Author's Note: Remember when I said that the chapters should be longer…?

Meh, next time. Sorry. :/

When Thor and I arrived back in the Tower, the world had ended.

At least, that was what I assumed when Tony came running towards me, saying, "Natalie! Finally! We need you!"

My eyebrows shot up. "Missed you too, Tony," I said sarcastically; he didn't bother with a proper comeback, instead grabbing my wrist and dragging me along.

"Come on, this way!" he said urgently. He must have been waiting for me in this room to have gotten here so quickly; I frowned. Something was up. If it was an Avengers matter, he would have been equally grateful to see Thor; as it was, I had no clue what could be going on.

"What's happening?" I demanded, his insistent tone snapping me into crisis mode, trying to assess the damage.

His only response was, "She won't shut up!"

"Oh, gee, that really clarifies everything right up, thank you Stark, you're very helpful."

"Just keep moving, Pizza Girl!"

Thor followed along, keeping up fairly easily. He looked to me in confusion, and I tried to shrug. It wasn't so easy with Tony yanking my arm out of my socket. But finally we reached whatever destination he had in mind; Tony halted abruptly, and I almost ran into him.

He threw open the door in front of us, and the world descended into chaos.

For a long moment, I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing; and even when most of the puzzle pieces clicked into place, I still couldn't actually understand it. We were in one of the Tower's living rooms; it was in total disarray, the furniture strewn about haphazardly. Steve was there, trying desperately to calm down another, far more desolate-looking figure.

It was a little girl. Maybe ten years old. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, tears running down her face as she tried to scratch him, kick him, bite him; anything she could do to get him away from her. Blood ran down her arms, and she looked pale and worn, haggard and exhausted. Red was splattered all over the room where the Avengers must have tried to chase her down.

My mind was spinning with questions: who was this girl? How had she gotten into the Tower? What had happened to her? Obviously, Steve hadn't done anything (he was Steve) but she was terrified of something…

But I pushed those questions aside; this wasn't the time to be curious. Crisis mode stayed firmly switched on as Tony said, "You're the therapist, Nat! You handle this!"

I made a mental note to smack him later as I crossed the room, pointing back towards the two Avengers who had come here with me. "Thor, you watch the door, make sure she doesn't get out. Tony, go be useless somewhere else."

I all but barreled into Steve as Thor took up a position in the doorframe, falling into line with my commands. "Rogers, back up, you're scaring her!" I barked. Steve, so used to following orders, did as told without a second thought, backing away a few steps. The little girl immediately pressed herself up against the wall, her matted black hair half-hiding her tiny, terrified face. "Where's Banner?"

"Down in the lab. He's trying to get a sedative." Rogers answered me. I frowned. That might be necessary, but I knew from experience that needles could make any situation a whole lot worse.

"JARVIS, can you flood this room with knockout gas?" I knew that some of the rooms were rigged to do that; but Tony hadn't 'gotten around' to fixing all of them that way.

"Not without polluting the rest of the Tower, Miss Natalie."

Damn. Steve and I could've taken a dive to make sure the little kid was safe, I was sure, but now even that option was off the table. All right. Fine. I could work with this. Maybe.

The little girl kept screaming intermittently, but mostly she was sobbing, whimpering. Those wounds on her arms worried me; if we didn't get them bandaged up quick, she might pass out from the blood loss. That was if they'd been bleeding for a long time; I couldn't tell. But there did seem to be a lot of it.

I stepped back a few paces, gesturing for Steve to do the same. Slowly, carefully, I lowered myself into a crouch, bringing myself down to her eye level. She sniffled and sobbed, curling her arms close to her body. I held my hands out low, showing them to her, showing that they were empty, but making no move towards her.

