Unexpected

A Cruel Alarm and New Orders

I was jerked awake by my blaring ringtone, my foggy mind jumping straight into panic mode as my sleep-blurred eyes flashed around the dimness of my living room in search of the source of the loud music. Pushing myself up from the couch cushions I finally located my cellphone sitting over on the kitchen countertop. Why was it over there? Suddenly my mind flashed fully awake as I whipped my head around, looking around the living room.

Loki.

Where is he?

I didn't remember being draped in my couch's throw blanket, but I now threw it off my legs, quickly leaping up. He wasn't here! With my blaring ringtone that felt like a siren wailing in the background as my mind started flashing through possibilities. Where was Loki? I dashed into my office room and then crossed the hallway in a single stride to my bedroom, which was also vacant. My heart pounded in my chest painfully. He wasn't here. Besides me, the apartment was empty! Where had he gone?

I'd fallen asleep in his arms nestled between his body and the back cushions of the couch! I had felt secure and content held against the lukewarm heat of his body, surrounded by his scent. Falling asleep I'd been... so happy... It had been like the rest of the world had fallen away leaving just the pair of us to simply be. I'd longed for that for so long, to just be with Loki again, and then... such a cruel waking... It was too much to bear! I felt like Cinderella who had her night where her deepest dreams came true only for midnight to strike and all the impossible magic vanished leaving her right back where she was!

My knees suddenly felt weak as if they were going to give out under me, forcing me to lean up against my wall as I looked almost numbly at the living room. The throw blanket had crumpled to the ground, but besides that, the room looked completely untouched. There was no bloodied tunic bunched up on the floor, nothing to indicate that Loki had ever been here?

My chest clenched. Had he been here? No... I couldn't question it. He'd been here. It hadn't been a dream. I knew that. Unlike my previous nightmare of him, which had faded soon after waking, I could remember everything from last night perfectly clearly. I remembered the heat of his blood and the hissing of his voice as I tended to him. I remembered the tender yet firm grip he'd had on me as he embraced me to him. I had to force back the tears that threatened to spill out of me. He'd been here... but where had he gone?

Had he... had he left me again? Had he been captured? Taken away in the night? No... I'd have woken up... I was a light sleeper by nature... how did he disappear? Why did he disappear much like his illusions had, without trace of ever having been there? Loki hadn't been an illusion or a dream, but my heart broke at the sick realization that I was alone again. Why?

I hadn't realized that my phone had stopped ringing and that I'd been standing there in silence until my ringtone started up anew, catching me off guard and making me jump in start from my heavy, almost betrayed emotions. I was surprised to find that frustration and even anger bubbled up in me as I zeroed in on the phone again. What was so gosh darn important? Couldn't they see that I was in the middle of a crisis here?

In a few steps, I was at my phone, snatching it up and pushing it to my ear, answering it, "What?"

"Hostile much?" Rumlow's voice sounded surprised at my sharp question. "Surprising for you, Copper!"

"Rumlow?" Surprise fluttered through me as embarrassment settled in. I'd just snapped at my superior officer! Why was he calling me anyways? He never called me! Had something S.H.I.E.L.D.-level bad happened? My stomach sank down to my knees like a brick had been tied to it. Loki... had they discovered Loki somehow? No that didn't make sense...