When Anna met Loki

Chapter 1

"Anna! Anna! Come quickly...!" Tim was screaming his lungs out.
"Jeez... Tim what's wrong?" Anna lifted her head from her notes. This was not a time for "Come quickly". She had customers who were late and sheep that were supposed to be picked up two hours ago.
"There's a..." Tim was breathing heavily, obviously from the running or rather because of the belly he was dragging in front of him. "... a man. He fell... fell from..."
"Fell?" Anna did not sound very enthusiastic, but already started moving towards the door. Seems this will not be solved without her losing time on it, so she might as well go there – wherever that was – and see the man who fell. "Fell from where, Tim?"
"From the sky!" Tim whispered the last word.
"What?!" she exclaimed in disbelief. "C'mon Tim, what are you talking..." but he was not listening. Now that he had her standing or rather walking, he ran outside and to the back yard. Anna followed him speeding up just a bit, as he did finally caught her attention.
Indeed, in the backyard there was a figure lying in the grass. He looked dead... What else could he be, if he fell "from the sky". She looked around quickly. Luckily at this side of the house there were only the fields and the sheep. "I guess they will not tell" – she thought when moving towards the man.
"He dead?" Tim asked when she approached.
She had a look at the man and instantly she knew. That was him. She did not have time to watch the news, but could not avoid having a glimpse every now and then when her brother or sister in law were watching. He was the one who brought destruction on New York few years back, and he was the one who now in turn was fighting side by side with them... the Avengers. She looked at Tim, but did not see any sign of recognition in his eyes.
"I don't think he is." She kneeled next to the man and took his wrist to feel the pulse. "Is this even the way to check if an alien, or whoever he was, was alive?" But she did feel a pulse. "Yep, he is alive," she sighed and had a closer look at the men. He had cuts on his face and neck, his clothes were covered in blood, so most probably he had more wounds underneath. Also, his left arm did not look right... Broken?
She looked around again. Still no one in sight.
"Tim," she said firmly. "Let's take him into the house, to the bedroom. If anyone asks..." "Shit, what do we say if anyone asks? We cannot say it's one of the Avengers who fell from the sky."
Tim was waiting impatiently and looking at her lips not to miss a word. "If anyone asks, say it's some drunken tourist who got lost and hit his head, ok? Tim, ok?!" she raised her voice, as he seemed to have forgotten his words.
"Yes, Anna, yes," he nodded. "How do we...em... how do we carry him?"
"You take his arms, I take his legs and let's move quickly before anyone sees us." They anyway lost too much time debating about the situation.
Once in the house and in her bedroom Anna left Tim with the man and went for the medical kit. It was well equipped as accidents often happened to the workers and the nearest doctor was 20 miles from here, not to mention a hospital.
Tim stood in the bedroom looking very much out of his place. Was it because of the man or because he was in his boss's private room?
"Go back to your business, Tim. I will manage this. Not a word to anyone, but in case someone did see or hear something, you know what to say." Tim seemed relieved that he is dismissed, but hesitated a bit.
"Can I leave you here with this stranger? What if he wakes up?"
"Tim, do you think I will not be able to handle a wounded man?" she asked firmly, but needed to admit to herself, that she had no idea what she would do if, or rather when, the man woke up...
"Right.," Tim answered, had a last look at the man and was gone.

Anna decided to check whether there are any more wounds underneath the man's clothing. She took the scissors and with a sigh looked at his outfit. Green, made of a strange, probably unearthly material. It did surrender to her scissors though. His chest was covered with cuts similar to the ones on his face and neck, but not as deep. The only concerning thing was his left arm – bruised and with a strange cut. She wasn't sure if her experience would be enough for that wound. She decided to start with the smaller cuts and see which ones required stitching.
She was sure that he had more cuts on his face when she first looked at him. Now only few remained. As she was trying to clean one it disappeared under her swab.
"Of course," she whispered with a smile on her face. "Didn't they call him and his brother some kind of gods? Why wouldn't he self-heal then..." she shrugged her arms. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
There was no point in doing anything about the other cuts. She suspected they would disappear within the next several minutes. There was no other way, but to take care of the big one and just get it stitched.
Anna was so focused on her task that she did not notice when the man opened his eyes. She was just about to stick the needle in his skin for the last time, when she looked at his face and froze. He was looking or rather staring at her. Surprise, anger, pride in his eyes.
"Are you considered beautiful around here?" This was the last question she would expect in those circumstances. She couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, I was a prom queen years ago, so for sure there was something about me once."
He chew on the words and continued to look at her carefully.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked after a moment.
"Yes," Anna answered shortly and went back to the stitching. She stuck the needle in his arm. He did not make a sound or even blink. Instead he asked.
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Should I be?" she asked firmly without looking up. She did not feel as brave as she wanted to sound.
Again he was quiet and only answered after a few moments.
"No."
"Ok, I think I'm done here." She pointed to his chest. "Most of your wounds just disappeared.... Except for this one." She looked concerned at his arm. He was surprised at her words. As if he realized just now why he was lying in her bed and that he was even wounded. He followed her gaze and looked at his own arm. His face changed.
"Your earthly weapons cannot hurt me, why is this not healing?!" he sounded angry.
"Well, maybe it was not an earthly weapon?" Anna said as if it were the most natural thing to say.
She found a bandage and started wrapping it around his arm trying to stiffen it. He surrendered to whatever she was doing. Deep in his thoughts.
Now she stared at him. He looked kind of pathetic – with that bandage and thorn (or rather cut) clothes . She left him there on the bed; he was clearly far away from here, reliving some recent events. She went to the laundry room to get him a shirt and a pair of jeans. He couldn't be wandering around here in those super hero (or super villain) clothes.
She went back into the bedroom and found him asleep.
"O c'mon! Seriously?" She really hoped he would just stand up and leave and she could go back to her life as if this did not happen. She instantly felt bad about thinking that. "He is wounded, Anna. God or not, let him sleep". She left the clothes on the chair next to the bed and went back to her office hoping that he would leave tomorrow.
It was already after six and there was still so much to do. She had four missed calls that she started with. She then gave instructions to Tim on what to do with the sheep that still have not been picked up by the buyer. She called Alice, her sister in law, saying she will not join them for dinner this time. They lived just opposite her house, on the same family property, but she did not want to leave her "guest" alone.