A/N = Right this is my first superhero fanfic. It'll only be action packed if I feel like it and at the moment I just wanted to highlight Loki's emotional struggle. Thor really affected me and I've been wanting to write a fic about it for a while. I'm a total Loki fangirl but I don't bash Thor or Odin in this. The one thing Loki needs is love and acceptance and he just needs someone to show him that he always had that (well, perhaps not acceptance but certainly love :D)

Plus, with the entire fangirl fanbase he's got I doubt he'll be able to deny that he's loved now XD Much love for Loki (and Tom Hiddleston because he plays him so well).

Disclaimer: I do not own Avenger's or any of the superheros. They belong to Marvel. I own Debbie, Karen and (sort of) Elsa. (The news readers are mine but I just made them up on the spot :P)

Btw, Debbie has a condition that causes premature graying of her hair. Eyebrows and all.

One Look

Prologue

It was with one look that Loki realised he would never feel the same again. One look that caused his mind to fight with itself, to attack everything he'd believed ever since the discovery of his true identity. He didn't act on his sudden urges, no, he didn't act on them. How could he? Why should he? The Midgardians were screaming for a ruler. How could he abandon them for a Midgardian woman? Exactly, he couldn't – wouldn't. He'd faced stronger foes than she. He would defeat these feelings and become Midguard's once and future King. But he hadn't taken one thing into account… this woman's stubbornness.

It was a pretty average day for a pretty average woman. 27 year old Deborah Fron was not, in any way shape or form, accustomed to unusual things. Her father and mother had lived and worked in England their whole lives. They'd met there, started a family there. It was home.

She'd had a fairly standard childhood [1]. With an average intellect she got into the county Grammar school (which was very difficult) and found herself getting Cs and Ds for her GCSEs. She wasn't able to do A-Levels, and so dropped out in her first year of Sixth Form.

Her sister, 29 year old Karen, was the brains of the family. She was the star of the school and became Head Girl without much competition. She made it into Cambridge to study forensic science and spent another three years in America studying for a PHD in some kind of Biological field.

Debbie, on the other hand did a foundation course in Embroidery and now she works for a dress maker called Elsa, in London. It was not the smartest or most well paid job but it put food on the table and paid for the electric. She'd realised from an early age that she hadn't been made for great things. She'd found her lot with the dresses and sewing and was happy in her ignorant bliss. She visited her parents every Friday after work and spent the weekends either lunching with Karen, or attending swanky parties as Elsa's assistant.

Everything was just as it should be, normal and uneventful. The only thing that set her apart from the rest was her startling silver hair. She'd never called it grey because denial wasn't just a river in Egypt [2].

Debbie's sister and closest friend Karen Fron works for a secret organisation in the government that she takes very seriously. Which is why Debbie didn't know what the organisation was called or what it was. Karen was one of those people who could make even the sourest person laugh. She had a gift for it.

Everything was good and normal for Debbie Fron until she met him.

Chapter 1 – He is Coming

"Debbie! Debbie!" Elsa called from the bottom of the stairs of her workshop. "Debbie, Karen's here to see you! She says it's urgent! Leave the muslin for a moment!"

I sighed, rolled the muslin back up and placed it back onto the muslin shelf which was above and separate from the other, more expensive material used for the finished dresses. I had been expecting Karen though, so it was not an unwelcome surprise to have her here so early.

I jogged down the stairs quickly and ran across the workshop floor in order to grasp Karen in a firm hug, "what are you doing here so early?" I asked a little breathless from the run and her gripping hug.

Karen gave me a tight lipped smile which made mine drop a little. "Something came up with work. We can't have lunch today."

"Oh, I see." I didn't question her further, knowing she would never reveal her secrets to me.

"Actually, Elsa," She directly addressed my boss, which surprised me. Elsa was a quiet and sweet person and around five foot three inches which would put her five inches shorter than me. I wasn't bothered by the height difference though. I learned a long time ago to deal with my height and use it to my advantage. However, heels were out of the question. "I came early to do some business with you. It appears this may be your most prosperous client yet. May we discuss this elsewhere?" Karen asked glancing at me fleetingly. The dismissal hurt me a little but I didn't think too much on it. If Karen had a client for Elsa it meant that it was someone under protective custody or some hush-hush spy she was working with.

