NOTE - Thanks again to moriarty-assbutt, Esha Napoleon, , and thepheonixandthedragon4ever for the lovely comments and reviews. Sending out Loki kisses to you all.


12. Resignation


Natasha slept soundly, her sleep interrupted by neither nightmares nor seduction. Perhaps her decision regarding Anzhela had something to do with it – at last she felt at peace with that portion of her life. When late sunlight struggled into her windows, she rose and showered, brushed her teeth, got dressed into her own Black Widow catsuit and skyped Clint.

He picked up on the first ring. "Nat!" Her former partner wore his usual pleased smile and uncomplicated expression. "What's my favorite assassin up to?"

"Actually, I have an idea to run past you and a favour to ask. As usual. Isn't that what I do – ask you favours?"

"And I usually say Yes." He grinned.

"You always say Yes. Will you tell Nick I'm going to resign?"

"Resign?" There was a crash as though he had just knocked something over, and he cursed. "Damn, there goes my coffee. Say what again?"

"I've made my decision," Natasha warned.

"Well, where are you going to go?"

"Asgard."

Over the line there came a long silence. "Nat, what the hell are you thinking?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. All I can tell you is it feels right. For the first time in eighty years, something feels – shit, I don't want to get all in touch with my emotions, but I feel like I know where I'm going. Does that make sense …No, forget I asked that. I know it doesn't make any sense at all."

He sat up and cleared his throat. "Actually I sort of get it, kind of. I just wish it wasn't with – you know."

"I'll take care of myself. And Jane Foster is there too – the scientist."

"Oh."

Natasha took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk about Anzhela, if you have a minute."

A certain wary look came over his face. "Okayyy."

"Clint, the way you're talking makes me suspect she's there right now at - let's see now - ten in the morning." Natasha tried to make her voice stern, but she knew she sounded amused.

"Yeah. I won't lie to you." His eyes shifted to the corner of the room.

"No, it's fine. I've accepted it as a good thing. However, I think I might have a job for her, one she can do at home if she's interested. It'll mean a bit of travel, but you can help out with …"

The screen blurred and the background tilted as if someone had just grabbed the computer. "Aunt Natasha!" Anzhela was dressed in an old college tee, too big for her. It hung down to her knees; probably it belonged to Clint. "What are you talking about?"

"Could you maybe not call me 'Aunt' anymore?" Natasha blinked. "How about just Natasha? We're the same age, sort of. Listen, I need someone to manage a foundation I was given. Uh, presented. Well – it's a long story. Anyhow, it's meaningful work, helping victims of sex trade, but you'll have a steep learning curve. I thought of you since you need something to allow you to work from home."

"Oh! My! Gosh!" The girl jumped up, twirled around, and sat back in front of the screen. Clint's grinning face appeared from the side, giving a thumb's up. "Okay, sorry. I'm listening."

"I'll send you all the details, but you'd be an answer to a prayer. And you can have my apartment too, if you like, since I won't be here for a while. Interested?"

"She's interested," Clint said, "if you can call having a giggle-slash-jitter attack interested. Nat, this is huge for her – and for me too. I owe you big."

"No, I owe you big. Always." She took a deep breath, ready to sever the final tie she had with Midgard. "Tell Fury I'm always available if he really needs me. Could you do that?"

Clint nodded, and Anzhela crowded back into the screen. The voluble girl threw kisses at the computer before Skype timed out.

Alone again, Natasha sat back and looked around her flat, wondering if she would miss the place. The walls were barren of photos or knickknacks, anything to make it a home. She originally liked it like that – used to anonymous hotel rooms, she tried to create the same atmosphere in her apartment. But now she missed the riot of color in Loki's bedroom – the flowers, the mirrors, the shelves of books, his little orchestra of mice.

She wrote a long report for Petrovitch, putting forth Anzhela's name as CEO candidate and adding Clint's contact info with a request to forward all foundation background there. Once that was done, she typed a message to Jane to let her know she was going to contact Heimdall and head back to the palace. She had the idea her Midgard mission was complete.

Fetching the miniature portrait Loki had sent her, Natasha realized there was nothing else she wanted from her apartment. It was time to return home.


