A/N: After everything that I wrote for the last chapter, my brain went automatically from writing Amora as creepy and scary to spinning a scene with FLUFF! And then everything else fell into place along the way.
"New" post was just to fix a few errors found in chapter.
When she woke, the first thing that she was aware of was warmth. The next thing that awoke with her consciousness was the knowledge that she was not curled up on the stairs where she had…fallen…asleep. Lovely notion, that, she rebuked herself. Really, not the best idea she had ever had. Stairs were not something that one used as a bed. How many times had she told Loki that?
That was about when she realized that her pillow was moving, just slightly, just enough that she hadn't noticed it when she first swam towards consciousness, but there it was, a steady movement like someone was breathing. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she tilted her head back and suppressed a smile when Loki's fingers combed through her hair. The book that he was holding with one hand came down so that she could see his face and the chagrined smile that touched his lips. Her arms tightened around his chest in a hug and she turned her face towards his shoulder to inhale his scent.
He'd come back, so soon after having left. She hadn't expected him to return, not for an assault on Asgard like she had proposed. Awareness slowly crept through the rest of her body as the fog of sleep lifted from her and she became aware of exactly how tangled she was with him. She hadn't draped herself across him in her sleep, but she had rolled into him and shifted her legs around his and held fast to every inch of cool warmth she could feel of him.
His fingers carded through her hair again and settled on the back of her head, simply holding her. When he spoke, she heard the words and felt the sound vibrating through his chest. "You've been asleep for the past ten hours," he said quietly. "Stark's pet had to direct me to where you were passed out on the stairs." The way he said it brought forth all the memories of those times she had been the one to find him and it set her off laughing.
She lifted her face to smile at him and then moved so she was straddling his hips to lightly press her lips to his in a chaste kiss. Sliding from the bed, she saw that she was still wearing the same clothes from the day before and that they smelled slightly more of body odor than she usually liked of her clothes. Digging a fresh pair from the closet, she draped them over her arm and turned back to Loki. "Ten hours is a long time to be left in a spot like that and he wouldn't have just left me lying there for longer than an hour…probably less."
"You were asleep in the hall for approximately twelve minutes and forty-three seconds before I alerted Captain Rogers to your position," Jarvis said, answering her unspoken question. "The Liesmith's return shortly thereafter rendered any further aid from the Captain unnecessary."
Loki's lips thinned a little as he looked around the room for the source. Sigyn simply looked at the ceiling and said, "Thank you, Jarvis, but would you allow us some privacy?"
"Of course," Jarvis answered, his tone dryly amused. "Auditory receptors will power down to minimum input. Just call me by name should you need anything."
"Thank you," she said and Loki looked only minutely less suspicious.
"This…thing…reminds me of Heimdall," he muttered and she only chuckled.
"Very different personalities, though," she pointed out and he only shrugged. The smile slipped from her lips as she studied him. "Where did you go? I thought you left to avoid returning to Asgard." It wasn't a question that she usually asked of him, but-with their imminent return to Asgard-it was prudent to know if there were any new topics she had to talk around.
He set the book aside and rose to stand in front of her. His palms were surprisingly cool when he cradled her face between them. "No. Never. Thor and I may have our…difficulties…but I would never abandon you. I would never let you return to Odin's presence-even the possibility of it-without being there myself. Before…when last I was here and you had been injured, you made a fair point concerning the dwarves and the Vanir. I did not mean to return to you when I did, but your need of me drew me back before I could continue with my plans. I had intended to try to bargain with the dwarves before seeking you out."
"Loki, love," she said patiently. "Don't try and speak around what you did. That play on words trick may work on most, but please do me the courtesy of treating me as your wife and don't try it on me."
He blinked, reviewed the words he had spoken, and smiled ruefully. "My apologies, I wasn't trying to misdirect you," he said and then turned from the pained understanding that flashed across her face. He had almost managed to take two steps away from her when her arms wrapped around his chest and waist and her warmth molded against most of his back and shoulders. He hadn't realized that trick had become habit had become normal.
"You make it easy, sometimes, to forget how very long I've been…away," she said, pressing a kiss to exposed skin of his shoulder. "Whatever is different, however you've changed, I can adapt to it…we can adapt to it. Just don't…shut me out, love. I can't adjust if you walk away every time that I make a mistake about your gestures and words."
She loosened her grip on him when he turned in her arms to look at her, but she didn't let him go. He wasn't good with this part of their relationship, wasn't always sure of sentiment when it came up, so he accepted her words and gestures and picked up the thread of conversation where they had left it and carded his fingers through her hair again, gratified when she leaned into his touch.
