Dog Days

Chapter 53

That night, Hela, Heimdall, Odin, and Frigga tip-toes around me, like they all desperately want to know about therapy, but could break me by asking. I sit in the dining room, silently slurping a mountain of spaghetti, along with the rest of my family.

I pause to get a drink of water, only to empty my glass. Before I can even remove the glass from my lips, Hela and Heimdall speak in unison "I can get you another."

I lower the glass and declare "I'll get it."

As I stand, I move the cloth from my lap and turn towards my kitchen. For all of ten seconds, but back is turned from them.

And when I return to my seat, I find more food on my plate than when I left.

I sigh as I sit my glass down. It makes a pronounced thud against the table and I ask "Was it mom or Hela?"

Heimdall shrugs and declares "No idea what you're talking about."

I give him an annoyed look, before I sigh "Pass the garlic bread." They all reach for the basket and I take it from them, only to sit it down and hiss "What the fuck do you want to know?"

Frigga begins "Did it make you feel better, darling?"

I sigh as I look at her, tiredly "Maybe about two precent better." I shrug as I look down "I'm finally to the point where I can see that it wasn't my fault, even if I still blame myself."

Hela remarks "I've been telling you that since you got home! What took you so long?"

I furrow my brow and declare "We tried this strange exercise. I got more information about the explosion."

Odin asks "The EDMR?"

I sigh as I look up at him "EMDR, dad." I look down and declare "Stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing."

Heimdall gives me a confused look "How does it work?"

I look down at my plate and explain "You just reevaluate your memories and try to understand them better."

They're silent for a long moment, and when I look up, I find them all staring at me like I'm about to break.

I sigh as I lean back "Can you all treat me like a normal human being, for one fucking day?"

Frigga sighs "Sorry, dear. We're just worried about you."

I take in a deep breath and look down at my plate, again. I take a moment to think about what I want to say, before I state "Thank you for your concern, but I don't want to be coddled. I'm doing the best I can, and I don't need a constant reminder of how far I've come."

When I look up, they look to me in shock. I place my napkin on the table and declare "Dinner was nice, but I'm going to bed."

Odin points out "Don't forget your meds."

I give him a short "I won't." Before walking away from the dinner table.

I walk straight into my bathroom and take my pills, before walking into my room and back into the study.

With a sigh, I open the file on my desk and look for the phone number. When I find it, I pull out my phone and dial the number.

In an instant, she picks up with a soft "Hello."

I look out the small window of the study and ask "You know who I am?"

She's silent for a moment, before asking "Thor?"

I take in a deep breath, before declaring "I know who you are." I clear my throat "From my understanding, your discretion is important to you, isn't that right?" She takes in a deep breath and I sigh "Natalia?"

She's responds without a second beat "Why are you calling?"

I take in a deep breath, before taking a seat at my desk and looking at the file photo of him "I know I don't have the authorization to ask this, but I need to ask."

She's speaks, immediately "Give me like five minutes. I'm kinda in the middle of something."

I furrow my brow in annoyance, before I ask "Do you want me to hang up?"

She sighs "No."

My face goes noticeably confused, before I hear her speaking what I'm guessing is Russian. It's more muffled. After a couple of minutes of listening to her and some guy talking, I get annoyed and stand from my seat.

As I walk out of the study, I realize my bedroom door is still open. As I walk towards the door, I hear something like the sound of wood breaking and I pull my phone away to my face to turn up the call volume. I put it back to my ear as I close the door, only to look up to see my family stares at me from the dinner table.

When I close the door, I turn and take a seat on the couch. I hear a lot of fighting, before she picks up the phone and states "I'm back. I just had to get out of something."

I furrow my brow and ask "What, exactly, were you doing?"

She sighs as I hear her running down what sounds like stairs "Pulling a damsel routine. Just took down a Russian arms dealer."

I hear her open a heavy metal door and then I hear her fire off a few bullets "Just have to get a ride."

I hear her open a car door and whisper to herself "Nice." She hops in and turns it on,  and I hear her leaving.

Only a few seconds later, I hear what sounds like an explosion. I sit forward and ask "Natasha?"

She chuckles to herself, before declaring "Didn't even know the place was rigged! I could have fucking died! Loki would laugh his ass off!"

She laughs to herself for a few more seconds, before she asks "Why are you calling?"

I take in a deep breath, before asking "Do you know anything about his disappearance?"

She takes in a deep breath, before declaring "That's what I'm doing in Russia. I got a lead on The Sanctuary, but every time I catch word and hunt it down, it's a dead end."

I take in a deep breath, before I ask "Do you know anything else?"

She sighs on the other end of the line "Do you know about the thing?"

I furrow my brow and ask "The device?"

She declares "It's supposed to be equipped with a tracking chip and heart monitor, but the tracker has been down for two years and the heart monitor works, but it's been defective for years."

She explains "We know he's probably still alive, because the heart monitor is still semi-functional."

It feels like a weight of my chest and tears come to my eye as I ask "He's alive?"

She scoffs, before declaring "As of the day after new year's, yeah." A sob escapes my lips and my chest burns as I clutch onto it. She speaks, softly "Hopefully he has stayed that way. A month is nothing. I've seen him reappear after six months of radio silence."

My lip quivers and she remarks "You didn't hear that from me."

I take in a muddy voice and speak, gratefully "Thank you, Natasha. I hope I see him again one day."

She sighs through the phone "Yeah, I just hope he makes it through this." She's silent for a while, before she declares "I'm heading to Peru to follow the next lead."

I take in a deep breath and ask "Can you fill me in, when you get actual answers?"

She speaks, softly "Yeah, Thor." She's silent for another moment, before declaring "I have to go, but I'll let you know when I track his ass down."

I give myself a short nod, before I state "Thank you."

She speaks softly "You're welcome, Thor." He pauses for a split second, before ordering "Stay safe."