When she reappeared at the edge of the palace grounds, she saw a long parade of horses heading towards the castle. Still in her catsuit, she received quite a few curious glances from passing children and elderly women before she made it into the gardens surrounding the palace. Long streams of late sunshine filtered through the leaves of the massive trees, and Natasha took a long sniff of the pure air. It struck her once more how lovely Asgard was. Along the paths, the banks of old roses and lavender lay in silence surrounded by a darting crowd of white butterflies and drowsy bees. From far away, a lute played accompanied by a maiden's husky voice. Even further, there was the clash of metal, as though a few knights were engaged in swordplay.

Tentatively, Natasha went to the imposing portal that was the main entrance to the palace. As she approached, the string of riders came closer. Thor led the parade, a beaming smile on his face. Next to him rode none other than Loki, his black hair tossed back from his face and an answering grin on his lips.

Natasha stopped. She hadn't expected to find him so happy, so relaxed. It suddenly occurred to her Prince Loki had an entirely separate life, one she knew nothing about. Had she just made a colossal mistake in returning?

As she wavered, a hand clapped onto her shoulder. "Ha!" someone said in her ear. "You could not stay away for long, it seems. Ready to continue your punishment?" Sif grinned at Natasha within the shadows of the columns at the palace gates.

With a surge of relief, Natasha nodded. "I must be a sucker. Actually, I look forward to taking up my sword again."

Sif flicked her eyes over Natasha's attire. "Is this armour?"

"It's what I wear when I'm on a case – being an assassin, I mean. It's bulletproof and comfortable enough to allow me to climb up walls, jump over rooftops, vault as far as I need – although I doubt it's swordproof."

"Best stick to your fish scales when we train then." Sif's grin widened. "Mayhap you will show me some of your moves and your weapons. For example…" Curiously she fingered one of the disks on Natasha's belt.

"Be careful," Natasha warned. "That's the Widow's Kiss – if it's activated, it will stun an entire room filled with people."

"Baldur's buttocks! I should dearly like to have a few of those at my disposal."

"Hm." Natasha considered. "I can't transport too much cargo between the realms, but I'll give you this disk after my next lesson, as long as you promise to listen closely to how to use it."

Sif grinned again. "'Tis a good bargain – swordplay for …" Her words were cut off as a huge red-headed missile crashed into Natasha and enveloped her and Sif with arms the size of tree trunks.

"Lady Natasha!" Volstagg roared. "Thou hast returned at last, bringing my lost heart with thee! Wilt come to t'tavern and quaff mead with us Warriors this night?"

"She probably must away," Sif said to him out of the side of her mouth. "'T'would be my guess someone has plans for her."

"Ah. Could be thou hast the truth of it. Still, the sight of thy scarlet curls makes me whole again, Lady." Unfazed, he burst into loud laughter, and Natasha couldn't help smiling. The huge Viking was like a cheeky five-year old, unrepentant in his admiration for her.

"I do need to see the queen if she has time, and I suppose I should get into Asgard gear." Natasha glanced at her catsuit.

"Nay, this attire suits thee." Volstagg's glance was filled with bawdy intention.

"That is enough out of you, loverboy." Sif grasped his collar with one hand. "Off with you, to pay the hacksilver you owe me for besting your horse." She bore him off, ignoring his protests.

As their voices faded away Natasha glanced around her, feeling a bit unsettled. The thought that she was there alone without Jane by her side was a bit depressing. Slowly she trailed inside to the library to begin the intricate path to her own chamber.

I'll see what happens tonight, she thought as she went up the stairway on the right, up three and down two. If I have to return, then I just have to make the best of it. She touched the panel depicting Urd's well, and the hidden door swung open. Not that I wanted Loki to be miserable, but to see him so happy and so unaware of my presence…!

At the door to her chamber she hesitated. What if her room had been given to someone else – perhaps the princess Loki had danced with days ago? "Stop it," she said to herself and stepped inside.

The room lay in stillness, much as she had left it. Her sword was still on a small table, lying on its oiled cloth. The clothes Loki conjured up for her were in the closet, and the bath in the adjoining room was as large as ever.