"I have absolutely no idea what I am doing," I admitted. Steve and Tony-who had remained despite what I'd told him to do- exchanged a worried look. The girl's eyes remained locked on Steve, horror struck. "Soldier Boy, go guard the room with Thor," I said in a quiet, soothing voice; the same you'd use for any child. And right now, despite how she seemed to be about ten years old, it was as though she was much younger, reduced to a childlike state by the stress of the situation. Not so uncommon.

Her eyes didn't leave Rogers until he was out of the room; then they flicked to me. I stayed as perfectly still and immobile as possible.

"Hey, there," I cooed. "I'm Natalie."

Her big, round eyes blinked at me once. I looked her up and down, trying to remember all of my babysitting years, trying to drudge up anything I might have learned there. I knew a bit of child psychology, but that wasn't really my field. Still, I'd been pretty good with kids before…

My eyes locked onto a necklace; something obviously homemade, and done with inexpert hands. Her hands? "That's a nice necklace you've got there," I complimented casually. The others exchanged a she's-finally-lost-it look. But I didn't pay attention to them. I knew what I was doing. Even Loki (who was watching more intently than you'd suspect) understood what I was doing. "Did you make it?"

Her eyes stayed on me as slowly, slowly, she nodded once. I beamed at her; I had touched on something that she took pride in, thankfully. She wouldn't have responded otherwise. "It's beautiful," I said, taking in with a glance the beads strung along the simple black yarn, and the fraying at the edges of said yarn. I scanned the beads carefully, and was rewarded with five different letters, spaced out at odd intervals that only looked cool to a child: F-R-A-Y-E.

"Fraye?" I asked. "Is that your name?"

She nodded again, still looking at me with wide eyes. I kept smiling. Kept talking very quietly, soothingly. One advantage of not being like the gorgeous, insanely buff Avengers; you're not so intimidating. Anyone would underestimate me if they saw me on the street; and in this case, I probably didn't scare little kids too badly, either.

"That's a pretty name." I had to keep talking. But my eyes were continually drawn back to the cuts on her arms. "Can you tell me what happened to you, Fraye?"

Tears immediately welled up in her eyes. Bad question. "It's ok," I said quickly, but still smoothly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I'd like to help you." I held out my arms, still keeping them low. From the moment I first caught sight of her, one word had been ringing in my head: abuse. If I held my hands up too high, she might think that I was preparing to strike. My heart seemed to shatter into a billion tiny pieces as I looked at her, as I held out my hands to help her.

"I'd like to take a look at your arms, if that's all right," I said smoothly, easily, carefully. Oh-so-carefully. "I just want to make sure you're ok. Is that all right?"

She looked at me for a long time. Then slowly, ever-so-slowly, she nodded again. I gave her a small smile and took her arms in my hands, very gently, and looked over the cuts. From what I could see through the blood, they weren't too deep; in fact, it looked like we could probably get through without stitches. I let out a sigh of relief. We'd have to clean them up and bandage them, but for right now…

"Tony," I ordered in a quiet voice. "Get me some water, a towel, and some gauze." I looked to him. "Leave it outside the door, understood?"

He nodded and ran off. Steve and Thor were looking impressed. I wanted to roll my eyes. The guys could handle the blood-splattered battlefield, crazy Asgardians, and even a college student trapped inside an indestructible bubble, but one look at a little kid and they lost it. Incredible.

I kept talking to Fraye until Tony returned with the requested items, then gently told her that I was going to retrieve them. She let me go, sitting down on the floor and wiping her nose with the back of her hand, sniffling. I came back in with the bowl of water, towels and gauze, then quickly got to work, washing and bandaging the injuries. She let me do so, not saying a word, flinching once or twice then calming down as I quickly spouted soft reassurances. I wasn't sure what to make of the cuts; they were fine, precise and razor-thin… but I'd seen my fair share of battles in my days as a newfound superhero, and they definitely looked like battle scars. Not made with slow intent, but maybe in self-defense. Whatever; I didn't like it either way.

