A/N- Hello again! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, so here's part 2 of the Wedding! As always, a huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed- I'm so happy everyone is loving the story! Also, a huge thank you to for proof-reading this to perfection, and SqueakyDolphin6 for our Loki-analysis sessions!

Chapter 6

Although she felt like she was making progress with the dysfunctional prince, she felt a little disappointed when he excused himself. Watching curiously, she saw him strike up a hesitant conversation with Thor, who seemed more than enthusiastic to listen. It wasn't long until a server pulled a chair up to the table, and Loki sat uncomfortably between his father and his brother.

Darcy watched intently as the two brothers exchanged words. She could see the family were cautious but welcoming, and Darcy half wondered if they were patching things up between them. She followed their conversation with a scowl, looking around at the three empty seats beside her, where Loki, Sif and Fandral had once sat. She presumed Sif and Fandral had something going on, so it wasn't surprising that they had both disappeared at the same time.

Darcy poured herself another glass of wine, suddenly feeling too sober for a wedding celebration. She'd been to her fair share of weddings, and made a fool of herself in every one. She figured Asgard wasn't a good place to make a drunken fool of herself, but that didn't stop her from downing yet another glass. That was when she saw Loki rise and begin to walk her way with the same unreadable look in his face, but a spring in his step. Her observation was cut off abruptly by a man's voice beside her. She looked up in surprise.

"Midgardian, correct? Queen Jane's friend?" He smiled with a flash of perfect white teeth. His voice was soft, akin to the readers of Darcy's small collection of audiobooks. He had a blonde mess of shoulder length hair, braided back from his face, and wore black leather decorated with swirling, Celtic-like décor made from gold and steel. He was handsome, gazing down at her with a boyish smile, and Darcy found herself smiling back.

"Yeah, that's right." Her voice felt slurry- she had to concentrate very hard to get the words out properly. "Where are you from?"

"Glitner." She had no idea if that was his name or where he came from. "My name is Forseti." He said with a response to her blank look. He reached out for her hand and gave it a soft brush of his lips.

"Darcy Lewis."

Forseti took her hand again and held it in his. "Would you like to dance?"

Darcy would've just loved to just sit there and listen to Volstagg's stories over and over, but being pissed at Loki and the others for leaving her alone, she felt restless. And conflicted. She looked back, where Loki had slowed his pace, a frown on his face. She looked into the kindly eyes of Forseti and noticed their difference to Loki's. Where he was all black, green and ghost white, Forseti was blonde, tan and golden. Complete opposites. With one last fleeting look at Loki behind her, she decided.

"Absolutely." She took his hand as he led her to the dance floor. Where Loki's touch was cool and soft, Forseti's was warm and tight, grasping her hand uncomfortably. She stopped dancing suddenly, earning her a confused look from Forseti. "What is it?" He said, concerned.

"Nothing." She shook it off, and continued dancing. God, she had to stop comparing this guy to Loki. She'd known him two seconds, and was judging him by the brief experience she'd had with the Asgardian-Jotunn ex-prisoner. She tried to push him out of her mind, and tried to enjoy the night with Forseti, who was charming and amusing. It didn't help that Loki was now staring at them both dancing with a… betrayed look on his face. Darcy shook it off- he'd left her for Thor and Jane before to talk, he could do it again if he felt lonely. Besides, the deal with his mother was to dance, not babysit.

It wasn't long until they sat down at the table again, Darcy feeling the pain from her high heels. She cast a quick look over at Loki, who was now sipping wine and listening to Volstagg's never ending tales, occasionally nodding. Forseti smiled widely, extending a hand out to Loki. "Nice to meet you, Loki Odinson."

"Laufeyson." He corrected him with a sneer. He looked away from Volstagg and then to the hand that went to shake his in disgust. Forseti dropped it with an awkward look on his face.

"What's wrong with you?" Darcy hissed under her breath, though she knew exactly what was wrong with him. "Couldn't you be nice for two seconds?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. Obviously not.

