All The Little Pieces

Where We Belong

"There, lady Elizabeth. You're ready." Maren stepped back, and Elizabeth surveyed her reflection in the mirror.

Her new dress was a deep dark green with a wide neck and full skirt. The bodice was snug and fitted, with small black pearls decorating the front. More pearls were worked into the top of her hair, while the rest hung in long curls down the back. Whatever Maren had done had actually smoothed her hair's wildness, for once. The dress was beautiful, and while it and her hair was the fanciest she'd ever worn, she had to admit she very much liked how she looked.

Maren opened the door to a knock. Loki stood there, also far more dressed up than Elizabeth had seen him. He wore his usual black leather pants and boots, but this time, he had on a black and gold breastplate and long coat over an emerald shirt. His green cape swirled around him as he moved. She was surprised to see him after the way yesterday's conversation had ended.

He stepped into the room and bowed, then offered Elizabeth his arm. She took it and allowed him to lead her into the corridor. Loki glanced at her. "You look very nice tonight." His tone was polite but formal, face expressionless.

"Thank you."

They walked without speaking further. Elizabeth longed to break the silence, if only to hear his voice again, but could think of nothing to say. How could they have gone from sleeping in each other's arms to acting like strangers in less than a week? She swallowed and forced back the tears that threatened to form.

They finally reached a part of the palace Elizabeth had never seen before. Guards opened immense double doors into a room ablaze with gold and lights. She stared around in awe. Loki's reserve thawed a little, as he chuckled at her expression. "Welcome to an Asgardian banquet."

She looked up at him with a small smile. "It's impressive."

Dinner was not yet served, so they walked through the room and out onto an expansive open terrace. "We'll have musicians out here after dinner so everyone can dance." Loki clasped his hands behind his back, still sounding carefully proper.

"I love the idea of dancing, but I've never learned," confessed Elizabeth.

"I'd love to teach you," Loki said. "I mean, if we had more time, I'd..." he trailed off, sounding sad.

Elizabeth rested her hands on the cool balustrade of the terrace and stared out over the gardens, saying nothing. This evening was going to be torture. Her throat was closing again with tears. She bit her lip to try to drive them away. She would not cry in front of him.

"What happened here?" Loki lifted her hand and turned it to better see the bruise. His fingers were cool and gentle. "How did you do this?"

"I...I hit a...table," she managed.

"Elizabeth, this bruise..." he turned her arm over and ran his fingers along the side of her hand and over her wrist. His detached tone had been replaced by concern. "It looks really painful."

She shook her head and turned away. "I'm fine."

"What was wrong that you did this? Is it because of us arguing yesterday?"

The familiar kindness in his voice made Elizabeth clench her jaw.

"I've been wanting to talk to you about it." She remained silent and finally turned her eyes to him as he looked at her searchingly. "Will you talk to me?"

She drew a deep breath and forced her tone flat. "I...I've just been really sad the past few days. I was angry and hit the table in my room. That's all. It was a stupid thing to do. It didn't have anything to do with what you said yesterday, it was before that."

"What were you so upset about? I've never seen you at the point of hitting anything."

"I haven't been really angry around you before yesterday." She gave him a small, tight-lipped smile. "You normally have a calming effect on me."

Loki stepped closer. His fingers resting on the small of her back protectively sent electricity up and down her spine. "Elizabeth, why were you upset?"

She glanced down at the marble tiles of the terrace. "The thought of leaving..." She grimaced as she felt her stomach twist, but forced herself to go on. She at least owed him an honest response. "I'm sorry, I know you want me to go, and I will, but I'm still trying to get used to the idea, and I'm having trouble with that right now, and sometimes I'm angry, and sometimes sad, and-"

She cut off abruptly as she realized the words were pouring out in a rush. She shot a nervous glance up at Loki. His face was utterly bewildered.

"Wait, you think I want you to leave?"

Elizabeth stared at him incredulously. "Yes. You came to my room and told me how excited you were for me to go, how I should go as soon as possible, how-what?"

Loki was shaking his head violently. "No! No, no, no, no! I wanted to tell you, I thought you'd be happy, Thor said..." He stopped abruptly and narrowed his eyes.

"Thor said what?"

"Thor told me I shouldn't try to keep you here, it would only make you unhappy. He said there's a saying that if you care about someone, you need to let them go, because they were never yours."

"And you listened to him? You never thought of just coming out and asking me what I wanted?" Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief. "Have you ever dealt with a woman before? Thor either?"

For the first time, Loki looked completely off balance. He opened his mouth and closed it again without speaking.

"You're both idiots. You know that, right?" Elizabeth's voice rose slightly. "So you didn't actually want me to leave, but you didn't ask me, you just let me think you were telling me to go away? This was all a giant misunderstanding? I've spent the last five days crying, or-" she held up her bruised hand, "hitting the table? Seriously, Loki, what the hell?"

Loki shook his head. "I thought if I told you how much I wanted you to stay, it wouldn't be fair to you. I, I wanted you to choose, and then you did, and-"

"Because I thought you were done with me, with us!" Elizabeth realized her tone was loud in the evening air. She glanced around and tried to calm down. "I thought you didn't want me anymore, and I didn't know why, and I..." Her voice cracked and she stopped as her eyes brimmed with furious tears.

Loki pulled her into his arms. Her body was trembling with the rush of different emotions. "Shhh," he whispered against her hair. "Shh, it's my fault. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear I didn't. I was trying to do the right thing, and I'm clearly not very good at it."

She shook her head against his chest. "You were terrible at it. Like, mind-blowingly bad." She gulped and turned her face up to look at him through her tears. "You're the smartest person I've ever met. How did you think that would be a good idea?"

"I don't know." He grimaced and looked around as more people were filling the terrace. "Here, let's take a walk. Everyone doesn't need to be part of this discussion."