"Fraye? I'm going to take you to the doctor now, ok?" She turned her big, black eyes up to me. She hadn't said a single word to me since I'd first seen her, but already she had a pretty firm grip on my heartstrings; one look at those eyes and I positively melted. But I kept up the crisis mode. I couldn't afford to lose my concentration right now; the kid still needed help. I was no doctor. And the best we had with us right now was Banner; so that was where I was going.

The guys parted for us; Fraye buried her face into my side as we passed by them; I knelt down beside her and whispered, "It's ok, Fraye. They're not going to hurt you. They're here to help."

She whimpered a little, but, clutching my hand so tightly that I lost all feeling in my fingers, she walked by them. I could feel her trembling; she was obviously scared of something.

"JARVIS?" I called to the building. "Don't say anything. Just tell Banner that I want him to prep an area away from the lab. In one of the living rooms or something. And tell him absolutely no n-e-e-d-l-e-s."

I looked down at the little girl. Probably way too old for the whole spell-it-out trick to work, but it was worth a go. If she noticed the forbidden word, she didn't show it; her jewel-black eyes were looking around the room, glittering with unshed tears. Every so often, she sniffed.

Tony told us which floor; and I headed down there with Fraye in tow. Words can not say how grateful I was for Bruce's always-calm-demeanor and completely unassuming manner; unlike the others, he was not quite so impressively huge. Not in this form, anyway.

He was waiting in the room for us; Fraye whimpered again, backing away from me to the other side of the room. Immediately, I dropped back into my crouch, back to her eye level. I kept up the gentle smile.

"It's ok, Fraye. Dr. Banner won't hurt you. He's one of the good guys, I promise." I held out my hand again. "Trust me?"

She looked from me to Banner and back again. Then slowly, carefully, she stepped forwards, taking my hand once more. I led her over to Bruce, who followed my lead and crouched down in front of her.

"Hello, Fraye," he said, very softly. I was pretty sure the Doc would be good with kids, and I was immediately proven right. In moments, Bruce got Fraye to allow him to help her onto the little bed that he'd wheeled into the room, and was letting him look at the bandages on her arms. I sighed in relief as I backed out of the room, over to where Tony, Steve, and Thor were waiting.

I closed the door behind me; it was glass, so Fraye could still see me; I gave her a wave and a thumbs-up before whirling to the boys.

"So, what the hell was that?" I demanded, looking to Tony and Steve. The Iron Man looked in turn to the Captain, who stepped forwards.

"I was on my way here when she just sort of… barreled into me. She looked… terrified. And there was something chasing her, something…" he frowned, looking down, as though unsure of how to phrase it. Giving me a you-won't-believe-this-but… look, he said, "It looked like the shadows themselves had… come alive. They were following her, chasing after her… They did that to her arms. They… cut her."

I frowned deeply, gnawing on my thumbnail. "That's impossible."

"Really? Oh, then if it's impossible, by all means, ignore the Captain completely." Stark threw up his hands.

"Hush, you," I growled at him. I was thinking. I looked to Thor. Impossible though living shadows might be, I was used to weird, and knew just how to figure it out. "You ever see anything like that?" I asked the Thunderer, "The whole 'shadow' thing?"

Thor was frowning, shaking his head slowly. "Not in all my travels of Asgard; but there are many other creatures in the nine realms that I have not encountered."

I nodded once, then turned to my other source of information on weird stuff. Loki? Any of it sound familiar to you?

Loki hesitated before he replied to my projected thought. To be honest, I was surprised that he answered at all. I have seen a few creatures that are capable of shadow manipulation, he replied, every word measured, calculated. And some that appear to be the shadows themselves.

I noted the fear that spiked through him as he said this; a severe, crippling thing that startled me with its intensity. Loki was rarely afraid, and never like that. He explained, most of them are… unpleasant.

I relayed his words to the others; Steve frowned at the mention of Loki's name, but he let it slide. Right now, getting intel was more important than old grudges.

