Chapter 20

I have no excuses, other than life happening and falling out of the fandom for a long, long while…If anyone is still following this, thank you so much for your patience, and your support! I'm planning a rewrite of this as well (my god, my writing needs a good edit!)

Here's a fun chapter, to balance all the doom and gloom ha!

Darcy tried to shut the door immediately on the guest outside, but he had managed to jam his foot behind it. She slammed the door on his foot, a furious look on her face as she looked through the crack in the door.

"I told you to go to Puerto." She said, resigned.

"It's Christmas."

Loki looked like a puppy left outside in the rain, and she narrowed her eyes. Really?

"You don't even celebrate Christmas, remember?!" She argued. Peeking through the crack in the door, she looked him up and down, taking in his attire with a horrified glare. "You can't walk around in that!"

With raised eyebrows, his leather and metal disappeared, replaced with surprisingly stylish Midgardian clothes. He had tied his hair back in a short ponytail and wore a knitted emerald jumper and black trousers with expensive looking brogues– confusing the hell out of Darcy.

"You're still not coming in. Go to Puerto. Wait for me there."

Looking him up and down through the door crack, she could actually believe he was a normal person instead of a malevolent God intent on ruining her life.

And apparently that went for her parents, too.

"Darce, I have six dollars here if you're short of cash -" Her father pushed past her gently and opened the door fully. Darcy held her breath, praying that her dad wouldn't recognise him from the numerous news reports and the crazy alien documentaries he loved to watch. Jim Lewis had definitely seen the news coverage on the New York fiasco, but she had no idea the extent to which he'd read up on it.

Darcy could imagine the shock on her family's face when the cops and SHIELD turned up on her front door with an army ready to take down the ex-criminal that had decided to drop in for the Christmas celebrations. It'd ruin her job prospects, for one. It wasn't the first time her file had included 'questionable acquaintances'.

"And who are you?" Darcy's father asked Loki curiously, his eyes flicking to Darcy for an answer. She let out a sigh of relief- her dad had no idea who he was, thank god.

"No one." Darcy shouted, relief apparent in her tone.

"Her partner."

Darcy and Loki exchanged looks at their simultaneous reply. Darcy glared furiously at Loki, whose face was painted with an uncharacteristic angelic smile. Darcy could've exploded right there and then, screw Christmas. Loki smirked at her before shaking hands with her dad. Darcy's father looked confused- she could see his eyes flicking up and down Loki, trying to read him.

"Lo-Luke." Darcy grit her teeth and introduced them. "This is my dad, Jim."

"You never said anything about a boyfriend visiting." Her dad frowned before shrugging it away, hardly noticing the obvious death glares Darcy was shooting Loki. "Nice to meet you. Are you staying for a drink? Dinner is over of course, but by all means, you can join us!"

Behind her dad, Darcy shook her head furiously at Loki. Infuriatingly, he nodded and smiled.

"I would love to stay. Thank you."

So Loki could be charming when he wanted to be, Darcy discovered.

"Seriously." She put a hand on his chest as they were about to walk into the living room, her father gone to get drinks. "You think this is funny?"

"I wasn't about to hide away in a laboratory by myself."

"Why… would you get lonely?" She said sarcastically.

Loki took her hand from his chest and held it in his, a sickening smile on his face as he leant over to kiss her on the cheek.

"Shall I say we're engaged to be married? It may stop your grandparent's hearts."

"Don't even think about it, Loki. I swear to God I'll kill you if you ruin Christmas. Just-"

"Drinks?"

Her father was apparently oblivious to the argument going on in the hallway, and gestured for Loki to join the family. Darcy took a deep breath and stepped into the room, not sure if she was ready for the millions of questions heading her way.

"You should have come earlier, Luke!" Her mother smiled happily at him. "You missed out on Christmas dinner."

"He ate earlier." Darcy said, her voice measured.

