Chapter Five: When We Do Good, No One Remembers

It had been kind of a nerve wracking week for Darcy. She had to sit around and pretend that SHIELD wasn't listening to her in her own home, and then she had to act nice around agents at work, when they could be the ones that had to go over the transcripts of her conversations. She was doing her best not to completely flip out, but she likely looked like a nervous wreck.

It was the final day of the week, and she could at least comfort herself with the thought of the weekend. Of course, she couldn't spend much time at home without wanting to pull her hair out because she was starting to think that not only could SHIELD hear everything that she said, but they could also likely hear her thoughts as well. She knew that was nuts, but all of this espionage going on around her was freaking her out. She was honestly thinking of cutting out at lunch and just going to a nice place that she didn't have to worry about agents in sunglasses for a few hours.

She wiped her forehead and looked up from the computer she had been transcribing Jane's notes on. Despite what Jane and everyone else thought, Darcy was actually starting to get the basics of the theories that Jane was working on. Although the bridge thing had been completed, (thus how Thor and Loki got back and forth), she was now working on all sorts of other things for SHIELD. Jane seemed mostly interested in ways of harnessing the clean energy that the Tesseract supposedly hard, but Darcy figured that they would just put her ideas toward another way of making weapons. It seemed to be all that SHIELD was interested in, from what she had heard.

"Jane, you think you can do without me this afternoon?" Darcy asked, standing up from the computer and stretching. She had been sitting there since about nine that morning, and now it was after one. Apparently, Jane had gotten a lot of work done either last night or this morning, because she had a ton of notes for Darcy to deal with.

Jane looked over at her. "You feeling OK, Darcy?" she asked, standing up and looking at her. "You've been acting kind of off all week. Is everything alright?"

Darcy shrugged. She couldn't let Jane know about the bugs all over the apartment, even though it felt wrong to let her friend think that she was having private conversations when she wasn't. "I think I'm coming down with the flu or something." She was hoping that her general disposition for this past week would cover her right now. She hadn't exactly been happy and pleasant to be around.

Jane nodded. "Sure, go ahead and head home. Wouldn't want you to get anyone around here sick or anything like that," she said. "Besides, it's almost the weekend, anyway. Time to check out and get to relaxing."

Darcy was amazed that Jane was letting her off the hook that easily, but she knew that she had likely been acting off all week, so the idea of her sickness wasn't too farfetched. If only she realized the truth. With a nod and profuse thanks, Darcy gathered up her belongings and headed out, promising Jane that she would make up for lost time on Monday. If she managed to get some things off her mind, she might even come in on Sunday and do a little catch-up. That depended entirely on how she was feeling.

Instead of heading straight home, Darcy figured that some lunch would do her good, and she ended up hitting up a place that was near her apartment. It was a sandwich and coffee shop, so she got herself a cup of coffee (with lots of cream and sugar) plus a roast beef sandwich to munch on. Grabbing herself a table in the corner, she picked up a newspaper along the way. She really wasn't much of a news reader, but figured that she should have something to do while she ate.

When she flipped the paper open, she picked up her coffee and took a sip of it, nearly spitting it out when she looked at the front page of the newspaper. What the hell was going on with the world? A few weeks ago, it had been a flood in India, and now it seemed that last night there were bombings at U.S. military bases in the Middle East. And FUCK it was awful that the first thing to cross her mind was showing this to Loki tomorrow and seeing if he would suggest another 'missionary trip.'

She was still highly conflicted over all of this. Sometimes she really thought that she might have some influence over Loki and maybe, if he was really going to dominate the word, that she could guide him. Other times she wondered what the hell she was thinking and why she wasn't reporting him. She really did like the idea of having some control of her life, and she really didn't right now. It drove her mad that something like SHIELD had so much control over her actions and life. She supposed that was really what was driving her actions now. SHIELD was really no better than a despot, no matter how much they liked to pretend otherwise. If spying on U.S. citizens was what SHIELD did in their spare time, maybe Loki was the better option. She just had to break through the crazy. It really was a matter of choosing which necessary evil she was willing to work with. One thing about Loki was that he never lied about his ambitions. He might have been crazy, but at least he wasn't a liar. SHIELD would lie right to your face and then claim that they did it for your own good, which was seriously starting to irritate her.