"So how did she get inside the Tower?" I asked Rogers. The Soldier shrugged.

"I brought her here. After the shadows attacked, she blacked out. I carried her here; it was closer than the hospital. But when Banner started to look at her…"

"She woke up," Tony cut in. "Rogers was trying to calm her down for almost ten minutes before you arrived; I was waiting for you."

I nodded slowly, the gaps in the story filled. I looked back to Fraye, sitting on the bed, her small legs kicking back and forth restlessly as Banner continued to smile at her. There was a lot of fear in her eyes. "Well, at least we've got a name, now." I looked to the ceiling. "JARVIS, can you do a search for the name 'Fraye?' With an e. Check missing persons, contact the authorities, that sort of thing." I pressed my hand to the glass door. Fraye looked at me, black eyes wide. "See if we can find her parents."

"Of course, Miss Natalie." JARVIS' always-cool, accented voice answered. As the computer busied itself with the task I had given it, I stepped towards the door. "I'd better get back in there," I said, looking at Fraye worriedly. "She's probably still terrified out of her wits." I twisted the door handle, pushing on the glass-and-metal of the door itself, and made to step inside.

Wait.

I froze. Loki's command rang through me, unexpectedly sharp. It locked my every muscle into place; my first reaction only to obey. There was a great deal of urgency behind the word, and yet… it was toneless. Dead. A simple, single order.

I hated that I obeyed. I shook myself out of it, bitterness and anger beginning to spark behind my eyes as I demanded, What?

Loki didn't reply for a long moment; I could feel him in the back of my head, his thoughts buzzing, trying to figure out what, exactly, he wanted to say, and how he wanted to say it. He picked his words with the utmost of care.

The creatures I encountered... were relentless. He told me at last. If this girl has become their target, then they will return. And they will slaughter anyone who stands in their way.

There was something… off in his words. Something that just didn't feel right, that just didn't click. I scowled. How much longer do we have to spend together before you learn that you can not lie to me? I asked him dangerously, my eyes narrowing. The others did not question the fact that I had simply stopped dead in my tracks, immobile, unmoving. They were used to seeing me discussing things with Loki like this.

Loki recognized the truth in my words grudgingly. He sighed; I could practically see the intense concentration in his eyes, could feel him looking down, studying the ground as though he might find answers there. Finally, he informed me, I do not trust the child.

I lifted an eyebrow, surprised. I looked at Fraye, who was shying away a little as Bruce put some kind of medication on her wounds. Why not? She's just a kid.

There was a long silence. Then, in a cold, lifeless tone, It does not matter. I could sense him, felt as though he was turning away from me, walking in the other direction; though he was no where near me, nor I, him. You would not understand.

I scowled, but pushed through the door anyway. Loki wanted to be difficult? That was fine. But he wasn't going to scare me; this was my job. I was supposed to help people.

Not jump at shadows.

I fell back onto my bed, exhausted. I was completely spent; the day had drained me a lot more than I thought it would. I glanced to the clock; seven thirty. It wasn't even over yet; I had dinner with my parents in half an hour. I had planned on changing my clothes, putting on a bit of jewelry and makeup, making myself look a bit better… but right now, all I wanted to do was take a nap. I decided I'd change my shirt and left it at that.

Jekyll, who had been on the bed before I fell down and was now serving as an incredibly fluffy pillow, nudged my cheek with a cold, wet nose. I absent-mindedly scratched him behind the ears. JARVIS had found nothing on Fraye's parents; and though the police had been contacted, they were having a hard time buying the whole 'attacking shadows' story. Hell, I was having a hard time buying it, and I was an indestructible college student with a crazy Asgardian living in her brain.

Of course, I'd skipped out before the cops arrived; no one really knew who Natalie Frost was, or that she was hanging around the Avengers, and Fury wanted to keep it that way. Particularly seeing as a young woman had been seen attacking the Avengers a year ago; though no one had gotten a close enough look at her to make a positive ID, and the force field bubble scrambled any pictures that were taken. But if the cops saw someone of the same general height, build, etc. hanging around Stark Tower… someone might put two and two together.

