Choices

Chapter 123
Cephera woke up in the middle of her dream where Loki was yet again in her arms. His practiced fingers caressing her skin and his long prison hair tickling her as he worked his way down her abdomen.
Though she preferred him with shorter hair, in her dreams she dreamt of him as he was, not as she'd rather him to be.
She supposed that was a reflection of her love.
She couldn't picture him Jotun. She'd known him so long as Asgardian she simply couldn't form to mind what he might look like otherwise. She'd only seen her son as a Jotun for a mere minute and even that memory had faded slightly.
It was Ikol who woke her from her dream. He was crying, hungry no doubt.
Cephera quickly climbed from her bed and plucked Ikol from his crib in the next room. Pepper had gone out and purchased the crib while Cephera had been gone. She said that Ikol would eventually be too big for the bassinet.
Ikol's crying didn't stop until he was firmly clenched to her breast to fill his belly on his mother's milk. Cephera sang softly to him, sitting down in the armchair to wait for him to be done.
"I thought I heard a baby," Seraphina said groggily. She'd been sleeping with Cephera since she arrived three days ago. Cephera hadn't realized she'd woken her sister.
Seraphina took a seat on the floor and smiled sleepily up at the two of them. "I think Loki would enjoy your breasts now. They are bigger." The elder twin pointed out.
"Only because they are filled with nutritious milk. They'll return to normal soon enough." Cephera replied.
Seraphina laughed. "You hope," Cephera frowned. Yes she was hoping. It was a fact that woman gained weight on their breasts while breastfeeding, but it was hit or miss on whether or not they would shrink to their original weight. For some woman they remained the larger size.
She had enjoyed her little ones. Dresses and tops fit her without worrying over too much cleavage or buttons not closing properly.
"Yours went back to normal," Cephera noted back at her sister.
"Mostly. They're actually slightly smaller than before, according to my old clothing." Seraphina smirked. "You can't afford to go smaller than before, or you'll have none." Cephera scrunched up her nose.
"They weren't that tiny." She insisted.
"Close enough," Seraphina shrugged.
"I'm going back to work today," Cephera announced, leaving the topic of breasts behind.
"You know, on Earth, there is a thing called maternity leave. You can take the whole year off." Seraphina gave Cephera a one eyed glance. She'd stretched out on the carpet with her hands under her head and closed her eyes for comfort.
"Yes, Pepper told me, but Earth doesn't have that kind of time. Other worlds will not wait till my maternity leave finishes for possible invasions." She pointed out.
"If they bother with Earth at all," Seraphina reminded her with a tiny shake of her head.
Cephera's mind shot to the other Loki. His plans included the destruction of Earth and all the other nine realms too.
She hadn't told Seraphina about him yet. It was still a secret between her, Suvia, Rorik, and now Frigga. The more who knew, the bigger the chances that old Loki would find out. So far they had no reason to believe he knew. Things had been mostly peaceful for Cephera on Earth.
"I won't be gone long, a few hours a day. With you here you can take care of Ikol. Pepper has been busy at her job again and I'd hate to ask her for any more favors." Cephera smiled at the thought of Pepper. She'd been so helpful with Ikol.
After Suvia left, Pepper had taken some time off to give Cephera a hand and to just be there for her. It had been very nice of her.
"I'm not complaining. I'll take care of my nephew. You just be careful." Cephera smiled with a nod.
XxX
When Cephera entered the SHIELD building, everyone was rushing around. She got shouldered by a few different people who hadn't even excused themselves afterwards.
"What's going on?" Cephera asked two agents who'd stopped in the hallway.
"Fury...," one began and took one look at Cephera and froze. She waited for him to continue, but when he never she urged him again.
"What about fury?" The man's mouth opened but he was silenced by another agent.
"Ms. Drogo," he said catching her attention. "Follow me," she did so quickly, eager to find out what was happening.
When they hit the elevator they went up further than she'd ever gone before. They hit the highest floor and the agent escorted her out. "Mr. Pierce," the agent said stopping midway across the pristine tile floor.
"Thank you, you can go." The agent nodded and Cephera noticed he was more heavily armed than they usually were. Maybe he had a mission.
"Ms. Drogo, or should I say Princess Drogo," he smiled and gestured to a leather armchair. He sat down in one as well and waited.
Cephera hadn't mentioned her royal status as it meant little to Earth anyhow. She wondered if her father might have when he'd made his treaty. As it was the only thing that made sense, she ignored the how.
"Ms. Will be fine," Cephera assured him. "I'm sorry we haven't met before." She looked him over, nothing immediately different about him than any other man.
"Alexander Peirce, I'm a councilman for SHIELD. I oversee this faculty." He answered.
"I thought Director Fury did that," she frowned. All this time she thought Fury was the head of everything, not a secondary to someone else.