"With the situation with the Vanir what it is, I thought the dwarves would be our best chance to negotiate with. My reception was far less welcoming than I thought it would be," he chuckled.
"You appeared in the middle of court? Am I right?" she guessed, smiling at the satisfied smirk that crossed his lips.
"Not far from it," he admitted. "I actually teleported into a bathing house while the…ah…ladies of court were…well, you get the picture. Not wasn't my most accurate of landings." She was laughing and holding tight to him to remain standing. She pressed her head into his shoulder to muffle the laughter, but he could still feel and hear it while she fought to regain herself. While she was still laughing, his hands settled on her hips and he simply held her, drinking in the sight of her amused and happy.
When she could finally breathe enough to draw breath, she turned her head on his shoulder so she could see him. His gaze was slanted as he met her eyes, a smile of his own settling over his features. She was still grinning and chuckling as she said, "Not the most picturesque of images that one would gather when looking for the might and grandeur that the dwarves so often boast of."
"No. You've nothing to worry for when I stumble across a building full of wrinkled old nags that send up a banshee-like shriek upon seeing a male," he said and it set her off again.
This time, she actually had to let go of him, drop the spare clothes on the ground, and sit on the bed to clutch at her sides and try to breathe. Several times, she almost had herself under control before she was reduced into another helpless fit of giggles. Loki stood over her for a moment and then took a seat next to her, close enough that his thigh was pressed against hers and he could take one of her hands. He had forgotten this, these moments where it was just them and he was amusing her with how his plans had gone wrong.
"So that…didn't go…as planned," Sigyn gasped, still laughing.
"No," he agreed pleasantly. "Their guards were alerted and a fight ensued. A very one sided kind of fight with a clone while I set out in search of their king." Her laughter died with that and the look that she gave him was one part amused and one part wary. "Three guards were killed, but not from anything that I directly inflicted on them, and none of the royal family are dead either."
"But most of them are missing and you left their guards and court in a fair state of panic," she guessed at the way his smile thinned and curved.
"Something like that," he admitted. "In either case, the dwarven royal family was deposited naked in another realm where they will not trouble us until this situation with the Vanir is resolved and at that point I am willing to bet that they will agree to any treaty that Thor presents them with."
"As long as we are kept well away from them," she supplied, tilting her head back when he leaned in closer to her.
"Something like that," he repeated and then he was kissing her, hard and hungry. Her hands slipped to the hem of his shirt and, after that, there were no more words between them after that.
It was Bruce in the kitchen, hunting out some of the food that Sigyn had made for them, when Jarvis said, "You will be shortly joined by the Liesmith." He tensed and looked at the hall where most of the other Tower occupants stayed. Sure enough, Loki was there, regarding him with an equal amount of wariness.
"Beast," Loki said and Bruce recognized the greeting and offering of peace in his tone.
"Liesmith," he returned and then turned his attention back to the fridge even as he felt the Hulk stir to awareness. "Don't touch the wrapped sandwiches. Those are Tony's and Pepper will find a way to make you regurgitate them if you eat food specifically made for him." For himself, he grabbed something in tinfoil and walked around the counter to put something between him and their would-be dictator. It wasn't necessarily Loki he was concerned about, more like the collateral damage the Hulk would incur if provoked.
Loki only nodded as he made for the coffee maker and, to Bruce's surprise, operated the machine with a deftness that produced a steaming mug of cappuccino. Leaning against the counter, the two males regarded each other. Silence settled over them as both refused to retreat and admit more than wariness.
"Stark still has the crater?" Loki asked, sipping at his coffee.
"Right where you left it," Bruce answered.
"Ah, yes, like a child waving about a trophy, he would keep it," Loki snorted.
"Right, Dancer, like you have anything to harp on with your shiny Christmas armor," Tony said, appearing around the corner of the hall and making a beeline for the coffee. With a mug in one hand, he pointed a finger at Loki and added, "Your friend, the Enchantress, is one hell of a bitch. I had to scrap a month's worth of upgrades after her little show last night. Jarvis wouldn't let me keep anything that came with that piece."
"A wise precaution," Loki commented.
"Uh…Tony," Bruce began, fixing the other scientist with a look.
"What? Oh!" Tony said. "Amora tried a cheap shot and between Jarvis and Sigyn it was taken care of."
"And him?" Bruce asked, nodding at the suddenly smirking Loki.
Tony just grunted and gulped down his coffee. "After what Sigyn has done for us? Yeah, no, not pissing her off. I like having my spleen where it is," he said, pouring another mug of coffee and fixing Loki with a look. "You're free to wander around this floor within the areas open to everyone, but anything else and Jarvis will subdue you…again." Tony smirked as he recalled the security footage that had been made into his desktop background. Loki just looked livid at that, but before he could say anything a high shriek broke the peace that had been their morning.