Still, despite how I'd left the Tower a while ago, my mind was still there. Still on Fraye. I was worried about her. I'd already decided not to tell my parents about the strange girl. Even though I told them most everything in my life these days, they had enough to worry about without learning that shadows could attack people; or that said shadows were apparently targeting a young child. And, if Loki was to be trusted- and he usually wasn't- that those shadows would be relentless in their pursuit of her. It was always the worst part about hanging out with the Avengers; those times when civilians got involved. I now saw why the Avengers had been so upset when Stark's tech had 'escaped' and transferred into my bloodstream; the idea of someone outside of our world being injured because of the things we faced- things like Loki, like these shadows- it was… horrible. And Fraye was just a child…

Loki stirred restlessly in the back of my head, and I sighed heavily, pushing the thoughts aside. His uneasiness about the young girl was becoming infectious; though I interpreted it differently than he did. I was worried for her, I'll admit, but Loki seemed worried… about her. I rolled my eyes and turned to the side, stroking my Jekyll-pillow carefully. I closed my eyes, wishing beyond belief that I could just pass out for the next few hours, just wake up and have the dinner done and over with…

I ended up dozing for about twenty minutes; then I forced myself to get up and get moving. I changed my shirt as planned, then threw my jacket over it, zipping it up as I went to the garage. Jekyll followed me around the house, then whined a little when I closed the door, leaving him behind.

"Hey, you're the one who's getting off easy, here," I said to him as I headed towards the Frost-Cycle. My mother did not approve of the new ride, but it was the quickest way from A to B, and I had to be there in a hurry.

I ended up being about five minutes late, but I stalled outside of the restaurant anyway, trying to delay the inevitable. My mind spun as I tried to think of things to say, safe conversations and easy topics. We were quickly running out of those.

I swallowed, smoothed out my shirt, and walked inside. I headed to the front desk, a little nervous. "Um… table for three? Frost?"

The man recognized the name immediately; my parents must have already been there. He smiled and said, "Of course. Right this way, miss."

I followed, catching sight of my parents as he lead me inside; my mother waved at me, an enormous grin on her face, and my father gave me a little smile. I shot him an uneasy one in return as I sat down in the seat facing the door, my eyes naturally doing a routine check of the exits, my mind formulating battle strategies. It was a trick that Clint and Natasha had taught me; and, surprisingly, it actually helped me to relax in situations like this. Knowing where your escape routes were came in handy when you felt like you would have to use them.

"You're late," my mother started immediately.

"Ah… work issues," I explained. She turned a little paler. My mother had been pretty cool about the whole 'my-daughter-is-the-shrink-to-the-Avengers-and-a-p sycho-Asgardian' thing… for about two seconds. After that, the fear had taken hold; and while she didn't try and stop me from doing my job, she started shaking practically every time it was brought up. Given that the Avengers were a majority of my life, my mother was living in a practically constant state of fear these days.

My father was a lot better about it; trying to get on my good side, methinks. He hadn't been a part of my life for a good thirteen years, hadn't been really my 'dad' for a long time… we both were pretty adamant that he shouldn't try and start filling that role right now and tell me what to do. We were working on him becoming my father in the good, emotional, touchy-feely sense; but he didn't have the right to lecture me like my mother did.

My only work-related issue that I had to avoid talking about with my dad was Loki; he tried to be understanding about the whole thing, but after what Loki had done to him, he found it difficult that I was working so hard to forgive him, to help him, instead of leaving him in his cell to rot. Cameron's anger at Loki had started as mere irritation; but it had quickly enflamed into a raging inferno. But, as Loki constituted a large part of my working life as well, he was a hard subject to avoid.