She had pretty much lost what little appetite that she had, so she put her food in a bag and, now with the newspaper in hand, she headed out and up to her apartment. Putting the sandwich up, she went to her bedroom with her coffee. Sitting down on her bed, she grabbed a notebook that she had bought for this, writing in code the notes that she had been making. They included what she talked about with Loki, everything that she had him read and her own thoughts on him. Right now, she was making notes of the bombing of the U.S. military bases. He'd likely at least have an opinion on that, even if he didn't want to go over and see them. She also made a note to get Loki to let her examine his collar in detail. She doubted that she could really do anything about it. She wasn't a mechanic, after all. Still, better to try and learn that she couldn't do anything rather than not try at all.

Now more bored than anything, and all out of things to write, Darcy decided on a stress-relieving nap. And tried not to think of SHIELD operatives listening to her snore.

OoOoOoOo

When Loki wasn't being forced to follow Thor around, he stayed in his room in the palace on Asgard. Not that he was forced to tail his brother, but the other citizens of Asgard were not as forgiving as Thor had been. He was simply thankful that his brother did not seem to travel around so much that he had to follow him around Asgard often. He already felt like he was being kept on a leash. He'd rather that not be a literal one.

He had his nose buried in the book about Napoleon that Darcy had lent him (quite the intelligent man, in Loki's opinion), when there was a knock at the door. By the way that the walls had shook, it could only be his brother. Not looking up, he sighed. He knew that, if he didn't let his brother inside, Thor would only continue to knock and start calling out to him. "Come in, Thor!" he called out, still not looking up. He couldn't imagine what his brother wanted, other than possibly to tell him that he'd have to come along on some trip or another.

Loki heard the door open, jolting only slightly when Thor slammed it behind him. "What did that door ever do to you that it deserved to be slammed like that?" Loki asked, not bothering to look up from the page he was reading, even as he felt his bed sink under the weight of his brother sitting on the edge of it.

"Brother, may we speak?" Thor asked simply, not acknowledging his question about the door.

With a sigh, Loki marked his place in the book and set it aside. "What is so important that you must interrupt me in reading the book that I borrowed from Darcy?"

"I am actually here to talk to you about Lady Darcy," Thor said to him. "I want to know what your intentions toward her are."

Loki was only able to keep a serious face for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Why must you make everything complicated, Thor?" he asked him. "I am simply enjoying her conversations when you have to drag me along for your meetings with Jane. I would think that you would be happy to see me getting along well with a mortal."

"I want to make sure that nothing...untoward is going on with her. Darcy is still a very young maiden, even by Midgardian standards," Thor explained.

Did Thor really think that things were as simple as Loki simply seducing the 'young maiden'? This was highly amusing. "Thor, let me explain a few things to you," Loki said, leaning forward a bit. "Darcy isn't nearly as naive as you seem to think her." She wasn't nearly as stupid as Thor seemed to think, either, but Loki didn't say that out loud. "I can promise you that there is nothing unseemly going on between Darcy and I that you need to worry about." Well, not what Thor was thinking, at any rate.

He watched as Thor's face broke into a grin. "Forgive me for worrying, brother," he said quickly to Loki. "I am glad that you seem to be making a friend in Darcy Lewis. It is good for you to make attachments to some of the people on Midgard."

"Don't get carried away, Thor," Loki said, reaching for his book again. "I found one mortal whose presence I can tolerate. I wouldn't exactly call that an 'attachment.'"

He felt the bed shift as Thor stood up. "I know you think me simple, brother, but there are some things that even I can see," he said, backing away and slipping out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Loki rolled his eyes, opening the book again and going back to his reading. His brother really was a fool. Thor had proven time and again that he knew nothing about Loki. Why should now be any different?

OoOoOoOo

Saturday couldn't arrive quickly enough. Tonight was even going to be a 'sleep over' for Thor and Loki (Loki taking the couch, obviously). Darcy wasn't too sure how she felt about them sleeping over, but Jane had the idea of waking up next to Thor in her head and any concerns that Darcy might have had, she quickly bit them back. She had a hard time raining on Jane's parade. In addition, she did have a lot to talk to Loki about. Maybe this overnight trip could give her some peace of mind.

When they heard the boom overhead that was Thor and Loki arriving, Darcy gave Jane a wave and watched her bolt up to the roof of the apartment complex. Jane really did have the look of a lovesick puppy whenever the chance to spend time with Thor arrived. It was kind of cute, actually, at least to a point.

Everyone came in a few minutes later, Thor and Jane arm in arm while Loki brought up the rear. They were supposed to all have dinner together, and then watch a movie back at the apartment. Once again, they had both arrived in regular clothing, so at least they wouldn't get any more stares than they already would with big, beefy Thor and the beautiful, otherworldly Loki. At least they wouldn't immediately be pegged as Asgardians or, to the less observant, Renaissance festival people.

