Always Mine (An Avengers/Loki Fanfiction)

15. Recovery

All of us met up one final time to see Thor off back to Asgard along with Loki and the Tesseract. Steve seemed glad that the cube was being transported off-world. He had told my friends and me how it caused a lot of problems for him during the Second World War. Selvig and Bruce had built a cylindrical case to transport the Tesseract. Before the Asgardians left, Peyton, Nicole, and I ended up hugging Thor.

I shall return for you, Casey. Loki's voice spoke in my head. I shook my head finding it strange since he wore a mask-like device on his face that covered his mouth preventing him from talking.

When the brothers teleported away from Earth with the use of the Tesseract, my best friends and I said our farewells to the others before catching a taxi to take us to the airport. On the way, I was informed of Phil's death, which saddened me. Thankfully, Fury had given all of us time off and would only contact any of us if we were needed. What a boss!

My phone went off. I checked it and saw that it was Craig trying to call me. Not wanting to deal with him at that point, I just pressed the hang-up button and slid the phone back into my pocket. I was told that Craig had to get stitches for his wound and was kept in the medical bay for the remainder of the battle.

"Were you gonna answer it?" Sean wondered.

"No," I shook my head, "He can't seem to get it in his head that we broke up."

"You know how stubborn he is," Peyton agreed with me.

Soon, we were on the plane bound for L.A. It felt great to be going back home after the crazy couple of days. I felt tired that I fell asleep with my earbuds plugged in and a playlist of songs on shuffle. 

I was woken up by Peyton informing me that we had landed at LAX. It surprised me that I had slept through the majority of the flight. I still felt jetlagged. When we got back to the apartment, I was crashing for a week!

Stepping outside after getting through the terminal, the warmth of the sun felt extremely refreshing even though it was spring, it felt like summer had started early.

All of us got a taxi which dropped us off at the apartment building. Right after unlocking the door, I made a beeline for my room and hit the shower before dropping myself on the bed and crying at the fact Phil was gone. He understood what I had been through, from the loss of my parents to my mental breakdown. Phil had been the one to reunite me with Sean and introduce me to Peyton, Vince, and Nicole. In a way, he had helped me start up a long-lasting friendship with them.

Soon, the door knocked. 

"What?" I groaned not even opening my eyes.

"Hey, Case," Sean called, "Vince got us pizza for dinner and frozen yogurts."

"You mean, froyos."

I opened my eyes and saw that it was late in the day. I had lost track of time. So I slid on a comfy worn-out T-shirt since I was just wearing a bra and shorts as it started getting warmer and went out of my room.

Peyton, Vince, and Nicole had the pizzas set up on the coffee table. Sean was browsing through our DVD collection to select which movie to put on.

"Why not just see what's playin' on Netflix," Vince suggested.

"It's the same stuff on it," Sean shook his head and found a DVD, and placed it in the player.

Vince turned on the screen and Spaceballs began playing. I smiled a bit recalling how corny the movie was. Phil also found it hilarious with the many sci-fi-themed parodies.

"I thought we all could use some comedy," Sean explained, "You know, after everything."

"Yeah, you're right," I nodded and helped myself to a slice of one of the pizzas with sundried tomatoes, spinach, and Feta cheese.

An hour and a half later, we ended up putting on Nacho Libre feeling the need for another dose of comedy. Vince started singing along to 'Religious Man' as the film started playing. I found myself cracking up at the fact he sang like Weird Al Yankovic. When I first met Vince, both he and Peyton knew what I went through and that all of us were family already. He had mentioned that even in the hardest of times, the best thing to do sometimes was to laugh.

Once again, the notification on my phone went off. I checked it and saw that I had multiple texts and voicemails from Craig. Most of them were him asking me to call him. I turned to my friends as if to ask them if I should call him up or not.

"It's up to you whether you call him or not," Nicole replied.

Deciding to hear Craig out, I called his cell and put it on speaker. Sean paused the movie once he heard the call going through.

"Hey, Casey, I'm glad you decided to call me," Craig answered.

"Only that you left so many messages that I couldn't take it all in," I retorted.

"Calm down there, I was about to let you know that I've been assigned to a Level 7 team and will be constantly on the go. I don't when I'll see you again."

"That's cool."

To be honest, I wasn't sad about it at all. When I ended things with Craig, I cared less about whatever assignment he got and how long he would be away.

"Not a 'I'll miss you a lot?'" Craig wondered.

"You know what? Ever since we broke up, I stopped caring about where you got placed. I don't care if you got assigned to Antarctica or up at a space station," I remarked.

"You and I never ended us."

"You can't seem to accept the fact that I dumped you since you feel that you're in charge of the relationship. Plus, I'm certain there's some other girl out there for you."

"There isn't. You're the only girl for me."

"Quit denying that! I never had any feelings for you. Back then, I was struggling, and you were a crutch for me. Right after the New Mexico incident when you got extremely pissed at me like that, that was when I realized that we could never be together. That's why I've always avoided any contact with you. The bottom line is, we can never go back to the way things were before."

I hung up just as Craig was about to say something, not wanting to hear any more of his denials.

"I think I need a change my number," I muttered.

"It's probably not the best option, Casey. He might have it traced as well," Sean pointed out.

"Maybe I'll just stick to not replying to him, or better yet, block his number."

I pulled out my phone once again and blocked Craig's number so I wouldn't feel annoyed again whenever he called or texted me. All of us resumed the movie. Peyton gave me a comforting smile. I grinned back at her and turned to watch the rest of the film.