"Oh?" Cameron pulled me back to the conversation, stirring his water with a straw absentmindedly. Just like I frequently did. "How's that going?"

"Pretty good," I answered. I wasn't sure if I was lying or not.

My mother's eyes flickered to the windows, where my motorcycle could be seen in the parking lot. She must have seen me coming. "Still riding that death trap, I see."

I struggled with a grin. If she only knew. I'd surrendered the bike to Tony a few months back, after he'd annoyed me into submission. I still didn't know all of the things he'd done to it, but I knew that a majority of them weren't exactly 'family friendly'. "Hey, don't hate on the Frost-Cycle. It gets me from here to there a lot faster than anything else."

"And yet, you're still late."

Cameron chuckled. "She's got you there, Nat."

My eyes narrowed. "This is a conspiracy, isn't it?"

My parents laughed as the waiter came up to take our orders. I glanced at the menu quickly while my parents placed their orders, then asked for a glass of water and a salad. I had to cut back on the junk food; Tony's continuing 'pizza girl' joke ensured that I had the stuff at least three or four times a week.

I saw my parents' hands link together, wedding rings catching the light, and a lump formed in my throat. But I was determined to be the cool daughter about the whole thing, so I forced a little smile on my face, as though I was glad to see it; when, in reality, a bitter taste flooded my mouth.

"So what did you guys do today?" I asked, then took a sip of my water in an effort to wash the bitterness away. "Anything interesting happen at work?"

"Not really," My mother said with a shrug. My mom had a lovely little desk job in a tight little cubicle, surrounded on all sides by four little walls that were papered with whatever she could find to liven them up. I always felt sorry for her; I think I'd go insane, trapped in a box like that, with nothing to lighten the mood, to alleviate the dull, tedious boredom of life.

"I had the day off," My dad replied, also shrugging. Then he smiled. "Face it, Natalie. You've got the most interesting job here."

True. But I didn't like talking about it with them. And he knew that. Which meant that either he was ignoring that… or he was trying to make another effort at understanding my life and its quirks. I hid a frown. This never ended well. And I was already exhausted; I didn't think I could deal with tiptoeing around my words any more than I already was.

I scrambled to think of another conversation, some way to switch subjects. Loki, as usual, was no help whatsoever, spending the vast majority of his time in my brain being completely and utterly useless. I knew he was watching; he was always watching. There's not much else to do when you're locked away in a prison cell, with darkness all around you…

I pushed the thoughts aside. I was currently irritated at Loki. Pity wasn't supposed to get involved.

"Yeah, but nothing really happened today," I said, trying to keep from being too blunt and failing miserably. A perfect example of Natalie Frost Tact. "Usual. Boring stuff."

"Oh, come on," my mother joined in. It really was a conspiracy! "You rarely talk about your job anymore; or any of your friends. You rarely talk about anything."

Now I knew how kids with so-called 'normal families' felt; and it sucked big time. Parents ganging up on you all the time and crap; I was totally outnumbered. It was just playing dirty.

"I don't really have anything to say," I lied coldly. "I went to the Tower. Tony whooped my butt in our video game tournament, and now I have to do his dishes. Most exciting part of my day."

Liar, Loki chided; I could hear the smile in his voice. Smug, arrogant, irritating little piece of…

"There has to be something else," My mother insisted. Once she gets something in her head, there is no stopping that woman. Arguing with her is about as useful as arguing with a tank; and about as much fun, too. "Which patient did you see today? Other than Tony?"

Moment of truth. Lying would protect my mother's fragile sense of safety. Telling the truth would end in heartache and misery.

As usual, the truth wasn't putting up much of a fight.

I had already decided to say 'Banner' (He was good at covering for me if I got caught in a lie, and rarely gave me a lecture for it afterwards), but then Loki decided to amp up the irritating.

