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Here you go! Now I need to frantically study for an AP Bio test. Whoops. 

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xoxo Sierra

Chapter Thirty-Five

I'm in a pretty nasty mood by the time we leave. As I throw my green duffel bag over my shoulder and walk through the commons, my heart is beating from anger and sadness. I don't know if I'll ever see some of these people, my family, ever again.

I'm leaving, but am I coming back?

When everyone leaves, will someone not come back?

I run into Videl right in front of the stairs. He's just come out of the kitchen, Victoire trailing at his heels. She has calmed down a little, but her eyes, already bright crimson, are accentuated by puffy red rims. Her hair is lying neatly now, Videl must have brushed it, and although she looks sad, at least she's not crying and screaming anymore.

"Are you heading out?" asks Videl rhetorically.

"Yeah," I say.

"Klaka's not going with you, right?"

"No. Clint had him in Stark Tower and then a friend of his is taking him up to the Michigan house this weekend," I reply.

There's an awkward moment, during which Videl and I look at the ground and Victoire toddles around and almost knocks over a wilted potted plant. I turn and am about to walk away, but stop when Videl calls my name.

He wraps his arms around me and I take a deep breath. He smells like freshly laundered cotton, and I smile as the faint scent of lavender fills my nostrils.

"Be careful, idiot," says Videl.

"You too." I pause, then look up at him. His amber eyes are gentle, but drawn, like a dark curtain has been pulled over them. I feel my shoulders fall a little. "But when are we ever careful?"

"Never," says Videl. "That's why I'm worried."

An hour later, I walk through airport towards security quietly, which is perfectly all right because Jack chatters enough for the both of us. We're holding hands, and his fingers are warm and comforting. Every once and a while, he squeezes me, and I squeeze back. It's like we're reassuring ourselves that we're going to be okay.

Peter's quite talkative too, although that's probably because he's on his fourth cup of coffee for the day. His hair, like Jack's, is fluffy and all over the place, but while Jack's has gotten lighter, Pete's has gotten darker. He's also wearing his customary eyeglasses, which he moves often to rub his eyes.

The actual adults, because Peter is basically just a big kid, are quiet like me. Kyle and Emmaline are holding hands, and talk softly amongst themselves as we make our way towards the crazy security line. Loki is as silent as I am, walking on my other side in very earthen clothes. He might be quiet, but I know he's got an eye out everywhere.

Security is a hassle. I'm pretty sure by the time we're halfway through the line, shuffling along like cattle, Loki wants to confound every single one of the security guards. I'm just nervous the entire time, half-expecting one of the burly guards to pull one of us over for a random interview or pat-down. Especially Loki, because admittedly, he looks a little suspicious. At least Videl's not with us right now.

I'd been in too bad of a mood to eat, at Minotaur so when I finally pull my duffel bag over my shoulder again, I'm beginning to get a little light-headed. Peter still has a while until his flight leaves, so he immediately plops down on the first available table, pulls out his computer, and turns it on. Jack, who is always hungry, volunteers to go with me to get food for us.

"I don't know," says Kyle, taking off his baseball hat and running his fingers through his thick black hair and glancing around the airport. He's in a soft gray t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans, but he looks anything but comfortable. He turns to Loki, who is leaning against the pillar. "What do you think?"

Jack and I exchange looks of despair. Now we're definitely not going anywhere without a babysitter.

"I think Jack and Thea have shown that they are perfectly capable of looking after themselves for a bit," says Loki.

I stare. Jack's jaw drops.

Loki's mouth twists in a slight smirk, which vanishes a second later, replaced by firmness. "But be careful."

"And keep in touch with these," says Peter, holding up one of the sleek new phones without looking up from the computer screen.

"If you're not back in half an hour, we're sending the National Guard," says Kyle. "And Thea, you have a plane to catch soon."

"And don't lose your luggage," adds Emmaline, sitting across from Peter.

"Like we could lose these hunks of fabric," says Jack, his tone gleeful from our triumph.

"Don't sass my wife," says Kyle in not exactly the most frightening voice in the world.

"I don't mind," says Emmaline genuinely, smiling and adjusting her messy bun, from which tangled strands of blonde hair fall around her shoulders. "It means I'm part of the family if I get sassed."

