Unexpected

The Long-Awaited Reunion

My whole body turned to stone and my grip on the door handle tightened so much that if I had shocked myself with my device and bought myself a bit of super strength, I probably would've crushed the brass in my palms. Even with my iron grip though, I could feel that my hands had grown slick with sweat and yet the rest of me was chilled to the bone. My blood pounded loudly in my ears as it rushed in my veins, my hammering heart being the only part of me that hadn't stiffened and stilled.

It couldn't be.

Forcing myself to move, I shook my shock from my head and flung the door open, looking up into the face of my visitor. "Loki, what are you doing out here?" My whisper-yelled question seemed to shock Loki who was standing before me in the middle of the hallway. When he had sent his hologram here at my apartment before he'd always appeared inside it. Why in the world would he have appeared in the hallway? "Are you crazy? What if Sharon saw you out here? Are you trying to get us caught?"

"Penelope, I-"

"Get inside before someone sees you!" I hissed hurriedly, waving at his illusioned form for him to come inside as my eyes swiveled down the hallway, making sure that no one was there or approaching. What if someone saw him? What if they called the police? What if S.H.I.E.L.D. was somehow called in? What would I do then? How could I explain why Loki, the trickster god, was standing on my threshold in the middle of the night and how he would have quickly vanished into gold and green light?

"Penelope..."

There was a heavy softness to his voice that caught me off guard. It was deep and soulful, breathy and tinged with some sad, disbelieving, yet joyous emotion. I paused, my eyes wandering over to really look at him for the first time. Something had obviously happened. His raven black hair was tangled and his face seemed paler than usual. His outfit wasn't the usual, simplistic outfits of green, black, and brown that he usually wore in his confinement, but consisted of a black and green leather jacket, tunic, trousers, and boots detailed with bits of golden armor much like his outfit back when he was attempting to take over Earth. It was smeared with dust and globs of something dark. His posture was partially slouched like he was greatly tired and wanted to lean on something. My gaze locked immediately to Loki's emerald eyes. They were glistening, almost as if he was tearing up. The look made my breath catch in my throat. "Loki... what's wro-"

He suddenly took a rushing step inside my apartment towards me, his arms outstretched as he loomed over me. I stepped back, trying to recoil, pulling the door with me. If he touched me, his illusion would break and he'd disappear! I could not evade him though as his arms wrapped around my back. My shock at his movement was immediately cut off with an even more overwhelming shock as I suddenly felt his fingers on my back, chill and solid through the cloth of my t-shirt as his hands pulled me to him, pressing me into his body in a tight embrace.

Impossible!

I must be dreaming again!

I couldn't remember even laying down, but I must be asleep! This must be a hyper realistic dream again! I couldn't handle another dream like that, but my body stiffened up again, frozen in my shock. He's not... he couldn't really be here. He couldn't really be holding me...

A gasp broke from my lips as I was suddenly enveloped in Loki's familiar scent of mint and eucalyptus and something masculine and musty. His fingers clutched at my back, his head bowed down so that his face and lips were pressed into my hair. Hot, shaky breaths blew into my scalp and I could feel the uneven rise and fall of his chest as he breathed heavily, murmuring my name like a mantra, almost as if he couldn't believe that he was holding me anymore than I could believe it.