He had been known to say things through me before; to hijack my voice and pretend it was me talking. Once to Natasha, saying something about 'red in her ledger', and once to Thor; demanding to know if he was his brother's equal now, when Mjolnir had failed to destroy my little bubble. And now, he spoke directly to my parents; forcing my voice to be cool, calm, collected.

"Loki, of course," I said; or he said. "Who else?"

Again, my mother turned a little bit paler. My father looked away; the 'who else' part really wasn't helping things, I was sure. I clapped my hands over my mouth, a thousand curses stringing off in my head; curses in English, Spanish, Danish, and a few that I'd picked up on Asgard. Loki chuckled quietly.

I stood, pushing my chair back as I did so. "Would-you-excuse-me-for-a-second?" I hissed the words out through my teeth, and they blurred into one. It was probably not a good idea to disappear right now; my parents would know for sure that something was up, but at the moment I didn't care so much. I wanted to have a screaming match with my least favorite Frost Giant.

I stalked to the bathroom, grinding my teeth together as I went, going faster with each step. I closed and locked the door behind me, then looked into the mirror.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded of him, looking dead in the eye of my reflection.

"Norse god of Mischief," his voice said aloud; I turned and saw a projection of him, leaning against the grimy tile walls. A smirk danced on his face. "Remember?"

"This is revenge for this morning, isn't it?"

"Quite possibly."

"You're a jerk."

He didn't respond. Merely snickered. I jabbed a finger in his face. "Don't do that again, or we're going to have some serious problems. Got it?"

He lifted an eyebrow, still smiling. He had these days sometimes; days where he decided that it would be fun to just screw with my head for no particular reason. "I swear," he said casually, raising a hand, a mocking glint in his eye. Lying through his perfect Asgardian teeth.

"I mean it, Loki! This is my family, and you know it!" I drew an imaginary horizontal line in the tile between us with the toe of my shoe."Here is the line, here is me drawing the line, and here is you crossing the line!"

I had thought that this had been established. After all, it had been Loki's idea to return my father to his normal state over a year ago; determined to erase his influence from my life before we broke our connection, trying to make a difference, trying to repair the damage he'd caused. He rarely meddled in my family affairs since; and indeed, he always showed a shade more interest in my life whenever I was around my parents.

But right now… He shrugged. "I am not bound by anything to adhere to your codes, Miss Frost."

"You aren't supposed to hurt me. You're not able to hurt me."

"Oh, but you wanted to tell the truth," He pointed out, his head tilting to the side as he stood up, away from the wall, coming within a few inches of me. It was just a projection; I could walk right through it, if so inclined. But it was still a bit uncomfortable. I stood my ground anyway, looking him right in the eye, trying to stand tall despite how I was shorter than him.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, Natalie. I'm trying to help you." This mischievous, roguish look on his face twisted a little, becoming downright hostile. "You want to be closer to your parents, don't you? To stop lying to them?"

My eyes narrowed into thin slits. I hated him and his 'logic'. He had a nasty habit of bending it to his will. But I knew that he was also lying; and I didn't need the link to see it. He was trying to punish me for earlier… or maybe… just maybe…

I decided to throw back a bit of logic of my own; only logic with my personal, psychiatric flare. I crossed my arms, shifting my weight to my right foot, planting myself in the ground, immobile, immovable. Stubborn and steady as a rock. "You're trying to hurt me, knowing it'll hurt you in return. A twisted form of self-inflicted injury." I tapped my fingers on my arm. "So, in your nightmares, what exactly did you do that was so wrong?"

He seemed slightly taken aback; but he smothered it quickly. Instead, he gave me a questioning look; trying to see how I'd arrived at that conclusion. I rolled my eyes and elaborated, "Obviously it was something in your nightmares; because you don't do anything else, go anywhere else. But you're angry at yourself for something; something that you did in a dream, something that you feel like you'll do, something that you are capable of." My eyes narrowed, flashing back to what he'd said about dreams being a warning. "Something you worry you will do."

