"I want to be the one to give it to her," Ellie said. She clapped her little hands in excitement.
"Fine," Nathan said, a little disappointed. "But I'm telling her it was my idea."
Darcy smiled at the two of them through the rear-view mirror. Nathan had gotten good at compromise thanks to Ellie. Ellie, on the other hand, had always been fine with compromise. As long as she still got to do what she wanted no matter what.
It was Jane's birthday today, and they were going over to her work to surprise her for lunch because Thor was taking her out at night and the kids wanted to give her her birthday present "On her birthday, otherwise it's not a birthday present," according to Nathan. When she'd pointed out that presents were presents and that it was nice no matter when you got them, they'd just given her a look, and Nathan had sighed and said, "I can't believe you gave birth to us." Darcy had grinned and tweaked his nose. "And yet I did. Let me tell you, giving birth is not something you forget."
But they'd insisted, and who was Darcy to say no to two adorable little mini-hers? So there they were, going down to SHIELD to surprise her with a photo of them all from Christmas a few months ago. The frame had shooting stars and planets on it and the bottom read "There's always SPACE for family!" in wacky letters. It was cheesy and silly and sentimental, and the kids had wrapped it themselves and written a note that said: HaPPy birThday to the Best Aunt ever!
Jane would love it.
The rest of the car ride was spent with the two of them bickering over the pros and cons of Sesame Street vs. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Honestly Darcy tuned out a bit, only to smile briefly in amusement at the memory of Cole Sprouse's stint on Tumblr when Nathan brought up the Suite Life.
Otherwise, her mind drifted over the day to day things. She should fill up on gas on the way back, at the cheaper station over on South, and what was she going to do about the ending to her book? It was...unsatisfying as it was, and wOW that guy needed to CAlm himself down when making right on reds when there was a sign that expressly said No Right on Red and he ought to just check his privilege at the wheel because ain't no way he had any business beeping at her like she was responsible for any of this.
...The SHIELD building Jane worked at had been a college back in the day, and so it was set up kind of like a campus. She parked in the guest parking lot and wondered briefly what SHIELD stood for. But she didn't care that much. Jane had probably told her some time, but it hadn't stuck. She was like Sherlock- she couldn't just carry around pieces of information that were irrelevant. She needed that space for other things. Like remembering where she put her car keys, because fuck if she wasn't losing them all the time.
The kids hopped out of the car faster than she could, having to locate her purse from the foot of the passengers' seat.
"Which way do we go, mommy?" Ellie asked, looking around.
"That is an excellent question," Darcy said, emerging from the car, bag in hand, and Ellie beamed. She was like Darcy in that way. They both loved praise.
There was a main building up ahead across a pristine green lawn that looked promising, and then two other smaller buildings that sat on either side like trolls waiting ominously under a bridge.
But she was perhaps being fanciful.
"Let's take the road more traveled by," she said, pointing at the main building. "The yellow brick road, that is."
Ellie looked at the pathway and made a face at Darcy. It was one of Darcy's favorite looks, honestly, which was good- because she got it a lot from Ellie. It was like a frown of confusion mixed in with a smile of amusement because she knew whatever was happening was supposed to be funny even if she didn't quite understand it- and it made her face scrunch up so that she looked like an adorable little goblin angel.
"But mommy," Ellie said. "It's red."
Darcy smiled. It was a brick pathway- a red brick pathway.
"So it is," she said. "Off we go?"
"To see the wizard?" Nathan asked, smiling dryly, and Darcy laughed as they all headed towards the building.
"Oh frabjuous day!" she sang, delighted, ruffling Nate's hair before he skipped ahead and out of her reach, sending her a withering look over his shoulder. "Calloo callay! Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"
"Whaaat?" Ellie called back, her face scrunched in that amused look as she walked a little ahead of them.
She was always a little ahead of Darcy, in more ways than one, Darcy thought with a twinge of anxiety. So far her Frost Giant traits continued to remain dormant, but every so often she would do something that made Darcy remember the Frost Giant in her blood, and it was frightening, because Darcy wasn't sure how she was supposed to handle it when it surfaced. How were you supposed to tell a child that they could do things other people couldn't and that it had to be a secret even if they really, really wanted to use them?
It was like telling someone that they couldn't be themselves, which she was just fundamentally against.
It hadn't really been a big issue yet, but Darcy worried.
Oh well. What would happen would happen, she supposed. But there were certainly an awful lot of things that she wanted very badly not to happen...
"You got it wrong," Nathan called from just in front of the building where he and Ellie now waited for Darcy to catch up. Lordy but they had long legs! "Those are from two different verses."
Darcy smiled wryly herself, finally getting to the door and opening it for them to go in first. "Really?" She asked dryly. Nathan had become an endearingly incurable know-it-all. He read voraciously, and seemed to have a memory that forgot nothing. "And how was it supposed to go?"
