A/N: I own nothing but the original characters, the rest belong to Marvel.

"Oh, Hayden perfect timing." My mother looked up from the crossword puzzle

she was working on and smiled. "Susan is teaching Thomas how to make sunny side up eggs so breakfast will be ready soon."

I could smell the pancakes and bacon from upstairs while I was getting dressed. Thomas helping make breakfast did explain the faint burning aroma that wafted throughout the house. My stomach turned, not really hungry but my mother's genuine smile made it hard to turn down.

Shrugging I lifted my arms up and forced a smile of my own. "Anything I can do to help?"

She pursed her lips together and her brows flung upward. "Well I suppose you could wake that entrepreneur boyfriend of yours."

"Oh," I breathed looking down at my bare feet. Loki was the last person I wanted to see anytime soon. After last night...

"No need to send anyone to wake me." I stilled, closed my eyes and exhaled slowly. "I was hoping that you and I could speak with one another."

I looked up at my mother before realizing that he was talking to me. Slowly I spun on my heel and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Loki stared at me with a calm expression. It felt as though his gaze was going to burn right through, eating and devouring everything in its path.

"Um-"

"Okay," came Thomas' voice from around the corner. He emerged from the kitchen and into the dining room carrying two plates full of overeasy and sunny side up eggs. He wore a pleased smile under his moppy hair as he looked up from the plates. "These are the ones that didn't break."

He set the plates on the table and scratched the back of his head, his smile faltering. "Hopefully they taste alright."

"Oh they will be fine," Uncle Oscar gruffed. He was wheeling Grandma into the kitchen. "Thomas go get your sister and your cousins from outside, will ya?"

Thomas nodded and turned to the glass-sliding door. He opened it and stepped outside, cupping his hands around his face and shouted, "Yo brats, come eat!"

Sully rushed inside, his fat tongue lopping out of the side of his mouth. He waged his tail and ran to me, licking up the back of my leg. I bent down to pet him when Aunt Kathryn entered the dining room. Sully whined and quickly bounced off to the kitchen forgetting Aunt Kathryn as he searched for dropped food.

I rose back into a standing position and smoothed out my knee-length pencil skirt. Gently Loki brushed the tip of his fingers against the sleeve of my button-down blouse, his eyebrows pushed together. He knew why I looked as though I were about to attend a business meeting instead of the casual wear I had been donning since my arrival back home. It was to cover the bruises.

I moved my arm from his touch and swallowed hard. He kept his gaze level as he nodded his head toward the empty living room. I hesitated. I looked over my shoulder at my family gathering around the dining table.

My mother was filling up a plate with hashbrowns for Addie as Sully sat patiently at her feet, waiting for something to fall. Thomas was questioning his dad about the taste of the eggs, making sure they were fine. Uncle Oscar made a face but forced an even smile under his bushy mustache. Thomas beamed and turned toward one of the covered plates on the table to grab some bacon.

"Well, don't just stand there," called Aunt Kathryn waving Loki and I over to the table. "Come and eat."

Loki turned to my aunt and offered her a charming smile. "I am famished," he winked placing his hand on the small of my back and walked toward the empty chairs. He held out my seat for me and I slowly sat, suspiciously staring up at him as he continued, "everything looks divine."

He took his away next to me and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He turned to offer me some. I held up my hand and shook my head, curious as to what his intentions were. Did he feel guilty about last night?

I felt myself pale and my stomach turned as Aunt Susan placed a slab of thick, fatty bacon onto my plate. I blankly stared at the piece of meat. Loki shifted next to me, his arm brushed against mine as he reached for the hashbrowns. His closeness was making very self-aware of the ripping pain I felt inside my chest.

After Loki had left I remained cold and naked sitting on the floor surrounded by childhood memorabilia that had fallen off the dresser. Gaping for air, I tried to keep myself from crying. My arms and thighs pinched and they felt hot when I brought my fingers and dragged them across the rising skin. Parts of my body that I wasn't even aware of started to ache. But nothing hurt more than the dull pain the drilled itself into my chest.

I didn't understand what happened. One minute we were going at it like teenagers in the bathroom and the next he's gone completely mad and tossed me on the floor. And the things he said...

