Chapter 21

                                    

                                          
Loki heard a loud annoying buzzing, he turned to see what in the world it was but instead of finding answers he found himself falling off the couch and flopping on the floor, hitting the side of his head on the coffee table on the way down. 

                          
"Ow" he grumbled, sitting up off the floor, feeling disoriented and irritated. Once he realized he'd fallen asleep and then rolled off the edge of the sofa, he also realized that that loud buzzing was someone at his door. 

                          
He rolled his eyes and stood up, rubbing the side of his head as he stomped over to the door.
"Don't you people ever leave me alone?" He pulled the door open and saw Skye, who looked instantly relieved when she saw him looking a bit sleep-disheveled and comfortable. 

                          
"Loki, are you okay?" She asked, as if she expected him to be injured.
                          
"What? Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" He asked, confused by her presence and her question.
                          
"We've been trying to contact you all morning, we saw your tracker here but you weren't responding and we were worried something happened" Skye explained. 

                          
"Wha- you've been contacting me?" Loki left Skye at the door and went to the counter to pick up his phone. As soon as he turned it on he saw dozens of missed messages, and also noticed that it was almost noon. "Alright well the alerts didn't wake me up I guess. but I am a bit offended that you think I'd be taken out in my own home. Henry getting the jump on me was an anomaly, I don't usually go down that easy" he said quite defensively. "No one has been here, I was just asleep and didn't hear my phone going off" Loki said again. 

                          
"Sorry I bothered you then. Is your head okay?" Skye asked. 

                          
"Oh, Yeah it's fine. It's been through a lot worse" he said a bit jokingly "what did SHIELD want?" He asked.
                          
"They want you to come in. The prisoners we took when we rescued you are the biggest leads we have so far and no one can get anything out of them. Coulson was hoping maybe you could" she told him, then just when Loki was about to be irritated she kept talking "he also wants to have your tracker removed" 

                          
Loki was taken aback and that was clear in his face; he stood there for a moment with his lips slightly parted like he wanted to say something but words were failing him. 
"What?" Was all he ended up getting out. 

                          
Skye smiled a bit.
                          
"We all agreed that you didn't need to have that any more. After you left we all talked about it and decided that it wasn't fair to force it on you anymore. you've been helpful, you warned us about the invasion, and you even took torture for us. Henry's involvement proved that really anyone can be a double-crosser, but we're pretty certain you're not" 

                          
Loki was quiet for a minute.
                          
"Is this a trick? Are you just trying to get time to come to base?" Loki asked after a moment of silence between him and Skye. 

                          
She laughed and smacked his arm.
                          
"No. That would be cruel. I'm being serious, why is that hard to believe?" 

                          
Loki shrugged like he himself was confused by his own disbelief.
                          
"I don't know. I've definitely earned it, I  guess I just wasn't expecting to be trusted so soon" he admitted, then pointed his thumb back toward his bedroom door. "I'll get dressed and we can go back to base" 

                          
Loki went back to his room to get dressed and rejoined Skye shortly after, looking much more composed like he usually did and not so laid back. 

                          
"Hey, you said something before that bothered me" Skye said when Loki came back. Loki looked a bit confused and shrugged.
                          
"What did I say?"