Chapter Six:

The next day, Darcy decided to get it over with and start telling people the truth. Of course, she had only technically lied to two people, but they were two very important people to her. She figured that it would be easier to explain to Jane first, as Jane would understand falling for someone that, in some ways, you kind of barely knew, especially when you first met them by having them fall from the sky in front of your car.

She made Loki hang in her bedroom and left him Baker for company, then called Jane and asked her to come over. Darcy jolted when she heard Jane knocking at her door, jumping up to answer it.

She smiled at Jane when she opened the door. "Well, you look a lot better than yesterday," Jane commented, smiling at her.

"Trust me, I feel a lot better," Darcy admitted with a smile. Of course, she was still incredibly nervous about telling Jane the truth, but resolved sexual tension will do a lot for a girl's nerves. "But, there's something that I got to tell you about Jeremy," she went on. "He's...not named Jeremy and he's not from Arizona State. He's actually Thor's brother, Loki, and he fell out of the sky in front of the car the last time I went and got groceries and he's actually a really nice guy and OK I might have slept with him yesterday." Like, three times overall, but she didn't want just to throw that in as well.

Jane's eyes went wide when her brain caught up with the verbal diarrhea that Darcy was spewing forth. "Darcy!" she exclaimed, hitting Darcy on the shoulder, although Jane couldn't hurt a flea with her hands, so it barely even stung. "Is he really Loki? If he is, he's dangerous! What are you thinking?"

"Honestly, been wondering that a bit myself," Darcy admitted. "I think he just...went crazy for a little while." While they were in bed yesterday, Loki had explained himself a lot more to Darcy, being far more open with her. "He's got this...jealousy thing with Thor, and then he found out he was adopted right after Thor was banished. If you were this ancient god alien person, and then found out you were adopted after always feeling like you were treated second best, wouldn't you go a little batshit?" When Jane finally nodded, Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. "He's...he's OK now. I might take a guy in to help when he's still a little crazy, but I really wouldn't sleep with a guy who I thought might kill me, OK?"

Jane nodded again. "Alright, alright," she said. Darcy was glad that, deep down, Jane seemed to trust her. "Where is he?"

Darcy tilted her head back toward the bedroom door. "I think you can come out now!" she called out, smiling with Loki peaked his head out the door. Barker ran out, jumping all over Jane, happy to be allowed to investigate the new person in the apartment.

"You really don't look like an angry Norse god when you're wearing a t-shirt and jeans like that," Jane remarked as Loki stepped further out. Darcy knew that Loki was insanely old, but he really only looked about Jane's age, especially when he was dressed like that. Utterly gorgeous, but certainly not that old.

"Well, I'm not nearly as angry as I was," he admitted. "I actually wanted to make you an offer. I am still not...exactly in a hurry to meet my family again, but I understand that you wish to meet Thor again. I think I can help you create a path back to Asgard. It would not be exactly along the lines of the bridge that was there, but I believe that I can get you there."

When Darcy saw Jane's face break into a wide grin, she knew that she truly had Jane on her side now. If he was willingly helping her get back to Thor, then Jane was totally sold. "I knew that you were way too hot and cultured to come out of Arizona State," Jane joked.

"Hey! I resent that!" Darcy snapped, but she couldn't help but laugh. She was just relieved that this talk had gone well. Now she just had to deal with Erik, who couldn't be slightly bribed with the idea of getting back to Thor. Oh boy.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy actually didn't talk to Erik until Monday, and he wasn't nearly as easy to convince as Jane had been. Of course, no bribery with a strong, blond Norse god, so Darcy hadn't expected him to be as easy to deal with. Still, now she had Jane on her side, so that helped. Eventually, Loki of all people came up with an idea that helped Erik adjust. Loki started to help out with the cleanup of the town. He had created the mess, and, if he was really sorry for it, then he could help them clean things up. It made sense to Darcy, and, more importantly, it made sense to Erik.

Darcy's not surprised that, when Loki is around, Erik keeps a tight eye on him, but he wouldn't be Erik if he didn't do that. It took him a little bit to warm up to Thor, after all, and Thor had just fallen from the sky. Of course, Erik had thought that Thor was either a con man or simply crazy. Loki had proven himself to be dangerous in the past.

The trust that was missing seems slowly to develop in the next few weeks while they work on making a path to Asgard. Everyone is working double time to get this going, plus Loki is both helping with clean up around town and learning astrophysics so that he can understand just what Jane is talking about.

Yet Loki and Darcy STILL managed to find time to sneak off and have some special private moments together. She loved that they were all able to work together now. Erik had to chase them out of closets and once off the roof when they got a little too carried away with one another. Well, that was when he caught them, anyway! They managed to have a good bit of fun when he wasn't around to find them.

It took a little while, but they (mostly Loki and Jane, really) managed to come up with a little device that would allow for them to make the trip to Asgard and back. Darcy admittedly didn't know how the hell the damn thing worked, but according to them, it would.

