~~~Catherine's pov~~~
It was a warm summer morning in early July when it happened.
We were walking in the park—me, my husband, and our five-year-old daughter Linda.
"Hey, Mom! Look at this!" My daughter squealed, jumping up and down on one foot.
"Wow! You're getting better at that. It's been almost five minutes. Have you been practicing?" My husband asked, smiling.
"Yeah! Cassie and Lila have been helping me!" She said, now walking beside us, grabbing our hands.
I'm glad she was recovering after what happened in Westview.
"I suppose we'll have to schedule some more playdates with them then," I suggested.
"Really? You mean it?" She asked, looking up at me with wide eyes.
"Sure. As long as your dad says it's okay." I said, now putting the blame on him if the playdate somehow wasn't possible.
"I don't see a problem with that, darling." He smirked at me, knowing what I was trying to do.
We sat by an old oak tree while Linda danced around the park in front of us.
As we sat down, I felt his arms around me. I looked up into his eyes. His beautiful emerald green eyes that I fell in love with.
We were never even supposed to happen. He was a villain, and I was an Avenger. But he made his way into my heart nonetheless. Who would have thought that the goody-goody Avenger would end up married to the God of Mischief? Certainly not me. But I'm thankful for it every day.
"She's growing up so fast." I sighed.
"I know. It seems like just yesterday she kept us up all night with her crying." He teased me.
We had an ongoing joke these past few years. When Linda was a baby, I used to say how much I couldn't wait for her to be older so she wouldn't cry so much. And now, I think the sleepless nights are the nights I miss the most.
I looked over to where Linda was playing, only to see her walking into the street. Loki and I got up quickly at the sight.
"Linda, get off the road," I said, trying to keep my voice level to not to scare her. But in reality, I was terrified.
"I just need to grab my necklace. I dropped it." She bent over to grab the accessory by its golden chain.
"It's fine. Just leave it and walk back over here." Loki said, walking over to the street slowly.
"I can't just leave it here-" She was cut off as a large truck came barreling down the road, heading straight for her.
We both ran into the street, yelling for the truck to stop.
It didn't.
Thankfully, Loki was able to use his magic to get Linda out of the way in time.
"Don't ever scare me like that again!" I cried, holding onto her tightly. "I'm sorry! But that necklace is really important. Grandpa told me so." I looked at her and saw that she was also starting to cry.
"Not more important than you. Never more important than you. Don't ever forget that." Loki insisted. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. This was just the first time we almost didn't save her.
Being the daughter of an Asgardian god and an Avenger made her a target to a lot of people. Not to mention her involvement with Coulson's team.
I felt Loki wrap his arms around us as we sat on the grass, thankful that Linda was alive.
"What's that?" She suddenly asked me, pointing to something behind us.
I furrowed my eyebrows and turned my head. I saw an orange glowing doorway and multiple people in uniform coming out of it.
You have got to be kidding me.
"Who are you?" I heard Loki ask as we got up off the grass and faced them.
"Appears to be a standard sequence violation. The branch is growing at a stable rate and slope." One of the people, a woman, said, ignoring our question.
She looked up at me and Linda. "Variants identified."
"What?"
"On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you both for crimes against the Sacred Timeline." One of the other people, now I'm assuming, guards, raised their baton at us. "Hands up. You're coming with us."
Loki and I looked at each other, perplexed.
"Like hell we are. So, why don't you tell us what this is about?" He said, now stepping in front of Linda and me. I held her tight against my chest, her arms looped around my neck.
The leading guard lady rolled her eyes. "If you would please get out of the way. This doesn't involve you."
He didn't move, and frankly, I didn't want him to.
"Last chance." She warned.
"Last chance or else what?" I asked, holding Linda closer.
I'm getting bad flashbacks from this.
~~~Loki's pov~~~
"None of your concern." The main guard said, and then thrust her baton at me, except now, it was glowing. Which was a slight problem.
I tried to avoid getting touched by the strange baton, but eventually, I messed up, and she stabbed me with it.
That's when I noticed I had started to disappear.
I needed to think fast, so I quickly sent Linda a telepathic message.
"2012."
The last thing I saw was Catherine's terrified face and Linda's traumatized one.
~~~Catherine's pov~~~
I watched in horror as Loki disappeared.
"Daddy!" Linda cried into my shoulder.
He... He was gone...
With that, the guards led us into the portal.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2aCzZ3gm3
