A Child of Mischief (Loki/Avengers story)

41. A Family Reunited

"At least she's talking and not using her fists this time." Natasha says as she gets off Cora's bed, crosses her arms, and stares down Thor.

"At this point, I think I'd prefer her fists over the screaming." Thor says avoiding all eye contact with Natasha.

"Why did you do any of it? I mean, you swore to me and the other leaders that you would protect Cora while she was here. That hasn't been proven from what I've seen." Natasha asks as she walks to Cora's door.

"What's more important to protect, Cora and her well-being or Asgard's seemingly pristine reputation? You need to get your priorities straight, because you have them severely mixed up. And the real one you need to be protecting is getting the crap end of the deal." Natasha says as she walks past Thor and out of Cora's room.

"I had hoped she would have accepted what was told to her days after she arrived. Everything went down quickly after Cora was attacked during the battle that took place on her second day here. Instead of easing her into everything like I had hoped to do, it all got thrown at her. It's almost as though Asgard itself knew she had returned, and it needed her to know the truth." Thor says Natasha walks back into Cora's room and shakes her head.

"Accept it? How could she, you were supposed to be the one she could go to for help and answers. You were supposed to tell her the truth, but you couldn't even do that, you left that up to Loki of all people." Natasha says and turns back to the hallway, but stops as she see's Cora standing in the half way point of the hall. With her head down, Cora looks up at Natasha through the hair that covers her face.

"Nat?" Cora asks lowly and tearfully. Natasha walks up to her, and softly puts her hand under Cora's chin and raises it up.

"What's up, kiddo?" Natasha asks calmly as she puts a small smile on her face. Cora looks at Thor and then back to Natasha.

"I don't want to be here, anymore. Can we go home?" Cora asks loud enough for Thor to hear, his eyes widen from pure shock.

"Why do you want to go home? You just got your mother back. You should want to stay, not leave." Natasha says as she takes Cora in her arms and hugs her.

"Cora, if this has anything to do with what transpired a few hours ago, or even everything that happened days after your arrival, I am sorry. Everything went wrong because of me, I am at fault for all that has happened." Thor says as he rushes from Cora's room. Cora looks at Thor and shakes her head.

"It's not just you, it's this whole place. I get flashes of memories from the night that started all of this. They don't stop, they never will. Every piece of the puzzle finally came together and you know what it made? A picture of a broken family that could never be whole. Somewhere down the line, a piece will not be able to fit into the puzzle again. And you, you took the most important piece away. To you, that doesn't matter though, as long as you bring a piece back that can still fit, but is slightly different, then it doesn't matter, right?" Cora asks, Natasha looks between Cora and Thor, then raises her eyebrows at Cora as she turns back to look at her.

"I won't allow you to leave, not now." Loki says coming from around the corner, Cora hangs her head and groans.

"I feel like I'm going to snap and do something bad if I don't leave, at least for a little while. I need more time than I've already used in order to figure out how things will go from here." Cora says and looks between the three people that surround her. Natasha puts her hands up in front of both Thor and Loki to shield Cora.

"Before you make an important and possibly life altering decision, I want you to take the rest of the day to actually think it over. We don't need you regretting your decision once it's been made. Understood?" Natasha asks as she looks at Cora, who simply nods.