don't trust you and for not listening to you lately. I know I've been a bit stressed lately, and I kind of freaked out yesterday. But I don't want you to get hurt. That's why I was against you coming in the first place. But even more importantly, I don't want you ending up hating me, so I'm sorry."
He ends his speech, and I don't have a better response than hugging him and whispering that I could never hate him. "I'll always love you, Dad, don't worry about that. I could never ever hate you, no matter what stupid things you come up with." That brings a smile back to his face. Good. "You know, sometimes back I needed a mother, but I realize now that I don't. Because I have you. You're more than enough. Also, you can be a bit of a mother sometimes," I end cheekily.
He laughs. "Hey! I am not a mother, young lady." I hate it when people call me that, fortunately he's only joking. "But on a serious note, I need to listen to you more, so about Loki…"
I look at him with a smile. "What about him?"
"Something weird happened today, when I was looking for you," he says, and I mentally smile. "He actually gave me an advice, a rather good one."
"Oh? What was it?" I ask, pretending I don't know.
"He told me to tell you about your mother. But what's even weirder, he threatened me."
I raise my eyebrow slightly. "I thought that was what you thought Loki did?"
"It wasn't like that." He doesn't seem to notice my sarcasm. "He threatened to tell you himself if I didn't. Almost like he was protecting you, he almost seemed to care for you," he says confused.
I smirk. "That's hardly a threat, Dad. But yeah, I told you he had changed."
"I guess I just didn't believe that. I don't know exactly what it was, but I don't think I should be scared to let you near him. I got this weird feeling that he wouldn't harm you."
This conversation certainly seems to be going in my favor. "Well, that's good, Dad. But what exactly does it mean?"
He sighs slightly. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but you're allowed to visit him again tomorrow and the days after that. Just don't spend too much time with him, okay?"
I smile. "Thank you, Dad. I promise! I will spend time with you, too." Then I kiss his cheek.
So what did you think? I would love to hear your opinions ^^ I have never actually gotten those Trivial Pursuit questions, I just made up some. And I'm not really strong in Sports either, so I googled the question and answer. Sorry if it's wrong.
I know it might not make much sense for Tony to tell Loki about Emma's mother, but he had to, to make the plot flow. Hope you don't mind too much ^^
And I hope the ending makes sense to you. I think that Tony had realised that Loki won't hurt Emma and therefore he allows them to talk. But he still thinks Loki is a villain and he's still fighting him.
Thank you so much to everyone who has reviwed, favourited and followed. I just realised that I have 45 favourites and 60 followers ^^ Please continue to do so, and I hope you enjoy the story! See you next Monday!