Elsa brightened up at the news. "Of course, come with me to the study." She said gesturing toward a mahogany door set into the far wall of the workshop. Karen clip-clopped her way toward the door on her spindly heels as Elsa turned to me. "Make the muslin for Princess Anne and once you've finished get started on sewing on the crystals to Ms Wickham's wedding dress. I shouldn't be too long so I'll join you with the crystals soon." She gave a happy, parting smile before jogging off to the now open mahogany door with a spring in her step.

Of course Elsa would be pleased that Karen had more work for her. Spies always paid handsomely for hand crafted works for their posh parties. I smirked to myself as I ran upstairs to grab the muslin again. All this talk of spies and posh parties makes me think of James Bond! As I fetched the muslin from the shelf I heard a large booming sound coming from the telly in the corner of the large room. These were Elsa's private rooms while I had an apartment on the opposite side of the street. I grabbed the roll of muslin and brought it over to her double bed to cut it, eyes fixed on the TV screen. The pretty blonde news reader was frantically reading something about a bombing. To my surprise she looked really ruffled.

"Not much is known of the attack. Our reporters are saying that it happened from inside the army base itself, which has caused much speculation as to the damage this one accident has caused. The base is currently being evacuated. Here is Robert Cohen with the report from the scene. Robert? How is it looking over there?"

I dropped the muslin roll onto the bed, eyes wide and approached the telly, transfixed as this man, Robert, started to speak. "Thanks, Sarah!" He almost shouted at the camera in a very American accent, "It's a mess down here! There are military officers everywhere trying to keep out the press and trying to escape the base! I just barely got past with my ID! We're now near the ruin and as you can hear, the helicopters are already transporting everyone out of the area! There's been – wait, do you hear that? It sounds like another explosion! It sounds –"

I was sitting mouth open and eyes wide on the coffee table as Robert was suddenly cut off by an enormous boom as the nearest building to him collapsed. Fear spread across his face and he began running, the camera man did too but Robert demanded he kept filming and he would make sure he didn't trip over anything. So, as the camera man turned to run backwards the whole nation witnessed the complete collapse of about a mile of buildings and road. Everything was thrown up into the air and crashed back down almost as if some kind of destructive ripple had broken out over the army base. I gave a startled shriek as the camera man fell over and I watched in awe as Robert (I was assuming because I only say his feet) helped the camera man to his feel and left the camera on the ground. The ripple travelled fast toward the camera and before long all we saw was the starry sky before the camera was pulled back to the ground and the screen went black.

Sarah was brought back onto the screen and she looked a little paler than before. "We've just been informed that Robert and Charlie, his co-worker, were picked up by a helicopter and are travelling to safety as we speak.

"This catastrophe appears to be of a bigger proportion that be originally thought. Reports are coming flying in and we encourage anyone with any knowledge of this to come forward and call –"

Sarah was cut off when the TV screen suddenly went black. I turned to see Karen standing just behind me with the remote control in her hand.

"You shouldn't worry yourself about those things. They won't affect you."

I nodded slowly but stayed wary of her guarded expression. What was wrong, I wonder? "I know,"

"Good." She said with conviction I didn't possess. I got up from the edge of the coffee table to cut the muslin.

"Are you done with Elsa?" I inquired politely when the silence was becoming a bit too much to bear.

Karen slightly turned her head toward me but didn't answer me immediately. I cut the fabric off the roll. "I believe so. She seemed very… enthusiastic to take the job."

I chuckled lightly, "I'm not surprised! You bring her the most work!"

Karen sighed and her expression became almost pained. Having done the cutting I rolled up the cut muslin and placed the roll back on its shelf. I turned to my sister with a sombre expression. "Is something bothering you, Karen?"