Jack pats Kyle's bicep. "Good job, mate. She's a keeper."

"Works out well," says Kyle, putting his arm around Emmaline's shoulder, "I'm keeping her, I don't need your permission."

"Well," says Jack in fake contemplation. "There is such thing as divorce."

Emmaline smiles, not taking offense like Jack had probably known she would, but Kyle glares. "Get your ass out of here."

"I need money," says Jack.

Kyle scowls, then digs through his pockets. He gives me a twenty dollar bill (purposefully passing it over Jack's nose) and then turns to Jack, "Now go and make out with your girlfriend or something."

"Ah, ah, ah," says Loki, "There will be none of that."

I give him a look.

He taps me on the nose, and when I wrinkle it, annoyed from his patronizing, he says slightly teasingly, "Darling, I think you forget sometimes that I am, in fact, your father. Do you think I want you kissing a boy?"

"I'm fifteen."

"And I'm over a thousand years old. Do I look like I care how old you are?"

"It'd certainly be nice," says Jack.

I pull Jack and myself from all four of them before we can possibly do any more damage to ourselves. I look at my watch. Loki's and my flight leaves at 4:34, so I have about forty-five minutes until we need to board.

~Nobody's POV~

Jack and Thea walk through the food courts, looking for something to eat they can both agree on. This doesn't take long, and five minutes later, they're in line for some sort of sandwich place that also serves desserts. The entire time, they hold hands and look around, trying not to look suspicious. The airport is busy, and neither can possibly look at every single person's face, but they try.

The two split the time watching for any possible assassins and doing precisely what Loki had told them not to: making out.

They get their food quickly and walk towards all the tables in the court. There's one empty near the wall, next to a large potted plant, so Thea and Jack move past a couple tables to reach it.

"I'll get the silverware," Thea says, but Jack is already halfway through his sandwich. She smirks and walks towards the silverware dispenser on the other side of the room, passing a table full of teenage boys as she does so.

Thea, as is customary when she goes undercover or on a mission, is wearing a lot of makeup, notably thick rings of black eyeliner. This, combined with her porcelain skin, inky-black hair, and vibrant green eyes, make her look rather exotic, if not slightly gothic, and several of the boys look up as she walks by.

One of them, a tan, handsome, stocky boy with sandy blond hair and piercing dark eyes, whistles at her, but she ignores him. He's probably several years older than her.

She gets the silverware, and turns around to to see the boy standing right in front of her, grinning. Behind him, his friends are wearing the identical Cheshire Cat expressions.

"May I help you?" she asks in a rather bored voice.

"What happened to your face, pretty thing?"

"First of all," says Thea, "I am not a thing. I am a young female who deserves respect, or else I'll hurt you. Second of all, I'd tell you what happened to my face, but I don't think you'd believe me. All you need to know is that my very tall, very strong, and very dangerous father and I both have it."

"Okay," he says, still grinning. Apparently, nothing Thea had just said really affects him.

He reaches forward and takes her arm. Thea moves so quickly, the boy doesn't have time to react. She pushes him back, so that he slams into his table of friends.

But the action makes Thea lose her balance too. She stumbles, and runs into a woman with copper hair and wearing sunglasses, which fly off as Thea runs into her.

"Sorry," gasps Thea, "I'm so sor-" She cuts herself off as the looks at her once and then bends to pick up her sunglasses. But the look is enough, because Thea clearly sees the silver in the woman's blank irises. Trying to keep up a normal facade, Thea says hurriedly, "Are you okay?"

The woman doesn't reply, just places her sunglasses back on her nose and turns away.

Thea, without paying attention to the teenage boys or the silverware she dropped, high-tails it back to Jack, who has finished his sandwich and is looking longingly at Thea's salad. He looks up with a grin, "Hey, blimey, you took forever, I'm still-"

"We've gotta go," says Thea.

Jack stands up, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Why what happened? You're leaving your salad! The disgrace, woman!"

"One of Neidra's spies is here," says Thea, pulling him by the hand as discretely as possible out of the food court. She looks around, but doesn't see the copper-haired woman any more.