"Well," Nathan amended, "I mean, it kind of was. But you got the order all wrong. It's supposed to go: 'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy.' So, points for trying, I guess."
'Points for trying'? Darcy smiled widely. Oh yes. That was her son.
"I should pull you out at parties," she said. "You're really something else, kid."
The elderly woman behind the desk had been watching their exchange with amused silence, but Darcy approached her now.
"Hello!" She said cheerfully.
"Well hello there," the woman said with a friendly smile. Poor thing. She probably didn't get many visitors.
"What about me?" Ellie asked, pouting a little as she tugged on Darcy's hand. "Aren't I something else too?"
Darcy tweaked one of her jet black braids. "You certainly are." Ellie's pout passed instantly on to curiosity about a pamphlet that was at her level and she picked it up, looking at the pictures. She was quite the mood-changer, Ellie was. "Sorry," Darcy said with a smile to the woman. "So we're here to visit Doctor Jane Odinson, and we were wondering which building she worked in. Do you know?"
"Doctor Odinson?" the woman said with a brisk nod of her head. "Oh but of course! She's on the second floor, in room 221B. Is she expecting you though...? It's not normal for us to get visitors around here."
"I thought not!" Darcy exclaimed, pleased to be right. The woman blinked at her in surprise, and Darcy coughed. "Ah...I mean, thank you very much for your help. And no, she's not exactly expecting us. But it's her birthday," she explained. "And we're surprising her."
"Oh," the woman said, smiling. "Well isn't that sweet. Just sign in here, please," and she pushed a clipboard with a sign-in sheet towards Darcy and three badges that said VISITOR on them.
"I suppose we'll see you on the way out," Darcy said cheerfully, handing the signed clipboard back to the woman, who nodded, distracted by the ringing phone. She gave Nathan his badge and put Ellie's and her own on.
"Okeedokes, guys. Straight on until morning."
The main lobby tapered into a long, wide, white-tiled hall that was full of employees in long white coats whose job seemed to be to come and go from as many of the multitude of rooms that lined the hall as possible. Darcy wrinkled her nose at the strong chemical smells that came out of a few of the rooms they passed. There was a reason that there was a saying about stopping to smell the flowers, rather than stopping to smell the chemicals.
At the end of the hall there was a set of thick, double doors much like those Darcy remembered from high-school, and beyond them were the stairs. The second floor resembled what they had seen of the first, the only exception being that there were noticeably less people meandering the halls. Presumably the first floor was more for administrative things.
Darcy noted with amusement how almost every room was either such-and-such-number room A or such-and-such-number-room B. It all seemed much more complicated than it had to be.
But they found 221B without too much trouble and knocked on the door.
"Come in," came Jane's muffled, distracted voice from within.
"It's us, Auntie!" Ellie cried as they came in the door. She hugged a bemused Jane's leg in greeting.
"Happy birthday, Jane," Darcy said with a grin to her old friend.
"We brought you a present," Nathan said solemnly, making Darcy grin wider. Gift giving was apparently a very serious business.
"Oh!" Jane exclaimed delightedly, putting the paper she'd been looking at down on the desk. "Well this is such a wonderful surprise! You guys are so sweet."
"They were quite adamant that we see you on you birthday," Darcy explained, leaning against the door-frame.
"What are you writing?" Ellie asked curiously, looking at the paper Jane had put down. It was filled with highlighted sections and little notes all over it.
"Oh, that?" Jane said, waving it off. "Boring adult science stuff. Like magic and portals to other worlds, and unicorns-"
"Mommy," Ellie said, her eyes wide. "I want a science too."
Darcy laughed. "After that explanation, I'm not surprised. But aren't you going to give her her present?"
"Oh yeah!" Ellie said, beaming, and Nathan smiled with superiority and shook his head at her short memory. She ran back to Darcy, who pulled it out of her bag. "This is for you," Ellie said, a little shyly now.
"Well, thank you very much," Jane said graciously, her eyes a little misty. "And who wrapped it?"
"I did," Nathan said quickly. "And it was my idea. But- everyone did their part, I guess." He had a keenly developed sense of fairness for an eight year old.
Jane smiled at that and unwrapped it. "Oooooh," she said with delight when she saw it.
"That one's me," Ellie said, quickly pointing out where she was in the picture. "And that's you."
"Yes, I see," Jane smiled. She looked up at Nathan and Darcy. "It's lovely. Thank you."
"I knew you'd like it," Ellie said, beaming once more, now that it was clear the gift had been a success.
They visited for a few more minutes, but Darcy rounded the kids up quicker than they would have liked because Jane was at work after all, and they should really let her get back to the important things that she had to do. Jane gave each of them a hug as they left and thanked them again.