The dinner was pretty fun, probably because Darcy didn't have it hanging over her head that SHIELD was listening in on her conversations the entire time. They went out for Italian, and Darcy once again got to see firsthand just how much Thor ate. It apparently was just a Thor thing, because, while Loki had a decent appetite, he didn't put away two baskets of bread sticks, a giant plate of salad, and then two plates of veal parmesan. Thor ate like a damn monster. Then again, a muscular body like that had to burn like, a million calories an hour or something ridiculous like that. Still, even with Thor eating like a starving man, dinner had gone well and the conversation flowed pretty easily. Even Jane seemed to be starting to relax a little around Loki, which was nothing short of amazing, really.

When they got back to the apartment, there was much debate over what to show to Thor and Loki for a Midgardian movie, but Darcy finally won the battle and ran to grab her DVD of 'Army of Darkness.' Hey, she wasn't in the mood for anything serious, and at least it was medieval. Maybe it would hold their attention.

"This movie is ridiculous," Loki said not even twenty minutes into it.

"It's supposed to be ridiculous, Loki," Darcy said with a laugh. "Come on, it's a funny movie. You just got to sit and let go with it. Get wrapped up in the movie."

"He just called a shotgun a 'boomstick,'" Loki said, pursing his lips. "This man has indisputable issues. He's a loose cannon."

"I like him," Thor announced with a smile. "He's a man who gets things done right away."

Loki snorted. "You would like him," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Darcy glared at the both of them. "Hey, HEY! I don't know about you two, but I'm trying to watch a movie here! Pipe down!"

"I do not understand. Where is a pipe?" Thor asked, looking around as if he expected a pipe to come floating out of the corner.

"Oh GOD," Darcy said with a groan, head rolling over to look at Loki, who was barely concealing a smirk at the moment.

It only took another twenty minutes before Thor and Jane were starting to make eyes at one another, and another ten before they were starting to kiss on one another. When Darcy caught it, she groaned again. "Get a room!" she called out to them, grabbing a handful of the popcorn she had made and hurling it in their direction. She caught a blush creeping across Jane's face as she and Thor stood, scurrying back toward her room. "We've got to come up with a signal or something to get rid of them before they get to that point," she said rolling her eyes.

Loki nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen as he flicked his fingers through the air. She could see the smoke coming from his fingers again, and she assumed that he was doing the spell so that SHIELD couldn't hear them talk again. "And now your employers will only hear the movie going on in the background."

"Good," Darcy said, visibly relaxing. Tonight had been a better night than most, as she had been distracted, but she also knew that they would be listening harder than usual because Loki and Thor were spending the entire night. "I'm so tired of this shit with SHIELD. We need to either distract them or find a way to make them think that I'm not a threat. This stuff is starting to really get to me."

"We'll find a way to distract them, Darcy," Loki said. They had been sitting next to one another on the sofa, but she hadn't realized just how close he was until she felt his hand trailing down her arm. She felt a wash of calm flow over her, almost relaxing enough to flop off the sofa and onto the floor. "Don't you worry about them."

Nodding, she reached over and rested her hand on top of his for a moment, keeping his hand on her arm. Even though she still had some reservations about him, she had to admit that his presence was comforting. Of course, none of this would have happened if she hadn't starting talking with him, but she wasn't exactly fond of working for people that had no problem spying on her, either. Maybe Loki was just her excuse to escape from them.

"Thanks," she said, giving his hand a squeeze before letting him go. "I know you can't really come back and forth without Thor right now, but is there a way we can communicate or something when you're up in Asgard? I think we kind of lucked out with you being around when they started tailing me. We may not get that lucky again."

She watched him nod as she turned to look at him. "There are a few things that we can do, depending on how immediate you want the contact to be," he said to her. She was happy to note that his hand was still relaxed against her arm. "I think that the most innocuous way may be for us to use a book that we can write back and forth in," he explained to her.

She shrugged. "That could work, I guess," she said to him before smiling. "Too bad that a cell phone wouldn't exactly work in Asgard without a way to get a signal, huh?"

Her smile got wider when she saw Loki crack a grin at that. "I'm sure that the roaming charges would be outrageous," he said.

"You really should smile more often like that," she told him. "Your whole face lights up and it would make the public trust you a little bit more if we can get the image of 'scary Loki in Germany' out of their heads."