Karen sighed and forced her pain expression into a pained smile, "no. Don't trouble yourself with my worries, little sister. I have to go now but I will see you very soon." She quickly hugged me and was down the stairs before I had time to blink.

I sighed again, her attitude really hitting me hard. Most of the time she was only this solemn when something big was going to happen, or was happening, that I didn't know about. Sometimes having an older sister in the government really did have its downsides.

Elsa pouted cutely when I reached the bottom of the stairs with only the cut out finished. "Oh, I thought you would've gotten underway with making the muslin."

I shook my head slowly, "no sorry. I got caught up with the news. Apparently there's been some kind of explosion at an Army base in America. It was really quite frightening."

Elsa looked shocked, and then rushed over to me after I dumped the muslin onto a free work table. "Oh my god, do they know how it happened?"

I shook my head solemnly, "I don't think so. The military were all fleeing the base when the report was coming in and the reporter was almost caught in the after shock of the blast! It was like Cloverfield but without the monster."

Elsa winced visibly, "you know, I hate that film. It's almost as bad having it happen in real life."

I nodded, "yes. And that footage has probably gone viral now. Everyone will know about it and they'll all be coming up with their own little story for how it happened. People will probably put it down to the government experimenting with some alien and then the alien's have declared war on us."

Elsa looked shaken, "don't joke about things like that. I watched a documentary that said clearly that extraterrestrial life could exist that just hasn't interfered with us yet."

I scoffed disbelievingly, "you don't really believe that, do you? Those people are just a bunch of nutters trying to make a living out of gullible people. No offense."

Elsa huffed and made her way over to the muslin, "offense taken. You'll be eating your words when you're faced with one of these aliens. Then you'll believe it."

I laughed at her already going over to the wedding dress and the crystals. "I highly doubt that."

Weeks past before we heard anything more from Karen. I was used to not hearing from her for extended periods of time but never when it came to a job. It was… unusual. Elsa seemed a little perturbed by it as well.

"I just don't understand it!" Elsa exclaimed as she paced the workshop frantically. I sat at one of the three work tables in the centre of the large, converted factory floor. "She should've got back to me with the measurements by now! How am I supposed to create a master piece only a week away from when it's due?"

I shrugged and threaded another bead onto the beautifully silky, blue garment, "it's just her way, Elsa. She's a high paid… person in the government. She's probably really tied up with work right now."

Elsa sighed irritably, "Well, I don't see how we can make this work. We've got to finish two prom dresses and a ball gown for Princess Kate by Wednesday, and then we have to attend an art show in Stuttgart! How will we make time for it?"

I frowned as I was just about to thread another bead, "I thought you were going to skip the Stuttgart show because of Karen's job?"

Elsa shrugged with a pained expression, "I was but your sister is just too unreliable at the moment and we need to do some advertising in other countries. It could get us world wide status! It's just too big an opportunity to miss."

I nodded understanding, "of course. It will be a very good opportunity, indeed."

Elsa nodded once at my confirmation before going to fetch some lilac lace ribbon from the ribbon drawers set to the opposite wall to myself.

"You must choose what you're going to wear in Germany, Debbie." Elsa called over, "it all must be from this workshop, and you know that. Though I'm sure most of your wardrobe was made by your hand. Am I right?" Elsa asked playfully as she wrapped the ribbon around the dress, just under the breast, in a baby doll style.

I sighed a blushed little, "it's cheaper to buy the fabrics from you than to buy clothes from the shop. Anyway, I do have some things from Primark and my jeans from Next are my prised possession."

Elsa giggled, "It's nice to know that you take your job so seriously, Debbie."

"Yeah, yeah," I said dismissing her, "I'm going to get a coffee, do you want anything?"

Elsa nodded and tied the bow, "I'll come with you. I could use some fresh air. We'll eat in; Costa is at the end of the street."

I rolled my eyes, "I know. I live opposite you."

Elsa flushed, embarrassed, "I knew that."

"Alright, alright, let's go get some coffee."

