Thanks for all the reads and votes---- the support has been AMAZING! :) :) :) 

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Happy summer, or almost summer wherever you are! 

Love,

Sierra

~~~

Chapter Forty Four- Moonlight Shadows

~Nobody's POV~

When Thea wakes up, the sun is just beginning to rise. Nine more mornings until the blue moon. As soon as she tries to sit up, she groans in pain. Her eyes are hooded, with circles underneath them. Her powers have given her strength to heal quickly, but her limbs are shaking, and she is still bloodied. 

It's empty in the room. She's attached to the oxygen mask still, and several monitors, which vibrate loudly, and beep occasionally, but those are the only sounds. 

Thea tries to get rid of the oxygen mask, but it's sucked on tight; probably to prevent it getting off. She also tries to sit up, but the tubes to the IVs and monitors prevent that. All in all, she's trapped. If it weren't for Kyle coming in late last night, she would've thought she were back in the Imeldi camp. 

Even though she knows she's safe, Thea begins to panic. Yesterday's and last night's nightmare has pounded into her head that being connected to something is dangerous. She's still on medication too, which makes her slightly loopy. 

She begins to cry loudly as the pain settles in her head; the painkiller, no doubt, is wearing off. Although her cuts and burns are either healing or scarring already, her powers do not necessarily take away the pain. 

When the door opens, Thea stops crying immediately, although it's evident that she has been. It's Natasha. 

"Thea?" says Natasha, "You doing okay?"

Thea gives her a look that clearly says that no, she's not doing okay and wouldn't last night's torture have given Natasha a clue?

"I know," says Natasha quietly. "Stupid question, huh?"

Thea shrugs, feeling bad about the nasty look she had given her. "It's okay." Her voice is raspy.

"Do you want some water?"

"No thanks." says Thea even though her throat is screaming for water. 

Natasha smiles. "You were so brave yesterday, Thea. I'm really proud of you."

Thea shrugs. She hadn't felt very brave last night, when she was screaming and when she had wanted to be a coward and die. 

"Listen," Natasha walks over and kneels next to the bed. "I have something to tell you." She smiles again, a soft smile, "Actually a few things."

"What?" croaks Thea. Her throat is hurting. 

"First, have some water. I know you want some." Natasha takes off the oxygen mask, and hands Thea the water. Thea gulps it up appreciatively. 

"Jack's alive."

Thea chokes on the water, coughing hoarsely. "Wh-what?"

"Jack's alive." Natasha smiles. "He's going to be okay."

"But...but..." stammers Thea. "I saw-the knife-he fell-I saw."

"That man did knife Jack," says Natasha, as if this were everyday news. "But not in a vital place. Very, very painful. But he is alive, and he is healing."

Thea turns around and flops her face into the pillow. She mutters something that sounds a bit like, "Gosh dang it, Jack", but Natasha can't be sure.

Thea sits up again, wincing. She looks like she wants to say something, but hesitates. Natasha already knows what she's going to ask and answers her, "No, Thea. Loki is gone."

She nods sagely, pretending this has no effect on her. "I thought so."

"He was still cruel, machiavellian, and sneaky," says Natasha, standing up. "Given the chance, he would have taken control of anything in his path to help rise himself to power. That bastard never changed." she looks back at Thea. "Except when it came to you." 

Thea is silent, staring straight ahead.

"I think Loki saw himself in you. Both of you are stubborn, tricky, temperamental, and too clever for your own good. He never sympathized with you, but he saw the similarities and I think tried to stop you from going down the path he went down."

Thea shrugs. 

"He didn't care about you in the regular sense of the world," says Natasha. "But I guarantee that he did."

There's silence. Natasha stands up. "Anyway. Bruce and Thor think that you'll be up and at 'em in a couple days. You'll be sore but-"

"How's Leah?"

"Oh right. I forgot to tell you. Leah woke up from her coma." Natasha looks slightly happier. 

Thea grins, and Natasha can't remember the last time she's seen looking so happy. "Oh my...wow...that's..."

"I know."

"What about the Imeldi? And the Mantra?"

This time, it's Natasha's turn to hesitate. "Most of the Imeldi from that camp are gone. But the Mantra is not where we thought it was." 

"That leaves-"

"Indonesia or something like that, or Canada. Yes."

"Where are we?" asks Thea. 

"At a small SHIELD base in Costa Rica. We thought it best to...fly the coop." 

Thea is pretty sure that Natasha has sugarcoated this, but doesn't press the matter. "Um, thanks for...rescuing me," she mutters. 

Natasha shrugs. "No biggie. Clint helped me out. And so did Tony."

"Huh. I always thought Tony hated me."

"He doesn't hate you." Natasha grins. "You just regularly pissed him off."

"He regularly pisses me off too."

She chuckles. "That's basically our relationship too."

"Well," says Natasha, "I've gotta run. I'm going to have Kyle or Bruce or maybe even Tony step in to help get rid of some of these wires. I think you're going to be fine."

"Better make it Tony," says Thea sarcastically.

Natasha laughs and steps out of the room, closing the door behind her.

*

Thea thinks back to what Natasha said about the Mantra. She had been sure that it was in the tropics. But then again, she had never heard of her parents going to South America, unless it was disguised as another one of their 'business trips'. Then again, she could say the same thing for Indonesia. 