"Oh!" Ellie exclaimed, remembering suddenly. "Look, mommy- I found a trick."
"Mmm?" Darcy asked, looking through her bag. Seriously. She was sure she'd put her car keys in the front pocket, but they weren't there. This was just getting ridiculous. What had she done with them!?
"Mommy!" Ellie exclaimed in irritation. "You're not paying attention!"
"Calm down," Nathan told her, and she shot him a look. "And I don't think that's a good idea, El."
"Sorry, honey," Darcy said, looking up at her. "I am now. Go ahead- but watch where you're going, El. Sorry about that," she apologized to the man Ellie had just bumped into. He looked down his long nose at her and then ignored her, stalking off. Yeesh. People these days.
"Look," Ellie said again, pleased with herself. Darcy looked.
And her heart stopped beating.
She heard an intake of breath from a doorway, and looking up she saw the expression of incredulity on the face of a brunette in glasses. The woman seemed to come back to herself after a moment and reached for her phone.
Fuck.
It was her worst nightmare.
"I'm blue," Ellie said, grinning up at her mother. But her grin faltered and she frowned at the frozen look of shock on Darcy's face. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Ellie," Nathan said, looking surreptitiously around at how her stunt had affected the people in close proximity. "Cut it out." He didn't look as surprised as everyone else.
Ellie did so, her skin slipping back into it's normal pale color. She didn't look pleased anymore. She looked like she was about to cry.
This made Darcy snap out of it suddenly, her protective instincts kicking into gear. She sent a glare to the hallway of scientists, hoping they got the message to Back Off and Not Ask Questions, pulled Ellie and Nathan to her and marched as quickly down the hall as possible.
"Shhh, honey," Darcy said distracted and afraid of the way the people in the hall were whispering to each other.
Oh god, this was just the worst thing possible.
"Ma'am," a large security guard said, coming out of nowhere to block their path on the stairwell. "I'm gonna need you to come with me."
Another brawny security guard joined him, and two more appeared at the top of the stairwell, effectively trapping them. And just what the fuck did this place do that they needed so many terrifying-looking security guards, anyways!?
Ellie did start to cry then. Nathan looked at Darcy, worried, and Darcy clasped both of them to her protectively. "Mom?" he asked uncertainly.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, and neither are my children," Darcy said fiercely. That just wouldn't happen. "And you have no authority to tell me what to do. You're going to step aside and let us through the door, then we will leave this building and you will never see us again."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," the guard said.
Her stomach sank even lower. She hadn't thought that was possible.
"That's quite a trick that she's got," he nodded at Ellie speculatively, and Darcy bristled.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," she snapped at him, wondering if there was really even any point in denying it. They probably had video tapes for security reasons. "But you can go to hell."
There was radio static from their walkie-talkies and a voice said something that Darcy didn't understand, but whatever it was made the two security guards before her exchange looks and advance forward.
Darcy was terrified and angry and felt so helpless. What was she supposed to do?
"We're not going to hurt you ma'am," one of the guards said, frowning at Ellie's tears. "We just want to ask you some questions."
"Oh no," Darcy said, shaking her head. "I'm not telling you anything. I don't even know who you are." What was happening!? Why was Jane working here? And that was another thing- "Where is Jane? I want to see her. Now."
The door opened then, and the security guards parted to let a new man through. He was very plain-faced and average-looking, especially next to the burly guards, but there was something about him that intimidated Darcy. A sense of sureness, and of control, that was only accentuated by his expensive suit and unnecessary sunglasses. They were inside, for god's sake! Just what the fuck he needed them for was beyond Darcy. And if that was beyond her, then why she was spending so much time thinking about sunglasses in this situation was galaxies beyond her.
The atmosphere of the situation changed abruptly though, the guards clearly yielding to his authority. The ridiculousness of the fact that this was all happening in a stairwell struck Darcy suddenly. He looked like one of the Men in Black. It would have been almost funny, if not for the kids.
He took his sunglasses off and smiled at her in what she was sure was supposed to be a reassuring way. It didn't really work. To be fair though, pretty much nothing was going to be reassuring her at this point.
"Mrs. Laufeyson," he said, and his voice was soft and almost comforting. "Ellie, Nathan," he nodded at the kids. How did he know their names? "I'm sorry to have scared you like this. Believe me, we wouldn't have wished to do it this way. Of course, it was entirely unexpected, but there you have it."
Ellie had stopped crying, and she was staring at the man in the suit with wide eyes. Darcy hadn't even noticed, but she'd been stroking Ellie's hair comfortingly. Nathan just watched it all, a little detached but taking everything in.