The sun was bright over the tall buildings that lined the street. It was a pretty street in London. The tall three story houses were made of a dark, worn red brick and the window frames and stairs were a shiny black. My apartment was directly opposite on the third floor while a family of four lived on the other two levels. They were also my tenants.

"Lovely day today, isn't it?" Elsa said brightly as we reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to her small factory conversion.

"It is. I wonder if anyone was injured in that explosion." I wondered aloud.

Elsa sighed and patted my arm. "I have to stop you right there, Debbie. I know what you're like. Don't worry about it, alright? You couldn't have done anything even if you tried so there's no point fretting over it."

I sighed just as we reached the end of the street and came out of the shadowed road. "I know, I know but it's hard."

Elsa nodded and we crossed the road to Costa café. "Let's just have our coffee and get back to work. We've got a lot to do before Wednesday and I've still got to tell Karen that the job is impossible! That won't go down well."

I laughed imagining my sisters red face when she finds out. "She gets really funny when she's angry. You might laugh."

"What do you mean you can't do it?" Karen cried over the phone. She was desperately clutching her hair in an attempt to stay calm. It wasn't working. "My client isn't a very patient woman and I promised her a dress fit for a Princess!"

"Just tell her what I told you." Elsa said firmly from the other end of the phone. "I can't make a dress like that in less than three days and Debbie and I have business to attend to in Germany. I'm sorry, it can't be done."

"But – but –" Karen sputtered uselessly.

Elsa interrupted her, "If you had come to me a couple of weeks ago and told me her measurements and what she wanted that would've been fine, doable, but not now we've got some other business to take care of. I'm sorry, Karen."

Karen winced in her dark apartment. What am I going to do? "Alright, Elsa." She said with a sigh, "I know you tried. Thanks for everything."

Elsa sighed as well, "If I could've done anything you know I would have. You bring in most of my work and you're Debbie's sister but this can't be done."

"I know, Elsa," Karen said calmly, already formulating another plan, "thank you for your time."

"No problem." Elsa replied, "I guess I'll see you after Germany."

"See you then." Karen disconnected the call.

Karen's apartment was dark, very dark. The long wall of windows opposite the front door only let in the lights of New York City. She sighed and switched on the lights to a low level. After the darkness for so long she couldn't deal with the brightness right now. She slumped over to the window and prepared to make her call.

"Natasha," She greeted the client grimly.

"Karen," Natasha Romanov replied, "I've been expecting your call."

"I know," Karen said wearily, "I can't get the dress."

"It's fine, Karen." Natasha assured her briskly, "we've got bigger fish to fry."

Karen raised a finely shaped brow, "bigger than the drug lord you almost cracked?"

"Much bigger." Natasha informed her with a smile in her voice. "Barton's been compromised."

Karen's eyes widened automatically, "what? How can that be possible?"

"I don't know. All I know is that there's a bad guy out there that we need to stop. You still got room at your apartment for another?"

"Of course!" Karen exclaimed, "You're always welcome!"

Natasha laughed attractively and said, "Brilliant. Nick Fury's called on me for this one so you're probably going to get called into Intel. at S.H.E.I.L.D."

Karen nodded with a firm expression, "I saw that coming. Do you know anything about the threat?"

Natasha scoffed and I could hear the tell tale sounds of traffic in the back ground, "You think he trusts me that much? No, I don't know. It has something to do with the research facility going ka-boom."

"I feared as much," Karen said rubbing her brow, "how far away are you?"

"I'm almost at your building. Buzz me in." She disconnected.

Karen sighed as she wondered over to the buttons by her door. They were silver and shiny and obviously cost a fortune. After all, she could afford those things being the head of the English division of S.H.E.L.I.D.

[1] - quote from Megamind in the beginning of the film. Did anyone get that? If so, write it in a comment, it's always great to find another Megamind fan XD

[2] - lol, just a random joke in there. It was the title of a chapter of the story Therapy by NavyBlueWings. It's a Sasu/Naru story, it's great! Check it out!

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