Muscles in my legs lightly twitched as I rose to my feet. I looked through the mass of brown hair mortified at the ghost-like girl staring back at me. My face was ghaunt and hollow, my cheeks burned with life. My lips were thick and swollen, tender to touch. Bruises shaped like fingers lined along my shoulder and lower arm.

I trailed my hand along the bruises, curving down my side to the top of my thighs. A sharp ache tugged as my finger pushed a little too deeply on the skin. I winced and quickly pulled away, dragging my haunted gaze to the mirror.

I saw the tear before I felt it.

"Isn't that right, Hayden?"

I looked up from my half-eaten breakfast and stared at Uncle Lewis with a blank face. He raised his bushy brows at me and I felt as though everyone ceased what they were doing to stare at me. I blinked. I had no idea what anyone was talking about.

"You will have to excuse her this morning, "smiled Loki, gently rubbing my back the way a concerned lover would. "She and I went out last night and didn't return until it was well past midnight."

I swallowed. His lips on my throat, the water trickling down my chin and breasts flashed in my mind. The bruises along my arms and thighs ached as a sudden reminder.

Grandma chuckled, slathering a glob of gooey jelly onto her toast. "I'm surprised anyone got any sleep with all that bumping in the middle of the night," she winked and took a bite of her food.

I exhaled sharply. Uncle Oscar sputtered on his coffee at Grandma's comment and Aunt Kathryn snapped at him for letting it dribble onto his shirt. Thomas turned his attention to his plate, shoving his eggs around with the tip of his fork until the yoke broke. His sister Annie scrunched up her small face and told him it that it was going to make his hashbrowns soggy.

"What was bumping?" Michael asked, my cheeks finally burning.

My mother pursed her lips together and pointed at Michael's plate with her fork. "Eat," she told him returning to her own breakfast. She scooped up a spoonful of fruit and pointedly looked at Grandma. "Grammy is just being kooky again."

Michael wasn't satisfied. He brushed his brown curls out of his face and asked again, determined to understand what the adults were talking about. His sister, Addie poked him in the elbow with her butterknife and he yelped. She giggled and he slapped her arm, turning her fits of laughter into over-the-top sobs.

"Michael!" Aunt Susan admonished setting her silverware at the edge of her plate and turned to her son. "Why would you do that?"

While Michael was being reprimanded by his own my mother mine turned to me with a cool smile and asked. "I noticed your car wasn't in the driveway."

This was not what I wanted to deal with in the morning. I brushed my hair behind my ear, ready to explain what happened when she loudly gasped, distracting even Aunt Susan from punishing Michael for picking on his sister-even if Addie started it first-and screeched, "what happened to your face!?"

My face? I brought my hand to my cheeks and winced at the growing, bruised scab underneath my palm. Loki took it upon himself to answer for me. While he explained the ice skating incident I watched as my mother's gaze left his face and fell to the small cuts on his hands.

I shook my head at her, hoping that she wouldn't say anything about it. "Did you fall too?"

Loki stared curiously at her for a moment. "Yeah," I answered. "It was his first time."

"Oh, I love ice skating," Aunt Kathryn sang. "I remember when I took Oscar for the first time..."

After breakfast was done and dishes were clean I decided to call a cab and retrieve my car. While in the kitchen I could overhear the living room TV turn on to the local news. I took the phone with me into the dining room and leaned against the wooden banister to see if there was any mention of the bar fight.

The cab services gave me fifteen to tenet minutes before they arrived so I took a seat next to Uncle Lewis and Thomas on the couch. Thomas was heavily concentrating on his phone and when I looked over his shoulder he moved out of the way just enough to make it look unintentional. I grinned to myself and turned my attention back to the TV.

"You just missed it," Uncle Lewis said, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, "there was a bar fight that left five men injured and one of them had his face melted off. The guy who did it wasn't even caught."

I felt every color in my body drain out of my toes and puddle onto the floor. I stared at the fake wooden tiles and blanched wishing there was a puddle in front of me. One that I could fall into and drown in.

"Do-do they have any leads?" I asked trying to keep the personal interest out of my voice.