"SHIELD has been watching you for some time now," he continued. "Your connections with Mr. Odinson make you quite the interesting family."
Oh god.
Darcy's stomach sank even further, something she really really hadn't thought would be possible. At this rate it would be 20,000 leagues under the sea, and there was just no way she'd be diving down there for it. It was too bad. Her stomach had been pretty helpful until now. Her subconscious licked it's lips tiredly, crying with regret.
"We're not trying to hurt you or your family, I assure you, but we have many questions. We'd just like to talk, really." He frowned at the security guards. "I really am sorry that this is how we must be meeting."
"What if I don't want to talk to you." Just how much did he know? "Do I have any choice in this?"
The man had the grace at least to look abashed. He shook his head regretfully, but his voice was firm. "I'm afraid not, ma'am. If you'll just follow me?"
Darcy glanced from the security guards to her kids, being so brave and just watching all this happening with wide, owl-like eyes, and then at the man in the suit. He had a kind of quiet, understated authority about him, but she didn't think for a minute he wouldn't follow through. She nodded reluctantly.
"Great! This way please."
He motioned for the security guards to let them pass through the doors behind him, and he led them down the hall on the main floor. The people milling about the halls let them through, watching with interest as they passed, and when they went by the lobby the receptionist frowned with concern.
Finally he ushered them into what seemed to be an interrogation room- though why on earth Jane's science lab required an interrogation room, Darcy had no idea.
There were only two chairs, on either side of a table, and the man in the suit had one of the security guards get two more. They left after bringing them.
"I'm Agent Coulson," the man in the suit said. "And I'm sure you have questions of your own. I believe we could be mutually beneficial to each other."
Darcy narrowed her eyes at him. You bet your skinny little ass I do, she though.
"Who is SHIELD?" She asked, staring daggers at him. "And why were they watching Thor?"
"SHIELD is an undercover association that does a variety of different things," Coulson explained. "This particular branch is for research and development, for the most part, but we have other divisions that do more hands-on work. The bottom line, Mrs. Laufeyson, is that we help people. We...protect people."
Darcy frowned.
"So you're like police," Nathan said, before she could open her mouth. He was staring up at Coulson, utterly intrigued.
Coulson chuckled briefly. "Yes. Yes, we are a lot like police. Except sometimes there are threats that the public doesn't know about. Threats that are more...supernatural in nature. And we try to stem those threats before they become known." He noticed the worried look on Darcy's face, and clapped his hands together, clearly not wanting to focus on this. "But that's just one division-"
"If you monitor threats," Darcy asked, troubled, "then why were you watching Thor? Why were you watching us?" It was such a horrifying, frightening thought that their lives had been the fodder of strangers.
Coulson smiled slightly. "Well, as I was saying, Mrs. Laufeyson, that is just one division of SHIELD. An equal part of it is dedicated to research- which leads to our very own anomaly: Thor Odinson. Quite the unusual man, I think you'll agree, though he has kept a remarkably low profile for the past decade. The first few months he was here, though, it was an entirely different story."
Darcy frowned. She'd never heard this before. "What do you mean?"
"Let's just say it took the God of Thunder a little while to become accustomed to Earth, and he certainly made our radar during that time period. But that's not the important part," Coulson said, waving it away. "What matters is that he's been putting up a remarkably good show of being human. This intrigues us, naturally, seeing as how he is not. And that's how you first came to be on our radar, Mrs. Laufeyson. But then, you're quite intriguing in your own right, aren't you?"
Darcy snorted. Her? "Umm, not exactly."
"Yeah, mom's really not," Nathan interjected, making Darcy smile wryly.
"See? My son can attest to the fact that I have no life."
Coulson looked at her with amusement. "But that's not exactly true, is it?" He cocked his head to the side and stared at her intently, making Darcy squirm uncomfortably. "Does it ever bother you, Darcy Lewis- that your life doesn't make sense?" Darcy frowned at him, wondering where he was going with this. "I don't even know where to start with you, to be honest. Perhaps your parents?"
"I was adopted," Darcy said, wondering what this had to do with anything.
"Yes," Coulson agreed. "By a perfectly normal couple. By all accounts you grew up as quite the mischievous girl down in West Virginia. But that's not what I'm talking about. Your birth parents, Darcy. Did you never think of trying to find them? Most people in your situation would."
"I never really felt the need," Darcy said, shrugging. "The people who raised me are my true parents." She'd never gotten that urge to find out who had given her away as a baby. "I try to live in the present, Agent Coulson. The past has no place in that."
"Fair enough," Coulson said, letting it go. "But if you should ever get curious, let me know- I think you would find it to be quite interesting. Moving on though- your childhood was normal enough,"
Darcy snorted. "Thanks."
"- and your teenage years, as well. But then you moved to New Mexico. And that's when you get really interesting."
