Two weeks passed, and although Gwen carried on digging for stuff about Thor, Loki remained absent. She was also shocked to find she was slightly guilty about this; perhaps, she thought, she should have left the revelation of her Marxist tendencies for later than the third meeting. But she was nothing if not practical and since their argument would not be helped by mulling over it, she continued to do what he was (hopefully still) paying her to do.

The beefier of the two Asgardians was such a surprisingly hard person to tag that she ended up abandoning all her other jobs and, effectively, disappearing off the face of the planet. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that her presence from New York's underworld was actually missed; she appeared to be a more popular tail than she thought, although she had always thought she was the best. Walking through alleyways she saw coded messages scratched onto bricks, whispers behind hands of people trying to find her.

It was late one night, and finally plying the chef with alcohol had worked; she knew what the Avengers were looking for. There was no small amount of pride growing inside of her and she practically skipped up the stairs to her hotel room, faded pink hair flying out behind her. She pulled out the key and unlocked the door, dropped Algernon on the side table and shrieked when she saw the figure standing in front of her.

"Jesus Christ, posh boy!" she panted, clutching a hand to her heart. His lip curled in amusement. "You finally decided to show your face, then. What changed your mind- or did you just stop sulking?"

Loki ignored that question. He was like a cat, Gwen realised, in that he only paid attention to her when it suited him. He was proud like a cat too, and gave out an aura of being cleverer than everyone else in the room. Whether this was true or not remained to be seen. "What news do you have of my brother?"

"They're looking for your sceptre," she said, pulling off her jacket. "HYDRA got hold of it. They haven't had any reports of it being used, but they've definitely got it. They're working their way through all the HYDRA bases in between their other jobs."

Loki nodded. "It's not my sceptre," he said quietly, "it was given to me."

"Who by?" she asked curiously.

"Thanos."

"I have no idea who that is," she told him.

"Which is the only reason I gave you his name."

"Fair," she acceded. "D'you want it back, then?"

"I already have everything I desire," he said, "the sceptre would just arouse suspicion if I possessed it again."

She nodded. "D'you want me to keep tagging him?"

"Yes. Just… tell me whether or not he's safe," said Loki, "or if not safe, then at least not in mortal peril. It is not the sort of information he would choose to burden his father with, after all."

"So you're really doing this because you care about him," she said.

"Stop smiling like that, mouse," he ordered her, but to no avail.

"It's really cute," she grinned, and Loki rolled his eyes and cursed beneath his breath. "You can say thank you any time now."

"For what?" he asked innocently, and her expression changed to a scowl. "Thank you, Gwen, for being a clever little sneak thief."

"You are very welcome," she said, "oh, and I was doing some reading about you online, right? And there's this bit on your wiki page where it's just all the scholars arguing about who you are-"

"Where is this going?" he asked coolly.

"Bear with me- and it gets to the end of the paragraph, right, and it says "Blah Blah whatserface concluded that no conclusion can be made about Loki." She grinned at him, and as she saw his expression her face dropped into a frown. "Aw, c'mon. That's funny."

"If you say so."

There was an awkward silence, the kind generated by two very proud people who are both refusing to bow to each other. "I'm sorry for yelling at you," she said eventually.

"You struck me as far too stubborn to apologise," Loki told her as she hopped into a chair.

"Yeah, but you're like, really powerful and could break me with one finger. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to have you pissed off at me."

"You're cleverer than you look," he said.

"That was very nearly a compliment, and I think I'll take it. Besides, motherly instincts mean I'm a lot better at dealing with tantrums than most people my age."

Loki stared at her. "Motherly instincts... You have a child?"

Ah, shit, she thought, didn't mean to say that out loud. "Technically, yes. She's ten now."

"But you don't look older than…"

"Twenty-five," she finished for him, looking down. "Going on forty. My parents were pretty conservative, so they wouldn't let me have an abortion, and they couldn't bear to keep her around either." She felt like she shouldn't be telling an alien homicidal maniac this, but carried on regardless. "I gave her my name."

"Sorry?"

"I named her Lucy, and stopped going by it myself in the hope she would make something better of the name than I did." She could feel Loki's eyes on her, and found that the easiest thing at this point was to keep talking. "First and last time I ever had sex. I told my boyfriend and he refused to have anything to do with it, which was just the icing on the cake."

"Is this why you don't sleep in a bed?" Loki asked, and she couldn't make out the emotion in his voice. Disgust, maybe. Disdain. Pity.

"Before then, beds were supposed to be safe. I can't think like that anymore," she confessed, and straightened her shoulders a little. "O'course, she's probably better off without me. I ran away, did a load of drugs, sold a load of drugs to pay rent, and ended up homeless when I gave 'em up. It was either become a sneak thief, as you so charmingly put it, or a hooker." She did a little mock-bow in her seat. "Now will you stop making jokes about me being your mistress?"

"Where is she now?" Loki asked, "your daughter, do you know-"

"Last time I checked, she got adopted by a family in Windsor, of all places. She knows she's adopted apparently, but we've never met- thank God, I'd probably corrupt her." She faltered. "Please stop looking at me like I'm something to be pitied."

He blinked. "Well, your story is somewhat tragic."

"Not really," she said, "it happens to a lot of people and besides, it's all my own fault. Feel like paying me back with your own tragic backstory?"

He laughed, a lot more softly and less mockingly than how he usually did. "Perhaps another time."

"At least give me a teaser," she pressed him, "I just unwillingly poured my heart out to you, posh boy."

"It wasn't exactly unwilling," he argued.

"Well, it weren't voluntary either. It just sort of… came out. Like word vomit."

"Charming," he said, "and I already have. You know I was tortured."

"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about that," she admitted, "got lost in the heat of the moment, y'know?"

"You are a curious person, Gwen."

"If you say so," she said. "Question."

Loki waved an idle hand in a gesture to continue.

"How old are you?"

"In Midgardian years," he said, "one-thousand and forty-nine."

She raised an eyebrow. "Bloody hell."

"Indeed."

"And you still act like a stuck-up kid."

Loki cocked his head to one side. "It's like you're asking for me to kill you," he said, and she laughed.

"Well, I've met worse if that makes you feel any better."

"Like who?"

"My ex-boyfriend, for one," she suggested, which made him chuckle. "Nothing like retrospect to make you realise how much of an arse someone is."

He nodded in agreement. "I… may have spoken out of turn, the last time I saw you."

Her jaw dropped. "Holy shit, is this an apology?!"

"Don't push it," he warned her, as she clapped her hands together delightedly.

"Oh, man. If I had a calendar, I would absolutely be marking today down. Wow. You actually nearly said sorry. Wow."

"I can see you are never going to be over it," Loki said wryly, and she nodded enthusiastically. "Wonderful. I should leave before I stoop any lower."

"Wait," she said, "you don't… think I'm a slut, or anything?"

"Of course I don't," he said, "someone in the room has probably had far too many lovers, but it certainly isn't you."

"Ha! Nicely put, posh boy, although I have been informed there's no such thing as too much sex. And thank you, too."

"Consider yourself indebted to me," he replied, "I daresay I'll do something I'll need forgiving for at some point in the near future."

"Probably," she smiled, "haven't you got a kingdom to rule?"

"I shall see you in a week, Gwen."

"I look forward to it."

A/N bonus chapter because I'm trying to sort out my posting schedule. This will have fortnightly updates from now on, so it alternates with Fidning Bucky. Enjoy, and please leave a review x