Hello again! It's been such a long time since I've posted anything, I'm so sorry! Is anyone even still here? I don't know, but I hope some of you have stayed; that would make me happy!

I still don't own anything, but Emma and the storyline of course.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 11

Honesty

I'm falling asleep, I can feel it. My eyes are getting heavier but I'm trying to keep them open. It might have something to do with the fact that I've watched this movie before. We've reached the sixth Harry Potter movie and we've opted to watch it in the living room, since we were already lounging on the couch after breakfast. But for some reason I just can't seem to keep my eyes open. 'Half-Blood Prince' is actually one of my favorites of the series, and I've been looking forward to watching it with Loki. Maybe it's just because I'm so comfortable in Loki's arms, resting against his chest between his legs. It's warm and safe, and frankly makes me doze off a little bit.

It's when Hermione is identifying the smell of Amortentia (and I find myself wondering if I would smell the fresh fragrance of mint with just a hint of freshly cut grass; a scent that is distinctively Loki) that I see the black wing from the corner of my eye. I turn my head slightly, watching a black bird just outside the window. I frown at the sight, blinking and then it's gone.

"Did you see that, Loki?" I ask, making him pause the movie.

"See what?" he asks, a trace of curiosity crossing his face.

"The black bird. I think it might be a raven," I say, slightly embarrassed to bring it up.

Something flickers across his face, but it's too quick for me to decipher what it was. "No. Are you sure it was a raven, Emma? It might just be a crow."

"I guess I'm not sure. I saw a raven yesterday, though, maybe it's the same."

He makes a small shrug.

I shake my head, unable to stop a yawn. "Whatever. It doesn't matter, it's just a bird, forget it," I say, getting comfortable against Loki again.

It takes him a few seconds, but then his arm wraps around me while his other hand un-pauses the movie before I'm hugged by both of his arms. He kisses my head, before turning his attention towards the movie again.

(Loki's POV)

It takes Steve precisely 25 hours and 17 minutes to bring it up again. I know, because I was waiting for it. Waiting for the conversation to turn back to him warning me of hurting Emma. He goes about it in a sneakier way than I'd thought, though. It's only because I purposely force it out of him, that he says anything directly.

Instead he fumbles around, trying to act nice towards me, while I pretend to not know what he's really doing.

It starts at dinner Sunday, the day he arrived. He repeats his former words of 'just wanted to let you know I'm here' in pretense caring. I roll my eyes. The whole 'Just let me know if there's anything you want to talk about' and 'I'm right here' spiel is getting on my nerves. Might be news for you, Rogers, the voice inside my head grumbles, but you're not her father! It's one thing to have her father breathing down my neck, waiting to throw me out if I do even the slightest thing wrong. But now I have the Soldier from the Past to watch out for, too?!

Of course, I'm only semi-upset. I care for Emma, far more than I should admit. And this is supposedly the family that comes along with her. They all want what's best for her; as do I. They're nice, sort of. Her father isn't so bad, neither is his girlfriend. The agents have become my friends one way or another. And Bruce is nice enough to be around when he isn't green. It's only the Captain that can't seem to calm down.

I understand the need to protect someone you care about from someone you believe is bad for them. So, if he'd just be honest about it, it'd help a whole lot. Instead of pretending to be nice, it would be nicer, for me, if he could just threaten me the way he obviously wants to. Just get it out in the open, and then we can play nice.

And that is exactly why I decide to, in lack of a better word, poke him a bit. Like he's a sleeping bear that I need to make roar, so I can stop waiting for the upcoming storm.

At breakfast the next day he's speaking again, repeating his former glare at me, when he offers Emma his help wiping the dishes since he's here. Is the man actually serious?! Get on with it! my mind yells at his very obvious dislike of me.

I smirk slightly, and stands. "No need, Steve, I've been here for a while, might as well help out a bit."

Emma unknowingly helps me make Steve's glare darker, when she smiles and tugs me closer to her. She kisses my cheek for helping and starts chatting about everyday stuff; how she wants to work out soon and maybe we could train together. I grin at her, before grabbing a towel to wipe the clean dishes.

I stay close to her the entire day, cuddling beside her as I continue reading Harry Potter. I'm at the fourth book now, since we watched that one yesterday. So now I can read up till the sixth one, since we've watched those. It's good, but I must admit I'm getting the most pleasure out of watching Steve's frown every time he passes the living room and sees us. Emma's listening to music with closed eyes.