Uncle Lewis frowned. "Guess not. No one even knew what he looked like. When they interrogated witnesses they all gave different descriptions."

"How peculiar," came Loki's voice from behind the couch.

I spun around in my seat and glared at him. "Well, whoever did it is very lucky."

"I heard they called in S.H.I.E.L.D," said Thomas from behind the screen of his cellphone. He didn't even bother looking up as he continued, "think it was an alien attack."

I felt my stomach turn inside out. Uncle Oscar huffed from across the other couch, folding his arms against his thick belly. "Aliens? Boy, it wasn't no god damn aliens. Just like that attack in New York a couple years back..."

That jerked Thomas away from his phone and he frowned at his dad. "The Avengers-"

Aunt Kathryn sighed and stood up, leaving her husband and son to continue what must have been an ongoing spat between the two of them. "The Avengers are nothing more than grown clowns in spandex."

That earned a chuckle from Loki and I turned back to him, still glaring. "The Avengers are heros," I said sharply. Loki's smile fell from his face and his green-eyed gaze hardened. "If it wasn't for them we would either all be dead or under the rule of an egotistical, bone-headed, tyrant."

"Bone-headed?" Loki mused and I nodded.

"Dad thinks the whole chitarui attack was staged from the government," Thomas droned, rolling his eyes and returning his attention to his phone."Tony Stark-"

"Is an eccentric billionaire with nothing better to do than blow his money on prostitutes and booze," Uncle Oscar continued leaning forward in his seat. The couch groaned under his weight. "He probably helped plan the whole thing."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Dad, Tony Stark isn't getting paid to fight aliens. And neither are any of the Avengers. You're just," he screwed up his face and briefly looked up from his phone, "old," he finished returning his gaze to the screen in his hands.

Uncle Oscar went red in the face, his thick mustache twitched under his bulbous, round nose. "I am not old. I am a concerned citizen."

"Now you're sounding like The Daily Prophet." The name sounded familiar and I asked Thomas what it was. "A newspaper in New York, you should know that," he said, his fingers gliding along his phone with ease. "I follow them on Facebook. They post a lot of stuff with these superheroes which can be cool to read about," he shrugged and added, "ya know when they're not being totally biased like old man mustache over here," he tossed his head toward his dad and I couldn't help but smile at the way Uncle Oscar sank back into his seat and turned his attention to the TV.

A horn honked outside. "Well, as much fun as this conversation is," I started, rising to my feet, "I'll be going now." I walked over Thomas' legs and kissed Grammy who was dozing off on the top of her head.

Loki was quick to block my way. "Where are you going?"

"To get my car," I replied stepping around him.

"I'll go with," he announced.

"I can go alone," I walked toward the front door and slipped on a pair of white heels that belonged to my mother. She had the worst habit of leaving her shoes by the door. "And I really don't feel like babysitting today," I said under my breath.

The cab honked again. "Hayden, I really think it would be in your best interest if we talked."

I stilled. "In. My. Best. Interest?" He nodded and I thought my head was going to explode. "What about your best interest? You don't think you need to talk about the way you freaked out last night? A shrink couldn't even figure out all the fucked up things in your head."

Thomas and both my Uncle's swiveled in their seats to look at us. I felt myself blush but I was too angry to care. I never talked to anyone like that but I was so angry and so hurt that it just came out. From the blank stare Loki gave me I could tell he didn't really care. Which only angered me more.

He leaned in to reach for my arm but I was quick to pull away. In a fleeting moment his face hardened and his eyes rounded. I blinked. His remained casual and airy like nothing I ever said or did bothered him. Because I was a Midgardian and he was a God.

The cab honked once again, this time several beeps. "I have to go," I said quickly slipping out of the front door and out into the brilliant sun. I didn't even look behind me to see the door open as I dashed out into the street and slid into the backseat of the car.

The taxi dropped me off in front of my car. It remained exactly as I left it, parked on the side of the street between a rundown van and a mud-spotted white Camry. I pulled the keys out of my purse and unlocked the door, opening it just a crack when someone's hand slammed it shut.