New Mexico? That had been years ago. Darcy thought back over it, trying to figure out what would make him think it was anything special.
"I spent a year and a half working for Jane as a secretary slash data reporter," Darcy said, looking at Coulson in confusion.
"And that's where you crossed paths with Thor again," Coulson said.
"Right," Darcy said, frowning as she remembered it. It was a hazy memory- it had been years, after all. "At a bar. I can't remember why I would have been at a bar though- that's strange. I hate those places."
"A year and a half after that you gave birth to a boy. This charming young man here, I'm assuming," he said, nodding with a smile to Nathan. "And yet- where was the father, Mrs. Laufeyson?" He asked, his attention turned back to Darcy. "You're clearly married. You don't go by your maiden name anymore, and we've found documents proving your marriage- and yet no sign of the mysterious Loki Laufeyson. Not a whisper. It's as if he never existed."
Darcy gave a start at the name, and some confusion that she couldn't put a name to suddenly overwhelmed her. "I've heard that name before," she said. God help her though, she couldn't say why.
Coulson looked at her closely, examining her reaction, she was sure. "I believe you," he said finally, sounding a little surprised. "And thus my curiosity grows. Which begs the question- who was the father of the most astounding Ellie? We would all be very interested to know."
Ellie looked up at the sound of her name and smiled at them all. She'd grown bored of their adult conversation and had been playing with Darcy's purse and the objects inside it. Seeing no one was actually paying attention to her after all though, she went back to merrily playing with the objects inside Darcy's purse.
"I'm sorry," Darcy said, shaking her head. "I'm trying to understand this all- and please, correct me if I get something wrong." Coulson nodded assent. "You've just told me that you're part of an organization that protects people- making the fact that you've been watching my family and digging into my history out to mean that we are threats- and you want me to be open with you? Seriously? I'm here against my will, and I'm sorry if I'm not feeling very talkative under these conditions."
Coulson nodded slowly, his face blank, but she could read disappointment on it. "And you have every right to that," he said calmly. "The people I work for just wanted to make sure that you heard us out and were aware of your options. If your daughter is what we think she is, then we have many questions and theories that we would like to explore. But these wouldn't just benefit us. If you're telling the truth that you don't know about the father, then it stands to reason that whatever we found out would benefit you and Ellie, too, in knowing what you were dealing with and how to handle it. We wouldn't do anything that you weren't comfortable with, and it would be strictly voluntary on your part, assuming Ellie was willing. And Nathan, too," he said, nodding at Nathan. "I don't suppose you'd tell me if he was like his sister?"
"No, I wouldn't," Darcy said.
"I'm not," Nathan said at the same time. Darcy and Coulson looked at him. "I can just feel it," he continued, a little awkwardly under the intensity of their combined attention. "I'm just me."
Darcy kissed his forehead. Her little boy. "I know," she said quietly. She'd always known. "And that's what makes you special."
"Be that as it may, sometimes these things take a while to manifest."
"Mommy, I'm hungry," Ellie whined, bored of the contents of Darcy's bag.
"I think that's our cue to leave," Darcy said, and Coulson looked like he wanted to say something more but merely sighed.
"Of course." He stood. "But please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you change your mind." He gave her his card and Darcy dumped it in her purse.
"Yeah," she said. "Well, I wouldn't camp out by the phone. Alright kids, home we go."
People watched curiously as Coulson walked them out, and Darcy glared at them. She hated that they knew this about her family. She hated them all. Well, all but the receptionist, who gave Coulson a fierce glare as they were leaving and started yelling at him. That kind of made Darcy happy.
It was a subdued ride home. Ellie was tired out from the excitement and fell asleep, and Nathan and Darcy were both lost in their thoughts.
Her mind was whirling. They had known. Somehow they had known. How often had Darcy been going about her life, unaware that she was being spied on? She suppressed a shiver of distaste.
And they wanted her to bring Ellie back to them!? Were they out of their minds!? As if she would ever consider letting them anywhere near her baby girl. And just what the hell was Jane doing, working at a place like that? Darcy intended to have words with Jane tomorrow.
That night Darcy was turning out Nathan's light when something struck her from earlier.
"Nate," she said curiously, "you didn't look very surprised. Earlier. When Ellie went all oompa-loompa."
Nathan blinked his little owl-eyes at her from his bed. "It wasn't the first time she did that."
"Oh." Darcy was rattled. Had her son started keeping secrets from her? She'd thought that wouldn't start happening for a few more years- till puberty at least, and she was suddenly sad. When had her little boy started growing up?
"Not on purpose," he said quickly, sensing Darcy's distress. "Sometimes when we play though and she gets angry, her skin will go blue. But then it's gone really quick. I don't think she even knows it when it happens."