He swallowed; I saw the action in his throat. I gave him a dazzling-if slightly twisted- smile of my own. "I spent a few months with you giving me dreams about killing my friends and family. Believe me. I know what it's like."

He scowled. Yeah, that's right, screw your logic. I got my own. But then, after a moment, the smile returned; back in full force. "Or perhaps these dreams simply have to do with my Jotun nature; does that not tend to have the same effect? Or maybe they have something to do with something I have already done? Or perhaps they involve my family; my father, my brother?" He chuckled. "Continue guessing, Miss Frost. And in the meantime…"

His words came out of my lips again, and I found myself saying, "Enjoy your dinner."

He vanished from sight as I sounded off another string of profanity. I was so doomed.

I plodded out of the room, my heart heavy, my feat like lead. I walked to the table where my parents sat and threw my purse over my shoulder. "Sorry guys. Avengers business. Dinner's gonna have to wait."

My mother frowned, giving me her patented 'Mom Stare'; that perfect little blend of disappointment, puppy dog eyes, and most importantly, guilt. Making me feel bad was a special talent of hers. "But you just got here!"

"And now I'm just leaving." I lifted my eyebrow, determined not to buckle under the weight of her stare. "Look, you know what it means to be around me. Stuff happens. Things come up. I can't stop it."

"Natalie…" My father said warningly. My eyes whipped to him, glinting a little. Daring him to say more. He took me up on it. "Look, we know that wasn't you." As if I hadn't made it glaringly obvious, stalking away like I had. "But we know… that Loki is a part of you. That sometimes, you can't stop the things he does. And we understand." He squeezed my mother's hand a little tighter, and she squeezed back; as though the two were using each other, drawing strength from one another. "But we're not going to let him damage this family any more than he already has. I refuse to let that happen again."

That was all fine and good and mushy-gushy, but what happened when Loki said something really ugly? They didn't understand; he was on a self-injuring kick; he'd say anything to put me, and thus himself, in pain. Anything.

"Thanks Cameron, but no thanks." I said. My mother gave me a look at the use of his first name, but he, at least, knew that I was having a hard time saying 'dad'. "This relationship is complicated already," I went on, "It's best to just back away when Loki is having a bad day, all right? That way nothing is said that will be regretted later; by anyone."

My father's face set in a little frown. "Natalie, we know that it isn't your fault. You've got a crazy Asgardian with a sadistic streak in your brain; we're not going to blame you for the things that he does. We never have before."

I found my hands tightening into fists. My teeth clenched so tightly that my jaw began to ache. He was just trying to do what was best, I got it, but still… I resented what he'd said. I referred to Loki like that all the time: the Norse god of Crazy Pants, the Sadistic Psychopath in my Brain, etc, etc. But I knew where the line was. I said that because I knew that wasn't all that defined him; I said that because it was just my habit of nicknaming people, of being sarcastic and sardonic. But my father… he didn't know Loki, not like I did… and hearing him do the same kind of riled me. Mostly because when he said it, it was completely genuine; that was really all he saw Loki as.

And that was everything I was fighting against.

Loki wasn't just a 'bad guy'. That was the whole reason that I had done this, the reason that I forced myself to go to Asgard at least twice a week, the reason that I dealt with his snide little comments in my head all the time. I was determined to stop him from falling into that category, stop him from being a monster. The fact that my parents knew that he was having a bad day, knew that he would keep doing things like this in an attempt to hurt me-and himself… and yet, they wanted me to stay anyway? When it would mean that he would keep doing this kind of stuff? It drove me crazy. For crying out loud, that was everything I was trying to stop.

I took a deep breath in through my nose, then let it out through my mouth, forcing myself to cool down. "I'm not going to put Loki into this kind of situation just for the sake of having a dinner that we can easily reschedule. He's had a long day; we both have." I met both of their gazes in turn, then readjusted my purse on my shoulder. "I hope you two have fun. If you'll excuse me…"

And I walked out the door.