"Nick is a good friend of mine and he oversees things below this floor. His orders come from me though."
"I see," she replied. "What is it you want with me?" She asked, weary of the strange events since she'd walked in the doors.
"Just to meet you, and well, frankly to approach some rather disturbing news we've received lately." He frowned.
"News?" She lifted an eyebrow in curiosity.
"We've received word that you have mislead us. That you are in fact the wife of the war criminal Loki." He was very matter-of-fact about it.
Cephera was too stunned to reply. "I," she managed but stopped again.
"Let me set this straight," Alexander said. "We here at SHIELD do not appreciate being led astray by our own employees. We demand a certain amount of respect from those who work for us. As you can image, we have people who work for us that don't have the cleanest of pasts but we also have them on full disclosure. You failed to provide us with this information." Alexander frowned down at her as he stood.
"My marital status has nothing to do with my helping you. Furthermore, I'm curious as to how you would even know. The reason I didn't tell you is because I felt I would not be trusted and I only have a limited time to lend you my knowledge and I didn't think that time allotted for acquiring full trust through some time period of probation."
Cephera hadn't really thought of it that way before, but the words seem to fall from her mouth without previous consideration. She didn't take it back though as it was most certainly true.
"Still, you must understand that your husband directly put my company in danger. That we allowed you access to very sensitive information...,"
"No, you never," Cephera narrowed her eyes. "I give you sensitive information. I have been given access to nothing. If anything, I provide you with things that could amount to your survival against other beings from other worlds because of my husband's previous actions." The councilman paused and looked her over.
"The information you have provided us has been valuable. I have put much thought into your secrets...,"
"One secret Sir, I hide nothing else." The moment she said it her mind thought of Old Loki and she nearly cringed at her accidental lie.
"Secret then. We would like you to remain on with us, but there is a matter of your treaty." Cephera didn't like the way he said it. Something hallow about his words that made the treaty sound distasteful.
"What about it?" She asked deciding to stand. She no longer felt comfortable sitting down.
"We cannot adhere to the treaty created and signed between Nicolas Fury and your father." Cephera squared her shoulders, unhappy with this turn of events.
"Why not?" She demanded taking on her political tone.
"We have discovered that the Director has been keeping his own secrets and carrying out missions with second agendas." Alexander put his hands behind his back and turned to the window to look down.
"Director Fury didn't strike me as that kind of man," she replied keeping her eyes on him.
"So you can imagine my surprise when I found out." He didn't look at her when he spoke but she could see his reflection.
"Where is the Director now?" She'd deal with the treaty problems later. She had never known anyone to back out of one before. Her father would know how to handle it better than her, maybe even her sister.
Alexander's shoulders slumped slightly at her question. "Director Fury was brought to the hospital an hour ago. He's in critical condition."
"What?" Cephera was shocked.
"I had hoped I could speak with him. To give him a chance to explain his actions but he made enemies during his secret convert operation and they got to him before us. Captain Rogers is at the hospital with him." Alexander glanced back at her.
"If he makes it, what will happen to Director Fury?" She asked shaking off her shock. She didn't like Mr. Pierce. She'd seen this in Loki before. Even faced with such dire circumstances he was much too calm for a man claiming Nick was his friend. If she learned anything from being the tricksters wife, it was at least how to spot an actor.
"He'll be brought in for questioning once he's able."
"And if he dies, your answers go with him." She pointed out.
"Unless Steve Rogers knows anything. He was sent on the last mission that alerted us to Fury's secret missions. Nick was also shot within Captain Rogers home." Mr. Pierce stepped away from the window and finally turned back to look at her.
"Captain Rogers wouldn't be involved with anything he didn't think was the right and just thing." She warned.
"People have a way of surprising us Ms. Drogo, even those who seem the most innocent." His comment was a double one, meant for her as well as Steve.
"You have a lot on your hands, I think I'll go home." She turned with just that intent.
"We'd like you to stay. We still want your help Princess. We still need the knowledge you have been providing." She wondered how her information would be used by a man who seemed less than empathetic to his friends current critical health.
"Of course," she agreed realizing she needed to make sure nothing in her information could be put to use in a manner that could put her people in immediate danger.
"Excellent, I'll have Agent Reid escort you downstairs." He pressed a button on his phone and in came the Agent who brought her up. He was still decked out in his artillery.
"I won't need an escort." She assured the Councilman.
"Just a safety precaution. Because of Director Fury's involvement, his signature on your treaty, and recent events, I would rather you be under watch..., for your own protection of course." Cephera plastered a grateful smile on her face.
"That's kind of you," she replied. She turned and followed Agent Reid. Cephera wouldn't hurt anyone unless she had to. If they tried to keep her from leaving when she was ready, she would fight back and mortals couldn't contain her, at least she hoped they couldn't.

Notes