I spun around, clutching at my chest and pushed myself against the car. Without looking at my attacker I let what little training I learned from S.H.I.E.L.D kick in and rammed the bottom of my palm into their nose. The bone cracked and blood squirted onto my hand as they cried out in pain. Adrenaline still pumping I brought my knee up and hit my attacker straight in the groin.

"Fuck, Hayden!"

Loki toppled over, gasping for air as he swayed onto the car door. Blood spilled from his nostril and trickled down his chin. He spit onto the ground, inhaling sharply as he reached for his crotch.

"What are you doing here!?" I screamed not feeling the slightest bit bad about hitting him. Okay, maybe I felt a little bad but really he deserved it.

Loki wiped at the blood on his face with his hand and stared at it. "I do think you have broken my nose."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Why are you here?" I asked again.

"I never would have thought you to be a fighter," he said, once again avoiding my questions. "That fire that burns, that small spark that ignites deep within you." He tried to inhale through his nose. The blood sloshed and made a wet sound as it gushed down his lips. "This is becoming a nuisance."

I exhaled heavily and pushed him aside so that I could open the door. There were napkins inside the console that I handed to him. He took them-without so much as a thank you-and wiped at his face. He cleaned most of the blood off but it still trickled down whenever he pulled the napkin away.

"Perhaps you can take me to an infirmary since my body refuses to heal itself on its own."

"They're not going to let you waltz in without identification or insurance."

"Never you mind that," he said brushing me off and walking to the other side of he car. He opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. "Just take me to the nearest infirmary."

"The nearest hospital is the one my father is at," I replied, the guilt at not seeing him began to eat at me.

"Hayden, I am in dire need of medical attention. I do not care who resides where. I have mortal wounds that need attending to," he gave me a sideways glance as I shut the door, "since someone broke my nose."

It was becoming more and more obvious to me that Loki was going to be the death of me. His temperamental attitude was going to give me an ulcer. He would barely even let me touch him last night while I was cleaning his cuts. Now he was willing to let a stranger touch him over a little bleeding? Okay, so it might have been broken but still I didn't understand. Maybe I would never understand.

"Loki, you're fine and I really don't have time to deal with your mood swings today," I quietly said sticking the key into the ignition and starting the car. I didn't understand what the fuss was about. He was barely bleeding anymore.

"And pray tell what do you have time for?" he asked tilting his head slightly to the left. It was really hard to take his douchebauchry seriously when he had a McDonald's napkin shoved up his nose. "It is obvious your time does not concern your father so I ask what else takes up so much of your time?"

I stared at him slack-jawed wishing I could hit him again. I gripped the steering wheel so that my knuckles turned white. "If you haven't noticed I have been busy dealing with other issues."

"Ah yes," he smiled underneath the napkin, "you have been babysitting."

"You don't understand," I cried out telling myself not to let the tears fall. "You don't understand anything about love and compassion and fear and the inability to say goodbye!"

"At least I was able to say a few parting words to the All-Father before he passed."

I inhaled sharply. "What? To ask for your powers back?"

Loki smiled once more. "There it is again, that fire." I rolled my eyes and pulled out of my parking spot. "How quickly it burns."

I gave him one last look before shifting and pulling out into the street. Traffic was fairly light and we arrived at our destination moments later. I sat in the car, staring at the wheel debating on whether or not I should just wait. I really didn't know what trouble Loki was going to get into and with his failing powers I didn't want to be around if he were caught.

Unfortunately I wasn't given a choice and Loki was knocking on the driver side window, nodding that I should follow him. Sighing, I turned off the car and stepped outside, locking the door behind me as we walked through the parking garage. The short alarm to notify me that the doors had locked echoed through the parking lot.

Loki looked around curiously. I sarcastically explained what an echo was to him, rightfully warning a scowl. "Be careful Hayden," he warned as we strolled inside, "if you keep that attitude up people might actually think you have a personality."

The sound of beeping machines invaded inside my head. Each heart beat that flickered on the monitor ran with the rhythm of my own; slow and uneven. My sweaty palms held tightly on the doorknob. I pressed my back firmly against the door, inhaling sharply only to be assaulted by the stale stench of death that lingered around the hospital.

