Chapter Seventy-One: How It Goes

Once Darla pulled Jane's shirt over her shoulders, she took her time adjusting it in the mirror. No matter what she did, it fit her wonderfully. She fussed with it, pulling it tight, letting it bunch up above the top of her borrowed jeans. She gathered the fabric and tied it in a knot under her modest cleavage like a cowgirl. Though it made her anxious to see her own belly button, and to think others might if she walked out like this, she couldn't resist admitting that she looked damn good.

It was different from her form fitting uniform. Though at first she had anxiety about wearing something that hugged her body so neatly, leaving little to the imagination, it lessened when she realized most everyone at her job was wearing the same thing. The grunts at least. This outfit was casual, cute and sexy, none of which were areas of her expertise.

She looked at her own face and caught herself smiling. She hadn't even realized. She was twisting her hips, too, admiring the clean lines of the ensemble. Was this what pretty felt like? In a bolt of spontaneity, she took her hair down. When the ginger locks fell to frame her face, she knew-Yes, this is what it's like to feel pretty.

She had gone through too much as a child, and even recently, to ever focus on her looks. Not that she wasn't aware of it, she simply didn't have the resources or the time to put in much effort. Plus, she knew so little about it all. She didn't know what types of clothes complimented her figure, she didn't know what makeup tones would set her cheeks aglow and bring out her eyes. So when she found herself wanting to know all that, wanting to explore this new pretty self, it came with a lingering guilt.

How could she devote time to something so trivial? Especially when she'd be walking next to Darcy, a girl who had her clothes and makeup figured out and perfected to the minor details. A girl with curves and confidence. No matter what Darla did, she would never have that power in her step the way Darcy did, the way Eve did, the way Natasha did. So it was pointless, wasn't it?

"You fall asleep in there?" Darcy called from the bedroom. Impatient, she rounded the corner and the girls locked eyes. Darcy took in her friend's aura and said, "God, I wish I looked like you."

Elsewhere

Eve sat at the edge of the pool with one foot dangling in, the other tucked beneath her. The calm water on her toes did nothing to soothe her. Sasha was in the background, still splashing in the puddles, getting herself wet and shaking it off, yipping at the flying droplets. Eve dunked her whole foot in. All she could think about was how this pool, this cove, was the reason she chose to live here. It was how Loki coerced her into forcing the Danas to leave. It no longer relaxed her or made her feel in control. It had become a prison. For all she knew, Loki could leave her to starve. She'd huddle in the corner eating the last of the dog food guiltily, praying for help that could never arrive.

She looked back at the bag of dog food and tried doing some impossible math. How long would that last her and Sasha?

The door flew open and Eve yanked her foot out of the water, spinning around to see Loki, as angry as he'd ever been. She sat silent, observing, terrified and trying not to show it.

"Those imbeciles are throwing a party," he said. "A party!"

Eve's jaw hung loose as she glanced away. Sasha was startled by the entrance, too, and had run to her side. She thought of a few jokes she could make and swallowed them each in turn during the long pause that followed.

"I don't remember taking your voice away," Loki said, displeasure caked on his face.

Eve had a sudden vision of her singing and Loki trapping her voice in a necklace. That would make more sense to her than the events of the past day. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

"The Avengers," he stated plainly. "They're hosting a party to celebrate my capture."

Eve scratched her chin. "Alright."

Loki's eyes went wide, wild and rabid. "You're scared to weigh in? How droll."

She was, but that wasn't the only reason for her short reply. "I'm not...I mean, isn't that, like, good?"

"Oh, are you excited? Did you get your invite in the mail and hang it on your vision board?"

Eve narrowed her eyes. "Have you been reading Dana's magazines? How do you know about vision boards?"

His cheeks flushed and he swept his hair back with both hands. "Fine. You're upset with me. Be this way. I don't care." Then, he turned to leave.

"Wait!" she called after him, standing up and taking a few steps. "I'm not upset. I mean, I am upset. But I still don't understand. If they're throwing a party, that means that Thor did lie to them and they believed it. They won't be looking for us, right? It's good."

Loki frowned. "Yes, but…"

"But what? Thor went through with the lie and his guilt brought him here. It seems very straightforward."

"Yes, that's all fine. It's just...the arrogance of it! A party!"

Eve exhaled, her tone in good humor. "You can't understand why they might want to celebrate being rid of you?"

"Ha ha."

"Seriously, though."

Loki turned back toward her, arms crossed. Sasha wasn't scared any longer and did laps around his ankles, begging for attention.

Eve stifled a laugh, pulling her lips in. "Would you pet the dog, at least?"

Loki, instead, wandered away from Sasha, toward the reclining lawn chairs stacked in the corner. Eve wondered if the Danas had thrown pool parties. This was the perfect place for it. Though they were an ill matched couple, she hoped they'd find some similar happiness elsewhere. At least more than she had. It all felt like a waste. The running and hiding, the schemes and tricks, all to be held prisoner so far from everything she knew. A world outside her window that she was banned from exploring.

"They'll all be laughing at me," Loki said, his voice further away than he was. He sounded small, like a child realizing they weren't invited to a birthday party down the block.

"Are you serious?" Eve made her way to him and stopped when she'd closed half the gap. "This is what you wanted. You wanted them to stop chasing us, you wanted them to believe what Thor said. And now Thor is here, so we don't have to worry about him blabbing. Everything's come together, hasn't it?"

"If you ever had an ounce of power in your own life, you'd understand."