Her mind also wanders to Natasha's theory about Loki. Thea thinks she's wrong. Loki didn't try to stop her from going down his path. He helped her do it. He goaded her over and over. He made her hate him. Thea is pretty sure that Loki saw their similarities as something he could control, and that's exactly what he tried to do. But she can't deny that he protected her-or tried to- or sacrificed himself for her. 

Groaning against the complications of her new life, she sinks her head into the pillow. 

*

~Thea's POV~

As it turns out, it's Kyle and Bruce who come inside my little room. 

"Come to visit the invalid?" I ask, trying to crack a joke. "Or maybe perform nerve surgery without anesthesia, seeing as I'm not in enough pain."

While Bruce clearly is trying not to smile, Kyle shakes his head and glares at me. "You're not at all funny, Thea Fossil."

"Ow!" I exclaim as Kyle smacks the side of head. "I just SAID that I'm in a lot of pain."

"And I'm about to say that you can't make jokes like that." says Kyle through squinted eyes. "Now shut up and let me see your arm."

"You're not a doctor."

"Don't you back-talk me, young lady."

"He actually is a doctor," adds Bruce from where's he's fiddling with various monitors. Mostly unplugging them."

"But you're twenty eight." I protest, too tired to do the math.

"It's called an elevated IQ, which you don't seem to possess. Now let me see your arm."

"You can see it just fine from there." Relief, paranoia, and exhaustion has made me cheeky. 

Kyle takes matters into his own hands. He sits down at the edge of the bed and grabs my left wrist, which has an IV attached to it, as well as a wire that connects to a monitor. "You're clearly still loopy from the medicine. Either that, or your brain has been effected more than I had imagined. Then again, it's hard to tell with little Miss Empty Brains here."

"Hey!" I exclaim, then yelp as Kyle yanks out the IV, and then the electrode wire. "Double hey!" 

"Hey is for horses."

"Exactly. I was talking to you."

Kyle glares at me fiercely, then says something to Bruce in medical language. Standing up, he takes a syringe from a tray and fills it with some sort of liquid.

"What is that?" I ask, trying not to look frightened. I do not like needles. At. All. 

"Painkiller." supplies Bruce. 

"What if I don't want it?" I ask, ignoring the pitiful tone I am using.

"Stop whining," says Kyle, wiping my arm with antiseptic and then sticking the needle into my skin. "And be appreciative that you're alive."

"As opposed to what, exactly?" I ask, wincing from the aftermath of the needle. 

Kyle shakes his head. "If you're going to be living with me, young lady, then you're going to need to learn to stop being such a smart aleck."

"Who said anything about living with you?" I demand. "Why on earth would I want to live with you?"

Before Kyle replies, Bruce says, "Sorry to interrupt the party, but Thea, can you tell me what hurts?"

"Everything." I quip.

Kyle rolls his eyes and tosses the syringe into a trashcan. 

"Seriously, Thea," says Bruce.

"Um," I say, moving my arms experimentally before shrugging placidly, "Everything?"

"You're really not helping things, QED, you're not helping yourself." says Kyle. 

Bruce, however, ignores his colleague and looks over my arms and face, dabbing on some sort ointment up and down my wounds. "Does this feel better?" 

"Yeah, thanks Bruce. So," I ask as innocently as possible, "When do we head to Indonesia?"

"We?" snorts Kyle, "Do my ears deceive me?"

"I was asking Bruce."

Bruce replies, ignoring Kyle, "Probably in a day or so. We're running out of time."

"We have nine days," I say, accentuating the 'we' (Kyle rolls his eyes). "How long does it take to get to Indonesia?" 

"Not sure. A day or so."

"I'm sorry Bruce, but are we not going to discuss the we that Thea has very sneakily put into this conversation?"

Bruce raises his eyebrows mildly, "I'm pretty sure we'll discuss this later."

Kyle snorts, then points at me, "You are not going anywhere." 

"When can I visit Jack?" I ask innocently, deciding to quit while I'm ahead.

"Don't change the subjec-"

"When you can stand up without hurting," Bruce answers for me.

*

~Nobody's POV~ 

It's a very hot night. 

Even in December, it's steaming in Costa Rica. Thea shifts and tosses in her bed, not comfortable, not able to fall asleep. When she does, it's fitful and full of nightmares. She wakes up crying in the middle of the night, and she is greeted only by a smashing of heat. 

As she sleeps, a shadow passes over her. She stirs and whimpers in her sleep, the frightened, tortured tears mixing with the sweat that pours down her forehead. Her cheeks are flushed, and she doesn't know it yet, but she has a fever. 

Loki reaches forward and sets his hand on her forehead. There is a slight hissing sound as his cold hand touches her clammy, inflamed skin. Instantly, at the hands of the frost giant, Thea relaxes, and her cheeks lose some of their redness. 

She is still crying, haunted by the torture she had spent in the Imeldi camp. Loki sits down at the edge of the bed and takes her hand, trying to cool her, to calm her down. 

With a short scream, she jerks up, awake; Loki springs back, off the bed. 

In the moonlight, she stares at him. 

"Loki?" she whispers, tears pouring out of her green eyes. 

His green eyes look into hers. "Shh,." he says softly, waving his hand over her head. Instantly, her eyes roll into the back of her head, and she sinks down onto the pillow. "Sleep, kitten."

He leans down, moves some of the sweat-drenched hair from her face, and then kisses her forehead briefly, softly. 

He sweeps from the room. 

When she awakens, Thea will not remember anything that had just happened. 

~~~~~~~

Soo... whatcha think?

Please VOTE and COMMENT if you would like!!! I love you all so much! 

PM me anytime if you need to talk. :) 

Love,

Sierra :)