Now, the question was who was going to use it and go?

"You should all let me go," Loki said. They were all gathered around a table in the diner, with the little device sitting in the middle of it. It was three in the morning, and they were all gathered around cups of coffee. They had just finished the thing, and no one even wanted to wait for a night's sleep before trying it out. "I'm the one most likely to survive the trip if something goes wrong."

"Yeah well, what if it goes right, you end up on Asgard, and everyone there just tries to kill you?" Darcy asked him. "Seriously, there's no way in hell that we're letting you do this by yourself, Loki." She really had no intention of just setting up something of a relationship with him only for him to be killed on Asgard.

Before he could argue with her, Jane chimed in. "Plus, I helped make this thing so I could get to Asgard and see Thor!" she told him. "Do you really think that I would allow for anyone to go there without me?"

"And I have to make sure that the two of them don't get themselves killed," Erik explained. "Don't try arguing with them. They're both rather stubborn."

"Something that I'm starting to learn," Loki said with a roll of his eyes.

"OK, you totally had to know that like, five minutes after meeting me," Darcy said with a grin. "Plus, all girls are totally stubborn."

Loki sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Then let's do this before I change my mind," he said.

They finished their coffee and left the diner. Darcy already had one of her neighbors dog-sitting Baker, so she didn't have to worry about him. They decided to head out into the desert, finding the spot that had been left in the desert, the Norse markings still burned into the desert sands. They had all figured that, if the thing just blew up or something, they should be as far from the city as they could get.

Standing on the markings, they all linked hands, hoping that this would help keep them together and not lose one of them on Mars or something. "Is everyone ready?" Jane asked, holding the device in her free hand.

"As ready as we'll ever be. Let's do this already!" Darcy yelled. She was ready to either be blown up or show up on Asgard already. It was the suspense that was going to kill her, she was certain.

"Didn't you once claim that you weren't going to die for six credits?" Erik asked as Jane started the device.

"Yeah well, now I'm emotionally invested," Darcy replied, smiling up at Loki. He looked like he wanted to say something back, but then the device started working and it felt like everything both expanded and then contracted, which Darcy only HOPED meant that they were being transported to Asgard.

OoOoOoOo

When Darcy felt ground underneath her again, the first thing she did was sink to the ground, trying to keep herself from throwing up all over everything and everyone. "I think I might have left my stomach on Jupiter," she said, sticking her head between her knees to keep herself from puking everywhere. She could hear Erik throwing up near her, so at least she wasn't the worst one off.

She could feel Loki's cool hand on the back of her neck. "We are on Asgard, thankfully," he said to her. "It appears we landed in one of the outlying forests."

"Honestly, I'm just glad that we ended up on Asgard at all," Darcy heard Jane say. She was sure that the scientist was already looking around, wanting to take samples of every plant that she saw. She might technically be an astrophysicist, but Jane was interested in all sorts of scientific things. "Playing the human and Asgardian guinea pigs wasn't exactly the brightest of plans."

"Yeah well, you just want some Thor ass and was desperate enough to risk it," Darcy said with a grin, letting Loki help her up off the ground.

"If anyone mentions my brother's ass again I'm going to start throwing up," Loki snapped.

"I'd like to second that," Erik said, wiping his mouth. "Did anyone happy to bring any tic tacs?"

Before Darcy could dig in her pockets for the gum she usually had on her, she heard a rustling in the bushes. She felt Loki tense up beside her, but, before anyone could do anything, what looked to be palace guards were surrounding them, circling them with spears raised.

Right as a scream starts to pull itself out from Darcy, she heard Loki yell something that sounded vaguely Scandinavian, and the guards lowered their weapons, motioning for all of them to follow along.

"What did you just say?" Erik asked.

"I requested an audience with the Allfather that cannot be refused," Loki explained. "If you know the specific words to say, they will take you without killing you on sight."

"Jesus Christ, you totally just invoked parley, didn't you?" Darcy asked, a nervous giggle bubbling up. When everyone looked at her as if she was a nut, she sighed. "Dude, am I the only one who watched 'Pirates of the Caribbean'?" she asked. "You guys are a bunch of philistines," she grumbled when she got no answer.

OoOoOoOo

Loki had expected something like this to happen. He wouldn't be shocked by the idea that security had tightened around Asgard because he had let Frost Giants into the place twice. He was glad that the ancient words had not been adjusted in any way. Then again, maybe the guards simply recognized him and there was some sort of protocol for if he were spotted. If that were the case, they likely were not expecting him to bring anyone with him, much less humans. He hadn't exactly wanted to, but they had all argued with him. He didn't really have the heart to fight them.

They were brought before the throne, were Odin was sitting. Loki spotted his mother and Thor standing beside the throne. As soon as the guards left them alone, Jane broke from the crowd, even as Erik tried to catch her. She made her way to Thor, who catches her and swings her around. Loki understood that this was a reunion that was months in the making.