Eve rocked her head back, groaning. "Don't do that," she demanded. "Don't act like you're not sharing because you think I won't get it. You're embarrassed, that's a pretty down to earth emotion. Or, down to Asgard, in your case."

He dropped his arms to his sides and his eyes turned to pleading. "Shouldn't you be relishing in my anger?"

"That's never really gotten me anywhere."

"I have to go," he said, and it was more purposeful than the way you'd say it on the phone. Not like he meant to leave right that instant, there was more thought put into it than that.

Still, Eve said, "Could you bring me some food first? And a lot of it, I keep worrying you're not going to come back at all."

"I have to go," he repeated, gaze unfocussed, trailing into the distance just like his words.

"Is that a yes or a no on the food?"

"I'm not going to bring you any food, I'm going to bring you a dress. That green one, with the long zipper."

Eve clutched her stomach. "What? Why?"

"I want to make a grand entrance. With you on my arm."

She pieced it all together a bit slower than she cared to admit. "Loki! We can't!"

"We can and we will. I don't care if you physically accompany me, but they'll see you nonetheless. I need to gloat. I need them to know they haven't succeeded."

Eve paced over to him and gripped the tops of his arms. "You can't. Loki, it'll ruin everything."

"What's left to ruin?" he said. "I've isolated you, damaged your trust in me, and I haven't the patience to build it back in the way you'd require. My brother has found us and always will. There's no peace anywhere. All that's left to do is gloat."

"I don't want that," Eve said, desperate to get through to him. "You don't want that."

"And you do want this? A life in this room just waiting for me to barge in and threaten you?"

"If you're so aware of what you're doing wrong then why don't you fix it?"

He scoffed and, angry, she pushed him away.

She felt her voice raising at a steady rate. "You are in control of this, all of it! You could easily free me, you could easily talk things out. It would only take a decision, a desire to make things right."

"Funny, that," he said. "I have never felt that desire."

"You're a liar, Loki. You told me you wanted to reconcile with your brother."

"Only so that I could best him. I don't need any sort of upper hand to best you."

She ran toward him, then, eyes ablaze. She wound up her right arm and sought to hit him square in the jaw. He stopped her easily. It took no more than the wave of his hand to stop her arm in mid swing. It held there, petrified, as she grunted and tried to pull herself free.

"Fine," he said. "I'll go alone."

When the spell came loose from her arm, it was like a blood pressure cuff being undone. The blood rushed up to her hand in tingles. She turned to watch him walk past her.

"You can go," she said, as though it were a dare, "but you'd be killing both of us."

"A fitting end to all this, no?" Loki didn't look back.

"You really don't care if I die? Fine, let's pretend I believe that. You care enough about your own life to at least consider when something might cost you it. All of the Avengers, save for Thor, will be there."

Loki stopped walking and sighed. "They won't be expecting me. I'll go in disguise."

"You won't be able to resist showing your face, you goddamn narcissist. Then they'll really have caught you, and they'll throw an even bigger party to celebrate your death when it's live streamed to millions."

The god scoffed. "Don't be so dramatic."

"It will happen," she said. "And then I'll die in here."

He was inches from the door. He turned around, grinning wickedly, like he knew better. "Best hope you're wrong, then."

"Loki. I think we could have something real, here. I think we were on the verge of something. Before it all got mangled, weren't we in a sort of honeymoon?"

His smile faded. "You may have been," he said.

"Don't count the fact that you were scared senseless by your own vulnerability as unhappiness. We connected."

"You may have connected," he said, tone dripping condescension.

"This isn't going to work. We just had a fight exactly like this. You came in here looking to vent to me. You got bad news and you wanted to tell me. That's a connection, that's-"

He took one step back, closer to the exit. "Don't talk to me like I don't know my own head."

Eve had so many plans in her head. So many ways she thought she could get through to him, but she was low on time When she would look back on this argument later, she'd recognize her own mistake and lament. She never chose a path. She kept hopping back to the beginnings of them, going down new roads instead of finishing any of them off. Who's to say if, had she stayed on track, things would've gone any differently? In order to stay sane, she refrained from thinking about it.

"I'll prove it to you," she said, going for what she thought was her strongest option. "I'll show you that I want this, that I'll work, that I want to see how this goes."

"This is how it goes," he said, and placed his left foot out the door.

"I'll show you," she repeated. "Give yourself time to think about this at least!" It wouldn't be partying time in New York for about half a day still. He observed her, and it wasn't clear if he was truly listening. "I'll show you."

"Going to be tricky when you can't get to me," he said, and left at last.

"Loki! Wait!" She ran to the door and felt for the barrier, only to slam her palms into it until they ached. "Loki! Give me a chance here." The god would not turn around. "Loki, please, at least take me back like you said you would! Let's think of other ways!" Slammed fists as Loki went up the stairs and out of sight. "Loki!" Eve was wailing, desperate. "Loki, you idiot, I know you can hear me!" Two more hard slams. "Loki!" One good punch to the wall with her right fist. It was like punching the side of a rollercoaster, flat and jagged all at once, like the spell moved for her then shot back. She hunched over and clutched her hurt hand, groaning.

It was the heat of the moment that whispered the truth in her ear. She'd said she was going to show him. After she washed the blood off of her hand, that's just what she was going to do.

A/N:

Hi all! Good to see you again. I bought a new keyboard to help keep my motivation up. So, I'm looking for a beta reader or two to help me edit and stay motivated through the end of this story. You'll get to see the chapters before I post them, of course, and I'll also need your input on my direction for the ending. You can leave a review of this chapter (or any others) and say you're interested, maybe tell me if you have any ideas? I'll message you when I get the chance.