She's leaning against me, between my legs, her head resting on my chest. She smiles once in a while, so I know she's alright. She's tired, I know. She's worried for her father, though she won't admit it. And she misses him, understandably. There's not a lot I can do, I think. She says this helps. Cuddling, listening to music, being close; I'm not sure which and it doesn't really matter. I don't plan to stop either.

I bend my neck and kiss the top of her head, making her entangle her fingers with mine. It's nice, though it makes it a bit difficult to continue reading, I must admit. I finally close the book; I'm almost done anyway. And slide down further on the couch to rest my head on the arm rest, her head still resting on my chest. We lie like that for some time; entangled fingers and shared body warmth, before we doze off.

(Emma's POV)

In my dream, there's darkness. Darkness and one light. A light I follow to my father, except he's running away from me and I can't seem to follow him. Why can you never run in a dream? I'd like to know.

He's running and suddenly Loki's there. He's staring at me, reaching out towards me, but before we touch he's swirled away in a tornado of ravens. And suddenly the darkness isn't emptiness, it's ravens. Ravens squeaking and basking their wings. Ravens staring at me with their black beady eyes. I want to turn away, but I can't. They're all around me and I can't breathe.

Then I wake up, still in Loki's embrace. I close my eyes again, turning slightly against him, to better cuddle him.

(Loki's POV)

It's a miracle really, as far as I see it, that it's taken the dear captain this long to catch up to me. He catches me in the hallway outside of my room.

"Loki, can I have a word please?" he asks, so polite I must force myself not to roll my eyes. We both know it's not really a question. I nod anyway.

"I'm a bit concerned," he begins. I sigh, making him stop, but I wave for him to continue so he does, "I can tell Emma likes you a lot, but I'm concerned you may not understand that."

I frown at his words. "Are you insinuating that I cannot feel, Captain?" I ask, watching him wince slightly. I continue, "That I'm playing a game with her? Is that what you're concerned of?"

"Of course not," he says. "I'm concerned that she likes you a lot more than you like her. I'm not saying you're playing her. Just that she deserves to get what she gives."

I roll my eyes. "She is "getting what she gives" as you put it, Captain, I can assure you of that," I say, smirking slightly at the way he searches my expression.

He narrows his eyes. "If you hurt her…" he starts, voice firm.

I laugh, "Now that's the Captain I know."

His anger, or annoyance probably, shows clearly now as he traps me against the wall by smashing his hands into the wall on either side of me. "This is not a game, Loki!" he says and I almost laugh again at the fact that he's doing exactly what I wanted him to do. "If you ever hurt her, be it physically, emotionally… sexually," he adds, slight embarrassment shown on his face, "you will be answering to me, and you will go back to where you came from and rot in a cell there."

I sigh, deciding to play nice, "Well, you're going to have to join the line then, Captain," mostly anyways, "because I'm sure there'll be one." I adopt a genuine look then, making sure my sincerity is shining through, "But on a serious note, I do not plan on hurting her in any way. I wouldn't dream of it." I smile shortly then. "You see, Steve," his eyes widen slightly, "I'm pretty sure I love her, and so I will do anything to protect her, even if that means protecting her from me."

He's staring at me, removing the hands that formed my temporary prison. "You love her," he states. It's not a question, but still I nod. "Then see to it that you keep your promise," he says, before turning around. My lips move upwards of their own accord, before I slip into my room.

(Emma's POV)

"Hey Bruce," I say, stepping inside the lab. Now that Loki's back on Asgard, I have to occupy my mind with someone else.

"Hello, Emma," he greets back.

"What are you working on?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I'm trying to develop one of Tony's ideas."

I hum in thought and sit down on one of the chairs in the room. "What's the idea about?" I finally ask.

"It's not really thought through yet," he says, "But it's supposed to be some sort of shield. Some way of protection for the earth against other "worlds" and races like the chitauri."

"How is that going to work?" I ask

"We don't know yet, but Tony really wants to make some kind of protection," he says.

I frown. "Isn't that what you're all here for, though? To protect."

Bruce half-smiles. "Sure. But we can't always be there. I guess he just wants to make sure the earth, and more importantly the people inhabiting it, stays safe."

I nod. "That makes sense, I guess. But how can you protect the whole planet? We can't just 'close off' the planet, so that other worlds can't reach us, because some other races are not enemies, like Thor and Loki."

"That's exactly my problem right now, Emma," Bruce says.