I hadn't planned on stepping inside the room. All I wanted was for Loki to take care of his business quickly so that we could leave without causing any trouble. But, as I sat nervously in the waiting room thumbing through a magazine, Loki managed to slip away without me even realizing it. So naturally I began to look for him while thinking up new ways to kill a god.

Lost in my thoughts I came upon a door that stopped me in my tracks. It was my father's room. I stood there, staring at the metal numbers screwed into the wall not at all surprised that I had ended up where I stood. My gaze was transfixed on the handle, afraid to touch it. I couldn't face what laid inside. I just couldn't...

I spun around, going to continue my search for Loki when my father's doctor stepped out into the hallway. "Oh Miss Waltham," he said, startled to see me. He adjusted his silver-framed glasses, flicking his gaze to the clipboard he held in his age-spotted hands. "I was just about to call your mother."

"Oh? Is he doing better?"

The doctors mouth straightened into a small line. My heart started to drop. "His numbers aren't doing as well as we had hoped. His cell count is dropping fast and-" my mouth flung to my mouth. Tears clung to the corners of my eyes. The doctor placed his hand firmly on my shoulder. "It's good that he will have someone here."

He gestured with his clipboard to the door, reaching behind me to open it. He squeezed my shoulder one last time before heading down the hallway to call my mom. I became paralyzed, staring at the open space into the dark room that held my dying father. A man so strong, scared of nothing...withering away...

My chest heaved up and I stepped inside swallowing hard. My hands began to shake and I wiped the sweat off onto the thighs of my skirt, shutting the door behind me with my back. It felt like hours had passed before I found the courage to move forward, choking back on the tears at the sight before me.

This wasn't the man who told me stories of gods fighting gruesome wars too scary for the ears of a child. This wasn't the man who eagerly set me atop his bony knees to tell me of Odin's glorious battles and how he would take down his enemy with long, fatal blows, using his sword to slice through their flesh like bread just pulled from the oven. This wasn't the man who would pick me up after I fell down scrapping my knees and hands only to speak about Amora the Enchantress and her treacherous ways of getting men to love her with pretty tears like the ones he wiped away.

This man looked like him though just a much smaller and more frail version. His brown hair that was typically combed to the side was flat against his sweat-slicked forehead. His glasses sat on the table beside him and a book was propped open underneath. The tan he had earned as a citzen of California had greyed and wrinkled and his mouth was pulled into a solid frown.

"Daddy?" I managed to croak as I picked up his weightless hand in mine. It was brittle and I was afraid it would break in my grasp. He remained silent, just as I knew he would. "They say that even though you can't talk you can still hear me."

I paused and looked up at the monitors he was attached to, daunted by the numbers that I didn't understand. I sniffed and looked back down at his weathered face. "I am so sorry I didn't come visit you sooner. I just-I can't-I'm just so..." the tears were falling freely. My breathing became rapid and hard to control. "Daddy, don't leave me," I sobbed sitting down on the side of his bed and resting my head against his chest. "Please," I begged, "please don't go because I need you. There is so much I have to tell you. Please wake up."

He remained still. Only the beeping of his machines sounded in between my cries. I sniffed and wiped at my tears, leaning in closer so that I could whisper in his ear, "I've been to Asgard."

A/N: Hello new followers and readers! I know I say this a lot but thank you for your interest in this story and for all the wonderful comments and reviews. Sorry I still can't reply to comments but if you're not already please follow my tumblr and twitter accounts. It is much easier to talk with you guys and you'll also be privy to sneak peeks, one shots, my personal writing and updates on when the new chapters will go live.

Also I wanted to take a moment to talk about something that is on tumblr that was well received by a lot of writers. So I'm going to copy and paste it:

Friendly reminder: if you read a piece of writing and you enjoyed it then leave a comment. We writers are starving artists as well, but we live off of feedback and if we do not get our feedback it slowly eats away at us and we start to doubt ourselves. Your one comment means a lot to the writer, whether or not you realize, and it's just a nice thing to do since they created something for your pleasure.

I am posting this because I've noticed it is a trend in the community and I have talked with a few writers (like my friend vicvic221 who wrote an amazing fanfic called Fire & Rain so check it out!) who have been discouraged because their ratio of visits versus comments can be disheartening. So please next time you read something you like leave them a comment. (:

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