Forseti looked sheepishly at Darcy. Loki got up swiftly and moved to the side of the room with an exasperated look on his face, leaning on a nearby pillar as he had done earlier.

"What the hell was all that about?" Darcy pulled a face, then grinned, hypnotised by his bright blue eyes. "What a drama queen."

"He looks like he's sulking." He noted with a smile. "I saw you two dancing earlier. You and he seemed quite smitten."

"Smitten?" Darcy contemplated telling him about the Queen's favour, but stopped when she realised that it might halt the repair of Loki's social standing.

"Yes, and vise-versa; For a man who defied his King and waged war, he seems to be… tolerant of you, a mortal from the realm he tried and failed to conquer."

Darcy looked at him in surprise. She hadn't really noticed the fact that Loki had been so… nice to her. He'd even opened up to her a little in his cell, surprisingly and she hadn't thought much of it. After all, that's what normal people did- although Loki was quite the opposite of normal. She'd treated him with suspicion, and rightly so. Loki must have thought her an ant- especially if she had met him back in New York. But now… It was hard to tell if he was acting charming, or he had truly been rehabilitated.

"He's only tolerant 'cause if he murders me it'll mean he'll be imprisoned again." She scoffed.

Forseti looked at her, tilting his head. "So you have no feelings toward him?"

Darcy glanced at Loki, who was pulling the 'moody teenager' look at a nearby pillar. His glance met hers and she looked away quickly. "He made a lot of big mistakes, Forseti, and it's understandable us 'mortals'," She air-quoted, "haven't forgiven him for the mess he made of our realm." She saw him glance at Loki, who scowled back at him.

Something changed in Forseti's look, and without warning, he leaned over and kissed her. He slid his hands down her back, soft fingers brushing the back of her corset like the strings of a harp. His mouth tasted of sweet wine, and she found herself pulling him closer. Although aware of the pair of green eyes watching them both, she reciprocated enthusiastically- this guy was an Aesir, handsome and a gentleman. But something nagged at the back of her mind suddenly, and she pulled away from him with a gasp. She couldn't help notice the empty spot where Loki had stood, or the shadow retreating out of the hall.

He looked confused. "Have I done something wrong?"

Darcy looked back at him, biting her lip. "No. It's me, honestly. I think I should go. I'm tired." It wasn't a lie- she was dog-tired- the wedding had drained her emotionally and physically and most of the guests had retired back to their rooms anyway.

"One more drink? Please." He looked at her with puppy eyes. "I won't even touch you if you don't want it, I promise."

"Sex is the last thing on my mind right now," she said brashly, looking at the surprise on his face. Well, she wanted to tell it how it was. "One more drink." She owed him that. He seemed cute and although he was confident, his sheepish grins reminded of her of her old boyfriend who used to be all coy and bashful.

His returned smile was bright and genuine. "I do enjoy your company over the Aesir women, you know." She scanned the room as he poured her another glass of wine and passed it to her.

She smiled, her attention now fully on him. "Are they really that boring?"

"No, you're fascinating."

"Wow, opportunity well taken." She said sarcastically and laughed. "It's the different world thing. Realm thing, I mean. You guys are really interesting just because you're so… unalike."

"I wouldn't say that."

"When was the last time you sat in front of the TV for a twelve hour marathon with a family-sized bag of Doritos and a crate of beer?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

He actually looked ridiculously confused at this. She giggled and took a sip of the wine. Ew. It tasted disgusting. They must have different wine on each table. This was bitter, but she drunk it anyway- she was drunk, she would down anything.

"TV? Dor-ee-toes?"

"Cultural differences. Have you ever been to Earth? Midgard, I mean." She corrected herself.

"Once. It was drab and dull, chimneys everywhere. The place stunk of squalor and smoke."

She screwed her face up. "Looks like you picked the wrong era."

"Absolutely."

She drained the last of her bitter wine with a smile. "Thank you, Forseti, for entertaining me tonight."

"It was my pleasure, Lady Darcy." He took her hand and kissed it with a sly smile. She turned her back and walked away as dignified as she could.

