Blind Success {Book 1 - Blinded Trilogy}

28 - A Partridge in a Pear Tree

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: A partridge in a pear tree." First verse of traditional '12 Days of Christmas' song

It's official. I hate Christmas in Avengers Tower. You wanna know why? I'll give you one word. Stark. That idiot wouldn't stop hitting on me! It was awkward and frankly a little scary considering he's at least twice my age. The one time when my so called 'perfect' looks are a curse... Bruce is the only guy - other than Loki and Thor - who seems impervious to my looks. Steve blushes just about every time I look at him, Barton seems to follow me around like a love-sick puppy - which annoys Romanoff too for me to tell him to fuck off - and Stark hints at all sorts of things we could be doing... It unnerves me.

The day itself was a great! I loved it. Loki ended up taking me away from the Tower to escape the idiocy that is Stark. He gave me the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for.

In the afternoon, we left the bustling atmosphere of the tower and flitted around the city of New York. He took me across to Liberty Island and up to the very top of the Statue of Liberty. How he got us up there without being seen is beyond me, but in truth I don't want to know because it was the best thing ever. As the sun set, I watched in awe as the sky changed from the blue of the day into swirls of pinks, reds and oranges. I even managed to see some purples.

Now you may be thinking that there could be better presents, but for someone who was blind and always on the move for one reason or another, seeing a sunset was the best thing in the world. "It's beautiful." I whisper, afraid that if I raised my voice too much I'd ruin the moment.

"I take it you like your present?" I turn and look at him, nodding with a smile.

"I love it. It's the best present I could ever ask for." I turn my attention back to the horizon so I can finish watching the sunset. I wish I could watch it forever. As the last of the sun's ray give way to the nighttime sky, Loki and I head back to the tower.

Unfortunately I had all sorts of things waiting for me when I got back. Tony had drunk way to much eggnog that he was off his rocker and way more flirtatious than when he was sober. Whoopee. No sooner was I in the door and Tony was there.

"Tony, you're drunk. Go away and sober up." He actually pouts! I don't know if it's supposed to make me feel sorry for him but it doesn't work. I'm taller than him and that's without heels. Yet he still persists and tries to make a move. Not that I let him get very far.

"Aww c'mon... Where's your sense of adventure?" Tony slurs.

"Somewhere you're not." I turn and walk away from him before anything disastrous was to happen. I'd most likely be blamed for it in the end. Fury has been a bipolar bastard who thinks I'm to blame for my change in molecular structure when he was the first to know about it. Anyway, I don't dwell on that anymore. I can't change what happened and I had no control over it either.

Loki has really been the only one to be any support to my changing self. He's been the best ever since I had the incident in the training room. I actually enjoy spending the time with him too, he doesn't cramp my style or anything like he used to. I'm sure he would be happy if I told him that but I'm going to keep him in the dark about that fact for a little while longer.

Walking the entire way up to the roof of the Tower, I stop in my tracks when I see someone standing on the roof. Now I'm not saying that I'm the only one who goes to the roof, but I have never ever seen anyone else on the roof while I've been there. It became my escape even though the chaos of my life lay only meters under my feet.

All breath leaves me when the person turns around and I see the familiar mop of blonde hair. Zachery. I hadn't seen him in months. He hadn't seen me since before my transformation into the supposed goddess I am now. This was going to be an awkward encounter because I will have changed while he was away. "Zachery?"