Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 4

The pair spent a lovely afternoon trading stories, mostly embarrassing stories of Thor. Morgan had pictures to support the story of the time Thor accidentally participated in a drag show for charity. Poor Thor thought all of those photos had been destroyed. He would find out that wasn't the case when he got back to the tower.

While Loki was practically rolling on the floor laughing at the ridiculous image of Thor in a dress without even bothering to shave, an alert went off on Morgan's watch. She sighed and pulled out her container of medications, making a face at it as she poured the meds out.

Loki stopped laughing and looked curious and concerned at the little Midgardian and her collection of medications. "More medicine?" he asked her gently, concern in his voice.

She nodded. "I told you, I've only been out of the hospital a couple of days..." she explained, trying to sound reassuring as she downed the meds.

Loki nodded his understanding, though still couldn't help the concern over the blind little Midgardian. "I'm sorry this happened to you," he told her, though the words weren't enough for the strange feelings he was having.

"It's not your fault. It was just stupid bad luck," she replied as nonchalantly as she could. It was a huge adjustment and sucked most of the time relearning nearly everything, but she was managing. Hell, she'd learned to read Braille while she was in the hospital. She had her father's genetics for learning things too quickly.

Loki inclined his head. "Still. I doubt you were prepared to have to deal with such a debilitating disability,"

"I'm not," she agreed softly. "I have to relearn how to do everything and my entire future has been stripped away..." she sighed. It didn't matter since she hadn't decided what she'd wanted to do with her life, which is why she'd still been in college in the first place. "But I don't need to burden you with my troubles," she said so they could change the subject to something happier.

Loki sighed and shared a piece of his real emotions as well. "You are not the only one dealing with a change. I have been... cursed," he finally admitted the word, though didn't clarify what that meant. "and I can't manage to find a way to break the spell,"

She tilted her head curiously. She looked absolutely adorable with her insatiably thirst for knowledge. It was one trait he had to admit she shared with her father, though he found it much more appealing on her. "Cursed?" she asked him softly, gently, her tone warm and caring. She actually cared about him and his curse.

Loki sighed and wasn't ready to tell her about it. She would think him a monster and not want anything to do with him again. "It's quite a long story. One I'm not sure how to explain," he hedged. He didn't want to lose his relationship with Morgan by telling her about his curse sooner than he had to.

"You don't have to!" she reassured him quickly. "I wasn't trying to pry!" she really wasn't. She was just offering a kind ear to listen of help if she could.

Loki nodded with a small smile. "Thank you, Lady Morgan. I appreciate your concern," he replied warmly.

She nodded and gave him a small smile. She assumed that he was tired of talking to her, since he'd say multiple times that he wasn't one for people or conversations. So she let him be for awhile, curling more comfortably (and adorably in Loki's opinion) on the couch and resumed her book.

At least she did for a short while until the medications kicked in and her hand fell limp on the page, falling asleep on the couch. Loki smiled fondly over at her when he saw that she was asleep. He stood silently and carefully pulled the book from her grip, setting it carefully on the end table next to her couch. He picked up one of the blankets from her nest and gently covered her with it.