She wasn't sure why she was in so much of hurry to get out of there. After all, he seemed like a nice guy. But Darcy couldn't figure out why she was so suddenly turned off by him. "Damn it." She muttered, stumbling her way out. She sat down and took her heels off, which had ripped her feet to shreds. Heels in one hand, she marched up to the high table, where only Odin and Frigga sat now. She assumed Jane and Thor had left the party early, and so had most of the guests, looking around at the empty tables. Even Jane's parents had left, leaving only the King and Queen at the table.

It was quietening down now, and she stifled a yawn as she reached the high table. She bowed her head, unsure of any royal etiquette here. "Thank you for the reception." She said, looking at their tired faces. "Thor and Jane's wedding was beautiful."

Odin looked at her hard, as if trying to figure something out. "You are most welcome, Lady Darcy."

She bowed her head again and walked out into the corridor, when she remembered the gem around her neck. She wasn't walking back to her room- she wasn't sure whether she'd make it. She thought a guest tripping over her unconscious body in the hallway would probably put a dampener on things. She held the gem around her neck tightly once more and transported back to the darkened room with a sigh.

Zombie-like, she stripped down to her underwear, put an old t-shirt on and climbed into the bed, only taking time to drunkenly take her contacts out. She couldn't be bothered taking her make up off, and snuggled into the quilts with a contented sigh.

"Darcy?" She heard a man's sleepy voice next to her. Worse, she recognised it as Loki's. He must've moved back to his old room, not knowing she was staying there. She wished she'd have spread out like she usually did, so she could have known he was there earlier, but having a single bed at Jane's lab for months had put her on auto-pilot foetal position. Plus, her eyes had not yet adjusted to the light in the pitch black room.

"Go back to sleep, Loki." She mumbled against the pillow, too tired to talk or argue.

"Why are you here?" He demanded, sitting up. "Where's the blonde haired oaf you were so friendly with?"

She rolled over to get angry but instead stifled a gasp. In the moonlight pouring through the window, she could make out a pale chest, with a set of remarkable collarbones. Damn. She half wondered whether he was fully naked under the sheets until she saw the fabric of his pants around his waist. Hiding her shock, she slurred into the pillow.

"Gone. Where I've been staying… All rooms full… When you're in prison… Said the wrong room and found you in prison... Loki's room. My bad." She felt herself drifting into a wine-induced sleep; the lure of the silky sheets too much.

"So you didn't come visit me out of pure curiosity?" He said. She was surprised he'd even got the gist of what she just said. She wasn't sure she had.

"Accident." She sighed. "Night, Loki."

"Get out of my room." He suddenly sounded like a moody teenager again.

"Get out of my room." She said back childishly.

"Darcy. You can't sleep here."

"Why not? I can't sleep outside. It's uncomfortable." She grew more and more awake by the second, when her body just wanted to shut down and go to sleep. "Shut up, I need to sleep."

"People will get the wrong idea." He said through gritted teeth, sitting back up again.

"I'm not moving. Nobody cares."

"I do."

"Well move then."

"It's my room." He said stubbornly.

"Just go to sleep, Loki." She repeated. "I don't care." She was sick of arguing like children. She propped herself up on her side and lifted her arm to push the Trickster God down onto the bed with all the force she could muster in her tiredness. She didn't know what came over her at first, but she felt the overwhelming urge to touch his marble skin. Loki looked surprised by her sudden touch and laid back down with a defeated sigh. Darcy guessed he was used to doing what people told him to do by now. That thought made her feel a little guilty, but oddly comfortable that he didn't fight it.

"See. Not so bad." She mumbled, her hand still on his chest, feeling his chest rise and fall. Even she wasn't sure if she meant their intimacy, or the fact Loki was doing what he was told for once.

Loki was silent, his breathing steady. She went to draw her hand away in embarrassment when he put his cool, slender hand over hers, placing it gently back on his bare chest. He closed his eyes. "Not so bad."

For that night, Darcy feigned ignorance and closed her eyes to welcome blissful sleep.