But the rooms were also filled with flowers – branches and billows of sakura blossoms, spilling sweet fragrance into the chamber. "Oh!" Natasha put both hands up to her face. Slowly she went and touched one of the flowers, sniffed its perfume.

A sudden suspicion overtook her, and she whirled around with her heart in her throat. Loki stood in the doorway watching her, hands on his hips, dimples in his cheeks. Natasha felt her lips turn up. "There aren't many people who can sneak up on me," she quipped.

"Do you like it?" He gestured to the blossoms, almost shyly. "These always make me think of you. We do not grow them in Asgard so I had to conjure them up with magic, but they smell like the real flowers."

"I do, very much." She cleared her throat. "Actually, I saw you outside earlier on horseback."

"Did you?" The dimple disappeared, and a frown appeared between his brows. "Why did you not speak to me?"

"I didn't want to interrupt. Are you …"

He made an impatient movement with one arm. "I am granted liberty beyond the palace walls. A recent gift from me and my brother to the All-Father secured a more liberal measure of freedom." His frown increased. "But why do we speak together so formally, Natasha? It is as though we have not seen each other in months."

Her heart began to quiver. "I - I brought you a few gifts. Would you like to see them?"

The smile reappeared, like a sun from behind a bank of dark clouds. "It would certainly please me greatly. But let us fly away to our own nest, little bird."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he had already firmly grasped her waist and flung one of his little magic lights into the air. When she blinked, they were on the balcony of his bedroom, looking out onto the small garden attached to the suite. Natasha exclaimed with pleasure and leaned her elbows on the railing. "Do you know, I missed this view? I have lived in so many locations – Russia, Europe, Stark Tower – but this is the first place where I feel a sense of true homecoming."

Loki stood very close and bound her to his side with his arm. "Now you have already given me a gift beyond measure," he said, looking down into her face with his startling green eyes.

"I brought you something you can hold as well." She removed the small pack from her back and took out the volumes from the old bookstore. He laughed when he saw the title of the first, raised his brows at The Railway Children, and exclaimed at the poems.

"Books! Alas, you already know my weakness. The queen used to say if I was not present at dinner, I was sure to be in the library, hidden in a window seat with nose in between the dusty pages of a story."

"Actually, I have another present." She reached for his hand, and he put the books down to face her.

"Well?" Loki prompted her gently. "I suppose this is the crux of it. What are you so hesitant to say to me? Have it out at once, but I warn you…"

"Calm down, Mischief. Don't get all overheated and bad-tempered." Natasha swallowed. "It's only if we both decide it's okay, but I resigned my job in Midgard."

"Resigned!" One impetuous tug on her hands brought her into his arms, where he devoured her face with his keen, searching gaze. "What do you mean by that, exactly? Explain this to me."

"I no longer work for SHIELD. Unless you object, I thought to relocate. That is, make my home in Asgard." He said nothing, and desperation made her burst out, "I don't have to do it! Don't worry, I won't interfere or force myself on you…"

"By the Nine realms of Yggdrasil…" Loki made one of his sudden movements and captured her lips with his. Again and again he kissed her, until she thought her knees would give out. With another quick gesture, he held her at arms' length to look at her intently once more. "Do you mean this, what you say? That you will stay with me in Asgard, here with me for as long as…"

"I thought I could learn to be a knight. You know, a warrior. Sif has agreed to continue teaching me how to fight with a sword, and I can tell the queen I will do what I can to defend the realm. No offense, but it seems riddled with hidden passageways and bolt-holes throughout."

He grinned. "None should know it better than I. But as it happens, I have a different scheme in mind… although we will not speak of it now."

"No?" She cocked her head.

"No. And I have missed seeing you thus, in your assassin's clothes. By the gods, darling, I have missed you so…!" His hand captured the back of her neck, and he pulled her in for more kisses. Forcefully his tongue and teeth claimed hers, and she found she was panting, pulling him towards her with one fist in his collar and another in his black hair, as his hands roamed up and down the outline of her figure.

She wound her arms tightly around his neck, felt the powerful muscles of his back tense as she leaned back to look up at him with half-closed eyes. "Do you remember the dream when you changed my catsuit to fit your desires?"

