Theme song for this chapter is "The Broken" by Lit. Google Drive tells me I wrote this chapter on April 24, the day before the Iron Man international release, and I swear to you I have not changed a word since. Crazy stuff, man.


Chapter 59: Picking Up the Pieces

When Loki got back to his apartment, Natasha was already waiting at the kitchen table. "Thor let me in," she explained, taking a sip from a mug. "He went out to get some groceries," she explained.

He gave her an incredulous look. "That should be... interesting."

She smiled, obviously tired. "Jane and Darcy went with him, so I don't expect a crisis."

Loki smiled a little, and though he was not tired, poured himself a cup of the chocolate tea as well. "How goes the investigation?" he asked.

She sighed heavily. "Not good. We've identified all the girls, and located all of their families, but nothing adds up. None of them know each other, all of them were good kids, had good grades, had plans laid out... not even remotely suicidal. None of them were involved in fanatical religious groups—although a couple were fundamental Christians, but they seemed like good, solid people, just a little too up-tight." She set her mug down, staring at it. "Nothing adds up."

He sat opposite her and frowned. "I believe I read somewhere that everyone in this realm is separated by six people or less," he mused.

"Six degrees of separation. Actually the average is 4.5," she added.

"Well," he spread his hands. "Then there must be some kind of connection between these girls. People theyknew, places they went, something."

"I suppose," Natasha agreed, sounding less than enthused. "But we just haven't found it yet. Tomorrow we begin the in-depth interviews, trying to draw out a timeline for all of the girls' activities in the recent past."

"What about the bombs? Have they learned anything more?" Loki asked.

She shook her head. "Not bombs, that's what they've learned. Tony and Bruce examined each of the locations and there was nothing to be found. No accelerants, detonators, parts, shrapnel, radiation or chemical residue. But the force and temperatures involved..." she trailed off, trying not to think of the pictures of the victims, of how they reminded her of the hospital fire, "were considerable. It was like they spontaneously combusted, but... more so."

Loki's frown deepened.

"What?" Natasha asked.

He shifted in his seat, looking at her cautiously. "I... have a theory. I don't want to say what until I'm sure. You find me the connection between those girls, and I may be able to tell you what it means."

She raised an eyebrow but didn't push. "Anything specific I should be looking for?"

He took a long sip of his tea. "Someone. Ask if the girls met anyone new or unusual in the last few weeks... not more than a month out."

The second eyebrow joined the first. "Well that shouldn't be too difficult," she said with relief.

Loki said nothing, and it was clear to her that he didn't want to speak further on the subject.

"So how did it go with Dr. Bryardie?" she asked instead.

"Good," he said simply.

"Good?" Natasha asked. It was not the response she had expected.

He sighed, and looked for the right words. "She thinks the nightmares... are a good sign. Supposedly they only happen when you are safe," he looked to her.

She shrugged. "If we're dealing with my experience for comparison, yeah, I'd say that sounds right. One of the other reasons I like to keep myself busy."

He nodded. "It was likely..." here he paused, glancing out the window and hesitating. "It might have been the game that triggered it."

Natasha barely reacted, waiting for more.

"But... It may be a good thing. Progress. But I might have the dream again if we...'

"Loki," she interrupted him softly. "You will have the nightmare again. Something like that just doesn't disappear from your brain."

He pressed his lips together. "I know. Dr. Bryardie encouraged me to... continue your 'education,'" he said with a smile. "She thought it would be cathartic for both of us, I believe."

"But?" Natasha pressed.

"But I am trying to decide for myself if that's a good idea," he said quietly, studying her reaction carefully.

She smiled a little. "Good. Rowena can be a help now and then, but it's never a good idea to let someone else do the thinking for you."

"No..." he said softly, and stared into his tea.

After a pause, Natasha spoke again. "And was I going to have any say in the matter?" she asked archly.

He scowled, but in a playful sort of way. "Eventually," he teased.

"After what?" she fought the smile.

Loki took another swig of tea and gave her his best smug smile. "After I decided what we were going to do."

She just laughed. "Well if my opinion has any weight in the matter, and I think it probably should, since I'd like to see you try to pull something I hadn't agreed to,"

Here he gave her an 'Oh, really?' look, which she ignored,

"then you might like to know that I was rather looking forward to... continuing my education," she said in a low, thrilling voice.

Loki felt his heartbeat accelerate dramatically, and fought to conceal his reaction. He merely lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. "Oh?" he asked, in a remarkable show of nonchalance.