If Nathan had been trying to calm Darcy, he had succeeded in exactly the opposite. Her baby girl couldn't control it- that's what it sounded like. So how long until she did it at school? How long until someone who wouldn't understand saw it?
Darcy took a deep breath.
"And, I don't know if it matters," Nathan mumbled, "but sometimes when it's raining and we're outside, the raindrops freeze to her coat."
Darcy frowned. "How come I've never noticed that?" She asked. Surely she would have seen it at some point.
Nathan shrugged. "They don't freeze for long."
"Huh." Darcy took in this new information. He must wonder what was going on with Ellie, but Darcy was debating how much she should tell him. He deserved to know, and he was very mature for his age- but. Maybe not tonight. "Your sister is very special," she said finally.
Nathan nodded, yawning.
"You're special too, of course," Darcy hastened to add, and Nathan smiled sleepily. "But other people wouldn't understand Ellie."
"I know. Don't worry." He yawned again. "I'll protect her."
"Oomf," Loki said, the breath knocked out of him. Something cracked and suddenly his chest was in agony.
But there was no time to waste being stunned. Broken rib or no, he had to act now or die.
The Snow Lion smelled faintly of blood, and it snarled furiously in his face. Loki wasn't sure just what it was complaining about. After all, it was him who had a six hundred pound cat pinning him down and that would love nothing more than to eat him.
The arm he'd raised at the last moment in defense felt like it would be crushed if it had to take much more pressure on it, what with the way the big cat's front legs were standing on it.
The cat darted down with frightening speed, it's long, sabertooth tiger-like fangs heading straight for his neck. Acting purely on instinct, he rolled to the side, and the cat- being off-balance, perched as it was on his body- fell off of him and landed in a heap where Loki had been a moment before.
It only took the cat a second to recover though, and it had soon sprung at Loki once more.
If only the scepter hadn't been knocked from his hands, Loki cursed silently. Thanking everything holy that he'd thought to pack a knife, he reached for the sheath around his waist where he'd put it. Only to remember with a sickening jolt that he'd put both knife and sheath in the pack the night before after using it to skin some unwary rabbits.
He spun out of the way just as the lion leaped again, wincing at the protest his broken rib made.
Where was Frigga? He wondered. It was odd that the lion had targeted him first. Surely it would have identified her as the weaker link between them, wounded and more affected by the cold than he was. But then almost at the same time he realized that that was exactly the reason the lion was ignoring her now: Loki was the bigger threat. The lion was eliminating him so that it could take Frigga down at it's own leisure.
The lion snarled again with fury, and in it's black eyes Loki saw fierce intelligence and cunning. Oh yes. It knew exactly what it was doing.
Loki quickly tried to think of what other weapons he might have, that he could try to pull out before it regrouped. He came up with nothing- the knife in the sack was the only weapon he'd thought to bring, despite all his supposedly meticulous planning. To be fair though, at the time he'd still had his magic. Not that fairness would make him any less dead.
If he was to die, he would die fighting, though. Loki tensed to meet the lion as it came at him, ready to try and break it's jaw with his bare hands if he had to.
But the lion never reached him. It gave a sharp, surprised yowl and slowed it's run towards Loki, finally falling to the ground a few feet from him, blood seeping from a wound at it's neck and staining it's pristine white pelt red.
Loki's jaw dropped at the sight of Frigga, wiping the blood off of the knife with her skirts.
"You okay?" Loki nodded dumbly. He wasn't sure why he was always so surprised by this side of her, but he was. "Here, you should take this," she said, handing him the sheathed knife. "Maybe wear it next time."
"Right," Loki said, taking it. "Thanks. And...ah...good job. With the lion. I thought I was really fucked over there for a minute."
Frigga smiled slightly at that, but then her face turned serious once more. "Oh, Loki," she said wryly. "When will you ever learn? You're my son. As if I would ever let you die."
Loki frowned, something inside him clenching hopefully. Why did everything with Frigga seem so different now than it had before? He almost felt like he was seeing and hearing her with someone else's eyes and ears. Had he really been so blind before that he could not see the concern in her eyes that even now she tried to conceal? So deaf to affection such as had just been in her voice?
He swallowed uncertainly and made to put the sheath on his belt, only to wince at the pain from his rib. Fuck. As if they needed something else to slow them down.
"What is this?" Frigga asked sharply, concern shadowing her eyes. "I thought you said you were fine."
"Tis but a flesh wound," Loki said, trying to wave it away.
"A flesh wound?" She asked worriedly, searching his torso. "Are you bleeding? Does it need to be cauterized? The cold will help ward off infection, but perhaps we should-"
"No, no," Loki said, regretting his flippancy. "That was just a figure of speech. It's not a flesh wound- it's nothing. Just a broken rib."