"Would everyone please contain themselves?" Odin bellowed, standing up from his throne. He turned his eyes toward Loki, and Loki had to admit that he felt relieved when he felt Darcy reach over and grab his hand. "How did you manage to survive the fall from the bifrost?"

"Well, with lots of bruises and broken bones that kind of only healed recently," Darcy blurted out, and Loki had to fight the urge to reach over and cover her mouth. He cannot help but notice his mother's mouth slightly turn up at the corners when Darcy says that, so he hopes that Darcy didn't horribly offend his father in some way.

Odin turned toward Darcy. "Are you the one that found him?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah, he dropped out of a hole in the sky in front of my car all unconscious and I took him back to my apartment, kind of like a stray cat but he's WAY better than some smelly old cat who sheds all over my furniture," Darcy blurted out.

"This woman is going to be the death of me," Loki muttered, his free hand reaching up and pinching the bridge of his nose. He watched Darcy bite down on her bottom lip to keep herself from giggling.

"How did you manage to get here?" Thor interrupted, and Loki realized that he actually had missed his brother's voice, even if the man had never understood that certain volumes were not meant for indoors. "The bifrost was destroyed. We are trying to repair it, but it hasn't been finished yet."

Both Jane and Erik launch into some overly scientific explanation. He watched as his mother walked down from behind the throne, moving closer to him and Darcy. "Are the two of you friends?" she asked Loki.

Loki realized that the voices had quieted and all eyes had turned back toward them. He felt like Darcy was holding onto his hand for dear life. "It's a bit more than that, Mother," Loki said to her. "We're...together."

"Yeah, we're kind of dating," Darcy agreed, smiling as she looked over at him. They had yet to put any sort of label on their relationship, but he had watched plenty of television and absorbed a lot of Midgardian culture. He supposed that was a good word for them, dating.

As his mother smiled, the room erupted into a chaotic cacophony of talking again. He could hear Thor and Jane talking to one another, catching up on what had happened to the both of them since they had last seen each other. His mother started to ask Darcy all sorts of questions about her past and her family, and Loki can see that poor Erik is just standing there, looking quite lost. After what seems like ages, he hears his father's voice call out over all of them, asking them to cease.

Odin walked up to Loki as everyone quiets down, and Loki actually tries to pull away from Darcy, half expecting his father to strike him down for what he had done before. However, she seems either unable or unwilling to let go of his hand, and seems to tighten her grip. His father surprised him, though. When the elder man reached Loki, he wrapped him in a bear hug that was very reminiscent of how Thor hugged people.

"I am so relieved to have both of my sons back home," Odin said as he held Loki.

"I appreciate the sentiment, father, but I need to breathe," Loki wheezed, and his father let him go, laughing. When Loki caught his breath, he asked, "You still consider me a son after all I have done? Why?"

"Simply because you are, Loki," Odin explained, and the room exploded into another burst of chatter.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy couldn't help but feel like this was all a whirlwind. It seemed like so much happened during their first day in Asgard. Odin made an announcement that, for one, Loki was alive, and two, his actions against Jotunheim were going to be treated as the actions of a king during a war. Thor had killed hundreds, been banished, and then forgiven, and Loki's time on earth (plus the healing that it took after falling from the bifrost) were being treated as a similar punishment for his actions against Thor and Heimdall (the giant of a man who watched over the bifrost and supposedly saw everything that went on around him, which just made Darcy's mind scream perv).

Darcy doubted that everyone was happy with that announcement, but it's kind of hard to argue with a king, especially one as imposing as Odin. She could see how everyone found it so easy to follow whatever that man said. Plus, Loki was eventually going to come back to Asgard to help rebuild the bifrost thing, so they would able to get back and forth a lot easier and more trustworthy than the device that they had kind of cobbled together. It would work well enough in the time being, though.

For now, though, they were all getting ready for the trip back to Earth. Both Loki and Thor were coming back this time, so that Jane could get her Thor!time and everything. No one had a chance to be alone here so far, so there was no private time to be had. Odin and Frigga give them a proper goodbye (Darcy thought that she was going to die from all the questions that Frigga asked her, but she kind of got it, since Loki was her baby and all).

When they arrived back on Earth, she could hear Erik throwing up again. She knew that, on the next trip that was coming, he would likely not be coming along. "Is this always going to be so barf inducing?" Darcy asked Loki.

"You eventually get used to it," Loki explained to her as they started to head back toward town. They had only been gone about a day for Earth time as well, thankfully.

"What makes you think I'm going to be going back and forth enough to get used to it?" Darcy asked him, grinning up at him.

"Well, if we really are 'dating,' as you described it, we'll need to introduce you to court, and there are all sorts of protocols for being attached to a prince such as I," Loki said with a smirk. "Thor, what all are they?"

As Thor started to list off all sorts of things, Darcy just kept grinning, stopping long enough to grab Loki by the collar of his shirt. "You're lucky I like you, you know that?" she asked, pulling him down for a kiss.

THE END