Chapter 1
The chair squeaked as Darcy leaned backward, she ran her hands over her face in exhaustion. That was the last email she was willing to send to SHIELD. If no one had seen them by now, then they never would. It had been a long time since she had seen her friend, she only hoped that someone on the other end believed her and could help her. Someone had to know what she did.
“Mommy.” A soft voice said from behind her.
“Sweetheart, you should be in bed. It’s late.”
“There’s a monster under my bed.” Susan clutched her stuffed reindeer to her chest and rubbed her fist over one eye.
“Well, let’s go see what we can do about that, shall we?”
Darcy scooped her daughter up into her arms and padded down the hall to a room that was designed like a winter kingdom. She placed the little one in her bed and tucked her in.
“Mommy, do you think Thor will come for Christmas?” Susan asked as Darcy checked under the bed.
Susan had watched the Avengers doing some promotion on TV the other day at her grandparents and when she found out that Darcy knew Thor, he was all she could talk about. The only thing she had asked Santa for was a chance to meet him.
“I don’t know, Baby. I’ve done all I can with sending emails to his boss. Thor is very busy though so,” she gave a shrug as she tucked Susan’s reindeer into the covers next to her.
“You amazing.” Susan murmured as she drifted back to sleep, secure in the knowledge that her mother had checked for monsters.
Darcy moved back to the living room, walked over to her computer and took it with her to the couch. She opened a file that she saved for moments like this. Images of herself and her boss turned best friend filled the file. The two of them had been inseparable until the incident in New Mexico when a Norse god dropped in from the sky. After they took down Thor’s brother and the two made up. Loki turned out to not be such a bad guy. After a double wedding, Jane went to live in Asgard and Loki stayed on Midgard. Life happened though, and Loki messed up. Love just hadn’t been enough for him.
“Loki, I wish you where here. Everything would be so much simpler. If you had just talked to me instead of….” Her hand ran over his picture. Over four years since she had seen him, and she still loved and missed him like crazy. The sad part is that Loki didn’t even know they had a baby. It was always her secret Christmas wish that he would return to them.
“Mommy, Mommy! Wake up! There’s a nice lady in the living room. She tried to make the coffee, but she can’t work the pot.” Susan’s voice and the movement of her jumping on the bed, brought Darcy into wakefulness. It took her a minute for her daughter’s words to register in her half-asleep brain. When they did she shot up into a sitting position. Darcy reached out to stop Susan’s bouncing.
“Honey, what did you say?”
“There’s a nice lady in the living room.”
“Susan.” Her voice firmed up. “Why is she in the living room?”
Susan’s voice was quiet when she answered. “You were asleep, and she said she knew you, and I see pictures of her. So I let her in and then come to get you. I’m sorry, Mommy.”
“It's fine. Next time, don’t open the door without me, okay?”
“Okay.”
Darcy stood and put on a bathrobe to go out and see who was here. She left Susan in the bedroom and took her taser with her, just to be on the safe side. When she walked out it was to see her friend from years ago sitting on her couch.
“Jane!” Darcy squealed excitedly.
“Darcy!” The scientist jumped up to run to Darcy.
“What are you doing here! I can’t believe it!” Darcy was shocked. “Come, let’s sit down. Susan, you can come out now.”
The two ladies sat down on the couch as the little girl ran out and Darcy put down the taser. Susan went straight to Darcy and curled up next to her. She looked at the lady that she had let into the house a little while ago. The lady was pretty, she had nice eyes.
“Jane, this is my daughter, Susan.”
“Hello, Susan. You have your father’s eyes.”
“You know Daddy?”
“Yes, I know your dad.”
“Jane, what are you doing here? Not that I’m not glad to see you, don’t get me wrong.”
“Darcy,” Jane reached out and grabbed Darcy’s hands. “I was contacted on my return to Midgard the other day, because of the emails you have sent to SHEILD. I was supposed to be just passing through to get some of my research and visit my parents, one of the agents who received your messages stopped me and told me.
“I reached out to Thor through Heimdall. We have decided to spend Christmas on Midgard, with you. If you’ll have us?”
“Of course. We’ll be happy to have you! I still can’t even believe that you are here.” Darcy pulled Jane into a hug again. She then pulled away to go and change into something that wasn’t her night clothes.
Over breakfast, that Darcy made, the two women talked more about where Jane and Thor would stay and what they wanted to do during their time here. They also just plain enjoyed having time to themselves.
A knock sounded through the house. Three pairs of eyes fixed themselves to the front door of the apartment; one knowing, one excited and the last terrified. Darcy looked over at Jane, it was now or never. How bad could it be? This was her friend’s husband and someone she knew after all. She hoped he lived up to who Susan imagined him to be.
Jane was the one who got up and answered the door, it let out a slight squeak saying that the hinges needed to be oiled. There stood the man who was larger than life. Susan let out a light gasp and hid behind her mother.
“I heard there was a fair maiden who was in need of assistance.” He said in a deep boom.
Susan squeaked, “He said the line.” She edged out from behind her mother to stand more in front of him.
Thor kneeled down to be more on Susan’s level, setting his hammer on the floor. “Could you be the fair maiden who needs help?”
Susan let out a shaky nod and stuck her thumb in her mouth. Her eyes were big, and Thor could see the fright in them. He let a smile come across his face and reached a hand out to set on her shoulder.
“There’s no need to be afraid. I’m here to help.”
This confused Darcy. Had she mentioned needing help in her emails? Maybe she mentioned something to Jane. She wracked her memories of the last couple of hours and came up empty. A second knock echoed through the house.
“And there would be who is going to help me, help you.” Thor rose and crossed to open the door. There on the other side was someone Darcy through she would never see again.
“Loki.” She breathed out, her hand flying up to cover her mouth, tears welling up in her eyed. A sob broke through, as Loki stepped forward to grasp her elbows.
“It’s me, Darcy. I’m real.” He took her hand and placed it on his face. “I promise, I’m not leaving again. Odin has forgiven me and set me free.”
A hand tugged on Darcy’s shirt. “Mommy, who this?”
“Susan, sweetheart, this is your Daddy,” Darcy said through her tears, leaning down to pick her up. “Loki, meet your daughter, Susan.”
“My daughter.” Now Loki had tears in his eyes. Darcy could see him mentally doing the math to find out when she was conceived. She watched the shock play across his face when he realized it. “Oh! Darcy, I’m so sorry, if I had known.”
“But you didn’t, and it wasn’t fully your fault. Don’t worry, I have never held it against you.”
“You should. You have every right to hate me.”
“Don’t you know?” Darcy said with a soft look. “I could never hate you.”
Loki leaned in and gave Darcy a peck on the cheek. “I swear to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
Jane and Thor hung back and watched the reunion between the two and the first interactions between father and daughter.
“We did good right?” Thor asked.
“Yeah, we did good.”
The four friends spent the evening reminiscing about the past and talking about Susan’s growth over the years. Darcy had documented every moment, in hopes of a situation like this happening.