I laugh. "Okay then. I'll just leave you to it then. I wouldn't want to disturb."

Bruce smiles but shrugs. "You're not disturbing. I don't think I'm getting closer to figuring this out. It's Tony's idea anyways."

I hum in understanding.

"When is Loki returning anyway?" Bruce asks then.

"Tomorrow," I say, tilting my head. "Why?"

Bruce smiles teasingly. "Just wondering how long I'd have your attention."

I huff in pretend-offense, but then chuckle. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

"What? You mean at giving attention to others when Loki is near?" he teases.

I frown slightly but nod. "Yeah."

He shakes his head. "It's not that bad, Emma. I'm just teasing." He smiles, "Besides, you're in love; you're allowed to be oblivious to anything else."

I blush slightly at his words. "I guess, but I don't think my dad would like me to act like that."

"Maybe not," he shrugs. "But I think you're allowed to. Young love needs to be spent together, eventually you'll find it easier to be apart."

"I'm that obvious?" I chuckle.

"A little," he says. "You both are." I raise an eyebrow at that. "It's nice."

I smile softly. "Thank you, Bruce, for saying that."

He chuckles. "No need, Emma."

(Loki's POV)

It's a bit better being back here this time. No one has said anything to me yet, though a lot of people have given me looks. I ignore them though to take a walk on the meadow where the horses enjoy their leisure time. The horses don't judge at least, though Sleipnir keeps sending me looks as he watches me walk across the grass area by a safe distance.

"Loki!" I turn by the loud exclamation of my name, completely unprepared to see Thor standing behind me with a soft look in his eyes.

"Thor," I acknowledge, before turning around again.

I can hear him move over the grass, hurrying towards me. I roll my eyes at his loud way of being.

"I wanted to ask you about Emma," Thor states when he's walking next to me.

I fix my eyes on a red poppy flower, wondering why it makes me think of Emma. "Then ask," I say when he says nothing, getting impatient.

"How is it going with the two of you?" Thor asks.

I sigh. "We're good," I offer.

Thor beams. "I'm glad. And Anthony is okay with you courting her?"

I shrug. "He's accepting. He trusts his daughter and she trusts me. He's not there for the moment either way."

"He is not with you in the tower?" Thor asks.

"No, he is ill. He's gone to his other home to get better. I feel he will come back soon."

Thor nods in the corner of my eye. We continue walking.

"I'm planning to ask if Emma could be allowed entrance here," I say, when Thor doesn't speak. I don't know why I'm sharing this with him, but I wanted to.

Thor stops and catches my eye. "You are serious?" he asks. I nod. He smiles. "So you are really happy, brother."

I stare into his eyes and finally nod. "I'm happy," I say.

Thor grins. "It's amazing how far you've come, brother."

I sigh and start walking again. "I know," I mumble, refusing to actually acknowledge the sentence.

"I wanted to ask you both something," I say, joining my parents in their outdoors salon after dinner. My mother usually retreats to this place to get some peace and quiet after the crowded loud dinner.

"Yes, Loki?" Odin asks.

I hesitate, but with a nod from my mother I go on. "The Man of Iron has…" I blink and start over, "You have heard of the Man of Iron, yes?"

They both nod, my mother adding, "He's the one with whom you're staying."

I sigh and nod. "Yes, that is correct." I pause, trying to think of a way to continue. "He has a daughter who is very interested and knows a lot of the mythology surrounding our home."

My mother sends me an inquiring look, like she knows something or sees something, so I deliberately look the other way. "She wants to see the place where Thor and I grew up, and I would like to take her with me the next time I come back."

"A Midgardian on Asgard?" Odin questions with a frown. "Never will a Midgardian step…"

"Of course you can take her with you," my mother interrupts Odin's beginning rage.

My eyes widen, standing before Odin can say anything. "Thank you, mother. I will bring her then." Then I turn around.

"How could you allow that?" Odin asks my mother when I walk out of the salon.

"You will understand…" is all I hear my mother say before I am out of the room on my way to Heimdall. Understand what, I don't know, but I guess I'll find out. Either way, I can finally show Emma where I grew up.

So, did you like it? Was it worth the long wait? Probably not... I'm sorry. I hope you'll comment. Thank you for everyone favouriting and following, and commenting of course, if any of you are still following this story. Thank you so much 3 I hope I can keep writing and present you with another chapter soon, but I won't promise anything. I'm sorry again.