"Do I still terrify people?" he asked her, still smiling at her.

"It's going to take a lot of acts of contrition to erase what you did in people's minds," she said to him, slumping against the back of the sofa more. "When we do good, no one remembers. When we do bad, no one forgets." She rubbed her eyes a bit. "You'll find a way, though. You're a smart guy." She leaned to one side, slumping slightly against his shoulder. She felt him stiffen for a moment before he lifted up his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

Loki's attention went back to the movie. "How do you watch this? It's drivel."

"It's funny, Loki," she explained to him. "We have got to educate you on some pop culture. If nothing else, I'm sure that we can find something that you'll like." Maybe he would like some Shakespeare movies. "If you're going to rule over a people, you have to understand the stuff that they like, even if you do think it's 'drivel,'" she said, mocking his accent for a moment.

"I suppose I'll do it for the good of the cause," he said, still sounding dubious. "I can't go around getting confused by every phrase like some people that we know."

Darcy giggled. "No, can't have the future ruler of the planet doing that," she agreed. In the back of her mind, she wondered why she was allowing herself practically to cuddle with him, but she was relaxed and tired and he was warm and amusing so she didn't really care. Maybe she'd care tomorrow.

OoOoOoOo

When Darcy woke up the next day, she was in her bed. After being disoriented for a few seconds, since she didn't remember falling asleep, much less falling asleep in her bed, she realized that she much have dozed off on Loki last night, which meant that he had likely carried her to her room. Thankfully, for her still remaining shreds of sanity, she was still wearing the clothes she had on last night, which meant that he didn't undress her or anything. Sure, he could have peeked or something, but she had a feeling that he liked people to give themselves over willingly, at least in THAT aspect. She hadn't heard anything about Loki having 'relations' with anyone that he had mentally taken over before. She was SURE that would have leaked out, especially after him being in India. SHIELD wouldn't want to keep any sort of info tucked away that would make him look bad, after all.

She sat up in her bed, pulling her blankets tightly around her, when she noticed something that wasn't there before. There was a brown leather bound book on her nightstand that she didn't recognize. Darcy had good relationships with ALL of her books. She knew what they all looked like. This wasn't her book. She reached for it and opened it up, wanting to figure out what it was.

It looked like it was supposed to be a blank journal, but the first page had Loki's immediately recognizable pretty handwriting on it.

This is a way for us to keep in contact between visits. I wanted to give you this in person, but there was an emergency on Asgard, so Thor and I had to leave early. I apologize for being unable to say goodbye.

Anything you write in this book will appear in a similar one that I own back on Asgard. It will work similarly to what I believe is called 'texting' and 'instant messaging' on Midgard. You simply have to write it instead of typing it. I believe that this will help our plans move forward more quickly.

Loki

Well, that was certainly a neat little trick. She chewed on her lip for a second in thought before shutting the book and getting up, hiding it away with her other notebook. She didn't want anyone accidentally finding it and wondering what the hell it was, which was the last thing that she needed.

Just as she finished hiding it, there was a knock at her door. She shuffled away from her hiding place and looked up. "Come in!" she called out. Her clothes were rumpled, but at least she was covered and decent.

Jane came in, wearing a worried little frown. "Um...SHIELD needs us to come in," she said quietly, looking behind her shoulder nervously for a moment.

"It's freaking Sunday," Darcy said with a groan. "This is my weekend off. What the hell do they want?" She had no interest in coming in unless it was a state of emergency or something. Even then, she didn't really want to come in, but she understood the need.

Jane shut the door for a moment and moved closer. "There are agents here for us, Darcy," she said in a hurried whisper. "I don't think we have a choice in this. There's some emergency on Asgard. Maybe they want to protect us or something if things get worse there."

Darcy sighed. "Fine. Tell them to let me change clothes and I'll be out." When Jane left the room, Darcy ran for the book that Loki had given her, quickly scribbling down that SHIELD was taking her and Darcy into custody for something and if he didn't hear from her in a few days, to find a way to come back with Thor. She shoved it back into the hiding place and had just managed to change clothes when someone knocked on the door again, stepping into the room without waiting for her to answer.

"GOD! I could have been naked, you pervs," Darcy snapped, turning around to bitch more, but was then rendered speechless by who she saw. Finally, she managed to blurt out, "You look good for a dead guy."

Agent Phil Coulson looked at her with a blank smile and nodded. "If you'll come this way, Ms. Lewis? We need you down at SHIELD."