Of course he'd been a hit with the family. He was like the charming man her mother had always dreamed she'd bring home. He had introduced himself as Luke Smith, after Darcy had jabbed him in the side, and her grandma looked enthralled with the new guest. Yes, he was foreign. No, she wasn't moving to England. Yes, he had a job (that was a tough one, but Darcy decided that 'International Relations' would be his area of expertise, ironically). After the rigorous 'who are you and why are you dating my daughter?' questionnaire, everything had settled down, and the general hubbub of drunken conversation began. They all congregated in the living room, and Darcy had opted to sit as far away from her fake boyfriend at all costs.

Darcy was kind of amazed at the 'good guy' routine he was putting on. Even the cat liked him. Iggy was sat on his lap on the sofa, Loki gently stroking him with one hand, a glass of eggnog in the other, his glance to Darcy screaming 'Bond villain'.

Darcy sat down opposite him, after filling everyone's glasses (except Josh's, who had left his brand new tablet on the arm of the sofa to hurriedly leave the living room). He returned seconds later, looking increasingly guilty about something.

"Something wrong?"

Darcy broke her long stare at Loki to turn to her father, who was looking at her with concern.

"Me?" She blinked. "What, no."

"You're quiet. And your face looks… contorted."

"Thanks dad… That's my face. Besides, I'm fine."

"Your boyfriend seems nice." Darcy supressed a sigh- her father's relationship talks were clunky at best, and she had thought he'd abandoned the idea completely.

"Yeah," she lied, glancing over to him, "he is."

Her father smiled. "If he hurts you…"

"I know, I know. I already tasered him once."

"That's my girl." Jim Lewis chuckled and turned his attention to It's a Wonderful Life playing on the TV. Despite the chilled Christmas feel, she still felt on edge due to the uninvited guest present.

Darcy sighed and looked at her watch. 9pm. Too early to leave?

Probably. So much for having a nice Christmas with the family and getting out of Puerto Antigua for a while. She was planning on staying overnight and driving back the next morning, but the idea of Loki staying over made her want to scream.

"Maybe we should hit the road-"

"Charades!" Josh urgently yelled loud enough to wake her granddad from his nap in the armchair.

"Really?" Darcy sighed. She hated that game. "Josh, isn't it past your bedtime?"

Josh pulled a face at her and scurried over to his mom. "Mom. Please?"

Josh managed to wrangle his parents and grandparents into the game, passing out cards. Within minutes, the whole room was roaring with laughter. Poor Grandma had to act out 'Fifty Shades of Grey' to the entire family, leading to Josh asking curious questions. Darcy looked on- she much preferred the role of spectator. As much as she loved making a fool out of herself, it was fun to sit on the side-lines sometimes. Plus the combination of alcoholic eggnog and a roaring fire had made her so sleepy, rendering her useless in terms of conversation.

"Luke?" Josh offered a card with a certain nervousness. "It's your turn!"

Loki looked perplexed, like it was his turn to hold someone's new born baby. He reached out and took one. "Right."

Darcy masked her laugh as a cough. He didn't even know what the hell charades was.

"…Though I am unfamiliar with this game, so bear with me." Loki continued.

Darcy's mother practically jumped. "It's fine! Darcy will help you. We'll play in teams."

"Nope. He's on his own. Good luck, Luke." She smiled angelically at him and received a sigh in return. She could see the cogs in his brain turning when he looked at the card in confusion. He'd have no idea what the book, movie or TV show was, but had to act it out anyway.

Loki's eyes practically screamed help.

"Fine." There was only so much fun she could have with him until he got annoyed with her for real- kind of similar to her feelings at the present time. But she knew she was playing happy families with him, and her family was an audience she'd rather not have to explain to.

Darcy got up (with difficulty) and scooted up next to Loki.

Star Wars. She huffed. Easy.

"Movie." She whispered furiously to him. His look of panic slowly faded and he nodded slightly. She pushed him up to stand in front of everyone, and she could've sworn he looked excited?