Frigga stared at him for a long moment, searching his face. Loki wondered what she was thinking. Her face was unreadable.
"Can you heal it?" She asked finally.
Loki shook his head. "If I had my magic, then it would be simple. Painful," he allowed, "but simple. But the scepter...I don't trust myself with it enough to do something as precise as that."
Frigga nodded in acceptance of this and gathered the pack from where it had been dropped when they were attacked. Loki retrieved the scepter, wiping the snow from it's pommel onto his pants.
His rib had gone from a jagged cry to more of a sharp ache, which was easier to ignore. They would push on. He would not let it stop him.
"What happened to your magic?" Frigga asked, startling him. It was still so strange to hear her talk about his magic, when for so many years she had pretended that he had none.
"It's gone," he said, eyes catching on the lion, it's crimson neck standing out so vividly against the white of it's surroundings. They needed to bury it. It was too visible.
"Is that normal?"
He would just shove it under the nearest snow drift. That would cover it well enough, and- what had Frigga asked? His head had started throbbing in sympathy with his rib, and now that has arm thought about it, it was pretty sore too. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but only succeeded in making it ache even more. "No," he said finally, remembering her question. "No it's not normal at all."
He felt a little faint. A quick nap would be just the thing.
"Don't worry," he said, his voice sounding far away to his own ears, "I'll only be a moment."
All was darkness.
"Hello? Darcy?" Jane's voice was anxious through the phone. "Are you okay? I got your voice-mail, but honestly, I don't really understand-"
"Neither do I, Jane," Darcy bit out. In all the years of their friendship, never had Darcy been truly angry with her. But there was a first for everything. "I don't understand. How could you work for them when they've been watching us? Like fucking ants under a telescope, Jane!"
"I'm sorry, ants under a what?" Jane asked in confusion. "Who are you talking about, Darcy?"
"A telescope, Jane!" Darcy repeated frustratedly.
"Why would you put ants under a telescope?"
"Oh, I don't know, Jane, maybe to see if they turn into fucking Frost Giants," Darcy hissed. How could Jane do it? She just didn't understand. How could she work for those people!?
"Darcy!" Jane said sharply, starting to get angry now. "Will you just stop with the histrionics and tell me what's going on?"
"As if you don't know," Darcy said bitterly, wishing there was a more satisfyingly violent way to fold clothes. Jane had called back while Darcy was doing the laundry.
"No, Darcy, I don't know. So could you please tell me, because I'm really getting to the end of my patience here."
"I'm talking about SHIELD, Jane. And fucking Mr. I'm So High And Mighty We Can Both Benefit From This Exchange of Information Even Though I'm a Total Creeper Who Has Been Stalking Your Family For Years-" Darcy broke off, forgetting what his actual name was. "Smith," she substituted in annoyance.
Jane made a sound of frustration. "Darcy, you do realize that that glowingly incisive explanation still leaves me very much in the dark, don't you?"
For the first time it occurred to Darcy that there was the slight chance that she might have leaped to the wrong conclusion. It was a little hard, after all, to believe that Jane would knowingly allow strangers with questionable motives to monitor those that she cared about. But Darcy had been operating on blind fear and outrage on behalf of her kids, and it was possible that she'd been overly zealous in her outright condemnation of Jane.
"It happened, Jane," she said tightly, rewinding a bit. "Just after we left your office yesterday. Ellie...she was talking about a new trick that she'd learned, and I wasn't really paying much attention, but then it happened. She- her skin-" Darcy broke off, running a hand through her hair. Every time she thought about it, her heart started racing again, her hand shaking slightly from the nerves. She took a deep breath and pushed on. "It turned blue. And everyone saw. Jane- everyone saw. All those scientists that work there doing god knows what saw my little girl turn blue. And then back."
Jane was silent for a moment, absorbing this. "Oh," she breathed. "Oh my. Oh that's not good."
Darcy laughed slightly hysterically. "No. No it's very not good. And what's even more not good is that they wouldn't let us leave until we were interrogated by a creepy man in a suit who said that not only did they know about Thor but that they'd been watching us- watching all of us- for years. Like, every breath we take. Every move we make. Seriously! It's like they took that fucking song as a guide to socialness or something- I can't-" She took a deep breath, trying to force herself back into calmness.
There was a long silence. So long that Darcy would have worried that Jane had hung up for some reason, if she didn't know her as well as she did. As it was, she could practically hear Jane puzzling this new information out and trying to fit it in with everything else that she knew of SHIELD. Finally, softly, she said,"I didn't know, Darcy. I swear to you that I had no idea."