"Did it have something to do with the rather rude boys?"

"No, and if you saw that, why didn't you go all Lancelot on me?"

"Because you don't need me to go all Lancelot on you."

"Good point. Where are we supposed to be going?" She looks around in confusion. "Dammit, I'm lost, where was the terminal that-"

"Your terminal is to the left," says Jack, hip-checking her. "That's where we're supposed to go. But if Neidra's spies are here, then why didn't he attack?"

"She. It was a she."

"Fine, she."

"I don't know. I'm not sure if I want to know."

"Okay," says Jack as they enter the row of terminals, most of which are international night flights like Thea's. "But let's just agree to not tell Loki about-"

"Not tell Loki about what?" asks Loki, who has practically appeared in front of the two.

"Uh," says Jack.

Thankfully, his daughter's creased forehead is enough to distract him, and Loki says, "Kitten, what happened? Are you all right?"

Thea explains what happened (she leaves out the part about the boys, but based on Loki's shrewd expression, she guesses that he has an inkling that she's leaving something out), and by this point, Kyle, Emmaline, and Peter join them again. Kyle hears what happened, then without saying a word, walks towards the gate for the flight to Ireland.

He returns two minutes later.

"Well I've got good news for you," says Kyle, nodding to Thea. "You and Loki are boarding in five minutes. And I don't see any signs of the girl you were talking about. With any luck, she's just a scout."

"So Neidra knows we'll be moving then," says Emmaline, "What's that mean for us?"

"It means we need to be even more careful," says Loki firmly, "If she has any idea what we're planning, then that could spell disaster for us all."

"Thea and Loki, you should probably get in that line," says Kyle, nodding to the gate. "You still have to do the passport crap. We'll watch out for you. Don't either of you get killed, because if you do, I'll have to deal with the other one."

Twenty minutes later, Thea and Loki are on the plane, taxiing towards the runway to take off towards Ireland. The flight attendants had already announced that a meal would be served in an hour, before the lights would dim, which Thea is thankful for, considering she still hasn't eaten since the bagels for breakfast. She devours some of the nuts that a flight attendant passes around, even though she normally hates cashews.

Thea has never been on a commercial international flight. Later at night, when the lights dim and the TVs appear for viewing selection, she is fascinated, but more, she is tired and worried. But she puts up a good show, not wanting Loki to know, and scrolls through some of the movie options.

Loki takes the remote from her five minutes later. "Please stop pretending that you're perfectly all right."

She huffs. Secretly, she'd asked herself how long this would be able to last.

"What's wrong?"

The question makes her even more irritable. She's had to say goodbye to almost her entire makeshift family today, not knowing if she'll ever see them again.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Thea."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Silence, save for the low murmurs of the passengers and the distant hum of the engine. Thea pushes her pillow against the closed window and leans against it, her back turned to him.

There's an older woman across the aisle from Thea and Loki, and Thea hears her say to Loki, "The teenage years are always the worse, I assure you, especially for girls."

Thea feels Loki's hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. She scowls and yanks away from him.

"She looks just like you, you know," continues the woman, "Same lovely, lovely green eyes."

"I know," says Loki softly, "And she often acts just like me too."

He begins to stroke her hair, murmuring to her in Asgardian. She doesn't understand what he's saying, but she doesn't need to to understand the concern and care in his voice.

Thea wants to pull away, but finds that all she really wants to do is cry. She doesn't do either one, but refuses to speak to Loki, even when as he continues to try and coax her out of her self-inflicted stupor of silence.

But halfway into the night, Loki wakes up, having sensed someone walking by to the bathroom. When he glances to his right, he sees Thea leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, mouth partially open, breathing peacefully.

At his movement, her eyelashes flutter open, and she blinks up at him blearily. Loki half-expects her face to contort into another scowl, but instead, she wraps her arms around him, her face partially obscured by his thick black hair and whispers, "Good night, Daddy."

"No," he smiles, "It's morning."

Her lips twist in a small, still-tired smile. "Fine. Good morning, Daddy."

SEE, I AM QUITE CAPABLE OF ENDING ON A SEMI-HAPPY NOTE. 

;) 

Please VOTE and COMMENT!

Sierra