Loki gestured the 'film' motion he'd seen others do and was met with roars of "Movie! Movie!"

"How many words?" She whispered. Loki nodded, unsure, and held up 2 fingers.

"Two words!"

"Just describe the words using gestures. That's it." Darcy whispered quickly to him.

Loki pointed upwards.

"First word… Up? Roof? Ceiling? Sky?!"

Loki shook his head furiously. He flicked his fingers out from his palms in a flashing motion and pointed upwards again.

It was Darcy's mom's turn to guess now.

"Stars!"

He pulled a face. Not quite.

"Star!" Darcy's dad butted in.

Loki laughed and nodded. He'd never known a game so infuriatingly fun. He held up 2 fingers again. Second word. He began miming fighting and shooting imaginary guns. Darcy's laughter seemed to drown out everyone else's. Was that a camera phone?

"Star wars!" Jim Lewis shouted enthusiastically.

"Correct." Loki smiled and sat down, waiting for Darcy's father to get up and take his place, whilst the two grandparents retired up to bed for the night. He sat down next to Darcy and resisted the impulse to grab that infernal contraption out of her hands. That phone was going to be his reputational downfall, he knew it. One video and he was done for. He laughed. Not that he wasn't done for already, his reputation in tatters, his fake death ruining any return to 'normal life'.

He relaxed, avoiding Darcy's glance, realising that she was still angry at him. How the hell had she invoked fear and nervousness into him?

He, however, didn't flinch when he felt a warm hand wrap around his. He looked up and saw Darcy smiling sadly at him. It was a pitying smile, a smile that said that she finally realised why he'd gate-crashed Christmas with her family.

At that moment he wanted to walk out. He wanted to shout at her and insist he did not need her pity, her apparent 'reading' of him coming to the wrong conclusion entirely. But instead, he took the sympathy and the rage that came with it and squeezed her fingers lightly, returning the smile.

The moment was ruined by a flash of a camera their way.

"Mom!"

"What?" She looked offended. "You never let me have any fun. Besides, I-"

Her complaint was caught in her throat as she looked to the ceiling with a frown.

"Mom, what-"

"Darcy." Loki shot up from the sofa and gained a tight grip on her wrist. "We need to go."

"Let go." Darcy said quietly through gritted teeth.

"We need to go. Now."

Darcy couldn't understand why Loki was being so rude all of a sudden. One minute he was fine with staying and crashing Christmas, but now he was demanding to go and making a scene? What was his problem?

As she went to rip his fingers from her wrist, she froze. That noise her mother had heard was growing louder until it was a deafening roar, even outside. Blue and red lights flashed through the gaps in the curtains. Darcy closed her eyes in exasperation and sighed heavily.

"That's for us, isn't it?"

"For me, actually. But yes." Loki pulled her up.

"Darcy, what is this?-"

"-What's going on?"

Questions were thrown at her and Loki as she tried to pull her coat on. Everyone but Josh blocked her way, and she noticed him sitting in the corner, his face guilty as sin. Suddenly everything fit. The stalling of charades when Loki wanted to leave, the guilty glances and absences from the living room.

"Josh." Darcy faced her family. "You called them didn't you?"

"Called who?" He managed to stutter out, but Darcy scoffed.

"You know this guy, right?" She pinched Loki's jumper and pulled him closer. Loki, surprisingly, didn't resist. "You recognised him as soon as he came in."

"I didn't-"

Darcy shook her head. "You're too smart, kid."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Darcy-" Loki cut in urgently, hearing sirens wail outside.

"Mom. Dad." She continued. "I've gotta go. But I'll explain everything later. I'll be safe, I promise. I love you."

"But-"

Darcy felt Loki's grip on her fingers tighten, and she cried out and screwed her eyes shut as she felt a jerking sensation. She could feel the wind in her hair for a second before everything went still. She cautiously opened her eyes, her hand still in Loki's.

"I ruined Christmas, didn't I?" Loki said with a sigh.