Shadows of the Past

Part 24

(Y/N POV)
You open your eyes slowly, yawning a little and rubbing your eyes as you try to sit yourself up a bit.  Before your fully awake you hear a voice you’ve been missing.

“Good morning, darling,” Loki says from the chair next to your bed.  He smiles at you and puts his book down on the table next to your bed.  He leans over, gently touching your cheek as he brings your lips to his.  He kisses you softly then he asks, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m ok right now, the pain meds they have here are pretty good,” you joke, smiling at him, “I missed you Mischief, I was hoping I would get to see you today.”  

His smile fades so you take his hand in yours, rubbing his knuckles with your thumb.  He looks down at your hands and says, “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you first woke up.  I wanted to be but we had a situation in the holding cells.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, I heard a little about it from my nurse.  I knew it had to be pretty bad to keep you away,” you tell him, you hate that any time something happens he immediately feels as if he has to apologize and take the blame for it.  “Loki, it’s ok.  I wasn’t upset that you weren’t here.  You know that right?” you ask and he nods but doesn’t respond.

You slowly begin to feel more concerned at his silence, “Loki, what happened?” you ask him.   You squeeze his hand to get his attention and he looks up at you, “Loki, you said you would always talk to me.”

“I know, and I want to tell you... I just-I don’t know how to,” he says.  You give him a minute to gather his thoughts, not wanting to push him.  Whatever had happened was clearly weighing heavily on him.  

He sighs and finally looks up at you, “Y/N... I wasn’t here when you woke up because someone had tried to help two captured Hydra members escape.  We were able to stop them from leaving the lower level but...” he pauses and you rub his arm to encourage him to continue.  “If I didn’t see her down there with them myself, I never would have believed she was capable of this,” he says.

You look at him confused, “Who?” 

He puts his hand over the hand you have on his arm and you can tell he is having trouble keeping eye contact with you.  “Y/N, it was Sarah,” he tells you, “She disabled the security system and rendered the guards unconscious before she released the two prisoners.” 

You say nothing, just looking at him in utter shock.  How... why would she do this?  You imagined she would be angry for being fired but this doesn’t make any sense... You sit up in bed shaking your head, not quite able to believe what Loki told you.

(SARAH POV - right after getting fired)
You stand on the sidewalk in front of the Tower, equal parts angry and worried.  The agents stack the last of the boxes at your feet and walk back into the building.  You take your phone out of your pocket and call Marc. 

“Hi beautiful,” he says happily on the other end. 

“I messed up Marc,” you say quietly. 

“What did you mess up?” he asks, his tone changing completely.

“I got fired today... I have no where to live and- I really screwed up,” you tell him.  

He’s silent for a minute but he finally says, “Come over, we need to talk.”

You text him when your cab reaches his apartment and he comes down to help you bring up your boxes.  He doesn’t say much to you and you aren’t looking forward to this conversation.  You don’t have a good feeling about what’s coming.

When your things are all piled up in the corner of his living room, he walks into the Kitchen.  “Wine?” he asks and you nod, following him.  “You know, I was hoping you were calling because you had been looking for some more fun, not because you ruined everything,” he says in a calm voice as he pours two glasses.