Darcy swallowed tightly, ashamed of how she'd jumped to conclusions. Of course Jane hadn't known. "I know," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Jane. I just- when it comes to the kids, I just-" All of a sudden, tears pricked from behind her eyes. "They're everything to me, Jane. And I just- I can't lose them. And I'm afraid, I'm so afraid that something awful is going to happen. All day I couldn't stop thinking that I'm going to wake up one of these mornings and I'll go to get Nathan and Ellie up for school only to find empty beds because SHIELD's taken them back to their labs to be experimented on. Like fucking rats, Jane- which, as you know, I've got issues about in and of itself, but-"
"Oh, Darcy!" Jane cried in sympathy. "Honey, I'm sure that's not going to happen. They wouldn't dare. And don't you worry about anything- you can be sure that I'll be talking to my superiors about this. It is completely unacceptable!"
Darcy took deep, shaky breaths, trying to convince herself that it was okay to calm down. Her nerves were strung so tight. But she was reassured. Jane was free of blame- that was certainly a weight off her shoulders. She hated to think what it would be like to actually be betrayed by someone as close to her as Jane. Christ, she wouldn't be able to bear it. It was just too much for her to carry on her own. It was too overwhelming. Thor and Jane were such a blessing in that regard.
And Jane was angry, which was good to. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with when she was, and she had at least a little bit of authority at SHIELD. Darcy didn't really understand her position, but it was clear Jane was held in high esteem and was quite valued for her skill and knowledge. Perhaps they would listen to her. Certainly they would listen more to her than they would to Darcy.
They talked for a little longer, and Darcy apologized again, and thanked Jane. She hung up feeling a little more calm.
"I'd yell," Nathan said solemnly from the doorway.
Darcy yelped, startled. "Oh my god!" she said, relieved that she hadn't cried earlier. "You scared me." Her nerves were still raw. She picked up a pair of socks and folded them together. "What were you saying?"
"I'd yell," he said again, his face serious and earnest. At that moment he looked far older than his eight years. "If someone tried to kidnap me, or Ellie. I'd yell, and then you'd know."
Darcy's hands stopped halfway through folding a sheet. "Oh honey," she said softly. Her heart turned over in her chest. He hadn't been supposed to hear that. How much had he heard? "Oh, honey."
She knew she should say something more, but that was all she was capable of at the moment.
"I just wanted you to know," he said awkwardly. "So you- so you wouldn't...worry," he finished, looking down at his feet.
Oh Christ. Her poor baby.
"You'll never be in that position," she said fiercely. "You don't even have to worry about it," she assured him. She would worry about it enough for the both of them, and Ellie too. "I'm going to make sure that nothing ever happens to you."
Frigga had wrapped his rib with strips of cloth from her hem when he awoke, the sun just beginning to rise. The wrapping was nothing fancy, but it would help keep the rib in place so that it could heal. He thanked her hoarsely.
"It was nothing," she said, handing him the canteen of water. He took a long, refreshing swig.
"The lion-" he said suddenly, remembering.
"Taken care of. It's buried under a snow drift over there." Frigga nodded toward a drift at least ten feet high. Another blizzard would hit, probably sooner rather than later, and the tracks around it would be hidden. "How do you feel?" she asked. "Do you think you can walk? We've lost a day already. I'd rather not lose more."
"I can walk," he said. Even if his rib burst clear through his skin, he would still be walking. He stood, ignoring the protest from his chest.
Frigga nodded in approval. "Good."
And so they walked.
Two days later saw them to the edge of the icy shore of Jotunheim, their luck having returned to them. They had seen no other snow beasts, and the weather had been unusually mild- it only having snowed for a few hours over the course of the past few days, and even then not as hard as it might have.
Loki assembled Skidbladnir again, and soon they were crossing the great river. His rib had started healing by now, and pained him much less. His headaches were gone, too, now that the snow no longer blinded him and he didn't need to use the scepter constantly.
Frigga was relieved to have left Jotunheim behind, and despite her fury at Odin, she was greatly looking forward to getting back to Asgard. Laufey had tormented her over and over with the knowledge that the man who had betrayed her had been her son. Baldr. Baldr who by all accounts had died. And she...believed Laufey. That it was Baldr, at least. There had been something so familiar about him- she could have no doubt. And as for his betrayal, she had seen his eyes. They had been honest eyes. Whatever reason he had done it for, it had not been his choice. It was Odin's betrayal that sent jolts of rage through her- how could he have lied to her about that? How could he have told her that her son had died?
Still. Her joy at the knowledge that her eldest lived, and her excitement to meet him overshadowed the anger, and both of them were quite lighthearted as they made their way back to Asgard.
Or at least they were until they realized that they were far from the only ones with that destination. Behind them, spanning an incredible distance on either side, was a fleet of ships, coming fast.
And there was only one place they could have come from.