A wicked smile let him know that she saw right through it. "Oh, yes," she breathed. "If the rest of it is anything like that night, with the mirror, then I'd very much like to learn more."

Loki carefully set his tea on the table, absently licking his lips and shifting in his seat so he could lean towards her. He reached his hand across the table until his fingers just barely brushed against hers. There was a kind of electricity between them, and he almost took her hand in his. But instead he held it still, waiting to see how she would react.

"What I showed you was the merest glimpse of what I could do," he warned. "From here on it gets much worse." His voice was low and quiet, barely above a whisper.

Natasha's eyes narrowed by the slightest fraction. Why was it that he always tried to scare her off just as she agreed? "An appeal to my curiosity," she said instead. "I like it."

He half-sighed, half-laughed. "It would mean a great deal to me, though."

"It would please you?" there was something magical about the way she said 'please.'

"Yes," he breathed.

Slowly, Natasha slid her hand into his. "Alright, then."

If she had sounded completely confident, Loki would have worried whether she was being sincere. But there was a softness to her voice, a hesitation that he rarely heard. He loved it. It sent shivers down his arm from where she touched him, and he decided that he had to have her, right now, on the kitchen table. Something in her eyes told him she knew it, too.

Suddenly, Darcy burst in the front door, Jane and Thor laden with groceries behind her. When Natasha and Loki's hands jerked away from each other, she grinned. "Ooooh," she called in a teasing voice. "Loki and Natasha, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Loki gritted his teeth and glared at her. "Remind me why I like you?" he growled.

"Because," she pronounced as she put the only bag she carried on the counter, "I am witty and snarky, and I have Clint Barton wrapped around my smallest finger."

He laughed at that, and Natasha nearly choked on her tea. "Now I remember," he said good naturedly, "As the most bluntly honest woman in the nine realms, you would naturally be my friend," he rolled his eyes.

Darcy's eyes got very large and she completely ignored Jane and Thor putting away all the groceries. "Really?" she asked. "We're friends?"

He glanced down at his hands, at the others in the small kitchen. Natasha was doing a good job of pretending that she wasn't listening to the conversation. Thor and Jane, who were putting the groceries away very slowly obviously lacked her eavesdropping skills. "Yes," he said shortly, as if he longed to proceed to a new topic of conversation.

For a moment, Darcy looked like she might hug Loki, but just then Jane asked if she knew where the yogurt had gone, and she amended her reaction to "That's cool," and turned around to help.

Natasha gave him an amused look, and he just scowled at her, frustrated by the interruption of what he thought was a very nice conversation. "What?" he demanded, a little short-tempered.

"I foresee some shopping trips in your counterpart's near future," she said mysteriously.

Oddly, Loki felt the slightest glimmer of excitement at the prospect, but he couldn't say why.

"So, are you staying for dinner?" Darcy asked Natasha cheerfully. "I'm making chicken curry!" she announced.

Loki lifted an eyebrow, he had yet to see what sort of cook Darcy was.

Natasha smiled but shook her head. "No I need to go into headquarters and make some reports," she sighed a little. "I just wanted to drop by to say hi."

"Suuuuuure," Darcy drawled, with her cat-that-ate-the-cream smile.

Unfazed, Natasha got up, put her mug in the sink, and on her way out of the kitchen, briefly put a hand on Loki's shoulder. He looked up at her, at the mischief still sparkling in her eyes, and had to suppress a growl. "Later," he said, almost demanding.

"Later," she promised, and left.

Loki continued to sit at the table while the others finished putting away the groceries. Getting up and helping was not really an option at the moment, without embarrassment. At last they finished, and Darcy sat at the table in the exact spot Natasha had occupied.

"Did we interrupt something?" she teased. "You two were looking at each other like you were about to do the deed right here in the kitchen!"

Loki leveled a glare at her. "And then you walked in," he complained.

Jane, who had just opened a can of soda and begun drinking it, nearly choked. Darcy burst into a fit of giggles and Thor chuckled as he patted Jane's back.

Oddly, Loki didn't chafe at their laughter. He realized that each of these people accepted him as he was—even Jane, reluctantly, with the same grace she faced everything—and Natasha did as well. Is that what it felt like, to have a family? he wondered.


A/N: Awww, teh Loki feels.

Darcy is such a cockblock for this story. I'll set up to write a nice little smut scene, and suddenly she'll pop into my head saying "NO! This story needs more ME!" lol.

Well, gotta run, crazy busy but I promise to find a spare moment to post on Saturday, although it probably won't be at the usual time due to wedding preparations!