Loki's lips parted, baring his teeth in a snarl as he jerked her hips towards his forcefully. "You naughty little wench!" The next moment she was up in his arms, being carried to the large bed. He tossed her into the center of it and moved one hand over her body, leaving a shower of sparks in his wake. Instantly the black material covering her chest and sex disappeared, with the rest of the suit intact. Just as suddenly he lunged for her, covering her mouth with his and cupping one breast. "Is this what you wanted, darling?" he gasped. "Gods, you always get me so in a froth, just the sight of your white skin framed in your black assassin's clothes slays me, I could die here and now just looking at you…"

She covered his mouth with one hand to stop him talking for one second. "Where is your helmet?" she demanded.

Loki caused the bright, horned helmet to appear on his head. "Enough demands," he insisted between his teeth. "Now you shall pleasure me, and I shall pleasure you, just as I wanted when we were in Stark Tower together. Do you remember? I told you then I would have you in my bed, and behold the proof of my success. I always do what I want." He smirked in triumph.

"So I see, but who is to say it wasn't what I wanted all along? Perhaps you were the one who was played and the victory is mine… ooh, that's very nice when you bite my neck like that, it's like you're a vampire about to drain my blood, your teeth are heaven."

Natasha ran her fingers up the horns of his helmet, and Loki cried out as she tickled the ends, licked the space between them. "Sweet merciful…! Valhalla, I never felt anything like that before, how did I ever exist without you?" He pressed her back to the pillows and swept his tongue to the cleft between her legs, pausing to suckle each fold of pulsating flesh.

Languidly she pressed her legs against his horns. "Did you know I can choke a man to his death with my thighs, Loki? How does it feel to kneel between them, knowing I could take your breath in any instant…"

At that he reared up with a maddened, desperate glitter in his eyes. "Remove my breeches now, I have to be inside you this instant. Hurry – unbuckle them quicker, darling. How dare you leave my side for more than a night! I shall have to punish you for that, it just so happens I have sweet discipline for you by way of a long birch rod, and here it comes…"

She gasped and rose to meet him as he slipped into her, every delicious inch. It was ecstasy to feel his hardness sheathed in her. Carefully she turned and licked one horn, and he groaned. "Do not make me spend too fast," he begged. "I need to be inside your sweet quim all night." Loki pushed up on one arm and looked down at her, his hair curling out from under the edge of his helmet. "Would that please you?"

"You already know it would. Put him inside me again, just a little bit – Oh! - and now all of it… I missed your cock, so much, you just don't know, and she missed him too, feel how wet she gushes for you, Loki. No one but you."

"Stop. Don't move." They both froze, suspended at the very pinnacle of orgasmic delight. There was nothing she wanted more than to feel his stroke within her. At last he pushed inside her, so slowly she groaned with desire. The sensation was tantalizing; every orifice fluttered with impending joy. Even her lips trembled.

His breath on her face came in short bursts, as though he were trying to hold back. "So soft, so sweet, and such a deadly killer at the same time," Loki whispered. "How could I not fall in love with you? There was no other choice. You drive men to their knees, and now you have a god on his knees to worship your beauty and your intelligence."

"I missed you," she replied, swiveling her hips to feel his length against all the hidden mysteries inside her. "Your voice, your strength, your unguarded emotions, your wits, your mischief. I want you to make love to me every moment you can to make up for our time apart. I want you every way possible."

"Oh, darling, it is so close," Loki moaned against her neck. "It is too much, you are just too exciting – are you going to…?"

"Yes!" she screamed, arching up into him. He thrust into her, driving himself in further with an impossible rhythm until they both exploded, shouting each other's names amid words of love.

Shuddering, he collapsed on top of her. When she could move, she tugged at one horn. "This can't be very comfortable," she whispered.

With a dark chuckle, he removed the helmet and tossed it to the end of the bed. Still inside her, he snapped his fingers so her uniform disappeared and they were both naked. "Now, it is just you and I again," he whispered.

"Hm. What shall we ever do next?" Natasha panted.

"Darling." Loki's tongue circled her ear and touched her neck, where the blood throbbed under her skin. "Natasha, my own dangerous assassin, my lovely girl, we have only just begun."