Doors along the hall crashed open as Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Thor came bolting out of their rooms in varying states of dress. Fandral and Hogun burst into the hall, weapons drawn and armor absent. Jane and Darcy hovered in their doorways, watching in bewilderment as Sigyn burst out of her room and doubled over. Tony, Bruce, and Loki came around the corner and Loki froze at the sight of his wife doubled over, gasping, and gripping the hem of her shirt in both hands.
"Sigyn?" Thor ventured, his grip on Mjǫlnir relaxing a fraction.
Clint and Natasha exchanged a glance and dropped their grip on their own weapons while still maintaining an offensive readiness. Fandral took one look around the assembled warriors and then vanished back into his room to retrieve some clothes since he had opted to sleep naked.
When Sigyn had regained her breath, she looked up at Loki and fixed him with a hard look that had Bruce and Tony backing away from the other male. "You bastard!" she shrieked and, when she started towards her husband, he backed towards the middle of the living room, hands held defensively in front of him. "You left a clone with me!"
"You sleep well so very little, I didn't want to disturb you," Loki said, tone pitched to soothe. He had known there was a possibility she would react like this, but…"I didn't realize you would wake so soon." Her resistance to sleep spells must have grown in the Void. She should have slept another three hours, long enough for the clone to vanish and let her wake naturally.
"A clone, Loki! By the Nine, they terrify me! Or did you forget?!" she shrieked, seizing a lamp from an end table and chucking it at him. It caught on a shield spell and was reduced to a spray of fine dust. She'd already known it would happen, but it made her feel better and allowed her to modulate her tone so she wasn't screaming or accusing. "You did, didn't you?"
"No. I remember perfectly well," Loki said reluctantly, eyes flicking to their audience and then back to her. He stopped backing away from her when they were out of easy grab range for any more items and added, "It took me over a decade to undo the damage that Amora did to you with my image." Ten years, nine months, six day, twenty-two hours to be exact-if he felt like getting technical. When she was close enough, he grabbed her wrists before she thought to begin punching his shoulders. "I am sorry." Distressing her had never been his intention.
Her anger broke with that and she thumped her forehead against his collarbone. "By the Nine, Lok', we're a pair of messed up fools," she whispered. "You try and do something kind for me and I pull an Amora on you. I am sorry for freaking out."
When they had been silent for a long moment, Tony said, "Nice legs, but maybe you should put on some pants before Steve goes into cardiac arrest. In fact, why don't we all get dressed and reconvene in twenty minutes for breakfast and tactics."
Steve only leveled Tony with an amused glance before saying, "I'm from the '40s, not the 1800s, but you make a good point. Clothes would go a long way towards making any discussion more productive."
There was some shuffling as everyone pressed back into the hall and shifted around one another to reach their rooms. Thor and Jane were the only ones to hesitate in their retreat-Jane because she was waiting for Thor and Thor because he couldn't quite bring himself to leave while Loki wasn't actively attacking him. Loki met his gaze and then fixed his eyes on a point just over Thor's shoulder.
"Get dressed, Thor. I've no desire to look at you in your underthings while we discuss tactics," he drawled and Thor felt himself go red before he retreated to his room.
When it was just Loki, Sigyn, Tony, Bruce, and Darcy, Darcy eyed the god of mischief and asked, "Soooo, can I-"
"No," Sigyn said automatically. "You are not tasering my husband, Darcy. Not after what happened to me. If Amora pops in, feel free to skip asking permission and head straight for electrocuting her. It'd save everyone a giant headache."
"There's an idea," Darcy said before vanishing into her room.
Sigyn's entire body shook with suppressed laughter as Loki stared after the human woman, baffled. Shaking his head, he asked Sigyn, "Are we good?"
"We're fine, Lok'," she sighed. "Just please don't do it again while I'm asleep."
"Agreed," he said and released her wrists. "Now get dressed, please, lest I contemplate setting the next human who looks at you on fire." She only chuckled again when she tilted her head back to smile tiredly at him.
By the time everyone returned, Tony had managed to unearth the last of the leftovers and something that looked suspiciously like instant oatmeal from the fridge and cupboards. He was studying the side of one box with such keen interest that Sigyn had to slide the container away from the genius and read it herself before she dropped it into the trash. "That…was six years old," she said pleasantly.
"Indeed," Tony said cheerfully. "So, who gets to travel by way of intergalactic highway?"
Thank you to my reviewers: wbss21, Flavio S, Maia2, and no-MY name's Anonymous.